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Anyone who wants to create something beautiful online needs to have an eye for design – but sometimes needing to know how to use Photoshop or other design-related tools can be off-putting for the average joe. This piZap Pro: Lifetime Subscription lets you access enormous, diverse suite of digital programs to complete nearly any digital design task, without needing to understand complex programs. Utilise hundreds of fonts to spice up flyers and graphics, use royalty free stock images for blogs, edit photos and more. You can even design your own emojis, showing off your creative spark. Try this piZap Pro: Lifetime Subscription for just $39.99 – that's 77 per cent off the regular price. Related articles: 5 uses for stock images you might not have thought of How to build an AR app How to make an app View the full article

You're reading The Economist Redesign Does It Right, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! It’s been decades since one of the oldest news magazines in the world has looked different. That all changed in October when The Economist launched a redesign that freshens up the look of the news and makes it easier to … View the full article

The issue impacts many large distros with GUI interfaces. View the full article

We asked 10 of our favourite designers to think back to the beginning of their careers and remember the best bit of advice they received. Designers being designers, none of them went in for your typically 'inspirational' guidance. There's no talk of 'looking through the rain to see the rainbow' going on here – instead, it's more like: 'shut up' and 'accept that you're a failure'. Read on for the brutally honest but perennially useful lessons that helped these designers climb to the very top of their disciplines… 01. Think for yourself This personal project by Craig Oldham has advice for new designers on it Craig Oldham is known for giving brutally honest advice in print – his book Oh Sh*t... What Now? is out now – and in person as a public speaker. The Manchester designer was once told: 'If you can think, we can teach you everything else.' It's stuck with him throughout his career. "This," he says, "hands down, is the most reassuring, inspiring, and supportive thing I was ever told as a young designer. It's something I refer back to myself still, and something I always share with others." 02. Know when to shut up The best bit of advice David Airey ever received can be boiled down to this: there are times you need to speak up and be heard, and there are times you need to shut your gob and listen. The Northern Irish logo and branding expert offers plenty useful advice in new book Identity Designer: The Definitive Guide to Visual Branding. He puts it in far more constructive, far more diplomatic terms: "You don’t learn much when you're talking." 03. Seek out failures Based in Glasgow, Craig Black specialises in lettering and exterior design. A recent personal project saw him build and hang paper-sculpted stag heads decorated with typography. He says it's important you don't go into projects blindfolded. "The best piece of advice I received," he says, "especially when I wanted to pursue being an independent designer, was from my good friend and amazing letterpress designer Nicole Phillips: 'Find people who've done it before you, ask about their successes and, more importantly, their failures.'" 04. Do what you do best Johan Debit is co-founder and creative director at Brand Brothers in Paris. The studio recently created a new identity for the 'book-lovers website' Reading Wild. Identity, logo design, typography: this what Brand Brothers excels at, Debit explains. So the team leave graphic and communication disciplines to others. They don't take on work they can't do to the best of their ability. Branding schemes – such as this one for Reading Wild – are what Brand Brothers excel at "This ultra-specialisation choice has made us better and much more visible, while drastically reducing stress situations and increasing our pleasure dramatically," Debit says. "The best advice I received was to focus on what I could do best. There is a great temptation to know how to do everything, but it is impossible. In artistic disciplines, it takes a lifetime – or 10 – to hope to become excellent." 05. Face your enemies Jaime Zuverza makes some of the coolest, weirdest posters around. The advice the Austin-based designer and musician would like to pass on is pretty open to interpretation: "Your enemy is your friend." It could mean taking on projects that push you out of your comfort zone, or possibly that a certain amount of self-doubt can spur you on to do better work. Or maybe it's a bit more philosophical: that you shouldn't be jealous of other people's successes. If that's a bit too deep for you, then try this, his tip on doing plenty of research before you put pen to paper: "Never start with a blank canvas." 06. Avoid surprises Sophie Brown is project director at Freytag Anderson. The Glasgow studio recently created the identity for The Modern Croft, which was an "opportunity to reinvent the Scottish tradition of crofting in a contemporary retail brand". It was a success, and based on simple principles. The team at Freytag Anderson believe in the power of clear communication Brown says: "The best piece of advice I’ve ever received would be to communicate, communicate, communicate! Make sure everyone knows what they’re working to. If something has to to change, tell the client in advance. If something’s agreed verbally, follow it up in writing. That way, there are no misunderstandings and no surprises." 07. Work with people who are better than you Max Ottignon is co-founder of Ragged Edge, the London branding studio whose clients includes Grey Goose, Google and the BBC. The studio owes its success to following a simple (but hard to implement) bit of advice. Ottignon was once told: 'Hire people better than you.' He says: "To start with it was hard to get my head round it. Not being the best felt like an admission of failure. But once I managed to put my ego to one side, it enabled Ragged Edge to do things I never thought possible." 08. Stay curious Vanessa Eckstein is the founder and creative director of Blok Design. The Toronto studio recently designed the branding for 48North, a Canadian cannabis business, a project that required them to visually represent 'the boldness and the clarity' of the company. Blok Design's work for 48North In work and life Eckstein always refers back to a TS Elliot quote her father often repeated: 'We shall never cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.' "My sense of eternal curiosity, the need to question from different points of view, the openness and hunger to keep on growing, and to experiment, knowing that the journey is more important than the immediate result, since all will also arrive at the right time. All these pathways in this one quote that I still keep close." 09. Don't expect immediate results During their career, Yarza Twins have had their fair share of bumps in the road. The London-based Spanish designers were told early on that it was going to be this way. Very few – if any – designers make great work from the get-go. It takes time and patience. Marta says: "We don't think that it's possible to become a designer from one day to another. To be a good graphic designer is a process that can take years to learn. So don't feel frustrated if your early creations are not good." 10. Don't rely on talent As a young designer, Mark Richardson – aka Superfried – heard a few pieces of advice that stuck. Really, they're all riffs on the same theme: "Nothing counts until it is in the bank … You're only as good as your book … Talent is not enough." They're about staying motivated, staying hungry, about always wanting to do better. Richardson has had countless 'potentially' exciting projects that fell through or, worse, the clients didn't pay up. Similarly, he says, just because you went to an exciting university and got a first-class degree doesn't mean you're going to do well as a professional. That's why talent alone doesn't equate to success. "I have worked alongside some of the most talented in the business and they work harder than anyone else I have met! Hard work should be a given, but don’t kid yourself, there is always someone out there working harder than you." Read more: 18 things they didn't teach you at design school 6 mistakes designers make – and how to avoid them Discover the hidden flaws in 6 world-famous logos View the full article

For the aspiring artist wanting to create your own character design, it can be tempting to just follow the manga template wholesale. It’s important to note that basic art and storytelling fundamentals are still necessary in the creation of good manga art. Here, three artists from Collateral Damage Studios – Loe ZI Rong, Tan Hui Tan and Ho Wei Rong share their expertise and experience when it comes to creating and refining manga character art. From how to clean up your character sketches, work with colour theory and craft a story for your creations, there’s plenty to incorporate into your own manga workflow. Use the icon in the top right of each image to enlarge it Clean up your sketches 01. Tighten up your roughs Use a new layer to add detail to your sketch I usually start with a rough sketch, working out the pose and the flow of the other objects such as the costume and hair. Then I’ll take a quick second pass to refine parts of the picture and add more details that can aid in my line-work process later. If you’re working on a single layer it can be easy to accidentally erase portions of the original sketch when you’re zoomed in and focused on adding details, resulting in the overall composition being altered. I recommend using a new layer to flesh out the details, while keeping the original composition on another layer for easy reference. 02. Differentiate layers with colour For clarity, use a different colour to add detail I find it useful to change the colour of my pencil before cleaning up your sketch. Even if you reduce the opacity of the sketch layer during the clean-up stage, unwanted lines that are overlooked might be mistaken for lines from the original sketch. Changing the colour of the sketch to another colour can make the distinction between the sketch layer and clean-up layer more obvious, and reduce stray lines when cleaning up. Using colours to highlight different areas that you might want to separate into layers also serves as a visual reminder when lining them. 03. Add weight to your lines Varying line thickness can help add depth to a drawing Apart from certain art styles or production requirements, giving your lines different thicknesses helps to add depth to your drawing. In general, drawing thinner lines of elements closer to the light source and thicker lines for those further away can make your art pop. One example when it’s not necessary to add weight to your lines is for animation production, when production time is limited and the consistency of lines between frames is more important. 04. Rotate and flip the canvas Flipping your artwork can reveal things you didn't previously notice To achieve clean and smooth-flowing lines, it’s usually better to clean up curves correctly in a single stroke. Most painting software enables you to rotate and flip the canvas freely to adjust the angle at which you tackle those curves. Flipping the canvas as you draw is also a good way to check the balance of the image if you’ve been staring at your artwork for too long. 05. Check the developing artwork Zoom out of your sketch to look at the bigger picture As mentioned earlier, during cleanup we tend to zoom in and focus on the finer details of the artwork. We end up taking localised decisions on how certain strokes would be cleaned without bearing in mind context of the whole image. This might result in, for example, a well-drawn hand that’s clearly out of proportion when compared to the rest of the body. Therefore, it’s important to zoom out occasionally to check everything’s still on track as you clean up your sketch. Apply colour theory to your figures 06. Think about the colours you use Colours have different connotations in different cultures Colours convey mood and meaning, and you can use it to direct or misdirect the audience. At its most effective, just the colour palette can bring to mind the object. It also serves as a bond when different objects share the same palette, such as the historical significance of the red, blue and white stripes in Pan-slavic flags. Beyond basic colour theory, the science of colours and its everyday usage can be useful information. For instance, knowing that in European culture, royalty is represented by purple, while in India, deep red and ochre symbolise grandeur and wealth, can be useful in creating culturally specific characters. 07. Concept and usability These two characters have almost identical colour palettes When I create a character design, form follows function. A hierarchy of information applies to colour design, too. Areas of high contrast will attract more focus, and bright colours can indicate narrative significance. I try to go from a macro overview before tackling details. Here, the characters are twins working as bodyguards. They share a black, green and white palette, but also have spots of pink or cyan to differentiate them. I also try to ensure that no other in-universe characters have a similar palette. The narrative theme is dark, and therefore the general colour palette reflects that and is muted. 08. Build a palette Before deciding on a palette, explore options with a character colour sheet I use tools like Adobe Kuler and ColourLovers for inspiration – you can use Kuler to create a palette from an existing image. Before deciding on a palette, explore options with a character colour sheet (usually with flat colours). Also, keep in mind the usage and context of the image. If, say, it’s meant as a final asset in an environment, make sure it contrasts against the main environmental colours. I tend to use a neutral white light for shading, so that it’s easy to adjust the character art in different lighting conditions afterwards. 09. Colour psychology and symbolism A character's colour palette can reveal their traits People perceive colours differently (think of viewers who might suffer from chromophobia or experience colour blindness). But there are general meanings and physiological effects associated with colours. For instance, I tend to avoid fully saturated colours such as CMYK magenta, because it gives me a headache! There are some exceptions when a ‘pop’ aesthetic may be preferred. In my example, the character is a heiress who’s revealed to be the main villain of the game towards the end. Her smaller stature and weak body makes her an unexpected villain, but the impression of vulnerability is further enforced with a predominantly pink and white palette, which signifies innocence. Whereas, the impression of inner darkness is supported by the presence of a darker palette. 10. Change your colours Make sure all the different parts of the character are on individual layers for ease of editing If you want to change the colour on an element that's already rendered, first, separate out the elements. Make sure all the different parts of the character are on individual layers for ease of editing. If I want to change a character’s hair from black to pink for instance, I’ll use Photoshop’s Curve tool to brighten it first. To do a gradient colour on her hair, ctrl-select the hair layer, and then place a solid gradient on a new layer. Duplicate the gradient layer multiple times, and play around with Color, Overlay and Screen blending modes. To make other adjustments, I use Color Balance, as well as a separate layer set in Screen mode, to finalise the colour change. Sometimes, when there isn’t enough tonal information for the colour change, I’ll paint them in as needed. Develop a story for your character 11. Create a focus If you can't describe your character in one line, you need to rethink them The key to creating a good character story is to have a strong centre to build your story around – the selling point that your readers can instantly recognise. It should be easily described in one succinct line. I use this one-liner to provide direction from which I develop the rest of my character’s story. Something as simple as 'a girl with a love of stationery and humanity thrust into circumstances beyond herself' can be enough to form the base of your character’s story. 12. Colour code characters One effective way to differentiate characters is through colour When differentiating characters, the quickest and most visible way to do so is by the use of colours. Colours can tell a story on their own, whether through the meaning of individual hues, or the relationship between certain colours. I use purple for a character with royal poise and wit, and red for a go-getter type with a childish lilt. And the contrast between red and blue enables me to create a story of contrasting opinion and values. 13. Create a distinct silhouette Hairstyle and clothing help to make manga characters different from each other Bodies come in all shapes and sizes in western comics. However, for manga, most body types and sizes fall within the same general categories, only differentiated by gender. In trying to create a distinct silhouette within the stricter rules of manga, I often fall back on two specific areas: hairstyle and unique design elements. I use contrasting hairstyles for my different characters, which allows for the variation in silhouette demanded for distinction. Where available, I also add unique shapes and objects to my clothing design to further set the silhouettes apart. 14. Tell a story through visuals Everyday problems can help set the scene in manga comics When introducing a character, it’s important that both their personality and abilities are displayed within the first few frames. To that end, in battle comics I ensure that their introductions enable them to fight an enemy. I use this approach to establish the character’s verbal tics and choice of actions, as well as the powers and capability that they’re able to display. For a comic set in everyday life, I use a mundane daily task or scene for the same function, showing how the character approaches a problem that would be immediately familiar to the readers. 15. Begin with an end in mind Your character's role in the story should influence their design It’s relatively easy to create a character’s personality and traits. What isn’t easy is creating a role for the character. I begin this task by deciding what purpose this character will play in my overall storyline. I use something vague, but directional, like 'background character in the second arc', or 'mid-stage villain boss for the hero’s first battle'. This influences my choice of colours, elements and extravagance of design. After all, a throwaway character who appears in the background of two chapters will be much more subdued in design than one who has a major role in the hero’s development. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX, the world's best selling magazine for digital artists. Subscribe here. Read more: How to make it as a manga artist How to draw manga characters Create a character using Copic markers View the full article

When unboxing Wacom’s Intuos Pro medium, first impressions were a mix between thoughts about how great the tablet looks, and concerns over how long it will stay that way before becoming marked, scuffed and worn. In the box you’ll also find the Wacom Pro Pen 2, a stand, four coloured pen rings and a cable. Wacom Black Friday deals 2018: what we expect Documentation mainly consists of a couple of diagrams showing how to use the stand, which conveniently houses both the nibs and can be used to extract a nib from the pen. Lastly there are samples of rough, standard and smooth texture sheets. The sheets (sold separately) stick to the tablet work area, replacing the existing surface with a new texture, allaying fears of marking the tablet. the backing is of the ‘peel-off- and-throw-away’ variety, which is problematic if you chose to peel it off to switch between textures. It would prolong the pen nibs’ lifespan if the tablet shipped with the default smooth surface applied. Before use it’s necessary to install drivers and firmware updates. Once done, you’ll want to open a Wacom account then hop into the Wacom Desktop center and fine-tune how the tablet functions to your preferences. Ignoring the fairly pointless set-up wizard, the other options provide a wealth of useful customisation tweaks, including: on-screen controls; orientation settings that are ergonomically designed for left and right-handed artists; touch settings for multi-touch gestures to navigate around your project; and ExpressKeys and touch ring functions, providing handy shortcuts that during testing became preferable to keyboard hotkeys for speed. It does take time to adapt to the many features the tablet is capable of, which underlines its suitability for professional use and fast workflow. The Intuos Pro is a flexible tool for creative projects and helps you work in comfort The medium version sports a slightly smaller physical footprint than its predecessor and yet gains a larger active area. Depending on your desk size you could place it alongside your keyboard if you prefer not to use the ExpressKeys and touch ring. However, taking advantage of these time-saving features and shortcuts is far more productive. It’s also wireless, with Bluetooth 4.2 helping you to declutter your desktop and work from your sofa. Wacom Pro Pen 2 The Wacom Pro Pen 2 is incredibly responsive but feels slightly too sensitive with the default settings. Once set up, it does provide a very natural feel when drawing concept designs, texture painting and sculpting, and it performed well in Photoshop, Painter, mari, Maya and ZBrush during testing, although that was after a few hours of getting used to it. There is very little noticeable lag, which can be a problem with cheaper tablets, and the pen is comfortable in your hand for long stints, providing superb pressure responsiveness and giving you innate control and precision for detailing. tilt recognition and 8,192 levels of pressure come into play the more you use it and is a noticeable gain compared to cheaper tablets on the market. Being 13.2 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches and lightweight it’s ideal for freelancers on the go, and the battery life is reasonable, allowing for a full day’s work. The Wacom Pro Pen 2 is comfortable to hold for long periods of time, and has impressive pressure sensitivity The Pen’s stand however doesn’t grip the Pen suitably and it’s prone to being knocked over easily. It can be laid flat, but this doesn’t really solve the issue. Inside the stand base you’ll find the nibs; to open it you have to twist the base, but there isn’t much grip to make this an easy process and it’s quite stiff to open until it has been more worn in. This article originally appeared in 3D Artist magazine. Also read: The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals 2018 View the full article

Wondering how to build an app? There are a number of different approaches that are now open to you. Tools such as React Native and Flutter (Google's recent addition to the party) are opening up new possibilities when it comes to mobile app development. Read on for our rundown of five different ways to build an app, to help to decide which one is right for you. 01. Native The default way of developing on mobile is to write native code for each device – usually Java for Android and Swift for iOS. This can give you the best result, but the problem is that you then have two codebases to maintain. 02. WebViews The earliest way to get around this was to build 'hybrid' apps that were essentially web pages rendered within an app container (referred to as WebViews). The Ionic framework is an example of this approach. This has limitations in user experience and relies on a JavaScript 'bridge' to interact with native services, which can impact performance. 03. React Native The release of React Native gave us the ability to write JavaScript code (with React syntax) that used entirely native widgets. It still uses a JavaScript runtime but the presentation is not HTML and it doesn't use a WebView. This takes away a major limitation of older hybrid apps but can still suffer performance issues due to reliance on the JavaScript 'bridge'. 04. Flutter While they offer similar reactive development styles, the major difference between Flutter and React Native is that Flutter dispenses with runtime JavaScript completely and compiles native code for multiple platforms. This offers superior start-up times and app performance. For more on this framework, take a look at our guide to [LINK getting started with Flutter]. 05. Progressive Web Apps One possible future for mobile development moves away from the native environment completely. Web APIs now enable much more extensive interaction between web pages and devices than in the past and service workers mean pages can be cached and work offline. The technology isn't quite there yet but some people are betting that the future of mobile apps is actually web technology. For tips on how to get the most out of them right now, take a look at our article on nine amazing PWA secrets. This article was originally published in net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 310 or subscribe. Read more: Build apps that work offline How to create a dashboard app with React The 29 best iPhone apps for designers View the full article

Planning upcoming marketing campaigns and hungry for inspiring visuals to take them to the next level? You've come to the right place. Perhaps you're looking for evocative images of the autumn/fall season, or you need to piece together a last-minute Halloween-themed design? Are you already planning your big Thanksgiving campaign, or even thinking ahead to Christmas and New Year? Read on for our pick of six stunning, premium stock images that could keep your seasonal campaigns fresh 'til 2019... 01. Spooky Halloween vibes Halloween campaigns don't have to be full of witches, ghouls, and goblins – although if you go down that route, you'll find plenty of quality stock illustrations to get you going in libraries such as iStock by Getty Images. As the nights start to draw in and there's spookiness in the air, try drawing inspiration from great horror movies. Use eerie imagery to create a sense of foreboding based on what you can't see, rather than what you can. Full moons shrouded in wisps of cloud, such as the image above, dark, moody woodland clearings, and deserted, cobweb-draped cellars – these are all great background images to add atmosphere to your Halloween visuals. 02. Rich, colourful leaves Autumn/Fall is a beautiful season, filled with burnt oranges, rich ochres, and striking reds. Whether you're creating a Thanksgiving campaign, launching a seasonal range of products, or just keen to reflect that distinctive palette in your designs, fallen leaves are a great way to do so. You're spoiled for choice for premium assets on iStock by Getty Images, whether you need a stylish background image to add colour and texture to your design, such as the example above, or individual leaf elements to position as you see fit. There's a rich selection of illustrated elements to choose from, too. 03. Dramatic firework displays Whether it's Guy Fawkes Night in the UK or Thanksgiving in the States, Autumn/Fall is synonymous with fireworks on both sides of the Atlantic – and of course, if you're planning campaigns ahead for New Year's Eve, the whole world gets involved. Vibrant images of fireworks evoke excitement, awe, and wonderment. You can almost smell the gunpowder lingering in the air. Unless you're a pro at night-time photography, firework displays are notoriously difficult to capture effectively, but there are plenty of premium images to be found at iStock by Getty Images. One great aspect of fireworks images is they tend to be naturally set on a clean, black flat-colour background – like the example above – making them easy to work with for campaign graphics that need text set in negative space. More dramatic, close-up images also make striking backgrounds. 04. Warm, crackling fires If there's a nip in the air outside, few things are more appealing than a welcoming fire, crackling in the grate. As we enter woodburner season, examples such as the one above make great background images – you can almost feel the warmth, and catch the rich aroma of woodsmoke on the air. Homely hearths are too small-scale for Guy Fawkes Night campaigns, of course – UK designers can supplement all the fireworks imagery with depictions of giant, roaring bonfires. Look for examples shot against black for maximum versatility. 05. Mouth-watering feasts Nothing captures Thanksgiving or Christmas quite like a table full to bursting with delicious, seasonal food. If you need a mouth-watering background image for your next campaign, iStock by Getty Images can help you there. Designed specifically for framing text as part of a campaign graphic, carefully art directed images such as the example above leave ample space for you to work with in the centre. Alternatively, a more packed table can make an ideal background to lay text on top. 06. Sparkling white snow As Autumn/Fall slips into winter, crisp, colourful leaves give way to something colder, but no less beautiful. High-quality macro images of sparkling frost make evocative campaign backgrounds, while a layer of snow captures the magic of Christmas. Sharp blades of frozen grass, such as the example above, encapsulate the onset of crisp, frosty weather, as well as being visually striking in themselves. And when it comes to snowy scenes, you’ve got a lot of options to choose from on iStock by Getty Images – an image of fresh snowfall on a pine forest, for instance, captures the mood of the festive season perfectly. Whether you're looking for beautiful background photography or versatile illustrated elements, iStock by Getty Images is the perfect solution for all your seasonal campaign assets. The original resource for premium, royalty-free stock imagery, iStock offers millions of assets including its own exclusive imagery. Until December 31st, you can get 15% off an annual subscription: use code ANNUAL15 at checkout. View the full article

Anyone working in the creative industries knows the importance of having plenty of storage options. Internal hard disks, and especially SSDs, can quickly fill up when you're banging out multiple versions of massive image files for clients, and even if you have plenty of room on your computer it still pays to have an external drive for backup purposes. With Black Friday coming around, now's the perfect time to upgrade your external storage. That's why this year we'll be combing the web for the best Black Friday external hard drive deals; here's what you need to know. The best Black Friday/Cyber Monday external hard drive deals: what we expect to see External drive bargains won't be prominent, but you'll still find them Let's be clear: external drives aren't especially sexy tech, so you're not going to see much in the way of headline-grabbing Black Friday hard drive deals. If you're after a bargain external drive then you're going to have to look hard for it; or rather, just sit back and let us do the hunting. Your best bet for a getting a great deal on an external drive is to keep an eye on the big names. Companies such as Western Digital, Seagate, LaCie and Sandisk are notable for having large ranges of external drives, and they're introducing new models on a pretty regular basis. This means that come Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they're likely to have plenty of stock of models that have either been recently superseded by a newer version, or simply aren't selling as well as other external drives in their range, and these will be the most obvious candidates for the best deals. Our top tip for Black Friday bargains is to look out for Western Digital offers. The company has recently reported a big drop in profits, and it might try to tackle this by driving Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales with some attractive deals. Watch this space. How to get the best external hard drive deals on Black Friday/Cyber Monday Hard disks give you loads of storage, but they're not fast If you have your heart set on Black Friday external hard drive deals then the best thing you can do is start looking out for them now. There's an increasing amount of competition between retailers to shift their discounted stock, so every year we're seeing stores and sites kick off their Black Friday sales earlier. Figure out your budget and exactly what kind of drive you're looking for. If you need plenty of storage and aren't too worried about transfer speeds then you should probably concentrate on old-fashioned hard drives; they might not be fast but they'll give you a lot more gigabytes for your buck. If speed's important, though, you should look for an SSD instead. They're fast and reliable, and because they have no moving parts they're a lot more suitable for taking out and about with you. The downside is that you get a lot less storage than you would from a comparably priced hard disk. Always look for big name brands such as Western Digital or Seagate when you're searching for an external drive; not only are these where you'll probably find the best deals, you can also be much more certain of getting a reliable drive that won't fail on you. If you spot a dirt-cheap drive from a brand you've never heard of, look around for reviews to get an idea of its reliability; it could be cheap for a very good reason, and it's probably not where you want to stash your important backups. Don't forget to check an assortment of retailers for the biggest choice. Amazon's Black Friday deals are always worth a look, but explore some other online stores as well. Some of them might have cashback offers that could save you a bit extra, so that's always worth looking out for. Finally, use the same common sense that you would when making any purchase online; check the guarantee, make sure you're buying from a reputable store, and keep your receipt just in case you change your mind later on. External hard drive features/specs that creatives should look out for SSDs are lightning quick and a lot less fragile than hard disks because they have no moving parts Once you've decided whether you need a hard disk or an SSD, the key thing to look for is the amount of storage you'll get. It all depends on your needs, naturally; 500GB is probably fine if you don't work with enormous files, but if your business involves videos then you're probably well into terabyte territory. Beyond that, the most important thing to check is what type of connections an external drive has. At the very minimum you'll need a USB 3.0 connection; anything less and you'll be waiting ages for your files to transfer back and forth. If you have a recent Mac then it may have a Thunderbolt 3 port; if so, try to find a drive that's compatible and you'll get lightning-fast transfer speeds. 3 external hard drive to look out for on Black Friday/Cyber Monday For an excellent all-round external hard drive, you'll have a tough job beating Western Digital's My Passport 4TB. The latest generation features excellent transfer speeds and cloud storage options as well as 256-AES encryption to keep your files safe, and WD's backup software will take care of transferring your data. If you want a fast, portable drive that won't cost the earth, Adata's SD700 External SSD presses all the right buttons. It's an SSD with excellent transfer speeds that can take quite a bit of mistreatment; its IP68 rating means it can withstand dust, dirt and sand, and it's resistant to submersion in up to 1.5m of water for up to 30 minutes. It's available in capacities up to 1TB. Serious about protecting your files? This 16TB monster from Western Digital is for you. You can either use the full 16TB, or you can instead run the My Book Duo's two 8TB drives in a RAID configuration, meaning that should one fail you'll still have a safe backup on the other. This USB 3.0 drive also features 256-bit AES encryption and automatic backup software; bear in mind though that it's formatted for Windows, so if you're on a Mac it'll need reformatting. Today's best pre-Black Friday external hard drive deals What's that? You can't wait until Black Friday to grab to grab a lovely external hard drive deal? Fear not; we've found all the best deals available right now. Related articles: 10 top tips for making the most of Black Friday The 8 best external hard drives and SSDs for Mac and PC users in 2018 The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday laptop deals View the full article

Owning a MacBook is, for many designers, the impossible dream. They're so thin and pretty and swish, but lord, they're expensive. The great news is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 are just around the corner, which means it's the perfect time to snap up a MacBook without getting stung for the full whack. We'll be keeping tabs on all the Black Friday MacBook deals for you this year so you won't miss a trick; read on for all the important details you need to know so that you're all set to drop your hard-earned readies on a shiny new Apple that's right for you at the best possible price. The best Black Friday/Cyber Monday MacBook deals: what we expect to see Don't expect to see many serious price cuts on the vanilla MacBook The vanilla MacBook is a popular choice, and it's easy to see why; if portability is your thing, it's worth noting that the most recent 12-inch MacBook is both thinner and lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air, with better specs and a Retina display. What this popularity means, though, is that you're unlikely to see much in the way of massive Black Friday MacBook deals. Keep your eyes peeled and you'll spot some tasty discounts, but don't expect to get much more than 10 per cent off and be prepared to act fast, as these deals are likely to get snapped up quickly. The best Black Friday/Cyber Monday MacBook Pro deals: what we expect to see The MacBook Pro is available with a Touch Bar, for a price If last year's Black Friday MacBook Pro deals are anything to go by, you could make some major savings on the top-end models in Apple's MacBook range this year, especially if you're prepared to make do with an older model. On lesser laptops this might be an issue, but even an old MacBook Pro is ludicrously powerful compared to the average laptop, making it well worth taking a punt. The MacBook Pro's high price – especially, say, the touch bar models – means it's easier for retailers to deliver a huge temporary price cut and still turn a profit, so if you're looking for a powerful creative laptop it's worth bearing in mind. You'll still be paying out quite a bit for it, but it'll be worth the expense. The best Black Friday/Cyber Monday MacBook Air deals: what we expect to see It's getting on a bit, but the MacBook Air could be a good bargain option The lightweight MacBook Air hasn't seen much love from Apple over the last couple of years. There are rumours that Apple's about to refresh the Air as an entry-level machine aimed at students, and it may well drop the 'Air' designation when it does it, and that's a good sign that there may be some fantastic Black Friday MacBook Air deals on offer this year as retailers clear out their old stock. The downside to plumping for an Air is that it's the least powerful MacBook you can get, and it's not even the thinnest and lightest any more. However if you simply have to have that MacBook cachet but you're on a budget, it's the obvious choice. The best US Black Friday/Cyber Monday MacBook deals in 2017 What sort of MacBook deals can you expect to find this year? Here are some of the great deals we found in 2017 to give you an idea. The best UK Black Friday/Cyber Monday MacBook deals in 2017 There weren't quite so many hot MacBook offers in the UK last year, but we still managed to dig up a few gems. How to get the best MacBook deals on Black Friday/Cyber Monday Preparation is key when it comes to getting good Black Friday MacBook deals, especially when you bear in mind that a lot of retailers can't wait for Black Friday, and are likely to start shipping their bargains well in advance of the big day. In the run-up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday we'll be keeping tabs on new deals as they appear, so keep checking back for offers that you won't want to miss. You'll need to decide whether it's a vanilla MacBook you want, an Air or a full-fat MacBook Pro. If you're planning to use your new MacBook as an all-round work machine then it's worth holding out for a good deal on a Pro as it'll be able to cope with just about everything you throw at it. If you're less of a power user then the ordinary MacBook should suit your needs, and while the Air's more limited it should be the one to go for if you want a MacBook at rock-bottom prices. Beware of older models – they're likely to see the biggest discounts but they'll be packing less power than more up-to-date machines. And of course, use a bit of common sense while shopping; look out for cashback offers, always check the guarantee and make sure you keep your receipt in case of faults or buyer's remorse. MacBook, MacBook pro and MacBook air features/specs that creatives should look out for Many MacBooks are severely lacking in ports; bear that in mind when make your choice. There might only be three main models of MacBook to choose from, but there are plenty of variations in the line that are well worth noting when you're looking for Black Friday MacBook deals. Firstly, the CPU: the MacBook Air's is the least powerful of the lot, with an old Intel Broadwell chipset running at 1.6GHz, or 1.8GHz for more recent models. Both the MacBook and MacBook Pro boast beefier chipsets; Kaby Lake for 2017 models and Skylake before that. As a rule the MacBook Pro packs faster-clocked processors than the vanilla model, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro has quad-core CPUs rather than dual-core. Lower end MacBooks – the Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro – only give you 128GB SSD, which is likely to mean that you'll need to invest in some external storage. All other MacBook models feature 256GB SSD; bear in mind that if you work with large files then you'll probably burn through that pretty quickly. If you're going to need to plug peripherals into your new MacBook, check the number of available ports; the standard MacBook only has one USB-C port, while most MacBook Pros have four. Meanwhile the older MacBook Air has three ports; they're USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 2, and while they shouldn't give you any problems, bear in mind you might need an adapter for more recent peripherals. Display-wise, all the MacBooks apart from the Air feature crisp Retina displays (the Air has a 1440 x 900 screen). And they'll all serve you well in terms of battery, but watch out for MacBook Pros with a Touch Bar; Apple claims that this makes no difference but our friends at TechRadar have found that the Touch Bar can take a fair toll on battery life. 3 MacBooks/Pros to look out for on Black Friday/Cyber Monday If you need all the power you can handle and don't mind paying for it, the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro is the only way to go. Powered by a six-core Intel Coffee Lake processor and with the option of AMD Radeon Pro graphics, there's little this machine can't cope with. Storage options go from 512GB up to 4TB of SSD, and you can have 16 or 32GB RAM. In short it's a mighty creative powerhouse that won't let you down, assuming you have the means to afford it. You may have read complaints about the temperamental Butterfly keyboard on recent MacBooks; the latest MacBook Pro still features it, but it's an improved version with less noise and more reliability. This model also features a Touch Bar that'll give you time-saving, context-sensitive commands for various apps, as well as an up-to-date CPU and plenty of storage and memory options. If you want an entry-level MacBook Pro, this is the one to go for. Don't need the power of a Pro? This vanilla MacBook should suit you nicely; it's super-portable and lightweight, with a 12-inch Retina screen, and as long as you don't mind paying the extra it's a much more attractive prospect than the ageing MacBook Air. It's low on ports, but that's the price you pay for such a slimline machine, and if you need a reliable MacBook that you can take anywhere then this is really the only choice in town. Today's best pre-Black Friday MacBook deals So, you've got all excited about MacBooks and you really can't wait for Black Friday? Don't worry, there are plenty of deals available right now; take a look through these offerings. Related articles: The best cheap Apple laptop deals of 2018: MacBook, Air and MacBook Pro deals MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2018) and Blackmagic eGPU review The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday laptop deals View the full article

You're reading Postcards – Responsive Email Templates Builder [Full Overview Video], originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Postcards is used to create beautiful emails or newsletters HTML templates in minutes with drag and drop features and ready-made modules. You can create professional emails super fast without having any knowledge of code! View the full article

Being a successful designer in this digital age isn’t just about having strong creative and conceptual skills. As modern technology evolves, a designer’s skillset now needs to be vast in order to stay relevant, with the crossover of disciplines - web and graphic designer, illustrator and web designer, etc - becoming more and more apparent. But while designer’s may well need to dip their toes into new disciplines to stay ahead of the digital game, the good news is demand for skilled creatives is also on the up. As this free-to-download white paper from no-code apps and content company Rakuten Aquafadas explains, the enterprise content landscape has changed significantly in recent years, and companies wanting to deliver quality, engaging content are quickly realising how crucial a designer’s role is in achieving that. With that in mind, the future certainly looks bright for designers who possess the skills to work across a range of mediums and platforms. But what if your creative portfolio is somewhat lacking in digital-based disciplines? That’s where Rakuten Aquafadas can help, arming designers, with no technical ability, the tools to build highly interactive, cross-platform content and mobile apps with ease and speed. Rakuten Aquafadas tools are so intuitive, designers can create apps either by enriching existing content or developing new digital content from scratch, delivering a finished product in just three weeks! Zero coding Rakuten Aquafadas technology enables the creation of highly interactive content and cross-platform apps without a single line of code The thought of tackling apps and interactive content, which might require knowledge of coding, can be a daunting prospect for some designers. Rakuten Aquafadas solutions remove the stress of searching for technologies which allow the creation of highly interactive content and the need for expensive external developers, and has instead made creating these kinds of digital projects accessible to everyone. Using easy-to-use tools, designers are able to simply drag and drop components to create cross-platform native apps - not a single line of code is required. Once the content is built, it can be published on multiple operating systems, including iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS X and the web (including ePUB and HTML5 content), so catering for everyone’s needs is a synch. A simple adjustment Rakuten Aquafadas technology means creatives with little digital experience no longer need to feel held back or miss out on new opportunities. The tools on offer allow creative professionals to adequately meet the demands of today’s digital climate. So whether you want create sales brochures, product demos, sales enablement materials or ‘wow’ at an interview with an impressive presentation, Rakuten Aquafadas allows you to do so with ease. The design landscape is changing, and having relevant creative skills is getting more challenging every day. Rakuten Aquafadas tools remove the need to spend time and money learning a new craft. Thanks to its InDesign Plugin, designers can use already familiar tools to create highly interactive, stand-out digital content that was previously out of reach. View the full article

Microsoft has been notified, but no patch is yet available. View the full article

An unsophisticated but effective botnet is targeting exposed cloud servers and racking up millions of infections. View the full article

When it comes to tablets there's one brand that so far ahead of the rest of the pack that it's not even funny: the iPad. And with Black Friday 2018 fast approaching – that's 23 November if you need to make a note on your calendar – now's the time to be thinking about finding the best Black Friday iPad deals. Of course you may be happy with another brand of tablet – if so, check out our guide to finding the best Black Friday tablet deals. Otherwise, read on to be prepared for scoring anything from an iPad Mini up to a hefty iPad Pro without paying the full whack. The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday iPad deals: what we expect to see New models could mean big discounts on older stock Apple isn't exactly renowned for rolling out massive price cuts on its gear, so if you're hoping for some epic Black Friday iPad deals then you'd be wise to temper your expectations a little. That said, at the time of writing Apple is gearing up to announce new models, which could translate into bargains across the iPad range if you're happy to make do with some older tech. Word is that Apple's going to launch new 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pros with the A12 chipset, razor-thin bezels, Face ID and a USB-C port, so if these are on sale by Black Friday 2018 then it's a fair bet that you'll be able to snag some significant Black Friday iPad Pro deals on older stock. There's also talk of a long-overdue update to the iPad Mini, with a faster chipset and cheaper display. Again, expect decent iPad Mini 4 Black Friday deals if this comes to pass. As for the standard 9.7-inch iPad, that received a major update earlier in the year, adding Apple Pencil compatibility among other things. We doubt you'll find much in the way of major discounts on this one, but if using a Pencil isn't high on your list of priorities then you'll be likely to save on a 2017 model if you shop around. The best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday iPad deals in 2017 What sort of Black Friday Apple iPad deals can you expect this year? Here are some of the best from last year to give you a clue. The best UK Black Friday and Cyber Monday iPad deals in 2017 Meanwhile, here are some of last year's iPad deals from the other side of the pond. Hopefully there'll be more options this time around! How to get the best iPad deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Be prepared to shop around to find a good deal If there's one thing you can be sure of when it comes to Black Friday iPad deals, it's that they're going to be in short supply, and serious discounts are going to be even more rare, so you're going to need to be prepared to leap on a good deal as soon as you spot it. The best offers are likely to appear as lightning deals with limited stock available, so keep checking back here for news on them as soon as they come up. For the best chance of finding great Black Friday Apple iPad deals, you'll need to keep an eye on as many retailers as possible; Amazon had some good deals last year and you can expect some more this time around, but you're also likely to find savings from eBay as well as major electrical stores. If you're in the USA, watch out for deals from Walmart and Newegg, while in the UK firms such as Currys PC World and John Lewis are likely to come up with the goods. Decide in advance roughly what model you're after; do you want a standard iPad, a Pro or a Mini? And watch out for retailers shifting older models at knock-down prices; they'll look pretty much the same but you'll have to make do with poorer performance than the latest iPads, especially if you're running iOS 12 on aged stock. Finally, try to overcome your Black Friday excitement and take the same care you would for any other major purchase. Check for cashback offers, make sure the guarantee's going to cover you if something goes wrong, and make sure you keep your receipt in case you need to return your shiny new purchase. iPad features/specs that creatives should look out for on Black Friday If you want to use the Smart Keyboard you'll need an iPad Pro The beauty of the iPad range is that you don't need to worry too much about specs; the major distinction between models is the amount of storage you get, and whether they're Wi-Fi or cellular, and these options can make a big difference to the price. If you're likely to fill up your iPad with photos, videos and music then you should naturally opt for as much storage as you can comfortably afford (up to 512GB on the iPad Pro), but do you really need to pay the extra for a cellular model? The smarter option is to tether a Wi-Fi iPad to your iPhone, and use that for a mobile signal when you're out of range. None of the iPads currently on sale are particular slouches; however for the best performance look out for the 2018 9.7-inch iPad or the 2017 iPad Pros. These pack the A10 and A10X processors respectively, which clock in around 30 per cent faster than the previous generation A9 processor. And of course if you want to use your new iPad for drawing then be sure to plump for a model with Apple Pencil support. This used to mean buying an iPad Pro, but as of 2018 the standard 9.7-inch iPad has Pencil support, although whether or not we'll see much in the way of deals for that model is another matter altogether. 3 iPads to look out for on Black Friday and Cyber Monday If size matters to you then this is your only serious iPad choice. The 12.9-inch iPad pro is the closest you'll get to a 2-in-1 touchscreen MacBook, and it's brilliant for both productivity and entertainment. Its huge, sharp screen is ideal both for drawing with the Apple Pencil or for showing off images and video to best effect, and if you add a Smart Keyboard to the mix then it becomes just the thing for getting admin work done wherever you may be. The massive screen could be a drawback if all you really want is a tablet, but if you're after something portable that can adapt to pretty much any scenario then you really can't go wrong with this model, just so long as you can afford the steep price. This surprise 2018 addition to the iPad range is ostensibly aimed at the student market, but its USP – it's the first non-Pro iPad to support the Apple Pencil, makes the new iPad a must-have for budget-conscious creatives. Its big downside is that it's not compatible with the Smart Keyboard, making it less of an all-round workhorse than the Pro range, and the maximum storage you can get is 128GB. But if you can cope with these little drawbacks then this is absolutely the best standard iPad available. The iPad Mini 4 is definitely showing its age; launched in 2015 it's saddled with an A8 processor rather than the the A10-series chipsets in the Pro and iPad 9.7 (2018), but that's just about its only disappointing area (and to be fair, the A8's still pretty powerful). Small and light with a beautifully bright 7.9-inch screen, it's a lovely little piece of portable kit that can do just about everything its bigger siblings can, and if you're on a limited budget then it's definitely the iPad to opt for; maybe more so if Apple updates the Mini in time for Black Friday, resulting in even bigger discounts on the Mini 4 as retailers clear their old stock. Today's best pre-Black Friday tablet deals It's not long now until Black Friday 2018, but if you really can't wait for a deal then don't worry; we've gathered together some of the best iPad deals available now. Related articles: Apple Black Friday 2018: What to expect The best cheap iPad deals in 2018 iPad 9.7 review View the full article

Creating animations or 3D movies involving vehicles with wheels can present some complications, as the motion of the model has to be synchronised with the rotation of its wheels. Depending on the speed of the vehicle, the wheels have to spin faster or slower in order to create a convincing effect. 30 top examples of 3D art Other factors like friction and inertia have to be considered, as occasionally the wheels can drift over the terrain when the vehicle accelerates or suddenly brakes. In the first example, the wheels start spinning fast but the car's body motion is more gradual, gaining speed and inertia until it's fully synchronised with the wheel's rotation. In the second case it happens just the opposite, as the wheels stop spinning but the car keeps moving while drifting over the terrain until it gradually stops. In addition, if the models are moving over uneven terrains, then they have to follow the slopes and also react to obstacles like bumps or cliffs. For example, if the vehicle goes fast through a significant level difference then it should jump and fly over the terrain, varying the length and duration of the jump depending on the speed of the vehicle. A while back, developer Reallusion provided an iClone content pack called Physics Toolbox, which offers multiple solutions for adding forces and structures to iClone animations. In this tutorial, I will focus on a 'four-wheel base' structure, which will serve to solve all the scenarios mentioned previously in a very easy way. Watch the video and/or follow my step-by-step process below. Download the files for this tutorial. 01. Prepare the car model There are plenty of ways to get a 3D car mesh The first obvious step is to get a 3D car mesh. You can use one of the cars provided by Reallusion in its Content Store, or use free 3D models and import with Reallusion's 3DXchange tool, which can convert any model in 3DS, OBJ, SketchUp or FBX format into an iClone native iProp file. The only requirement is that its wheels need to be independent objects as they have to rotate. For this tutorial, I'm going to use the model I made in 3ds Max and exported to iClone using 3DXchange. 02. Select the four-wheel structure The Physics Toolbox provides structures for all sorts of vehicles The Physics Toolbox pack provides a lot of predefined structures with real-time controllers. For this tutorial I'm just going to need the four-wheel structure, but they also provide interesting solutions for other kinds of vehicles like caterpillars, segways and excavators. In fact, all the structures can be combined to create complex machinery that can be controlled in real time. 03. The structure objects Don't forget to activate the Dummy Object option After double-clicking the icon, the dummy objects that make up the structure will appear as well as the real-time controller. Make sure the Dummy Object option is activated in the Project tab. The structure is composed of a main body element with the four wheels and two steer controls for the front wheels attached. These elements are commanded by the floating Control Panel. 04. The driving controls Hit the red triangle for maximum speed and Auto Retract When passing the mouse over the Control Panel, it will show a slider that sets the speed of the vehicle. Pressing the little triangle in the lower-right corner will enable you to set the maximum speed available in the Speed slider, and turn ON the Auto Retract feature that causes the steering wheels to automatically return to their straight position when no 'turning' buttons are pressed. 05. Align the structure with the model The Steer structure elements need to be centred with their respective wheels The four-wheel structure has to be resized and aligned to the model. The structure wheels can be moved in order to adapt them to the model wheels. It's essential that the diameter of the structure wheels and their pivots have a perfect match with the model wheels. Also, the Steer structure elements must remain centred with their respective front structure wheels. Press ctrl+L to ensure a perfect alignment between objects, but remember to have the pivot points of the model wheels properly set in their centre first. 06. Attach the model to the structure Connect the right wheels to the right objects The car chassis must be attached to the '4 Wheels' main object while each wheel of the model needs to be attached to its corresponding wheel in the structure. The front-right model wheel will be attached to the '4Wheels_ FR' object, the back-right model wheel will be attached to '4Wheels_BR' and so on. Notice that the '4Wheels_ Steer_F' objects remain with nothing attached to them. 07. Add a terrain Use the large height map terrains to show off the physics more effectively The car needs a surface to drive over. iClone provides a prop called Infinite Plane that can be used as a flat ground, but the large height map terrains also provided in iClone allow for a better show of the physics of the structure. I selected the Canyon Terrain, reduced its height scale and smoothed it a little to facilitate the motion of the buggy over any part of the terrain. 08. Prepare iClone to start recording Select Bullet Engine before you start recording Now you can select the four-wheel base structure and place it in any part of the terrain facing the direction you want to start moving in. I also uncheck the Dummy Object box to hide the dummy objects. Before recording you must be sure that the Bullet Engine is selected in the Project label of iClone. Also, it is highly recommended to have the Soft Cloth physics deactivated and change the playing mode to By Frame, to let iClone take all the necessary time to make the physics calculations between frames. 09. Record the motion Expect slowdown while you're recording Now it's time to start driving the car over the terrain using the controller. Keep in mind that the speed shown while recording is going to look slower due to all the calculations the computer has to do. If you make a mistake, you can overwrite your previous motion by just driving again from the beginning. Remember that this is going to happen while the Bullet Engine is selected. 10. Check the recorded motion Once you've finished recording, you can view your clip in iClone's timeline If you feel satisfied with the recording, switch again from the Bullet Engine to the PhysX Engine. It will ensure that the recorded motion is not altered, even if you activate the Soft Cloth and the Rigid Body physics to create collisions between the car and other objects in the scene. Opening the timeline in iClone will enable you to see the recorded animation clip associated to the vehicle. 11. Add a second vehicle to the scene If you're using multiple vehicles, record them all separately You can drive more than one vehicle in the same scene but it's easier to record one vehicle first, and the other one after. To do that you have to deactivate the Bullet physics engine for the first car, because if not the previous recording will be overwritten. Reallusion supplies a Bullet Engine Switcher that lets you activate or deactivate the Bullet physics to the selected prop. 12. Deactivate the first vehicle simulation Select the four-wheel structure from the props list so you don't deactivate the wrong thing After clicking with the right mouse button over the Bullet Engine Switcher, a menu will appear. There the Script option will ask you whether you want to turn On or Off the Bullet simulation for one of the props in the scene. After selecting Turn Off the cursor will change for you to click over the object you want to deactivate. In order to ensure that you are selecting the four-wheel structure and not any of the objects attached to it, I strongly recommend selecting the object from the prop list instead of the scene window. 13. Record the second vehicle motion You can see your first car's movement while recording the second car Now you can repeat the process, ensuring you have the Bullet Engine selected. As the simulation in the first yellow car has been deactivated, the only controller that is going to work is the one linked to the new red car. However, the first recorded yellow car motion will be performed while you are driving the second car. This is actually very convenient, as you can now use the first car's movements as reference while you are driving the second car in the scene. 14. Add elements to the terrain With the Bullet Engine Switcher, you can add geometries to the terrain The Bullet Engine Switcher can be used to add geometries to the terrain and make them interact with the vehicles. I placed a prop simulating a ramp and I wanted the car to run over and even jump if the vehicle passes at enough speed. First I had to activate the Bullet physics in that prop. I used the Bullet Engine Switcher to turn on the Bullet physics simulation in the prop. 15. Convert the prop in terrain Click Convert to Terrain to turn your prop into part of the landscape It would be enough to simply make the object interact with the car, but I also wanted the ramp to actually be a part of the terrain, so I clicked on the prop with the right mouse button and then selected the Convert to Terrain option from the contextual menu. From now on, this prop is going to be considered as part of the terrain. 16. Run over the added prop Your car will now react to the prop in a natural way Once again, I checked that I had selected the Bullet Engine and I started driving the car straight towards the ramp, noting that it runs over the added shape. Depending on the speed applied to the vehicle the motion is going to be smooth, as it will follow the slopes of the terrain. It will also cause the car to jump and catch air as it goes over the ramp. 17. Add interacting props Bring in more props for added fun with physics Once the driving motions have been recorded using the Bullet Engine, it's possible to create further interactions with other props in the scene by using the PhysX Engine. I placed a group of oil drums with Rigid Body physics attributes, and a curtain with Soft Cloth properties. I also linked a dummy cube to the buggy structure, assigning Rigid Body properties to it as well. 18. Set physics to the props Select the right physics mode to avoid unwanted prop glitches The Rigid mode of the dummy object has to be set to Kinematic as it is linked to the car. This doesn't need to be affected by gravity. For the oil drums, it's better to set their rigid mode to Frozen in order to avoid jittering effects and unnecessary calculations before they get hit by the dummy. In collisions between Rigid Objects and Soft Cloths, it's best to use simple collision shapes like cubes; and depending on the speed, the collision margins in both objects must be increased to avoid penetration of the Rigid Object into the Soft Cloth. 19. Set the project physics You'll also need to set some physics options for the project as a whole After hiding the dummy linked to the car, select the PhysX Engine. All the calculations involving the PhysX Engine are not going to modify the Bullet recordings. Make sure to have the Rigid Body and the Soft Cloth boxes activated in the iClone Project label. I also recommend activating Bake Animation for the Soft Cloth, especially if you intend to export the motion in Alembic format. Finally, select the By Frame mode, which will allow iClone to take the necessary time to perform the physics calculations between frames. 20. Record the props interaction Hit play to rerun your animations with the new props and physics Now all that I have to do is press the Play button and the car will perform its previously recorded animations using the Bullet Engine. In the meantime iClone will calculate all the physics interactions between the objects controlled by the PhysX Engine, and will automatically generate an animation clip for each one of these objects. 21. Check the complete animation Take a look at your recorded animation and make sure it all works as intended At this point I can deactivate all the physics in iClone. The animations of all the objects have been recorded as motion clips. We can press the Play button and check how the animations look in real time because iClone doesn't need to make the calculations again. This would be the moment to put and animate the occupants of the vehicle, simulating the driving. 22. Export the animations You'll need to export your various objects in the right format The objects containing Soft Cloth physics and the vehicle structures have to be exported in Alembic format, while the objects with Rigid Body physics can be exported in Alembic or in FBX format. The objects exported in Alembic have to be selected one by one, so I exported the car and the curtain in two Alembic files, while I exported all the drums in a single FBX file. 23. Import the files in 3ds Max All your objects in 3ds Max will have to be placed in their original positions This is the aspect of the animated objects loaded in 3ds Max. The models have to be placed in their original positions. I deleted the vehicle structure as it was no longer necessary, but all the objects and animations look pretty good in the 3ds Max scene. Here the doors are the only objects animated; the characters are moving because their hand effectors are linked with the doors. 24. Final considerations The four-wheel structure is suitable for all sorts of vehicles The four-wheel structure provided by Reallusion proves to be a very useful tool to animate many different types of vehicles in an easy and very quick way. It can be applied to a wide range of vehicles as the structure wheels can be resized and accommodated to any vehicle type, despite their dimensions. Even motorbikes can be animated using this tool, simply by using the wheels of one of the sides and then attaching the handlebar to the '4 Wheel_Steer' object. This article was originally published in issue 235 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 235 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Related articles: The best 3D modelling software 2018 UV mapping for beginners Sharpen your hard-surface modelling in 3ds Max View the full article

Got an eye for a bargain? If so, you'll hardly need us to tell you that Black Friday 2018 is fast approaching, and it's the perfect opportunity to stock up your studio with discounted kit, or just to save money on some early Christmas shopping. And if you're hoping to upgrade your knackered old tablet this year, it's a near-certainty that you'll be able to do it on the cheap. Read on to discover what's likely to be on offer, what you need to look for and how to get the best deals this year. The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday tablet deals: our predictions After an iPad? We have a whole other guide for you Let's start with the obvious bit: if you're thinking about Black Friday tablet deals, chances are that you're thinking about getting an iPad, right? If that's the case then you should head to our page on the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday iPad deals (LINK); be aware, though, that Apple's not known for handing out massive discounts, so stay here for the facts on bigger savings from other brands. Beyond the iPad, we're expecting some big discounts on the Microsoft Surface Pro 4; it saw some big price drops last year and with the new Surface Pro on sale we're likely to see even bigger discounts this time around. It's an ideal tablet for creatives, with its Surface Pen, optional Type Cover and a 12.3-inch 2,736 x 1,824 screen. Even with a discount it's not exactly going to be cheap, and its battery life isn’t the best, but if it's power you need than you can't go far wrong. Amazon, of course, is always a good bet for Black Friday tablet offers. If you're after something cheap and cheerful then its 2017 Fire HD 8 would be a good punt; its standard prices start at $80/£80, and we'd expect it to drop to around the $60/$60 on Black Friday. For something a bit more powerful, look out for discounts on the 2017 Fire HD 10. Apple Black Friday 2018: what to expect For Black Friday Samsung tablet deals, the Galaxy Tab S2 looks like another good bet; it's been discounted before, and with the Galaxy Tab S3 now on sale we'd be expecting retailers to be looking for a good excuse to run down their S2 stocks. It's a decent little iPad alternative that’s thin and light with a sharp Super AMOLED display that makes it ideal for creatives, and while the specs are firmly in the mid range it's easy to upgrade the storage with a microSD card. If you're serious about your tablets, though, don't forget about Wacom; last year we saw some massive price cuts on everything from top-end Cintiqs through to the Intuos Pro and Bamboo Spark, and we'd hope to see similar discounts in 2018. The best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday tablet deals in 2017 If you want an idea of the sort of offers you can expect to find this year, check out some of last year's deals. The best UK Black Friday and Cyber Monday tablet deals in 2017 It wasn't just the Americans getting all the bargains; here are some of last year's top UK Black Friday tablet discounts. How to get the best tablet deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Start looking out for bargains now; you could snag a top deal ahead of the crowd If you're serious about getting a great Black Friday tablet deal then it's best to be prepared and start seeking out the bargains well in advance. There's a lot more competition between retailers these days, and many of them will jump the gun and get their special offers on sale well in advance of the big day, so keep checking back here for the latest deals. For a wider choice and better deals, don't restrict yourself to one outlet. Obviously Amazon's the obvious place to look, but if you check out other retailers then you could easily find an Amazon-beating price for the tablet you want. If you're in the States then Walmart and Newegg are great places to look, while Argos, Currys PC World and John Lewis are likely to have some sweet deals in the UK. And be sure to check out manufacturers' own online stores, too. Have a good idea of exactly what kind of tablet you want and how much you want to pay for it. If you need a tablet for drawing or other graphics work, then you'll have to be prepared to pay a premium for it, but if all you need is something you can send emails on and maybe watch a video or listen to tunes on your commute, you can get away with something a lot cheaper. And of course, take as much care on Black Friday as you would with any other expensive purchase; look out for cashback offers that'll give you a bit more of a bargain, read the guarantee to make sure you're covered if anything goes wrong, and keep your receipt; there are any number of reasons why you might change your mind and want a refund. Tablet features creatives should look out for on Black Friday Don't compromise on the screen quality What's really going to matter to creatives when it comes to Black Friday tablet deals is the quality of the display; the last thing you want to be saddled with is a tablet with poor resolution, brightness and contrast, especially if you're planning to use it as a handy means of showing off your work to potential clients. Ideally you'll want at least a 1080P HD display; check the tablet specs for details on contrast and brightness. Battery life is another indicator to be aware of; cheaper tablets will often be lacking in the battery department, and you don't want to find yourself running out of juice by lunchtime. Of course if you're happy to have your tablet plugged in a lot of the time then this needn't be an issue, but it's something to be aware of. The easiest thing to look for, though, is a brand name you recognise. With the likes of Apple, Samsung, Wacom and Microsoft you can be fairly sure that you won't go far wrong; an inviting-looking tablet at a knockdown price from a company you've never heard of is likely to be a recipe for disaster, or at least disappointment. What specs creatives should look out for Make sure your tablet has enough power for your needs As far as specs are concerned, it comes down to three things: memory, CPU and storage. Try to get the best you can in all three departments. Tablets are less demanding than laptops, but they'll still struggle without enough memory, so don't even think about anything with under 2GB. 3GB is a good benchmark to aim for, but if you're thinking about a tablet running Windows 10 then you should look for something with at least 4GB if you want everything to run smoothly. CPU-wise, look for a quad-core chipset, and if you're after an iPad then be sure it has at least an A8 chipset running the show. And as for storage, get as much as you can; 16GB will fill up pretty quickly, and if you're likely to be stashing your tablet with high-res artwork or video then aim for 128GB or even 256GB. And remember that some tablets feature MicroSD slots so you can add to the base storage. 3 tablets for creatives to look out for on Black Friday and Cyber Monday For an all-in-one creative solution, the Samsung Galaxy S3 ticks all the boxes. It's pretty much the best Android tablet with a stylus, making it perfect for drawing and note-taking, and its 9.7mm screen, 6mm thickness and light weight make for an ideal form factor. It also boasts an HDR-enabled screen – just the thing for when you want to turn your quick sketches into something more pleasing. It only features 32GB of onboard storage, so you're likely to have to resort to cloud options if you've been working it hard, but the great news is that its S-Pen stylus is included in the price. If you're torn between a laptop and a tablet then the brilliant Microsoft Surface Pro ought to fit the bill just perfectly. Packing an Intel Core i7 Kaby Lake CPU, 512GB SSD storage and a 2,736 x 1,824 resolution PixelSense display, it's a serious workhorse that can easily cope with whatever work you need to do on it, and all on full Windows 10 apps too. The only downside is that the Surface Pen isn't included in the deal any more, so if you want to draw on your Surface Pro with 4,096 pressure levels, you'll have to spend an extra $100/£100 for the privilege. Can't run to the price of a serious creative tablet? That's okay, because as long as you're not too bothered about performance then the Huawei Mediapad M3 8 should suit you nicely. It packs quite a bit into its lightweight aluminium frame, including a top quality screen and just enough power to cope with less demanding apps, and it offers a decent battery life that shouldn't let you down. It doesn't come with a stylus, but if you're prepared to spend the extra then you'll find it's just the thing for drawing or sketching on the go, but you'll probably need to give your work a final polish on the desktop. Today's best pre-Black Friday tablet deals Can't wait for Black Friday? Don't worry, there are already plenty of great deals on offer; here are some of the best. Related articles: 10 top tips for making the most of Black Friday The best drawing tablet: our pick of the best graphics tablets in 2018 10 essential tablet accessories View the full article

Black Friday 2018 is just around the corner, and if you're a working creative in need of a spanking new laptop then you'll already know that this is the perfect opportunity to get yourself kitted out. What you'll also know, though, is that you can't risk leaping on the first Black Friday 2018 deals you find; if you need something that's going to serve you well in your design career, you're going to have to be a little more discriminating than the average punter. That's why we're giving you a helping hand in getting ready to score the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday laptop deals that are right for you. Read on to discover everything you need to know. The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday laptop deals: our predictions Don't expect to snag a MacBook Pro at a knockdown price If you're looking for the best Black Friday laptop prices then you're going to have to concentrate on the big names rather than smaller manufacturers. The likes of Dell, HP and Microsoft are constantly introducing new models into their ranges, which means that they have older stock that's usually almost as good as the new stuff, which they need to get off their books, and that's your opportunity to grab a bargain. Microsoft in particular has just announced its new Surface Pro 6, and while there's virtually no chance of getting a discount on this brand new model, it means that there's a very good likelihood of seeing some impressive price cuts on the Surface Pro 2017, and probably on the cheaper Surface Go, too. Microsoft Black Friday 2018: what to expect Dell is always reliable for savings; last year we saw some great Black Friday Dell laptop deals on its XPS 15 and XPS 13 models, and we're expecting more of the same this year. And if you're hoping for Black Friday HP laptop deals then you're almost certainly going to be in luck; HP already appears to be gearing up for Black Friday with some impressive discounts on some of its Pavilion and ENVY models, as well as its OMEN gaming laptops and high-end SPECTRE range, so keep an eye out. If you have your heart set on amazing Black Friday Apple laptop deals, though, don't get your hopes up. Apple didn't get where it is today by slashing its prices willy-nilly, and we're not expecting it to buck the trend this year. Keep an eye out and you'll probably get a nice little saving on one of last year's MacBooks, but that's about the best you can hope for. The best US Black Friday and Cyber Monday laptop deals in 2017 What sort of laptop deals can you expect this year? Here's a selection of some of last year's bargains to give you an idea. The best UK Black Friday and Cyber Monday laptop deals in 2017 In the UK? Here are some of the discounted laptops you could have got last year. How to get the best laptop deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Work out in advance what sort of laptop you need So, you're committed to finding yourself a great Black Friday laptop deal; what's the best way to go about it? For starters, don't wait until the morning of Black Friday; increasingly there's more and more competition between retailers to get your custom, so you'll find that great deals start springing up days or possibly weeks in advance. Next, have a solid idea in mind of exactly what kind of laptop you want to buy. You don't want to leap on an apparent bargain that can't cope with serious design work; similarly there's no point in dropping a fortune on a high-end machine that's totally overpowered, unless of course you were planning on using it for sneaky game of Fortnite in your lunch hour. While Amazon feels like the obvious choice for finding the best Black Friday laptop deals, you should cast your net wider for the fullest choice. If you're in the US, be sure to look at Walmart, Newegg and the Microsoft store, while in the UK you're likely to find great Black Friday discounts at John Lewis and Currys PC World. Keep an eye out for cashback offers that'll deliver an extra saving, and always check the guarantee so you know your rights if your new purchase goes wrong. And of course, make sure you keep your receipts; you never know if you might change your mind and need to return your new laptop. What laptop features creatives should look out for What should you be looking for when you hunt out a new laptop on Black Friday? Perhaps the most obvious feature is a brand name you recognise; not only are you likely to get a better deal, but you can also rely on better build quality and tech support – essential if you're going to be relying on your laptop for work. If you're working on secret projects then a model with a fingerprint scanner is a great way to keep things secure, and if you're planning on transferring large files then an actual Ethernet port is a must so that you can plug straight into a network rather than relying on Wi-Fi. A great tip is to look out for gaming laptops; if it's good enough for playing the latest games, you can be sure it'll be up to the job of running all the Creative Suite apps you'll need simultaneously. And when it comes to the actual hardware you'll need, simply read on. What specs creatives should look out for Don't think about anything with less than 8GB RAM The two key specs you'll need to keep in mind are CPU and memory. Memory's the easy one; you can just about get by with 4GB of RAM, but for design work we wouldn't recommend it. With 8GB on board, you'll be good to go with most everyday design applications, but if you're into the heavyweight business of 3D rendering, video editing or building intricate Photoshop CC or Illustrator CC imagery with hundreds of layers and complex blending options, you should probably look for a laptop with 16GB under the hood. As for the CPU it's largely a matter of picking the right Intel processor. Don't bother with Atom or Core i3 processors; they're cheap but they'll disappoint you with sluggish performance. A Core i5 will cope with most of what you can throw at it, but again if you're working with more demanding applications then you should probably be looking at the top-end Core i7. Keep an eye out for AMD processors, too; they'll offer a similar level of performance to their Intel equivalents, but often at a slightly lower price. What graphics and display to look out for When it comes to design work, the last thing you want is to skimp on the display, and fortunately it's hard to go wrong if you're looking for Black Friday laptop offers. Most mid-range laptops upwards will give you a full HD display, which should be perfectly suitable for your needs, and you'll find that the majority of laptops on offer will feature a 15.6-inch screen; comfortable for working and just about big enough for showing off work in meetings. What you'll need to pay attention to, though, is the GPU that's driving those HD graphics. Integrated graphics – often described as Intel HD Graphics or Intel Iris – are fine for basic tasks, but you should look for a laptop with a dedicated GPU. A GeForce MX150 will give you an instant display boost, but if you have the need – and the budget – look out for a GeForce GTX 1060 or better. What storage to look for in a Black Friday laptop For the best performance reliability, not to mention lightning start-up times, you should look for a laptop with an SSD (solid-state drive), but bear in mind you get a lot less storage for your buck than you would with an old-fashioned hard disk. However if you regularly work with massive files then you should expect to have to supplement your SSD with a fat external hard drive. Many budget laptops feature eMMC drives rather than SSDs; they're considerably slower, but still faster than a hard disk, so if that's the only sticking point between you and a Black Friday bargain then it might be worth giving it a chance. If you’re not too concerned with speedy start-ups, though, a traditional hard disk could still be the way to go; you'll get all the storage you need without having to worry about an external drive. Look out for faster 7200 RPM models rather than 5400 RPM. 3 laptops to look out for on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Even in its lowest spec option, Microsoft's Surface Book 2 is an incredible 2-in-1 laptop. It's fast and immensely powerful, with an Intel Core i7-8650 processor and 16GB of RAM, and it boasts an impressive battery life, plus a stunning, crisp display with superb colour accuracy. You can use it as a graphics, video or photo-editing workstation; on the go; or as a sketch book. Detach the screen and you can use it as a tablet with the Surface Pen (which sadly doesn't come included) or buy the Surface Dial ($50/£60) as an intuitive way to control your creative tools. Even better, flip the screen around, reattach it and you can use it to draw at a more natural angle. It's ultimate digital sketchbook but it comes at a price, especially if you want a top-end model. The smaller 13-inch Surface Book 2 is significantly cheaper with only slightly less impressive performance, and the original 13-inch Surface Book is still ridiculously accomplished, with a smaller price tag. But if you have the means, the Surface Book 2 is the perfect laptop for graphic designers. Read our Microsoft Surface Book 2 review. The basic Dell XPS 15 is a fantastic laptop with a near-borderless 'InfinityEdge' HD display a Core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM and a 1TB HD and 32GB SSD. It's great value for money, but if you're prepared to spend more then you can really start pumping up the specs, upgrading it to a 4K touchscreen display – which you can couple with the Dell stylus to turn the XPS 15 into a portable sketchbook – and giving it more graphical power with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, which should be more than suitable for even the most intensive design apps. If you need raw power – and have the cash – the latest 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is a welcome return to form from Apple, offering a massive upgrade over previous versions and even beating the mighty Surface Book 2 on specs. Thinner than the Dell XPS 15 and lighter than the Surface Book 2, it's the most powerful MacBook ever made, with more memory, a choice of 8th-generation Intel Core processors and better graphics hardware, as well as a quieter keyboard and ridiculously fast SSDs. We'd have liked to see more ports, and a 4K screen option would be nice, but these niggles aside, this is an absolute beast of a laptop, and it looks fantastic too. Today's best pre-Black Friday laptop deals Can't wait? That's okay! Oh, so you've decided that you really need to get your hands on a shiny new laptop, but it's way too many sleeps until Black Friday? It's okay. We understand. That's why we've gathered together some of the best offers available right now; fill your boots! Related articles: 10 top tips for making the most of Black Friday Amazon Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals: what to expect in 2018 The best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals 2018: what to expect this year View the full article

Affinity Designer is a popular vector editing tool. As well as Mac and Windows versions, Serif recently released Affinity Designer for iPad. Affinity Designer is split up into three different personas: Draw, Pixel and Export. In this article we'll be focusing on the Export persona, which is used for exporting your vector art projects. With it, you can create slices of your design and export artboards to multiple sizes and file types from one export. The Export persona really streamlines your workflow and makes boring, repetitive tasks much quicker. Watch the video below for an overview of what you need to know, or read on for four essential tips to get you started. Affinity Designer: how to use the Pixel persona 
01. Switch to the Export persona

 Switch to a different persona in the toolbar in the top left By default, you are in the Draw persona. To switch to the Pixel persona, select the icon on the right in the top left of the window (hovering over the icon should confirm the name). As you switch to the Export persona, you will see the toolbar options will change to export tools. 0

2. Create slices

 Use the shortcut 'S' to create a slice To create a slice, select the Slice tool or press the ‘S’ key. Then click and drag the area you wish to select. This will be added to your Slices panel, ready to be exported. Note how artboards are sliced by default for quick exporting. 03. Select file types and sizes

 Chose the range of file types and sizes you need to export at Once you have your slices selected, check the Slices panel and select your preferred slice. In the drop-down menu you can select the file type and size you want to output your slice at. Click the plus button to add additional file types or sizes.

 04. Export your files It's worth creating a dedicated folder for exports With your file types and sizes selected, you are ready to export. Click the export button next to the checkbox on your selected slice. This will bring up a window where you can choose where you want to export your file(s). I usually make a dedicated folder for my exports as they can quickly mess up your clean desktop (who are we kidding?) and cause confusion. Read more: Work faster in Affinity apps with these keyboard shortcuts Affinity Publisher finally launches in free beta How to create a retro logo for Affinity Designer View the full article

Are you already poised to snap up some creative and design bargains during Black Friday 2018? If so, we can't blame you. With the promise of discounts on popular tools, the shopping event is the best time of the year to pick up that device you've had your eye on for the last few months. For digital artists looking to save money, the Wacom Black Friday deals are among the most hotly anticipated discounts. The premiere drawing tablets have made a name for themselves thanks to their market-leading precision and impressive screen sizes, but a premium product comes with a premium price tag. And considering that the best cheap Wacom tablet deals don't come along all that often, a Wacom tablet Black Friday discount is a valuable opportunity for budget-conscious buyers to click 'add to basket'. On this page you'll find out what we expect to see in terms of Wacom deals, where you can find the biggest savings, and which hot ticket items you need to keep an eye on. Let's dive right in! How to get the best Wacom Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals If you're on the lookout for a Wacom Black Friday deal, be sure to bookmark this page. As more concrete details about deals start to emerge, we'll be updating this page with the best offers on Wacom products. Another good place to keep an eye on is the Wacom Store itself, which is sure to promote its biggest discounts. Of course, other online retailers will also be getting in on the action with their own deals. We've made it easy to keep track of what leading retailers are up to over Black Friday with our posts for the best Amazon Black Friday and Walmart Black Friday deals. Here you'll find notable Wacom Black Friday price cuts, plus news on other leading digital art tech. It's also worth keeping in mind the likes of Target and Currys, as they're sure to knock down the cost of their Wacom stock. Remember, getting add-ons is a great way to save even more money, and refurbished models can be another way to bring the price down even further. Wacom Black Friday and Cyber Monday: the deals we expect to see Unsurprisingly, this is the question on the lips of designers looking for a Wacom Black Friday deal: which products will be cut in price? While we can't predict with 100 per cent accuracy, we can make an educated guess based on which products are currently on sale, as well as looking at what sold well last year and which models Wacom could be looking to clear in order to make room for updated devices. To find out which products are currently on sale, be sure to check out Wacom's special offers page. Currently this page is mainly filled up with accessories and styluses, but over the coming weeks we're sure to see some more exciting products. Another page worth remembering is Wacom's special offers page for refurbished products. With Wacom due to release new models in the near future, this could be a good place to snap up an superseded device for a rock bottom price, so long as you don't mind that it's been refurbished. Speaking of current deals, at the minute Wacom is offering up to $300 off selected MobileStudio Pro models as part of its 35th anniversary celebrations. We've already looked at how the MobileStudio Pro brings, portability, power and excellent build quality to the table, so could Wacom reduce its price even further? (Read our full review here.) The prospect of a Wacom Cintiq Pro Black Friday discount is another area we've got our eyes on. Just like the MobileStudio Pro, the Cintiq Pro 13 tablets are in on Wacom's birthday price-cut bonanza, with £200 slashed from the normal price. However, this family of products is set to expand soon with larger devices due to roll out. It's not unreasonable to imagine that Wacom could look to shift older stock in this line once these updated versions are ready. Last year, the Wacom Intuos Pro Black Friday discounts proved to be the most popular offer, so it makes sense for Wacom to attempt to repeat this success. Other items that flew off the digital shelves include the Bamboo Slate and the accompanying Bamboo Sketch, so be sure to keep these in mind over the shopping season. Wacom Cintiq on Black Friday There's no telling whether Wacom's Cintiq Pro anniversary discounts will be taken further when it comes to Black Friday. Last year saw the cost of the Wacom Cintiq Pro reduced to a similar amount as Wacom is currently offering, so perhaps this is as low as the cost will go. Remember though that the Cintiq family is set to expand, so fingers crossed shoppers will be able to pick up existing models for a further reduced price. If you can't wait to find out, check out today's best deals below. Wacom Intuos Black Friday discounts The Wacom Intuos family sits at the lower end of the company's price range, but that doesn't mean we can't expect to see the cost taken down even further. Acting as Wacom's perfect jumping on point for digital artists, a Wacom Intuos Black Friday discount would be a smart way for more creatives to get to grips with its products. Below are its current prices. Wacom Intuos Pro on Black Friday: what to expect The Wacom Intuos Pro Black Friday story is similar to the Cintiq Pro. Currently enjoying a reduced price to celebrate Wacom's 35th anniversary, the Intuos Pro could go either way over Black Friday. Unlike the Cintiq though, the Intuos family isn't set to expand, meaning that it would be less of a surprise if prices continued to budge. View the full article

As designers, innovators and entrepreneurs, our mission is always to make people’s lives better. Our design thinking is typically pitched the same way: 'Hey, what you’re currently doing is painful; here’s an easier way'. So when Steve Selzer, a designer manager at Airbnb, suggested at SXSW that 'making things easier' isn’t always a good idea, I thought I'd misheard. To make his point – that there are unintended consequences to removing all effort from every user experience – Selzer brought up WALL-E, a movie where all the humans are strapped to a motorised chair and eventually unable to see past a screen in front of them. In our world, our desire for everything to be instantaneously easy has caused us to shy away from facing anything tough. But challenges are how we grow. Selzer's solution is to design for confrontation; not only with our customers but our colleagues and even ourselves. Is this what happens when you remove all conflict? It was a powerful message, made even more powerful by what followed. Next up was a talk by the billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio. He too focused on the importance of confrontation and the power of thoughtful disagreement. After hearing both of these talks, I was fired up! I was ready to confront anyone! But as my adrenaline lowered, I remembered a challenging (and confrontational) audience question from Selzer’s talk: 'It’s easy for you to confront others. You’re the boss. You don’t have to worry about getting fired. What about the rest of us?' A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have. Tim Ferris And it’s true; both Selzer and Dalio are in positions of power. My doubts began to grow. Can only leaders design for confrontation? Then I started thinking about my own experiences. I realised that I’ve done this in small, less risky ways and that I could do it far more. I decided to list out what I’ve done to encourage confrontation, and what I’m still too afraid to try. Here's my advice for tackling confrontation in a constructive way. If you’re skittish, start with the low-risk ideas. If you’re feeling bullish, swing for the fences and demand your organisation define its principles and challenge your customers. While confrontation might seem like a scary stance for you to adopt, doing nothing may actually be riskier in the end. Not confronting the problems you see today can make those issues much worse in the future. And while this all might sound really difficult – that’s kind of the point. Just remember, as Tim Ferris says: “A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.” Confront... yourself Low risk: Confront your known weaknesses. Maybe – like me – you spend too much time on social media. Or maybe – like me – you’re not good at writing the copy for your interfaces. Fortunately, we can design systems to confront these weaknesses. For my social media addiction, I compartmentalise my devices. I use my iPad solely for reading articles and sketching and, when I’m working, I put my phone in my backpack. To improve my copywriting skills, I force myself to use actual words in my sketches. You’d be surprised just how much the design improves when your words are more than just random squiggly lines. Medium risk: Uncover unknown weaknesses. Here, we can take a page out of Dalio’s book, Principles, and write down every mistake we make. When I started working, I created a Google Doc titled 'Never Make These Mistakes Again' and I add to it every time I mess up. This process has revealed weaknesses I didn't know I had. I've also found a trusted co-worker to point out mistakes and help me avoid them in the future. High risk: Confront your personal purpose. Research shows that the more passionate you are, the better your designs will be. The scary thing is that for most of us, our creative purpose doesn’t always match our organisation. Discerning your creative purpose is like opening Pandora's box. You might be happy where you are but if you find your organisation doesn't align with your purpose, you might want to start looking for something new. Confront... your colleagues Low risk: Create a confrontation plan. Good design processes encourage differing opinions but sometimes this leads to lingering tension. A clear process solves this. At my company, we 'pull the cord' in a methodology derived from Toyota's production process. Anyone can pull the cord to stop the project if they see a problem. Once the cord is pulled, everyone involved has to work out the issue together. Medium risk: Hold regular retrospectives. Retrospectives are team meetings to talk about what’s going well and what could be better. Involving everyone is an easy way to confront an issue without confronting an individual. High risk: Conduct what Airbnb calls 'real talk'. Every week, find time to talk to someone you've disagreed with. Doing this weekly means the event is fresh enough to remember the details but not so fresh that it's emotional. These conversations prevent conflicts from lingering and escalating. Confront... your customers Low risk: Tout best practices and good habits. Content marketing is a low-stakes way to confront your customers. My organisation does a great job of advising our customers not to use our products in ways that aren't in their best interest. This enables us to confront the issue while still giving our customers options. Medium risk: Suggest they stop. It's one thing to write an article but it’s another to change your product or service for true confrontation. The only real experience I have here is pushing back on feature requests and requirements that I think are bad for our customers. However, Selzer suggests going further. Take for example, how Nintendo confronts gamers in Wii Sports. After a few hours of play, the game pauses with an image of an open window, asking 'Why not take a break?' There is no denying that confronting your customers is scary, but if you've got their best interests at heart, they'll respect you for it. High risk: Define your purpose. The final and riskiest way to confront our customers is by clearly defining our organisation's purpose and principles. Today's world is more connected and politicised than ever before. As a result, many organisations are having to make tough choices. Dick’s Sporting Goods’ decision to stop selling assault rifles, Patagonia's decision to sue the White House and Delta’s $40 million decision to end its hardly-ever-used NRA discount are a few examples. While not all of us have to make such high-profile decisions, it's still crucial to define our organisation's principles so everyone's on the same page when these issues arise. Lead illustration by Kym Winters. This article was originally published in net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 310 or subscribe. Read more: 17 controversial moments in logo and brand design Mistakes designers make – and how to avoid them 5 counterintuitive conversion tricks View the full article

Any web design project can be made better with Visualmodo WordPress Themes: Lifetime Membership. Access a huge library of WordPress themes that are perfect for all types of projects. The responsive design of these themes will adjust to any screen resolution, meaning your site will look great on any device. You can also customise themes quickly with fast installation, and rest assured that auto-updates will fix any bugs in real time with just a click of your mouse. Best of all, with lifetime access, you'll be able to get your hands on all the current themes, plus all the themes that show up in the future. Get Visualmodo WordPress Themes: Lifetime Membership for only $39 – that's 84 per cent off the regular price. Related articles: Use WordPress as a headless CMS Top tips for building a WordPress theme 6 top tips for CRO success in WordPress View the full article

We all want our business cards to stand out and be memorable. But how do you push the envelope and ensure your card becomes a valuable asset in promoting your name and reputation? In this article, we bring together some of the most eye-catching and inventive examples of business cards we’ve come across this year. Not all of these concepts may work for you, but they’ll certainly succeed in sparking your imagination to come up with ideas of your own. 01. The choose-your-own-image business card This PR company lets clients choose their own business card image Choosing an image for a business card - just one thing that represents what you’re all about - can be a tough call. But happily these days, you don’t have to. MOO’s Printfinity service allows you to print a different design on the back of each individual card, and it’s an opportunity that Hayley Smith, director of Boxed Out PR, has taken full advantage of. The company used MOO's Printfinity service to print the customised cards “Business cards have always been a huge aspect of my marketing, and I love the psychology behind them,” she says. “We make every image different and we ask people to choose one for themselves, to make it more memorable. We have various different images, and we try to change them up a few times per year.” Using individual images makes business cards more personable and memorable “We choose the images from Wix and Unsplash, my partner designs them, and we order them from MOO on 400gsm paper," she adds. 02. The recycled cotton card Business cards made of cotton… well, why not? Tim Easley has been getting innovative with materials for his business cards. The London-based illustrator and designer collaborated with MOO on designs to promote its Cotton Business Cards launch, and you can see the colourful and eye-catching results above. “I have a background in music and fashion, so designing cards that look like album covers, but are actually made out of recycled T-shirts, seemed like a great fit,” says Easley. “For this project I illustrated four different designs, then produced a range of colourways to take full advantage of MOO's printing options.” Discover how to create your own cotton business cards here. 03. The lenticular business card This lenticular card reveals four different words as you move one part along the other Abigail Fisk is a junior designer working at Butterfly London, whose lenticular business card has caused quite a splash. It comes in two parts: the main card; an acetate sheet with black lines; and a paper clip to join them together. As you move the acetate across the card, four different words are revealed: ‘hello’, ‘Abigail Fisk’, ‘tea enthusiast’, and ‘graphic designer’. It’s a simple but compelling effect, and this is one business card that no one is going to throw away. “The concept came from an earlier project in which I made a lenticular vinyl cover,” Fisk explains. “As you pulled the cover in and out of the acrylic casing, it revealed 36 different illustrations across four layers. As that had worked so well, I decided to translate it into a business card. “The process was pretty time consuming and challenging but once I understood how the layering and dividing of the images worked, it all came together in an exciting and rewarding way,” she adds. The result was well worth the time spent nose-to-screen, lining it all up perfectly.” 04. The business card that’s also a bookmark This business card is actually made of metal Col Gray is a brand and graphic designer based in Dundee, Scotland, who’s a keen heavy metal fan. Appropriately enough, his laser cut and etched business card is made from stainless steel. And it even doubles as a bookmark. “I'm a firm believer that business cards are still a relevant way of passing over contact details,” says Gray. “But I think you need to make them creative and memorable. When it came to creating mine, I remembered a card I was given, waaaaay back in 1999 from a now-defunct design studio. It was made of metal and shaped like a razor blade. The memory of it always stuck with me and I said to myself that one day, when I had the right idea, I'd get one too.” Part of Gray’s personal branding is to use the “devil horns” hand gesture at the end of his YouTube videos, and the equivalent emoji in his social media posts. “So it was obvious that my business card needed this too as the design. I wanted it to be functional as well, so I turned it into a useable bookmark that people would keep.” It doubles as a handy bookmark He asked the printing company, Plasma Design, if they could cut right through the metal, allowing him to bend up the hand/arm so that it could slip over a page in a book. “They walked me through the technicalities of laser etching and cutting and how I should set up my artwork,” Gray recalls. “It’s all very different from standard printing and you have to take into account the effect that etching has on the thickness of the steel, especially if you want the card to be etched on both sides. I had to start thinking about microns of steel rather than thickness and weight of paper.” The extra effort definitely paid off, though. “The cards turned out really well and when I attended an event and started to hand my cards out, everybody wanted one!” 05. The handmade-gift business card This card comes as a hand-made gift to be unwrapped When someone hands you a business card, your immediate impulse is to stick it in your pocket and forget about it. But if someone gives you a hand-wrapped gift; well, that’s another story. This was precisely the thinking behind the business cards for Arcane Circus, a two-person game development team based in the Netherlands. “Our business cards are hand-made by the two of us, usually a couple of weeks before an industry networking event,” explains co-founder Molly Heady-Carrol. “We print the casings, then cut them out and fold them, fastening certain parts with coloured wool, staples and pushpins. People love getting 'gifts', so these business cards are far more likely to be kept than discarded “Other parts are decorated with beads and others need to have holes punctured as well. Then the holofoil card inserts and candy are placed inside, and a paper covering is used to protect the cards while travelling.” These business cards were the brainchild of Erik van Wace, the designer and developer at Arcane Circus, she adds. “He wanted to create something that gave the receiver a feeling that they’d just been gifted a mysterious trinket. Intrigue and wonder are big parts of Arcane Circus, and we try to inject that into every aspect of the company.” 06. The wooden business card This striking business ‘card’ is actually made of wood Printing your business card on... card? Boring. Mark Leary, a Nottingham-based illustrator, graphic designer and art director, decided to do something a little different, and created these wooden business cards, which can’t help but attract attention. “I initially came up with the design in Adobe Illustrator,” explains Leary, who goes by the monicker ASYLUMseventy7 and works mainly in the alternative and music industries. “It was important to ensure there were no parts not connected to the main piece, for obvious reasons. Then I converted the design to solid work paths, and sent it off to my friend Laura Mathews. “Laura is a highly skilled and talented wooden sculptor; much more than is needed for this project,” he adds. “The cards were cut out of 3mm plywood, making them very strong and giving them a great tactile quality that people don’t just discard like a standard card. I’ve started spray painting some to make them more interesting, too.” 07. The simple-but-effective business card This concisely worded business card says it all Sometimes the best way to get people’s attention is not how you produce them, but what they actually say. We love the beautifully concise wording on this business card for Michelle Nicol, a freelance copywriter in north-east England who goes by the monicker Wordstruck. This cooly minimalist card was created by Newcastle design and branding agency Stop. 08. The handwritten business card This business owner writes each of his cards individually Zach Pousman is founder of Helpfully, an R&D firm in Atlanta, Georgia, who serves partners and clients worldwide.. And he’s taken the idea of personalised business cards to a whole new level. “I’m an innovation consultant, and I run research and product design - I do a lot,” he explains. “So I have 3.5 x 3.5 cards that are mostly blank. Then I Sharpie on them to explain what we do or what we might do together.” He takes this approach because of two major design constraints with standard business cards. “First, I was worried about putting a title on my cards. Different companies call what we do different things, and our services are broad. So not having a title on the cards meant I could describe our services using the words the person I was meeting understands. “Second, I was thinking about the business card as a concept... You might think the purpose of a business card is to efficiently transfer meta-data to another person. But that's not right. The purpose of a business card is to be memorable; the info is secondary. So then it hit me. Make the recipient something memorable, right on the fly.” The size and design came after that. “They’re regular width, but not quite double height (3.5" x 3.5"),” he says. “It's enough to be bigger than a regular card, but also not such a weird size. I find tiny cards to be too easy to lose in a bag, or get dropped from the stack. People sometimes even fold mine over and use my card to hold the other cards they collect.” 09. The origami business card This colourful card folds out into a fabulous flower It doesn’t matter how old or serious we get, everyone likes being given something fun to play with. And so incorporating origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, into your business card is a great way to create something people will love. This card for an events management and AV management company is a great example. Tying in beautifully with the ‘busy bee’ icon, it starts life as a garden windmill then opens up into a flower, with each petal offering different details. So not only is it colourful and fun, it actually provides a ton more information than your average business card. This eye-catching card was designed by Exeter studio Buddy Creative and produced by Bristol-based digital print specialists With Print. It was printed using HP Indigo Digital Print, with die cut finishing. It was then creased both sides, folded, and held together with an enamel pin badge. Want to wow potential clients and collaborators with your own business card designs? Digital print and design company moo.com can help. You’ll find a wealth of fun, affordable, easy-to-use tools for creating premium business cards, postcards and other stationery to really do your brand justice. Related articles: 10 steps to go freelance this year The pro's guide to creating memorable business cards How to project your work onto the global design stage 6 surefire ways to build your creative network Nail the art of networking 4 brilliant personal logos and why they work 3 tips for crafting stunning promotional material Create better business cards in less than five minutes 5 ways to earn more as a freelancer 5 ways to handle tricky clients as a designer View the full article

The news comes shortly after the DoD was called out for having rampant bugs in its weapons systems. View the full article

The Northern Lights – also called the aurora borealis – are a hypnotic sight. They twist, they ripple, they break and remake. Pillows, curtains and ribbons, they can explode with colour, then settle down into gentle waves lapping the night sky. However spectacular they are, the Northern Lights are also unpredictable. Sometimes you can get a clear night and see them for hours on end. Some (lucky) astronomers even refer to them as 'light pollution'. Other times, the Northern Lights stubbornly refuse to put on their spectacular show. More typical is for clouds to blot them out. Perhaps because they demand so much in terms of both travel and perseverance (the longer you're in a destination, the better), the Northern Lights are a legendary subject for landscape and nightscape photographers. However, if you're going to put them on your bucket list, you need to know when, where, and how to see and photograph the Northern Lights successfully. What are the Northern Lights? Few people understand the Northern Lights. You may well know they are caused by the solar wind coming from the Sun. You may also know that the light is caused by electrically charged particles – electrons – ejected from the Sun, which interact with the Earth's magnetic field. However, it's a bit more complicated than that. The electrons don't 'hit' the Earth's atmosphere, but instead accelerate down the field lines of Earth's magnetic field. It all depends on how well aligned the Earth's magnetic field lines are with the magnetic field of the solar wind. Complicated, eh? What you'll see What you see depends on the position of the 'auroral oval', which in turn depends on the intensity of the solar wind and the direction of its magnetic field. You can find out where the auroral oval is by visiting the Space Weather Prediction Centre. Your view will also depend on where you are standing. For instance, if you are quite some way from the display, it will appear as an arc of green often known as a 'forest fire' (pictured below). When it's closer you'll see a dynamic display, such as rippling green curtains, called 'drapery' aurora. If you're immediately underneath the display, it will all happen above your head, and you may see a 'corona' aurora. Aurora on the horizon is sometimes called a 'forest fire' The last of the three is the most rewarding as you'll see a lot of movement and pulsing as ultra-bright aurora fill the skies, but it's very tricky to photograph. The good news is that the 'forest fire' type of display – which is the most common – is great for landscape photography even if it's not very bright. However they appear, the Northern Lights are always otherworldly, and easily worth the hours of travel, days of waiting for clear skies, and more hours of standing outside in the cold. Getting around Finding clear, dark skies is much easier if you're happy to rent a car and drive around in the often snowy, icy conditions of the far north's winter. Another option is to book onto a specialised Northern Lights photography tour, whether that be a multi-day package including flights and accommodation, or an evening tour that picks you up in a city and takes you out to the wilderness. With this option you'll often also receive some instruction on how to photograph the aurora borealis. The best places to see the Northern Lights If you want to see the Northern Lights, go to the far north in winter. Ask anyone who has seen the Northern Lights where the best place to go is, and they will all give you the same answer: the exact place they saw them. The truth is, the Northern Lights can be seen between late August and early April anywhere high up in the northern hemisphere. Although they can occur as low down as the UK and northern Europe, and can occasionally be glimpsed along the US-Canada border, the Northern Lights most frequently occur between 64° and 70° North latitudes. That's roughly the location of the Arctic Circle. If they occur above your head, the Northern Lights can produce 'auroral crowns' That Arctic Circle sits across Alaska, northern Russia, Iceland, and Lapland (which covers northern Norway, northern Sweden and northern Finland). Another good place to go is the Faroe Islands, an archipelago of 18 islands between northern Scotland and Iceland. For the intrepid, a trip to Antarctica in March can yield views of the Southern Lights, an identical but little-known sister of the Northern Lights. It gets ignored largely because it's so cold down there, expensive to get to, and mostly inaccessible. Arguments about where the best places will always rage, but the Faroe Islands and Iceland do have one big advantage, and that's temperature. Since the North Atlantic jet stream brings up warm air from the Caribbean, these two locations are a lot warmer than northern Scandinavia and Lapland, Alaska and northern Canada. It's perhaps for that reason that Iceland is often said to be the best place to see the Northern Lights, if only because it's much easier to stand outside in 0°C than at -20°C below freezing, which is common everywhere else near the Arctic Circle. When's the best time to see the Northern Lights? The Northern Lights can last for minutes or hang around for hours Aiming for the Arctic Circle is one thing, but you must go at the right time of year. People who live in the auroral zone, and who see the Northern Lights at least a few times a week, will tell you that they begin in late August and last until April. That is true, but technically speaking, the Northern Lights never stop. In fact, the only reason why you can't see the Northern Lights in summer around the Arctic Circle is that there is almost no period of darkness. Seeing the Northern Lights requires darkness, which is why viewing season only begins when the days start getting shorter. Why are the Northern Lights stronger around the equinoxes? A great time to go hunting for the Northern Lights is equinox, either the autumn equinox (which next occurs on 23 September 2019) or the spring equinox (which next occurs on 20 March 2019). Equinox means 'equal night' – when there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Naturally, this means the Northern Lights viewing season can really kick off, but there's another reason to go hunting for aurora around the equinox. The equinox marks the point when the Sun crosses the celestial equator, and it happens because Earth orbits the Sun, but also because Earth rotates on a tilted axis that's perpendicular to the Sun during the equinox. According to Dr Melanie Windridge in her excellent science-travel book Aurora: In Search of the Northern Lights, the solar wind has a magnetic field of its own that faces southward relative to the Earth during the equinox. Put simply, the connection between our planet and the solar wind is never stronger than during the equinoxes, and incredible displays are often experienced at this time of year. How to increase your chances of seeing the Northern Lights However, that doesn't mean you can't go on a Northern Lights hunt during the winter between the equinoxes. If you really want to maximise the darkness, go for winter solstice on 21 December 2018 when the Arctic Circle region experiences almost 24 hours of darkness. That theoretically gives you a lot more time to look for Northern Lights – you may even see them at lunchtime – though a better time to go is in November or January when dusk is in the afternoon, and lasts until after breakfast. It's a great period for photography because sunrise and sunset are stretched out over a couple of hours, and you can go out photographing the Northern Lights before dinner. Long exposures are imperative, so you will need a tripod Some people will tell you that the Northern Lights only make one visit per night, or that they are only visible at midnight. This isn't true; it's just that these are the most likely times that people see the Northern Lights; they are as likely to occur at 4am as they are at 10pm. Always be ready, always be on the lookout, and if the skies are clear, you will have a great chance to see the Northern Lights. What camera equipment do you need? Unfortunately, most people who go hunting for the Northern Lights don't think about camera equipment, and often turn up only with a smartphone or a point-and-shoot camera. These gadgets aren't sensitive enough to capture the Northern Lights (and nor do they have enough manual controls), and what's more, their batteries often stop working in the cold temperatures. So here's what you need to photograph the Northern Lights... Manual camera and wide-angle lens Any DSLR camera can be used to photograph the Northern Lights. Entry-level cameras such as the Canon 800D and Nikon D5600 will do the job, as well more advanced full-frame DSLRs like the Canon 6D MkII and Nikon D850. Either way, you will also need a wide-angle lens, such as a 10-22mm. Mirrorless cameras can also be used, as long as they have full-frame sensors, such as the Sony A7 III. Tall and solid tripod When travelling, it's tempting to take a small tripod. That makes sense for keeping luggage to a minimum, but it's not very useful when shooting the Northern Lights. Since you'll be taught tilting your camera upwards towards the sky, and possibly straight above your head, the taller your tripod, the better. Shutter release cable Once your camera is on a tripod, don't ruin everything by physically pressing the shutter release button. That will only introduce a blur to your picture. Instead, use a shutter release cable to open your camera's shutter without touching it. Some cameras have a two second or 10-second shutter delay feature, which serves a similar purpose. 8 tips for photographing the northern lights Having a car means you can find dark places, and chase clear skies Once you've gathered all your gear, it's time to get snapping. Here are my top tips for how to photograph the Northern Lights effectively. 01. Have use of a car Having wheels dramatically increases your chances not only of finding clear skies, and therefore the Northern Lights, but also of getting to iconic locations to improve your composition. It also helps you get away from any light pollution around your hotel. However, you need to be confident of driving in snow and ice (and you'll probably want a 4x4 vehicle with studded tyres). 02. Shoot in RAW format Your images will need to be processed afterwards to tease out the brightness and colour of the Northern Lights, so shoot in the RAW format. That way, your finished images will have a lot less noise. 03. Turn down your LCD's brightness When shooting at night, the LCD on the back of your camera can be incredibly bright and distracting. Take it right down to its lowest brightness setting and you will still be able to use it without suffering from glare. 04. Scout the location in daylight Once you're settled into your hotel, take a drive around the local area and scout out a couple of locations that you could return to later. Not only will this increase your chances of finding an interesting composition, but you will know exactly where to park your car, and where you can walk safely in the dark. 06. Remove all filters Whatever lens you are using, make sure you remove any filters. These will only decrease the amount of light coming into the camera. 07. Get your settings right Switch your camera to manual mode. First, put your lens into manual mode and move the focus ring to infinity. You're going to need to let as much light as possible in, so go for a low f-number (such as f4 or f2.8), set the ISO to around 1600, and if you see any hint of green in the night sky, open the shutter for about 20 seconds. If you see significant activity, with moving green curtains or similar, try raising their ISO, perhaps to 3200, and opening the shutter for just five or 10 seconds, depending on their brightness. You will soon find that different intensities of displays require different settings. 08. Always take spare batteries Sub-zero temperatures are not only bad for your fingers, but can sap your camera's batteries. They run down much faster in the cold, so take a couple of extra batteries, and keep them in jacket pockets, and close to your body, to keep them warm. Ditto your phone, which will otherwise stop working. Read more: Photography cheat sheet helps you take better photos The 6 best laptops for photo editing in 2018 15 ways to improve your photography skills View the full article