Flash is notorious for being one of the least intuitive animation programmes available, but when it’s learned, it is an extremely useful tool.
Check out these top ten Adobe Flash tutorials to help you learn the basics of how to use Flash:
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10 Best Adobe Flash Tutorials for Beginners
August 11th, 2011 by natcoll6 Inspirational Design Galleries for Students at Web Design School
August 7th, 2011 by natcollWhat makes a great web design?
Great web design is not easy. You need to create something clean to the eye, but also something that conveys some personality. Not to mention something that grabs the viewer’s attention. Plus the elements should be consistent throughout. And don’t forget to make it useable!
It’s no easy task, which is why so many web designers start by enrolling in web design school. Natcoll’s web design courses cover all the basics of graphic design, the fundamentals of working with the web, plus the skills needed to pull off the advanced that will make a site really pop.
Web design combines creativity with technological know-how to form a medium that communicates ideas visually and encourages the viewer to explore deeper. It’s unlike traditional print design in many respects, but when it’s done well the results can be just as stunning as any work of art.
One of the best ways for designers to figure out what works for web design is to look at examples of other works. Here are some great blogs that regularly post the best designs on the web. Check them out for some inspiration and who knows? Maybe something you design will make the list!
How to Start Learning Web Development
July 12th, 2011 by natcollWeb development describes the technical aspects of creating a web site. This can involve simple coding for a static page or developing complicated applications or eCommerce functions. Great web developers can make a page easy to use, look great and work smoothly with applications.
As far as job security goes, this is a great choice: the Internet isn’t going away any time soon and a web presence is becoming increasingly important in the lives of businesses, organisations and individuals. Web development is also a great choice for people who love to learn new things and continue to develop their skills: new web programmes are being innovated all the time.
3D Animation Careers: Getting Started
July 1st, 2011 by natcollYour first job is always the hardest to get. If you’re launching your 3D animation career, there are a few things you should know about to to make the transition from school to career a smooth one:
Putting together your show reel and CV
Just like any job, getting hired requires first sending out a CV and cover letter to potential employers. These will highlight your relevant skills, your interest in working for them and what special qualities you can bring as an employee.
To make sure you have an edge on the competition, you’ll also want to have a really stellar show reel on hand. A show reel (sometimes known as a demo reel) is similar to a portfolio a 2D graphic designer or artist would use, but in the form of a DVD. Your show reel should only be about two minutes long, and should be carefully planned and edited to show the best of your work in regards to depth and breadth.
For some thorough tips on how to put together a winning 3D animation show reel and CV, check out some showreel hints in our previous post from one of Natcoll’s tutors.
What Makes a Great Digital Designer?
May 15th, 2011 by natcollA digital designer is a broad term used to describe anyone who uses a computer to design. This includes we designers, print designer, animators and more. An individual with the skill set that makes a great digital designer has a wide range of fun career paths and opportunities to choose from.
At Natcoll, we teach some of New Zealand’s best aspiring digital designers and we’ve noticed a few things about what makes a great digital designer. Read on for some qualities that make for a successful career in digital design…
New Features of Photoshop CS5: Content-Aware Spot Healing
March 21st, 2011 by natcollHere’s a quick lesson on how to use the Photoshop ‘Content-Aware Spot Healing’ tool, taught by one of the fantastic instructors at our school of design.
Download the image for this tutorial.
The tool we’re going to use today is new to Photoshop CS5, so if you have an earlier version of Photoshop you won’t have this. It’s a tool called ‘Content-Aware Spot Healing’, and is really handy for getting bits and pieces out of the image.
New Features of Photoshop CS5: Tutorial on Content Aware Scale
March 14th, 2011 by natcollIn this Photoshop class, we’ll look at using the Content-Aware Scale function, available in Photoshop CS4 and CS5. I’m going to use this tool to make my portrait-type shot (taller than it is wide) look like a landscape (wider than it is long), but without the distortion that would occur just by stretching it.
Download the image for this tutorial.
The first step is to unlock the layers, so Photoshop can identify the background layer from the foreground objects. So to do that, I’m going to go to the lower right corner and double click the lock icon.
New Features of Photoshop CS5: Refine Edge Tool Tutorial
March 7th, 2011 by natcollThe tool I want to talk about today is called ‘Refine Edge’. This came out in Photoshop CS3 or CS4, but it really wasn’t very well refined until Photoshop CS5. What this tool does is make it easier to select certain objects and make them look more realistic when imposed on a new background.
Download images for this tutorial:
Hair is one of the hardest things for selections, especially hair with curls or frizz sticking out. What I’m going to show you now is the best way to handle these types of tricky selections. We’ll start with this image of a woman with wild hair:
New Features of Photoshop CS5: Tutorial on Mixer Brush
February 21st, 2011 by natcollIn this tutorial we’re going to look at the ‘Mixer Brush’, a new function in Photoshop CS5 and a very cool one at that. What we use it for is to make Photoshop images look like paintings. This is a very artistic technique, one that I teach in my graphic design courses for the benefit of artists rather than image manipulators.
Download the image for this tutorial.
So the first thing we’ll do, once we have our image opened, is to select the ‘Mixer Brush’.
New features of Photoshop CS5: Puppet Warp Tool Tutorial
February 14th, 2011 by natcollThe tool I want to show you today is called ‘Puppet Warp’ and it’s new to Photoshop CS5. This is a really cool feature, and great to play around with when you’re learning digital design: it’s simple to learn but can be used for more complicated effects once you get the hang of it.
For this tutorial, I’m going to use an image that was originally made on Illustrator, so it already has two layers:
