Tools / Software Posts

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Less than 2 months after I buy one, Wacom releases new 21″ Cintiq

Macworld magazine did a little write up on the announcement of Wacom’s new Cintiq 21UX. It’ll be released in early April. You know, like 2 months after I buy what is now the old version.

Typical. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

But you can help lessen the blow.

Pre-order the Cintiq from Amazon by clicking this link, and I’ll get a sweet kickback. You KNOW you want one. They really are quite awesome.

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Links

Wacom announces new Cintiq 21UX pen display

Wacom CINTIQ 21UX (DTK2100) 21-Inch Pen Display – Graphics Monitor with Digital Pen (Amazon)

March 8, 2010 | 1 Comment

Typekit: lots of fonts…for your WEBSITE!

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From the Typekit website:

“Just add a line of JavaScript to your markup, tell us what fonts you want to use, and then craft your pages the way you always have. Except now you’ll be able to use real fonts. This really is going to change web design.”

Sounds pretty cool. Simple, flexible, and cool.

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Links

Typekit

February 24, 2010 | No Comments

Adobe Illustrator’s clipping mask and making comics

The clipping mask is one of the myriad of tools that Adobe Illustrator sports. And I never really got the hang of it or understood where it would come in handy.

Until last week.

I’m putting together a new comic strip called The Winchcombe, and I’ve just saved myself a ton of time and headaches by finally figuring out just what the clipping mask can do for me.

Long and short: I’ve drawn several “set pieces”, background images of locations that will be used frequently in the strip, places like an office, an exterior shot of the restaurant, and the break room.

I can slap the full-sized backdrop down on a layer, scale it to fit the specific shot I’m composing, and then use a clipping mask to trim it to fit the panel, quick and clean. It’s much better than erasing or slopping big blobs of white ink down to cover the unwanted portion.

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Thanks to Jay Hilgert of bittbox for making it so embarrassingly clear how easy clipping masks are to use.

Links

How to Make a Clipping Mask in Illustrator | BittBox
The Winchcombe

December 16, 2009 | No Comments

I don’t want to use either of these mouses

Links

A Tale of Two Mice | THE RUSSIANS USED A PENCIL

December 9, 2009 | No Comments

I ask myself, why Snow Leopard? – the Ars Technica 10.6 review

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As I lose 15 minutes here and a half hour there fighting with my Wacom tablet’s 10.6 compatible drivers, I have to ask myself, why did I upgrade from the stable 10.5?

And whenever I feel like that, I glance through this review of OS X 10.6, and I remember that a few frustrations are par for the course when you enjoy technology as much as I do.

I just wish that these problems would crop up when I’ve got the time to spend fiddling. Not at 5:15am when all I want to do is spend the 45 minutes before kids wake up drawing a few panels.

It’s a very good review. And thorough.

Links

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: the Ars Technica review

November 24, 2009 | No Comments
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