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 - Text Smart Layer
In this week's video tip, we cover how to get text into your Peacock creations! [youtube width="550" height="343"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edeip3e5GdQ[/youtube]
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]
Adding a Glow Effect in Aviary
Video of Raven in action
Raven, Aviary's vector editor, currently in alpha release to Aviary Pro members.
End result:
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Vector editing in your browser - video sneak peek
vector editor Raven. The obvious analogy would be to desktop software like Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw or Inkscape.
From a commercial standpoint, we're really excited to release Raven into the wild because vectors are infinitely scalable and are used in everything from logo design to t-shirts to clip art. In other words, whereas Phoenix is not ideal for native high resolution design, Raven is very well suited for it.
Many of you have asked about how vectors will integrate with other tools: so we'll confirm here that the code base will be ported to all tools in the suite that can make use of it.
- Phoenix: We'll add a Pen-tool for use in the creation of reusable vector paths for making editable shapes and selections.
- Horus and Owl, our font and desktop layout editors, will also make use of this engine to edit vectors directly.
Raven will be a phenomenal way of driving graphic design services through Aviary's market place. Can you imagine a website where an artist can be hired to design a logo, chat with the client, share revisions (and even edit live in front of the client), manage their work flow and finally provide the final source files right to the client who doesn't need any special software to open it, all from within a single interface?
Another situation where the technology would be useful is for online clothing design communities whose members will no longer need to purchase and/or troubleshoot install expensive desktop software in order to jump in and design clothing!
To be one of the first to get access to Raven, sign up at http://a.viary.com/ for an invitation. If you are already in the system, no need to resign up. Just drop us a note in the forums and we'll add it to your account as soon as we release it.]]
Video of smart image resizing in Aviary
where we announced Woodpecker, we were asked by an Aviary user to post a video of our smart image resizer in action and we figured we'd share it with everyone.
While we do have Woodpecker slated to be released as a stand alone application, it will also be available directly within Phoenix, our image editor's interface for easy resizing work on individual layers.
Otherwise known as "Liquid scaling" or "seam carving", this technology allows a picture to be automatically resized without damaging or squishing elements the computer (or artist) deems to be important. For example, we can resize this image:
to this:
To gain access to Aviary, Woodpecker and other tools currently under beta release, please sign up at http://a.viary.com.]]
Phoenix video peek 4: Clone Stamp
The clone stamp tool allows you to copy (clone) from a target area in a photo and paint it in to a destination area with regular brush options.
Clone stamp is perfect for minor retouching on the seams of areas that have been cut and pasted together.
Here are some great images made entirely in Phoenix that used elements of the Clone Stamp Tool:
Colin Farrel & Tara Reid merged by Meowza
Street by phischer
From the "People are falling apart series" by Meowza
If you already have a Phoenix account, you can open up these images to see how they were made and try editing them further!]]
Phoenix video peek 3: Copy and Paste / History Panel
Copy and pasting is essential for any layer based editing program, as it lets you break an image into several pieces that can be individually edited.
Here are some great examples of images that were made using Copy and Paste
"Bottled Fish" by Nicky666, uses the following source image, copied and pasted into new layers:
"Iggy's Night Out" by meowza, uses the following source image for both a main component and window reflections.
It's very easy to see why this functionality is the most important one to achieving photo-realistic image effects.
History Panel
I'm including this here, rather than in its own post because it is a really quick and simple demonstration. Phoenix includes 20 history states, which means that you can undo/redo up to 20 steps back. We can presumably allow more than that once Flash Player 10 is released and memory usage is optimized further.
Video of our history panel in action
Our History Panel shows you a thumbnail (optional) of all previous states in addition to the activity done / tool used during the step, letting you visually jump between steps quickly and easily.]]