“We’ve waited a long time for this day, but the final product was worth the wait,” said Steve Forde, CEO of GridIron. “Thanks to a world-class development team and the thousands of beta testers who not only thoroughly tested the software but helped shape the final version, Flow is a product that will help all creative pros, whether they work alone or as part of a group, become more streamlined and productive. No more lost files, no more accidents, no more all-nighters.”

GridIron Flow has been used by thousands of creative professionals since the public beta of the product was released in February 18, 2009. Users have experienced how the software provides a unique and total understanding of each project being worked on and allows them to track all the components of a project, regardless of where the files are located. With instant access to any file or version needed, creative professionals can get a lot more done in a lot less time—without having to do anything differently.

Key features of the product include:

• Workflow Maps – Visual interface shows all project files and how they are connected
• Share Maps – Allows multiple users to view the same workflow map across the network
• Adobe CS4 Flow Flash Panel Provides access to GridIron Flow directly in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or Flash
• Real-time Asset Tracking – Tracks the connections between project files in real-time
• Visual Versioning – Accesses the complete history of a file and allows the user to revert to any version
• Visual Search – Finds any file, even if it’s offline, and shows how it fits into a project
• Foolproof Packaging – Gathers and updates all files automatically, keeping the package current
• Time Tracking – Automatically records how much time was spent on a file or project

“The ability for Flow to be accessed directly within Adobe CS4 applications via the new Flash Panel is impressive because of the value it brings users,” said Johnny Loiacono, senior vice president and general manager, Creative Solutions Business Unit, Adobe Systems. “CS4 already delivers significant increases in productivity and Flow takes that to an even higher level. It is a product that most of our Creative Suite customers will find valuable.”

For more information see the links below:

• GridIron Flow Tutorials: http://www.gridironsoftware.com/products/flow/flow_tutorials.html
• PhotoshopUser TV & Layers Magazine:  solid 10-minute tour
• Lynda.com: Flow Features Course
• For more about GridIron Flow – http://www.gridironsoftware.com/Flow/
• To visit GridIron’s blog – http://www.gridironsoftware.com/blog/

GridIron Flow is available for immediate purchase from GridIron’s website at http://www.gridironsoftware.com/store/. A single user license is $299 USD, with a three pack also available for $399.

Looking for a  high-quality QuickTime movie?  right-click here or you can subscribe to dekePod via  iTunes.

They say you can’t be too rich or too thin. So how about getting rich by making others thin? Plenty of experienced retouchers make small but enviable fortunes shaving body fat off already lithe models. But rather than showing you a present-day example–honestly, how many times do we need to see underfed waifs made skinnier?–Deke takes us back to a time when ideas of beauty were very different: the High Renaissance. In those times of mean circumstances and manual labor, body fat was a thing to be envied. How best to take a well-fed model rendered by the likes of Raphael and turn her into a slim, trim, big-eyed beauty?

Deke’s great books and Tutorials are available on amazon

Swift 3D PS is Electric Rain new plug-in for Photoshop CS4 Extended (32bit only, no 64bit support). It accomplishes simple 3D tasks in seconds with remarkable results and places  3D text, extrusions or models back into Photoshop as 3D layers for further manipulation with their tool set and filters.

The only draw back that I can see is that it does not install and seem not to work with my PhotoShop CS4 Extended, when I installed it it did install into the plug-in folder of my (not used) PhotoShop CS4 Ext 32bit application. Linking in the 32bit plugin folder or copying the filter from the 32bit version to the 64bit version did not help.

• Create, bevel and extrude 3D text from any font in seconds
• Quickly create extrusions and 3D lathe objects with a Bézier pen tool
• Extend Photoshop’s workflow with After Effects CS4 Live 3D view
• Import, extrude and bevel existing 2D vector artwork from Illustrator or Flash
• Simplify 3D scene creation with targeted cameras & lighting

“Swift 3D is already very well known in the Flash community and we’re excited to see it introduced as a plug-in to Photoshop CS4 Extended,” commented John Nack, Principal Product Manager for Photoshop & Bridge at Adobe Systems.

Electric Rain Swift 3D PS is available  for $149.00 USD.

Deke McClelland is a popular lecturer on Adobe Photoshop and the larger realm of computer graphics and design. You can subscribe to dekePod via RSS or iTunes.

Imagine yourself beneath the Eiffel Tower or in the heart of Times Square. Now imagine being able to see that exact scene in an amazing new way. With Photosynth, you can look up or down, pan from left to right, zoom in, or pull back to reveal the full sense of where you were. Photosynth provides incredibly realistic close-up detail of a place as seen in the collaboration with National Geographic. Exclusive synths of some of the world’s most renowned locations, such as Machu Picchu and the Parthenon, were created using photographs taken by National Geographic.

From the Photosynth takes a collection of regular photographs and reconstructs the scene or object in a 3-D environment. Photosynth is a potent mixture of two independent breakthroughs: the ability to reconstruct the scene or object from a bunch of flat photographs, and the technology to bring that experience to virtually anyone over the Internet.

Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point the photos were taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos.

Providing that experience requires viewing a LOT of data though—much more than you generally get at any one time by surfing someone’s photo album on the web. That’s where our Seadragon™ technology comes in: delivering just the pixels you need, exactly when you need them. It allows you to browse through dozens of 5, 10, or 100(!) megapixel photos effortlessly, without fiddling with a bunch of thumbnails and waiting around for everything to load.

Photosynth is a radically new way to use your photography. To help you get the best results we’ve prepared the The Photosynth Photography Guide (1Mbyte pdf)

Using Photosynth

Getting started with Photosynth is easy:

• To begin, just take a few dozen digital photos — 20 to 300 photos are required, depending on the size of the place or object — with overlap between each shot, from a number of locations and angles.
• Next, download a small, free software application to your computer from http://photosynth.com. This software works in concert with the Photosynth Web site, which is also a free service.
• Build your synth in just two easy steps: First, from the Photosynth Web site, click on Create and select the pictures you want to use. Then, give your creation a name and click on Synth, and Photosynth automatically creates and uploads your synth. In about the same amount of time it would take to upload the pictures to a photo-sharing site, you can enjoy your pictures in dramatic and detailed 3-D.
• The finished synth can be accessed from any Windows XP- or Windows Vista-powered computer with a broadband connection. If you want to comment on other people’s synths or create your own, you’ll also need a free Windows Live ID.
• Once created, synths can also be embedded on Web sites, blogs and social networking sites or virtually anywhere HTML can be edited.

Lightroom 2 is now available

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software, the photographer’s essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs.  According to Adobe Lightroom 2 should come with new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localized image correction, and streamlined search capabilities. As Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel® processors and Microsoft® Windows® Vista® 64-bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images.

Photoshop Lightroom 2: Smarter, Faster and More Accurate

The enhanced Library module in Lightroom 2 helps streamline and accelerate photographers’ workflows. With the ability to visually organize images across multiple hard drives, Lightroom 2 and its powerful Library Filter Bar makes it easy for users to quickly find the images they need. The Suggested Keywords feature helps photographers keyword their images by making intelligent suggestions based on their own previous efforts. New dual-monitor support allows users to expand their workspace, giving them flexibility to edit and organize images in a way that maximizes an additional display.

In the Develop module, the new Local Adjustment Brush lets photographers fine-tune specific areas of an image to precisely adjust color, exposure and tonal range without affecting other areas of the image. The new Graduated Filter expands the toolbox in Lightroom, allowing for edits to larger areas by applying gradually diminishing or increasing adjustment effects such as exposure, clarity, and saturation, alone, or in any combination. Lightroom 2 also helps photographers print more efficiently by quickly arranging photos of multiple sizes on one or many pages with flexible and customizable templates to maximize paper and ink. Intelligent algorithms automatically determine optimal sharpening for screen or print, producing crisper images faster. Developers can further extend the Lightroom workflow with Web, Export and Metadata Software Development Kits available at the Adobe Developer Connection, http://www.adobe.com/devnet/ .

Ground-Breaking Innovation in Raw Technology

New raw technology gives photographers access to flexible camera profiles. Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, but image preferences vary for every photographer. To minimize surprises, Adobe is supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers are used to seeing from their favorite camera, while also providing the ability to create highly customized profiles to suit different tastes. Camera profiles are available for immediate download on Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com ) for use with Lightroom 2 and Camera Raw 4.5, along with the DNG Profile Editor for the community to test and create their own profiles.

The Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in and DNG Converter 4.5 are also now available on Adobe.com and support over 190 camera models including the Olympus E 420 and E 520 models.

The NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) has launched their Lightroom 2 Learning Center.

New in Lightroom 2.0

(Source: Lightroom Journal)

Library

Streamlined Organization and Worfklow

Layout: The entire Library layout has been revisited to provide a more intuitive image organization experience.  The left hand panel of the Library has been streamlined to include only the most relevant image sources: the folders the images are physically stored in and collections of images that the photographer creates.

Folders: Photographers working across multiple hard drives will find that the enhanced volume and folder layout will make it a much more intuitive experience to manage images on one or many hard drives.  The volume indicators clearly indicate the hard drive that you’re working with and provide the option to show the online/offline status, the amount of space available, the number of photos you’re working with and there’s an indicator light that migrates from green to red as your hard drive fills up.  Now it’s visually much easier to move your images from hard drive to hard drive and understand where your images are stored when a external hard drive is no longer connected.

Collections: The Collection panel has received significant attention with the addition of improved iconography and collection sets that allow photographers to create a hierarchy while maintaining collection-specific sort order. There is also the ability to save output specific collections for Slideshow/Print/Web.  This can be accomplished by creating a new collection item while in the specific output module.  The subsequent icon in the collection panel will provide a quick reference and link to the images and output settings you created.  Collections still maintain their auto-save capabilities when it comes to on-the-fly output creations that don’t require a persistent entry in the Library.

Smart Collections are now available.  Specify the criteria for a smart collection and images will be automatically added to the collection if they meet the criteria. An expert user tip: Try alt/option clicking when adding a new search criterion.

Target Collection functionality allows you to specify any Lightroom collection as the destination of the quick collection shortcut key, B.

Filter Bar: With the source location of the images clearly defined in the left hand panel, the top of the grid view provides a panel that will filter the content.  Use the ‘\’ key to hide or show the filter functionality and expand one section at a time to filter the content.  Each category below can be toggled on or off by clicking on the name and multiple filter categories can be shift-selected to provide additional control.

Text: Search across your images using text search field

Refine: Filter your grid view by flags, star ratings, color labels and the type of file, Master or Virtual Copy.  This functionality was previously located only in the right hand side of the filmstrip.  It still remains in that location now labeled ‘Filter’ as a quick tool that can be used in any module.

Metadata: A wide range of metadata is now presented in easy to browse filter columns that can be added, removed and customized per your organization workflow.  Choose the field to filter on by clicking on the column header and select menu icon at the right side of each column to add or remove a column.   The column arrangement and selection can be stored as a preset that is defined in the upper right hand corner of the filter bar.  Note that the Date and Location fields contain the option to show hierarchical or flat representations of the data.  The Date field also includes the day of the week in addition to the numerical date.

The Keywording pane has a new Keyword Set called “Suggested Keywords.” Keywording is simplified through Lightroom’s ability to suggest keywords for the current image based on existing keywords applied to that image as well as keywords applied to images that are close neighbors in terms of capture time.  For example, if a number of images in a catalog contain the keywords dog and beach, an image assigned the keyword ‘beach’ will cause the suggested keyword panel to automatically update to show ‘dog’ as a suggested keyword. The Keywording panel also includes a dedicated keyword entry field below the larger box that displays all of the assigned keywords. The Keyword List provides a convenient filter to help find and manage your keywords.  Checkboxes are available to quickly apply additional keywords to the selected images and arrows to the right of each keyword are a link to view all of the images tagged with that keyword.

Multiple Monitors: Lightroom 2.0 offers a dual monitor solution that can adjust to fit your particular monitor set up.   The main Lightroom window that includes the Module picker can be positioned on either monitor and the following views can be provided on an additional monitor. To activate a multiple monitor environment, choose the monitor icon in the lower right hand side of Lightroom, just above the filmstrip.  If a second monitor is not attached, a second window will appear on a single display.

• Grid: Place the grid on a secondary monitor for quick image selection while the develop module is displayed on the other monitor.  Or use the grid to reorder images while creating slideshow, print or web output.
• Loupe:  Allows an image at a preferred zoom level display on an alternate monitor.
  • In Normal mode, the image displayed on the alternate monitor is changed when the selection is changed in the primary Lightroom window.
  • Live mode is continually updated based on the image and area of an image the mouse is currently hovering or passing over.  Zooming to a 1:1 view allows for quick focus checking across a number of images displayed in a grid view on the primary monitor.
  • Locked mode fixes the image displayed on the alternate monitor until you wish to change the selection by selecting alt/option-Enter to make the current selection visible.
• Compare: Offers the same powerful compare functionality previously in the Library but can now be used to compare images while selections are made in the grid view in the Library or while adjustments are made in the Develop module.
• Survey:  View multiple images at once while organizing or adjusting in another display.

Photoshop Integration: Lightroom can now open images directly in Photoshop without writing out TIFF or PSD files first. The previous ‘write file to disk first’ behavior was inefficient and the new behavior enables a faster a more functional workflow that includes:

• Open files in Photoshop as a Smart Object: Utilize the non-destructive smart object workflow by opening the image as a smart object directly into a Photoshop document.
• Select multiple images to merge as a Panorama utilizing Photoshop CS3’s incredible new panorama functionality
• Merge multiple exposures into a single Photoshop HDR image
• Load multiple files or virtual copies into Photoshop as separate layers in a single document.
• Important Note:  This integration is only available with Photoshop CS3 (10.0.1)

Export Functionality: Managing and organizing exported images is much easier now with the following capabilities:

• Export files automatically to the same folder as the original or a subfolder of the original
• Add the exported images to the Lightroom catalog with the option of stacking the export file with the original
• Sharpen images on export for Print or Screen usage utilizing an adaptive algorithm that takes into account the intended use and resolution.
• Send exported images directly to another third party application selected in the export dialog

More notes on Library functionality:

• The 10k pixel limit has been lifted and now images with up to 65,000 pixels per side or 512MP total may be imported into Lightroom.  This is particularly useful when utilizing the new Photoshop integration for panorama creation.

Develop Module

Localized Correction: The develop module now provides the ability to correct specific areas of an image without affecting other areas.  A common example of this in traditional photography would be the dodge and burn experience in the darkroom.  Lightroom provides brushes that a photographer can ‘load’ with different types of corrective techniques that were previously only available globally including exposure, brightness, clarity and saturation.  Images can also be tinted locally using specific hue and saturation values that can provide an excellent way of counteracting mixed lighting environments.

The tools previously available in the toolbar have been relocated to the right hand panel just below the histogram. (Crop, Clone/Heal, Red Eye and the new local correction brush)  Selecting a tool from the panel will reveal the options for that tool.  Click on it again to hide those options and return to the standard develop panel.

Adjustment Brush

The controls available for the local correction brush are segmented into three basic areas: Mask, Effect and Brush.  A quick walkthrough of the correction technique is below:

• On entering the local correction panel the brush will become active.
• The type of desired correction should be selected from the Effect section.  A photographer can paint in a positive brightness effect for the shadows and a negative exposure effect for a bright sky.
• Combinations of effects can be selected and saved as presets by showing the effects sliders. (Horizontal toggle in the upper right area of the effect panel)
• The brush size, feather and opacity can be set before applying the correction.  An Auto Mask option is available to help confine the brush strokes and subsequent mask within an area of similar color.  The airbrush option provides a diffused correction application relative to the standard painting mode.
• Once a brush stroke is applied, a circular point or pin will appear on the image where you first applied the brush stroke.  Additional brush strokes can be applied that will add to the current correction area. To refine the area hold down the Alt or Option key to begin erasing with the brush.
• To adjust the amount applied to the entire area click down on the circular marker or pin and move the cursor to the left or the right to decrease or increase the amount setting.
• To refine the correction settings, click on the pin and detailed adjustments are available in the right panel and will be applied to the selected pin.
• Create a new correction mask or brush stroke by selecting the New option.
• The pins can be hidden or shown with the H shortcut key.
• Use one of the tint presets provided to apply a color tint or use the Lightroom color selection dialog by double-clicking on the rectangle to the right of the presets.  Change a preset by selecting a color in the dialog then click-and-hold on the preset box to be populated by that selection.
• There are two brush presets represented by A and B in the brush section.  After modification of the brush controls, a preset can be updated by clicking and holding on the specific preset letter to be associated with the settings.

Graduated Filter

Recreating the effect of a graduated neutral density filter, this tool goes even further allowing the ability to modify all of the effect parameters in a single graduated effect.  Select the effect and click and drag the gradient onto the image.  Rotate and adjust as necessary.  You can also return to the specific effect settings and modify them after the filter is applied.

Shortcut Keys

Local Adjustment Keyboard Shortcuts

• Toggle Adjustment Brush – K
• Toggle Graduated Filter – M
• Graduated Filter Scale from Center – Alt/Option + Drag
• Hide/Show Pins – H
• Always Show – Shift + Command/Control + H
• Show Selected/Never Show – Shift + H
• New Adjustment Pin – Enter/Return
• Switch Brush – /
• Increase Amount – Right Arrow
• Decrease Amount – Left Arrow
• Erase – Alt/Option
• Increase Brush Size – ]
• Decrease Brush Size – [
• Increase Feather - Shift ]
• Decrease Feather – Shift [
• Set Flow Amount – Number Keys
• Auto-Mask – A
• Show/Hide Mask Overlay – O
• Cycle Mask Overlay Colors – Shift + O
• Constrain brush stroke to straight line – Shift
• Invert Gradient – ‘

Vignette: The previous lens correction vignette effect was only applied to the entire image frame and as an artistic effect could be obscured after an image was cropped.  An additional framing vignette effect has been added that will apply a vignette to an image, respecting the cropped borders.

Basic Panel Keyboard Shortcuts: Photographers who prefer to utilize their keyboards for basic image adjustments will find that the +/- keys are linked to the Exposure adjustment in the Develop module.  Adding the Shift key will boost the increment amount, the comma and period keys will cycle through the basic panel controls and the semi-colon will reset the control currently in focus.

Improved Auto Adjustment: The Auto adjustment has been modified in response to feedback that previous adjustments were too bright.

Improved profiles for Raw data: An enhanced set of profiles has been released on Adobe Labs in order to provide an improved default rendering of raw data. (Many Canon photographers complained that our reds were too orange.)  In addition to the improved Adobe default profile, there are additional profiles for each camera that emulate the results that would be obtained were those settings chosen in the camera manufacturers software or if the photographer chose to shoot JPEG.

Print Module

Picture Package: The print module now provides the ability to create multii-page layouts for a single image arranged in multiple sizes. This allows photographers to quickly and easily print a package of images quickly and easily.

• Choose Picture Package from the Layout Engine in the top right corner of the print module and a blank page will be presented.
• In the Cells panel click on one of the preset size to add an image cell to the page or use the drop down option to edit and create your own custom size.  Cells can be added to the page until the page is filled and a new page will be added to the layout automatically.  Up to six pages can be included in a layout.
• After all of the required cells have been added, choose Auto Layout to automatically create an efficient, easy to cut print layout or manually move the cells to your liking.
• To move a cell, click on the image and move the cell to the desired location.  To delete an image cell, click on the image and choose delete.  A page can be deleted by mousing over the page and clicking on the ‘X’ in the red circle.
• When an image aspect ration is much different than the cell aspect ratio, the image can be moved within the cell by holding the CMD/CTRL key down and clicking on the image and dragging it.

Print to JPEG: Many photographers have asked for the ability to send their Lightroom print layouts directly to a lab that will print JPEG files.  Choose JPEG as the option in the Print Job dialog to specify your print output as a JPEG file for lab delivery. (Select a custom ICC profile for your lab in the color management area)

Print Sharpening: Lightroom previously provided three levels of print sharpening.  Impressive new algorithms have been added to automatically determine the correct amount of print sharpening required based on the output media and resolution of the file.

Lightroom 2 SDK

The Lightroom SDK allows you to customize and extend certain Lightroom features by creating plug-ins. In the current release these features are extensible:

Export functionality: You can create an export plug-in, which customizes the behavior of Lightroom’s Export dialog and export processing. You can add or remove items from the Export dialog, alter or augment the rendering process, and send images to locations other than files on the local computer.

Metadata: You can define customized public or private metadata fields for Lightroom. Public or private metadata can be associated with individual photos.

Web engine functionality: You can create an HTML web-engine plug-in, which defines a new type of HTML photo gallery. The engines you define appear in the Gallery panel at the upper right of the Web module.

A Lightroom plug-in consists of Lua-language files (scripts) that define the plug-in functionality, and an information or manifest file that describes the contents of the plug-in. The information file must have a specific name, and be placed in a folder with the Lua source files and resource files; the folders may need to be in specific locations.

Lightroom 2 beta vs. Lightroom 2

Changes from LR2 beta to LR2 below:

• Hierarchical Dates and locations in the Library Filter. (Including days of the week for the date)
• The Volume Browser in the folder panel.
• Improved iconography for folders, collections, collection sets and output collections.
• Dedicated keyword input field in the keywording pane.
• Ability to add or remove metadata filter columns.
• Improved Keyword List interface. (Including filter by keyword to manage and organize keywords)
• Repositioned and refined dual monitor support location and experience. (Moved from right to left and the ultimate dual monitor experience is much more polished in terms of performance and stability
• Ability to set target collection for quick collection shortcut(b). (Target any collection as the target when you hit the B key)
• Lightroom Web, Metadata and Export SDK available on the Adobe Dev Center
• Local control improvements
  • Complete list of local controls including, Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, Clarity and a color toning option available for the brush or gradient adjustment tool
  • Additional gradient adjustment tool
  • Improved auto-mask functionality
  • Improved brush performance
• Additional post crop vignette options: roundness, feather
• DNG Profiles Concept
  • DNG Profile Editor available on Labs
  • Profiles for our current raw support list available
  • Match camera JPEG looks in the Calibration tab by selection Camera Standard profile
• Export to JPEG functionality in the Slideshow Module. (Intermediate format for additional authoring tools)
• Enhanced output sharpening
• 64-bit memory handling improvement

First  Lightroom 2 books are released or getting released

Donnie takes you in his latest PhotoShop Video Tutorial through “Displacements”

Smashing Magazine did compile a list of 70 Beauty-Retouching Photoshop Tutorials

Dirk Metzmacher from Smashing Magazine writes: “

Beauty retouching is probably one of the most popular application areas in which Adobe Photoshop is used extensively. There are two simple reasons for that. First, Photoshop offers a variety of advanced tools to smooth out skin and hair, optimize body proportions and emphasize some beautiful details. And second, if you have some experience with Photoshop it is easy to learn the basics and quickly produce very impressive and beautiful results.

…”

These 70 Beauty-Retouching Photoshop Tutorials show you how you can:

• Beautiful Skin
• Smooth Skin
• Beauty Retouching
• Remove Freckles
• Dark skin – bright skin
• Change Hair Color
• Remove Hair Roots
• Trimm weight
• Digital Nose Job
• Enhance Iris Color
• Whitening Teeth & Eyes
• Apply Eye Make-up
• Whitening Teeth
• Use Smart Filters
• Beautify a Face
• Phoenix Hair Effect
• Make Nails Longer
• Give Models a New look
• and many more

Bloggers told Iran, “You Suck at Photoshop,” when news broke about doctored photos of Iranian missile tests.

Season 2 rolls on as Donnie Hoyle explores the measure of a man while teaching you about the Measurement Log.