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It's near-impossible to escape the fact that Star Wars - The Last Jedi is nearly with us. However, it would be a very different film if the original Star Wars had stayed loyal to earlier drafts of George Lucas' script, and to Ralph McQuarrie's beautiful concept art. Review: The Art of Star Wars: The Force AwakensEarly versions of the Star Wars script featured such crazy notions as a Han Solo with green skin and gills, stormtroopers with lightsabers and, instead of Luke Skywalker, a heroine called Luka Starkiller. Imagine that! A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Thankfully you don't have to imagine it any longer; well, except for the green Han Solo. You'll have to carry on imagining that, but as for the rest you're in luck. Students at the DAVE School decided to bring an earlier version of Star Wars to life, and they've made a properly amazing concept trailer for The Star Wars, as the film was originally called. Stormtroopers with lightsabers. What is the world coming to? Based on McQuarrie's art and an earlier script than the one that was used, it's an impressive piece of work that'll be familiar to you in many ways, and jarringly weird in plenty of other ways. C-3PO and R2-D2 are there, sort of, there's a Darth Vader, X-Wings, TIE Fighters and a Death Star, but there's also lots that didn't make the final cut. This scene looks familiar, only, you know, not quite So here there's a bearded, lightsaber-wielding Han Solo, a pointy-eared, monkey-like Chewbacca, and yes, instead of Luke Skywalker we have Luka Starkiller who, we reckon, bears more than a little resemblance to Rey from the more recent Star Wars canon. Bearded Han definitely shoots first It's a short but sweet piece of work with incredible attention to detail, with plenty of shots that are painstaking recreations of Ralph McQuarrie's concept art; let's just hope no-one gets carried away and tries to get a full-length version made, because we can guarantee it would be terrible. He looks a bit weird, but this is still clearly Darth Vader You can find out more about the DAVE School here. Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens at midnight tonight. Related articles: Star Wars artist on how to land that dream job How to illustrate a Star Wars-inspired environment New Star Wars movie poster suggests there will be blood View the full article

For some lucky creative agencies the days of dull and drab cubicle spaces are long gone, with employers realising that inspiring surroundings can have a direct effect on their employees' creativity. They don't have to be located in famous buildings – a tranquil setting, games area, or amazing design office mural can all help to stir the creative juices. Here we showcase 12 awesome design offices, which have been developed to accommodate all the creative needs of an artistic workforce. Why would anyone consider working from home when they could be grafting in one of these? 01. Neo-Pangea Neo-Pangea's design office is housed in a former bank building Neo-Pangea’s sprawling studio is located several stones’ throws outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, in a renovated former bank building. An open, communal workspace is kitted out with custom-built desks made from steel and aged walnut planks, and the studio's data server is housed securely in what used to be the bank vault, complete with a lead-lined door. "At Neo-Pangea, we believe that there’s always room for whimsy," says 'Lord High Vocabumancer' Jay Tremblay. "Visitors can find eclectic curios plucked from different eras of history hidden around every corner of the studio, just begging to be discovered." 02. The Barbarian Group A sinuous mega-desk seats the entire team The Barbarian Group's motto is, 'It’s gonna be awesome', and its design office doesn't disappoint. The studio brings together curious people from a bunch of different disciplines, so the workspace is geared towards collaboration. Architect Clive Wilkinson designed the sinuous, single 4,400 square-foot desk the whole group sits around as one team. "We think of it as an undulating surface of awesomeness that keeps ideas flowing," says chief creative officer Edu Pou. "Some of our best meetings happen beneath the arches of the desk; these nooks really facilitate interaction and creativity. "Working at the Superdesk is a constant reminder that good enough is never good enough. It keeps the tribe happy and inspired everyday. Our office is a piece of art for crying out loud!" 03. Shopify Shopify's Ottawa headquarters is spread over six themed floors When ecommerce software company Shopify moved to a new headquarters in Ottawa, Canada, in 2014, it worked with a leading architecture firm to create an incredible design office. Each of the six floors has a different theme, including Canadiana and streetscapes, and there are plenty of nooks in which to work or put your feet up. Alongside this library on the speakeasy-themed floor, other rooms range from phone booths to Scandinavian sauna-style arenas. Employees can book them using Google Calendar, and reservations show up on iPads outside the door. "As a company looking to change the future of commerce, we hold onto historical mementos like old-fashioned cash registers to remind us how far we’ve come, and how far we have to go," says marketing manager Courtney Symons. "And just like at home, we can wear moccasins to replace our snowy winter boots when we settle in during the long Canadian winters." 04. Airbnb Anyone is free to work in the open spaces dotted around Airbnb's design office Most of the design team at Airbnb is based in this vibrant studio in San Francisco. "We work in what are essentially neighbourhoods built around large ‘project rooms’ that are modular spaces with displays, whiteboards, pinboards and tall tables," says vice president of design Alex Schleifer. "Everyone is free to pick up and work in the many open spaces distributed around the office. People are also free to change spaces by decorating them." 05. ICRAVE, NYC ICRAVE has an office space that we seriously crave ourselves. Image via Design MilkAward-winning New York City-based design and branding firm ICRAVE combines minimalist aspects into its amazing offices. With areas designed to mimic hotel lobbies and the reception doubling up as a DJ booth, there are some seriously fun aspects to this interior. The 8,000-square-foot space on Madison Square Park boasts flexible workspaces to encourage employee interaction and collaboration. Teamed with wooden decoration and cute chalkboards, it's an office we'd love to work in. 06. Google, Zurich Google employees relax with a little sportGoogle offices really are incredible places, so you won't be surprised to find more than one included in this list. But our favourite of all its designs has to be the Zurich offices. How any Google employees get any work done here, we have no idea. There's rooms to play sports, sing and dance, get a massage, an aquarium where employees can relax in a foam-filled bath, a sky lounge, jungle and movie room, slides, fireman's poles and much, much more. But we also love the different themed Gondolas dotted around, which serve as meeting rooms. Amazing. The Google Zurich offices have various different themed Gondolas, including these fake ski cabin designs07. BICOM Communications Montreal designer Jean de Lessard filled the BICOM offices with all sorts of stylish goodiesMontreal designer Jean de Lessard was recently commissioned to transform the offices of Canadian PR agency BICOM Communications into an area that inspires its employees and drives creativity. The result is this wide open space, filled with all sorts of stylish goodies. The main feature of Lessard's design is the house-like pods, included to define work areas and each with their own decor, including fake grass and wood panelling. The company's social areas include some slick furniture as well as its name up in bright lights. BICOM gets its name up in lights...08. Mind Candy The Mind Candy offices feature this wooden treehouse, which doubles as a meeting roomThis plant-infested palace is the office of game company Mind Candy. This is no ordinary workspace; the company's new headquarters is decked out with astroturf carpeting, vines hanging from the ceiling, a wooden treehouse and gingerbread house that double as meeting rooms, bright artwork around every corner, a colouring-in wall and quiet areas that look like hobbit holes. Last but by no means least, there's a helter skelter-style slide to deliver employees from one floor to another. Genius. Who needs stairs when you can take this cool slide between floors?09. Google Japan Gorgeous - but would you want to work here, or would the decor be too distracting?Google Japan's office is adorned with loud patterns and bright colours as well as a few inspirational examples of furniture design. Each team has their own specifically designed area that continues the theme of bold, in-your-face design. Whilst this environment might not be to everyone's taste, it's still a pretty impressive office when it comes to the nine to five. Google Japan's office is adorned with loud patterns and bright colours10. Adobe We love this stunning use of typography for one of Adobe's meeting roomsEarlier this year Rapt Studio gave Adobe's 260,000 square foot campus a brilliantly creative makeover. This exclusive video documents El Mac completing his spray paint mural. It's a one-of-a-kind project that centres the entire building around a piece of street art. In addition to work by El Mac, there's also a mural from tattoo and street artist Mike Giant. The design also features an employee café, full NBA-sized indoor basketball court, a game room named The Bunker, a fully equipped gym, and interactive artwork inspired by Adobe's products. Does your office have a chilled area like this? Ours neither!11. Cartoon Network, Atlanta We wonder how long it took to deck this awesome cubicle out with all those stickers...The Cartoon Network offices in Atlanta still adopt a cubicle system, which, in many circumstances, may not be the most exciting working environment. But this one is anything but dull. While employees may not be able to see each other, instead each individual's workspace is personally customised. Although many follow the theme of children's TV, cubicles can be found full of all sorts, from bright, colourful furniture and cartoon characters to mascots, photos, stickers and magnets. Cartoon Network employees get their own customise designed cubicle workspace12. TBWA, New York The TBWA New York offices has no allocated seating, meaning employees can sit wherever they choose each dayItalian artist, designer and architect Gaetano Pesce was the brains behind this very cool New York office space for ad agency TBWA. The outdoor-inspired design features a huge wide-open floorplan, full basketball court, big-screen TV, a classic London telephone box and even has trees growing inside of the building to give it a fresh feel. With no allocated desk spaces, the TBWA team are also encouraged to change seats each day to encourage impromptu encounters and collaborations. The big, open space is filled with awesome design features, including sculptures and a red telephone box13. Mother London This impressive table accommodates roughly 200 employees, who are required to change seats every six weeksWe have to admit, the studio of London-based ad agency Mother London leaves us with a serious amount of office space envy. Designed by Clive Wilkinson Architects, it'd take us a while to list all the cool features held within these four walls. But our favourites include meeting rooms filled with quirky, one-off pieces of vintage furniture and, probably most impressive of all, the cool 250ft communal concrete table, which accommodates roughly 200 employees. 14. Inventionland, Pittsburgh Inventionland developed 15 different sets for its employees to work in, including this cool race trackInventionland is the design facility of Pittsburgh-based invention promotion firm Davison Design & Development. But more importantly, it has offices unlike any we've ever seen. The 70,000sqft facility was designed with 15 different sets, created by the company itself and built almost entirely in-house. Lucky employees get to work in the awesome surroundings of pirate ships, castles, robots and faux caves among other things. And that's not all, the facility also has a state-of-the-art sound, video and animation studio and fully-equipped workshops for creating working prototypes of inventions. Jealous? We are! Ship Ahoy! Inventionland staff are busy at work on this awesome pirate ship15. Ogilvy & Mather, China This interior design project was the first ever to receive the prestigious China's Most Successful Design AwardWe're loving this carnival-inspired office belonging to international advertising, marketing and public relations agency Ogilvy & Mather in China. Designed by M Moser and Associates, the office was the first interior design project to receive China’s Most Successful Design Award in 2008. The design, titled 'A Carnival of Ideas', incorporates merry-go-round horses, life-sized nutcrackers and lots of other cool amusement park-themed features. The Carnival of Ideas theme runs throughout the building, featuring merry-go-round horses and other amusement park themed attractions16. Pixar, Emeryville Pixar employees don't work in regular office cubicles...An obvious one, we know. But we couldn't do a list of awesome design offices without including animation giant Pixar. It's hard to understand how the staff get any work done here with so many things to play with, but also no wonder they come up with such great ideas in these surroundings. Similar to the guys at the Cartoon Network offices, Pixar adopts a cubicle system, and each is customised to its employee's tastes. But that's not all: Every hallway and communal area is littered with life-size movie characters, space hoppers, scooters... the list goes on. The building even has it's own cereal room! Coco Pops anyone? The busy offices are full of inspiring decor. Are those the wheels of a scooter we can see?Related articles: What do you need to do to become a creative director? Get inspired with these portfolio examples We reveal the best desk exercises View the full article

You're reading New Year Giveaway, Win Designmodo Products Valued at $5485!, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! With 2017 winding down and 2018 right around the corner, we wanted to say thank you for supporting our cause, and appreciate your continued support. We invite you to join our giveaway! This year we launched Startup Framework 2, Slides 3 and updated Qards to 1.5, as well released many beautiful products in the Market, and posted tons of helpful articles. Next year we will launch even more new and exciting stuff. At this special time of year, we give thanks for clients like you who have made our jobs easier and our lives more fulfilling. Thank you for being you. View the full article

Microsoft patched 34 vulnerabilities in all on Tuesday with most of the bugs impacting Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Office and Microsoft’s Scripting Engine. View the full article

A ransomware campaign targeting the Balkans comes with a 96-hour deadline and includes a link to a video that assures victims payments can be made easily. View the full article

From low fidelity to high fidelity, the design world is now filled with prototyping tools. The best prototyping tools help you iterate quickly while preserving design consistency. They become more than just a tool, in fact, but rather a platform for full creativity and experimentation with the entire product team. Today, let’s look at prototyping tools worth considering for your workflow in the coming year. 01. UXPin UXPin is the only end-to-end tool around As the only end-to-end platform currently available, UXPin aims to be the 'one tool to rule them all'. Aside from advanced prototyping, it also supports multiple stages of the design process: prototyping, collaboration, documentation, and developer handoff. It's certainly the most robust in terms of features and capabilities. For prototyping, the tool includes features like responsive breakpoints, animations, advanced interactions, CSS styling, and built-in UI libraries. The most interesting recent feature is design systems. You can import from Sketch or create in UXPin itself, then attach documentation that permanently follows all elements. You’re able to prototype more consistently and standardise documentation with your development team. The tool also integrates with Sketch, Photoshop, Jira, and Slack (although it currently doesn't integrate with Illustrator). While it has a slight learning curve, UXPin is a solid tool not just for multi-device prototyping but larger issues like design workflow, design consistency, and developer handoffs. 02. Webflow Webflow's website management features help it shine Webflow sells itself on being a prototyping tool that doesn’t require code, but most of the software on this list doesn’t either. What really sets it apart is its website management features. Webflow includes a master CMS and hosting features along with design options. For environments where design and site management are one and the same, Webflow offers everything you need in one platform. The tool makes it easy to edit sites while they’re live, via a Photoshop-esque interface. This hosting-prototyping combination without the hassle of coding makes Webflow a great tool for independent and freelance designers whose everyday duties include more than just design. 03. Principle Principle is a solid tool for animation Principle is a prototyping app that specialises in animation. This prototyping tool features a novel timeline editor, similar to Adobe After Effects or the now-deprecated Flash. Actually, it features two timelines, which means you can animate multiple objects on the same page. While Principle’s animation and video benefits are top-notch, other areas are less impressive. Projects that don’t have a lot of 'moving parts' would be better suited to a different tool, but if accurate animations are your top priority, Principle is worth a look. 04. Marvel Marvel's simplified UI makes it good for beginners Looking for design tool that non-designers can use too? Marvel’s niche is that it’s the prototyping software for just about anyone: its highly simplified interface makes it fast and easy to learn. The tool works well for both non-designers and advanced UX folks. Likewise, Marvel has strong integration with Photoshop and Sketch, and it definitely proves useful when importing libraries for use from Sketch. 05. Adobe XD Could Adobe's XD rival Sketch? The latest addition to Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite, Adobe XD is one of the younger entries on this list, having been released in beta in March 2016 and in full in October 2017. Nevertheless, this prototyping tool is Adobe’s attempt to take Sketch’s market; the two programs are already established rivals, with Adobe XD banking on high-fidelity interactions to help it come out on top. XD is mostly self-sufficient, which is a good thing because, as an Adobe product, you’re locked into Adobe plugins. The tool’s greatest limitation so far, however, is the lack of text formatting (underline, capitalisation and so on). Still, we’re looking forward to seeing how this young contender develops in the future against end-to-end platforms. 06. Axure RP Axure has a heavyweight interface for complex interactions The most legacy tool on this list, Axure is known for its complex interactions (at the cost of workflow features like collaboration and developer handoff). It’s definitely one of the most complicated and intricate options around, but if you can overlook a steep learning curve, the functionality (like conditional prototyping) may be worth the extra time required to get to grips with it. Axure RP separates itself from competitors with its complexity. While other prototyping tools try to simplify their interfaces, Axure goes in the opposite direction, offering a heavy interface to cater to designers who want more control (although alienating novices in the process). One of the most divisive prototyping tools on the list, Axure is a love-it-or-hate-it tool. If you want more control and technical details over desktop products, you’ll love it. If you’re looking for a simpler and faster multi-device prototyping, look elsewhere. 07. Framer To use Framer you must first get to grips with CoffeeScript Framer is a speciality prototyping tool for Apple users that requires a strong grasp to unlock its full potential. But once you’ve learned CoffeeScript (Framer’s simplified version of JavaScript), you can manipulate just about any element on the canvas to your liking. Again, this tool isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve been meaning to pick up coding already, Framer could be a good stepping stone. It also integrates with Sketch. 08. Flinto Flinto is designed around its transition options The main strength of Flinto is transitions. Flinto’s entire approach, down to the format of its editor, revolves around transitions. Its Transition Designer view – an alternative of the standard canvas – allows you to manipulate or tweak each transitional element faster and with less effort than the other tools on this list. This makes it ideal for projects where you need to fine-tune the user flow between many pages, with features for controlling transition speed and previews that provide immediate feedback. While Flinto facilitates transitions, other areas might require extra work. For example, animating different areas on the same object with different timing is a no-go. Likewise, creating different states for a single screen requires multiple pages. Small setbacks like this are the cost for increased efficiency in transition editing. Finding the right tool for the job As you may have noticed, each of the above eight design tools has their own unique strengths and specialties. It’s not so much about 'choosing the best' as it is about 'choosing the best for you'. For example, if complex animations are a top priority, Principle might work best. If you don’t have design experience, Marvel seems like a good option. If you only need only one tool from beginning to end, UXPin is the choice for you. So if you want to make 2018 the time when your designs shine, it might be worth trying something new. View the full article

You've got the talent to land a top job in 3D, but so do a lot of people. Sometimes the deciding factor in who gets the most exciting jobs isn't how great your 3D art is, but how good you are at telling people about it. To help you land a dream job in 3D, we grilled the very people who look at your showreel and read your CV/resume to find out what you need to do to make a killer application and get the job of your dreams. Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to 3D World 01. Look out for opportunities on LinkedIn When it comes to finding job opportunities, one thing is clear: you need to put a lot of effort into LinkedIn. Framestore, Jellyfish Pictures and Double Negative all mentioned it when asked how to find out about available roles, and Jellyfish said that most of its applications come from LinkedIn. Double Negative told us that despite receiving a large volume of direct applications, it still often needs to approach people via LinkedIn if it is hiring in high numbers, so you need to make sure that your profile is up to date so that recruiters can find you in searches. It's good to state when you're available, too. Studios post vacancies and details of events they are attending on LinkedIn and other social media, so make sure you're following them. It's also worth keeping an eye on sites such as CreativeHeads, AnimatedJobs and CG Meetup. Elf Archer, a project by Milen Piskuliyski, lead texture artist at Framestore Framestore gets just under half of its hires from its online application process, around 20 per cent from referrals, and the rest through either in-person or online networking, so it's vital that you work to expand your network and keep in touch with the people you already know. Studios regularly ask their employees for referrals, so just knowing someone who works at a company you're interested in could get you in the door. Go to the careers fairs and industry events so you can make contact in person, and connect with talent acquisition teams on LinkedIn. 02. Tailor your application There are two key pieces of advice for putting your application together: it should be closely tailored to both the studio and the particular role in question, and you should try to find a way to make yourself stand out. Natalie Tidey, head of talent acquisition at Double Negative, recommends finding out interesting facts about the company you're applying to, including these in your cover letter and explaining why you want to work for that company in particular. This will make you stand out from the rest: "It shows us that you've done your research, and that your application is thoughtful," she says. Staff at work in the AXIS studios For your CV/resume, "clear, concise, focused" is the mantra to keep in mind. Unless you're just starting out, don't put everything you've ever done on there – just include the things that are relevant for this particular job. The recruiter is scanning a lot of CVs for key criteria and they're busy, so help them do their job; let your CV be the one that gives them just what they're looking for. It's time-consuming, but you should even be tailoring your showreel to the company and role. Framestore, for example, specialises mostly in photo-real work, "So a reel full of CG animation and a cover letter that doesn't talk about why you are looking to make the move into more photo-realistic work is unlikely to be successful," says Amy Smith, head of talent, film, at Framestore. 03. Make a great showreel "Generally, when I watch reels, I am very pushed for time – the first 10 seconds counts for a lot!" says Dave Cook, CG supervisor and joint head of 3D at Jellyfish. Get the action underway quickly, put your best and most distinctive work first, and cut ruthlessly to keep the whole thing short; no longer than two minutes. If you still have a lot of work to show, make separate videos that focus on different skills. The structure should also be tailored to the company; if the studio has a specialism, prioritise that work. "If you don't have it, make it," says Mario Aquaro, head of rigging at AXIS. "If you want to work on a specific project style but you don't have any work experience, spend time trying to build a personal project where you can show what you can do. Sometimes, an incomplete work tells more than a final production; it gives the person watching it an idea of your potential and real aspirations." A still from Halo: The Fall of Reach, an animated short produced by The Sequence Group that's part of Halo 5: Guardians The final consideration when selecting work for your reel is to think about how you're going to stand out from all the other applicants whose work is high quality and fitting for the role. "It's worth thinking about the concept of 'flair'." says Smith of Framestore. "We see a lot of reels from certain schools/training programmes that look very, very similar because everyone has worked on the same training pieces. If that is you then it's really worth thinking about how you could personalise these pieces and add your own twist to briefs you are given. "You can also look at working on a personal piece or two outside of school if you feel your reel could do with standing out more." 04. Include a breakdown "Always include a breakdown," says Tidey. "[Do it] either in the reel itself by providing turntables for models and showing the mesh, or layering in the lighting passes; or if this isn't possible, provide an accompanying document describing what you did on the asset or in the shot, and how you achieved it." A still from a short produced by The Sequence Group for Concord Pacific The breakdown is vital for showing your working process, but Cook notes that it is also important to identify which elements of a shot you actually did: "This is especially true if you have shots from big shows that will be on quite a few folks' reels." For models, Cook likes to see a wireframe and even a UV layout; for lighting, a breakdown of passes; for rigging, a good range of motion and demonstration of any animation interface. Aquaro recommends adding space for a text description in which you should explain your role and what you have done, keeping the text short and clear. You can provide a separate breakdown that goes into more detail. 05. Don't stress over music on your reel Music is a debate that comes up a lot, but of the recruiters we spoke to, most said it wasn't a priority. "Don't worry about any clever edits to music," says Smith. "Personally I don't mind whether you have music or not, but I do care if you have made a music video rather than a showcase for your work. If the cuts are too short and snappy because you're trying to work with the music then we can't see what you've done, and that's just frustrating!" Aquaro agreed that it is a secondary concern: "Watching a showreel that is well synchronised with the soundtrack sure is cool, but don't lose sight of your real goal: clearly presenting your work". Jellyfish Picture's art director Ross Burt creating a character for Dennis and Gnasher For The Sequence Group, however, the ability to synchronise your reel with compelling music is a skill it values in itself: "If you can create a pulse to your work and keep us watching beyond the first 20 seconds, that shows us you have talent beyond the content you've created," says Ian Kirby, founder and creative director. When you've made all these tricky judgement calls and put your reel together, get someone else to look at it with fresh eyes for you, and make sure the video itself is easily accessible by putting it on a streaming site such as Vimeo or YouTube. Multiple people from each studio are going to look at it, so it should be easy to share and work on any platform. You should also put a simple title card in the reel with your contact details so it's easy for people to get in touch if they like what they see. 06. Nail the interview If your application and reel have done their job and got you an interview, you'll need to prepare for three key things: talking in detail about your work process, demonstrating that you're a good fit for the company, and asking thoughtful questions. "Really prepare carefully for how you want to present your work to us and what you would like to say about each piece," says Smith. "Interviews in this industry can be very informal, which often catches people out. Informal doesn't mean that you or we shouldn't or don't care! "All it means is that we want you to feel comfortable and not nervous and able to really talk us through the work on your reel; why you approached things the way you did, how you would do something differently next time, how you approached a challenge that came your way, and so on." The Sequence Group discussing work in the video room Tidey recommends finding out what you can about the company's culture and what values are important to them. "At Dneg, we value collaboration, teamwork and initiative, so ensure that you have examples of how you have demonstrated these values in the past." Your company-fit is being assessed as well as your technical and creative skill, so you need to give this some careful consideration. Finally, you should have some questions ready to ask your interviewers: all the recruiters mentioned this, so don't leave it out. "Thoughtful questions demonstrate genuine interest in the company and the person who is interviewing you; perhaps ask them about their own experience at Dneg, and what they like about working at the company," says Tidey. Getting your dream job is about timing, persistence and careful preparation, so spruce up your LinkedIn, follow every company you're interested in on social media, keep in touch with your network, and get out there to attend industry events. Once you have an opportunity in your sights, if you follow the advice we've laid out here and take care to avoid the common blunders, you'll give yourself the best possible chance of achieving your goals. Good luck. This article originally appeared in issue 228 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists – packed with expert tutorials, inspiration and reviews. Buy issue 228 here or subscribe to 3D World here. Special Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to 3D World for you or a friend for Christmas. It's a limited offer, so move quickly... Liked this? Read these: 30 free 3D models How to land your dream job in animation 30 brilliantly creative resumés View the full article

https://thehackernews.com/2017/12/data-breach-password-list.html … View the full article

An instantly recognisable piece of packaging design is one of the most valuable tools at a brand manager's disposal. Whether it's through prominently displaying distinctive logos such as the Nike Swoosh or McDonald's Golden Arches, or by harnessing a brand's colours, packaging helps products to get noticed in a sea of competition. But when a brand is big enough, it can afford to get creative and change its design on occasion, as these five examples reveal. 01. Skittles Give the Rainbow Famed for its spectrum of colours, with a slogan that even reads 'taste the rainbow', Skittles decided to use a monochrome design when it came to celebrating Pride 2016. And it was so successful, the brand repeated this campaign for a whole month for Pride 2017. The thinking behind this colourless design was that there should only be one rainbow when it comes to celebrating gay Pride, so the sweet brand stepped aside and let the parades take centre stage. Clever, eye-catching, and progressive, this is a perfect example of a brand tweaking its existing image to accommodate an event. Other brands take note: this is how you do it. 02. Mars Believe Mars supports football fans with the Belive campaignThe change from Mars to Believe has been an on-and-off campaign since 2006. Designed to support the England football team in the Euro 2016 tournament in France, the latest Believe packaging was supported by a massive media campaign across digital platforms. "Our Mars #Believe campaign recognises the importance of genuine consumer engagement around the tournament matches and this is echoed in each element of our approach – from our limited edition packaging, to our TV creative and digital engagement," says Greg Kent, Mars brand manager. This campaign couldn't stop England crashing out of the competition in a game against Iceland, though. 03. Coca-Cola Share a Coke Share a Coke with this genius campaignThe huge Share a Coke campaign is perhaps one of the most successful product redesigns in branding history. With the Coca-Cola stylings and colourways already immediately recognisable, the soft drinks company decided to focus on a social theme to get its name out there even more. By replacing the title Coca-Cola on one side of the bottle with one of the top 250 names in that particular country (including generic nicknames and titles to ensure that everyone felt included), consumers felt an unparalleled connection with the iconic brand. 04. KitKat YouTube Break Take a YouTube breakIf we were to say "have a break", chances are most of you would immediately respond with a reflex reply of "have a KitKat". However, all that temporarily changed in 2015 as the chocolate finger snack rebranded itself as YouTube Break. Released as part of a limited run across 600,000 bars in the UK, YouTube Break was run as part of a tie-in between Nestle and Google. With Google tending to name its operating systems after sweet snacks, including the Android 4.4 KitKat, the rebrand suddenly makes sense. 05. Beck's Beer Art Pioneering artists get the support they need with Beck'sPopular beverage brand Beck's beer supported artists back in 2012 by showcasing four of the world's top talents on the labels of its 275ml Beck's Pilsner bottles. "We are always looking to support artists who are doing really interesting and ground-breaking work. The work that may go unnoticed at first, but can’t be ignored," said Fabienne Rollot, European marketing director at Beck's. This temporary redesign is one of many initiatives in the beer's long history of supporting creative talent. Through its Arts Label initiative the brand promoted the likes of Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. A Facebook app accompanied the campaign, which allowed users to create their own artwork. Related articles: 40 awesome packaging designs 15 online packaging design resources The designer’s guide to using colour in branding View the full article

There are plenty of amazing design books around, but some of the best lessons can be learned from books that are about a different topic altogether. Recently, GV partner Daniel Burka put out a Tweet asking the hivemind which non-design books had taught them the most about their profession, and the thread proved hugely popular. Designers across the industry, from disciplines ranging from graphic designers to web pros and specialists in UX or UI design, got in on the discussion. We gathered some top designers' picks, and asked them what their choice taught them. 01. Understanding Comics Comic book art has a lot in common with sequential interfaces On the surface, you might not naturally link comic books and websites. But Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art has a lot to teach web designers, argues digital product designer Cennydd Bowles "Scott McCloud wasn't writing for designers, of course, but it turns out that understanding sequential art is spookily similar to understanding sequential interfaces," he says. "It's rich with Gestalt theory and the sort of taxonomic thinking that information architects love." 02. Film Music and Everything Else This book helped Brendan Dawes see the world in a new way Experimental designer Brendan Dawes tends to avoid buying the obvious design books. "I think it’s more important to look outside your own field of expertise," he explains. "That’s much more interesting to me." Dawes picked Charles H Bernstein's Film Music and Everything Else, which he first came across in a tiny bookshop in Ojai, California. It piqued his interest as a fan of film music, but it ended up being relevant to his work as a designer. "This book is almost like a mini philosophy manual, talking about creativity in its widest possible sense, helping you look at the world in a different way, which you can then apply in a myriad of ways in your work no matter what that might be," he says. "For me, interaction design is about rhythm and composition as much as film music is." 03. How Buildings Learn How Building's Learn was the book that kicked off the whole discussion Stewart Brand's book on what happens after buildings are built was the book that kicked off the whole thread. It proved popular with respondents, including digital consultant and UX designer Andy Parker. "Reading How Buildings learn is a critical reminder of all the design practices we desperately want to move away from: exhaustive planning, big design up-front, not working with customers, and allowing rockstar egotism to influence direction," he says. "It's a powerful reminder of how costly these methods of design can be." The book is also an important reminder of the effects of designing based purely on aesthetics. "The greatest insight is in how people change the space you design to suit the way they live – not the way you envisaged it. They knock down partitions, repurpose rooms, and relocate entire structures for the house to flow how they want it to," he continues. "There is so much we can learn from architecture and remind ourselves how fortunate we are that what we write today is dead tomorrow and replaceable for free." The book was also turned into a TV show on the BBC, which you can now watch on YouTube. 04. Castle David Macaulay's picture books are popular for professionals in all fields David Macaulay gained fame for explaining how things work via charming illustrations, including architectural picture books examining cathedrals, castles, pyramids and more. Product designer Hannah Donovan picked these as her favourite books about design that's aren't design books. "They not only show the process of making something (in this case constructing a building), but they also present this process in a beautiful way where the reader cannot help but love the processes as much as the product," she comments. 05. Flow Flow has plenty of insights for interaction designers Designer and information architect Doug Somerville picked national best-seller Flow by Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, which studies the psychology of happiness. "Flow was a great introduction to some the psychology behind cognition, concentration, feedback and motivation," he says. "The ‘state of flow’ (and understanding it or being able to create the conditions for it) presented in the book has so many parallels to interaction design, service design, information architecture, game design and lots of other fields." 06. Different This book explores how to truly break the mould Published in 2010, Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd by Youngme Moon explores how going against the grain – rather than tirelessly competing to be the best at the same things – is the ticket to success. The book had a big impact on product manager and UX designer Clint Gardiner. As well as teaching him to ignore the competition, it also reinforced that innovation can happen through the removal of benefits and functionality. "Not everything that is important can be measured," he explains. "Data and research are only one piece of the puzzle, and never tell us the full story. We need to be careful what conclusions we draw." To see Gardiner's notes on the book, look here. 07. The Power of Habit Insights into human behaviour can be a powerful tool for designers Most designers spend their days crafting things for people to use, so it makes sense that understanding human behaviour would improve your design skills. UX designer Shane Guymon picked The Power of Habit as his top design book that's not about design. "This book does a really good job of providing an understanding for why we do what we do as humans. It helps understand how habits are formed and how to influence habits," he says. "The dangerous aspect of this book is that this understanding can also be used to manipulate people into forming habits that you want them to have, but that they don't inherently want." 08. Creativity Inc. Andy Budd argues that Pixar is the original Silicon Valley tech startup A few years ago, Andy Budd invited Pixar's Michael B Johnson to UX London to share some insights into the process of making movies. "At the time I remember people thinking it was a strange choice. After all, what could UX designers learn from a film company?" he recalls. "Once the talk was over, the answer became clear. Irrespective of the medium, Pixar has built a culture designed around creativity, along with a process that is more akin to a tech startup than a traditional movie studio." Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull – the current president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios – takes a deep-dive into the company's creative process and culture. "While the medium is vastly different, the leadership lessons Catmull shares are as relevant to our industry as any book on lean product management of digital leadership," continues Budd. "In fact, you could argue that Pixar is the original Silicon Valley tech startup." 09. Thinking in Systems This primer breaks down the challenges of designing systems Digital product designer Cennydd Bowles also opted for Donella H Meadows' Thinking in Systems, a primer on the methodology of systems-based thinking. "Advanced design is largely systems design. "For me, this book was a one-way valve to a new way of seeing," he enthuses. "You learn where interventions can actually make a difference, and where they will be wasted. You start to see the whole world as a network of systems, and roll your eyes at the doomed mistakes you see repeated all around you." 10. The Laws of Simplicity This guide helps you get more from less John Maeda is a professor in MIT's media lab, and this is his second appearance on this list. Maeda's 2006 book The Laws of Simplicity examines how to make things simple without stopping them being useful, and is super-useful for designers of all kinds. It's Doug Somerville's "go-to non-design book for unblocking tricky design problems". "Simplicity is a goal (or principle) for most designers, and Maeda’s book is a concise and precise study on how to achieve it," he says. "Even the structure of it is beautifully simple. It’s an enjoyable quick read and a valuable reference book to keep coming back to for ideas and quotes." Read more: 56 best free fonts for designers 5 must-read books for design students 11 huge web design trends for 2018 View the full article

When you're browsing the web, you can never be too sure about who might be watching, be it your ISP, advertisers, or even the government. One of the best ways to ensure your privacy online is to use the protection of a VPN. And this daily deal means you get two years of protection from Private Internet Access (PIA) on sale now for 63% off the retail price. Whether you're trying to avoid hackers who want to steal your information or your own ISP attempting to gather your browsing data, a VPN is an essential tool for hiding yourself from the prying eyes that are after your data. Public Wi-Fi can be dangerous, but Private Internet Access can make it safe again by providing a encrypted connection that you can connect to at any time, anywhere, on up to five devices at once. It’s an essential tool for remote workers and anyone who wants to keep their information safe while working in public. Two years of protection from Private Internet Access Usually costs $166, but you can get it on sale now for 63% off the retail price. That means you pay just $59.95 (approx. £45). It's a great deal for a necessary piece of protection to stay safe online, so grab it 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. Check out these other amazing deals: The best laptop deals for Christmas 2017 The best iPad deals for Christmas 2017 The best Wacom tablet deals for Christmas 2017 View the full article

In the context of the web, you might already have thought about APIs in the form of services made available by third parties. Google, for example, exposes a Google Maps API that you can consume as a developer to integrate Google’s mapping, street view, navigation and more into your app. This involves importing scripts hosted on Google servers, then using objects and functions from those scripts in line with the API documentation, which it provides. APIs like this are generally what we’d refer to as “server-side APIs”. However, what you might never have considered is that the basic JS functionality built into the browser is also composed of a set of APIs, which are constantly being updated. These “client-side APIs” provide many of the basic features taken for granted within JS, such as manipulating the DOM, embedding graphics/sound, or interfacing with the device you’re running on. More likely than not you’ll have read documentation for many of them online when building a site/app. These APIs are typically based on a single specification which ensures that all browser makers implement the functionality consistently, thus ensuring that your code works across any browser. APIs in common use today XMLHTTPRequest XMLHTTPRequest has for some time been the JavaScript API used to send asynchronous requests to a server. This can allow you to, for example, retrieve data from the server and update a page without having to reload the full page. Its name is an anachronism since it works with JSON as well as XML. It’s likely to be superseded by the more recent Fetch API over time. Web Sockets Web sockets enable a two-way communication session to be opened between a browser and server. This enables the server to provide updates to the user without the browser needing to poll the server at an interval. Web sockets are in use on a number of sites today; on Stack Overflow they’re used to feed live notifications of responses to questions. DOM functions This may seem like a cop-out, but it’s important to think about. Even core JavaScript functions do things like manipulate the DOM. Think of the document object as an entry point. This means while they may be defined in separate specifications, there’s little fundamental difference between the new APIs we’ll look at below and core JavaScript functions that have been around for years. Henri HELLvetica – developer and performance master, will deliver a talk at Generate New York called Planet Of The APIs Want to know more about APIs? Henri HELLvetica is a man in the know. He is a freelance developer who has turned his interests to a potpourri of performance engineering with pinches of user experience. His talk at Generate New York from 25-27 April 2018 - Planet Of The APIs: A Tale Of Performance & User Experience – peruses present-day and even experimental practices employed in measuring web apps, and providing performant user experiences. You can find him tweeting at @HenriHelvetica Want to see Henri in the flesh extolling the virtues of APIs? Get your ticket now Read local files with the File API 15 Web APIs you've never heard of Boost your WordPress workflow with REST API View the full article

Vertex is the event connecting all areas of the UK visual effects community, for a day of presentations, workshops, recruitment and discussion. Come to watch talks by some of the world's biggest names in VFX, including Scott Ross, Chris Nichols, Brett Ineson, Sébastien Deguy and more. Book tickets for workshops run by some top artists, from Glen Southern to Mike Griggs among others. If you want to get your hands on the very latest tech, then the expo access tickets are for you and are even free but you do need to register to get the tickets, so book now over at the Vertex site. Knowledge is 3D power Our speakers will be sharing their wealth of knowledge on a variety of topics set to inspire and educate. In his talk, Christopher Nichols, founding member of the Wikihuman project, will share insights his team have learned while trying to create the most realistic digital human possible. Founder of Digital Domain Scott Ross will use the benefit of his industry experience to discuss what he thinks the pitfalls and opportunities are for the VFX industry. Brett Ineson will talk through translating actors into entirely different species for Justice League and Warcraft – which boasts the largest recorded mocap volume to date. Brett will also reveal behind-the-scenes secrets from Gears of War 4 that powered the game's biggest stunts. For more details about other speakers and workshop leaders, head to www.vertexconf.com. Build your career Vertex is the place to head if you are looking to take the next step in your career. Are you an enthusiastic hobbyist looking to take your first role in VFX, a student about to graduate, or an experienced pro? Then head to the recruitment fair, talk to studios about openings they have and even have a portfolio review, to learn how to best promote your skills. You even have the opportunity to ask questions directly to leading professionals in our Ask An Artist segment. How to get tickets to Vertex There are a variety of tickets available for Vertex, to suit your needs and budget. You can get a free expo pass, student tickets and Access All Areas passes. No matter which ticket suits you best you need to head to the Vertex site and register or buy direct. Be sure to register for the newsletter while you are there to stay up to date with the latest news, discover what's added to the schedule and learn about new speakers we've crammed into the packed day. We look forward to seeing you there! Related articles: The ethics of digital humans Scott Ross to talk at Vertex Behind the scenes on Transformers VFX View the full article

Researchers are warning of a default-configuration vulnerability in the enterprise-class keyless entry products made by AMAG Technology. View the full article

HP released an update that fixes debugger code that could allow an attacker to use a Synaptics Touchpad driver as a keylogger. View the full article

Getting the itch to learn some new skills, either for fun or to advance your career? With access to Stone River eLearning, you'll be able to work through a massive library of online courses and learn any new tech-related skill that you can imagine. Get a lifetime subscription for just $85 (approx. £64). Stone River eLearning's library is packed with the skills you've been dying to learn. With over 140 courses and 2,000 hours of educational videos, you can get a lifetime’s worth of knowledge from this great base for tech learning – and new courses are added all the time so you'll never run out of topics. Pick any course and you'll be given professional instruction that you can apply to your job or use to pursue in your own time, from coding and design to 3D animation and more. Plus, you'll get to test your skills with certification exams. You can get lifetime access to Stone River eLearning's online courses for just $85 (approx. £64). That’s a massive saving of 99% off the retail price. Learn anything you’d like and do it at your own pace by grabbing 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: 95 top Photoshop tutorials 11 huge web design trends for 2018 How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials View the full article

Colour is a wonderfully evocative design tool, with the right palette packing an emotional punch as well as boosting aesthetic appeal. Issue 274 of Computer Arts magazine has three striking covers – one for each trend. As these covers attest, these trends are fluid, expressive and adaptable, covering everything from products to fashion, graphic design to make-up. Buy Computer Arts issue 274 now Here are some of the great articles you can expect to see in issue 274, on sale now. Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to Computer Arts Franklin Till describes upcoming trend 'playful' In Computer Arts' annual colour trend report in issue 274, forecasting agency and long-standing CA contributor FranklinTill identifies three distinct movements for the coming year with accompanying palettes. Succeed as a designer-maker with advice from those who have made the leap Elsewhere, you’ll find an in-depth guide to making it as a designer-maker – whether you’re tapping the lucrative Christmas gift market, or keen to kick off the new year with an exciting new income stream. Thanks to the inexorable rise of Etsy, Not On The High Street and other global platforms for crafty creatives, it’s never been easier to put your talents to good use by creating and selling products. And this feature also doubles as a handy gift list for anyone keen to avoid chain stores and support independent artists. Behind the scenes at London studio Koto Computer Arts also pays a visit to Koto, a young studio that combines infectious passion with a strong work ethic, and has made a splash on the design scene in just three short years, largely thanks to its global rebrand of Fanta. Find out how it built a global reputation overnight in this issue's Video Insight. Ricardo Cavolo reveals why he loves vibrant colours Gain insight into Ricardo Cavolo – the Spanish artist known for his large-scale murals – with this issue's Q&A. Find out why he enjoys depicting 'life on the B side,' as well as how he faces creative challenges while taking care of his mental health. Also in Computer Arts 274 Get tips for improving your typesetting Look ahead to the Tokyo Olympics with creative challenge Coke x Adobe x You Nadieh Bremer on how she visualised The Netherlands' top 200 songs chart The hottest new design, illustration and motion work Subscribe to CA today from just £11.25/$15 Computer Arts is the global design magazine – helping you solve daily design challenges with insights, advice and inspiration. Buy Computer Arts issue 274 here. And to make sure you never miss an issue of Computer Arts – including the special collectable cover of upcoming issue 275 – subscribe here today. Digital subscriptions start at £11.25/$15 per quarter. Special Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to Computer Arts for you or a friend for Christmas. It's a limited offer, so move quickly... View the full article

Stock isn’t just about stunning still photography, illustrations and vectors – Shutterstock offers a huge library of gorgeous stock video footage, too. This footage opens up a whole new level of creative possibilities beyond what a static design alone can offer. In fact, Shutterstock boasts a catalogue of over 8.5 million royalty-free stock videos ready to be used in resolutions from web-ready all the way up to to Full HD and even 4K. Priced from just £19, and with Shutterstock’s footage plugin now compatible with Adobe Premier Pro, it’s the perfect time to access this store of high quality video clips. Here are 5 great uses for video that you might not have thought of. 01. For Facebook Sharing your work or services on social media is a key part of self promotion. As we shared in our article How to make social media work for you, Facebook’s algorithms give video top priority in people’s newsfeeds over all other types of content, so you can be sure that video footage will get you seen. So if you want to drive more potential clients to your portfolio site or let everyone know about a cool project you’ve been busy working on, think of what you want to say and choose an appropriate video. As external players such as YouTube and Vimeo no longer play in users’ Facebook feed, for the best results, you need a video you can upload directly to Facebook. The video clip like the sped up footage of a New York cab above can grab attention and complement a message about how you’ve been going the extra mile to finish your latest design on time, and are looking forward to sharing the results soon, for example. 2. For website landing pages Why use a still image on a homepage when you can embed a beautiful piece of footage that makes people get excited about who you are and what you do? Agencies such as WONDR, based in Dublin, use mesmerising footage paired with music on their website homepages to convey what they’re about. This dive footage carries you along the tropical reef with you, taking you on an exciting journey just like you do with your clients. Shutterstock also has a library of royalty-free music, by the way, so you could pair this clip with the almost ethereal-sounding Breathe at the Top of the City by Oliver Liu, or the more upbeat A Key to Happiness by Big Score Audio. 3. For conveying ideas When mocking up app designs, web designs and even printed projects, sometimes a video demonstration is the easiest way to communicate your vision for the final project to clients and potential customers. So when A/B testing your designs, running user research workshops or pitching your concept, some stock footage of people interacting with ‘your design’ can help no end in showing what it can do. Shutterstock has heaps of videos like the one above with elements filmed against a green screen, which you can adapt with your own designs and even backgrounds. Check out our guide, courtesy of Vimeo, How to green screen: create great video effects for some tips, as well as Rocketstock’s guides How to Realistically Replace Digital Screens in Mocha and After Effects and Advanced Spill Suppression Techniques in After Effects. 4. For inspiration and reference 3D artists, animators, illustrators and other artists and designers seeking to capture the likeness of a creature that moves may find it difficult to find willing models to replicate a specific movement over and over again. Instead, affordable footage of magnificent animals moving at different speeds, on a variety of terrain, gives you reliable references that you can watch and rewatch while you plan your own composition. Investing in these video clips means you can build your own library of references that you can call on as often as you need to while you perfect your creations. 5. For your own videos When editing your own video projects, you might find that you need a little extra footage to lend context to the main action. Add cutaways, establishing shots, timelapses and crowd scenes such as this clip to lend perspective to the rest of your film, without the hassle of having to source a location, secure filming permissions, organise transport for the crew and kit. You might also like these articles: 6 tips for finding the perfect photo for your project 11 spectacular winter images to make your projects shine View the full article

Few things are more fundamental to artists and designers than the deceptively humble notebook. They might just look like blank pages bound together in a sturdy cover, but over the years they've been used to write masterpieces, record stunning pencil drawings, and document world-changing ideas. Time moves on, though, and just like everything else sketchbooks have had to change to keep up with the world. But how do you redesign something so simple and effective as a sketchbook? Read on to find out how various companies have given them a 21st century boost with the help of apps, smart pens, synthetic papers and more. 01. reMarkable $599/£579 from the reMarkable store Are you a paper person? The team at reMarkable are. That's why they've created the reMarkable tablet, a device that digitally emulates the feeling of working on paper. Thanks to reMarkable, creatives can say goodbye to desks and shelves cluttered with assorted notebooks and journals, as the tablet collects them all together in one easy-to-transport tool. With an anti-glare display, reMarkable feels just like paper when you read from it. You can even lean on the page as you're writing and drawing and you won't confuse the screen (or get a dirty side-palm.) 02. Moleskine Smart Writing Set Create in two places at once with the Moleskine Smart Writing Set It wouldn't be a list of quality sketchbook alternatives without mentioning Moleskine. The popular and superlative stationery supplier has waded into the world of digital sketchbooks with Moleskine's Smart Writing Set, a collection of devices that allows users to edit and share what they create on paper in real-time, all without taking a photo, scanning pages or uploading files. The set is made up of three elements, namely the Paper Tablet, the Pen+, and the Moleskine Notes app. The tablet itself looks and feels just like a traditional Moleskine journal, rounded edges and all. Meanwhile the Pen+ is a stylishly slender aluminium pen with a camera that traces and digitises everything you create and sends it to the app. 03. Wacom Bamboo Folio The petite Bamboo Folio is tailor-made for travelling creatives In a similar vein to the clutter-curing reMarkable, the Wacom Bamboo Folio is a smartpad geared towards creatives who have the unfortunate habit of losing track of their work. Designed for on-the-go note-taking, the A5 device can turn handwritten notes and sketches into a digital backup file at the push of a button. Released as part of the Bamboo family of Wacom tablets, the Folio smartpad is integrated with cloud services and the Wacom Inkspace app – a clever device that allows designers and artists to easily edit and access their files wherever they are. 04. Rocketbook Everlast Create lots of different projects in one book with EverlastOne company that continues to innovate when it comes to sketchbooks is Rocketbook. The Rocketbook Everlast is a smart journal filled with synthetic polyester pages. Confused by the science? Well, the practical upshot is that users can write and draw on a page then wipe it clean with a damp cloth. Don't worry, the pages won't get soggy. In fact you can send your notes and pictures wherever you want thanks to a code of symbols at the foot of each page. Simply assign a symbol to a destination using the Rocketbook app, cross off the corresponding icon, and hey-presto, your notes are neatly organised digitally just the way you want. Related articles: Best Wacom tablet deals The best drawing tablet: our pick of the best graphics tablets in 2017 How to use Instagram as a digital sketchbook View the full article

Clip Studio Paint is a digital painting app specifically aimed at people creating comics or manga art – although it's great for any kind of digital art. We wonder if more people aren't using it because they don't know about it, or because they're not sure how to use it. Either way, that's about to change. In this round-up, we'll share some of the best Clip Studio Paint tutorials, and where you can find them. We'll kick off the list with some general, all-around Clip Studio Paint tutorials to help get you up to speed (numbers 01-05), then once you have a solid foundation, we'll move on to some more specific tutorials that will help you out (06-11). Hopefully we'll see a lot more tutorials as people realise how powerful this software really is, and what can be done with it. 01. Reuben Lara Reuben Lara is a freelance artist and illustrator, offering mainly Clip Studio Paint tutorials. He offers both paid and free tutorials for beginner-to-advanced artists and Clip Studio Paint users. Lara speaks clearly, his tutorials are easy to follow, and they're jam-packed with lots of useful information. You can find out more about Lara on his website, and you can watch more of his free videos on his YouTube channel. 02. Flyland Designs We've chosen Brian Allen at Flyland Designs for this list because he offers some of the most fantastic tutorials – and not just because he loves zombies. Allen's tutorials take you through the process of sketching, inking, and colouring in Clip Studio Paint. He also shares his tips and techniques along the way, as well as his Clip Studio Resources, like brushes, tools, and templates. Want to learn more about Allen? Check out his interview on Roundabout: Creative Chaos. 03. Kendrys Draws Kendrys Diaz, the voice behind Kendrys Draws, offers laser-focused Clip Studio tutorials covering a broad range of topics. Many of his videos show you how to use the 3D tools available in Clip Studio; he also has a heavy focus on manga art. Diaz's presentation style is a bit gruffer and more abrupt than other tutorials on this list, but don't let that put you off – the content is spot on. Note: Diaz has recently published a Character design sketchbook that might be worth a look. 04. David Arroyo David Arroyo is the creator of the webcomic IMMERSION. He's created a series of Clip Studio Paint tutorials, hosted by Astropad, in which he takes you through how to use the tool start to finish. That's right! The whole process. Arroyo's calm speaking voice and clear instructions make his tutorials bookmark-worthy. 05. LearnCSP.com LearnCSP.com is an independent site, owned and operated by Augie De Blieck Jr, who launched the site back in 2016. Ever since, De Blieck has been steadily adding Clip Studio Paint tutorials to this site, with the aim of creating content he wishes had existed when he first started. The website is focused on new Clip Studio Paint users, but it's useful for intermediate and advanced users too. 06. How to ink in Clip Studio Paint Pro In this inking tutorial, Chris Martinez covers the inking tools available to you in Clip Studio Paint, and how he uses them when he's inking his drawings. Although Martinez talks about pens he hasn't used, he's honest about it and encourages people to try new things. Inspirational? Absolutely! The only thing we're not wild about is the background music. If you can get past that, this tutorial is one to watch. 07. How to ink in Clip Studio using the GPEN Another great inking tutorial comes from Tim Michael at Draw2Much. In this Clip Studio Paint tutorial, Michael shows you the ins and outs of using the G-pen. Although Michael's walkthrough style isn't the typical one you might expect, this video gives you an insight into how he inks his drawings, and is worthy of a watch. 08. Digital Painting Tutorial OK World of Warcraft fans, this one's for you! In this tutorial, Robert Marzullo teaches you how to digitally paint Orgrim Doomhammer using Clip Studio Paint. If you like this tutorial, Marzullo has a new tutorial, available on Udemy, where he teaches how to work in perspective in Clip Studio Paint. 09. Reference Layers For Coloring More of a quick tip than a long-form tutorial, Matt Chee takes you through the process of using reference layers for colouring. But don't stop with that one. Chee has a large collection of tips and tricks to help you work smarter in Clip Studio Paint. Check 'em out. 10. Creating and Using Custom Brushes Custom brushes are a handy feature in Clip Studio Full disclaimer: I'm an official Smith Micro Influencer, and this is one of my own Clip Studio Paint tutorials. In this written tutorial, I show you how to create and use your own custom brushes in Clip Studio Paint. If video is more your style, this tutorial is also available at DayOfTheIndie.com in video format. 11. Smith Micro Graphics Of course, no Clip Studio Tutorial List would be complete without a mention of the Smith Micro Graphics tutorials. It has a lot of great resources, but if you're looking for something specific, check out the ones from Doug Hills, like the video above. You won't be disappointed. Read more: The ultimate Christmas gift guide for freelancers 8 inspiring digital art portfolios and why they work 19 best iPad art apps for painting and sketching View the full article

Clip Studio Paint is a digital painting app specifically aimed at people creating comics or manga art – although it's great for any kind of digital art. We wonder if more people aren't using it because they don't know about it, or because they're not sure how to use it. Either way, that's about to change. In this round-up, we'll share some of the best Clip Studio Paint tutorials, and where you can find them. We'll kick off the list with some general, all-around Clip Studio Paint tutorials to help get you up to speed (numbers 01-05), then once you have a solid foundation, we'll move on to some more specific tutorials that will help you out (06-11). Hopefully we'll see a lot more tutorials as people realise how powerful this software really is, and what can be done with it. 01. Reuben Lara Reuben Lara is a freelance artist and illustrator, offering mainly Clip Studio Paint tutorials. He offers both paid and free tutorials for beginner-to-advanced artists and Clip Studio Paint users. Lara speaks clearly, his tutorials are easy to follow, and they're jam-packed with lots of useful information. You can find out more about Lara on his website, and you can watch more of his free videos on his YouTube channel. 02. Flyland Designs We've chosen Brian Allen at Flyland Designs for this list because he offers some of the most fantastic tutorials – and not just because he loves zombies. Allen's tutorials take you through the process of sketching, inking, and colouring in Clip Studio Paint. He also shares his tips and techniques along the way, as well as his Clip Studio Resources, like brushes, tools, and templates. Want to learn more about Allen? Check out his interview on Roundabout: Creative Chaos. 03. Kendrys Draws Kendrys Diaz, the voice behind Kendrys Draws, offers laser-focused Clip Studio tutorials covering a broad range of topics. Many of his videos show you how to use the 3D tools available in Clip Studio; he also has a heavy focus on manga art. Diaz's presentation style is a bit gruffer and more abrupt than other tutorials on this list, but don't let that put you off – the content is spot on. Note: Diaz has recently published a Character design sketchbook that might be worth a look. 04. David Arroyo David Arroyo is the creator of the webcomic IMMERSION. He's created a series of Clip Studio Paint tutorials, hosted by Astropad, in which he takes you through how to use the tool start to finish. That's right! The whole process. Arroyo's calm speaking voice and clear instructions make his tutorials bookmark-worthy. 05. LearnCSP.com LearnCSP.com is an independent site, owned and operated by Augie De Blieck Jr, who launched the site back in 2016. Ever since, De Blieck has been steadily adding Clip Studio Paint tutorials to this site, with the aim of creating content he wishes had existed when he first started. The website is focused on new Clip Studio Paint users, but it's useful for intermediate and advanced users too. 06. How to ink in Clip Studio Paint Pro In this inking tutorial, Chris Martinez covers the inking tools available to you in Clip Studio Paint, and how he uses them when he's inking his drawings. Although Martinez talks about pens he hasn't used, he's honest about it and encourages people to try new things. Inspirational? Absolutely! The only thing we're not wild about is the background music. If you can get past that, this tutorial is one to watch. 07. How to ink in Clip Studio using the GPEN Another great inking tutorial comes from Tim Michael at Draw2Much. In this Clip Studio Paint tutorial, Michael shows you the ins and outs of using the G-pen. Although Michael's walkthrough style isn't the typical one you might expect, this video gives you an insight into how he inks his drawings, and is worthy of a watch. 08. Digital Painting Tutorial OK World of Warcraft fans, this one's for you! In this tutorial, Robert Marzullo teaches you how to digitally paint Orgrim Doomhammer using Clip Studio Paint. If you like this tutorial, Marzullo has a new tutorial, available on Udemy, where he teaches how to work in perspective in Clip Studio Paint. 09. Reference Layers For Coloring More of a quick tip than a long-form tutorial, Matt Chee takes you through the process of using reference layers for colouring. But don't stop with that one. Chee has a large collection of tips and tricks to help you work smarter in Clip Studio Paint. Check 'em out. 10. Creating and Using Custom Brushes Custom brushes are a handy feature in Clip Studio Full disclaimer: I'm an official Smith Micro Influencer, and this is one of my own Clip Studio Paint tutorials. In this written tutorial, I show you how to create and use your own custom brushes in Clip Studio Paint. If video is more your style, this tutorial is also available at DayOfTheIndie.com in video format. 11. Smith Micro Graphics Of course, no Clip Studio Tutorial List would be complete without a mention of the Smith Micro Graphics tutorials. It has a lot of great resources, but if you're looking for something specific, check out the ones from Doug Hills, like the video above. You won't be disappointed. Read more: The ultimate Christmas gift guide for freelancers 8 inspiring digital art portfolios and why they work 19 best iPad art apps for painting and sketching View the full article

If you've ever got into a conversation about the biggest problems plaguing web and digital product development today, you probably heard someone refer to the 'design-development gap'. At the mention of this, several heads probably nodded sagely, and then you all moved on, content to observe the problem without necessarily resolving it. After all, there's probably an app for that, right? Maybe we just haven't found it yet? In reality, there are several apps for that. And, as with most problems, numerous other possible solutions exist. I'll talk about several of those here, but before we solve the problem, let's make sure we understand it, shall we? What is the design-development gap? Put simply, the 'design-development gap' refers to what's missing in communication between designers and developers during the product development process. The problem proves most daunting in companies where waterfall processes dominate, when a designer simply 'throws the design over the wall', dusts off their hands, and says, 'Well, I'm done with that!' As any vegetarian who's tried to order a burrito sin carne can attest, a lack of a shared language can lead to big problems In such a scenario, the gap leaves developers interpreting the designer's intent on their own. Which leaves plenty of room for off-brand animations, links that go where they shouldn't, and rounded corners that are just a pixel or 50 off the mark. No biggie, right? Sure – as long as you're not the person looking after the bottom line, squinting at the project hours in the quickly fading hope that, if you look at them funny, those numbers will fit the project budget. Of course, the design-development gap doesn't just plague waterfall teams. After all – in the absence of experience and sustained, mutual effort – designers and developers speak different languages. And as any vegetarian who's tried to order a burrito sin carne can attest, a lack of a shared language can lead to some big problems. The problems Of course, the problems that emerge from the lack of an available translator aren't the only things that make the design-development gap problematic. To get more specific, some of the more common issues teams run into include the following. 01. Designers creating 'impossible' designs Anyone who's wrangled a little CSS knows it can't do everything. But designers who don't know the ins and outs of CSS and are looking to push their creative boundaries can easily create designs in Sketch or Photoshop that can't be brought to the web (easily, or at all). For this issue, bridging the design-development gap means ensuring that designers understand the capabilities of CSS enough to avoid designing impossible solutions. 02. Time-consuming documentation Documentation can help – but it is a time-suck One of the most common tools used to bridge the design-development gap is documentation: redlines, spec docs, component diagrams, and so on. Whatever your team calls them, they all amount to documentation, and they mean a significant amount of time is spent working on something no end user will ever directly experience. Of course, that's not to say they don't have values – most digital products can benefit from design, language, and development documentation. But questions of their value aside, redlines and other forms of documentation take a long time to create, and aren't especially fun for anyone. For this issue, bridging the design-development gap means finding faster and easier ways to communicate specifications. 03. Prolonged feedback cycles Feedback is inevitable, even when your designers create with CSS in mind and put together detailed documentation. And it's always valuable. But it can become a drain on resources and significantly impact employee morale when the loops go on too long. Contradictory feedback from one cycle to the next crops up, stakeholders muddy the waters with interpersonal disagreements, and everyone loses sight of the overarching strategy. For this issue, bridging the design-development gap means finding ways to cut out unnecessary feedback loops. How to bridge the gap Now we understand the nature of the design-development gap, and the issues it can introduce to the process, let's talk about solving the problem. There's software designed to help – and for that take a look at my list of 5 tools for bridging the design-development gap. But there are also some so-called 'soft' skills that can help. Because, hey, we can't expect apps to solve all our problems, right? Software can't solve everything While the modern workplace relies on digital tools to tackle most problems, there's often no replacement for good ol' interpersonal skills – especially when the core problem is essentially one of communication. With that in mind, let's take a look at three absolutely free methods for bridging the gap between your design and development teams. 01. Communicate early, often, always Designers and developers working on a project should always be working together. And that means a lot more than commenting on the same GitHub tickets or working from shared Sketch files. Ask how the development team would like you to communicate designs It also, and much more importantly, means talking. So, designers: talk to your devs about how you're tackling your current challenges. Verify that your solution is feasible from a technical standpoint. Have them look at your designs and call out areas where visual elements can't be reproduced. Ask if flowing in real data will break the formatting. Find out what the best way to name your design layers might be – from the people who have to work with them. But most importantly: Ask how the development team would like you to communicate designs, interactions, and so on. Once you understand their preferred formats for communicating specs and changes, you'll instantly be communicating more effectively. 02. Be agile Now, I'm not a process policeman, so I won't tell you that you have to be working in agile manner, or that you need to adopt GV's sprint format. But to my mind, there's one part of the agile methodology every team can borrow. Namely, its emphasis on cross-functional teams – including people with a variety of specialities in the process. That ensures regular and consistent collaboration between design and development, nipping potential problems in the bud. I'd also personally recommend involving your friendly local content strategist or copywriter in your cross-functional team from day one, but that's another story, for another post. 03. Speak each other's language When proponents of the 'designers should code' philosophy speak up, one of their core arguments tends to be that it'll help them better understand what their dev colleagues do, as well as what's feasible for the web. Which I wholeheartedly agree with! However, I'd point out that you don't have to be able to write code to understand what's possible with code. Same goes for design. Simply speaking to your colleagues can solve a lot of problems For example, I'm not much of a visual designer myself – but I voraciously consume anything I can learn about it. And that's got me to a point where I can talk about design principles and best practices with my design colleagues and feel, if not fluent, then at least conversant. I've also worked in the digital design world long enough that I can usually gauge what a dev could do with an interface, and make recommendations on what would be best from a user experience standpoint. Also, not being a practicing coder doesn't stop you from my one stupid-simple trick for gauging feasibility: asking someone. It's crazy how far a simple question will get you. Related articles: Advent calendar delivers daily web design treats 10 Sketch plugins you need to know about The best Christmas gifts for web designers View the full article

It's time to design your festive products, and a greeting card template can help you initiate the creative process nicely. Christmas and greeting cards are passed around during the holiday season in their hundreds and thousands. While many will opt for the standard and often boring array of offerings in the shops, we've compiled a list of inspirational greeting card templates to make yours a little more individual. We love to spoil you with free resources – check out our encyclopedia of free fonts for designers, these 15 free resume templates and our run down of the 32 best free WordPress themes for a start – so add a spark of creativity to your cards this season, with these free festive greeting card templates. 01. Christmas snowflakes A cosy colour scheme and modern style that will suit all tastes Free This vector template looks a bit like a Christmas jumper and can be used as a background or to decorate an email, webpage or printed material. It comes as an Illustrator file and also as an SVG, so will come in useful for many of your wintry designs. 02. Christmas reindeer Ding-a-ling! There's nothing like a mysterious reindeer vibe to add a little gravitas to your Christmas cards Free Handsome Mr Reindeer with his festive bell is well-drawn and will add a cute yet noble presence to your Christmas designs. He comes in AI, EPS, PDF and JPG formats so he'll fit in anywhere. 03. Silver baubles This template's easy to edit in Illustrator if it doesn't have enough balls for youFree This festive design from Vecteezy is described as a Christmas background with balls, and who are we to disagree? It would make a perfect Christmas card design and it's supplied as an .AI file, so you can open it up in Illustrator and tweak it to your own taste. 04. Santa's sleigh These cold, bold vectors would look great as a cardFree Another vector design suitable for fiddling with in Illustrator, this Christmas card design by VectorLady has a lovely festive layout complete with Santa and his reindeer, plus plenty of snowflakes and Christmas trees, all framed by an intricate swirling surround. 05. Abstract Christmas tree Catch the eye of your loved ones with this greeting card templateFree This free greeting card template is perfect for any creative who needs that little extra help when it comes to designing the perfect offering. Coming with bold colours and cute icons, this greeting card template will certainly catch the eye of your loved ones. Plus, it comes ready to use with Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Microsoft Word, Publisher, Apple Pages, QuarkXPress or CorelDraw. Phew. 06. Retro tree Put your own personal touch on this retro style templateFree This retro styled greeting card template is perfect for those of you that love experimenting in Adobe Illustrator. To alter the image, just download the vector and get playing in the software to put your own personal touch on your greeting card. 07. Blue Christmas It's going to be a blue Christmas with this greeting card templateFree This greeting card template allows for a little more creativity with a simple blue background and a few adorable snowflakes thrown in for good measure. Pop it into Adobe Illustrator and put your own creative flair on the design for a very blue Christmas indeed. 08. Red burst Give yourself a burst of creative inspiration with this red rays templateFree Burst onto your loved ones' mantel pieces with this red ray vector greeting card template. It allows you to customise it just enough to put your own spin on it, while still keeping it super festive. We love the use of negative space with the snowflakes. Related articles: Free Christmas vectors for your festive designs 16 wonderful window display designs 56 best free fonts for designers View the full article

ZBrushCore ($149.95 for a single user licence) is a simplified version of ZBrush that serves as an introduction to digital sculpting. It has some of the key features of ZBrush and it's easy to learn. Here we'll share various workflows for 3D sculpting using ZBrushCore, with an emphasis on particular processes and features that will help you produce professional-looking objects and 3D art. Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to ImagineFX DynaMesh is a clever process that removes the technical barriers when sculpting in 3D. There are a few concepts that you might have heard of, such as polygons, geometry or topology, and they generally refer to the structure of a 3D object. Often, when you edit a mesh or an object in 3D, you need to be aware of how the changes you're making affect the structure. DynaMesh takes care of all of these technical aspects, enabling you to focus on sculpting and designing your object. Think of this as working digital clay. You can push, pull, flatten or stretch areas of your model without worrying about the distribution of polygons. If you start sculpting and the mesh becomes distorted, you can run the DynaMesh process to redistribute and create more polygons that will help you describe the shape you're trying to make. 01. Enable DynaMesh A switch filled with orange means that the feature is active [click the arrows icon to enlarge this image] When you first open ZBrushCore, you'll see a sphere that's loaded by default and you can select any of the brushes at the bottom of the UI to start adjusting the mesh in different ways. Click the DynaMesh sub-palette on the right-hand side of the screen to expand it. You'll see the DynaMesh switch is orange, which means that it's turned on. 02. Get the hang of re-DynaMeshing Simply click and drag to deform a sphere in interesting ways [click the arrows icon to enlarge this image] Let's turn Polyframe on so we can see the underlying structure by pressing Shift+F. Go ahead and select the Move brush: you can use the shortcuts from the bottom of the screen or the brush's thumbnail to access the library. Click the sphere and drag to create an interesting shape. The polygons are now getting stretched, but we can hold down Ctrl and click and drag on an empty space to re-DynaMesh. 03. Adjust the DynaMesh resolution Keeping the polygon count low makes it easier to move larger portions of the mesh around [click the arrows icon to enlarge this image] During the blocking stages it's good to keep the amount of polygons very low so that we can perform large proportional changes. You'll notice a few other options under the DynaMesh sub-palette. Select the Resolution slider and reduce the number from 128 to about 32, so the next time you perform a re-DynaMesh action (Ctrl+click drag), ZBrushCore will maintain the shape but with fewer polygons. 04. Polishing the model There's a clear difference between leaving the Polish feature off (left) or on (right) [click the arrows icon to enlarge this image] I increase the resolution slightly (64) and work on some details. However, there are areas that feel a bit 'bumpy'. You can use the Smooth brush (holding the Shift key) to even out these areas or simply enable the Polish switch from the DynaMesh sub-palette. Once Polish is turned on, the re-DynaMesh process will also perform a polishing operation on the model. 05. Apply blur Before and after applying the DynaMesh process with both Smooth and Polish enabled [click the arrows icon to enlarge this image] I add a few more details and definition using the ClayBuildup brush. At this point we probably need more resolution to work on more details, so I increase the Resolution. The Polish switch defines the planes of the face after DynaMeshing, but you can also use the Blur slider to smooth all major details on the model: high values produce a smoother surface, while a value of 0 will respect the smaller details. This article was originally published in issue 152 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. Buy issue 152 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Special Christmas offer: Save up to 47% on a subscription to ImagineFX for you or a friend for Christmas. It's a limited offer, so move quickly... Related articles: Sculpt realistic anatomy in ZBrush ZBrush tutorials: 30 ways to sculpt and paint in 3D The best digital art tools of 2017 View the full article

You're reading What is Conversational UI, and Why It’s Important, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Conversational UI is simply a chatbot experience that processes language in a natural way as if you were texting or speaking with another human being. A typical experience with technology, this included computers, websites and mobile apps, is conducted in a way that requires people to click on different icons or links in order to […] View the full article