The Best of Tuts+ – June 2010

June was a stellar month for Tuts+. Mobiletuts+ had recently launched and started off with some great iPhone and Andriod development tutorials. Creative Sessions focused on Digital Illustration this month and started gearing up for July’s Interface Design session. During June a survey was run across all of Tuts+ to give our readers the opportunity to provide some feedback, over 7000 people participated and one was lucky enough to win a $250 Amazon Voucher. Here’s a small sample of the best from Tuts+ this month!

Activetuts+ – Flash, Flex and Actionscript Tutorials

  • Personal Portfolio Flash Template – Active Premium

    It’s time for some more Active Premium goodies, exclusively available to Premium members. This time, an XML-based Flash Personal Portfolio template is waiting for you to download; read on to check out the demo and find out more about subscribing to Active Premium!

    Continue Reading

  • Advanced Character Customization for Flash Games

    In this tutorial, we’ll delve into Flash game character customization. The result can be used to provide players with the ability to create a unique character, beyond the basic dress-up options of most games. We’ll learn how to let the user add custom colors to different parts of our character, how to add hand-drawn designs to the character’s clothing, and how to modify a basic walking animation that uses the player’s changes.

    Continue Reading

  • Interview with Chris Gross, Plus (Winner Announced) SourceMate License Giveaway!

    SourceMate is a new plugin for FlashBuilder which promises to add a lot of “missing” features some of us have taken for granted in other IDEs.Read on to hear SourceMate Architect Chris Gross answer some questions about the product, plus find out how you can win a free license!

    Continue Reading

Aetuts+ – Adobe After Effects Tutorials

  • Create A Growing Text Animation – Quick Tip

    This is a quick tutorial showing an animation idea if you ever need to animate lots of photos with tag lines. I’ll touch on “Beam” and “Auto-Trace” within After Effect and get you started on creating your own beautiful project!

    Continue Reading

  • Fluidic Designs Using Particular

    This tutorial is based on the Hyundai i45 tv commercial. The effect is rain falling in the shape of various designs, onto a vehichle. The tvc uses a real-world rain rig with a computer driven water delivery system, however we will be showing you how to create the same effect using only After Effects and Particular.

    Continue Reading

  • 41 MORE Killer Typography Works

    I know, I know, I am a day late, but I have quite a good reason… Thank you all for the well wishes, and since I love our readers so much, I was able to finish up this week’s article just for you guys. It’s another roundup of some amazing works of typographical art, that I really think that you are gonna like! You might see that I included one from the comments of last week, so if you have something that you think is worthy… stick it in the comments!

    Continue Reading

Audiotuts+ – Audio and Production Tutorials

  • How to Make the Synth Sound from Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance”

    In this tutorial we are going to cover how to create Lady Gaga’s famous synth sound from “Just Dance”. Despite all the advancements in sound synthesis, sometimes the best sounds are the ones that are most simple. In fact the basis for the entire sound is one simple square wave!

    Continue Reading

  • Open Mic: Tell Us About the Tuts You’d Like to See on Audiotuts+

    What specific topics would you like to see covered in tutorials? Do you prefer written tuts, screencasts, or a mix? And what general areas would you like to see covered: DAW techniques, music theory, how to play an instrument, how to create specific sounds, how to make money with music, something different? Do you have any other suggestions? What can we do to keep you happy and make your day?

    Continue Reading

  • So You Think You’ve Finished Mixing? A Guide to Preparing Your Mix for Mastering

    You know what it feels like to finish a mix. Having spent hours, possibly days, perfecting your track to the nth degree, it feels great to finally have a song to be proud of after all the hard work and effort. But what if you took your mix just that little bit further. Before the crucial mastering stage, there are some very simple, and often overlooked, practices and techniques which can be applied to your mix in order to make sure your track stands out from the crowd and better yet, your final master is as good as it possibly can be.

    Continue Reading

Cgtuts+ – CG and 3D Tutorials

  • Model and Texture a Water Tower in 3ds Max – Day 1

    In the first part of this tutorial, the modeling and texturing process is covered in detail, starting with the creation of a proxy model inside of 3ds max. During this stage we will block out the tower structure using simple geometry and then go through the process of adding resolution and detail, creating an aged weathered look. We’ll make use of some simple poly modeling techniques as well as Max’s paint deformation tools to create the desired effect.

    Continue Reading

  • The Cgtuts+ E3 Games Roundup!

    Being in the CG realm of creativity, I know a lot of you are probably really into games, and probably even have worked on a few of them. I decided to make a nice list of a lot of the games mentioned or announced this past week at the E3 conference, so you can stay up to date, whether or not you followed it.

    Continue Reading

  • Composite a 3D object into video footage with Boujou, Maya and After Effects

    Matchmoving is a visual effects technique that allows the insertion of computer graphics into video footage. In this tutorial we’ll start by taking a look at how we can track our footage using Boujou. We’ll then jump into Maya and use that tracking information, along with a custom HDR image, to create and render a 3D object which we can insert into the scene. We’ll then use After Effects to composite the 3D object into the original video. The techniques used in this tutorial can be applied to almost almost all of your 3D integration shots.

    Continue Reading

Mobiletuts+ – iPhone, Android, Windows and Blackberry Mobile Development Tutorials

  • Introduction to iPhone SDK Development

    Mobiletuts+ will be covering all major mobile platforms – iPhone, Windows, Android and Blackberry. This tutorial looks at development with the iPhone SDK. You will learn information about the iPhone platform, how to setup and configure your development environment, and the steps necessary to create a simple fortune cookie application!

    Continue Reading

  • Introduction to Android Development

    Mobiletuts+ will be covering all major mobile platforms – iPhone, Windows, Android and Blackberry. Today we’ll be taking a look at Android development: explaining why people have choosen to work with Android and providing an overview of the Eclipse IDE and its Java, DDMS and debugging perspectives. Finally, you’ll learn how to get started making your first Android app!

    Continue Reading

  • HTML5 Apps: Positioning with Geolocation

    At the heart of every location-based application is positioning and geolocation. In this tutorial you will learn the geolocation capabilities of HTML5 and the basic principles needed to take advantage of them in your next HTML5 app!

    Continue Reading

Nettuts+ – Web Development Tutorials

  • The 10 HTML Tags Beginners Aren’t Using

    Let’s go back to the basics for this one. Everyone reading this at least knows what HTML is. I believe that, no matter what experience level someone has, reviewing the foundation can help increase knowledge. It also helps to hone skills, especially with the constantly evolving technologies that drives the Internet.

    Continue Reading

  • Inspiration: 40 Unique Footer Designs

    For this week’s stream of inspiration, we’ve collected forty fantastically creative and unique footer designs.

    Continue Reading

  • How to Authenticate Users With Facebook Connect

    Lately, there’s been quite a fuzz about lazy registration. It turns out that the less the user has to think, the higher the conversion rates are! What a thought! If everybody seems to have a Facebook profile, why not add a one-click user registration? I’ll show you how to do that today.

    Continue Reading

Phototuts+ – Photography and post-processing Tutorials

  • 7 Items You Never Thought to Bring to a Shoot

    Today, we’re taking a look at some of the less-obvious items that you may not consider bringing to a photo shoot. Some are tiny things, others are big – all of them will help to make any photography shoot go far smoother!

    Continue Reading

  • The Ultimate Beginner’s Introduction to Exposure

    Today we’ll be walking through the concept of exposure, right from the beginning. This article won’t befuddle you with complicated numbers and jargon, but it will help you feel more confident with your photography and understand a core concept that’s a vital piece of the photography jigsaw.

    Continue Reading

  • DIY: How To Make a Professional Softbox for Under $2

    Nowadays a softbox needn’t be all that expensive – you can get nice results for $100 or even less. But what if there’s a way of making it much cheaper, with the same results? That’s what we’ll be explaining in this DIY tutorial; how to make a softbox with professional results for less than $20.

    Continue Reading

Psdtuts+ – Adobe Photoshop Tutorials

  • Create a Cosmic Love Goddess With Photoshop CS5

    Photoshop CS5 includes several new features to help improve your workflow. In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a cosmic love goddess using some of Photoshop CS5?s new tools including the Refine Edge Feature which really helps to streamline the process of masking and removing objects from their background.

    Continue Reading

  • Design a Multimedia Website Layout in Photoshop

    First impressions do count! Stunning our viewers with a visually compelling portfolio is one of the most important things that a designer can do to court a new client. Today we will demonstrate how to use photos, brushes, and textures, and 3D objects to design a creative multimedia website layout in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

    Continue Reading

  • More Than 620 Bokeh Background Textures

    As I’m sure you already know, textures can come in very handy; whether you’re using them to subtly add interest to your work, or in full-blown, award-winning photo manipulations. Bokeh is the term used to explain the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur in photography, and is usually seen in good quality macro shots, in the areas that lay outside the depth of field.

    Continue Reading

Vectortuts+ – Adobe Illustrator and Vector Tutorials

  • Create a Detailed, Vector-based iPhone Illustration, Part 1

    In this tutorial you will learn how to create a photo-realistic iPhone illustration and every single icon you can find on the iPhone touch screen. That’s 18 icons! With so many fantastic tips and tricks we’ve broken the tutorial into two parts, in part two you will learn how to make the remainder of the icons and finish your illustration. Let’s get started!

    Continue Reading

  • Quick Tip: A Simple Way to Create Vector Fog

    In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a simple yet effective smoke-like illustration. Using this technique you can make smoke, fog and clouds in just a few easy steps. Let’s get started!

    Continue Reading

  • Inspiration: 35 Amazing Vector Landscapes

    Landscapes aren’t necessarily the first thing that come to mind when one thinks of vector artwork. After all, landscapes are often very nuanced and hold a wide variety of shapes, colors, and patterns that can be difficult to mimic in a vector image. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some incredibly talented vector artists out there creating beautiful landscapes, some of which are almost photo-realistic (especially if viewed from a distance).

    Continue Reading

Creative Sessions

  • Realistic Vecyor Motorcycle Portaits

    Every semester, in my Illustrator classes, my students always want to know how I create the Motorcycle Portraits I am known for. I often give them a brief explanation, but I have never really sat down and described the process in detail…until now. My approach to getting a “realistic” look in my work is a bit tedious, but I think you will agree that the end results are well worth it. Enjoy!

    Continue Reading

  • The Making of Lost – Part 1

    A key to succeed in following this tutorial series is to experiment. I will be teaching the basic techniques but in order to create a strong composition and attractive shapes, you will need to alter the settings, change/redo splines and experiment with other effects. Patience and determination are mandatory skills for any artist. So let’s get started!

    Continue Reading

  • Scratching your Niche Market

    As opposed to discussing just the specific techniques used to target a precise niche market, I would like to start off with a few overarching thoughts. I will cover some basic, yet very useful principles to keep in mind for the bigger picture (Get it? ‘Bigger picture,’ like your career – hehe), and then supply a case study of how I have used them in my work.

    Continue Reading

FreelanceSwitch – Freelance Jobs & Freelancer Directory

  • 18 Smokin’ Hot Business Card Designs

    A good business card design is an essential tool in any freelancer’s arsenal. When you’re at a function networking, meeting new clients, or your work comes up in a conversation, your card is the anchor to make sure the discussion doesn’t come to nothing.

    Continue Reading

  • 5 Ways to Fire A Client

    There are just some clients who you no longer want to work with. It could be that the client in question is difficult to work with or it could be more a matter that you’ve moved on from the type of work you’ve been doing for that client. Whether you’ve only done a little work for the client or you’ve been together a long time, it’s never easy to fire a client. Not only do you have to get past the freelancer’s natural reluctance to give up money, but you’ve got to make the break in such a way that the client will still speak positively about you to other prospective clients.

    Continue Reading

  • 15 Inspiring Home Offices

    Is there such a thing as the perfect home office? From my personal opinion, I’d say that your own office is the perfect one. Then again, this all depends on what we have, what we use and if we’re pleased with it. I’m not even close to satisfied with my office yet, but I’m working on it.

    Continue Reading

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *