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The Weekly Birdbath for August 20th - 26th

August 20th - 26th, 2011

by Cobra405/Mizagorn/Redstar/Mpeutz

So complex, yet very easy to listen to, we would like to play AlenVan's Seeing tomorrow for you:

Beanepatch

One thing we really like about Aviary is watching artists grow. One such artist, Beanepatch is one we enjoy keeping an eye on. You never know what he will come up with. His sense of humor is contagious, his love to create unwavering and his enthusiasm touches everyone. Always up for any challenge and a really nice human beane (someone has been hanging around mizagorn for too long) we want to draw attention to Beanepatch this week because he has over 1100+ creations and each one is as unique as he is. Stop by his gallery, its a blast of color and imagination. Glad you're here BP! Some of our favorites:

Try this really cool challenge presented by Bheid that can be as complex or as simple as you like. Here is a taste to whet your creative appetite:

We are trying a new system with the Aviary mentoring program, hopefully this will speed things up a bit for anyone asking for a mentor. So if you need some help with any of Aviary's apps then head on over and bag yourself a mentor

There is a brilliant new web comic being created on Aviary by TheDoctor7777 and two (as yet mysteriously unnamed) co-creators, by the name of Young Mr. Arthur Gashlycrumb. It's about a lonely boy who is being raised by his Auntie in her spooky old mansion. It's dark, it's funny, the drawings are amazing and there is something scary in the garden. You don't want to miss this so be sure to tune in.

There is an awesome new tutorial from Alpha13wolf on how to make clouds with Peacock. This is an adaptation of the steps he posted in the forums. Definitively check it out and post your cloud creations in the forums.

Tip - Creating and Moving text

[youtube width="550" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSTmnp4_png[/youtube]

The Weekly Birdbath for August 13th - 19th

 
August 13th - 19th, 2011
by Cobra405/Mizagorn/Redstar/Mpeutz

Editor's note: This is a special edition of the Birdbath. We Aviators decided to make this one a tribute to all the wonderful female artists and musicians within our flock. You'll find that equal opportunity and talent indeed apply.

Girls rule!!

A great example of Roc and Myna integration! Drummergirl777 created four original Roc beats of her own, then used Myna to upload a few external sources and add sweet reverb and sweep effects to give kick and punch to a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. Synth and percussion make this a perfect match for her name. If you listen closely, you can hear the "Roc... Roc.." in the mix. How cool is that?!

Need some exquisite vocals to go with the new mix you're working on? Have you heard what Roxy (mwah ha ha ha ha!) can do? Some of the best Myna creations we've heard at Aviary are based on these simple, yet beautiful, soul-stirring and sometimes quite spine-tingling "ah's" and "mmm's". Check it out, or wish you weren't so far back in line.

There is a cool Aviary contest going on at Worth1000,one everyone will enjoy. It is All apps black and white. Check it our and join in the fun.

Sometimes, in the great walk of life, we run across a truly profound figure. One who is eclectic and astonishingly, refreshingly different. Someone you can learn a lot from, as well as laugh with. A true artiste, experienced in an amazing variety of art forms.

Entre nous, et tous les autres - bassp is a veritable fountain of cultural experience. Her art "studies" at Aviary are worth more fave adds than the common folks' finest creations. She has a professed and perfectly practiced proficiency in Peacock - Nobody can say "hubs" and interact with them quite as well. And wow! - you won't know whether to stand, sit, or fall out when you browse her gallery. Can she create a beat? Well... duh! Any Girl Scout will tell you - be prepared!

Having a lot of challenges has both advantages and disadvantages. We love the variety but sometimes, some are overlooked. Such is the case of Yellowstar24's great challenge named The wrong habitat. Funny and original, we challenge you to join us in making this another Aviary favorite.

As the end of summer hurtles toward those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we begin to see some friends dropping off as the new school year approaches. Whether teaching or learning, we wish everyone a prosperous school year ahead. In that spirit, let us also remember to welcome our new members and remember to point them here so we can all say hello as they introduce themselves.

We can't let the guys go without any representation this week. When Alpha13Wolf posed his amazing Clearing skies I thought it was amazing but when I opened it in Peacock, I was inspired to learn this technique. Little did I know that you can make much more than clouds. Alpha13Wolf has written a wonderful Tutorial that shows us every thing we need to create clouds, smoke, nebulas, trees and anything else you can imagine. Many thanks to you Alpha13Wolf!

 

Tip - Layer Merge Trick

Select the layers you want to resize and merge them. Then, with the merged layer selected, go to Select > Select all. Next use the Edit > Copy function to copy this layer to the clipboard. Now here comes the clever bit :) Hit undo twice. This will recover all of your layers as they were before you started! Finally, just use Edit>Paste and hey presto, you now have a new layer with the merged layers you copied. You can resize all you like, and you also still have all of your original layers!

Tip Repository

Tip Tuesday - Getting started with Roc

This week's tip is chock full of steps and tips for beginners to learn how to use our one-of-a-kind online music creator Roc. [youtube width="550" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJegMHxM3U[/youtube]

The Weekly Birdbath for July 30th - August 5th

 

July 30th - August 5th, 2011

by Cobra405/Mizagorn/Redstar/Mpeutz

UH! clap, clap. uh huh. psheeeer! Rims and kicks, FX, shakers and blips. Here's a fascinating master mix that's house, beat box, or hip hop - take your pick. Our phenom man tashuan16 humbly presents an enjoyable groove that stirs your dance emotion. Take a listen, and be prepared to wish you, too, are on this island getaway.

TheDoctor7777

Do you like quirky, out of left field, why didn't I think of that art? Well so do we and that is why TheDoctor7777 is in the spotlight this week. Steampunk, fantasy, weapons and some wild inventions will leave you shouting for more. Pop over to his gallery, the adventure is just beginning. Some of our favorites:

While I was mentoring LunaOwl and trying to help her create a seamless tile in Phoenix, I enlisted the help of our resident Peacock wizard, mpeutz. Mike created an Offset Blackbox and a video to show us all how to use it. Looks like the mentor needed mentoring. See the tut here along with LunaOwl's amazing seamless tile image.

Peacock is a great way to create almost anything your imagination can come up with. But what if you have a challenge that limits the resources you can use? Redstar came up with this amazing hubs Minimalist challenge... use only Spirolina, Drop Shadow, and Shape Draw. Enjoy these entries, be inspired, and see what YOU can come up with!

Have you ever looked at Undiscovered Creations? (Go to Discover creations -> Undiscovered Creations from the main menu.) We're trying to decide if this area is a great place to find new talent... or is it a place for inappropriate material? Is it a boon or a bane? Weigh in here with your comments!

Tip - Getting Started with Peacock

Peacock is an awesome application - and my first love on Aviary! However, it can be a bit daunting for new users to jump into. This week's video is a quick primer on how Peacock works. If you still have questions after watching the video, you should head on over to the Aviary forums and ask for some tips from our awesome community

[youtube width="550" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G94a3SQN1zA[/youtube]

Tip Tuesday: Coloring Line Art

This week's tip shows you a quick and easy way to add color to your sketches and line art. It's really useful for comics, logo art, and anything else hand-drawn you want to spruce up professionally. Enjoy! [youtube width="550" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7e0G93sqw0[/youtube]

Tip Tuesday: Quick Crop

Over the next few weeks, our weekly tips will be focusing on how to do quick, simple edits of your images with Aviary's tools! [youtube width="550" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsfCxtSf6q4[/youtube]

Aviary Chrome extension Aviary Firefox extension

Tip Tuesday - Audio Smart Layer

In this week's video tip, learn how you can use the Beats command to make, edit and mix your Roc music creations in the audio editor Myna. [youtube width="550" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtw2YJEntsk[/youtube]

Tip Tuesday - Effect Smart Layer

Learn how you can add bitmap effects to your Raven vectors with this week's video tip.

Tip Tuesday - Vector Masks

Over the next few week we will have video tips on the previously mentioned Smart Layers. These tip will showcase ways to utilize smart layers to extend the editing power of the applications. This weeks tip in on creating vector layer masks using Smart Layers. [youtube width="560" height="349"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVwJTAdFIdU[/youtube]

Tip Tuesday - Smart Layers Myna

Thrilled by the possibilities of Smart Layers in our online image editors, which we've been covering over the past couple weeks? Get ready to be even happier. Our online audio editor, Myna, has Smart Layers too! Though this functionality isn't exactly a layer, it works very similarly to the Smart Layers in the graphic editing applications.  Myna has a function that will let you create and edit beats from our Music creator Roc from within the audio editor, so there's no need to open a new window to create beats for your mix. It's very easy to make a Roc beat to add to your mix: just start by pressing the Beat button (the one nicely marked with a "New" banner). This will open the familiar Roc interface directly in Myna. Now you can create your beat just as you would in the standalone version of Roc. When you're done and want to add the beat to your mix, press the "Add Beat to Myna" button. You'll be prompted to save the beat before it adds it into the mix. You can also edit preexisting beats that you've added to Myna by right-clicking on them and choosing the "Edit Clip in Roc" option.

You will be warned if you try to add a Roc beat where a clip is already located. Just move the playhead to an empty location to continue.