Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

Dreamweaver CS3 Tutorials

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Many people would say that Adobe Dreamweaver is the the market leading software package for web design and development. The product was originally developed by Macromedia, who in turn were purchased by Adobe Systems Incorporated in 2005, and this is why the product changed its named from “Macromedia Dreamweaver” to “Adobe Dreamweaver”. Versions of the software are available for both Apple Macintosh computers and PCs running the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Since the program’s first release in 1997, many subsequent versions of Adobe Dreamweaver, each with improvements over the prior versions, have been released. The latest version of the software is known as Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 - the “CS3″ stands for “Creative Suite 3″. It should be noted that Adobe distributes various packages and collections of their software (the software generally being intended for creative professionals in the fields of graphic design, web development and video-editing, etc.) under the Creative Suite 3 name. There are in fact a variety of different Creative Suite 3 packages available: Web Standard, Web Premium, Design Standard, Design Premium, Production Premium and Master Collection - however only four of these packages (Web Standard, Web Premium, Design Premium, and Master Collection) actually include Adobe Dreamweaver CS3.

It is probably fair to say, that for the most part, it can take some time and effort for new users to fully master Adobe Dreamweaver. This is not because of any particular weakness or flaw in the software, but simply because of the fact that the program includes such a wide range of capabilities and options that learning how to use them take time. As a result, many people who are getting started with Dreamweaver find that training or tutorials can be of tremendous help - with the right kind of assistance, even a newbie can learn Dreamweaver surprisingly quickly.

By S. Tanna. Dreamweaver CS3 Tutorials - find websites, software and books at http://www.graphicsacademy.com/howto_tutorials_adobe_dreamweaver.php

3D Software Boxes

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Many people who create or market software, eBooks, or other downloadable products feel that some kind graphical representation of their product is useful. This isn’t because they want to trick people into believing the product is something that it isn’t, it’s simply because they want a nice image to represent the product in an attractive light. Such images can be used in the product itself (for example, as a logo or in a copyright, title screen or splash page), in advertising and marketing materials, and on the web as a navigation tool (a site offering multiple products could allow visitors to choose between products by clicking on the appropriate image).

The most popular type of images that used for this purpose are 3D box shots (also known as “virtual box shots”, “box covers” or “virtual boxes” in the case of software, and generally known as “eBook covers” or “eCovers” in the case of eBooks) which contain a image of a product as it were in a box (or book/binder), drawn as if to look 3D. These images are in fact simply graphics, usually in PNG or JPEG format, but occassionally in other formats such GIF, BMP or Flash.

There are quite a few different ways of creating such images:

1. You can draw them yourself using a painting program - obviously it helps if you’re an expert at computer graphics!

2. You can pay a professional graphic artist to draw the images for you. Working closing with a good artist can produce some great results, but of course this approach is likely to be expensive, especially if you need quite a few images.

3. You can get scripts for Adobe Photoshop that help will you draw the box shot. Generally what you have to do is create a 2D image of the front cover yourself, and the script then manipulates the image to give it a 3D appearance. The drawback with this approach is you need to buy both the Adobe Photoshop program itself, and the eCover scripts for Photoshop, and that can add up to quite a bit.

4. You can purchase standalone software speocifically designed for creating box shots and ebook cover images.

By S. Tanna. Easy-to-use and affordable software for creating your own 3D software boxes and ebook covers - http://www.coverfactory.com/ - Why pay somebody else, when this software lets you create as many box shots and ebook covers as you want.


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