Make your own self-promotional book using Illustrator and the Japanese art of bookbinding…
from Computer Arts
An effective, practical and inexpensive way to promote yourself is to compile your work into a handmade book. We begin this tutorial by explaining the art of Japanese bookbinding and how it can be applied to create your own simple self-promotional book.
Bookbinding, the art of sewing pages into a cover, can serve many purposes. This tutorial is aimed primarily at those who wish to make their own books using nothing more than basic tools we all probably have lying around the house. The Japanese binding technique we use here is known as the ‘Pouch book’, so-called because the pages are folded at the fore edge and sewn at the back edge, forming pouches. The Japanese name translates simply as ‘four hole’, and most Japanese pouch books are four hole (Chinese style) or five hole (Korean style) bindings. These two styles existed side by side in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867), and were commonly used for cheap novels and romances.
Today, many artists are pushing the traditional limits of what we consider a book to be, because of the vast amount of paper stocks, printing techniques and materials available today. Homemade books can be a striking way to get your work in front of the people you want to see it. They can look slick, fancy or low-fi depending on your style – create a book that reflects the type of work you do by using materials and stocks that will best represent you as an artist.
Self-promotional books involve an inverse relationship of work to money: the more work you’re willing to do, the more money you can save. Generally, bookbinding is a ‘tooly’ job, but in this case we’ve decided to try to keep costs to a minimum by seeing what can be done with a few simple household tools.
Click here to download the tutorial for free
Scott Spencer reveals how ZBrush 3 stands ready to further shake the paradigms of digital art and asset creation.
Upon the release of ZBrush 2 everything changed… In a short span of time, modeling started giving way to the idea of true digital sculpting, and the forums saw an influx of highly detailed creatures and characters of steadily increasing quality. ZBrush 2 was a defining moment in the evolution of a medium, which can truly be called groundbreaking. Not only did Pixologic redefine modeling, they helped usher in a new era where artists could truly manipulate form in the computer in ways that were previously unheard of. As a sculptor myself, it was the first time I was confident I could use the computer as an artistic tool without feeling like I was leaving something behind in the clay.Here we are four years later and ZBrush 3 stands ready to further shake the paradigms of digital art and asset creation. Originally envisioned as a 2.5 update, this long awaited release has evolved into a full version upgrade, which appears to be a rewrite from the ground up.
As the digital art director at Gentle Giant Studios, I was fortunate to be asked to join the initial beta test of Pixologic’s ZBrush 2.5. My team has been present to watch the evolution of this amazing piece of software into the powerhouse sculpting and design tool it is today. I would like to share some of my impressions of the new features and improvements to the program that are found in ZBrush 3.
Among the additions are a sleeker interface, more production friendly options, as well as a toolset, which has grown exponentially into a true sculpting workshop. Just a few of the new options available to the artist include customizable brush presets, viewport sculpting independent of Projection Master, sculpting rakes, layers for both painting and sculpting, subtools and Remeshing tools, which allow you to recreate the underlying topology of any model in ZBrush without sacrificing hours of sculpted detail. High-Definition sculpting allows for billions of polygons at a time while code revisions make ZBrush more stable and much faster than before. Also rewritten is the OBJ exporter, which will now allow you to export millions of polygons to a single OBJ file for use with rapid prototyping and exporting to applications such as XSI. This functionality was previously only available in the Mac version of ZBrush 2. All of this and it is entirely free to registered 2 users!
ZBrush 3 Review: The Revolution Continues
New Service Update for CINEMA 4D R10.x available
The Update to R10.111 addresses several problems, that have arisen in several areas of the software. The update is free of charge for all owners of CINEMA 4D R10.x and recommended for all users. Among other things, the following issues have been addressed:
- Graphics tablet support for Windows XP 64-bit implemented
- Cutting and pasting of locked keys behavior corrected
- Stability of selection tools improved
- Redraw problems resolved
- Powerslider stability improved
- Handling of several file formats corrected (TIFF, 16-bit TGA, AVI)
- Positioning of rendered HUD elements adjusted
- Spacemouse stability improved
- Boolean problems with open geometry fixed
- Weight tool issues fixed (MOCCA)
- IK anomalies addressed (MOCCA)
- Clothilde stability improved (MOCCA)
- Editing and rendering of hair rectified
- Various clone object issues fixed (MoGraph)
- Problems with Hatch shader solved (Sketch and Toon)
- Stability while painting 3D clouds improved (SKY/Advanced Render)
- Incompatibility of Ambient Occlusion in material alpha channel solved
- Stability when baking Global Illumination improved
You can find the update in our download area.
New Service Update for BodyPaint 3D R3.x available
The Update to R3.111 addresses several problems, that have arisen in several areas of the software. Among other things, the following issues have been addressed:
- BodyPaint 3D to Maya exchange corrected
- Return of corrected 3ds max material
- Graphics tablet support for Windows XP 64-bit implemented
- Stability of selection tools improved
- Redraw problems resolved
- Powerslider stability improved
- Handling of several file formats corrected (TIFF, 16-bit TGA, AVI)
- Positioning of rendered HUD elements adjusted
- Spacemouse stability improved
- Boolean problems with open geometry fixed
- Improved network support for Content Browser
You can find the update in our download area.
DAV’s TechTable: Adobe Production Premium CS3 and Apple Final Cut Studio 2.0 and Blu-ray Burning
For the past few weeks I have been working with different HD workflows using Final Cut Pro 6.0 and Production Premium CS3 (PremierePro CS3 , AfterEffects CS3, and Encore CS3) to see what users will experience when they attempt to use these apps together. The most common workflow questions came from typical HDV users wanting to use AfterEffects and FCP and end up with a Blu-ray disc that could be played on a standard off the shelf Blu-ray player or Sony Playstation 3.
A quick video of the HDV workflow can be seen here: ** SORRY Video will be on-line shortly
Please note: the system used for the demo was a new MacPro 8 Core with 8GB ram (thanks to www.MBSdirect.com for providing the test unit). All FCP, PremierePro and Encore rendering times were accelerated 3x to save time on the video.
Adobe Creative Suite 3 K-12 Site Licenses
Purchase Adobe Creative Suite 3 for your entire school and save tens of thousands of dollars!
The new Adobe Creative Suite 3 K-12 Site Licenses are specifically set up for schools and districts that offer career and technical education programs and integrate multimedia education throughout the curriculum. K-12 institutions can make the most of their software budgets and readily provide students, teachers, and administrators with access to Adobe’s industry-standard software.
Adobe Creative Suite 3 K-12 Site Licenses include:
•Installation rights for up to 500 school-owned or school-leased computers
•Additional 50 teacher home-use rights licenses
•Adobe Digital Careers Teaching Resources DVD
•Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshops DVD
Poser 7 English Service Release 2 (SR2) is now available for both Macintosh and Windows. SR2 offers several enhancements and addresses known issues present in the current English version of Poser.
In order to receive technical support and application service releases you must have registered your Poser 7 application serial number with e frontier. If you have not yet done so, please register now. Once you have registered your serial number, you can access the service release for Windows or Macintosh.
By David Basulto
Digital Media Online
During my trip to Las Vegas last month for the always fun yet exhausting NABshow, my good pal and fellow DMNite, Ko Maruyama, called me on the cell. “Meet me at the Art Beats booth” he said. I hurried over there expecting some great content or an interview with Art Beats folks. That was not to happen. Ko grabbed my arm and said “Follow me we have to meet with Brad Peebler”. Cool. But who is Brad Peebler, I thought. Little did I know I was on my way to meet one of the coolest guys on the planet.
For those not lucky enough to go to NAB let me say this; it’s a pulsing, loud, vibrant arena of the latest and greatest gear for media professionals. Its often difficult to hear someone who is directly in front of your face. Its been sort of a Mecca for me as I love this stuff. So as Ko had me follow him outside the convention center I wondered, where the heck is he taking me?
The awaiting limo was a welcome for the dog tired feet I had. Inside was the man himself, Brad Peebler. Brad is the President and Co-Founder of Luxology. If ever there was a man with a huge charisma yet no obnoxious ego it is he.
The presentation we received about Luxology’s Modo product was outstanding enough for a neophyte like myself to go out and get the awesome 3D modeling software and try it out. What I found out is that Modo is extremely easy to learn and between the support and the ravenous community of users it is easy to get hooked! What we were shown that day was hush hush news about the upcoming Modo 301!
The good news? I was able to get Brad on today’s show to tell us all about Modo 301! That and some really great stories. I hope you enjoy.
DMN Podcast: An Interview with Luxology’s Brad Peebler
The first commercially available Expression tool is the Web authoring tool simply called “Expression Web.” In this article you will find out why this new tool is setting a new standard for Web design and next generation Web Application development.
Exposing Microsoft Expression Web
Putting Energy Hogs in the Home on a Strict Low-Power Diet – New York Times
Microsoft says that it has overhauled energy management in its Vista operating system so that machines, by default, should go into a low-power state after 60 minutes of inactivity. The PC sips only a few watts until the user touches the mouse or keyboard. To configure a machine with Vista, type “Power Options” in the search box at the bottom of the Start menu and click on “Change when the computer sleeps.”All of this, of course, assumes that the systems are working correctly. When I first installed Vista on my PC, I configured it to go to sleep after 30 minutes, but it has been unreliable. Sometimes it fails to go to sleep, and at other times it fails to wake up. Sometimes I experience the worst of both worlds: the drives and fan are spinning, but the monitor is blank, and I cannot get the machine to come back to life without powering it down and turning it back on.
I spent numerous hours trying to fix the problem, including updating the BIOS, installing up-to-date versions of all my device drivers, checking to make sure there were no unnecessary applications running in the background and, of course, scanning for spyware and viruses. The results were encouraging. After all that fiddling, the machine went to sleep most nights and woke up most — but not all —mornings.
I then installed Co2 Saver (co2saver.snap.com), a free program for Windows XP and Vista that seems to have solved the problem. It gives you a simple control panel to specify when to turn off monitors and disk drives and put the machine to sleep. It also adjusts some hard-to-configure settings. One option forces the machine to “Initiate sleep mode if system doesn’t sleep automatically.” This feature, according to its developer, Lee Hasiuk, defeats Windows attempts to keep a machine awake if it thinks (correctly or otherwise) that it is detecting a background task other than mouse or keyboard activity. Now my machine sleeps and wakes properly almost all the time.
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