This tutorial is based around creating an entertaining Flash puzzle game, inspired by Frenzic. You’ll walk through the entire process from interface design, line-by-line actionscript and final deployment.
By Carlos Yanez
Category: tutplus
Building Android Apps with Flex (Android)
This tutorial is 20 seconds shy of 60 minutes taking you from the beginning to end of building an Android application using the Flex framework and Adobe® Air®. In this tutorial, the application that we are going to be building allows a potential home buyer to input the name, price, and realtor’s phone number into the application. It then gets the location using the GPS and allows the user to take a photo of the house.
In this video you will learn:
Creating a Flex mobile project.
Building the application UI in mxml.
Creating data objects to provide a consistent way to pass data to and from the different views.
How to connect to the devices GPS and get the lon and lat.
How to connect to the devices native camera app to take a picture and store it in the gallery.
How to create a local SQLite database to store all the information that the user inputs in the app.
Create a class to handle all the reading and writing to the SQLite database.
Create and dispatch a custom event to pass data back from the SQLite database class.
How to call the phone app and populate it with the realtor’s number.
How to call the Google Maps app on the phone and pass in the location that is stored.
How to display all this information in a list with data bindings and label functions.
Although you do not need to know Flex and Actionscript3, it will help. This is not a tutorial teaching you Flex or Actionscript3.
You can do much of the debugging of this app on your desktop but if you want to try GPS and the camera, you will need an Android device.
In this tutorial I use Flash Builder 4.5 which you can get a free 60 day trial from adobe.com
This tutorial will take you from creating the project to running the app on a phone.
All the source code will be provided in with the tutorial but I highly encourage you to watch the video and program it on your own. I believe that the best way to learn is by doing and that is why I choose to build an application instead of just doing a video giving you various code snippets.
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Design a Retro Typographic Poster in Photoshop (Adobe Photoshop)
Using modern technology to achieve a vintage or retro look can be a bit challenging. In this tutorial, author Alex Beltechi will demonstrate how to give shiny 3D renderings a nice vintage feel. This tutorial will spend quite a bit of time in Cinema 4D, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
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The Ultimate Press Release Swipe File (Business)
The Ultimate Press Release Swipe File: 50 Templates That You Can Use to Get Your Business Media Exposure Today
Have you ever wanted to get exposure for your business, website, charity or project but not sure what hook or story angle would interest the media?
Well, The Ultimate Press Release Swipe File is the solution.
Filled with over 199 hooks and headlines that you can swipe and implement into your next press release, this guide has been designed to help eliminate any procrastination or mental blocks you might have when coming up with a new angle for your media exposure campaigns.
Just sit down, turn to one of the pages of the book and you will be presented with a newsworthy headline, hook, rationale as to why this is a killer story idea, and examples that you can legally swipe and use today.
It’s just like having your own publicist on retainer feeding you new story ideas every day.
Download The Ultimate Press Release Swipe File (Business)
Advanced Photoshop Hair Selection – Video Tutorial (Photo Manipulation)
A A 35 minute video tutorial, explaining in detail the secrets of selecting and masking hair in Photoshop!
The video is 1200×900 resolution, so you can see everything that’s going on (preview is widescreen) clearly.
Throughout this video tutorial, I explain in depth how to go about effectively selecting and masking hair in Photoshop. Hair selection has always been one of the most tricky things to do, and even though Photoshop has some amazing mask tools, it can still be very difficult.
However after watching this video tutorial on hair selection and masking, you will be sure to have a much better grasp at the possibilities Photoshop gives, and the best ways to go about your hair selection problems!
Along with the video, you also get the exact same image that have been worked in the video, so you can follow the tutorial in exact detail!
The following topics are covered:
- Using channels to select hair.
- Creating custom channels and manipulating them.
- Refining selections with the Mask Edge tool.
- Getting rid of black edges.
- Using Colour Range selection for hair masking.
- Easy ways to change background colours.
- And more!
Music in preview courtesy of Alexander Blu (http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/946)
Download Advanced Photoshop Hair Selection – Video Tutorial (Photo Manipulation)
Media Strategies for Internet Marketers (Business)
Would you like to get more qualified traffic to your website and increase your conversion rate – for free?
Publicity in real world media – such as newspapers, magazines and trade journals – is the best endorsement you can possibly get for your online business or blog.
In Media Strategies for Internet Marketers, entrepreneur Pete Williams passes on proven methods to help you generate the publicity and exposure you deserve, including:
• professionally writing and distributing your own press releases
• pitching your own article to the media and get published
• reliable techniques to capture the attention of journalists and editors
• ‘The Halo Effect’, and why it is the best testimonial even money can’t buy
• and how you can achieve all of this without putting in any extra time, money or effort!
Media Strategies for Internet Marketers is an essential read for any online business owner, blogger or niche marketer looking to maximise profit for minimal cost.
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Coastal Photography Master Class: Part 2 (Shooting)
He visits the historic port of Charles Town and shows us how he visualizes and captures an image of a boat in the bay with cliffs, beach and the old harbour steps in the foreground.
In this video of Charles Town, Simon “adds the magic” to the image and experiments by using a techniques he admits to never using before on a landscape image. And using several selective adjustment layers he builds up the image while all the time keeping in mind the image’s focal point.
Download Coastal Photography Master Class: Part 2 (Shooting)
Coastal Photography Master Class: Part 1 (Shooting)
Simon Plant visits the historic port of Charlestown and shows us how he visualizes and captures an image of a boat in the bay with cliffs, beach and the old harbour steps in the foreground.
He explains his choice of lens and how he is going to capture everything in shot by stitching two images together.
In post production, Simon chats about some of his shooting philosophies like “shoot on location, edit at home” while he goes through the images.This is followed by processing in camera raw and stitching two images together.
Download Coastal Photography Master Class: Part 1 (Shooting)
Creating Time-Lapse Video with your DSLR: Part 2 (Shooting)
Today, we’re continuing our exploration into shooting and processing time-lapse photography. In the last installment, we covered what time-laspe is, common styles shot with it and few programs used to merge the photos into a video. Today, we’ll explore your equipment options, how to setup your camera to achieve the best results, and how to have the most control over your time lapse by processing it in After Effects.
Equipment
First of all we need a DSLR camera, I personally suggest you to choose between Canon and Nikon. It is very important to have the option to shoot in RAW format because it gives you the opportunity to make significant changes later on in post-production. The megapixels are not as important since nowadays most of the cameras are 12 megapixels and above and this is more than enough. In most of the cases, you are going to down convert the footage to full HD 1920×1080. A final note regarding the camera, be sure it gives you full manual control over ISO , aperture, white balance and shutter speed. This is key when choosing a camera especially for time lapse purposes.
Choosing the right shutter speed
If you shoot fast moving objects like cars use slow shutter speeds like 1/10 or less in day time and 4-6 seconds exposure time in night conditions. This will make the fast moving objects blurry and recreate the feeling of fast moving objects, because if you shoot with a fast shutter the final video will look choppy and not realistic. If you shoot a time lapse of clouds, you can use 1/30 or 1/40 so the clouds are sharp enough and still a bit blurry if they are moving fast this will make the videos more organic and make them look like they are shot with a video camera instead of still camera.
Editing the pictures using Camera Raw and After Effects (advanced workflow)
Finally, it is time to edit all the images we shot for our time lapse. Here I am going to show you an advanced workflow between Camera Raw and After Effects in order to increase the quality of your final video. For this example, you can work both with RAW files or simple JPG files which can be opened and manipulated in Camera Raw. First of all, you need to open Adobe Bridge and set up some settings because in different versions the default settings can vary slightly. Open Bridge and go to File and choose Camera Raw Preferences…
Exporting the finished time-lapse from After Effects
It is time to export our finished time lapse. First, click on the bottom panel where you’ll see a timeline. Select it and go to Composition and choose “Make Movie.”
Then you need to click on the Output Module which says Custom: AVI to choose file format. A new dialog window will appear and from there you can choose your desired file format for export. I’m going to choose Quicktime because it is most comfortable for me…
Download Creating Time-Lapse Video with your DSLR: Part 2 (Shooting)
Getting Good with JavaScript (Web Development)
Includes source files plus over 6 hours of screencasts!
JavaScript has become one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. This book will get acquainted with what JavaScript; what it is, where it came from, and most importantly – how to code it!
Ever wanted to liven up a web design with Javascript but not known where to start? In Getting Good with JavaScript author Andrew Burgess breaks down programming in JavaScript into easy, straight-fowrad terms and exercizes.
It’s hard to find a place where JavaScript won’t run, and though the overwhelming majority of JavaScript—especially the JavaScript you’ll be writing in this book—will be in web pages, JavaScript is used not only in web browsers, but also desktop apps, mobile phone apps, and now even on the server, so you definitely won’t be wasting your time Getting Good with JavaScript!
to run in the browser.
After getting started in Chapter 1, we’ll cover the basics in Chapters 2 and 3. You’ll learn all about the core syntax: what to actually type. Chapter 4 will cover many best practices and important concepts for writing JavaScript. Then, in Chapter 5, I’ll introduce you to the basics of writing JavaScript that interacts with web pages.
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Magento Theming: Up and Running (PHP)
Getting started with Magento themes is far more intimidating than it needs to be. This tutorial will get you familiar with Magento’s theming file structure, how Magento makes your life easier with a theme fallback system, and how to use layout configuration files.
This tutorial consists of a 15 minute HD screencast.
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Thread’s Not Dead: Guide to Shirt Design Business (Business)
Thread’s Not Dead is the essential strategy guide to the t-shirt design business. Written by successful designer and entrepreneur Jeff Finley of Go Media. Learn the secrets and strategies employed by the industry’s most successful indie apparel designers and brands.
Whether you want to design merchandise for your favorite bands or indie clothing companies or start your own fashion brand, this book has it all. 117 pages of insight to help artists and designers dominate the apparel industry. Featuring contributions from the people behind Threadless, Emptees, Design by Humans, Big Cartel, I Am the Trend, Go Media, Jakprints, Glamour Kills, Paint the Stars, Cure Apparel, Fright Rags, and more!
Download a FREE CHAPTER by Tweeting
What’s Inside…
- Beautifully designed PDF eBook
- Includes .epub and .mobi versions
- Audiobook narrated by the author
- Bonus Goodies like Photoshop Brushes, Actions, Vectors, Textures, and Shirt Mockup Templates
- A Lifetime Discount Code to http://arsenal.gomedia.us
Table of Contents
- An Artist with a Dream
- Freelancing
- Designing for Tees
- Design Techniques and Tutorials
- Printing and Production
- Branding and Marketing
- Sales and Fulfillment
- Going Big Time
- Conclusions and Next Actions
- Case Studies and Interviews
Is it worth $50?
Yes of course! But, don’t take my word for it, here’s what others have to say.
“The book is informative in all the right ways. It’s inspiring, and it provides a mentorship that makes this book worth more than its asking price.” – Fausto Garcia
“If you are starting a clothing company please just absorb purchasing this e-book into your costs because you drop the money for it but! I guarantee that this book will help you avoid smaller problems and make it worth the cost and some!” – Chase Bachtell
Read more testimonials: http://threadsnotdead.com/vip/reviews.html
About the Author
Jeff Finley is a designer and co-owner of Go Media. An Ohio native, he has a background in illustration and cg animation and has a passion for business, marketing, social media, and building communities around brands. He’s been designing professionally since 2004 and got his start working with punk rock bands and indie clothing brands. Jeff was one of the original members of the t-shirt design community Emptees and won t-shirt of the year in 2007. In addition to designing shirts for major label bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and even Britney Spears, he has designed and consulted with several indie apparel brands like Declaration, Disciple, Cure Apparel, Paint the Stars and more. He’s also founder of Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, a grassroots art, design, and music event in Cleveland.
Contributors
Justin Kamerer (Angryblue), Matt Wigham (Big Cartel, Emptees), Rob Dobi (FullBleed), Richard Minino (Horsebites), Jeffrey Kalmikoff (Threadless), Marc Hemeon (Design by Humans), Ben Scrivens (Fright Rags), Dave Pearson (Paint the Stars), Maxx242, Adam Hendle (I am the Trend), Brandon Rike, Munk One, Jamie Tallerico (American Eagle Outfitters), Jon Kruse (How to Start a Clothing Company), Mark Capicotto (Glamor Kills), Rikki B, LT Magnotto (Jakprints), and Kelly Kiernan (Cure Apparel)
Download Thread’s Not Dead: Guide to Shirt Design Business (Business)
Next-Gen Armored Car: Part 6 Diffuse Texturing (Autodesk Maya)
Over the course of this 7 day series. Artist Shray Khanna will guide you through the entire process of creating a next-gen, low poly vehicle using Maya and Photoshop.
Throughout the series, Shray covers the complete next-gen pipeline in detail. Starting off with low poly modeling in parts 1 & 2, and then moving onto uv mapping, high poly modeling, baking, texture creation and finally lighting and rendering. This series is a must read for any artist interested in video game development and asset creation.
Tutorial Series Details
- Author: Shray Khanna
- Software: Autodesk Maya
- Software: Autodesk 3D Studio Max
- Software: Adobe Photoshop
- Software: xNormal (Free)
- Difficulty: Intermediate
Other Parts In This Series
Download Next-Gen Armored Car: Part 6 Diffuse Texturing (Autodesk Maya)
Getting The Ultimate Guitar Sound – Part 6 (Guitar)
Bobby Owsinski continues his series on getting the ultimate guitar sound. Bobby has spent a lifetime achieving just that, and the series is based on his new book, The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook.
Many acoustic guitar’s sound great in the tracking room but don’t sound nearly the same way when they’re recorded. In this series, based around my new book The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook (written with Rich Tozzoli), I’ll outline why acoustic and electric guitars, amplifiers, speaker cabinets and effects sound the way they do, and the best way to record and mix them after you’ve gotten the sound. In Part 6 of this series, we’ll look the factors that give an acoustic guitar its tone.
Table of Contents
- The Wood
- The Guitar Back And Sides
- The Soundboard
- Body Size
- Dreadnought
- Jumbo
- Mini-Jumbo
- Small Body
- Cutaways
- Guitar Aging
Download Getting The Ultimate Guitar Sound – Part 6 (Guitar)
Create a Media Player and Playlist (HTML5)
With such a prevalent medium like video on the web it may be a matter of time before you need to build a video section with playlist and player. By using javascript (in this case the jQuery framework) a flash player and the new HTML5 data attribute you can easily create a playlist that when clicked will load the video into the specified player without refreshing the page.