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Just launched a web-site for the talented musician Vicky Barents. If you are in the Poole or Bournemouth area and need a teacher, saxophonist, flautist, singer or want to book the awesome Goodfoot Band for a function or wedding you are organising then check out her site – http://vickybarents.com  .

This week I’ve been teaching across the globe without even hopping on a plane! From London, England to Qatar and California its been a (pseudo)jet-set week! Here are some pins I’ve been sticking into a Google Map to keep track of where I’ve been (on Skype!).

Below is a screen shot of one of my student’s pages.

I’m teaching using Skype and then recording the lesson for later review. The videos themselves are hosted on Vimeo and then embedded here.

There are a few screen shots below because I recorded most of the lesson and then picked out a few small topics so that they could be reviewed in shorter sessions.

If you are interested in learning Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop or Apple’s Final Cut Pro then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me by e-mail ( design@benhalsall.com ) or on Twitter ( @benhalsall ).

 

I’ve been teaching a little bit of Processing online via Skype lately and used these two simple bits of code to introduce variables and the structure of a processing sketch. Take a look and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

Example 1 – Talking about the structure of a processing sketch

void setup() {
size(400,400);

}

void draw() {
stroke(255);

// mouseX is left and right
// mouseY is up and down
line(20,20,mouseX,mouseY);
//rect(mouseX,mouseY,10,10);
}

void mousePressed() {
background(192,64,0);
}

Example 2 – beginning to talk about repetition and incrementing variables

size(640, 360);

// These are my variables for size & colour
int my_width = 600;
int my_height = 25;
int color_r = 100;
int color_g = 0;
int color_b = 50;
int location_y = 20;

// This is where I draw things
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b); // fill(red,green,blue);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;
fill(color_r,color_g,color_b);
rect(20,location_y,my_width,my_height);
location_y = location_y+30;
color_g = color_g +20;

Great Final Cut Pro lesson today covering the basics of making selections, editing to the timeline, timing and eye-trace.

Here is 7 seconds that kind of explains what we covered!

The timeline for this short edit looks like this.

 

The original inspiration for this class by Lasse Gjertsen.

Find and replace is such an awesome timesaver if you can master how to use it. Here we look at a quick tip with a simple HTML fix in Adobe Dreamweaver but this tip can carry through to many applications and uses when you are dealing with large bodies of text or code. Well worth a watch if you plan to get into site or document management.

Here you will learn the fundamentals of using a key to composite a still image onto another image or video. You will then go on to look at how to create keyframes animations with multiple versions of that image.

If you are designing a logo or looking to make your slogan or type design stand out this effect will certainly do the trick. Use smart techniques in Adobe Illustrator to create this sharp, but simple to create, effect that will give your designs a boost.