I downloaded the trial version of Trapcode's Particular 2 a few days ago and have been messing around with it. It's an awful lot of fun cause a) I love particles b) it's just fun tweaking settings and seeing what you come up with.

So using After Effects + Particular 2, Shine, Lux and some audio I was able to create the above movie. Please don't mind the giant red x. I haven't coughed up the money for the license yet. :)

Also, the music is La Roux - In for the Kill [ (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Mix) ].

So as a designer / person who uses a computer to make a living, sometimes we take the keyboard / mouse for granted. They're pretty important peripherals ( second only to a good monitor ). There is talk of Apple revamping their mighty mouse. Microsoft released some videos of the concepts they're working on.

I personally am not very excited by the idea of a multitouch mouse. Now, on my macbook pro, the touchpad surface is great. It takes into account some gestures, but you also get the tactile feedback from a 'click' when you use it. But, I had to download a patch for photoshop so my documents wouldn't automatically rotate when it misread a gesture or was too sensitive. Apple design error, I couldn't turn the reading of that gesture off. You can't configure the touchpad. (Thanks Adobe for the patch!)

Now, since I'm using my laptop almost all day, I decided to go with a real mouse over the touchpad, the Logitech Performance MX. I've used a Logitech MX mouse for the past few years and its smooth responsive and comfortable to my hand. Plus I can program it to increase my work efficiency. I map a key to the 'Enter Button' so I can get through dialog boxes / prompts / etc. quicker and one to 'Expose' to speed up program switching. 

So how can I do this with a multi-touch mouse? I don't see it happening. Quite frankly for me to be interested in a mouse you're going to have to make it comfortable, responsive, efficient, programmable and I have to know that when I do a gesture, it's going to execute that gesture without fail every time. 

What do you think? How do you feel about a multi-touch mouse? 

Lampard

KONTAIN KLASS ASSIGNMENT 14 - KraZy KoLoRz
Code:  KKlass A14
Author:  Ian

Here's how I do it. :) I'm a big fan of nondestructive editing so I utilize adjustment layers. I'm using Photoshop CS4 too.

Step 1 - Select an Image.* 

Step 2 / 3 - Adjust the levels & hue/saturation to bring in a little more contrast to the image.

Step 4 - Add in the B&W adjustment layer and tweak til it feels right.

Step 5a - Tweak the Levels & Hue/Saturation if you deem its necessary.

Step 5b - Mask out the colored portion of the image on the B&W Adjustment Layer

For this particular one, I also masked out my subject on the Hue/Sat layer as well this brought his colors down and made him a little brighter.

*My image is one I took from the International Friendly between the Seattle Sounders FC and Chelsea FC. :)

Hope it helps!  Comment back with any questions 

Hi Kontainers, it's been awhile. But I've been busy movin' and shakin'. Still I get that urge to crack open photoshop and see what happens so without further ado, here's Fire Girl.

Here is the latest in the elements series I've decided to do. This one is Fire obviously. I actually put this together with the thought of making a poster for my brother for his birthday. It hasn't been printed yet but he's excited. I utilized some stock photos from Shutterstock.com for this piece. I wanted to get a little dark and introverted as opposed to the light and extraverted feel Water Girl gives off . Hope you enjoy.

Really love this image and thought it'd be great to use for a simple theme. I thought I'd call it Love and Hugs. :)