JamstaGrafix.com

I won’t go into details, but for well over a year I’ve been asking for a simple problem Bigpond created to be fixed. Well, I’m convinced they’re morons from outer-space…

I’ve given up and am resorting to childish visual measures

I’ve been flatchat latey designing a sports clothing range amongst other projects, so the idea of redesigning my official site has been on the back burner. But, I’m up for the challenge and ready to distort pixels for the joy of visual entertainment??!!

Stay tuned as the winds of change will be grander than a fart in a chicken suit…

…more to come when the time has come!

Ok, so I’ve seemed to drop off this God-for-saken planet for quite some time now, which is actually pretty cool, since this blog gets aboput 3 hits a month anyway…

I’m in the process of writing some cool shit about graphics over chrissy/new year, but not PRINT, it’s MOTION GRAPHICS time.

Yerp, I’m a huge animation/motion graphics fan, and I decided over the festive break, that I’d re-kindle my passion for my first love (1st love is right, as I found that tugging my tackle was my 2nd passion) .

I’ve been playing with some of my fave s/w eg: 3ds MAX, After Effects, Toonz, Elastic Reality… but, I’ve also tried some Trial S/W [I havent installed trial crap for years, so it was like an LSD flashback installing and learning some new stuff; t’was fun]

The 1st trial s/w was what I thought was an Adobe After Effects Killer, Autodesk Combustion! Now, this s/w is awesome. I “was” loving it. BUT, stability seems to be an issue??? c’mon Autodesk, get ya shit together… Then I tried Autodesk’s MudBox, an advanced professional 3D modelling program. WOW, such cool tools, functionality and fun, but alas, some stability issues??? I then installed a trial program for my 10 year old daughter so she could have a play with some animation s/w. It’s called “the TAB Kids v.3.0″ and it was a total hit. Once we “found” a couple of tools she was after eg: flip image, she was on her own and created some really cool basic stuff. The cool thing with this “kids” program is its auto bitmap paint - to - vector scripting, it’s bloody cool for a kids program, maybe the fuckwits at Autodesk could learn something from this program??? Once the trial of TAB Kids is over, I’m buying this one, unless my daughter gets the hang of Toon Boom, then I may just “up-grade” her understanding of ani-programs and get her to learn that one? Then I tried Fusion 5.2, and wowzers, this thing IS cool. I must say, there’s been a few crashes, but I’m guessing I’ve now destroyed my 4th video card in this box? Nxt was Autodesk Toxik, basically th same as Combustion yet more hi-res friendly - can’t comment too much on this, as I’m yet to know what the hell I’m doing?

Now, back to my gripe about s/w; All you CODING knobjockies out-there need a foot up the f*ing arse! You’re doing a really shit job! I hate to be one of those “back-in-the-day” type of knobs, but FFS, BITD for ‘puters is only 15 odd years ago, and you new programmers are fucking shithouse! I used to run FULL 3D animation [albeit limited] on a 486 [NO maths co-processor] with 6mb of RAM, 40 gig HDD and in DOS without crashing or burning… Now considering I run a ‘puter with 1,000’s of times the computing power now, I need to run a Dual Processor, 4gig RAM, 512mb VIDEO, 300+gig HDD, just to run the “lastest” s/w and still only create a fucking sphere… c’mon you lazy pricks, get it together…

…temp. end to my rant, BACK SOON!

Tutes, VIDS and more really soon.

Oh, I forgot to mention I saw a UFO the other day, I got it on film too. Check it out

Add Letters site has now got a Naploeon Dynamite Wallpaper Generator on their site - always a bit fun being a twit!

I’ve been on the search for years for a modern and quality made keyboard. Ever since the late 80’s I had the most rock solid IBM keyboard that still works a treat. Currrently I run a HIPER SE Alloy keyboard. It has a simple yet effective set of multimedia controls, it’s tough and looks a treat. The construction is awesome, the keys are shit-house! For the big bucks I spent, it’s a waste.

Well over a year ago, I thought I came across the keyboard I was after. It has everything! Cool intelligent design, years of R&D, it’s Full Size, the keys are interchangeable, without lifting a key - how? the keys are little tiny screens that can be programmed for your fave s/w eg: Photoshop keyboard layout with a settings change. Also means cool little things like when hitting “shift” or “caps lock” the keys letters change case to suit. Keys are programmable and animatable, board is Full Size [I can’t mention this enough], the design and construction looks awesome.

I could go on with all the specs, bells and whistles, but you can read up on that yourself. They’ll be finally available around December/Jan, but be warned, at over 1500US bucks, my dream of owning one is just that…

Optimus Maximus information by Art. Lebedev Studio’s Russia

If the makers of OM Keyboard would like to send me a sample to test, then by all means, plz do… hint hint!!

I see this over and over again with users of Photoshop, both beginners and experienced. Somewhere along the line the education of PS was lost and it’s got me fucked how? In all the years I’ve tutored PS, I have NEVER pointed anyone towards the clear or delete section. Why would you want to delete information from a file when you could mask it out with the option to “tweek” “re-edit” and “refine” your work?

I’m in the process of writing a tutorial on the “proper” “professional” way to use layer masks with ease and a look that no-one could “flame” you over… [ EDIT: Here it is — Tutorial on Masking ]

In the meantime, if I hear of you deleting or clearing your image/selection, I’ll send the boys around…

If a sign is posted on someone’s back, it’s offical - you can kick them!

Kick a Designer Today - complete with instructions.

If the graphic designer chooses Helvetica for a font, ask for Arial. If he chooses Arial, ask for Comic Sans. If he chooses Comic Sans, he’s already half-insane, so your job’s half done.

Ghisroy.com has 8 easy steps on sending your Graphic Designer absolutely MAD!

Try it for yourself - It works!

I am currently playing with Adobe CS3 Master Collection and will post a review soon. The new tools are looking the goods, or are they? As much as the splash screens have a consistant design flavour, they don’t say ANYTHING about the s/w or heritage of design…

Watch ya back Ronald!…

Today I’d like to show you how to change a specific colour of an image into another colour without the use of complex masks, lasso selections or layers. No Way!? you say; Yes Way I say, and the easy way…

For this example I will be using a Mountain Bike and changing the “out-of-date” Orange colour of the frame to a colour I’d like see the bike painted in…

See the secrets of colour replacement unleashed here

Method Studios create some sweet ads. This Sk8 ad from Nike is a great example of simple effective and clever design. This one they did for Pepsi looks like a blast. I love pinball…

It’s good to giggle at ads!