Each month, we bring together a selection of the best tutorials and articles from across the whole Tuts+ network. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favourite site, or would like to start learning something completely new, this is the best place to start!
Psdtuts+ — Photoshop Tutorials
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Create a Heroic Firefighter Painting in Photoshop
Firefighters do so much to help keep us safe. In this tutorial, we will honor our firefighters by creating a digital painting that depicts a firefighter coming to the rescue. Let’s get started!
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Why You’re Not as Popular as You Should Be
With so many artists competing for the same work, getting noticed can be a challenging task. As the editor of Psdtuts+, I have had the opportunity to interact with some exceptionally talented artists and designers from all over the world. This proximity to so many artists has given me a unique perspective, and over the years, I have been able to make a lot of observations about what it takes for artists to increase their visibility and to raise their online profiles. In this article, I wanted to share several reasons why you might not be getting as much attention as you should.
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Create an Adorable Children’s Illustration
What child wouldn’t love a real-life teddy bear to have as a friend? In this tutorial, we will show you how to create an adorable children’s illustration using digital painting techniques in Photoshop. Let’s get started!
Nettuts+ — Web Development
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Round Table #1: Should Exceptions Ever be Used for Flow Control?
I’m pleased to release our first ever round table, where we place a group of developers in a locked room (not really), and ask them to debate one another on a single topic. In this first entry, we discuss exceptions and flow control.
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Pro Workflow in Laravel and Sublime Text
Not too long ago, I built a handful of generators for Laravel, which ease the process of various tasks. Today, thanks to help from Gaurav Narula, we’re turning things up a notch with the release of a new Sublime Text plugin that leverages the power of Artisan and the generators from directly within your editor.
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The Command Line is Your Best Friend
The command line can either be your best friend, or your worst enemy. It simply depends on how you use it, and what you use it for. If you’re one of the many people who cringe at the mere thought of using the command line, then you’ve come to the right place!
Vectortuts+ — Illustrator Tutorials
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How to Create a Stylish Deer with Brushes and Graphic Styles in Adobe Illustrator
In this tutorial we are going to draw a deer with custom Art Brushes, Graphic Styles and Blends in Adobe Illustrator, all of them created by us, so let’s get started.
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Quick Tip: How to Create Dynamic Labels Using the Convert to Shape Effect
Learn how to create text labels using Illustrator effects. Once you create this effect, you can apply it to any text and the size will update automatically.
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How to Create a Seamless Bird Pattern with Retro Touch in Illustrator
In this tutorial you will learn how to create a series of minimalist and stylized birds and create a seamless pattern from them. The tutorial is aimed at users of Adobe Illustrator CS5 and below, since in CS6 creating patterns has become easier and more intuitive. In the second part we will then use this pattern for what could be a poster background and apply some effects to give it a retro look.
Webdesigntuts+ — Web Design Tutorials
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Your Logo, as a Web Font Ligature
Let’s look at an alternative approach for displaying logos on a web page. Normally, you’ll approach the challenge by using an img tag. Perhaps you’ll use image replacement through CSS, perhaps you’ll even venture into SVG files, but have you considered what’s possible by designing your own web font ligature?
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How They Did It: The Accessibility Project
Perhaps you, or someone you know, has experienced the difficulties of computer interaction for the impaired. In general, operating systems and software suites have made provisions for accessibility for hearing-impaired audience, vision-impaired audience, and internationalization; however, the open web hasn’t caught up as quickly. Many sites ignore accessibility completely.
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Fireworks in the Real World
There’s a very good chance you know what Adobe Fireworks is, especially if you regularly use Photoshop or any of the other Adobe products. There’s an equally good chance you’ve never really taken the opportunity to see how it can help your web design workflow, even if you’ve always meant to. This session is here to put that right. Follow Leigh Howells as he demonstrates exactly what Fireworks can do for you in the real world.
Phototuts+ — Photography Tutorials
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How to Shoot Video on Your Canon Rebel
The explosion of filmmaking since its democratization in 2008 has meant increasingly cheap ways of exploring the possibilities of motion pictures. One of the most popular cameras in recent times for beginners to start shooting on is the Canon Rebel series. Today, I’m going to take a look at the basics of getting your Rebel rolling, and provide some ideas on how to improve and develop those first attempts.
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How to Turn a Photograph into a Dynamic Panograph
Panography was created to depict the way we naturally see. The way our eyes pick up on the details of a place or subject, then arrange them into a single image. The scale of detail you choose to create depends on the final image you see. Today, we’re going to take the style and techniques of panography and apply it to images we’ve already taken.
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Understanding & Using Ansel Adam’s Zone System
The Zone System is an approach to a standardized way of working that guarantees a correct exposure in every situation, even in the trickiest lighting conditions such as back lighting, extreme difference between light and shadow areas of a scene, and many similar conditions that are most likely going to throw off your camera’s metering giving you a completely incorrect exposure.
Cgtuts+ — Computer Graphics Tutorials
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Creating an Advanced Multi-Character Rig for Futurama’s Bender in Maya – Part 1
We’re kicking March off right with a great tutorial from Shaun Keenan where you’ll learn how to create an advanced multi-character rig for Futurama’s Bender. In this series, Shaun will show you how to create a truly versatile and production friendly rig in Maya capable of a staggering set of options and a huge amount of control.
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Create a Fake Razer Blade Gaming Laptop Ad with 3D Studio Max, Cinema 4D & AE – Part 1
Today we’re excited to launch an ambitious new tutorial series from Stefan Surmabojov spanning both Cgtuts+ and Aetuts+. Over the course of this seven part series, you’ll be guided through the entire process of creating a high quality advertising spot for a Razer gaming laptop from the ground up.
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Low-Poly Paper Tree Creation & GI Baking in Cinema 4D
In this tutorial Aleksey Vozeneski will walk you through how to model a low poly tree in Cinema 4D and how to achieve that paper look that is becoming quite popular these days. He’ll then move on and show you how to bake Global Illumination, so that render times can be significantly reduced and your scene will be production ready.
Aetuts+ — After Effects Tutorials
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Make a Magnificent Magnifying Glass That Really Works
In this tutorial we are going to create a beautiful Magnifying Glass in After Effects. Using just one null object as a Controller we will be able to change all the parameters: Size, Distance, Rotation, Blur, Shadow, and Background. Everything is going to be automatic, and this will save you a bunch of time when animating!
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Download A Free Tool for Making Animated Alphabet Blocks
Do you want to create a fun video for kids in just a few minutes? Check out this free After Effects® project file that will help you create words in any language and animate them in a colorful way. The project template is set up with a visual interface that makes it easy for beginner After Effects® users to customize. Take a look at the video tutorial for an overview of the template options, and get ready to spark your viewer’s imagination!
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How to Animate Retro Pixel Art in After Effects
Pixel drawings are really small compared to an HD video canvas. This tutorial explores the common failure points when bringing your pixel artwork into a 1080p comp in After Effects. Scaling and looping are covered as well as a workflow for preparing your frames for animation in the free sprite editor ASEprite and Adobe Photoshop.
Audiotuts+ — Audio & Production Tutorials
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Mixing With Headphones
For some people it is not practical to use loudspeakers to mix their music tracks. It might be that their neighbours are easily disturbed, or their acoustic environment is not up to scratch. Despite the fact it is not usually recommended, many people make decent mixdowns using only headphones.
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Extracting MIDI from Audio in Ableton Live 9
Ableton Live 9 has arrived, and among its new features is the ability to convert melody and drums into MIDI. In this tutorial we show you how to use these features, as well as some of their limitations.
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Setting Up Your MIDI Controller Inside Studio One
Studio One 2.5 is quickly becoming my go to DAW in my studio. If you are new to Studio One or are using the free version PreSonus has made available, I want to show you how you can quickly set up you MIDI controller inside of Studio One, if it is not in the list of preset devices.
Wptuts+ — WordPress Tutorials
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Check Out the New Recommended Resources on Wptuts+
We’ve added a new page to the site, which will help WordPress pros grab top quality software, tools and services. It’s filled with our favorite WordPress resources. You can jump straight over to our Recommended Resources page here on Wptuts+ or read on for further information.
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A Beginner’s Guide to Enqueuing jQuery
In this post, we’re going to review a few concepts around jQuery and WordPress to make sure that we, as developers, are not only working to build our products correctly, but that we also know how to properly diagnose problems as they arise in our customer’s sites.
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Cross-Site Scripting in WordPress: What Is XSS?
In this two part series, we’re going to take a look at what cross-site scripting really is, its dangers, how it impacts WordPress development, and then practical steps that we can take for testing our themes and plugins.
Mobiletuts+ — Mobile Development Tutorials
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Geofencing with Core Location
With the release of iOS 4, the Core Location framework received a significant update by providing support for geofencing. Not only can an application be notified when the device enters or exits a geofence, the operating system also notifies when the application is in the background. This addition to the Core Location framework fits neatly in Apple’s endeavor to support multitasking on iOS. This opens up a number of possibilities, such as performing tasks in the background through geofencing and that is exactly what this tutorial is about.
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Create an Unblock Puzzle Game – Interface Creation
In this tutorial series, you’ll learn how to create an unblock puzzle game. The objective of the game is to clear the path for the square to get out. Read on!
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Decoding the iOS 6 SDK Available Now!
Rockable Press is proud to present our latest release: Decoding the iOS 6 SDK. Written by five seasoned iOS experts and packed with almost 500 pages of essential iOS 6 development fundamentals, this great new eBook will quickly get you up to speed with the iOS 6 SDK and all the fundamental changes that occurred to Xcode and the iOS device landscape in 2012. Get your copy now!
Gamedevtuts+ — Game Development
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3D Primer for Game Developers: An Overview of 3D Modeling in Games
Almost every major game released these days is made in 3D or uses a heavy amount of 3D assets. While there are still many games made in 2D, even platforms like Flash are now integrating 3D. In this bumper-length article I am going to explore what separates games from other mediums that use 3D art, and cover some of the important topics to consider when making 3D art for games.
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How to Learn Flixel
Flixel is a free and open source 2D game development framework written by Adam “Atomic” Saltsman (Canabalt, Hundreds) in AS3 for making Flash games. It is a very mature, flexible and robust library. In this article, we’ll introduce you to the platform and its capabilities, and share tutorials, plugins, and suggestions to get you started developing games with it.
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From Zero to Pitch: A Walkthrough for Game Designers
Would you believe me if I told you that after you finish reading and participating in the activities established in this article, you will have a game designed and ready to be developed? Yes, I know it sounds inconceivable, but trust me – this series of unconventional exercises will explain the workflow of designing a brand new game from zero to pitch.
Mactuts+ — Mac & OS X
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Quick Tip: Combine PDF Files in Preview
Have you wondered if it was possible to merge similar PDF files together into one file without downloading third-party software? Well, turns out you can–and it’s really simple, too! In this screencast we show you how to easily merge your PDFs into one document using Preview.
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Go Paperless With Doxie
If you’re wanting to reduce your paper clutter and digitise your old bank statements and receipts, a Doxie scanner is definitely the way to go. In this guide we’ll show you how to get the most from your Mac and Doxie.
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9 Hazel Rules to Increase Your Productivity
Hazel, a folder monitoring application, has long been a favorite among many a Mac enthusiast. Hazel will automatically take action on your files, using the rules you create, keeping your folders in order. If you’ve wished that all of your downloaded music or any other sort of files would just do what you wanted them to, using only the power of your mind, well, this is the next best thing. We’ll look step-by-step at how to create a rule from scratch and then set up nine rules you can customize for your needs.
Crafttuts+ — Craft & Handmade
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Make Your Own Mini Macrame Succulent Egg Decorations for Easter
I’ve been thinking about a simple and contemporary way to add a little Easter decoration to my home as I don’t really want bunnies and eggs everywhere! These mini succulent egg decorations fit the bill nicely for me with a bit of macrame, some dip-dying, cute succulents, and of course eggs.
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Transform an Old Sweater Into an Adorable Bunny Softie for Easter
Do you have a favourite sweater that you can’t wear anymore because it (a) shrunk in the dryer; (b) got a stain or (c) developed a hole? If you can answer ‘yes’ to one (or more) of the above, don’t despair. With this tutorial you will learn how to transform and re-purpose an old sweater (or a charity shop find) into a very sweet Easter bunny plush. Let’s get started.
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The Prettiest Egg Decorations to Make This Easter
Easter is just around the corner and this pretty project will inject some colour into your decor. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to dye brightly-coloured eggs and embellish them with sweet silhouettes. You can download our free silhouette pattern to make the project super-easy. Read on for the full instructions after the jump.
FreelanceSwitch — Freelance Jobs & Information
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40 Attention-Getting Post Topic Ideas for Your Freelancer’s Blog
Blogging is not a hard-sell environment. Readers expect to get useful information in posts, not pitches to hire you. So what can you write about? Quick tip: Provide useful or interesting information your prospects can use, and your readers will keep coming back — and some may end up becoming your clients. Here are 40 specific ideas for quick-and-easy blog topics that will attract quality prospects and then keep them interested.
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Google+ Networking: Circles and Communities
Social networking is all about staying in touch with friends and making new contacts. On Google Plus, you add friends by putting them into your circles. You meet new people by hanging out in Google Plus communities.
In this article, I give you a freelancer’s guide to who you should add to your circles, how to meet new people in communities, and how to use communities and circles as a marketing tool. -
The Incentives that Will Convince Subscribers to Sign Up for Your Email Newsletter
There are a lot of options on what incentives you can offer to potential readers. Before leaping in to creating any type of incentive piece, make sure you know exactly what will attract your audience. If necessary, survey a few of the people you’d most like to sign up for your list about what they really need.
Tuts+ Premium — Creative & Technical Skills
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WordPress Widgets: Front To Back
In this course, we’ll review the process of building custom WordPress widgets using the WordPress API and advanced development techniques. This course begins at ground zero, and assumes that you have no experience with WordPress widget development. Stick with me for a few hours, and you’ll learn a lot! Let’s get to it.
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Django Unchained
In this course, join me, Christopher Roach, as I walk you through the creation of a simple Hacker News clone. Along the way, you’ll learn all the basics, including working with views, templates, the ORM, and even some of the more powerful features of the framework, like setting up the admin app and handling AJAX calls.
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Digital Drawing Fundamentals
Whether you’re an ambitious illustrator or an experienced designer, almost everyone wants to improve their traditional drawing skills. Kirk Nelson is here to do just that! As an experienced digital painter and designer, Kirk walks you through the building blocks of digital drawing, shapes and shading, composing and perspective, and much more. Grab your tablet or stylus and let’s get started.
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