End of Term 1

My first term of school is quickly coming to an end, and I am amazed how fast the past couple of months have gone. The first few weeks were slow, but once things picked up, they really picked up. Next week, I have three final projects due, three tests to get through and one presentation to complete. But then I will have a glorious 10-day break to enjoy the summer (which I am sure will be over all too soon).

My overall assessment

I’ve (so far) done better in my classes than I expected. For the most part, I’m enjoying what I’ve been learning and still feel that going back to school was a good decision at this point in my life.

My main frustration with the program is the amount of time I’ve put into the theory classes vs. the software classes. I would like to have gotten my hands dirty with more Photoshop or HTML/CSS projects, yet I’ve put much more energy into the graphic design and website organization classes. I’m not saying that theory isn’t important (it is), but the amount of time I’ve spent on projects and exercises for those courses has been quite disproportionate. Hopefully next term we’ll strike a better balance.

Term 2 details

We received our Term 2 schedule recently and it is a doozy. I will end up juggling eight classes (yikes) by term’s end: Portfolio 1, Dreamweaver 1, Flash 1, JavaScript, Illustrator CS4, Human Factors/Design Interface, Video Shooting & Editing, Audio and Design Esthetics. I can see why this term has gained such a reputation for making students drop out! I’ll be in school for three full days and two half-days each week.

I am intimidated by the expected workload, especially since the video and audio classes will require me to do work at school. (We’ll be using desktop computers instead of our laptops.) I’m going to try very hard to keep a level head about it, though, and definitely take advantage of Shane’s offer to do more of the household chores (one of the only perks to all this homework).

Smart guides, alignment and distribution: your new best friends

Have you ever spent time painstakingly moving parts of your Photoshop document into perfect alignment? I know I used to agonize over this with my personal and school projects, but that’s all changed now. I’ve discovered the magic of smart guides and the power of alignment and distribution tools.

Smart guides

Smart guides are a feature you can turn on by simply going to View>Show>Smart Guides from your menu bar. Once smart guides are activated, they will automatically appear when you are moving a layer. Smart guides show you (with brightly-coloured lines) when you are aligned with other layers (whether it’s an edge or a center) and are very helpful for getting objects into place on-the-fly.

Alignment and distribution

For projects that require more accuracy, I recommend using the alignment and distribution tools. These are found on the options bar, which is just below the menu bar, when you use the Move Tool. To align your layers, first select or link the layers you want to align. Then, with the Move Tool selected, use any of the first six buttons to align your layers horizontally or vertically (the button’s icon demonstrates the effect it will have, but you can also hover over it to get a text description).

To distribute (or equalize the spacing between/among) your layers, first select or link the layers you want to distribute. Then, with the Move Tool selected, use any of the last six buttons to distribute your layers horizontally or vertically (again, the button’s icon demonstrates the effect it will have).

Note that, in order for these tools to work, the objects you are aligning must be on separate layers. But as long as you follow that simple rule, you’ll find these tools are very easy to use. And they’ll save you from the tedious, time-consuming task of aligning so you can get back to making your masterpiece!

Life outside the box

A look at BCIT student Sue Chiu*

You might not expect an introvert like Sue Chiu to have jumped out of an airplane at 10,000 feet, but she has.  And she loved it.  Although Sue freely admits to “screaming [her] head off” during the initial, 45-second freefall, skydiving was one of the “biggest highs” she’s ever experienced.

Sue has done a lot outside her comfort zone.  She’s run two half-marathons and walked the New York City marathon.  She’s travelled overseas, visiting places as far away as Egypt.  But one of the most unexpected changes Sue has made was returning to school after ten years in finance.

An unintentional career path

Sue “fell” into her previous career while she was a student at the University of British Columbia.  She was looking for work while she attended school and ended up as a teller.  This led to a position as a personal banker after graduation, and then to a job as a broker’s assistant.

Sue was content to remain in that “cush job” for ten years, enjoying the flexible hours and free time.  But she wasn’t rewarded by what she did every day and decided to change careers.

What the future holds

Sue hopes the New Media Design & Web Development program at BCIT will help her find a job that is fulfilling and a better fit for her “behind-the-scenes” personality.  In a best-case scenario, she would work as a photographer for a travel publication or as a website designer for a tourist organization.

Sue soaks up the sunshine in Maui

Both positions would involve her passions of travelling and photography.  Both would also give her an excuse to visit sunnier climates during the rainy winters – a nice perk for a sunny person who considers herself “solar-powered.”

*This interview was part of a class assignment that was formatted specifically for the web.

Being smart with Smart Objects

I am new to the Smart Objects concept, as it was not a feature in any of the Photoshop versions I had used prior to CS4.  Like Adjustment Layers, Smart Objects give you more flexibility when editing your images, so your adjustment decisions are not set in stone.

The three main reasons to use Smart Objects

1) You can transform elements in your image multiple times without losing quality.

Normally, if you use the Edit>Transform commands repeatedly, whatever element you edit will lose some quality.  (Most notably when you scale an element down and then increase the size.)  This is not the case with a Smart Object, as the Transform commands are applied non-destructively.

2) You can convert ordinary filters into Smart Filters.

Many filters in Photoshop are not editable.  That is, you can make initial adjustments when you add them to a layer, but they cannot be modified once they’ve been applied.  When you add a filter to a Smart Object, it becomes a Smart Filter, which means it can be edited.  In fact, you can make changes as many times as you like, and each time the new filter settings will be applied to the original, unfiltered layer.

3) You can “nest” multiple layers within a Smart Object layer.

If you want to treat multiple layers as a whole without folder groups (or merging your layers into one), Smart Objects is the way to go.   You are essentially creating a new layer containing a mini Photoshop document.  This layer can be manipulated the same way as any other layer (applying filters and layer effects).  And when you want to edit its individual elements, you simply double-click on it, and the Smart Object will open in a new tab with all the original layers intact.

How to make Smart Objects from layers

One of the slickest things about Smart Objects is just how easy it is to create them.  All you need to do is select the layer(s) or group folder you want to convert and either: a) go to Layer>Smart Objects>Convert to Smart Object or b) Filter>Convert for Smart Filters.

Voila!  Now you are ready to edit your Smart Object layer.

Smart Objects at work

I worked a bit on improving my poster project last week (I had a little time, as I was home sick with a fever/cold), and I ended up converting a big portion of my image into a Smart Object.  This allowed me to easily add a couple of effects to multiple elements without having to merge them into one layer.

Here’s the before and after comparison of one of my posters.  See if you can spot the (simple) effects I applied.

KidZone poster original version

KidZone poster slightly modified version (using Smart Objects)