THE GRAPHICS REPORT
provides graphics and digital photography content for Web sites and publications and is an online resource for graphic designers, Web designers, and digital photographers. The easy-to-read quick tips, news, and reviews provide consistently valuable information to keep Mac and PC users efficient and informed with:
- innovative ways to get the most from the major programs
- new software, plug-ins, and hardware
- discounts, and carefully selected free downloads.
- what's of note in current magazines
- reviews of noteable new books
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News & Info
Compare color spaces
Microsoft has recently announced an incredibly useful tool called Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP. This small Control Panel lists all the ICC profiles resident on your system and shows you a 3D version of the color gamut of each space. Since each profile is represented in the same 3D space, any gamut can be easily compared to others. So it's easy to tell which colors in one gamut will not be reproducible in another. It's interesting to see the small SWOP 2 space compared to the sRGB, which in turn, is smaller than Adobe RGB.
If you ever have any doubts about the shape and scope of the color space you are using, check out this useful applet.
Adobe and missing updates
For some inexplicable reason Adobe is not consistent with their update policy. Some updates are published only on their Web site, while others are only available with the applications’ automatic update function, and others are available both ways. To find all updates, go to http://1url.org/go/1AdobeUpdat
Current versions (as of 11/10/05):
Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader 7.0.5Adobe Stock Photos 1.0.4
Bridge 1.0.2
HelpCenter needs an update to 1.1.
InDesign and InCopy are up to 4.0.1
Illustrator 12.0.1
GoLive 8.0.1.
Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop Elements have not been updated, but there are updates for:
DNG Converter and Camera Raw 3.3 Beta
Camera Raw 3.3 Beta Update
Complete package for nonprofits
Corel has just released a special package for the nonprofit industry. This bundle starting at $99 (for 1 to 99 computers) includes the complete CorelDraw12 Graphics Suite, including Photo-Paint 12, and Rave 3, for creating Flash content; WordPerfect; WordPerfect Mail; Quattro Pro, a spreadsheet application; Presentations, for slide shows; Paint Shop Pro, for digital image editing; Norton Internet Security 2005; and many WordPerfect business templates. Included with this license is a Home Rights service, which allows employees to use all the Corel products at home for personal use. Most individual products can be purchased for $45.
Your salary
If you receive an offer letter for a job in design, and the money seems a little too low, try asking for more. More than half of hiring managers are prepared to extend the offer. According to CareerBuilder.com, you should highlight specific accomplishments and results to negotiate a better offer. Have strong references. Know average salaries in your field, and show an offer from another company, and being willing to walk away is an effective way to negotiate. However, this last tactic can seriously backfire.
Beware of blue
If you use the standard blue, or RGB, and convert this to CMYK, it sometimes appears as purple. Quark’s blues default to C=99.6 M=99.7 Y=0, K=0. InDesign converts blues to C=88.24 M=76.86 Y=0 K=0. You may find selecting Pantone Reflex Blue or PMS300, and converting them to process as a better alternative.
Pay to learn free software
Lynda.com is offering training for Picasa, the free image editor from Google. Although the software is free, the training is $49.95, or the training can be accessed with a $25 a month subscription.
Disc cataloger
If you have lots of CDs and DVDs as back ups, and you use a Mac, you might want to check out DiskCatalogMaker. This small utility for OSX and previous systems, is very easy to use, has a simple drag and drop interface, and is lightning fast. Comes in eight differtent languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Russian, Brazilia/Portuguese, Czech, and Japanese. Shareware $19.
Where is it going?
It’s important to know just where your finished piece will be viewed. Many photographers and printers are now utilizing two or even three viewing booths. One will have a balanced 500K light, another will offer “office” type florescent tubes, and another will show “household” tungsten bulbs. This allows them to assess colors for their final destination. To view three exactly similar prints side-by-side in the different lights is illuminating.
Four X-Rays for free
If you are a QuarkXPress user, you will find X-Ray Magazine an incredible resource. Now you can get four issues for free (a $32.00 value). This offer is available in the U.S. only. If you missed the Noveember 18 deadline, the expiration date has been extended to December 31, 2005. X-Ray Magazine is published bi-monthly, and if you are already a subscriber, they will extend your subscription accordingly.
Font management
Most people know LinoType as a font supplier with over 100 years' history in the type and printing industry. Now they have a font utility called FontExplorer X—a free font management application. It is as simple as font management should be. You get to decide where the fonts should be located, and the software manages loading them. You can drag and drop fonts, or access whole folders. It has a clear preview for previewing and even printing font samples. The application works with your OS and applications, and if it finds a missing font that is located on your computer, it will automatically activate it for the time that the application is open. If you don't own the font, it will take you to the appropriate Web site where you can purchase it and have it automatically installed and activated. Right now it is for Mac OSX 10.3.9 or later, although an earlier less snazzy version is available for Windows and OS 8.6 or later. A Windows version of FontExplorer X is in the works. This is absolutely free, not shareware, not online ads, just simple, free font management.
New MS Fonts coming
Microsoft will ship six new fonts with Longhorn, whenever it arrives. These fonts, Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, and Corbel can be seen with samples at http://1url.org/go/1NewMSFonts
Free photos
If you are on a tight budget, and need photos you may want to check out Stock.Xchng. They have over 100.000 images, some very nice, that can be used for free. With some you will need to credit the photographer. It is easy to find images, although some are incorrectly labeled. Be careful to check the resolution, as some are fairly small.
