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Trends are an inevitable part of any design discipline. And while obsessively following trends can be counter-productive – it's harder to develop your own distinctive style if you're constantly adapting to reflect what everyone else is doing – keeping an eye on trends, and bringing in developments that fit with your particular look, is a sure-fire way to stay relevant. Typography is a vital element in graphic design; different font pairings can completely change the mood of a piece, and technological developments in typography mean that there are exciting options available now that didn't exist a few years ago. Here are five of the biggest current trends that you need to be aware of. 01. Colourful fonts Alex Trochut's MEGAZERO is a stunning example of a modern colour font Fonts have traditionally been strictly monochrome as they've been largely tied to the print process. But with more typography happening on-screen rather than on the printed page, typographers are starting to open up to the possibilities of colourful fonts and their potential for creating exciting designs. OpenType-SVG fonts, which allow for vector shapes with colours and gradients, have become the industry standard, and while it's still early days for colour fonts, there are a few great-looking options around. Gilbert was the first to come to our attention; we also love the attention-grabbing glitchiness of Alex Trochut's MEGAZERO. 02. Variable fonts Jongmin Kim's Leon Sans is made using code and perfect for kinetic typography 2019 has been the year in which people have really started paying attention to variable fonts, and it seems certain that they're just going to keep getting bigger. The basic appeal of them is self-evident: rather than having to get a whole set of different weights, with a variable font you get a single file that you can adjust to make it appear in any style you want. The potential for variable fonts is much bigger than simply being able to roll your own weight, though. Used online, variable fonts can be adjusted on the fly, making it easy to create eye-catching kinetic typography effects. And we've recently seen an even more intriguing typographic development in the form of Jongmin Kim's Leon Sans: a geometric sans-serif made in code that enables users to not only change font weight dynamically, but also to create custom animations, effects or shapes using the HTML5 Canvas element. 03. Retro type Stranger Things has played a big part in the current 80's retro trend It's good to keep up with the latest typographic developments, but it also never hurts to look to the past. If you want to appeal to people's sense of nostalgia, or if you're simply after a look that stands out from the crowd, using retro fonts is a great approach. Right now it seems to be all about hooking into the 80's revival, but there's a host of other design and visual movements that you can evoke through the right typographic choice. Whether you want a sophisticated art deco look, or the in-your-face appeal of ornate Victorian poster fonts, a good vintage font can light up your layout. 04. Hand-drawn lettering Everywhere you look there are loads of hand-drawn fonts to choose from There's no escaping hand-drawn fonts right now, and we don't see them going away any time soon. There are way too many to choose from at the moment – luckily we've already picked out some of the best new free calligraphy fonts for you – with more appearing every day. The bewilderingly vast selection of hand-drawn and calligraphy fonts means, however, that it's relatively easy to find one that fits the mood that you're trying to evoke in a particular design, and if you dig reasonably deep then the chances are you'll pick a font that hasn't been used anywhere else. 05. Plenty of contrast High contrast serifs such as Zesta can make a big impact A healthy bit of contrast can always make for a visually rewarding design, and there are a few on-trend typographic options that will help you achieve that look. Right now, high-contrast serifs that mix fat downstrokes with razor-sharp upstrokes are a popular option; they're elegant and dramatic and the ideal way to bring a bit of class to a design, and you can amplify the effect by adjusting the kerning and leading to something a little out of the ordinary. But there are two other hot typography trends that you can mix together to get a pleasingly high-contrast look. Massive, super-heavyweight bold fonts are a popular attention-grabber at the moment; combine them with sophisticated, minimal sans-serifs for a beautifully balanced but superbly contrasting overall effect. Related articles: 8 invaluable online typography tools Typography rules and terms every designer must know 15 top typography resources View the full article

Attackers exploit an “unquoted path” flaw in the Bonjour updater in iTunes for Windows to deliver ransomware attacks. View the full article

The vulnerability stems from an issue with DLL loading in Open Source Hardware, used by tens of millions of computers, researchers say. View the full article

Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro – it's a tricky one. The latest version of Microsoft's popular Pro tablet is one of several new products launches recently revealed at the annual Microsoft event. It was also when the tech giant wowed audiences with a couple of innovative looking dual screen devices, including the Surface Neo. Both the iPad Pro and the SurfacWhile the Surface Pro 7 might be a more low-key release comparatively, there’s still plenty of interest in what Microsoft is doing with the venerable 2-in-1 workhorse of its Surface range. The good news: USB-C connectivity was introduced (finally). The not-so-good news: This still very much looks like the Surface Pro 6 – in fact in terms of design and aesthetics it’s identical – although the hardware inside has been upgraded (as you would hope). So how much difference do these improvements make, and how does the Surface Pro 7 stack up to the iPad Pro 12.9-inch tablet (which currently tops our pick of the best tablets for photo and video editing) as a result? Let’s find out whether Microsoft or Apple wins for creatives. Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Performance Microsoft has upgraded the Surface Pro 7 courtesy of new 10th-gen Intel processors with the top-line chip being a Core i7-1065G7 (quad-core, capable of Turbo up to 3.9GHz). These 10nm (Ice Lake) CPUs also benefit from better integrated graphics in the form of Intel Iris Plus Graphics (Gen11). There are Core i7, i5 and i3 options, but note with the dual-core Core i3 – meaning the entry-level machine – you won’t get Iris Plus Graphics, but rather Intel UHD Graphics. System memory runs up to 16GB and storage up to 1TB (as before). What’s particularly exciting for creative types here is the Gen11 integrated graphics. This is considerably more powerful than Intel’s UHD Graphics, and should make a big difference when it comes to all manner of creative applications. What’s particularly exciting for creative types here is the Gen11 integrated graphics So while the CPU is pretty much the only major upgrade Microsoft has made with the Pro 7, at least it’s an important one. A caveat here is that battery life is apparently worse with the new Surface Pro and Ice Lake: it has over 20% less longevity, in fact, compared to its predecessor, according to Microsoft’s claimed figures. That’s disappointing, naturally. While the iPad Pro 12.9 might be a device from last year, it sports a very powerful A12X Bionic processor, which Apple designed to be able to easily cope with more demanding creative tasks like photo or video editing. And as we found in our iPad Pro 12.9 review, this chip has plenty of grunt in that respect, and at the time, we were seriously impressed with the iPad’s video rendering performance compared to the Surface Pro 6. Of course, it’s difficult to draw direct comparisons because of the fundamental differences between Apple and Microsoft’s hardware and operating systems here, but we can say that the Surface Pro 7 is really upping the ante with Ice Lake and Gen11 graphics, so we expect it to be a major step forward on the performance front compared to its predecessor. We also have to bear in mind that the Surface Pro represents a fully-fledged desktop platform with Windows 10 and a diverse range of software packages therein, and is designed as a hybrid notebook – both a laptop and tablet – whereas the iPad Pro is pitched as a tablet featuring a mobile OS (with an add-on keyboard as a bonus). That said, iPadOS, the freshly released spin on iOS specifically designed for Apple slates, provides a fuller desktop experience with better multi-tasking and much more besides. It even lets you use a mouse with your iPad – a previously missing piece of the puzzle which proved a point of frustration for some professional users – although support is at an early stage right now, and somewhat wonky (but could well improve in the future). Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Connectivity Microsoft finally introduced USB-C with the Surface Pro 7, something which was long overdue, really. This single connector replaces the Mini DisplayPort, so the latter is no longer present. The downside with the Surface’s Type-C port is that it doesn’t support Thunderbolt 3. Otherwise, connectivity remains the same, with a USB Type-A connector still here, along with the Surface Connect port, microSD slot and a 3.5mm audio jack. Another fresh introduction on the wireless front is Wi-Fi 6. The iPad Pro also offers a USB-C port (again, non-Thunderbolt 3), and that’s your lot (it runs with Wi-Fi 5). So clearly, Microsoft’s hybrid wins the connectivity battle, and is better for hooking up external peripherals, even if the firm didn’t go the extra mile in supporting Thunderbolt 3 with the USB-C port (which would have allowed for connecting external GPUs). Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Display Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 has a 12.3-inch PixelSense screen with a 2,736 x 1,824 resolution (3:2 aspect ratio) giving a pixel density of 267 ppi. The iPad Pro has a slightly larger 12.9-inch Retina display with a 2,732 x 2,048 resolution giving 264 ppi. Both screens are super-sharp, then, and they’re both gorgeous panels, although the iPad Pro is a good deal brighter. And while the Surface’s screen makes colours pop, the iPad’s support for the P3 wide colour gamut means it’s perfect for photo editing work and professional design or illustration. This colour accuracy, as well as that extra bit of screen real-estate with the iPad, which could be a very important consideration when it comes to drawing on your tablet, means that Apple has the edge in the display department. Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Pen(cil) Apple’s second-gen Pencil is a nifty piece of kit, with the stylus being much improved from its initial incarnation. It feels very natural to sketch with the Pencil, and that realistic feel has been improved even further by the introduction of iPadOS, which reduced the latency of the stylus from 20ms to 9ms. This is one slick peripheral, make no mistake. The Surface Pen is a great stylus too, and also offers a very natural feeling drawing (or writing) experience with all the important features you need like tilt shading. There’s a new version of the Surface Pen, as well – a ‘Slim’ variant for those who prefer a thinner, flatter design. It’s obviously useful to have that choice for those creatives who go the Surface route. Which pen you might prefer is something of a subjective matter, but generally speaking, Apple’s Pencil gets the nod, simply because it feels more responsive when jotting or drawing thanks to that super-low latency. Some creative pros do, however, prefer the feel of Microsoft’s stylus on the glass of the display. Finally, note that the Surface Pen is a little cheaper – but on the other hand, the new Surface Slim Pen is more expensive than Apple’s Pencil. Speaking of pricing, let’s discuss that next, so prepare your wallet in advance… Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Pricing Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 starts at £799 for the base Core i3 model (without Gen11 graphics) with 128GB of storage, but only 4GB of system RAM. While that amount of system memory is fine for general computing tasks, it’s not really going to be enough for running the heavyweight apps creative types will be using in Windows (or at least not running them well). The next step up is the Core i5 model with 8GB of system memory for £899. Prices top out at a rather staggering £2,249 for the flagship with a Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. The keyboard cover costs you an extra £124.99 and the Surface Pen is £99.99. Apple’s iPad Pro 12.9 starts at £969 for the 64GB model, which is a pretty stingy allocation of storage. The 256GB version plunders your bank account to the tune of £1,119, and if you want the maximum 1TB capacity the bill is £1,519. Those are all Wi-Fi models, with the cellular versions of the iPad costing even more. As for the accessories, the Smart Keyboard Folio will set you back £199 (ouch), and the Apple Pencil is £119. So with the Surface Pro 7, you’ll likely need to gun for at least the Core i5 model, which when kitted with the keyboard and stylus will set you back a total of £1,124. If you get the base iPad Pro and think you can manage with 64GB of storage, that will total £1,287 when fully kitted with both keyboard and pen accessories (though you may well want to push further than that very basic amount of storage). Both devices are pretty expensive, then, for the full hardware setup, but Microsoft appears to win as the (relative) value proposition on the face of it. However, if you want a higher-end Surface Pro 7 – and you’re considering going for the Core i7 processor for the beefiest performance levels – the value scales tip back towards Apple. Whatever iPad Pro you’re buying, you get the same power level, of course; the only difference in the hardware is the amount of storage (and whether you opt for cellular data). Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Conclusion On an overall level, these are both very impressive portable devices, often being on a fairly even footing in the various important categories we’ve discussed. But from a broader perspective, the Surface Pro 7 is the all-rounder champ. By which we mean it offers a full desktop OS experience with Windows 10, and all that entails. In short, it’s a more versatile jack-of-all-trades device with a bristling software ecosystem and a better keyboard (plus trackpad), and better connectivity (wired and wireless) for hooking up peripherals which may help your workflow and productivity (like a mouse). The newest Surface Pro also makes an important processor upgrade which will help with performance in creative apps, and widens its appeal in terms of being able to enjoy a spot of light gaming with Intel’s Gen11 graphics. It’s a fully realised portable computer, as opposed to Apple’s iPad Pro which remains a tablet with strong computing aspirations. Indeed, buying Microsoft’s 2-in-1 could mean that you might not need a second machine for your other computing needs – which could have major cost-saving implications. Simply put, it’s a fully realised portable computer, as opposed to Apple’s iPad Pro, which remains a tablet with strong computing aspirations. It's a close race, but the iPad Pro wins as a device for creative pros On the flipside, the Surface Pro has barely changed in several iterations now. It almost feels like Microsoft rather forgot about the 2-in-1, shoving it way down the priority list while the company was busy concentrating on all its other shiny new Surface products. Furthermore, it’s a bit chunkier (and heavier) than the iPad Pro, and the design is starting to look a little static and tired now, or even slightly dated we might argue, with those rather thick tablet bezels. Apple’s tablet is sleeker looking with a somewhat better screen and thinner bezels, and that means something in the real world. If you’re a creative freelancer, say, visiting a client’s office to show them some of your work on your tablet, which device do you think will make you look more ‘cutting-edge’? With a superior stylus peripheral too – although that judgement is rather subjective, granted – and plenty of power, the iPad Pro wins out as a device for creative pros. But it’s a close run race, particularly if the Surface Pro’s broader all-round computing capabilities appeal to you. View the full article

Do you run Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom Classic CC on a Mac? Maybe you're even working your way through our Photoshop tutorials. If so, you might want to hold fire before you update your machine to macOS Catalina. That's because both pieces of Adobe software aren't quite ready for the upgrade, and have been hit with a few usability issues. Apple released macOS Catalina earlier in the week, and Adobe users were quick to point out that Photoshop and Lightroom Classic CC weren't quite operating as expected. On the support pages for each piece of software, Adobe acknowledged that both apps "work with macOS 10.15 (Catalina) but have … known compatibility issues." Get Adobe Creative Cloud now As far as the issues go, Lightroom is the least affected. One bug means that it won't be able to detect Nikon cameras when the camera is on and the Start Tether Capture command has been run. The Lens Profile Creator is also broken. Adobe says that "The Lens Profile Creator is currently 32-bit, but we are investigating updating it to be a 64-bit utility." Meanwhile, Photoshop has been hit with more issues. File naming currently doesn't work properly, with users having to add file types manually. A handful of plugins are quarantined and will throw up one of two error messages, including "the file was not found" and "can't be opened because its integrity cannot be verified". Photoshop file types need to be entered manually Photoshop's older, 32-bit droplets will no longer work on macOS 10.15, and just like Lightroom, its Lens Profile Creator is currently stuck at 32-bit, rather than 64-bit utility. In a statement, Adobe said that: "You may want to remain on your current version of macOS until these issues have been resolved." It also recommends that customers do their own testing on a non-production partition "to ensure that new operating systems work with their current hardware and drivers (printing, and so forth)." Familiarise yourself with all of the compatibility issues by heading over to the support pages for both Photoshop and Lightroom. Related articles: 13 best Adobe Illustrator plugins 2019 A game-changing update is coming to Adobe XD Build prototypes with Adobe XD View the full article

In the democratically accessible world we inhabit, it can sometimes feel overwhelming operating as a creative for a living. It can often feel everyone is having a go (and sometimes doing better than you), but does that make them a designer? Does that devalue what you do for a living? Does this even matter? Worry not. I’m here to tell you you’re still a designer, despite the plethora of new work posts and Behance barrages, you still qualify. Yes, you. Helpfully (and humorously) here are five signifying symptoms that usually mean you’re a designer. Who knows, you may not even know it… Need help keeping up with all the other designers? Get inspired by some of our favourite graphic design portfolios. 01. You collect things. Strange things Maps. Penguin books. Receipts. Driftwood. Czech glass vases. Horror and science-fiction film posters specifically illustrated and only from the period 1979-1988. These are just some of the things I know designers to collect. Because designers do. They save. They hoard. They amass. And who knows the reasons why, as it’s unique for each person. But you may find an inexplicable and unrelenting desire to just hold on to something, just because it may come in handy and some point. 02. You own a combination of the below: More than one black T-shirt A pair of Converse/Superga/Red Wings A homeware item by Alessi A Rapha accessory A fancy coffee maker A Rains garment A tote bag filled with other tote bags A bike Various pin badges (worn or kept) An Anthony Burrell print A fancy camera A collection of various physical letters A collection of old magazines, never read New Balance trainers The Milton Glaser Bob Dylan poster Some wooden type (never used) A Moleskine Anything from Muji An iPhone Something creative made by a parent An Eames An Eames knock-off Something from HAY Something from Habitat Something from Patagonia Jeans that cost more than £60 03. You spot things. Strange things Faces contained within inanimate objects. Weird or funny graffiti. Letters made by formations of litter. You name it, a designer somewhere has a picture of it. Curiosity, whether expressed externally or held back just for you, is a vital characteristic of a designer. Combine this with the aforementioned compulsion to covet, you find a designer building up their own resource, a personal reference system crucial when it comes to creating. 04. You love a whinge At the first wind of a semi-notable rebrand, or release of new work, you might find yourself sliding up the sleeves and cracking the knuckles before juggernauting through your keyboard to pass judgement (putting it politely). Designers have an irresistible urge to wade in. To have their say. And this is a true tick in the box of any practising designer. But don’t confuse this with necessarily having any validity on whatever it is you’re wading in on. That comes later. Or sometimes not at all. Don't believe that designers love a whinge? Look at how designers reacted to the latest Volkswagen logo or the new Macy's mark. 05. You care Despite version 31 of your design file, despite chasing that invoice for going on six months, despite getting feedback like 'I don’t completely dislike it' from your boss, or your client wanting the work finished five minutes before briefing it, designers still actually care about what they do. And they care about so many things beyond badly kerned shop signs and missed creative opportunities. Design is a profession that cares about the impact of its work and always, generally, tries to push the right things forward for the right reasons and take a stance on doing the right thing. It’s not perfect by any means, but there is always the effort and the care. So, if you love a whinge, but whinge because you care. If you hoard stuff for inexplicable reasons, and spot the tragedy in things, and do it all while having a flat white in your black shirt, best jeans and Converse after a quick cycle, you may, just may, be a designer after all. Read more: Rockstar designers share the objects that made them 3 trends that changed the design industry forever 11 ways to bag your dream job View the full article

The new Joker film starring Joaquin Phoenix is currently raking it in at the box office and dividing critical opinion. But if there's one thing that designers can agree on, it's that the movie boasts an impressive typography-based logo. And now its designer has revealed that he used an old-fashioned woodblock letterpress to give the logo its distinctive, scratchy appearance. Our guide to logo design has already examined how typography is a critical part of the design process. And it's something that the designer of the Joker logo, Chad Danieley, has put into action brilliantly. Over on Reddit, Danieley took the time to share the surprising story of how the logo came to be. The freelance designer and animator revealed that it was created with wood type from his letterpress collection, and that it was the "smoothest approval process I have ever been involved with". The original wood blocks behind the Joker logo This was surprising news for fans of the gritty lettering, as designers in the audience had suspected that the grain effect was created digitally. Danieley said that: "I ended up not digitising." Instead, the wood block letters and their grainy textures were exported as PNG files, which he then used to construct an SVG typeface. "Not my first choice especially since After Effects does not recognise SVG fonts," he added. Common image file formats and when to use them As well as retaining the scratchy texture of the lettering, this method also allowed him to make the logo transparent. The spontaneity of the woodblock printing technique resulted in a huge chip in the letter 'K', as well as other faded elements. And while these lend themselves well to the spirit of the film, Danieley is cautious of reading too much into them. "I can post conceptualise the gash as his 'soul' etc. etc. yawn," he joked in the Reddit comments. "Really I just dropped it on the floor and it felt right so I left it. I'm a huge fan of Brian Eno's method of chance [and] using his oblique strategies when I get stuck." If you want to learn more about Danieley and his Joker logo, he's being very generous with his time by replying to lots of comments on Reddit. It's an invaluable chance to learn from a top designer and animator, so go and check it out. And if you're a fan of the Joker film, you can also check out some of the fantastic Joker fan art that's been flooding in. Related articles: 50 top typography tutorials The ultimate typography cheat sheet 8 invaluable online typography tools View the full article

It was nearly a quarter of a century ago that audiences got a glimpse of the future of animated feature films, when Pixar unveiled the world's first fully CG animated movie Toy Story in 1995. Since then, the technology – and artistry – behind Pixar's many releases has soared to new levels. All that technology, artistry and storytelling ability is there on the screen in one of the best 3D movies in recent years: director Josh Cooley's Toy Story 4, which now sees Woody, Buzz Lightyear and a host of other characters out in a much wider world. It's a film that, thanks to Pixar's increased firepower (including the physically based path-tracing architecture now in RenderMan), was simply not achievable before. Read on to find out how the studio made some of the most complicated scenes and characters in Toy Story 4, including the antique store, the carnival, the opening rain storm, and Bo Peep's exquisite porcelain surface. Inside the antique store A lot of work went into figuring out how the antique store fits together The antique store is a massive environment, full of props, furniture and tons of atmosphere like floating dust particles. It's here where Woody reunites with Bo Peep, while also having to rescue a new member of the toy family, Forky, after facing off against the store's long-time doll resident, Gabby Gabby. "We're in this antique store for probably a third of the film," outlines Pixar supervising technical director Bob Moyer, who likens himself to the visual effects supervisor on Toy Story 4. "It's like one super set that we're in, with different set pieces within it. The tricky thing was, there are no walls – the entire thing is just made out of props and furniture, and so there's nowhere where you can say, 'Oh, I'm closing this portion of the set off, and I don't have to worry about how it plays in the future sequences.' We had a lot of negotiation and planning to figure out how all the different parts would fit together." The best 3D modelling software The other challenge of the store was that it represented a place where both humans and toys exist. "So," notes Moyer, "you need to believe that when you see something in the human world, that we've actually designed it and detailed it out all the way down to a toy scale. Woody is 15 inches high, but we have a character in the film who's about maybe an inch tall, Giggle McDimples. So we really needed to believe, in all those sequences and all those action points, whether you're going through the aisles or behind the shelves, that every single part of the antiques mall was done to a 'macro' level. We had a lot of interplay of trying to make things look good from a distance and also things looking good super-close up, where you'd see dust and procedurally generated cobwebs, for instance." To help realise the vast amount of geometry and detail in the antique store, and the entire film, Pixar relied on rendering in RenderMan, which is now at version 22.5 and features the RIS physically based path-tracing architecture. They also looked to a machine learning de-noiser that came from Disney Research Zurich. "One of the challenges we've had the last couple films is, because we've switched to that very photorealistic, all ray-traced render in RenderMan," details Moyer, "is that just inherently cranks up your lighting times and your rendering times, especially if you have a lot of glass, if you have a lot of practical light sources, or you have a lot of reflections. These are all the things that are in the antique store. And if we wanted to see how, in camera, all the set work and all this camera work and all this lighting was all coming together, we had to render a lot earlier, and a lot more often." "The de-noiser was so good," continues Moyer, who says the de-noiser was simply known as the 'DRZ de-noiser', "it actually cut our render times down by about a third or a half, and we were able to make it so that we could render almost film quality for some sequences almost every weekend." Carnival time Lighting the carnival scene convincingly took around 40,000 lights Across the street from the antique store is a carnival area, where the toys get into more shenanigans. For Pixar, the carnival needed to come alive at night with rides and booths, and that was aided by having bright and animated neon lights, around 40,000 of them. "For the lights," explains Moyer, "we had one of our artists set up animation sequences in Houdini, say a good half a dozen per ride or per booth that we could choose from. We had certain animation cycles that the director could, either per shot or per sequence or across the film, choose an energy level from. And then as we had an action sequence, we'd have them very active. If we wanted to quiet them down, we could do that, too." "We actually worked to make sure that the lights were exactly the correct calibration relative to the sun's source, relative to a fluorescent bulb across the film, and that meant that the lighting team actually had an exposure control in their setups," adds Moyer. "They could change an exposure. If it was a daylight exposure, the lights would seem very dim, but if they had a dark exposure, suddenly the lights would be the main source of illumination in the scene. And that just made it so that all that played really well together and went screamingly fast through our lighting department." Rain rescue The opening of the film is a rescue scene set nine years ago, when Woody and his toy friends save the remote-controlled car character, RC, from being washed away in a rainstorm. It relied on heavy fluid effects simulations. Says Moyer: "Josh Cooley really wanted us to play up the fact that it's actually just a normal rainstorm, and even Andy runs outside during it, so for humans, it's nothing. But for a toy, it could be the most dangerous thing in the world. The gutters are flooding. Each raindrop feels like a little minor explosion. "Our effects and lighting departments worked very tightly to come up with a palette of different rain effects – splashes, the drops themselves, levels of fog. It was important to allow for interaction, with the rain pouring down over objects on the set. Our artists would dress it out per shot to try to give the feeling relative to camera and the toy scale of how that action was going to get played up." Pixar relied on Houdini for the water sims, which ported into its in-house animation software Presto, with lighting then carried out in Katana. "For this film, too," states Moyer, "it was one of our first real uses of Houdini Engine. It helped lighting and effects have a really tight loop as they were developing the shots." Character effects Pixar brought in the latest tools to enhance character details Although Pixar strove to keep the characters of Toy Story 4 within the Toy Story world that audience members knew so well, the studio did use the latest tools and techniques to add and enhance character details. Two new toys in the mix, the carnival plush toys Ducky and Bunny, have fluorescent fur, representing a particular kind of challenge for the team, notes Moyer. "We try to keep our albedo levels below a certain threshold or otherwise the lighting starts kind of blowing up. And the problem with fluorescents is that you're actually taking UV light and making it feel even brighter, and so we had to crank up the knob on those guys a little hotter than we would've probably technically felt safe about. And then we spent a lot of time after that balancing out and trying to figure out clean-up so that they weren't sending what we call fireflies everywhere, which are super hot spots around on the set." Another brand-new character is Forky, central to the plot, made by Bonnie out of a spork and items like pipe cleaners for arms and googly eyes. "The thing is," says Moyer, "he actually was made out of more materials and things than most of our other characters. Woody is basically plastic and cloth. Even Ducky and Bunny were pretty much just plastic and fur. But Forky was made up out of all these different things. "Animation then really leaned into Forky. They said, 'Let's make this feel like a toy that's hand constructed, and almost like Bonnie is there animating it herself.' So they really animated the pipe cleaners to feel like pipe cleaners, and his googly eyes to rotate and never quite focus. There were a lot of technical challenges in Forky to give something that felt really simple, but actually had a lot of complexity in how animation could work with him." The Pixar team developed a porcelain shader for Bo Peep New tools and techniques allowed Toy Story 4's artists to re-visit the character Bo Peep and bring her to life in a way that had not been seen before, especially her porcelain qualities. "Our shading team spent a lot of time developing a porcelain shader that would give that real depth of material that you're feeling on her," says Moyer. "Porcelain, of course, is a clay with a glaze on top, and it tends to be that, with a little bit of age or even if it wasn't fired quite right, you get this crazing effect, which are these little hairline cracks on the surface. Eventually they pick up dirt, and so we wrote a new shader that did that crazing effect so it would actually model the light interaction with the cracks to keep that depth of field, or that depth within the glaze. We then used that effect creatively to imply how Bo Peep has been through the wringer a little bit, and hasn't been shy, and hasn't been up on a shelf the whole time, which was kind of a really fun but subtle effect." Pixar actually instituted something across the show called 'Team Bo', made up of story artists, animators, characters, TDs, tailoring, shading, rigging and other artists, who collaborated on Bo Peep. "For example," says Moyer, "one of the things they had to deal with was the simulation for her cloak. It used to be her dress in the original films, but now she's turned it into something that works for her in her new world. So it can flip inside out. It can get rolled up into a ball. She uses it sometimes to hide, and they had all these very technical shots of making it feel and work like something that's really nice, small and hand stitched, and this very simple Superman movement to it that they worked with animation on. And I just think the work on Bo in simulation is some of the best in the entire film." This article was originally published in issue 250 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 250 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: 35 greatest CGI movie moments of all time Create a scene with RenderMan for Maya Special effects in movies: 10 stunning examples View the full article

The Intel NUC and Nvidia Shield both are vulnerable to high-severity flaws, Intel and Nvidia warned in dual advisories. View the full article

Study participants fail to correctly identify core security concepts and tools to help them stay safe online. View the full article

Fully integrated into the Creative Cloud, Adobe Stock is a great tool for helping you create better designs, with less fuss. But you have to go about it in the right way. In this article, we share eight tips on how to make sure that you make the best use of Adobe Stock in your design work. Whether you're designing for print or the web, there's lots of useful advice here, so read on and learn how to best use Adobe Stock to craft beautiful and functional designs. 01. Select your images carefully Couple enjoying themselves on a winter day, by Jacob Lund One of the reasons stock imagery sometimes has a bad name is the popular association with ‘cheesy’ and generic images. A quick look through the images on Adobe Stock, however, will show that in 2019, it’s more about find high-quality, professionally shot photography. This means it's easy, for example, to find images that feel authentic and realistic, such as the example above, rather than ones that are obviously posed. So it's well worth putting in a little work to select the right pictures for your design. Adobe Stock offers a sophisticated search engine, driven by machine-learning, along with some clever filters, to help you to do so. Most importantly, though, your choice of image needs to be contextually relevant to the design. So that means not just thinking about the subject (what’s in the picture and what does it convey?), but also mood and atmosphere (what emotion is it likely to provoke in the viewer). 02. Complement your colour scheme As well as considering how well your image is going to work contextually, you need to think about how it’s going to work aesthetically. If you’ve already settled on a colour scheme (which might already be laid out in your brand’s design manual, for instance), then you need to pick images that complement this palette naturally. Thankfully Adobe Stock makes this easy, by providing a colour wheel filter to help narrow down your picture search to only those featuring certain colours. There’s also a handy slider for setting the level of vivid colour you’re looking for. 03. Think about text placement Search results for 'Golden Gate Bridge' with 'Images with Copy Space' ticked Even when you’ve found what you think is the perfect image, getting it to work in a particular design isn’t always easy, especially where a lot text is involved. Usefully, then, Adobe Stock has a special filter to only show images that leave space for copy text. Give it a try, and you could end up finding an image with the perfect amount of space needed for other elements in your design... potentially saving you hours of messing about in Photoshop! 04. Include alt text If you’re designing for the web, then there’s one golden rule when it comes to embedding images: use alt text. Alt text is a word, phrase or sentence embedded in the HTML of a site that describes the contents of an image. This text can be read by screen readers, typically used by people with visual impairment. It also appears in a blank box that would normally contain the image, if that image fails to load, because of poor quality internet, for example. The most important reason to include alt text is that Google will be more inclined to promote your website in the search results if you include it. The more natural and descriptive you can write your alt text to be, the better. 05. Seek an emotional connection The first three search results for 'Wistful thoughtful child' on Adobe Stock One of the main aims of any design is to provoke some kind of emotional connection in the viewer. Including images of people’s faces can be a great way of doing so, as this creates an instant response in the most primal parts of our brains. Adobe Stock makes it easy to find such right images, simply by clicking the ‘Include people’ filter and adding the word ‘face’ to your search terms. Plus, as well as using search terms that describe things, places, etc, also include ones that describe feelings, such as 'proud', 'excited', 'overwhelmed' etc. 06. Keep everything legal Using images online can be a legal minefield, with lawyers waiting to pounce on your for the slightest copyright infringement. Using Adobe Stock images, of course, saves you from worry as they will all be appropriately sourced and royalty-free. That said, there are a small number of things you need to bear in mind, which we detail in our article Is it legal? Your guide to using stock images in your designs. 07. Consider illustration “Louise”: oil painting on canvas by Mari Dein Photography is not the only way to go when it comes to design, and in recent years illustration has become increasingly trendy, from apps and websites to posters and packaging. There are literally millions of professional illustrations available on Adobe Stock for your design projects, and you can use all the same powerful search tools and filters to narrow down your search and find the perfect one for you. 08. Harness your creative flow One of the most challenging things about design work can sometimes be switching between different folders and different tools, which often disrupts the flow you need to be truly creative. That’s why Adobe Stock is seamlessly integrated with the CC apps designers love to use, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and After Effects and others. This clever integration means you can search for images within the software, pull in watermarked versions, play around with them and finally - if you choose - licence them, without ever leaving the app. And that leaves you to focus less on coming up with imaginative and creative solutions, interruption-free. To see how this works in practice, check out our tutorial Design a poster in Photoshop CC with Adobe Stock templates, View the full article

If you've been thinking about buying a new drawing tablet, then today could be your lucky day. Perhaps you want to treat that special someone in your life later on in the year and want to get organised. Perhaps that special someone in your life is you. We won't judge. You can consider it an early October treat. You might've thought you had to hold out for a Black Friday deal to snap up a bargain, but right now you can get an 11-inch or 19.6-inch Huion tablet for a knockdown price. Huion tablets have consistently made it to our list of the best drawing tablets. The Huion KAMVAS GT-191 has an RRP of £449 but is currently on Amazon for just over £300, at £318.84, or eBay at just £299.99, and the Huion Inspiroy Q11K costs just £69, down from £115 (also on Amazon). The Huion GT-191 has a 19.5-inch screen with a HD 1,920 x 1,080 resolution IPS screen for colour accuracy (displaying over 16.7 million colours) and consistent images. It comes with a free pen, the PE330, which has 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity and a whopping 350 hours of battery life – after just one and a half hours of charge. There's also an adjustable stand, and the compatibility with Windows, Mac and other major programmes you'd expect. If you don't need such a big tablet, the 11-inch Huion Inspiroy Q11K is an absolute bargain. It costs under £70, comes with a rechargeable Pf150 pen, which has 8192 levels of pen pressure sensitivity. The tablet has eight customisable shortcut keys and wireless connectivity. It's also one of our top Huion tablet picks. If you're not in the UK, or want to check out other deals on Huion tablets, see today's best prices on a range of models below: Read more: The best tablets with a stylus in 2019 Wacom Cintiq 22 review Procreate 5: Drawing app gets its juiciest update yet View the full article

For anyone wanting to get into digital painting without having to pay too much for the privilege, there's a new option available in the form of the latest version of Corel's Painter Essentials, Painter Essentials 7. The full Corel Painter is a powerful natural media painting app that enables you to replicate all manner of painting techniques, but it comes at quite a price (although it is a one-off payment, rather than a subscription model). If you've just started out then Essentials is a great way to get a feel for Painter's tools without investing a stack of cash, and Corel's quite excited about this latest version, thanks to its new AI painting tools. There's a lot of work going on right now aimed at using AI deep learning techniques to copy the styles of famous artists and apply them to other images. The problem with it is that it takes an awful lot of computing power to do properly – much more than you're likely to have on your desktop computer – and the results can still be patchy. Corel says that its technique combines AI with its own brush technology to do style transfer with a human element. So you can import a photo, select the AI Van Gogh Auto-Paint setting, for example, and Painter Essentials will create quickly paint something that looks a bit van Gogh-like. It's good but it's not right We're not wholly convinced; while it kind of captures a van Gogh feel in the individual strokes, the overall look seems very automated to us, with none of the energy of a true van Gogh. Still, it's a fun toy to play with, and you could probably get some interesting results by experimenting with Painter Essential's other Auto-Paint settings. Beyond the AI tools there are plenty of other reasons to give Painter Essentials 7 a go. It features plenty of natural media brushes and canvas textures for ultra-realistic results, plus tracing, cloning and symmetry tools to kick-start your creativity. It's also compatible with drawing tablets, with full pressure sensitivity control, so if you want to just sit down and draw then this is a great way to get going. It's no van Gogh, but Essentials can still help you produce impressive artwork This latest version also features a new dark UI, improved performance and new brush technologies such as dynamic speckles, dab stencils and glazing brushes. And if you find yourself needing more than Essentials can deliver, it's easy to upgrade to the full Painter 2020 from within the app. Painter Essentials 7 is available now from Corel for both Mac and PC; it'll cost you $49.99/£34.99/€39.99. Related articles: Corel Painter 2019 review CorelDRAW for Mac finally arrives How to mimic oil paint in Corel Painter View the full article

You may not already frequent them, but online art galleries are a great way to help you out of a creative rut. They're useful when you're feeling uninspired yet unable to leave your desk because of deadlines, the weather or simply the guilt of taking some time out. Sometimes, the best medicine for finding yourself in a creative ditch is to take a step back and look at some of the work that has gone before you. Getting out of a creative block can be as easy as wandering around an art gallery or museum, but what if you don’t have immediate access to the Tate or the Guggenheim? Well, we have scoured the internet to bring you the best online art galleries and museums, where you can tap into some artistic inspiration or even buy some art without leaving your desk. Let’s take a look. And if you're more interested in improving your own artistic endeavours, check out our roundup of tutorials on art techniques, or kit yourself out with the essential art supplies you need for painting. 01. Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art is one of the best-loved art institutions in New York City, if not in all of the US. Showcasing American artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, the museum buildings themselves are part of the canon of great American architecture designed by European architects, first residing in a Brutalist building by Marcel Breuer (now the Met Breuer) before moving to a purpose-built edifice by Renzo Piano in the West Village. The Whitney has put its entire collection online, so visitors to its website can browse almost 24,000 artworks, ranging from photographs, film, books, paintings, textiles and performance art. Some standout works include The Times Thay Ain’t A Changing, Fast Enough! by Henry Taylor, 2017, which depicts Philando Castille, an African American who was shot and killed by police while in his car. 02. Google Street Art Project The Google Street Art Project provides a platform via Google where you can view some of the world’s most amazing street art (see some of our favourite street art here). Street art occupies a bit of a no man's land between the public realm and the gallery, transforming the urban space into something of an ephemeral outdoor art museum. Street art can offer a window into the culture, history, activism and movements of a society. Google Street Art Project has attempted to capture street art in destinations like Buenos Aires and Berlin, as well as showcasing street art collections like that of Widewalls, and documenting street art festivals such as The Millerntor Gallery in Hamburg. Some of the walls, cities and projects that appear on the Street Art Project even come with audio guides that tell you the stories behind the walls. 03. Art UK Art UK is an online platform that brings together artworks from some of the most important cultural institutions across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Its aim is to democratise art and the public’s access to it, and the team have curated works from over 3,200 venues around Britain that include paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Francis Bacon, Adolphe Valette, Renoir, Mary Beale and many others. Over 40,000 artists are featured on the site, and visitors can search by artwork, artist or venue. Artists are listed by nationality, and it is interesting to note the wide array of international artists whose work is housed in British institutions. Art UK also has an online shop where you can purchase prints that will add a touch of class and colour to your home. If you need some inspiration, Art UK also has you covered, as it has sorted its artworks into categories like Abstract, Floral Art Prints, Modern Interior Prints and Impressionism. 04. artnet artnet is the leading online resource for the international art market. Its Price Database is part educational/part commercial resource, in that it catalogues art auction activity for the past 30 years, and is used by buyers and appraisers to make calculated decisions on their purchases. It also allows visitors to browse galleries from all over the world, with some of the most current and contemporary artworks held by cutting-edge gallerists on offer through the portal. You can also track and follow auction lots and sales, and bid on works by Bansky, Sol Le Witt and Damien Hirst, to name a few. artnet news also brings you up-to-date news on the goings-on in the art world, covering everything from art fairs to trends in the art world. Basically, artnet is the go-to place online for everything you need to know about the contemporary art world, its artists, galleries, works, buyers and collectors. 05. The Affordable Art Fair The Affordable Art Fair was originally held in Battersea in London in 1999 with a view to providing an alternative, and cheaper option for purchasing art outside a gallery setting. Prices for works are still deemed 'affordable' – they're capped at around £6,000/€7,500, depending on where the fair is being held. The Affordable Art Fair now has iterations all over the world, and its website allows visitors to keep up with fairs in Stockholm, Amsterdam, Hamburg and beyond, as well as the galleries exhibiting at them and the artists on show. The Affordable Art Fair is one of the best places to shop for art online, as prices range from around £50 to £6,000, so there should be something for everyone. It’s also a great place to familiarise yourself with emerging and up and coming artists. 06. Art Basel Art Basel started as a small, private fair in Switzerland in 1970, but has gone on to become one of the trendiest and most well-known art fairs in the world. Taking place in Basel, Miami and Hong Kong, Art Basel attracts the glamorous, rich and famous, who come not only to see the art, but to attend parties sponsored by big name brands and catch performances by pop superstars. The online catalogue breaks the collections down by fair, so those visiting the site can choose to browse mixed media pieces from Art Basel Miami Beach 2014, for example, or the Discoveries collection from Art Basel Hong Kong 2018. The photos of each artwork are high res and can be zoomed in on to get a sense of the materiality and texture. Read more: 5 apps that are shaking up the art market Banksy opens new homeware shop to protect his name Joker fan art is creepily compelling View the full article

Lighting keys show exactly how a scene will be lit, and express the scene's emotional story, while storyboards tell the narrative story. A good lighting key comes straight from the heart and requires empathy and poetic thinking. You’ll also need a solid understanding of the foundations of light so that you can wield this tool powerfully. I've worked on animated blockbusters such as Pixar's Coco and Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, plus many more. Throughout more career, I've discovered these 15 ways help me get my heart on to the screen. I hope they help you, too. For further tips and tricks on improving your work, see our art techniques tutorials. Or if you want more movie inspiration, see the best 3D movies of the year. 01. Build up to big moments Lighting keys must be done in succession so you can control the dynamics along the way Lighting keys are done in succession. Like music, you have to know where you’re going so that you can control the 'dynamics' along the way. If you know you have a brightly lit burst of colour in your sequence, save it for the high point. Novice artists may want to start with a big moment, but there’s a delicate beauty in the build-up to a climactic moment. In this scene, Lightning McQueen is following in the footsteps of his former mentor, Doc Hudson, who taught him his iconic move 'turn right to go left'. When I first looked at the storyboards I knew this scene would be an iconic and sentimental moment that needed to be illuminated and brought forward from the rest of the sequence. My challenge was figuring out how to do so. At the time, artist Bill Cone was teaching me about lighting keys. I studied his work from the first Cars film, and one of his images, in particular, stood out to me. It was an iconic painting of the scene where Doc Hudson is out in the desert kicking up all this dust. Pixar had that image blown up big in the cafeteria. I would stare at it most lunches, enamoured by the way Bill illuminated the atmosphere so beautifully. I took inspiration from that painting and used it as an opportunity to pay homage to Bill, the same way Lightning McQueen was paying homage to Doc. I like to believe it adds a subconscious layer to this key that you can feel. 02. Learn to emphasise with your character Put yourself in the place of the character You can’t fake empathy. It’s stepping into the shoes of a stranger and building a bridge from your experiences to theirs. It requires humility, letting go of your personal biases, and the ability to think about someone else instead of yourself. This may sound uncomfortable, but sometimes being uncomfortable is key to creating work that will move people emotionally. In this example, Miles Morales has learnt something that completely changes his world view. In the moment, he’s feeling several emotions at once. As the artist we have to put ourselves in his place and think of a time we’ve experienced many emotions at once. During those times we tend feel lost and, in search of stability, we cling to whatever we can. So now let’s get practical. Essentially, to feel lost is to be in a 'haze'. Here, even though Miles is only a short distance from Peter, he’s got some strong atmosphere pushing him back into his haze. He desperately wants to find stability somewhere, so I made sure to covey that through his gestures: his eyes are watering, his head is coming forward, his eyes are filled with a strong highlight, representing his last glimmer of hope that Peter might be able to help. Miles is grasping onto his arm, which is a clear graphic shape as well. I also made sure to give Peter a lot of form on his shoulders so we could see that he’s also bearing that burden on his shoulders with Miles as he’s listening. 03. Give each painting a title The title will inform every decision you make Something you can do to keep your mind focused on the simplicity of the moment is to give it a simple title. This tip seems so unassuming that you might think it’s insignificant, but it’s useful when you’re painting multiple images in a sequence. This example consists of several lighting keys that I compiled into one image so that it would flow really well. The title is A New Day. That title informed every lighting decision that I made. Down below we see the early morning traffic being bathed in the first light of the day. I put Miles in shadow in the first key, heading toward the new light. The subway windows were a great opportunity to get light spilling through with God rays, the type of light you would experience in a cathedral with stained glass windows. Often when I think of God, church and rays of light, I think of a new beginning. The second Miles is now fully in the light. He’s become a silhouette, much like the buildings around him. The last image of Miles is on this iconic crane and he’s nearly invisible as he’s become one with the new day. 04. Paint light, not things Create a general direction for how the light looks and feels It’s easy to get caught up in the details, but most of the time that’s not necessary for the lighting department. Your responsibility is to create a general direction for how the light looks and feels. When you understand the fundamentals of light you can do this with relatively loose mark making. However, every studio is different, and some will want you to be more specific than this example here, and that’s okay. If you understand how light works it won’t be a problem for you, it’s simply more time-consuming. However, even in that situation you shouldn’t focus on the thing you’re painting. Instead, focus on where the light is coming from, how it’s travelling there and how it’s received by the object. When you focus on painting the light you’ll produce a realistic direction for the key. Here you can see I loosely lathered on colour and light over the buildings, losing much of the details (most don’t even have windows). This tells the technical director that these objects are less important than the cars in the foreground with their reflections on the wet pavement and Miles’ silhouette in the background. It was a real privilege to work with the team at Sony Pictures Imageworks because they could read this painting and know exactly what to do. That comes with their level of experience and their understanding of how light works. You’ll need to form your own relationship with the people working at your studio and see what works best for everybody to understand each other and work efficiently. 05. Learn from nature There are no shortcuts to mastering light and colour A question that comes up a lot is, 'How can I get better at lighting and colour'. There’s only one answer for this and unfortunately there are no shortcuts. Our limitless source for learning is being outside and studying the nature of light. For example, when I say the word 'sunset', you’ll probably have your own general idea of what that could look like. I could challenge you and ask for three vastly different sunsets and you could likely do it. The question is, could you do ten? Twenty? A hundred? A thousand? The exciting answer is that it’s definitely possible, and I would claim that there are infinite possibilities to the varieties of how a sunset looks. I would also claim that a sunset can be any colour on the wheel, any value and any saturation. This is why nature is our best teacher because it will never be mundane or boring and it will always surprise you. When I started working at Disney, my production designer and former teacher there was Bill Perkins. I also asked Bill how to improve my understanding of light and colour. He told me to go to a spot down the street from the studio that had a big white building surrounded by trees and paint it at the same spot every day and paint notes on how each day is different. If it’s not different, it’s not a problem with nature, it’s a problem with my perception. This is our problem with light. Our eyes will try to convince us that they know what they’re seeing, but we have to override that notion and be humble enough to look as if it’s our first time. When you learn to do this you’ll see colours that you never knew were there. Learn more about colour with our post on colour theory. 06. Make a simple visual statement Simplicity is powerful The simpler your image is, the more powerful it will become on screen. This concept can become complex very quickly: take this example from Spider-Man. This is an iconic moment and Miles has not only made peace with himself, he’s restored peace to his neighbourhood. So for my first attempt I got caught up in the texture of the sky (there aren’t very many skies in Spider-Man so we were writing the visual language as this piece was being developed). I achieved a lot of grit and emotion, but it wasn’t right for the moment. The first one says there’s a lot going on in Miles’ mind when really this is a time for Miles to exhale and be at peace. In my second attempt, I focused too much on the graphic stylisation of these clouds: they framed Miles nicely, but it felt like they were closing in on him. In the third one the clouds were pushed way back into the background, becoming one clear shape. They’re repetitive so they read as a pattern and overall are soft yet still with a subtle, active shape – in line with the style of the film. The images now feels like a triumphant and calming place for Miles to claim peace. 07. Dig deep, emotionally Your audience will feel what you feel If you want your audience to feel where you’re coming from then you have to dig deeper and push yourself to get more emotionally connected to the content. In this example, Miles is about to make his big decision to become Spider-Man. So I combined two keys to match the camera pan. I had all these lights going on and lit his face really intricately, yet I was unsatisfied. I couldn’t figure it out and it was driving me crazy at the time. I had done everything technically right. I understood the moment and it looked pretty cool, but it didn’t have any feeling. I then came up with this scenario: “Miles is a bit of an outcast; he has one foot in two different cultures, and he doesn’t feel like he fits in any of them. He’s found his calling, but doesn’t know if he can live up to being Spider-Man. He’s in the city that he wants to protect, but yet doesn’t feel a part of it.” That was my big 'a-ha' moment. I kept the city vibrant and put Miles’ face in the shadows. I used his tough exterior as metaphorical armour to protect himself from getting hurt. This is a sentiment I can relate to and I’m sure other people can, too. So, the solution was to not do more, but do less to get the right emotion across. 08. Differentiate between sight and photography We see in our minds, not our eyes Light is our only means of seeing and understanding the world around us. We see in our minds not in our eyes, and we’ve learned through school that the path to realism is detail. The pinnacle of this concept is the camera, which picks up every little detail and treats them all as of equal importance. This concept is not a natural one: it’s how a machine translates light, not necessarily how people translate light. Our vision is much closer to an impressionistic painting because we choose what we should focus on and we generalise and assume the rest. Imagine if I asked you to go to the park, pick out someone sitting on the bench and look at them for five seconds, then close your eyes and describe what you saw. Most of us would describe features about the person we found interesting, but we’d have trouble relating the exact style of the bench, the type of grass or what was in the background, although we would likely have a general sense of the surroundings. This is how you should paint, if you want to share your experiences and heart through your work. So you may ask, doesn’t film and CG animation use a camera? Yes, but the chief role of the cinematographer or designer is to negotiate with the camera to get the audience to focus on the right details. They may use set dressing, blur, and other varieties of VFX to achieve this. When you understand this principle, it will help you to be clear with your visuals and the audience will be less likely to be distracted. See our post on the best cameras for creatives if you do want to upgrade your kit. 09. Get the art right first Art first, logic second For me to get my heart across in an image I have to get it feeling right on an artistic level, before I go in and delineate what the specifics are. This is similar to how many painters approach their work: they’ll go in with loose gestural marks and get it feeling right before they tackle the specifics. I’m sure there’s many reasons for why this tip works for people. My reasoning is it gets me engaged, thinking creatively and excited about what I’m creating. The details can always be decided later. For my personal project, Little, I’ll start with abstract mark making before I figure out what the composition is going to be. I also did this with Spider-Man – often starting in pastel then taking that image and combining it with the storyboard to get something that has heart and also fits the bill for what the directors needed from me. 10. Take feedback Don't tell people what it's about, let them tell you This is a great one for students. If you have a concept or lighting key you’ve been developing there can be an underlying fear of sharing it with people. Not because you didn’t craft it well, but because they might laugh at it or misunderstand it. This is something you need to face head-on: start showing your work without having to explain it. Family and friends will generally be nice to you: if you give them an explanation before they see the image, they’ll compromise between what you said and what the image actually looks like and agree with you. It’s better that you show the image with no explanation and let them tell you what it is. This will give you valuable insights that you can use to investigate what about your image is giving that impression and how you can fix it. Not everybody within your social circle is going to be able to give you the answer – that’s your job, after all – but everybody’s opinion on looking at images is valid. 11. Choose light that you've seen before Focus on emotion You can see a trend here, right? I often gravitate more towards emotions and feeling when talking about lighting because it’s the responsibility of a lighting key. Here we have one of the last shots in Spider-Man and Miles is airborne looking down at the city. Obviously, I’ve never experienced this before in my own life. I’ve seen similar things for brief moments on a plane or through daring photographers prints, but if I were to create a key solely on those experiences it wouldn’t have much of my emotion put into it. This piece was titled On Top of the World. That’s an emotion I’ve been lucky enough to feel a few times in my life. Sometimes I’ve felt on top of the world because I’ve just fallen in love, achieved a difficult goal or been hit with inspiration. The feeling is dizzying and exciting and it seems like the world around is sparkling with excitement and opportunity. These are all things I can take and translate them visually, as I’ve done here, to get the feeling across – not just the time of day. 12. Study light fundamentals Anything is possible but stay realistic Sometimes when we look at work by great painters of light we get the sense that anything is possible, and for the most part that notion is true. However, your mind must be rooted in the fundamentals of how light works and it can be a complex area of study. People will often make up lights and colours that have no origin point and contradict other statements made about light. Compare this to music: you can play any note you want on the scale, but if you play two notes that just don’t go together it sounds bad. Yet there are some masters of music who play right on the edge and put the wildest combinations together and somehow it all magically works. That’s a mark of someone who has spent time to master their craft and it doesn’t come easily. 27 top movie sequences Think of your lighting key like a real-life movie set. You have to place lights somewhere and they’re going to affect other things. Here you can use methods to intensify or dull the reaction of light on an object, but it won’t change how it works. In this example I need to amplify Miles launching over a car crash. I could just make him bright and that fixes that problem. However, where is that light coming from? Wouldn’t it cast a shadow? Why is the light only hitting him? Why is everything else desaturated and he’s saturated? Lighting can become a puzzle very quickly! So in this moment, I found the opportunity to hit him with a strong spot light from the taxi- cab. Now I’m sure if you were going to go in there with a ruler, you could explain that the angle of light on a car wouldn’t tilt in that direction, but that’s where we’re allowed to cheat a little bit. It’s still a real light, it’s logical where it’s placed and how it’s working – I just went in there and adjusted it a bit to suit my needs. Again, you can cheat where lights are placed, but you can’t cheat how lights work. 13. Start with an overcast day I learned this from a class I took with Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi. Often a computer will render in phases. One of the first phases will show the render of the shot in neutral light. Why neutral light? Because it accurately shows the local colour and general value of every object. Where can we see neutral light in nature? That’s simple – we see it in any overcast day where the light from the sun is diffused through the clouds and spread almost evenly to everything around us. There’s typically no cast shadows or intense light interactions so it simplifies things significantly. From here you can paint over it with your digital tools, adjustment layers or just translate it traditionally to suit your light condition. It’ll ensure continuity that everything in your shot is being hit with the same light and changing colour, temperature and value appropriately. In this piece for Cars 3, the overcast day was handed to the shading department because it needed to make sure all the local colours matched what they were painting on to the models. The one painted at near dusk was for the lighting department to know how to alter all those neutral colours to fit the moment. 14. Start with the right song If you can write it, you can light it This happens to me on a daily basis. I can’t find the right palette to match the mood that I’m looking for, I may not have time or luck to capture the perfect moment in nature, haven’t found the right reference or can’t get my head on straight about what’s going on. A good solution is find a song that you think sounds like this moment. Again, this sounds artsy, but we’re artists! Let’s be artsy and get in the right mood to create our masterpieces. This is an example where I was struggling to find the right palette for Spider-Man. I knew it was dusk, but there’s so many solutions to this time of day, so how do I choose one? Eventually, I found the right song that matched the moment for me and that helped me to gain the nuances of the right palette. 15. Describe the moment Find a song that 'sounds' like the moment Another tip is to write out terms that describe the moment. This is especially useful for mundane moments. So here’s my seemingly mundane moment example. You have Miles’ back to camera and he’s opened a door to the rooftop. The way it’s framed means we don’t get much space on the picture plane to see what outside looks like. So I wrote out words and expressions such as 'stepping out into the fray', 'electric blue city', 'the final door', 'determined', 'ready', 'facing your fears' and so on. All of these helped direct me as to what was going on here and how this could actually be a really meaningful key. Some people may say that some keys are just fillers or they’re all serving your climax. I strongly disagree with this. Every lighting key should have something to say. Whether that voice is quiet, loud, piercing or silent, there’s still value and it should be approached with respect and care. This article was originally published in ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe to ImagineFX. Read more: Stunning special effects in movies: 10 stunning examples Check out these incredible posters for movies that never happened The greatest CGI movie moments of all time View the full article

You're reading Geocode API Review: Scalable and Reliable Geocoding & Geoparsing, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Geocoding refers to the process of converting addresses into geographic coordinates. On the other hand, reverse geocoding refers to converting geographic coordinates into human-readable addresses. For a layman, the whole process would not make sense, however, geocoding hold a lot … View the full article

You're reading Zenscrape Review: Website HTML Extraction, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Over time, data has become the core of business strategies and market research. It is being termed as the ‘differentiator’ since, whether you want to start a new project or take your existing business up a notch, you will need … View the full article

Drawing a circle may seem simple, but penning a perfectly round shape is way trickier that you might imagine. Don't believe us? Have a go with this Can you draw a perfect circle game and see how you get on. Our guide to logo design points out just how important circles are in the world of art and design, but drawing them freehand takes serious skill. The best score we've got so far is a pretty impressive, even if we do say so ourselves, 89.5 per cent. So close and yet so far. All joking aside, this game, developed by the Vole WTF team, is actually a really good way to put your artistic skills to the test, especially if you have the luxury of the one of the best tablets with a stylus to try it on. The more we practised, the higher scores we got – practise really does make (11% off) perfect. However, we've now lost count of how many attempts we've had or how much time we lost to this ridiculously simple but addictive game. While we head off to learn how to draw basic shapes, why don't you give the game a go and see if you can beat our (current) top score. Read more: Illustrator tutorials: The best lessons to sharpen your skills The designer's guide to the Golden Ratio How to draw: the best drawing tutorials View the full article

Once you've found the best art easel for you, you'll probably spend hours at it, so it’s very important to invest in one that will suit your needs and be comfortable. There are several things to bear in mind when deciding what type to buy, as an art easel is one of the most important art supplies in your toolbox (see our guide to more essential art supplies). Space could be a consideration – you may need to be able to pack away your setup at the end of each session, meaning you'll be looking for a foldaway or lightweight small easel you can carry with you. Or, you might be looking for a more solid studio easel that will be a more permanent fixture in your space, and last you a lifetime. Or perhaps you're looking for an art easel for the child or small person in your life. A quality art easel can be a fairly considerable investment so it’s worth taking some time to think about your needs before you begin. This guide will help you navigate some of the options available to fledgling artists and help you find the best art easel for you. And never fear if your budget isn't massive, as we've got the best art easels for a range of price points. Looking for more art supplies? Also check our post on the best pencils and the best sketchbooks. It's also worth keeping an eye on the best Black Friday deals. Mabef easels are designed for quality and longevity. I have personally owned a number of Mabef designs for over 25 years and they’re all still going strong. Made from stain-resistant oiled beech wood, the finishing on these Basic Studio Easel Mabef easels is beautiful and well worth the investment. The M/09 model is a great starting point for the serious studio artist on a budget. Although it doesn’t have some of the frills of other models, the M/09 is a solid model that will stand the test of time and will prove a good studio work-horse for the burgeoning professional studio. This heavy duty studio easels a great mid-point for a lot of artists’ needs. It’s not from a big name but the overall functionality certainly makes up any difference. An Atworth H-frame easel will give you a more stable easel to work on, and, although it’s not collapsable, the wheels make it easy to move around the studio as needed. You can also convert it into a horizontal easel, which gives you a wealth of options when it comes to your medium, too. Convertible easels are perfect for watercolour painting or just as extra table space. Some table easels come as a box with ample storage to save space, which can seems like a good option at first. The stumbling block of these designs is their lack of adjustability. If you’re working at a table then you need to be able to adjust the baseline of your canvas, that’s to say, how high the bottom of your canvas is from the table. That's where this Mini Easel really comes into its own. The adjustability of this easel enables you to work at your own height, which will save you a lot of discomfort in the long run. When it comes to your child’s creativity you don’t want to instal limitations so versatility is the key word. Melissa & Doug have built themselves a name as one of the top suppliers of kids' creative kit over the past 30 years so they must be doing something right. This multi-use easel by Melissa & Doug is easy to assemble, folds away easily for storage and includes a dry-erase board, chalkboard, locking paper-roll holder, child-safe paper cutter, four easy-clip grips and two large plastic trays that can be removed for easy cleaning. Hours of messy fun guaranteed. Younger children won’t stand for long at an easel, and will often be tempted to push their easel over, so a table easel can be a better option, and table easels can also be set up on the floor to make them even more accessible. A table-top easel from a trusted name like Melissa & Doug such as this double-sided tabletop easel is a great option for those younger Picassos. Its built-in paper roll, reversible design and sturdy wooden construction make this a great option that’s designed to inspire hours of fun. If you’re looking to kit yourself or someone else out with a full artistic kit including an easel then the 111 Piece All Media Art Studio Paint Set from Daler Rowney could be a good place to start. Now, most of this kit is student grade or below, but it’s enough to get most people started off with a host of mediums and is a good place to build upon. The kit includes one aluminium easel, one carrying case, one eraser, one pencil pouch, a stretched canvas, mixing palette, pencil sharpener, one set of travel watercolours, colouring pencils, oil pastels, acrylics, brushes and much more. This Ktaxon Tripod Easel Stand with drawer is made of high quality beech. If you’re tight for space, or just don’t want your paint left out for little fingers or paws, then the addition of the drawer at the base of this easel is a huge plus. This adjustable easel makes a handsome addition to your home or studio and is also a great way to display your work to visiting friends and family when not in use. If you’re looking for an easel for part-time use at home, this is a great choice. Read more: Pixel art: 34 retro examples Essential art supplies for painting The best sketchbooks available now View the full article

Microsoft has released fixes for nine critical and 49 important vulnerabilities as part of Patch Tuesday. View the full article

Apple released fixes for Catalina and patches for iCloud and iTunes for Windows software. View the full article

If you’re looking for a home for your WordPress website, you’re going to need a quality web hosting service. And if you’re not particularly au fait with the ways of the web, this can be incredibly confusing, not to mention costly if you choose the wrong service provider. But it doesn’t need to be. Kinsta is a high quality, reliable WordPress web hosting service, which offers affordable plans for a wide range of requirements. So whether you’re a budding designer wanting to launch your first online portfolio, or a web pro wanting advanced features to take your site to the next level, Kinsta has you covered. Packed with an extensive toolset, Kinsta pulls ahead of its competitors with a number of key features, including lightning-fast architecture, a high security network and free site migrations. Let’s take a closer look at why Kinsta’s stand-out WordPress web hosting service is the perfect solution for creatives. 01. It won't break the bank Finding that perfect corner of the web to place your website can be expensive, especially if you choose a mediocre service. Kinsta keeps web hosting affordable and removes the risk of added costs with a number of clear pricing plans to choose from. A premium solution at a price that won’t break the bank, Kinsta offers plans from just $30 a month for starters, right through to $1500 enterprises plans and everything in between. The best value for money, Kinsta rates are highly competitive, with options to suit every and all budgets. 02. You don't have to be a web wizard to use it Don’t know how to code? Confused by web hosting? Rest assured you’re not the only one unfamiliar with the workings of the web, but the good news is the Kinsta team are on hand to help you every step of the way. Kinsta puts web hosting within everyone’s reach, offering 24/7 support from leading WordPress experts. Over the past decade, Kinsta developers have armed the software with tools to optimise your site’s performance and make managing it a cinch. A prime example of this is its one-click staging environment, where in – yes, you guessed it – just one click, any WordPress install at Kinsta can have its own staging area, completely separate from the live site. Simply press the ‘create a staging environment’ button and you can test WordPress versions, plugins, code and general development, all without affecting your live website. Being big fans of making things super-simple, the Kinsta team have also extended this ‘one-click’ feature to SSL and CDN implementation, meaning offloading bandwidth requests and reducing load times has never been easier. Kinsta is jam-packed with easy to understand and use features to make your website’s performance as fast and efficient as it can be. And if you get stuck, just call on the expert Kinsta team, who are available around the clock to help. 03. But if you are a web wizard, there's lots here for you too! Kinsta also accommodates the more seasoned web user, offering plenty of advanced features to help take your WordPress sites to the next level. Built from the ground up with WordPress developers in mind, you’ll find lots of tools under Kinsta’s hood to help speed up and automate your workflow. The multi-user environment option is a standout feature, offering both safety and convenience, with permissions set individually so each user gets the access they need and no more. Kinsta also offers detailed website analytics for advanced developers, one-click cloning and nothing but the best tech stack optimised for WordPress. Kinsta is a highly capable and powerful tool, but at the heart of the service is the user. A subject that is confusing for some, the Kinsta team have broken it down to make it accessible for beginners, and, at the same time, loaded it with tools that will excite even the most seasoned WordPress user. Add all that up and it’s not hard to see how Kinsta has been awarded top tier status by ReviewSignal five years in a row. So what are you waiting for? Sign up with Kinsta and settle into your new home online for less today. View the full article

Looking to pick up a great Surface Pro Black Friday deal this year, but don't know where to start? You're in the right place. In this article, you'll find all you need to know to bag a bargain on Microsoft's leading 2-in1 tablet/laptop. Black Friday isn't upon us yet (this year's event takes place on 29 November, with Cyber Monday following on 2 December), so for now we'll be offering all our predictions for 2019: the kinds of Surface Pro Black Friday deals we expect to see, which models will be discounted, and where to look for the best bargains. In the run-up to the shopping event, we'll update the article with all the early Surface Pro Black Friday deals. Then on the 29 November through to 1 December, we'll be working tirelessly to bring you all the very best offers as soon as they go live. Which Surface Pro models will be getting a Black Friday 2019 discount? On Black Friday 2018 and Amazon Prime Day 2019, we've saw a number of strong discounts on the Surface Pro, and we expect this to be the case for Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, too. At its Fall Hardware event on 2 October 2019, Microsoft unveiled two new Pro models: the Surface Pro 7 and the Surface Pro X, on sale 22 October and 19 November respectively. This bodes well for potential Black Friday Surface Pro 6 deals. Are we going to see any offers on the new Surface Pros? Well normally we'd say no. Typically retailers focus on slightly older stock for their sales. However, over last year's holiday event, many bucked this trend by knocking down the price of the then-brand-new Surface Pro 6. There's nothing to say the same thing won't happen with the Surface Pro 7 or Pro X this year, if those are the models you have your heart set on. Of course, we'll share any deals here as soon as we hear of them. There's also the older Surface Pro to consider in the mix. To help you decide which one's right for you, take a look at our Surface Pro 6 review, our Surface Pro review, or our hands-on Surface Pro X review. Surface Pro 6 Black Friday deals Last year we saw plenty of strong Surface Pro 6 Black Friday deals, as well as great bargains to be had across the year, for those who were keeping their eyes open for them. Retailers to look at include Amazon and the Microsoft online store, plus Best Buy, Walmart and Costco in US, and John Lewis, Very, AO and Currys in UK. Check the price widget below to see the best prices available right now in your region. For a better idea of the kind of Black Friday 2019 Surface Pro 6 deals we might expect, and which retailers to look out for, read on for a selection of the best discounts we've seen on this product since its release last October. Remember, this is an older model now, so we predict lower prices this year on the Pro 6. For more bargains in the Surface range (and more), take a look at our predictions for the best Microsoft Black Friday deals 2019, or our general guide to nailing Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019. How to get the best Surface Pro Black Friday 2019 deals It sounds extreme, but to make sure you get the best Surface Pro Black Friday deal this year, you need a game plan. Step one is to bookmark this page. We'll be keeping it updated with a curated list of the best offers from the most reliable retailers, in the run-up to Black Friday and during the event itself. While you'll likely find some good offers on the Microsoft online store itself, a number of other retailers will also be offering great discounts, from Walmart and Best Buy to John Lewis and Very. Keeping on top of all the different Surface Pro Black Friday deals is tricky, which is why we're taking the hard work out by collecting them in one place (you're welcome). Second, remember that while there'll plenty of hot offers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday themselves, those aren't the only days you'll be able to pick up a bargain machine. Eager retailers have been rolling out offers earlier and earlier each year - and with Black Friday falling relatively late this year, we definitely expect some good early deals. In 2018, there were competitive offers popping up from early November. To make the most of the offers, it's worth checking for add-ons such as software, keyboards and covers, or gift cards that will make your deal even better. It's also worth considering refurbished models – there are some great bargains to be had on pre-owned products. The very best deals won't stick around forever (many will sell out on the day). If you're reading this article, you're already ahead of the game – make the most of the weeks running up to the 29 November to figure out which Surface Pro product is right for you (how much storage do you need? How powerful should it be?), so you know what to focus on and don't end up panic buying the wrong model. View the full article

Google's October security update fixed several critical and high-severity vulnerabilities. View the full article

Once you've found the best art easel for you, you'll probably spend hours at it, so it’s very important to invest in one that will suit your needs and be comfortable. There are several things to bear in mind when deciding what type to buy, as an art easel is one of the most important art supplies in your toolbox (see our guide to more essential art supplies). Space could be a consideration – you may need to be able to pack away your setup at the end of each session, meaning you'll be looking for a foldaway or lightweight small easel you can carry with you. Or, you might be looking for a more solid studio easel that will be a more permanent fixture in your space, and last you a lifetime. Or perhaps you're looking for an art easel for the child or small person in your life. A quality art easel can be a fairly considerable investment so it’s worth taking some time to think about your needs before you begin. This guide will help you navigate some of the options available to fledgling artists and help you find the best art easel for you. And never fear if your budget isn't massive, as we've got the best art easels for a range of price points. Looking for more art supplies? Also check our post on the best pencils and the best sketchbooks. It's also worth keeping an eye on the best Black Friday deals. Mabef easels are designed for quality and longevity. I have personally owned a number of Mabef designs for over 25 years and they’re all still going strong. Made from stain-resistant oiled beech wood, the finishing on these Basic Studio Easel Mabef easels is beautiful and well worth the investment. The M/09 model is a great starting point for the serious studio artist on a budget. Although it doesn’t have some of the frills of other models, the M/09 is a solid model that will stand the test of time and will prove a good studio work-horse for the burgeoning professional studio. This heavy duty studio easels a great mid-point for a lot of artists’ needs. It’s not from a big name but the overall functionality certainly makes up any difference. An Atworth H-frame easel will give you a more stable easel to work on, and, although it’s not collapsable, the wheels make it easy to move around the studio as needed. You can also convert it into a horizontal easel, which gives you a wealth of options when it comes to your medium, too. Convertible easels are perfect for watercolour painting or just as extra table space. Some table easels come as a box with ample storage to save space, which can seems like a good option at first. The stumbling block of these designs is their lack of adjustability. If you’re working at a table then you need to be able to adjust the baseline of your canvas, that’s to say, how high the bottom of your canvas is from the table. That's where this Mini Easel really comes into its own. The adjustability of this easel enables you to work at your own height, which will save you a lot of discomfort in the long run. When it comes to your child’s creativity you don’t want to instal limitations so versatility is the key word. Melissa & Doug have built themselves a name as one of the top suppliers of kids' creative kit over the past 30 years so they must be doing something right. This multi-use easel by Melissa & Doug is easy to assemble, folds away easily for storage and includes a dry-erase board, chalkboard, locking paper-roll holder, child-safe paper cutter, four easy-clip grips and two large plastic trays that can be removed for easy cleaning. Hours of messy fun guaranteed. Younger children won’t stand for long at an easel, and will often be tempted to push their easel over, so a table easel can be a better option, and table easels can also be set up on the floor to make them even more accessible. A table-top easel from a trusted name like Melissa & Doug such as this double-sided tabletop easel is a great option for those younger Picassos. Its built-in paper roll, reversible design and sturdy wooden construction make this a great option that’s designed to inspire hours of fun. If you’re looking to kit yourself or someone else out with a full artistic kit including an easel then the 111 Piece All Media Art Studio Paint Set from Daler Rowney could be a good place to start. Now, most of this kit is student grade or below, but it’s enough to get most people started off with a host of mediums and is a good place to build upon. The kit includes one aluminium easel, one carrying case, one eraser, one pencil pouch, a stretched canvas, mixing palette, pencil sharpener, one set of travel watercolours, colouring pencils, oil pastels, acrylics, brushes and much more. This Ktaxon Tripod Easel Stand with drawer is made of high quality beech. If you’re tight for space, or just don’t want your paint left out for little fingers or paws, then the addition of the drawer at the base of this easel is a huge plus. This adjustable easel makes a handsome addition to your home or studio and is also a great way to display your work to visiting friends and family when not in use. If you’re looking for an easel for part-time use at home, this is a great choice. Read more: Pixel art: 34 retro examples Essential art supplies for painting The best sketchbooks available now View the full article