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Marmoset Toolbag is by no means new to the 3D art industry. It’s been out for years, and it’s known for its robustness and ease of use, especially when it comes to showing off game assets and smaller, confined projects.
Basically, Marmoset Toolbag is a live viewer that gives you instant feedback when you change lights, materials and so on. For me as an artist who’s used to making brush marks on paper or in Photoshop CC and instantly seeing the result, having to wait for renderers to finish to see the tweaks I made to my scene has always been a surefire way of getting me out of the creative flow.
I’ve used Marmoset Toolbag for many years, but only after I started working with VR modelling and painting have I come to realise just how powerful a tool it can be. It has its limitations, and it’s not good in all scenarios, but what it does, it does really fast and really well. Turns out it’s the perfect companion for VR sculpting and drawing.
In this Marmoset Toolbag tutorial, I’ll talk about how I use Marmoset with content made in VR. I use mostly four VR programs: Quill, AnimVR, Oculus Medium and MasterpieceVR. All of them can output models with vertex colours that we can then use in Marmoset.
By using vertex colours, you’ll be able to completely skip the normal UV unwrapping and texturing workflow, which will save you precious time.
01. Prepare content
From AnimVR, go to the Save tab and select Export as FBX. From Quill, go to the Save tab and save as FBX. At the moment, animation exported from Quill and AnimVR doesn’t work right in Marmoset Toolbag, so deselect Export Animation if you have animation in your file. Make sure that your scene is aligned to the scene grid, as that way your model should align correctly in Marmoset Toolbag.
02. Basics of Marmoset
The most important elements are lights, camera settings and rendering settings. We’ll talk about each element in detail as we need them. Marmoset uses a hierarchy of elements which lets you, for example, drag a light source under a camera to make it a ‘child’ of it.
03. Quill and AnimVR
The first models we’ll be setting up are from Quill, but the principle is the same with AnimVR. Both programs enable you to paint in VR, without any light sources or material types.
None of the programs have any built-in post-processing features, and this is where Marmoset comes in handy. You’ll be able to tweak curves and levels, add noise, glow and various camera effects such as depth of fi eld and distortion.
First, we want to get as close to what we saw in VR as possible and then work from there.
04. Import into Marmoset Toolbag
View all sides of exported objects by deselecting Cull Back Faces
Press File > Import Model and locate your file. Hit Import. The model should appear in your scene stack. With objects exported from AnimVR and Quill, you’ll most likely have to deselect Cull Back Faces.
Since most of the time you’re basically painting with flat planes in both programs, the backside of those planes will otherwise appear transparent. By turning of Cull Back Faces, both sides are visible.
05. Light your scene
Experiment with lighting settings to make your drawings look natural
Trying to actually light the geometry from Quill and AnimVR requires a very tight ‘drawing’ for it to look good. Due to the nature of the programs, a lot of the imperfections of the geometry they output are hidden by the fact that the surfaces are unlit.
Generally, hard-surface elements do better than organic elements when you try to add lights to your scene. Also, elements made up of as simple and as few strokes as possible tend to do well. As soon as you build an element that consists of a lot of brush strokes, you’ll start to notice that it works better unlit.
It’s a good idea to play around a bit with the settings. One drawing might look good lit and with reflection and glossiness enabled, yet another might look terrible.
06. Unlit scene
Be sure to check your scene for transparent elements
The first version is the one that will be closest to what you saw in VR. To get this result, go to your material and make sure Albedo is set to Vertex Color, Diffusion is set to Unlit, Microsurface is set to Gloss 0, Reflectivity is set to Specular with 0 intensity and finally Fresnel is at 0.
If your scene contains transparent elements, make sure to enable Vertex Alpha under Albedo, and under Transparency you should set Cutout and use Albedo alpha. Also, Channel should be set to A.
In our example some post-processing has been applied to add depth of field and to tweak the colours. We’ll get to that later on.
07. Light types
Brightness, Distance and Contact Refinement are the most important light settings
For the next two material/lighting scenarios, we need lights. Each light type in Marmoset has common settings and light-specific settings. The most important light settings are: Brightness; Distance, which has a big impact on the look of volumetric light when using fog; Contact Refinement, which does exactly what the name implies; and the shape settings, which scales the light caster and affects the sharpness of cast shadows. A small light caster gives sharp shadows, and a large one gives soft shadows.
If you experience blocky shadows, go to the rendering settings and up the shadow resolution, or try to enable the Use Cascades option under Shadows. With very large scenes it might not be possible to have sharp shadows due to the way Marmoset calculates shadows. In those cases spotlights with a small radius work best, and if that doesn’t help, up the light caster scale to soften the shadows.
In the above image, in the first example on the left I have a spotlight with a Brightness setting of 5, a Distance setting of 1.3 and a width of 0.3. Notice how soft the shadows appear, and how pronounced the volumetric light rays are. Jump to the Add Fog section of the tutorial for more information on how to achieve this.
The second example is a directional light with a width of 0 which gives very hard shadows. The last one is an omni light with a low Distance setting, a medium-sized light caster and a fog set to react to lights.
We’ll cover HDRI lights in the last part of the tutorial.
08. Lit scene
Useful shortcuts that you should know are Ctrl+F, which frames the selected object, and Spacebar which hides all toolbars
In this version, we use the same material for the whole scene. Once you get more comfortable with Marmoset, you can make as many individual materials as you like and apply those to the different layers in Quill or AnimVR scenes.
Start off by adding a light to your scene. In my case, I added a spotlight above the house with a angle setting that’s large enough for the light to illuminate the house and the surrounding garden. I can’t see the light at the moment, due to the ‘Unlit’ property of my material.
To get the material to react to the light source, you should set Albedo to Vertex Color, Microsurface to Gloss 0.3, and Horizon Smoothing to 0. Reflectivity is set to Specular with 0.006 intensity, just to get a small reflection. Fresnel is set to 1.
You also need to set Diffusion to Lambertian or one of the other techniques, depending on your material; just don’t set it to Unlit.
Under Render settings, enable Local Reflections and Enable GI. I set GI brightness to around 4. This basically turns all your objects into light casters which will bounce the light around in your scene to give a more realistic result. Depending on the size of your scene, you might have to up the GI resolution or tweak the Voxel Scene Fit slider.
As you can see, not all elements look equally good with those settings. Particularly the girl and laundry suffer from a very uneven surface. To get usable results with scenes like this, you’ll have to experiment quite a bit… or you could go to the next step and get the best of both worlds!
09. Combine techniques
Combining light techniques can benefit the whole composition
As we saw above, some elements look good unlit, while others benefit from lights and shadow. So what we can do is combine the two techniques. This is a bit of a ‘hack’ and won’t work in all scenarios. For example, you’d expect a character standing in a strong cone of light to cast a shadow. But in this case, since the girl is sitting like she is, we don’t need her to cast a shadow.
For most of the elements in the scene I use the material we created in the step above, except for the girl and the laundry to which I apply the Unlit material.
10. Have fun!
Once you've got the hang of the basics, it's time to experiment
Now that you have an idea about how materials and lights work with Quill and AnimVR scenes, it’s time to experiment. In this version I tried to go for a night-time look, and kept the girl unlit while everything else is lit. I toned the vertex colour of the girl down a bit, by applying a local colour on top of the vertex colour.
There’s some pretty obvious banding going on in the grass plane, but this could easily be painted over in Photoshop for a more finished look. Being able to play around with mood in your VR drawings like this is pretty powerful for look development, concept art or illustrations in general.
11. Add fog
Atmospherics like fog help to add a sense of depth
One of the biggest challenges with unlit scenes is to convey distance, and atmospherics can help with that. To add fog to your scene, click the New Fog button at the top-left corner of the screen. Play with the settings to get the look you want.
The settings under Illumination are especially important if you want a dramatic god-ray effect. To actually get the rays to show up, you obviously need a light source for them to emit from. So make a spot, omni or directional light behind some of your scene elements, and tweak away at fog and lights settings.
12. Prepare in Medium
This leads us to the second part of the tutorial, where I’ll talk about how to present scenes from Medium or MasterpieceVR in Marmoset Toolbag.
From Oculus Medium, export your file as either OBJ or FBX. OBJ merges all your layers into one, and FBX retains layers. Depending on how large and complex your scene is, it might be a good idea to decimate your model, either using the built-in decimation tool in the VR program, or through programs such as ZBrush or 3D-Coat. Generally I try to keep the polygon count below 10 million in Marmoset.
13. Prepare in MasterpieceVR
Sculpting and drawing in VR is mercifully quick
From MasterpieceVR, export your file as FBX. MasterpieceVR doesn’t support layers per se, but you can draw with polygons, a bit like what you do in Quill and AnimVR. These strokes are each exported as a separate layer if you export as FBX.
Depending on the type of scene I’ve done in MasterpieceVR, I might take the model into ZBrush to combine polygon strokes into meaningful groups, instead of having each stroke be one layer. The model I’ll be setting up in the second part of this tutorial is a quick scene I sculpted in MasterpieceVR. Speed is one of the biggest strengths of VR sculpting and drawing, and this scene took a bit less than an hour to sculpt in VR.
Now let’s see what a bit of light and materials can do!
14. Basic setup
With the Transform category, you can get the lighting exactly right
Start out by rotating your imported scene. I usually make a new shadow catcher object and rotate the model according to that. You can make numeric inputs in the Transform category under your imported object if you need more precision. You might also want to scale up or down elements in your scene. You can switch to transform mode by hitting ctrl+R. To get back to move mode, hit ctrl+T.
15. Find a suitable environment
HDRIs work the same in Marmoset as they do in other 3D programs
HDRIs in Marmoset are the last light type we need to cover. You’ll find those under the Sky object in your scene stack. You’re probably familiar with HDRIs from other 3D programs.
They work about the same in Marmoset Toolbag, with the added functionality of a ‘light editor’ that allows you to click the preview of the HDRI image, and place actual lights that you can then tweak based on the colours in the HDRI. In the example here you see the difference between just lighting the scene using the HDRI and then using both HDRI and child lights.
I placed a child light directly in the centre of the sun in the HDRI, which gives me cast shadows that match the sun placement. You can tweak the child lights by clicking them underneath the Sky object. When you rotate the HDRI environment, the child lights rotate too.
16. Vertex colour
Just like the Quill scene, glossiness and reflection can be easily adjusted
For this scene I use the vertex colour directly from MasterpieceVR. This is the same procedure as with the Quill scene. Go into the material, choose Vertex Color and tweak glossiness and reflection until you’re happy with the result. In the example, I’ve added vertex colour to the ‘solid’ part of the MasterpieceVR sculpt, leaving only the polygon strokes uncoloured.
17. Finish the basic materials
Banners are positioned to make the most of the lighting
I do the same for the polygon elements in the scene. At the moment, the scene looks bland and we really need some light. I plan on having the banners cast coloured lights on the surroundings and ground floor, but for now they’re just their local colour.
18. Let there be light
Spotlights can be easier to adjust than directional light
I add a spotlight almost directly above the scene and tweak the brightness and shape until I’m happy with the result. I find the spotlight is easier to manipulate than directional light when using fog and god rays, because of the distance setting.
19. Subsurface scattering
Be sure to Enable GI to get the most out of your lighting
To get the effect of the light shining through the banners, I need to enable Subsurface Scatter in the Diffuse setting of the material for the banners. Remember to turn on Enable GI in the Global Illumination settings under Render. This will enable coloured light to pass through the banners and illuminate the ground plane and surrounding buildings. As you can tell, the difference is night and day!
20. Expand the scene
Duplicated elements help to give a scene variety
The MasterpieceVR sculpt doesn’t cover as much space as I need, so to expand the scene, I duplicate the sculpt and rotate it to increase the length of the street in a modular fashion. Generally when doing sculpts like this, I’ll duplicate elements and move them around to add variation to the scene. You’d be amazed how much you can get by ‘cheating’ like this.
21. Extra lights
Small shop lights help to give the scene extra depth and activity
Finally, I add some additional lights in the small shops, and a Fog object to add atmosphere. I tweak the settings until I find a result I like. Notice the nice rays of light we get due to the small confetti-like objects in the air, and the banners which break the light into smaller rays of light.
22. Extra settings
Distortions help to simulate a camera lens effect
I added depth of field (you choose your focus point by pressing the scroll wheel), barrel distortion to get a fisheye lens effect, chromatic aberration to simulate a camera lens effect, lens flares, and tweaked the colour settings by changing Tone Mapping to Filmic and adjusting the curves, contrast and saturation.
I also added a vignette effect and some noise to the final image and voila, we’ve reached the end of the tutorial. Feel free to reach out over social media or email if you have questions about the workflow.
This article was originally published in issue 240 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 240 or subscribe to 3D World here.
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You're reading Hand Drawn New Year Postcards (Free PDF), originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+!
Happy holidays from Designmodo! How long has it been since you sent a postcard? It’s the most magical time of the year and these are the perfect moments to thank your family and friends for being in your life. To celebrate …
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If you've ever wished you could replicate the effects of a traditional collage maker in your website layouts, this is the tutorial for you.
The web design tutorial will look at three CSS properties: mask-image, clip-path and shape-outside. Even if you have used them, don’t worry. I’ll show examples that will help you create effects you probably haven’t seen on many websites.
My biggest inspiration in terms of using the mentioned properties is traditional collages. I was wondering if was possible to create them in a web browser, without using any graphics editors or software. With the magic of CSS, it’s totally doable! Another bonus of creating them with code is having them scalable, animated and interactive. Before you start, make sure you have the following:
You will need:
- Your favourite web browser and developer tools – I recommend using Google Chrome since it supports all the features I use in this tutorial
- A code editor
- Assets such as images or SVG files – you can download the ones that’s we’re using in this tutorial here
Mask images that overlap text
CSS masks enable you to create special effects – like enabling a site heading to selectively appear and disappear as the user scrolls up and down the page (contrast this image to the one above)
Masking is the first feature I’d like to show you. It helps to build more creative shapes and layouts on the web by telling your browser which asset elements should be visible. Masking can be done in three different ways: using a raster image (that is in PNG format with transparent parts); CSS gradients; or SVG elements. Note that unlike a typical raster image, SVG can be scaled or transformed without a significant loss in quality.
What I especially like about masking is its ability to apply the same properties as for background – we can define a mask’s position, size and repetition, for instance, using: mask-repeat: no-repeat and mask-size: cover.
Thanks to CSS masking we can create more sophisticated effects on the web. One of them can be found in our example, where parts of an image cover some text; when a user scrolls up and down the page some portions of the text are shown/hidden. This gives the impression that the page title is located behind the mountains. To create this effect, some tricks are needed and the clever application of CSS masks will help us to achieve that.
Let’s create a header with a selected background image and two headers inside. One of them will be the primary one (first level of heading).
The text of the heading will be kept in the <span> tag. It’s not a common thing but, in this case, we’re applying masking to heading, not to the container.
Cut out images using CSS clipping
Clipping paths enable you to cut out the plant image in this example
Let’s explore another example and find out more about CSS clipping. In short, clipping defines which image area should be visible. Clipping is similar to chopping pieces of paper. The shape’s boundary is called the clip path: anything outside the path will be hidden, while anything inside the path will be visible. With a clip path you can remove background from your image, instead of using heavy PNG files. For this we need to already have prepared the shape for the cut out.
The goal in this exercise is to clip the plant out of the image, removing the background. We can copy SVG code from our file and paste it to an HTML document. The clip path has to be placed within <defs> </defs> tags.
Later we can easily reference the path defined in the SVG code by adding a URL function.
Think outside the box
You can use shape-inside and shape-outside to create all kinds of shapes
Who said that text containers always need to be rectangular? Content can be cut into all sorts of different shapes by applying shape-outside and shape-inside properties that enable you to wrap your content around custom paths in CSS.
So, how does it work? Simply apply shape-outside to the given floated image or container. It is important to note that the float property and the dimensions of the element – either height or width – have to be defined otherwise it doesn’t work. You can use the url() function, which enables the shape-outside property to define an element shape based on the path from an SVG file.
The shape-outside property doesn’t change anything about an element other than its float area. This means that any borders and background images will not adapt to the shape created on the element. This is the reason why we also need to apply the mask-image property – to cut out the background of the element to match the defined shape.
One important thing to note is that the shape-outside feature works only with CORS-enabled files. CORS stands for Cross Origin Resource Sharing.
In this particular case the best way to view it is to use localhost, otherwise it won’t work if you just open it in your browser.
The end result looks incredible – and adds considerable interest to a web page
When experimenting, please do bear in mind that not all of the mentioned features are supported by all browsers, so it’s worth checking them out here. The latest example doesn’t work in Firefox, Opera and IE but hopefully it will be available soon for all the browsers.
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If you want to launch a design career, Adobe CC know-how is crucial. And that's exactly what you'll gain with Pay What You Want: Adobe CC A-Z Lifetime Bundle.
You'll learn how to make photos look as professional as can be with Photoshop. You'll discover how to bring your video footage to the next level with Premiere. You'll find how to create cool effects in your graphic designs with After Effects. And that's just scratching the surface. Best of all, you can gain all these skills for whatever price you want to pay.
That's right -- all these courses can be yours for a price of your choosing. It doesn't get much better than that!
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The Acer Nitro 5 (NH.Q3REK.007) is a gaming laptop by trade, which makes it an unusual option for creative work. So how does it fare against other laptops for graphic design? Well, there's a fair bit of method to this machine's madness. While it may have been designed for blasting through Fortnite or FIFA, the underlying hardware delivers a solid processor and a discrete graphics chip alongside a full HD screen for a reasonable price.
That's the sort of hardware that'll handle photo editing, some video work and content creation without the prices associated with high-end workstations. The Acer Nitro 5 might be a sensible bargain – but it could also be a false economy if too many corners have been cut.
Acer Nitro 5: Design
The Nitro 5 is more eye-catching than most laptops we usually see, which comes as no surprise considering it's a gaming machine. The lid is made from brushed aluminium and the hinge is finished with a dark red shade. That red theme continues to the keyboard and trackpad: the buttons have a red backlight, while the pad is ringed with the same colour.
The gaming heritage means this machine stands out, but it's also a little immature compared to some rivals. At this price you'll get Dell and HP machines that look darker and smarter, with no extraneous colours.
The Nitro 5 isn't the slimmest or lightest either – it weighs 2.7kg and is 27mm thick at its chunkiest point. Those figures are a bit higher than normal for a sub-£1000 notebook. However, it must also be noted that spending a little more cash will open the door to machines that are slimmer, lighter and better-looking than the Nitro.
The Surface Book 2, for instance, costs at least £1099 – and for that money you'll get a mid-range CPU with no graphics core. To get discrete graphics, you'll have to spend nearer to £2,000.
As a gaming laptop, the Acer Nitro 5 features some design quirks
The Acer's build quality doesn't match the sort of strength that we routinely see on pricier portables, but it's not disastrous – the hinge could be smoother, and there's a tad too much movement in the material on the underside. Still, these are not terminal problems, especially at this price. The Acer isn't so thick or heavy that you can't carry it around in a bag easily – and it's easy enough to use a sleeve to protect the exterior.
Two plastic panels on the base remove for easy access to the hard disk and memory slots. That's good for replacing or upgrading key components. However, there's no easy way to access the SSD or the cooling gear.
Exterior versatility isn't as good. You get single USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C connectors, but the other two USB ports use the older 3.0 and 2.0 protocols. There's an HDMI output, but no DisplayPort, and you only get one headphone jack. Unsurprisingly, there's no fingerprint reader.
Acer Nitro 5: An affordable powerhouse?
The Nitro's processing grunt comes from an AMD Ryzen 5 2500U (a newer chip from AMD's second-generation Zen architecture). The 2500U sits right in the middle of AMD's mobile range. It's got four cores that use multi-threading to address eight threads, which is important for tough, multi-threaded applications as well as nimble switching between different applications.
The 2500U is clocked to a middling base speed of 2GHz, but this rises to 3.6GHz using dynamic boosting. The AMD chip's nearest Intel equivalent is the Core i5-8300H. It's available in other variations of the Nitro 5, and it's popping up in mid-range notebooks all over the market. The Intel chip also has four cores that can address eight threads, and its 2.3GHz base speed and 4GHz Turbo both outpace the AMD hardware.
The Ryzen 5 2500U returned single- and multi-core results of 3,564 and 9,864 in Geekbench, which evaluates CPU performance using real-world tasks. It followed up with a CPU score of 661cb in the graphically-intensive Cinebench test. Those scores are behind the Core i5-8300H. The Geekbench multi-core result is around 5,000 points slower, while the gap is closer in the other two benchmarks.
Still, they're decent mid-range results, and application-specific tools show that Ryzen has plenty of ability. In a GIMP-based image-editing test which relies heavily on single-threaded speed the 2500U scored 31,793 points. That's more than half the speed on offer from Intel's most powerful consumer desktop chips – which means you've got a solid amount of power for getting photo-based work done on the road.
Similarly, in a Handbrake-based video benchmark, the 2500U scored 151,585 points. That score offers just under half of the pace of a top-tier desktop chip, but it still indicates that this machine has enough grunt to handle more basic video tasks.
In the PC Mark 8 Home benchmark the Acer laptop scored 3,855 points, a result that'll beat many Core i5-8300H machines, especially with weaker graphics. Given that the PC Mark 8 Home test tackles tasks like writing, web browsing and photo-editing, that bodes well for mainstream work software. Ryzen may sometimes fall behind the Core, but both chips beat the parts used in pricier and slimmer machines – even though they're often touted as workhorses.
As this is a gaming laptop, battery life was never going to be good – it lasted for almost four hours in an application test, but that was it
The Surface Book 2 is available with a Core i5-7300U or a Core i7-8650U. The 'U' suffix on an Intel chip means it's a low-power chip, and the specifications prove it, with only two cores and lower speeds. The i7-8650U has four multi-threaded cores, but a far lower power ceiling.
The Core i5-7300U routinely scores around 3,000 and 7,000 points in Geekbench's single- and multi-threaded benchmarks. In Cinebench it only tends to score around 375cb – miles behind the Ryzen 5 2500U's result of 661cb. The Core i7-8650U doesn't tend to get beyond 600cb in Cinebench, but it's closer to the i5-8300H in Geekbench.
It's an admittedly confusing landscape. However, we can draw firm conclusions. The Ryzen 5 2500U is fast, but it can't quite beat the Core i5-8300H. However, both chips are noticeably quicker than the low-power parts that are routinely used in slimmer, lighter tablets and convertibles that are touted as work machines. That's exactly what we'd expect from a proper laptop, because there's more room in the design for a beefier processor. But it's nice to have it confirmed.
The CPU is paired with an AMD Radeon RX 560X graphics chip. In Cinebench's graphics-focussed work tests the RX 560X scored 76.67fps. That's about 20 points behind the GTX 1050 Ti found in comparable full-sized laptops. Its 3D Mark Fire Strike result of 5,426 points is around 1,000 points behind the GTX 1050 Ti.
However, the RX 560X is better than Intel's integrated UHD 620 chipset. It's four frames quicker in Cinebench, and Intel's chip couldn't get beyond 1,000 points in Fire Strike. Elsewhere, you get a solid SATA-based SSD, a hard disk and 8GB of memory – a solid specification.
Don't expect longevity, though. As this is a gaming laptop, battery life was never going to be good – it lasted for almost four hours in an application test, but that was it. If you really push the CPU and GPU, expect that time to halve.
Acer Nitro 5: Discerning displays
The Nitro 5 has a 1080p 15.6in IPS display. The 1080p native resolution provides enough screen real estate for most tasks – and you'd have to double the Acer's price to get a meaningful resolution jump.
The brightness level of 272cd per square metre is enough to handle bright office lights, and the black measurement of 0.26cd per square metre is decent; black shades will appear suitably deep and inky. Those figures combine for a measured contrast ratio of 1,046:1. That's high enough to ensure vibrancy throughout and to deliver solid variation between similar shades.
Delve into colours, though, and the Acer underwhelms. Its colour temperature of 6,767K is fine – and means that the screen doesn't appear oversaturated or washed out – but the Delta E of 5.08 is poor, and means that colours aren't accurate.
That accuracy issue is compounded by poor gamut coverage. The sRGB gamut is the least demanding range used on laptops, but the Acer could only render 59.4 per cent of its shades – a poor result even for a gaming machine. The Acer could only handle 40.9 per cent of the Adobe RGB gamut and 42.1 per cent of the DCI P3 gamut.
The screen is one big area of compromise on this machine. It doesn't have the gamut coverage or the colour accuracy to handle any photo, video or design work where accuracy is the most important attribute. That means it's only good enough for more casual photo or video jobs – or work that you can complete on a better screen at a later date.
Acer Nitro 5: The ergonomics
The Acer Nitro 5 has a conventional laptop keyboard. The buttons are quiet and have a reasonable amount of travel. They're comfortable and consistent, with ample speed when pressed down. Those attributes are good for typing – we were able to hammer through long documents with an impressive level of comfort.
The Acer Nitro 5's keyboard is good for typing, but the layout is a little strange
The Acer's keyboard isn't all good news, however. The base panel is soft, which could prove irritating if you prefer a firmer and snappier typing action. The layout is a little strange, too: the left and right cursor keys are too narrow, and the Return and left-shift keys have to share space with other buttons.
The trackpad is mediocre. The two built-in buttons are soft and push down too far when compared to a normal desktop mouse. That's irritating if you're used to a faster and shallower clicking action.
Acer Nitro 5: Model laptop or gaming option?
One of the advantages of the Nitro 5 is the variety of specifications – and prices – that are available. If you want more CPU power, a version with an Intel Core i7 processor will set you back about £900. A cheaper model with a Core i5 processor – but no SSD – costs approximately £649. Retaining the CPU and adding an SSD and better graphics ups the price to £799.
While it's impressive that Acer releases many different models, it's worth keeping a close eye on retailers if you're interested in buying. Prices often vary significantly, and models come in and out of stock with regularity.
Every laptop that costs less than £1,000 involves compromise. On the Nitro 5, Acer has made compromises when it comes to screen quality and design. The screen has a fine resolution and good contrast. Viewing angles are solid. However, the screen doesn't display many colours – and they're not particularly accurate. That means the Nitro's panel is only capable of handling more casual photo and video work. And while the Nitro 5 doesn't look bad, its gaming design is dated and it's certainly possible to buy slimmer and lighter laptops at this price.
The processor and graphics offer good power for a wide range of tasks, from multitasking to photo-editing – easily more grunt than slimmer and more stylish machines. The keyboard is fine, and the port selection and internal access isn't bad. The price is right, too: half as much as you'll pay for a prestige portable elsewhere.
If you can cope with those compromises, the Acer Nitro 5 is a reasonable and affordable alternative to slim machines and proper workstations. Ignore the gaming branding and be aware of this machine's downsides and it'll deliver a solid amount of computing power for a surprisingly low price.
- Read more: The best computers for video editing
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With Warhead, you can design any website you can imagine, without having to write any code. This revolutionary web design platform is powered by CSS Grid technology, enabling you to create complex layouts quickly and easily via an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. And you can try it for as long as you like, completely free.
Warhead has the functionality to take on everything from a simple blog to an advanced ecommerce site. And great news for designers: it integrates smoothly with your Creative Cloud apps, so it will slot straight into your existing workflow. If you're looking for an Adobe Muse replacement, the hunt is over. Read on to find out more about what sets Warhead apart from other web design tools.
Creative Cloud integration
Warhead is Creative Cloud-connected, which means it's designed to work seamlessly alongside your other design tools. For users of the now-depreciated Adobe Muse, this could be an ideal replacement.
Continue working in your favourite image editor, then when you're ready, simply transfer your designs into the Warhead Theme Builder to generate the code. This tool shortcuts the journey between mockup and live site.
Make use of Adobe Fonts and Stock images in your designs
There are more benefits, too. Because Warhead is linked up to Creative Cloud, you can also make use of Adobe assets – including Adobe Stock images and Adobe Fonts – in your designs. That means you'll have access to an extensive bank of resources, all from directly within your design tool. What a time-saver.
Powered by CSS Grid
CSS Grid is a powerful layout system that makes it possible to create editorial-style layouts online – something that's never really been possible before. With Warhead, you can harness the power of Grid without having to wrangle with any CSS. The tool's intuitive Layout Manager makes it easy to create elaborate layouts in double-quick time.
Create elaborate layouts in double-quick time
Warhead's creators believe a design tool shouldn't compromise or limit a designer's imagination. Its simple, drag-and-drop system enables you to create layouts visually, while Warhead does the hard work in the background. The system is so easy to use, there's no need for preset templates: you can create exactly the site you want, rather than fumbling with other people's templates.
Warhead offers a massive choice of components, ranging from simple text blocks to galleries, so you can build a website that suits your exact needs. Once you've crafted your custom site, the tool's robust, intuitive dashboard ensures it's easy to manage. There's no limit on the number of pages, so your site can grow and change as you need it to – and any updates are pushed out in real time, across all platforms. Simple.
Try it for free (forever)
Many design tools offer a free trial period, but Warhead has gone one step further. There's a free-forever plan that lets you explore all the tool's features. Then, when you've had a chance to see how it fits into your workflow, upgrade to the $15/mo hosted plan to attach a custom domain to your slick new website.
If you're a student, the deal is even sweeter: you get one free site with a custom domain, for life – ideal for your first portfolio site. Want to know more about Warhead's work with students and educators? Take a look at Warhead on Campus.
For more information about this exciting design tool, head to the Warhead FAQ page, or go ahead and sign up to Warhead's Free plan now.
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Designers can be tricky to buy for. They're picky, they have very specific tastes, and let's face it – you'd need to really love someone a lot to shell out for an iPad Pro. Even a graphic design book will typically set you back more than the average paperback. But fear not, we've scoured the internet for the best gifts for designers under $15. These make ideal stocking fillers.
Not quite what you want? Got a bit more cash to splash? Take a look at our gift guides for graphic designers, illustrators and freelancers.
01. Optix 55 eye mask
- Buy Optix 55 eye mask $10.55 at Amazon (20% off coupon available)
- In the UK? Try this TheraPearl eye mask for £7.99 at Amazon
No matter what kind of design work your gift recipient does, chances are they spend a more time than they'd like to staring at a screen. This eye mask is ideal for tired peepers. It can be heated to reduce swelling or cooled to relieve puffy eyes – or there's a soft side if they're just after a soothing screen break.
02. Avantree neon cable organisers
Another (not) fun thing many designers have in common is cables. Despite the fact you can get a lot of things wireless now, the average designer's desk is still a mess of cords. And transporting their kit invariably ends in a mega detangling session when they reach their destination. These cable organisers are the answer. This pack of 20 includes three different sizes and five cool neon shades.
03. Homedics mini massager
- Buy Homedics mini massager for $11.99 at Jet
- In the UK? Buy Beurer mini massager for £13.99 at Amazon
Help your friend or loved one beat deadline stress with a relaxing massage. Not ready to get that hands on? Give them one of these battery-powered mini massagers instead. Ideal for easing achy shoulders or sore backs, they come in a range of soothing colours – mint green, lilac and pale red. The compact size makes them desk-friendly, too.
04. Ello Jane ceramic travel mug
- Buy Ello Jane ceramic travel mug: $14.99 at Jet / £15.34 at Amazon
Most designers love their coffee. Let them enjoy their caffeine hit on the go with this ceramic travel mug. It features a non-slip silicone base and lid to help avoid spillages, but the mug itself is ceramic – none of that weird drinking from plastic nonsense. It's also microwave and (top rack) dishwasher safe.
05. The Awesome Game of Meme
- Buy Cardinal's Awesome Game of Meme for $15.24 from Jet
- In the UK? Try Name the Emoji for £9.95 from Amazon
Ideal for web designers in particular, but a great gift for any designer, this card game asks players to create their own memes. A group of three to six players create memes from 255 picture cards, 175 word cards and 20 theme cards, then the group votes for the funniest. It's time to see if your friends are as funny as they think they are.
06. ZURU fidget cube
- Buy Antsy Labs Fidget Cube for $5.50 from Jet
- In the UK? Buy Highline fidget cube for £9.99 at Amazon
Forget fidget spinners, Antsy Labs' cube is the ultimate in fidgety fun. This high-quality fiddle toy is designed to improve focus and relieve anxiety. Designers with restless hands can play with one of six different sides, and glide, flip, roll and click their way to inspiration.
07. How to Swear Around the World
Sometimes there's nothing for it but to have a little rage session. Designers working with companies around the world will appreciate this guide to how to get potty mouthed in their tricky client's native tongue. Probably best not to direct the tirade at the clients themselves, but that's up to your designer friend to decide.
08. Emergency tech kit
- Buy Emergency Tech Kit: $9.99 at Kohl's / £11.99 at Amazon
This emergency tech kit is a top way to ensure are gadgets ready to go whenever they're required. This kit includes a microfibre cleaning cloth and spray cleaner for keeping screens smear-free, USB charging cable to ensure gadgets are juiced up, a red cable tie to keep cords neat. It's all packaged up in a neat little tin, ready to pop into a laptop bag.
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Productivity is one of those that we all aim for but which always seems to escape our reach. Luckily, sometimes all you need are the right tools. For just $29, you can get your hands on real and applicable knowledge for boosting your productivity, with The Ultimate Productivity Bundle: Lifetime Access.
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Get The Ultimate Productivity Bundle: Lifetime Access for just $29.
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Predicting the future might seem impossible, but that’s precisely how the design industry’s innovators keep ahead of the curve. The new issue of Computer Arts – on sale now – speaks to these experts to explore the design trends that will dominate in 2019 and beyond. Key areas like illustration, typography and logo design will all undergo significant changes — read more in this month’s issue.
Buy Computer Arts issue 287 now
We explore the best self-publishing routes to take
We also look at the hot topic of self-publishing and what it takes to enter the wide world of indie books, magazines and comics. Many designers will have long-thought about going independent to have their work seen, and here we reveal the best routes to success.
The world's top creatives are already predicting where the design industry is heading
Save up to 60% on a Computer Arts subscription
Elsewhere in issue 287, we sit down with live experience designer Kate Dawkins to learn more about her innovative work with pixels and projection. FINE art director Verity Kent also discusses why up-and-coming designers should take advantage of mentorship schemes. Meanwhile, Spanish studio Hey disclose how it competes on the global stage, despite being a small team.
Take a closer look at what's inside Computer Arts issue 287 by scrolling left to right through the gallery below.
Computer Arts is the world's best-selling design magazine, bursting at the seams with insight, inspiration, interviews and all the best new design projects. For all this delivered direct to your door each month, subscribe to Computer Arts. Right now you can save up to 60%, and receive a free Computer Arts tote bag when you subscribe.
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If you're kicking yourself for missing out on this year's Black Friday laptop deals, there's still the opportunity to snag yourself a bargain in time for Christmas. Amazon has just unleashed a shedload of last-minute Christmas deals, and nestled among them are a brace of offers on Asus Chromebooks that you'd be a fool to miss.
Our pick of the pair is the Asus C223NA-GJ0014 11.6 Inch HD Chromebook; pint-sized but packing a punch, this little notebook features an Intel Celeron N3350 processor, 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC storage. Running on ChromeOS, it's never going to replace your main work machine, but for a lightweight laptop that you can chuck in a bag and use for admin work or just keeping up with emails and social media when you're on the move, it's hard to beat.
It's not the most powerful laptop on the block, but this Asus Chromebook with £80 off is a fantastic deal
This Chromebook would normally set you back £229.99, but it's available now from Amazon for just £149.99, saving you £80 off the usual price. Check out the deal below, as well as another cracking offer on an Asus Chromebook.
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Researchers identified a widespread campaign of brute force attacks against WordPress websites.
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To forge a career as a creative professional, you need talent. You also need a certain amount of technical knowledge and skills in the area you're working in. But neither of these things in silo are a ticket to success. To get commissions and attract customers, you need people to know you and your work. In this article we'll explore some top tips for building your profile within your creative field, whether you're a designer, illustrator or artist.
01. Speak at events
Events are a perfect place to cement your reputation as an industry expert
Speaking at industry events is an awesome way to help raise your profile. Not only does it enable you to show off your skills and cement your position as an authority in your particular specialism, but it's also an incredible way to get your name known within the industry – you've got a captive audience of designers and artists sat right in front of you, after all. Many high-profile designers credit speaking at events with opening new doors in their career path (don't believe us? Take a look at point three here).
If you have knowledge and expertise to share, email event organizers and pitch your idea for a talk. Hosts are always looking for exciting new voices, so don't be nervous about getting in touch. Once you've snagged a speaker slot, don't miss the obvious opportunities for self-promotion (it's surprisingly easy to do). Introduce yourself clearly, explain what it is you do at the start, and use your own work for examples within your talk.
Also make sure your audience knows exactly how to get in touch with you – that means including your website URL and social media handles on your slides. All of this can feel a bit awkward as a new speaker, but it won't sound odd to your audience. Promise.
If you're not quite ready to get on stage yet, attending events as an audience member can still be a savvy career move. They're a great place to mingle and network (more on that later), as well as providing a good indication of what the hot topics are in the industry at the time.
02. Be smarter with social media
Save your Instagram feed for work and design-related snaps
It's no secret that social media can be an incredible promotional tool for designers and artists. Different platforms have different strengths. Instagram is a no-brainer for creatives – the visually led platform is ideal for those wanting to show off new designs, and the Stories feature provides a relatively risk-free place to share works-in-progress. The downside is that you aren't able to insert clickable links into your comments, so you need to rely on people visiting your profile to get them onto your main portfolio site.
Twitter really shines when it comes to communicating with fellow creatives and keeping up to date with industry happenings – essential if you want to build your network. Finally, there's Facebook. While you need to be careful to abide by Facebook's rules about frequency of posts and language used, it can be a great place to raise your profile, with digital artists in particular noting how important it is in their self-promo efforts. For examples of how leading creatives have used different platforms to raise their profile, take a look at this guide to making social media work for you.
A word of warning – avoid a scattergun approach, pick two or three platforms that work with your specialism, and focus your efforts there. A good way to see if they're worth the effort is to see if (and how) the big players in your particular field are using these platforms and follow their lead.
03. Get better at networking
Making new connections is essential to building your profile
The very word may make you groan internally, but knowing how to network is vital to raising your professional profile. The golden rule is not to treat it like a sales pitch, but rather an opportunity to connect with likeminded people and exchange information. Be polite and friendly and you're well on your way.
Chances are, if you're at a creative event, you'll have things in common with the others who are attending – so there should be no need to feign interest. Make sure you pay attention to what the other person is saying, and you'll naturally make more of a connection than you would if you went for a hard-sell approach. That said, you do need to make sure you maximize the potential of your networking for new business, which brings us on to our final point...
04. Don't forget your business cards
Business cards take the effort out of reconnecting with new contacts
Having a stack of business cards on hand to give to new contacts means they have all the information they need right there in their pocket. And if you have a well-designed, interesting business card, your new contact is all the more likely to get in touch.
To nail the perfect business card, first of all you must get to grips with the essentials of designing for print (trim, bleed, image resolution, color profile and so on). You also need to ensure all the essential information (name, specialism, website URL, contact details) is both present and clearly legible. Beyond that, you can be as creative as you like. Special finishes can really give your business card the edge; MOO offers gold foil, spot gloss and raised spot gloss to make a card stand out. With MOO's Printfinity package, you can even mix things up properly and print a whole range of different business card designs. You're an artist, after all – so use your talents to make your design shine.
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- How to project your work onto the global design stage
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Working remotely has become much more common in web development over the last few years. Before version control, working remotely on the same development project would have been an absolute nightmare. Developers would have had to send large files to each other (probably through email), pasting in their own code before sending it back. There was no real way to track what had been added and when.
Thankfully, version control has arrived and made development on all fronts a lot more manageable. Web projects have become much easier to implement and manage, especially when it comes to working in a remote development team. You no longer have to worry about the current version of a website being overwritten – each team member is free to work on any file at anytime – and there is no confusion as to where the latest version of a file is being stored.
In this tutorial, we are going be using GitHub to manage our code. There are numerous different types of version control tool out there, such as Bitbucket and TFVC, but even though they are all different, the principles remain the same when it comes to managing code.
Firstly, it's very important to have a successful branching model when working in any team to make the development and deployment process run smoothly. You are most likely going to have multiple developers working on the same project. When working with a remote workforce, I believe the best workflow is composed of three main branches as well as a set of temporary ones:
- Develop branch: Every line of code has been tested and validated by the client.
- Staging branch: This will correspond to the validation environment.
- Release branch: This contains the last version of your website in production.
There will also be a set of feature branches. However, these will just be temporary to initially build out the new features.
Multiple developers on one project
The best workflow is composed of three main branches: develop, staging and release
Let's assume you run a team with two developers who work remotely. We will call them Sarah and James: they are both working on the same ecommerce website for a client. Sarah needs to develop a feature that registers the customer details.
We would break this down into three separate user stories – adding, editing and removing – and then add these three tickets into the sprint backlog.
Feature branches
Adding a feature branch for the developing of a customer-details feature and adding a user story branch for add-details task
So, let's say that Sarah begins on the adding customer details section. She would need to create the feature branch 'customer-details' and a user story one for the first task 'add-details'.
Sarah would continue to work on the temporary branch 'add-address' locally and commit her work as she develops. Now, let's say that James wants to help Sarah with the customer details feature, so he starts working on the details deletion.
James would pull the last version of the shared branch and create a new branch for the user story 'delete-details'. Then he can start making his own additions without worrying about overwriting Sarah's code.
He will also use his temporary branch to code locally and commit any changes. Once Sarah has finished her feature locally, she puts the ticket into code review. She would push her code to the staging branch and open a pull request with the staging environment.
We would now have the customer-details feature branch and the two user story feature branches in development 'add-details' and 'delete-details'.
Merging
Creating a new branch for the user story delete-details, allowing you to making additions without worrying about overwriting another person's code
Once her code has been reviewed, she can merge her branch into staging. The ticket is now in the validation column, waiting for the validation from the lead developer.
Once Sarah's work has been validated, the ticket can be moved into the done column. She can merge her work into the feature branch and start another user story, like deletion of customer details.
When the whole feature has been validated by both the lead developer and client, Sarah can merge the feature branch into develop, as it's ready to go.
Deploy to production
Once ready to deploy, merge develop into release and launch the deployment
Once all is complete and it's ready to deploy into production, James merges develop into release and launches the deployment. At this point he would know that all code is correct and the client is happy. He tags the commit of the release to get the history of each version.
Rules to follow for this workflow
This remote development workflow can be pretty difficult to understand at first but if you get your team to work by this method, then you have a free working flow without the need to panic about files being overwritten or your developers working on the same area.
There are some key things to remember:
- The first thing you will need to teach your remote developers is your version control workflow and make sure that they are all reading from the same book.
- If you are developing a feature, try to break this down into smaller user stories. This way it's easier to keep track of every commit.
- Don't miss out any steps: the same workflow must be followed each time.
- You will always need to merge your branch into develop to prepare the next release.
- You should clean the staging repository every week if possible. You should delete the staging branch, locally and remotely, and recreate it from develop branch – see example below:
Additional workflows
With smaller projects, you may want to use a less complex workflow. You could use master, which contains the most up to date version, a develop branch and then a set of branches for each additional feature – whether that be forum, contact form, checkout system. It all depends upon your personal preference.
Managing merge conflicts
Dealing with merge conflicts is difficult enough if you are all working in the same room but they can become even more of a nightmare if you are all working in a different office. The most important thing is to remember that you can always undo a merge and revert back to the state before the conflict occurred.
Whether you are doing all of the merges as lead developer or your team are the ones doing them independently, the first step is to understand what has happened.
- Did one of your co-developers edit the same line in the same file?
- Did they delete a file that you modified?
- Did you both add a file with the same name?
Git will tell you that you have unmerged paths via git status:
Now, the most common cause of a conflict is when changes affect the same files on the same line. So, let's have a look at the contents of the conflicted line. You will notice that Git is really good in the fact that it will mark the conflicted area by enclosing it in <<<<<<<HEAD and >>>>>>>[other/branch/name]. In this case, it's checkout-system.
The contents after the first marker originate from your current working branch. After the angle brackets, Git tells us which branch the changes came from. A line with ======= separates the two conflicting changes.
You can now simply open the file in an editor, search for the conflict markers and make any necessary modifications. When you're done, the file needs to look exactly as you want it to look or, alternatively, you can tell Git that you'll simply go with one of the edited versions, called ours or theirs.
There are also many merge tool applications that can help with this. Kaleidoscope is a great one for Mac.
Project and issue management
Don't confuse issues with problems: you can also use issue labelling for enhancements, questions and bugs
It's just as important as a lead developer to have a project management tool to manage things such as tasks and bugs, especially when your developers are not office based. There are numerous solutions out there, such as ZenHub and Asuna, but I believe GitHub's built-in project and issue system is the best.
You can do things like set up a new project, create boards or assign issues. And don't just confuse issues with problems: you can also use it for enhancements, questions and bugs, among other things.
Here are a few of its best features:
- Built-in tagging system: Allows you to organise and prioritise your workflow and easily search through projects for relevant information.
- Milestones: Perfect for associating issues with specific features or project phases, such as bugs that need to be fixed before a beta launch or tasks to be completed in October.
- Multi assignments: Issues can be assigned to users in bulk, saving time and making you more efficient.
- Commenting: Engineers and management teams can easily discuss progress and results at every step of the way using the inbuilt commenting system.
- Task lists: Larger issues can be broken down into stages to discourage the creation of dozens of microscopic issues, keeping all of your work in the same place.
- Markdown format: The ability to use markdown formatting will prove popular with your developers and it can be used in most places around GitHub.
- Project boards: These can be used to house issues, pull requests and notes, categorising them as cards in columns of your choosing so you can look at larger projects as a whole.
- High security: You can trust GitHub to keep your data safe and it's harder to breach than most other project management systems.
Setting up a project
If you go to GitHub and then head to one of your repositories, you will see a tab that is called Projects. From there you can select New Project, set up your project details and create a new project template.
If you now select the Issues tab that is along the top and select New Issue, you will be able to create a new issue. You can then apply various labels – these are things such as bug, enhancement, question and duplicate. You might also use enhancement for a new feature or request. You can then assign various team members to the task, a milestone and also the project you just created.
Assigned members will then have a list of all their tasks and you can even use the project board to keep a track of what's currently being built. If you remember our earlier tutorial, we were talking about moving tickets to sprint backlog and validation. So GitHub works really well as an all-in-one tool for overseeing a project.
This article was originally published in issue 311 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 311 here or subscribe here.
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Want to become a front end developer with a lucrative career ahead of you? Get your hands on The Ultimate Front End Development Bundle while it's on sale for just $39.
You'll learn a bunch of awesome tools, from coding with Javascript to website wireframing with HTML5. You'll also go from beginner-level to advanced courses in jQuery, and you'll find out how to code with CSS. Armed with these skills, you'll be amazed how quickly your job prospects increase.
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It's that time of year again, Pantone has just revealed its much-speculated Color of the Year 2019. This year the world authority of colours has chosen PANTONE 16-1546, AKA Living Coral, as the hue that's set to shape the year ahead. In terms of colour theory, this shade is a sharp contrast to last year's Ultra Violet, but what does it mean for designers and creatives?
Described by Pantone itself as vibrant, yet mellow, Living Coral is a colour of dynamic contrasts. Although packed with warmth, this colour doesn't dominate. This makes it perfect for bringing out the strength of surrounding colours. We can already see how Living Coral can accentuate other colours, especially smoky blues and teals.
Living Coral also represents an interesting thematic fusion. In its press release, Pantone describes the colour as a nurturing hue that taps into our natural surroundings, while at the same time has the strength of presence to stand out on social media.
This online awareness was deliberate. Pantone settled on the colour as a reaction to the "onslaught of digital technology and social media increasingly embedding into daily life." It hopes that the engaging nature of Living Colour will encourage lighthearted activity and playful expression, both of which would be warmly welcomed on increasingly fractured and polarised online spaces.
Expect to see a lot of Living Coral in 2019
The title of 2019's Color of the Year is no mistake, either. In both name and appearance, Living Coral evokes the vibrant undersea ecosystems that are sadly under threat and becoming more elusive.
And considering that Pantone chooses its Color of the Year with a careful selection process that takes into account trend analysis and socio-economic factors, the decision to reflect threatened sea life gives an idea of how the colour experts currently view the world.
"Colour is an equalising lens through which we experience our natural and digital realities and this is particularly true for Living Coral," says colour specialist Leatrice Eiseman.
"With consumers craving human interaction and social connection, the humanising and heartening qualities displayed by the convivial PANTONE Living Coral hit a responsive chord."
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You're reading Optician Sans: A Font That Your Eye Remembers, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+!
Have you visited the ophthalmologist in a while? Do you remember the letters on the wall you read from a distance? You might not be surprised to learn that this kind of font is available for personal use. Optician Sans …
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If you missed out on the recent Black Friday action, never fear, a lot of retailers are still offering great savings in the run up to Christmas. And today we've found a rare gem that's perfect for busy creatives on the go.
In one of the best cheap iPad deals we've seen this year, US tech retailer B&H Photo is knocking $40 off the list price of the 9.7-inch iPad, meaning you can now get your hands on one for just $289!
It's a rare sight to see discounts on Apple products, let alone a saving this big, so if an iPad is top of your creative wish list this Christmas, now's the time to buy.
This sixth generation, early 2018, 9.7-inch iPad boasts a multi-touch Retina display so you can draw, sketch and take notes with the Apple Pencil (sold separately). This model also features an A10 Fusion chip, which is powerful enough to run augmented reality apps and creative software so you can work whenever, wherever. There is also a front 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera and a rear 8MP camera that can record 1080p video.
It might not be the latest, shiny new iPad to hit the shelves, but this early 2018 model still packs a powerful punch, and at this price, won't leave a huge dent in your wallet. Hurry though, we don't expect this offer to hang around for long.
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With Christmas fast approaching, there's no better time to pick up a bargain. We've been keeping our eyes peeled for discounts, and this deal on the Kindle Paperwhite is an ideal way to treat yourself or the creative in your life to some downtime. After all, who doesn't enjoy reading a good graphic design book?
For a limited time, UK shoppers can pick up a waterproof Kindle Paperwhite for less than £100. With 17% slashed off its regular list price, this is the perfect time to pick up an e-reader with generous 8GB storage.
With adjustable lighting and the ability to run off a single charge for weeks, this is the ideal choice for digital bookworms who like to take their reading with them wherever they go. What's more, with Audible, you're ready to start listening to your favourite stories when you plug in some Bluetooth headphones or speakers.
If this looks like the offer for you, you've got until 09:00 GMT on 13 December to get it.
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No matter how invested you may be in your high-end digital workflow, you can't beat some actual sketching or ink drawing with proper pens and pencils. And right now there's a great excuse to stock up on art supplies, with Amazon dropping the price of a bunch of Faber-Castell pens, pencils and pastels as part of its last-minute Christmas deals.
So whether you want to add your own pen collection or get some cheap Christmas gifts for creative chums, there's bound to be something for you here.
We'd recommend buying these lovely pens as a gift and then deciding to keep them for yourself instead
What's particularly caught our eye is a gift box of 48 Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens. Designed to give you all the advantages of India ink in a modern pen, these artist pens feature high-quality brush points that work both straight and bent, and deliver a reliable, even flow of brilliant pigments with excellent light-fastness.
Loved by Manga artists and ideal for graphic artists, designers, illustrators and architects, these Pitt Artist Pens are suitable for drawings, plans, lettering, layout work and more, and with 48 colours to work with you'll always be able to find the right tone.
Right now you can get this gift set from Amazon for just £76.85, knocking £57.05 off the usual price of £133.90, and there are plenty more Faber-Castell deals to be had at the moment; read on for more.
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Now that smartphones have become commonplace, it’s easy to take their capabilities for granted. And while plenty of us use the best iPhone apps to refine our digital art, play around with typography and enhance our photos, Glasgow-based artist Charlotte Prodger has used her iPhone to shoot a personal film that yesterday won the prestigious Turner Prize.
Named after the great and controversial painter J.M.W. Turner, the annual prize has become famous with both art critics and the general public for celebrating visual work that pushes boundaries. Prodger’s two short films are the latest to scoop the £25,000 prize, past winners include Simon Starling’s converted shed and Mark Leckey’s found footage exhibition Industrial Light and Magic.
One of Prodger’s films in particular, the intimate 32-minute film, Bridgit, has made headlines this year due to it being filmed entirely on her iPhone. Featuring painterly clips of her home life, views from train windows and the Aberdeenshire countryside, the film explores themes of gender and identity with spoken narration that lifts excerpts from her diaries.
But why has this film, and not the accompanying piece, Stoneymollan Trail, caught everyone’s attention? Perhaps it’s because the idea that something so ordinary as an iPhone can create prize-winning art makes creatives reevaluate the world and tools around them.
For Prodger, though, using an iPhone taps into traditional filmmaking techniques. Speaking to the Tate, she explains that she wanted to honour filmmakers who could judge the length of a film by weighing a reel of celluloid by hand. "I'm very excited about the intertwining relationship between the body and technology."
And given how tactile smartphones are, with their touchscreens and rotating cameras, Prodger argues that an iPhone is a hybrid of technological wizardry and analogue art tools. "It becomes very material, almost sculptural."
See for yourself how an iPhone can create art with this clip from Bridgit.
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Trying to work on public transport can be taxing, particularly when signal is bad, you feel like a sardine crammed into a small space, or are surrounded by loud or obnoxious people. But it is possible, and not every way of working involves being tethered to your laptop or an internet connection.
We asked designers and developers how they manage to avoid spending their entire journey staring at 404 pages in frustration, and are able to make the most of their commute or travel time.
01. Plan ahead
"I always feel great when I get work done on the train or at the airport because it’s like my time wasn’t wasted," says Michael Vestergaard, a freelance creative developer and interaction designer. "But it can be a challenge.
"I normally plan ahead specific animations, prototypes or code snippets I need for new or ongoing projects. These might be micro interactions, text and image transitions or even drone formations, such as our most recent launch for Verity Studios. This kind of work is easier to pick up after a distraction or a longer break and distractions such as noise, slow Wi-Fi, small screen and so on aren’t such a big deal."
"It’s about tailoring your work to your situation," agrees digital transformation consultant Sally Lait. "If I know I’m going have a patchy connection, I’ll save up writing tasks, use it as distraction-free time to read or learn something new. It’s important to set yourself up right and download what you need in advance."
02. Make sure you have the right equipment
"I sometimes work during my 90-minute commute from Hertfordshire to London Bridge," says web developer at Zopa, Ben Read. "I’m currently working on a project that ties in many different services to one single static site using Gatsby.js. I carry a backup battery pack and typically use data tethering from my phone but it’s tricky when you’re pulling data from an API and suddenly the train goes into a tunnel.
As well as having the right equipment, you may also need to make sure it's set up properly for your needs. "I’ve run out of data twice this month because I forgot to disconnect the tether, then later ran ‘npm install’," says Read. "When you’ve got over 300 dependencies to download that can hurt your allowance. I should probably invest in an unlimited data plan."
03. Use the time for something else
Working on your commute doesn't always mean doing actual work. "I have RSI so I can’t (or shouldn’t!) do laptop-based work on public transport," says Inayaili de León Persson, lead web designer at Canonical.
"Because of that, I use the time I spend travelling listening to podcasts and articles. I follow lots of both work and non-work-related podcasts and I tend to listen to the former while commuting and on work trips. I also use Instapaper’s text-to-speech iPhone app so I don’t hurt my neck reading on my phone. It’s made me appreciate how important it is to have well-written semantic markup when creating content online!"
Freelance digital designer John Taylor says, "I often work in Manchester and it’s impossible to work on public transport whilst travelling to and from the city centre during rush hour, although it can lend itself to doing research like reading, listening to podcasts and watching videos.
"On quieter journeys, I sometimes do admin work like correspondence, bookkeeping and invoicing but this is rare. I can’t imagine trying to do any serious design or dev work whilst travelling, unless it was something simple like an amendment or minor update. There are too many distractions and the problems caused by overcrowding are not conducive to an effective working environment."
This article was originally published in net, the magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 312 or subscribe here.
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Pantone’s Color of The Year is Living Coral, Examples of Use
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PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral is the color that will represent 2019. Vibrant and warm, this color sends a powerful message on many levels. Pantone selects a color at the end of each year to represent the following year, and while …
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