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The new issue of 3D World is out now and it's full of inspirational insights into the latest visual effects and animation projects, as well as the best tutorials and reviews to help you improve your 3D art and make the most of your tools. Here's some of the great content you can expect to see in the new issue, on sale now. Buy 3D World issue 231 here Feature: The shape of Water Del Toro projects are often showcases for the very best of what can be done with visual effects and, while a deeper narrative than some blockbusters, the Shape of Water is no exception. We explore behind the scenes, to find out how this visionary love story was put together. Practical feature: Visual language part 1 In this first part of our new short series, you will learn some of the fundamental rules that have evolved as part of the syntax film makers use to help viewers understand what is on screen. As an animator or VFX artist it's vital to have a solid grounding in this, so that you can deliver meaning and narrative in a clear and concise manner. Houdini special This issue brings a special theme to 3D World and we have a huge section on Houdini, the king of procedural workflows. This issue has a huge tips feature, training pieces, industry insights and a review of the latest version, so whether you are new to generative art or a veteran looking to expand your knowledge then there will be something for you here. Tutorial: VR sculpting Follow along with Marin Nebelong, who teaches his workflow for creating stunning concept scifi ships in VR. Q and A Our regular Q and A section is hosted by Maya Jermy, Pietro Chiavarro, Simon Edwards and Ant Ward this month and cover a host of your questions. 3D World is the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 231 here or subscribe to 3D World here. View the full article

There is something oddly satisfying about lava lamps. A soothing, colourful light and mesmerising waxy blobs raising and descending due to temperature changes. It almost makes me want to touch and play with it. When it comes to achieving that beautifully looking material for a lava lamp model, you might find yourself stuck at first. It seems as though it should be an easy thing to create, but to achieve that realistic look it can be a bit of a hassle if you do not know much about materials. I will show you how to make a very simple KeyShot material for the blobby lava floating inside of the lamp. It will leave some room for improvement depending on how far down the path of realism you wish to take it, but it will be enough to satisfy the eye. Of course, there are lots of different types of lava lamp, e.g. waxy, metallic or even glittery. Let’s just focus on the most basic and best-known one, which is wax, and try to re-create that look. You may ask, what is so special about the wax material that you cannot just apply it to the part and move on with the rest? Well, if it were just wax for a candle model we were working on, it would probably be fine to do so, but this is a completely different case. The lava lamp wax should emit some of the light we are going to fake and give us control over the colour transformation, to blend and behave within the set scene. I assure you it is all there, we just need to know what settings to apply. 01. Base texture Click the arrows icon (top-right) to enlarge this image Once your model is ready for textures, go to Library>Materials> Miscellaneous, grab the Infrared Gradient material and drop it onto the model. In Project>Material, locate the Material Type setting and set it to Emissive. 02. Feeling blue Click the arrows icon (top-right) to enlarge this image In the Textures tab change the reds and yellows to different shades of blue; light (left) to dark (right). Below, set the Gradient Type to Spherical. Changing the scale of the texture will give you control over the texture spread on your model. 03. Adjustments Click the arrows icon (top-right) to enlarge this image Set the Centre On to either Model or Part, whichever works best with the mesh. Now it is time to move the texture down to where the source of light should be. Go back up to the Material Properties and adjust the Intensity slider. 04. Surrounding materials Click the arrows icon (top-right) to enlarge this image Apply the Glass (Solid) White material to the sphere. Sometimes the liquid that surrounds the lava has a very delicate tint to it, so let’s set the glass diffuse to a very light shade of blue (R254; G255; B255). Expert tip Add a light source emitting from the centre of the lamp to light up the scene. Try other colour combinations for more dramatic looks. Changing the background colour and HDRI can make the colours pop out even more. Learn more from Maya Jermy at Vertex Maya Jermy is a regular contributor to 3D World magazine and has years of industry experience, working across various fields. She will be at Vertex 2018 taking part in our panel discussion, along with other industry veterans including Chris Nichols and Brett Ineson, where the future of digital humans is the topic. Make sure you get your chance to be there for the discussion, as well the workshops, recruitment fair and all the other activities we have throughout the day. Visit the Vertex site to book your tickets, from the free expo ticket, to the access all areas passes. We look forward to seeing you there! Related articles Why Vertex is a must for CG artists The ethics of digital humans Scott Ross at Vertex View the full article

The team behind the popular open-source framework Electron warns a remote code execution flaw could compromise user privacy. View the full article

The team behind the popular open-source framework Electron warns a remote code execution flaw could compromise user privacy. View the full article

Leeds United has nearly hit its centenary, so to celebrate, the club decided it was time to redesign its badge (above). Despite referencing the 'Leeds Salute', however, the new crest has not been well received by fans. Unveiled today, Leeds United's new crest took six months of work to complete and involved consultation with more than 10,000 people. For the uninitiated, the 'Leeds Salute' referenced in the new crest is a gesture used by fans on match days, where they place their right hand on heart and sing the club's song Marching on Together. The redesigned badge is the latest in a series of efforts by the club to re-engage fans and the wider community. Leeds United isn't the first sports organisation to rely on a rebrand to boost interest, of course. Earlier this year, Formula 1 changed its logo to get more people involved. Leeds United managing director, Angus Kinnear, said “updating the crest is not a decision we have taken lightly, but we are proud to have a new crest that is authentic to Leeds United and honours the quality and loyalty of our fans. It is a symbol of ‘strength in unity’ and a proud expression of the club’s identity and history.” Currently, however, the only thing Leeds United fans are united by is their dislike of the new crest. Plenty have taken to social media to voice their despair, with some taking aim at how the emblem can be modified to represent other teams. (A popular one sees a Newcastle supporter punching a horse.) One element that's caused anger and confusion is the crest appears to be covering itself up. If a fan or player does the 'Leeds Salute', of course, by its very nature the gesture obscures the badge – but when it comes to design, blocking your team's badge is a peculiar way to show pride. With a petition to stop the new badge from being implemented having already racked up over 10,000 signatures, it remains to be seen whether the club holds its ground or gives in to fan pressure. Related articles: Photography book celebrates the joy of football The 20 posters of the FIFA World Cup 5 great EPL football stadium illustrations View the full article

The 2018 design trends keep on coming. We've already seen the logo design trends and colour trends that are set to influence the next 12 months. But what about typography – or to be more specific, type used in motion graphics? 37 must-see examples of kinetic typographyWell, wonder no more. StudioBinder – a maker of video, photo, TV and film production management software – has created a video that showcases some big typographic trends to expect in motion graphics for the year ahead. To get an idea of how type will be used in video this year, StudioBinder combed through the best uses of text found in films and programmes in 2017. These include the title sequences for shows such as Top Gear and Stranger Things, among other creative examples. As we watched this video, we were struck by just how many uses of type in motion graphics pass almost unnoticed. Perhaps that's an indicator of how audiences have become used to more sophisticated typographic effects in their media. See for yourself how typography in films and TV has been used in innovative ways – and the predicted text in video trends for 2018 – in the StudioBinder video, below. Over on the StudioBinder site they look into these examples and explore what makes them tick. For example, by studying the Stranger Things titles, we can see that the show cleverly draws in the viewer's attention by containing visuals inside the lettering itself. Meanwhile, some films and shows layer their typography and title graphics with 3D elements to help get across the mood of what viewers are about to watch. Others make the most of the lower third of the screen to flash up an information card that reveals useful plot and character information. For the full dissection of 2018 motion typography trends, be sure to head over to the StudioBinder blog. Related articles: 9 responsive typography tips A designer's guide to typography and fonts Get to grips with accessible web typography View the full article

Buy Lightroom CC 2018, Lightroom Classic, or sign up to Adobe Creative Cloud Lightroom is Adobe’s all-in-one photo cataloging, organising and editing tool. Unlike Photoshop, however, which handles photography, illustration and design, Lightroom is purely for photographers. It doesn’t have Photoshop’s in-depth manipulation, layering, selection and compositing tools. But for regular photo enhancement and repair, it’s fast, efficient and powerful – and all its adjustments are non-destructive. In October 2017 Adobe took a bold step, splitting Lightroom into two products, the new Lightroom CC and a continuation of the old Lightroom as ‘Lightroom Classic’. Lightroom Classic sticks to the old desktop storage model. The new Lightroom CC is slimmer, slicker and based around cloud storage instead. Depending on the Adobe subscription plan you choose, you get Lightroom CC or both versions plus Photoshop – more on this in a moment. The key feature of Lightroom CC 2018 is that your entire image library is available everywhere, on any device. This is different to Lightroom Classic, where it’s only chosen Collections which are synchronised, and even then only by using lower-resolution Smart Previews as editing ‘proxies’. If you’re going to store all your photos online, you’re naturally going to need lots of storage, and this is perhaps the biggest bone of contention. There is a new Lightroom CC subscription plan which gives you Lightroom CC and 1TB of storage, but nothing else. Or you can stay with the existing Photography Plan and get both versions of Lightroom, and Photoshop, but no extra storage. Both options cost £9.98/$9.99 per month. Finally, you can get the best of both worlds with the old Photography Plan plus 1TB of storage, but at a cost of £19.97/$19.99 per month. Whichever way you cut it, that 1TB of storage comes in at around £10/$10 per month. Initially, Adobe indicated that extra storage would cost £10/$10 per month per terabyte; now the Adobe website carries the message “Up to 10 TB of cloud storage available. Call for details,” suggesting (we hope) some flexibility. Lightroom CC 2018’s cloud-based approach comes with significant costs, but it does also have advantages: Anywhere editing Need to edit your photos on another computer? With Lightroom web you get access to your full photo library, though only some, not all, of the editing tools Fair enough, this is a big one. With Lightroom Classic’s regular desktop storage, you only get to see the image Collections you’ve selected for synchronisation. And while you can organise and even edit images on your smart device and in your web browser, you can’t download the full-resolution versions, only a lower-resolution Smart Preview. That’s fine for placement but you’ll still need to export a full-res version from your desktop library for final use. Your photos can also be browsed, edited and rated on your smart device using the free Lightroom mobile app Adobe also makes a great play of the new, simpler interface. Lightroom’s workspace has always been pretty oppressive and busy, and Lightroom CC’s stripped-back approach is genuinely refreshing. A few things have gone, like the separate Library and Develop modules (now in a single window) and the Map, Book, Slideshow, Print and Web modules are gone completely – but then these are features that probably only a small percentage of photographers would use anyway. And if you are one of those, well, there’s still Lightroom Classic. Smarter organising Lightroom CC’s organisational tools are stripped-down and straightforward, and aided by Adobe’s intelligent Sensei search tool. Who knew we had so many pictures of boats? Lightroom’s organising tools are indeed simpler. Lightroom Classic and its desktop storage system continues to offer two parallel organisational systems – actual Folders and virtual Collections – which even live in separate panels, while Lightroom CC dumps all your photos into a single giant pot, and then it’s up to you how you want to organise them, using Albums and Folders (not real folders, just virtual containers to organise your albums). How can something that does less be better? Lightroom CC does force you into a simpler way of working, but it also strips away all the distraction, confusion and indecision of working with Lightroom Classic. There is one omission that’s quite hard to take, however – you can’t create smart albums (Smart Collections in Lightroom Classic), so you can’t create a smart album to automatically group all the shots taken in Tokyo last November on your Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, for example, or all the shots you’ve taken with a particular lens at a particular ISO setting. There are filter menus for isolating images by star rating, camera used and more, but even these are much reduced compared to those in Lightroom Classic. But Lightroom CC’s trump card is Adobe’s web-based Sensei search technology. Adobe says its machine learning/object recognition technology saves you the drudge of manually keywording your images. Well, it does do a good job of recognising object types, such as trees or skies, but it’s less effective at identifying locations, except where images feature a well-known landmark or have embedded location information. Worry-free storage Adobe’s cloud storage for Lightroom CC might banish your worries about where your files are, but there is an ongoing cost Adobe’s idea of worry-free storage is fine in as much as you don’t have to find space for your photos on your own computer or disk drives, or worry about synchronising them across computers or even about backing them up… but you might worry about how much your ever-expanding image library might cost you in the future. Editing upgrades Adobe’s aim is full feature parity between Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic and the addition of Tone Curve and Split Toning tools in the latest update is a step along the way The first version of Lightroom CC back in October 2017 was actually missing more than just smart albums and workflow modules. There was no Tone Curve or Split tone panel amongst the editing tools either. These have been added in a December 2017 update, though, plus automatic image enhancement via Sensei and a full-screen view. Even so, Lightroom CC still lacks some of the bells and whistles of Lightroom Classic, and still doesn’t support plug-ins. Should you buy Lightroom CC 2018? You can migrate your existing Lightroom catalog to Lightroom CC, but it’s a one-way journey Lightroom CC is a frustrating mix of brilliance (the new, streamlined interface) and disappointment (the lack of feature parity with Lightroom Classic). And tempting as the idea of cloud storage might be, the cost seems too high right now – £10/$10 per terabyte, per month, seems out of step with competing cloud services. Apple will rent you 2TB of iCloud storage for £6.99 per month, for example. Lightroom CC is still a terrific all-in-one image cataloguing and editing tool and it has no cloud-based rivals. The closest are Adobe’s own Lightroom Classic and, say, Phase One Capture One. Capture One is a terrific product, but lacks Lightroom’s multi-platform synchronisation tools. For designers, it’s a complicated decision. Lightroom CC is great for photos, but that’s all. If you work on projects across Adobe’s creative tools, migrating work from Photoshop, through Illustrator to InDesign, for example, Lightroom CC is a bit of an outlier which might be good for organising your photos but is likely to be on the periphery of your main design work. Early adopters might be keen to try out a wholly cloud-based photo library, but the regular Photography Plan with its desktop storage is better value (you get both versions of Lightroom and Photoshop) and Lightroom Classic is still a more powerful organising and editing tool. For designers, Lightroom CC is not so much a ‘must have’ as a ‘might like’. Buy Lightroom CC 2018, Lightroom Classic, or sign up to Adobe Creative Cloud Related articles: Adobe launches new cloud-based photography service Lightroom CC Adobe announces free Lightroom for Android Shoot raw images on your phone with Lightroom 2.0 View the full article

The way you approach sketching a character is very important. You shouldn’t be afraid of constant refinement. Here, I will lead you through my process, showing you how to use shapes and light lines to create an underdrawing, and then how to properly work on top of this for the best results. The more you sketch, the more confident your drawings will become, so grab your pencils and get sketching! 01. Find a pose Strike a pose, there's nothing to it A very important part in sketching a character is figuring out how you want to depict your subject. It is essential to find the right pose, clothes and general look. The best way to approach this is by creating small loose sketches that are not defined, but at the same time give you an idea of the features of the final sketch. 02. Develop form Take your time to get the foundations right Once you decide which sketch you prefer, you can continue to develop it further by giving it a form. Before going into detail, it is crucial to create a skeleton for the final drawing by using simple shapes and lines. Don’t worry about drawing too many guidelines; you can erase them later. 03. Lay down lines Make sure your lines are solid and confident Choose the lines you want to work with from the guidelines you’ve created. Remember that these lines are there to help and not constrain you, so make changes as you go and add necessary details when appropriate. Don’t rush the drawing, but once you decide to draw a line, use a bold straight stroke to avoid wobbly or uneven marks. 04. Erase guidelines Erase needless guidelines, but leave useful ones behind Some artists are a little intimidated by rubbers. They associate them with correcting mistakes, but in fact, a rubber can be used as an important tool in your drawing. In this example, use your rubber to erase some of the guidelines. You don’t have to rub out all of them – just the ones that get in the way of your drawing. Related articles: Perfect your figures with our anatomy masterclass The Anatomy of Style: Figure Drawing Techniques 10 steps to improve your figure drawing View the full article

What has 2018 got in store for creatives? We've already looked at the biggest logo design trends and typography trends that could be coming our way over the next 12 months, but Shutterstock is looking further afield with its 2018 Creative Trends Report. The latest annual report from the technology and stock photography company has been compiled by studying billions of searches within Shutterstock's collection of 170 million customer images. This data has been gathered over the past year across images, videos and music. By analysing user habits, Shutterstock hopes to determine the standout ideas and concepts that it believes will shape creative direction in the year to come. Top creative trends of 2018 Fantasy - A fantasy theme looks set to be significant in 2018. Searches for fantasy are on the rise, with classics like 'unicorn' up 297%, and 'mermaid' up by 145% on 2017. Alongside this, epic, orchestral music is becoming increasingly popular as creative professionals add some magic to our everyday experiences. New Minimalism - Forget plain old minimalism, 2018 is set to be the year of new minimalism. This is a look that goes beyond crisp, clean lines to feature bold colours and fluid styles. An increase of 432% for 'continuous line' and a boost of 387% for 'neon circle' are giveaways for Shutterstock that new minimalism will be a trend to look out for. Space - The final frontier continues to amaze audiences on the big screen, so perhaps it's no surprise that it's had a big influence on Shutterstock searches. 'Solar' is up by a whopping 991%, while interest in 'astro' has risen by 671%. Meanwhile, the popularity of 'synthwave' has soared by 494% from 2017. "Now in its seventh year, our Creative Trends report inspires creative professionals all over the world as they strategize creative planning for the year ahead," said Shutterstock’s Curator, Robyn Lange. “Our 2017 report was particularly accurate in its predictions, identifying trends like ‘Glitch’ early on. Throughout the year we watched as the style grew, developed, and thrived into major campaign themes for brands across the world. We look forward to watching 2018’s trends blossom the same way.” Check out the trends set to dominate 2018 with the report below. Click enlarge to read the full list of 2018 design trends Image courtesy of Shutterstock. Related articles: 5 trends that will dominate digital in 2018 Biggest trends in product packaging design for 2018 5 typography trends for 2018 View the full article

WordPress is a simple but powerful tool for building professional websites without coding from scratch. To make the most of it without detailed coding knowledge, you’ll need responsive themes to make your site look great on any device. This deal delivers lifetime access to professionally made, responsive themes from Dessign for just $29 (approx. £21)! This lifetime subscription to WordPress themes from Dessign will make your website look and feel like you want. The pros at Dessign have already put together over 180 themes that provide the flexibility and style you need. New themes are added regularly, so you'll never be left searching for more. These designs are even SEO optimised, and include XML files so you can make the most of the themes you choose. You can get a lifetime’s worth of WordPress themes from Dessign on sale for 71% off the retail price. That makes your total just $29 (approx. £21). It's a great offer for a must-have resource, so grab this deal today! About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at:deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: 25 brilliant WordPress tutorials 10 great WordPress plugins for designers 22 great examples of WordPress websites View the full article

Character design is an art. Swiff is the story of a dirt-hating extraterrestrial who is travelling in space. He breaks down and crashes on Earth in the countryside. In this 'terra incognita' adventure Swiff goes looking for a compatible fuel source for his spaceship. During his quest, he finds himself face-to-face with a hyperactive little boy who is definitely going to give him a hard time. While working on the short film, I had the opportunity to use Peregrine Labs' Yeti and Pixar's RenderMan (RIS). In this tutorial, I will explain some of the key techniques used in Yeti to make the sheep's wool (fur), and an instancing solution for Maya. 29 free 3D modelsI needed to learn Yeti for Swiff, and along the way picked up some useful tricks that I hope you will find equally handy for your animated film projects. Here I will share my process for setting up and combing fur in Yeti, as well as how we created the scene for our short. 01. Prepare the terrain Click image to enlarge The first step is to establish a good cartoon environment for the character we'll create and add later on. I tend to work in a different, smaller scene to the final scene, and when I'm happy with the look of the object or terrain that I'm working on, I reimport the asset into the final scene. For the grass, I create a basic terrain in Maya and I import my own light rig, which contains multiple lighting conditions for different times of day. 02. Create the terrain and unwrap UVs Use a smaller version of the surfaceFor this terrain, as I want to work in a smaller area than my actual terrain, I create a rounded surface with just a few polygons, where I can populate some grass. Yeti uses a cache system and it can take a long time to generate if you're using big terrain. By using a smaller version of the surface, I make sure that the caching time doesn't exceed a few seconds. The goal is to define the look of the grass so there's no need to waste time on a big surface. Once I model the basic terrain, I unwrap the UVs using Maya's default tools. 03. Adding the stripes Making stripesWe wanted everything in our short film to be striped. To do this I use Ramp, Maya's procedural texture solution. I create a ramp in Maya and plug in a PxrDisney shader. It's just for preview so you can use any shader. Use the place2dTexture to repeat your ramp as much as needed. In my example, I do it directly in the ramp to add a bit of variation in the stripe width. I also connect a PxrConstant in every colour of the ramp for more control. 04. Prepare the geometry for instancing Make sure that your grass is at the centre of the worldWe decided to instance polygons in order to get more control over the look of the grass, but you can also create a fur system in Yeti and use it as grass. If you decide to use polygons, create a few bundles of grass in Maya using basic modelling techniques. There is no need to add a lot of polygons as the tiny details will get lost. You also have to make sure that your grass is at the centre of the world in Maya to make it work with Yeti. 05. Open Yeti Click image to enlarge Yeti is very powerful and offers great optimisation possibilities. It allows you to instance millions of polygons very easily. Start by selecting your terrain and go to Yeti>Create Yeti Node On Mesh. Open the Yeti Graph Editor. In order to control the stripes separately, create multiple Yeti systems corresponding to the different areas of grass. I convert my coloured Ramp to a black and white ramp in order to use it as a density map in Yeti. 06. Nodes in Yeti Click image to enlarge Next, select your Yeti node in the Outliner, and go to the Attribute Editor. You should see your terrain in the Input Objects tab. If you don't, add it. Add the objects you want to instance and make sure that they are at the centre of the grid in Maya. 07. Setting up nodes Click image to enlarge In the Graph Editor, create an Import node, a Texture node and a Scatter node. The texture node will be used to control the density of our instanced geo. In order to do so, I bake my ramp into a texture. It allows me to retouch the map afterwards if necessary. I use Nightshade Blockout to bake the Ramp. It's free and available on www.creativecrash.com. 08. Instance your geometry Click image to enlarge Once you've connected your densityMap in the Texture node, add 'density' in the attribute of the node. Create an Instance node and another Import node. Use the Import node to choose the geometry to instance and connect it to the second input of the Instance node. Set the Instance node to Element and add scale and twist variation; use the Scatter node to change the density. For more variation, add a custom attribute, create a few graphs with different types of grass and merge them. 09. Adding shaders Play with the translucence of the LMDiffuse to get a softer lookWe used RenderMan RIS for rendering. The materials available in RenderMan are physically plausible and offer great possibilities. I use a Pxr LMDiffuse as a base and connect different variations of the texture for the front and the back. Then I use a LMLayer to add a specular layer over it. I've also played with the translucence of the LMDiffuse to get a softer look. Simply assign the shader to your Yeti node to make it work with the instances. 10. Creating the sheep Click image to enlarge Select your mesh and go to Yeti>Create Yeti Node On Mesh. Do the same with Yeti>Create Groom Node On Mesh. This will create a pgYetiNode and pgYetiGroom in your Outliner. Select the pgYeti and go to the Yeti Graph Editor. Click on the Import Button and double-click on the node Yeti has created. This will pop up in a window. Make sure the type is set to Geometry, then click the button on the right of the Selection field. 11. Apply fur Click image to enlarge In the new pop up, select the object you want your fur to be applied to and click Select. If you need to manually add objects in the list, select the pgYeti, go into the Attribute Editor, under Graph>Input Objects and click on Add Object. Weirdly, sometimes the list doesn't seem to update after adding a new object. Select anything else in the Outliner and then select your pgYeti again to see the new object correctly added to the list. 12. Import your groom Keep your graph organisedSelect your pgYeti node and go to the Attribute Editor (Ctrl+A). Under Graph>Input Grooms click on Input Grooms. In the list, select the groom that you've previously created. Now, go back to the Yeti Graph Editor and click on Import. Select and double-click the new Import node. Set the type to Groom and select the groom like we did previously with the geometry. You now have two import nodes in your graph. Keep your graph organised and name your Yeti node correctly. 13. Start grooming Click image to enlarge In the Yeti Graph, create a Scatter node, connect the import_geo to the first input of the Scatter. Select the scatter and create a Grow node. If you double-click on the Scatter, you will be able to increase the density. Connect the import_groom to the second Input of the Grow. Select the Groom node in your Outliner and go into the Attribute Editor. You will find a wide range of tools that you can use to create various hair effects. 14. Populating strands Populate your mesh with strands of hairStart by pressing the + button. This will allow you to populate your mesh with strands that will be used to create the hair in the pgYetiNode. Under the Brush tab, you will find Radius and Strength parameters. Under the Strand tab, there is a slider called Initial Strand Length. Increase this a little bit if the default parameter doesn't fit what you need. Click on your mesh to populate strands. 15. Control the length Click image to enlarge You can easily control the length of your strands by going to the Attribute Paint tab. Simply double-click on the Length parameter, set the Value to the number you want and set the Mode depending on what you want. The Multiply and Randomize modes can help you create a lot of cool variations. For my sheep, I increased the length of the head area to match the original design. 16. Using the comb node Click image to enlarge It's time to create a bit of mess. Create a Comb node. Connect the Grow to the first Input of the Comb and connect the Groom to the second Input. At this stage, I play with the different tools in Yeti to create variations. Take your time, especially if your character will be seen from different angles. When I am done tweaking the strands, I add a Curl node. It creates some nice curling effects in every strand. This adds a lot of variations and makes your fur look more realistic. Next page: the final steps to creating furry cartoon characters... 17. Understanding clumping Multiple clumping effectsThe Clumping node is one of the most important nodes in Yeti. To apply the Clump, select your current network and duplicate it; create a Clump node. Play with the Density and the Length parameters on one of the networks to enhance the effect. You can play with this technique many times in your grooming network to make multiple clumping effects. Note that you can also use the Clump tool to enhance the clump effect in some areas. 18. Bend the clumps Playing with the combination of different nodesTo finish my base network, I add a Bend node (which in this case is crucial to bend the clump we previously made and get the look we want). Playing with the combination of different nodes allows you to get subtle and very cool effects. This leads us to the Merge Node… 19. The merge node Click image to enlarge In order to make the sheep look better, I create a few networks with different looks – the only thing I need to do is merge them. You can create different pgYetis and let them overlap each other but this is not the best option for my sheep. I prefer to create everything in one pgYeti network and merge them by creating a Merge node and connecting input one and two to the desired networks. 20. The Width node Click image to enlarge To complete my graph, I need to control the width of my fur. I create a Width node and put it at the end of my graph, then I am able to control the width of the base and the tip. I get pretty good results with a value of 0.07 for the base and 0.03 for the tip. There is also the Multiplier parameter if needs be. 21. Optimise your display Click image to enlarge Optimisation is obviously very important when dealing with fur. The more fur you have in your scene, the harder it will be to navigate. You can hide the Yeti Node by going into the Show Panel (Viewport) and unticking Plugin Shapes, or by using the attribute provided in the pgYeti Node. In the pgYeti, you will find a Display tab. Three parameters are available to control the display (and only the display) in the viewport: the density, the length and the width. 22. Optimise your render Sheep far from the camera don't need much densityIn the pgYeti under the Display tab, there is a tab called Render. You will find the exact same parameters as in Display, but for rendering. I like to set my density value in the Scatter node and set the render density after that. On some shots, the sheep are quite far from the camera so don't need much density. I decrease the render density accordingly. 23. Limit of the Viewport Render a couple of images at each stageThe preview of Yeti in the viewport is great but it has some limitations. At some point, you need a render to see if you’re going in the right direction. When I start the grooming of my sheep, I import my light rig and render a couple of images at each stage of the Yeti graph in order to get a better look of what my fur is going to look like. I use the PxrMarschnerHair available in RenderMan RIS to shade the fur. 24. Create the stripes Click image to enlarge The final thing to finish the sheep is to add the stripes. I could use the same techniques that I used for the grass but with fur, but there is another method. After creating a ramp with a series of stripes, I create a Pxr Manifold and I connect it to the Maya ramp. Without the Pxr Manifold, it won’t work properly. In the Connection Editor, connect the Result S (Pxr Manifold) to uCoord (Ramp) and ResultT (Pxr Manifold) to vCoord (Ramp). 25. Finish the stripes Tweak the shader to get a good lookTo last thing to do in order to make the stripes work is to add the correct information in the Pxr Manifold. Add surf_s in PrimVar S/ST and surf_t in PrimVar T. Note, if you are not using a Maya node – you want to use a texture that you painted, for instance – simply create a PxrTexture and drag and drop the Pxr Manifold in the Manifold field of the PxrTexture. Once the stripes are set up, I work more on the shader in order to get a nice look. 26. Importing the scene Create a new scene and import the main assetsNow all the assets are created, textured and shaded, it's time for me to gather them all into the scene. I start by creating a new scene in Maya and I import my main assets. I add the grass at the end of the process because it's quite heavy for Maya and not essential at this point. The important thing is to get the main elements to start the lighting. Keep your Outliner as clean as possible in order to stay organised. 27. Start the lighting Add a simple Directional Light to enhance the lighting directionThe lighting of my scene is daylight, the sun is high and some clouds are casting shadows on the ground. I create an HDR of one of our scenes that we use as a base in the main environment shot. Then I add a simple Directional Light to enhance the lighting direction. To enhance certain areas, I put some colours in the light and shadows or plug in some textures. This creates contrast. 28. Adding the grass Apply the grass to my main terrainUsing the technique that I explained before, I apply the grass to my main terrain. With my camera angle, I don't need the same density of grass everywhere. I simply split the terrain into different meshes and create a different Yeti node. I reduce the Render Density of the grass. The scene looks the same but the caching time is reduced. Optimise your scene as much as possible, especially when you are working with instances, otherwise it can become too large. 29. Placing plants The more variation you add, the better it will beIt's time to go into detail. I start by adding mushrooms all around the scene, then some plants. I also add trees in the background to add variation. The more variation you add, the better it will be. Our universe is very colourful and it was not always easy to deal with it. Most of the time, I import a simple version in Photoshop and do a couple of tests with various colours. The important thing is to keep the image clear and readable. 30. Adding rocks Make the ground more interesting by adding rocksI want to make the ground more interesting so I add more variation of colour and textures in the grass. I decide to add some tiny rocks. I've found a very cool, free script called RockGen from Creative Crash. I launch the script, choose the number of rocks, and their height and click Generate. I can now place these rocks in my scene. 31. Using spPaint3d Click image to enlarge spPaint3d is a must-use script on Creative Crash. It enables you to duplicate or instance a series of meshes on a surface. This is very useful for an environment scene like this one. It allows me to place all the clovers, the rocks and the plants randomly in a very short amount of time. There are a lot of parameters I can tweak just to add variation in the placement of my meshes. 32. Splitting your scene Splitting your scene really helps when you need to tweak particular elements separatelyIn order to have more flexibility in compositing, I split my scene into different parts. Splitting your scene really helps when you need to tweak particular elements separately. I use different render layers to split my assets and recombine them in Nuke. For the background, I create a Yeti node on the hill using the same technique as the grass. I work in a different Maya scene to keep it light. Once the hill is created, it can be reused in other shots. 33. Finishing using Nuke Click image to enlarge We use Nuke for compositing. In an environment scene like this one, I really recommend adding a bit of atmosphere (using the ZDepth as a mask) to help the legibility of your image. After this tiny modification, I use a few Grade nodes to enhance some parts of the image using the ID channel. To complete, I add a bit of vignetting, a spot of depth of field and a touch of chromatic aberration. This article was originally featured in 3D World issue 214; buy it here. Related articles: How to render a photorealistic sky Turn photos into 3D animations with Photoshop How to take your vector logo from 2D to 3D View the full article

When it comes to left-field creativity, Berlin is indisputably one of Europe's – if not the world's – most vibrant and inspirational design cities to visit. Offering a unique blend of subversive counter-culture, bustling cosmopolitan energy and harrowing historical scars, Berlin is a haven for design inspiration. So whether you're paying the German capital a flying visit, looking to move there to live or just on the hunt for some visual reference material, read on for our guide to 10 of the best off-the-beaten track creative locations in Berlin... 01. Spreepark An abandoned amusement park might sound more like the favoured stomping ground of a Scooby Doo villain than a must-see creative attraction, but bear with us. From a towering, derelict Ferris wheel to derailed go-karts peeking out from the undergrowth, Spreepark – once full of life, bright lights and laughter as the GDR's only permanent amusement park – is now a hugely surreal place to become inspired. Everywhere you look, there's a visual cue to spark off a story in your mind – whether it's toppled, overgrown dinosaur statues or colourful animal faces adorning tunnels. Formerly known as Kulturpark Plänterwald, the park was opened in 1961 and used to attract 1.5 million visitors a year, but fell into financial difficulties after reunification, and was declared insolvent in 2001. If you're passing by, you can peek through the gates into Spreepark for free – or occasionally there are events, screenings and even concerts hosted inside, if you're lucky. 02. Panke art cafe Berlin is packed with quirky arts venues, of which Panke is a great example. Offering a heady combination of art, food and music, it strives to "support edgy creativity that happens away from mainstream culture". Its café serves vegan/vegetarian food and coffee by day, and hosts events by night, while the gallery space showcases both established and emerging artists, with a particular interest in digital or net-based art and club culture. Visual inspiration doesn't stop there, as the bar is continuously redecorated by local and international artists – so you can get a fresh experience every time you visit the city. 03. Monster Kabinett If you like your artistic inspiration mixed with a dose of mechanised horror, there's no better place to do so than Monster Kabinett – a dark, unsettling showcase of hulking robots and warped, insect-like creatures. Hosted in a warehouse, it's the brainchild of the Dead Pigeon Collective and features costumed performers among the giant, moving metal sculptures. It's very literally off the beaten track: you'll find it down a suitably dank, dark alleyway off the side of a busy thoroughfare. It's an unassuming location, and you might not be sure you're in the right place until you're standing directly outside it. 04. Buchstabenmuseum Typography is part of Berlin's design heritage, as the ever-inspiring annual TYPO Berlin conference attests. And you'll find plenty of tangible examples of it in use here. With an impressive collection gathered from around Berlin and beyond, the Buchstabenmuseum – or Museum of Rescued Letters – is one of the world's first museums to collect letterforms from public spaces and display them as part of urban history. Featuring all manner of lost, forgotten and abandoned signage that's been saved from the scrapheap, this is a wonderful source of typographical inspiration. Courtesy of LucasFonts, there's even a free Buchstabenmuseum font, based on a selection of the letterforms on display. 05. Haus Schwarzenberg Street Art Alley Berlin's street art scene is legendary, from the world-renowned East Side Gallery, painted on the remnants of the Berlin Wall, right down to tucked-away alleyways that can be easily missed. One such example is Haus Schwarzenberg Street Art Alley. A narrow, unassuming passageway beside a cafe – not far from the famous art nouveau courtyards of Hackeschen Höfe – leads to a colourful explosion of inspiring murals, paste-ups and graffiti. Given the nature of great street art, the specific creations on display are constantly evolving as new murals are painted on, papered over and adapted, although Jimmy C's beautiful painting of Anne Frank, a centrepiece of the space, remains untouched. The existence of this pocket of inspiration is all thanks to non-profit arts organisation Haus Schwarzenberg, which occupies the adjacent building. 06. The Return of the Cows A quiet residential street in between the Prenzlauerberg and Friedrichshain areas of the city, Dietrich-Bonhoeffer Strasse is definitely off the beaten track by most standards. In fact, there would be no real reason to visit if it weren't for Sergej Dott’s delightfully whimsical public art installation, Die Rückkehr der Kühe – or The Return of the Cows. Peek between two buildings halfway down the road, and you'll spot a photo opportunity unlike any other: a herd of giant cows, seemingly wandering up and down the side of an apartment block. Dott has created several cow-based installations, which he calls 'Kuhunst' - a cheeky pun that will appeal to German-speakers, combining the words 'Kuh' (cow) and 'Kunst' (art). 07. Stand By Me tree An anonymous fan of Ben E. King has demonstrated their passion for his seminal love song Stand By Me, by carving the lyrics into a tree trunk in Berlin’s Tiergarten Park – turning it into a natural sculpture to inspire all who visit it. Unlike the transient, temporary nature of some of the street art featured on this list, this lyrical trunk has a pleasing permanence about it. The bark has healed, sealing the words within – and the anonymity of the creator adds to its enigmatic appeal. While the exact date it was carved is unknown, the tree first became an attraction following King’s death in 2015, and the famous chorus of the song also appeared on a nearby tree at a similar time. 08. Georg von Rauch-Haus A graffiti-daubed icon of socialist activism, the Georg-von-Rauch-Haus is an infamous Berlin squat that takes its name from a violent German anarchist and so-called 'urban guerilla' who was shot dead by the West German police in 1971. Shortly after von Rauch's death, squatters and political activists occupied a former nurses’ dormitory near Bethanien Hospital on Mariannenplatz, Kreuzberg. Attempts by the police to evict the inhabitants culminated in a major protest, which was met with tear gas and batons. With a distinctive ring of graffiti around the lower level, the Georg von Rauch-Haus now operates as a 'free-living' collective, as well as playing host to musical and cultural events. 09. Teufelsberg With an intriguing name that translates as 'devil's mountain', Teufelsberg is a former US spy base from the Cold War. It's built on top of a man-made hill outside the city, formed from the remnants of an incomplete Nazi military-technical college, as well as wartime rubble. Teufelsberg's most distinctive feature is a collection of 'randomes' – enormous listening domes, now dilapidated and broken, but still strangely beautiful – which, like so many of the locations on this list, are plastered with street art. Despite its dilapidated state, however, there's an entry fee to visit Teufelsberg as the site is now privately owned. Guided tours are also available. 10. Urban Nation Rounding up our list is a relatively new addition to Berlin's cultural landscape, having only opened its doors in 2017. Capitalising on Berlin's global reputation on the street art scene, Urban Nation is the world's first museum dedicated to all genres of urban contemporary art: graffiti, paste-ups, sculptures, acrylic designs and more. For over a decade, Urban Nation has championed street art in Berlin and helped transform the once-depressing, Cold War-era concrete cityscape by inviting high-profile muralists to make their mark. Now the organisation has its own free-to-enter permanent space, which features the works of 150 international and local artists. 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Over the past few years, the development of a REST API for WordPress has opened new doors for developers. Developers who had previously been limited to writing a WordPress-powered project in PHP now have more flexibility and control in how they can approach the technology stack of their website-to-be. This means it’s possible to retain all the advantages of the brilliant WordPress control panel, which is made extremely flexible by popular WordPress plugins such as Advanced Custom Fields, and have a completely custom built frontend that only interacts with WordPress when it needs to. Download the tutorial filesIn this WordPress tutorial we’ll be exploring how to implement the WordPress REST API into a simple blog app, which is currently using a local JSON file as its data source, and is built as a single-page application (SPA) using the popular JavaScript framework Vue.js. This will involve the implementation of Vuex, which we’ll use to store the data we request from a WordPress using a combination of its action and mutation methods. Once completed, you should have created a lean, simple SPA, which has all the reactivity of Vue.js, while displaying posts retrieved from and managed by WordPress. 01. Set up workspace and dependencies First things first, you should download the project’s files and open them in your preferred editor. In the console, cd into website-template and run the command below to install the project’s node dependencies (if you don’t have Node installed, do that first). We’ll be working purely in the src directory from here on out. 02. Install Vuex Next, using the command below, we’ll install Vuex, which is a state management pattern and library for Vue.js applications. This will act as a central information store for all Vue components that depend on the data we receive from WordPress API. For developers familiar with React, Vuex is heavily inspired by Flux. 03. Start development server In the console, run the command below to start the development server. This will compile the Vue.js project as it currently stands and assign it to a URL so you can access it. This is usually localhost:8080. One big advantage this brings is live reloading, so once you make changes to the app and save, the page in your browser will update itself without the need to manually reload. 04. Create Vuex store In src, create a directory called store and within it a new file called index.js. This will be where our Vuex store will be defined. Though before we get to that, we need to first make sure our Vue.js app is aware of its existence. To do this, open main.js and import the store and include it as a dependency, as in the snippet below. 05. Create store scaffolding and install Axios To help us simplify the AJAX requests our store will be making to WordPress API, we’ll install Axios, which is a Promise-based HTTP client. To do this, open a separate console window, navigate to the website-template directory and run npm install axios -- save. Next, let’s start to scaffold the store by instantiating a new empty Vuex store object. At the moment, it isn’t doing anything, but at least Vue should be aware of it. 06. Create posts state In Vuex, the state object holds application info, which in this case will be the WordPress post data we’ll grab using the API. Within this object, create a new property called posts and assign it a value of null. 07. Create getPosts action In Vuex, actions are the main way in which asynchronous requests are handled. These are typically methods defined in the store, which can then be dispatched as required by the app. In the empty actions object, let’s define one where if our posts state is still null, axios is used to perform an AJAX request to the WordPress API and return a list of posts. Once we’ve received a positive response, we’ll then resolve the promise and commit the posts using the storePosts mutation. 08. Create storePosts mutation Another concept introduced by Vuex is mutations, which are also typically methods defined in the store. Mutations are the only way to change state in a Vuex store, which allows state to be easily tracked when debugging. In the empty mutations object, let’s define the storePosts method we referenced in the previous step and make it override the post property in the state object with any data the mutation receives as payload. 09. Trigger getPosts action on load We’ve created the action and mutation methods that grab posts from WordPress API and commit them to Vuex state, but now we need to actually trigger this process somewhere. In the top level Vue.js component App.vue, add the snippet below. created() is a lifecycle hook that triggers code as soon as the Vue component is created on load, while the use of the global $store variable allows us to access the contents of our Vuex store and dispatch the getPosts action from step 7. 10. Update attribute paths The Vue DevTools extension gives you the power to debug your Vue.js app If you’re working in Chrome or Firefox and have the Vue.js DevTools extension (if not, I recommend that you do as it’s very useful), you should now be able to see the loaded WordPress posts in Base State under the Vuex tab. Back to the app, in /components/posts/posts.vue, the template HTML needs to point to this data, so let’s tweak a few of the attribute paths. 11. Update v-for loop In the posts component, there’s a Vue.js directive in use called v-for. This loops through all posts and for each one prints an instance of the post component, displaying them in a list. We need to update the path passed to this directive as it’s still using the local dummy test data. Update the v-for directive to the snippet below in order to point to our stored posts in the Vuex store. 12. Do some housekeeping A list of the WordPress posts should now be displaying. As we're no longer using the local post data, let's delete src/data. Then in the posts component, remove the posts: postData.data property in the components local data store and then the postData import. 13. Fix post author You may notice that for each post the author is showing up as a number. This is because the WordPress API returns an author ID, rather than a name. We need to use this id to query WordPress for the full author information. Let's start by creating a place to store this in our Vuex store, alongside our post info, in store/index.js. 14. Create getAuthors action As with posts, we'll create an action in /store/index.js to trigger an AJAX request to query WordPress API. Once a successful response is received, the promise will then resolve and trigger the storeAuthors mutation, which we'll create next. 15. Create storeAuthors mutation Within the mutations object of the Vuex store, create the storeAuthors mutation using the snippet below. Like with storePosts from step 8, this takes the payload its passed and sets it as the value of the authors property in our store's state. 16. Trigger getAuthors on load We need to get the author info from WordPress as soon as the app begins to load. Let's amend the top level component App.vue again and dispatch the getAuthors action in the same created() lifecycle hook as the getPosts action. 17. Create getUserName method Now we're querying WordPress for author information on load, all we need to do is define a method in our posts component which lets us pass an author ID and get a name in return. Copy the snippet below into the posts component's methods object, below the existing getSinglePost method. 18. Call getUserName method Now we just need to call getUsername. Still in the posts component, in the template, replace the author attribute’s reference to post.author so it reflects the snippet below. The author’s name should now be correctly displaying for each post. 19. Blog loading As we’re loading the post data asynchronously, there is a moment before the request completes where the application is empty. To counter this, we’ll implement a loading state that's active until the blog is fully populated. In the posts component, paste the snippet below just after the opening <script> tag to import the icons we’ll be using. 20. Add icon to components list Next, still within posts, add a reference to icon in the components objects. This makes the posts component aware of our recently imported icon component. 21. Create loading elements We now just need to add the loading elements to the posts template so it shows up on the page. Firstly, wrap the second div in the snippet around the two divs with the v-if directives to make sure no posts show up until loading is complete. Then add the first div from the snippet above it. This contains the loading icon and a v-if directive, which means it will only be visible until the point where the app is fully loaded. Once done, loading should now be implemented. 22. Update single post attribute paths The only thing left to do is to make sure single posts are correctly set up so they are using the WordPress post data in the Vuex store. The first step is to update the attribute paths in the posts component template within the v-if="this.type === 'single'" div, which handles the display of single posts. 23. Refactor getSinglePost method We also need to refactor the posts components getSinglePost method. It needs to return a promise that dispatches the getPosts action. In the follow up then function, we'll search the Vuex store's posts for an entry with a slug matching the one passed in the URL. If found, we'll copy the data to our component's local state and resolve the promise. If it isn't found, the promise will be rejected. 24. Refactor posts created() hook Next, we need to refactor the created() lifecycle hook in the posts component. If we're needing to display a single post, the hook should call the getSinglePost method from the previous step, and if its promise is rejected, send the user to the 404 'page not found' page. This is to account for scenarios where users enter a non-existent post slug in the URL. 25. Add v-if directive The final step is to add the snippet below to the post component within the v-if="this.type === 'single'" div in the template. This directive means the post will only display when the local post data made available by the getSinglePost method is populated. This is to stop Vue from prematurely rendering the component and thus causing errors. 26. Build the app Now with everything working, in the console, cancel the npm run dev command or open a new console and run the below command to generate a production ready version to upload to your own server. This will appear in the dist directory. This article appeared in issue 268 of Web Designer, the creative web design magazine – offering expert tutorials, cutting-edge trends and free resources. Subscribe to Web Designer now. Read more: 32 best free WordPress themes 10 top WordPress resources The 14 best free blogging platforms View the full article

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For designers, the start of a new year sees us setting fresh goals and pledging to experiment with a new piece of software, master a tool or technique, brush up on creative theories and knowledge, and look to land new clients. So to help you to up your design game, we're lending you a helping hand with this round-up of the best design skills, theories, and practical tips to ensure that you become a better designer in 2018. All of our guides and tutorials have been broken down into easy to navigate sections, so whether you want to improve your software skills, master a new design theory, or even start that side project you've been sitting on for ages, you'll find something here to help you on your way. Software skills Design theory Business skills Best tools Make more money Get more clients Start a side project Related articles: The best laptops for graphic design 2018 8 design industry trends for 2018 The top 20 US design studios of 2018 View the full article

If you’re creating a design portfolio, it’s safe to assume you know at least the foundational rules of good design. Yet when we work in isolation on our own portfolio, it’s easy to forget the common rules we would apply to any other client project. Sometimes we’re just too close to our own work, which almost blinds us. As a designer, a portfolio is essential to your success. But at the end of the day it’s not about the portfolio – it’s about you and your work. Instead of focusing on building the perfect portfolio, focus on finding the perfect way to share the work you’ve already created. Everything else will fall into place from there. Here’s how to ensure you don’t get in your own way, and instead create a portfolio that sets you up for success. 01. Make first introductions count A simple, straightforward intro on Violeta Noy’s portfolio, built with Semplice DO: Introduce yourself immediately with a quick paragraph that says who you are, where you’re located (if that matters to your work) and what kind of work you like to do. Show your personality but be straightforward, so the first glimpse at your website gives your viewer the context they need. DON’T: Write some generic rubbish intro that says you 'craft meaningful experiences' or 'push pixels'. Aside from being overused, phrases like this don’t mean anything to anyone and won’t help your potential employer or client understand what you do. 02. Choose the right work to include Only show the kind of work you want to be known for, like Sidney Lim DO: Curate your portfolio to show only your best work. More importantly, pick the kind of work you want to do in the future. DON’T: Fill your portfolio only with spec work or unsolicited designs. Of course the occasional unsolicited design can help show your skill when you don’t have the client work to prove it yet. But too many only shows that you’re good at working in isolation without any restraints, which is almost never the case on a paid project. If you do choose to do some unsolicited work (if you’re a young designer trying to start fresh in a new field, for example) don’t do the typical Fortune 500 redesign for a company like Nike or Apple. These companies already have fantastic assets, so it’s not showing much skill to design for those brands. Choose a smaller company that you admire instead. Show what you can do when you’re working with nothing, and that will impress. 03. Make it easy and enjoyable to look through Pawel Nolbert's portfolio site doesn’t get in the way of his vibrant work DO: Think of your portfolio as the space in a museum. Make it clean, easy to navigate and fully focused on the work itself. Design for the end user who might be viewing hundreds of portfolios a day. Make it easy for them to learn who you are and what you can do. DON’T: Design your portfolio like a work of art in itself. When we think of our portfolio like a personal project or creative outlet, we can overcomplicate or make it too playful – to the point where it becomes unusable for the person who has to view it. For example, a fancy horizontal scrolling feature might seem unique and interesting to you as the designer, but no-one clicks blindly on next/prev arrows without knowing where they lead. We tend to browse portfolios in a visual way, by clicking on what interests us. Don’t make the user work to view your portfolio. 04. Create a standout About page An informative and beautiful About page by Meryl Vedros DO: Spend time making the perfect About page. Your About page is the most important page on your portfolio. I’ve reviewed hundreds of portfolios and always navigate here first to get context before I browse. The numbers on my own website confirm it too: The About page gets more hits than any other page on my site. Do something different and memorable here that offers a real glimpse into who you are. DON’T: Get too cutesy and leave out the important information we need to know. Don’t forget your name (yes, I’ve seen portfolios where I couldn’t find any first or last name anywhere), a picture of you (a nice personal touch that makes a difference) and your main skills. And please, don’t forget to list your email address. Liked this? Read these: Craft the perfect portfolio in a day 5 quick and easy ways to fix your portfolio How to start building up your design portfolio View the full article

There's a difference between having a great idea in your head and actually bringing it to life on your screen. Graphic designers are capable of making those ideas come to life. The Ultimate Graphic Design Mastery Bundle will show you how to do just that with the help of top tools graphic designers trust. Get it on sale for just $19 (approx. £14). There are many skills that a graphic designer has to master in order to make their ideas and concepts a reality. Luckily, the Ultimate Graphic Design Mastery Bundle has courses that can help you hone your skills in some of the most important areas. Learn how to work with powerful design tools including InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and Affinity Designer. Plus, you'll pick up the fundamentals of design, such as typography and core design principles, so you can bring out the best in your work. The Ultimate Graphic Design Mastery Bundle is valued at over $565, but you can get this incredible bundle of courses on sale for a special sale price of just $19 (approx. £14). That's a huge saving for a bundle that will help you sharpen your skills, so grab this deal before it's gone. About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at:deals@creativebloq.com. Related articles: 28 books every graphic designer should read How to get a career in graphic design: 11 pro tips 20 great resources for learning graphic design View the full article

"You can find inspiration in anything," said Paul Smith. And he's right, of course. But how about we get specific, because whether you're in a creative rut, suffering from writer's block, or just not quite cracking that brief, sometimes you need to take direct action. As Design Bridge's creative director of brand language, I have six top tips to help you to get rid of creative block and unleash your creativity. How to avoid creative burnout01. Meet your public Take your headphones off and engage with the real world for a free dose of inspiration Ok, Ok, you hate your commute, we all do. But try to see it in a different light. Take out your headphones, put down the Kindle. Listen to people's conversations, their opinions. Think about why they've chosen the shoes they're wearing, the lipstick they're applying. Take a trip to parts of town you've not ventured to before and walk among the markets and parks to bus stops and stations you wouldn't usually wait at. You won't get to grips with what motivates people in the real world by sitting at your desk. 02. Be inspired by the inspired You should always embrace your inner Bowie We've all got our secret creative crushes, and I say embrace them. If you're a sucker for Starck, or a bastion of Bowie, go all out. Buy the books, listen to the music, see the films, wear the fur coat. Sometimes it helps to have a creative middleman (or woman), because then you can trace their inspiration 'ancestry' – see what led them in certain directions and explore where they'll take you. Whenever I'm really stuck for inspiration, I'll grab Diana Vreeland's books and off I go, to the end of Prohibition for Tanqueray, or the suave gentlemen's clubs of Piccadilly for Floris. When it comes to journeying into your imagination, it helps to have a travel companion. 03. Get thee to a bookshop You can never have enough books Bookshops are as much about images as they are about words. The cover of a book is effectively a poster, drawing you in with intrigue, with beauty, with an abstract encapsulation of a narrative. The pages inside are rich with story, information or opinion. In a bookshop, you can see just what succeeds and fails in design – which covers grab you, which titles provoke, which illustrations cause your inner magpie to take flight. When first pitching to Fortnum & Mason, we said that we wanted to think of its ranges as we would editions of books, intertwining visual wit and expert storytelling. That thought (and a long-term love of her work) prompted our later collaboration with Coralie Bickford-Smith on Fortnum's honey range; through her delicate illustrations of hives, flowers and foliage, the story of each flavour is told with the same elegance seen in Coralie's beautiful work for Penguin. My favourite book haunts? Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street, Strand Books in New York, Richard Way in Henley-on-Thames and Blackwell's in Oxford. I never come out empty-handed. 04. Go shopping Shops can be an ideas goldmine; you don't even have to buy anything In our industry, the consumer is king – so behave like one. Get out into the supermarkets, the department stores, the delis. Watch how people behave in front of products, advertising, shelf wobblers. Let your eye be drawn to different finishes, patterns, typefaces, copy lines. Think about what they're saying to you. Got a brief to rebrand an eco-friendly handwash company? Head to a chemist to look at the shelves – is the colour green always earth-friendly? Or is it more clinical than that? Try to decode some of your own assumptions and behaviour. Take photos, buy things, and when you get back to your desk, make mood boards that really encapsulate what you saw. What themes emerge? You'll be amazed at what a supermarket sweep can stir up, even if your brief is for something you wouldn't even buy off the shelf. My top of the shops? Wardour News, any decent stationery shop, the whole of Whole Foods, any large Boots, John Bell & Croyden in Wigmore Street, London... I could go on. 05. Go running Going for a run can give you a great opportunity to just think I began running to benefit my waistline, but I've kept running because it's good for my mind. I run without music, and I plod along with no concern for any improvement in speed. It's the meditative process of putting one foot in front of the other that really helps me overcome any creative rut. On runs I've come up with the thrust for whole presentations, written backs of pack, come up with design routes – all without the presence of a laptop. I've won awards for the things I've thought of midway through a lap of Chorleywood Common. Running is a lesson in persistence, in self-motivation and timing – all vital in our industry, where good ideas sometimes simply have to happen on demand. 06. Let the eye travel Get out of your comfort zone and head somewhere completely diferent Nothing beats getting out of your comfort zone. Heading to somewhere where the air smells different, where the streets echo with another accent and where even the sirens have a different wail is the ultimate awakener for the creative brain. There's no way we could have created our Guinness Africa work without actually going to the bars of Nigeria. But you don't even necessarily have to go far – I defy anyone to go to Dungeness (Kent, England) and come away unmoved. In fact, take any brief, and most destinations can offer some sort of excuse for a visit. You'll never see colour quite like you'll see it in Italy. Berlin is six cities in one, each loaded with incredibly emotive stories and signage. And my heart will always belong to New York, where the subway system alone makes you think differently about design. Travel may not be cheap, but, as they say, it'll always make you richer. Of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but it might just prompt you to get you off your chair and into a more creative way of thinking. I've sometimes even found that not thinking about the brief for a solid hour has been the best way to refocus my mind on the task in hand. An esteemed colleague and I once brainstormed a list of our top 10 TV detectives one night when we really should have been working on a pitch, but it was the light relief we needed to then get on with the job. The fundamental thing is that when you're stuck, don't panic – take action. This article was originally published in issue 273 of Computer Arts, the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Buy issue 273 here or subscribe to Computer Arts here. Related articles: 10 inspirational design cities The 7 best New York agency websites of 2017 32 brilliant design portfolios to inspire you View the full article

As an artist, many of us are drawn to expressing ideas through character designs. I’m constantly seeking to improve, and over the years I’ve picked up some helpful tricks in designing more appealing and expressive characters. It’s important to design not only how your figures look, but also how they tell a story with their gestures and movements. This is especially crucial in the animation industry because the characters you’ll be conceptualising are intended to perform as though they were an actor in a film or TV show. Here are some tips on how to draw a more engaging character. 01. Draw a line of action A straight or curved line forms the foundation of a movement drawingEnvisioning a single line overlaying your drawing can be a simple way of creating a feeling of movement. This line of action can either be straight or curved; both can give a different feeling of movement. While a straight line is usually very fast and direct, a curved line can create a more graceful mood. However, it’s best to avoid a perfectly straight vertical line of action, which may make a drawing feel static. 02. Show what the character is thinking The character's thoughts will help to suggest their actionsJust as we imagine our favourite TV and film characters to be real, we should try to imagine the characters we create have minds of their own. If a character in a drawing is moving or acting, they should have a reason for doing so. Whether it be a broad action such as sprinting or a subtle mannerism such as twirling a strand of hair, the character being presented would most likely have a conscious or unconscious reason for doing so. Keeping this in mind will help you make your character feel more interesting and relatable. 03. Contrast straights and curves A balance of straight and curved lines brings a drawing to lifeThe contrast between straight lines and curved lines is an essential design element. A sketch made up of straight lines would feel too tense, while a drawing using mostly curved lines would lack structure. Curves are generally used to suggest the more fleshy part of the figure, whereas straights are more commonly used to imitate stable and solid segments. For example, compare the use of a straight line for a character’s back and the soft curve of their stomach. 04. Draw from life Get out and about for some invaluable drawing experienceDrawing from life is an extremely helpful observational tool, whether it’s in a classroom or at your local café. Sketching and observing people around you can be beneficial in learning how to draw the human figure and the many emotions it can exhibit. Alternatively, there are life drawing classes. These tend to consist of a mixture of lengthy and short poses – poses set over a longer period of time enable you to capture details and study human anatomy, while quick poses are better suited to the gesture drawing technique (see step five). 05. Use gestures An immediate gesture can be recorded in a short space of timeGesture drawing is a quick way to capture the overall message of a figure. These observational drawings are often done in very short segments – in a life-drawing class, the model may only pose for 30 seconds, forcing the artist to get their first impressions down on paper. In this process of making deliberate and quick lines, try not to worry about how your art looks, or capturing details. You want to focus on the action or feeling of the pose. 06. Employ shape language Different shapes can communicate a unique characterThe use of different shapes is a major tool in character design. As well as helping to convey personality, shapes can also suggest movements or emotions. A character made up of squares may feel more slow and stable, whereas one made up of triangles may give off a more excitable feeling. Circles or curves are often used for more likable characters, and can make them feel friendly and bouncy. 07. Tilt and twist A twisted posture instantly creates an interesting poseA simple way to create a more dynamic pose is to practise using tilts and twists. To help avoid a static pose try using different angles. For instance, the angle of the character’s shoulders could contrast with the angle of their hips. Instead of drawing with angles that are parallel, contrasting angles give the drawing a feeling of flow and rhythm. 08. Apply squash and stretch Squash and stretch are fundamental principles every animator needs to knowAs one of the 12 principles of animation, 'squash and stretch' is a useful technique in giving your drawing more life and energy. In animation a squash is often used as anticipation for a broader action: the stretch. The same can be used in a static drawing: A stretched pose acts as a moment when the character is creating their broadest action, while a squash in a drawing suggests tension. Next page: read on for more tips to bring your characters to life... 09. Draw thumbnail sketches Thumbnail sketches can be done quickly, like gesture drawingsA small thumbnail sketch (perhaps taking the form of a gesture drawing) can be useful for planning out a character’s pose, and enable you to consider different options for conveying an action. Once I come up with a pose I’m happy with, I’ll refine the sketch on a new layer placed on top of the thumbnail. This approach enables me to create a cleaner drawing, while hopefully still reflecting that initial feeling of movement. 10. Consider silhouettes Block out details to see why a pose works (or doesn't)Imagining that your drawing is filled in with black so you can only see the silhouette is a great way to ensure it delivers a clear read. Thinking in terms of silhouettes will also help you to become aware of what’s most important to the pose. Perhaps extending limbs away from the body will give a clearer read than crowding them together? Is your character presenting something of interest? If so, should it be accentuated in the silhouette? 11. Give a feeling of weight Weights have a powerful impact on how your characters moveConsidering weight in a drawing can help create a more believable feeling of motion. This could be shown through anything from the clothing the character’s wearing, to their posture. If a character is holding something light, their posture is going be effortless and the object may not demand much of their attention. On the other hand, a figure carrying a heavy object may be solely focused on holding it up, causing their body to contort into abnormal positions. 12. Keep it loose Quick sketches are a useful template for further workAlong with gesture drawing, sketching quickly and loosely will keep the focus on attitude and storytelling, and stop you from getting too attached to any specific piece that you draw. Beginning with a loose sketch will enable you to make any necessary changes, such as pushing the pose or defining the silhouette, resulting in a clearer drawing. Then of course, when you’re happy with the general pose and gesture it will act as a solid template onto which you can add the final details. 13. Move from sketching to painting Capture the action quicklyWhen moving my sketch into a painting, I begin with a quick sketch that gets the main idea across. Usually at this stage it’s very rough so I can focus on the gesture of the pose I’m going for, rather then spending too much time on details, which I will be working out later. Colours, curves and silhouettes all come togetherNext, I add colour. This helps me to block in shapes. At this point it can be helpful to work out the silhouette, while also considering other design elements, such as straights versus curves. I’ll make any necessary changes to ensure the pose reads well. Finishing touches are added and mistakes ironed outFinally, on a new layer, I’ll begin adding any additional details. I’ll paint and refine the sketch to give it more structure and form. Here I’ll make any final changes to the character, and work out the anatomy that may not have been properly considered in the initial rough sketch. 14. Push your idea Exaggerate your ideas to get the most out of your charactersOften, taking a second pass at your initial drawing can be beneficial. When we think to ourselves what it is we want to draw, we sometimes have a clear picture as to what that action looks like. For instance, say you want to draw your character sitting down. You could very well draw them resting on a chair and that will get the point across. But how might you push it to tell a better story? Maybe they’re bored, and so their posture is slouched and they’re resting their head in their hands. The addition of more exaggerated movements and subtle acting can make for a much more appealing character. 15. Combine expression and body language Visual shortcuts allow artists to communicate what characters are thinkingWe should also consider how the character is feeling. Visual clues such as facial expression and body language can help convey the emotions of the character immediately. A character feeling confident may stand with their shoulders back and their head held high. On the other hand, a timid character may be crossing their arms, with their head hung low. 16. Tell a story Putting a character in a situation tells us about their personalityCharacter design is much more than drawing just a pretty picture. A character drawing could be picture-perfect, with no anatomical flaws and spot-on proportions, but still lack the charm of a character with personality. Drawing your character in varying circumstances will help the viewer to ‘get to know them’. How a character reacts to different situations reveals different aspects of their personality. What’s your character like? How might that affect how they carry themselves in different scenarios? This article was originally published in issue 142 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists – packed with workshops and interviews with fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus must-have kit reviews. Subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: How to generate new ideas for character designs 15 tips for creating characterful creature art 20 top character design tips View the full article

Bungie lead environment artist Daniel Thiger runs us through his techniques for producing realistic, compelling texturing materials with Allegorithmic’s Substance Designer. Allegorithmic CEO and founder Dr Sebastien Deguy will be speaking at Vertex, our debut event for the CG community. Don’t miss out, get your tickets to his talk now. 01. Create an initial shape To create this lava substance, I started with Perlin Noise 1 to define the mass and density of the material. This noise has a good mix of dark and bright values without too much detail. I then used directional warps and blur nodes to define the direction of the lava flow. 02. Refine the shapes To make the shapes read as thick lava flows, I needed to reduce the dark values of the noise. The method I chose was slope blur. By setting it to ‘blur’ and using positive values, I inflated the shapes. Warping was then applied to break them up and add imperfections. 03. Add details to the shapes The reference used for this project featured lots of banded layers running perpendicular to the flow. By using tiled gradient maps that I warped with my main shape, I made the layers appear tucked in underneath. Additional warping and slope blurs were used to add variation. 04. Composite The last steps included blending the refined and detailed shapes together and then warping them for a more integrated look. I used Height Blend to blend the shape with an offset version of itself to create a few more layers. The final touch was to add micro detail noise with fractal sum base. Don’t miss out on Dr Sebastien Deguy's talk, book your ticket now at vertexconf.com. There are still some amazing workshops we’ve yet to announce so keep an eye on our website, where you can also find out more about the other amazing speakers, workshops, recruitment fair, networking event, expo and more. This tutorial originally appeared in issue 112 of 3D Artist, the magazine offering practical inspiration for 3D enthusiasts and professionals. Subscribe to 3D Artist here. Read more: Where to find free textures for 3D projects 8 Super tips for Substance Painter Level up game characters with Creative Assembly View the full article

You're reading 10 Smallest & Fastest Frontend Web Dev Frameworks, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! If you search in Google you’ll find dozens of handy tools for improving your website’s performance. And there’s so much you can do from optimizing images to setting up your own CDN. But here’s one thing few designers think about: optimizing your code. This could mean reducing total HTTP requests, minifying your files, or switching over to […] View the full article

Researchers have found three Sega game apps that connect to insecure servers and risk leaking user data. View the full article

How do you sum up the world's largest country in a piece of branding? That was the challenge faced by Russia's tourist board, which wanted a new identity that would draw travellers and tourists to the country. Its solution, inspired by suprematist art, was a geometric design that could swap out different elements. Accompanied by the slogan "the whole world within Russia", the new Russian tourism logo depicts Russia with a group of 10 brightly coloured shapes that represent different regions in the country. Different shapes stand in for different Russian regions A team of five designers from four Russian agencies – namely Suprematika, Plenum, Artonika and Art.Lebedev – are behind the identity. The logo itself takes its lead from the avant-garde art movement Suprematism, which relies on communicating artistic feeling rather than an accurate depiction of objects. Often this sees a subject take the form of abstract shapes. Thanks to its size and diverse population, Russia can mean different things depending on who you talk to. To reflect this flexibility, the design is open to adaptation by changing out a shape in favour of a photograph or object. Russian cuisine comes together in one logo This is a really clever way of representing lots of different facets of Russia while keeping the design and message consistent at the same time. For example, to communicate Russia's varied landscape, photographs of mountains, forests and volcanoes can be brought together using the format of the shapes. Photo elements can be incorporated into the identity As Egor Myznik, creative director at Plenum strategic marketing agency, says on the Russia brand website: "What can be easier than describing your home country? In an instant, you come up with tons of significant things that you are proud of: food, art, nature, people, events. "The toughest part is to describe so many things and keep it clear and simple at the same time. The created concept elegantly solves this problem, and on top of that gives a lot of freedom in visual system development." What could be more Russian than a matryoshka doll? The identity was chosen as the winner of a competition held by the Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation and the Association of Branding Companies of Russia. Launched way back in 2015, the competition was open to submissions from anyone. It saw 480 logos and 600 slogans pitched for consideration before the winning design was chosen from a shortlist of 10 in a public vote. The shortlisted 10 designs from the competition Art historians could debate all day about whether or not this an accurate use of Suprematism. After all the shapes, while abstract, do sort of follow the sprawling boundaries of the country once you know that's what they stand for. But these people should keep in mind that this is a tourism campaign, not a curated exhibition. This abstract, avant-garde approach is a welcome change of pace to run of the mill tourism branding that relies on recognisable landmarks or flags. The new identity is original, distinctive, and turns people on to an art movement that the country is famous for. What's not to love? The design will be used for sporting events too Related articles: Build a better personal brand When to use humour in branding 5 best and worst brand identities of 2017 View the full article