Keynote Presentation with embedded QuickTime
points covered:
A four-part history of displays from film projectors to LCD monitors.
- How film projectors work.
- How early television worked in comparison - 1 min archival video clip that describes interlacing.
- How computer monitors were CRTs but progressive scan.
- How LCD and plasma displays work in a completely different way.
Tie together early film with LCD in terms of halide to pixel, full frame to continuous light, progressive to full frame.

RELATED WEBSITE LINKS
www.gruntmedia.com - home of videogrunt and other new media podcasts

S.C.A.M.P.E.R.
Photoshop is supposed to be a creative outlet, right? But it has so many features and settings that sometimes we’re so overwhelmed that we become afraid to just play with it. We might have an effect in mind and we search the internet for it. When we find it, sometimes it’s not what we have in mind or often we don’t find it at all and we just give up. “Photoshop can’t do that.” we tell ourselves.

We have to give ourselves the freedom to play and we have to give Photoshop the freedom to do things that it was never expected to do.

For instance, Photoshop has a Photocopy filter, right? Have you ever tried using it for something other than making an image look like it was photocopied? Give it a chance! Most of Photoshop’s filters can be adjusted to the degree where the effect they produce looks nothing like what its label in the Filters menu would have you expect. What is important to note in those situations is not that the particular combination of settings doesn’t look like a photocopied image, but what does it look like? What effect can you use this combination of settings to achieve?

Don’t be held back by the labels on the menus!

This kind of thinking can (and should) be applied to Photoshop tutorials you find online and in books as well. Follow the tutorials as they were written and see how the effect materializes as it was intended by the tutorial’s author. But then, after you’re familiar with what it does, play around with the tutorial a bit and see what else comes out of it.

Here, we’re going to take my Comic Art Effect tutorial (http://www.macmerc.com/comicart) and apply Alex Osborne’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Faickney_Osborn) S.C.A.M.P.E.R. principle to see what other effects we can make from it.

S.C.A.M.P.E.R. stands for:
Substitute
Combine
Adapt
Modify
Put to some other use
Eliminate
Rearrange

A brief Breakdown of the Comic Art Effect
This is an effect is based on a Tome layer and a Color layer to approximate the coloring of a vintage comic book illustration and 3 Ink layers to give the effect of “hand drawn” outlines and shading. At the end of the tutorial he recommended adding another color layer to tweak skin tones that may have gone astray, a white layer to brighten teeth and eyes, and a dot screen layer to give the image that course dot pattern associated with old comic books.

Substitute
Try Substituting different filters in tutorials. In the case of this tutorial, you might substitute the second and third Ink layers with one where you have copied the original image to a new layer above Ink 1. Set the new layer to “Multiply” with an opacity of 50% and then apply Filter>Sketch>Graphic Pen using the settings 15, 43, Left Diagonal. It gives a much softer illustrative effect.

Combine
If you have Adobe Photoshop CS3 as part of a Creative Suite bundle, you probably have Adobe Illustrator CS3 as well. Why not combine its abilities with Photoshop to create effects that could not be achieved using either application on their own? He had saved a copy of my finished Photoshop Comic Effect where I turned off all of the Ink layers and saved it as a flattened TIF. He then opened that TIF in Illustrator and used Live Trace to simplify the colors to look a bit like and Andy Warhol pop-art painting.

Adapt
If you look on MacMerc.com, you’ll find that this tutorial has been Adapted for use as a Photoshop Action (http://www.macmerc.com/articles/Graphics_Tips/295). It has also been adapted for Adobe Elements (http://www.macmerc.com/articles/Graphics_Tips/309). If you don’t happen to own Adobe Photoshop, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying a free open-source creative outlet—namely, Gimpshop! I unfortunately haven’t adapted this tutorial for use with Gimpshop (http://plasticbugs.com/index.php?p=241) but that’s only because I have Photoshop. I welcome and encourage any of you Gimpshop experts out there to take a crack at the Comic Art Effect and and let me know how it goes. I’d love to link to your tutorials!!

Modify
Photoshop has long offered non-destructive ways of modifying an image; affording safe experimentation where any mistakes or undesired results are entirely reversible. Once you’ve finished a tutorial, don’t be afraid to go over it again and change the filter settings. Use Smart Filters, if you can, and then you can go back again and again and try new effects and settings. Layer Masks and Adjustment Layers also allow for experimentation.
I have added an Adjustment Layer to my file to cycle the color of my image through the rainbow to create a psychedelic result.

Put it to some other use
Who says Photoshop has to just be for static images? Go to video! After all, video is just a string of still images strung together and displayed in quick succession. Look at what one person has done using the Comic Art Effect tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9O5JUcqCQ

Eliminate
For “Eliminate,” try turning off all but the Ink layers. For many photos I’ve tried this effect on, turning off everything but the Ink layers creates and pretty cool looking illustrative effect. This was the inspiration for my Frank Miller Sin City Effect (http://www.macmerc.com/articles/Graphics_Tips/392).

Rearrange
While my experiments with rearranging or reversing the Layers and steps of this tutorial didn’t return any pleasing results, the technique of Layer shuffling often does produce new and interesting effects that you can call your own.

Conclusion
So, bottom line, I hope you’ll be encouraged to play a bit with Photoshop and apply the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. principle. The only way to feel comfortable using any software is to become familiar with it and an excellent way to do that is to explore and experiment.
Have fun!!

RELATED WEBSITE LINKS
http://www.macmerc.com/comicart

PRODUCTS SHOWN (if applicable)
Adobe Photoshop CS3
$649

IPEVO Free.2 USB Phone
Launched at CES 2007, the IPEVO free.2 is a USB handset for Skype with the operational familiarity of the telephone. It builds very much on the existing Free.1, but the addition of a screen means you can now browse through your Skype contacts and call straight from the screen, without having to resort to going back to the PC. Unlike the Solo.1, this phone does need to have your PC on in order to make calls. Free.2 translates the Skype interface into simple keypad and toggle operations, and includes features such as an anti-echo design and a backlit LCD display allows total integration of the Skype application in the palm of your hand.

Benefits:

* Make Skype calls easier and more intuitive
* Excellent sound quality with echo cancellation
* Numeric keypad with Skype-specific hotkeys
* Toggle-scroll for easy contact list searches
* LCD display with white backlight
* Easy dialing without watching the computer screen
* Easy dialing of Skype-Out numbers
* Recording button for one-touch recording
* Free recording software
* Slim and compact for comfortable grip and portability
* Available in black or white
* PC and Mac compatible
* Very easy to use

Drawbacks:

* The screen is very small and can be hard to read
* The call sometimes cut out, but this is more of a connection issue that the actual phone
* Current driver does not support recording for MAC. (Visit IPEVO.com to check for the latest driver update for this feature)
* Despite a long wire, this is not a ‘mobile’ phone.

Philips VOIP841
The VOIP841 works without a PC, offering Skype users total flexibility and independence from their computer. With the VOIP841, Skype users can make Skype calls, SkypeOut calls, and regular PSTN calls. Skype contacts are easy to see on the 65k full color, full graphic display, and calling your friends on Skype is as easy as one click of a button.

Benefits:

* Use Skype freely. No need to have your PC on
* Installation free
* Traditional and Internet phone. Give Landline and Skype calls on one handset
* Select a preferred line form the preferences settings
* See your contacts in color on the LCD display
* Supports landline and Skype voicemail
* Skype around the house with the DECT cordless technology
* Speakerphone enables you to call hands-free
* Personalize the handset to suit your own needs
* Comes with 120 SkypeOut minutes and 12 months voicemail

System Requirements:

* High speed Internet connection
* Router or Modem Router
* 1 Free LAN port

What’s in the Box?:

* Base station
* Handset
* Charger
* 2 power supplies
* Ethernet cable
* Line cord
* 2 AAA NiMH batteries
* 2 Hour SkypeOut Voucher
* Quick Start Guide
* User manuals on CDROM

Logitech Internet Handset
The Logitech Cordless Internet Handset works like your typical cordless phone, but allows you to make free Skype calls. The handset is Skype certified and features a colour LCD screen as well as Skype voice mail notifications, Skype contacts, caller ID, call waiting, and call history. For times when your hands are full, the handset also works as a hands-free speaker phone as well.

Benefits:

* Easy to install software and hardware
* Group or Private Calling - can be used with multiple handsets
* 150 foot range
* Handsfree speakerphone
* Audio Jack: Plug a headset in to make your call handsfree and private.
* Easy to use
* Skype Certified: Use with Skype™ voicemail, SkypeIn™ and SkypeOut™
* Separate Base Station with paging facility: You don’t have to keep your phone near your PC
* Illuminated LCD: Display contacts list, caller ID, voicemail, call history, time and battery status
* Added Touches: illuminated touchpad, selectable ringtones, beltclip, alarm clock
* Out-of-range beep tone and flashing screen
* Voicemail facility
* Good for traveling - just plug your laptop into the hotels broadband service and plug in the Logitech base station.

Note: Like other cordless Skype phones, the Logitech product does not offer the same wideband audio quality you get with most USB headsets, but the voice quality is similar to PSTN cordless phones. In PC-to-PC Skype calls, connection quality was good most of the time, although on one PC-to-PC call and a couple of SkypeOut calls there were echo problems. It’s virtually impossible to tell whether this was the result of poor Skype connections or poor DECT connections, but it’s seems more likely to be the former.

Drawbacks:

* Only compatible with Windows
* A combined receiver and phone charger would be more practical
* Lithium Ion batteries would provide a better battery life than the rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydride provided
* Cannot make PSTN calls
* Skype software must be running on your PC
* Paging system doesn’t work if the telephone is turned off

RELATED WEBSITE LINKS

IPEVO free.2: http://www.ipevo.com/v2/prod/p163517.htm
Philips VOIP841: http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/tree/en/gb/consumer/ce/...
Logitech Internet Handset: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/webcam_communications/internet_headset...

PRODUCTS SHOWN

IPEVO Free.2 USB Phone
$44.99 US

Philips Offline Internet Telephony (VOIP841)
$149.99 US

Logitech Internet Handset (PN 980590–04030)
$99 US