Rhino Tutorial: Surface Editing

This week concludes the overview of commands as we learn to modify, edit, and combine surfaces.

CDisco Part 5: Photography Studio Setup

Taking photos of your work in a proper studio can change the quality of your work tremendously. Luckily a nice setup can be had on the cheap. With a couple of key items you will be off and running with minimal setup and (hopefully) effort. Let’s go through what all of this looks like.

A couple of weeks ago I recommended some cameras for general photography. Read it and then beg, borrow, or buy a good one. Next get intimately familiar with its basic use. If you are new to digital photography perhaps you should pick up a good, albeit at times dorky, book about the topic.

Next we need to stabilize the camera. This can be done with a pile of books, a table, or a tripod. As the book idea sounds dangerous, I can recommend the Manfrotto 7302YB as a good entry level tripod with a ball head. The head is the part that connects to the bottom of your camera; ball type heads allow the camera to move on any axis and be locked for the perfect shot. For a little more flexibility the combination of aManfrotto 190XPROB and Manfrotto 322RC2 Joystick is more expensive but can go perpendicular and be used to take photos of art or books lying flat on the table.

Photography is all about light, so our lighting scheme is essential in the studio. Two desk lamps positioned oblique to the object can function very well as direct light sources. In this case it is helpful to get CFL or halogen bulbs with a color temperature (the hue of the light) close to white. Incandescent bulbs tend to give a yellow color and fluorescent lighting often appears green. However, for a little more than the cost of desk lamps there are studio lighting kits available that will offer flexibility and possible performance. The advantage here is the built-in diffusion of light with kit’s umbrellas. The ability to easily diffuse light is advantageous as it is more even and softer on the object. As a general rule of thumb diffuse reduces shadows, direct increases them, and the distance between direct light source and the object determines the resulting sharpness of the shadows.

Pick a flat surface and hang a large sheet of paper or cloth for a background behind it. Draping the paper over the table and leaving a little slack at the joint between wall and table will create a continuous surface. White, gray, or black are the preferred colors as they provide a high contrast with most objects. The contrast will be essential if removing the background for de-contextualization, for example a collage, is the goal of the shoot. Specialty paper made for photographic backgrounds are available at most photo stores and, of course, here. Just make sure you buy the right size for your new studio.

Now place your object into the studio and set your white balance using a gray card placed in front of the model. The specific method for setting custom white balance differs depending on your camera model, so see your manual for specifics.

With a stable camera, good lighting, and proper white balance you are now equipped to shoot your objects like a professional. Go now and make a proper exposure, move your lights, object, and tripod around for desired effect and shoot away!

Rhino Tutorial: Surfaces I

Learning to build surfaces and extract information from them.

Rhino Tutorial: Curves and Points

I am developing a workshop course with Pierre Belánger for the landscape core studio at GSD. This is the first in a series of Rhinoceros tutorials that will culminate in rendering and physical modeling. It is very exciting to have this opportunity to cut my teeth teaching such a large group in digital media. Welcome to my amazing nasal voice.

CDisco Part 4: Building a Portfolio with InDesign

Most people, outside of your parents, will never see any of the actual artifacts that you design and produce. So the representation of your work culminates in the creation and maintenance of a portfolio. In this tutorial I will be using InDesign CS5 to setup the framework of a portfolio but the basics are the same in CS4 and 3.

Step 1: Specifying document size and formats.

Schools and employers often have specific requirements for portfolio dimensions and formats. In general it is a good idea to keep it standard, so we will use an 11×17 spread. This means that we can print our portfolio on 11×17 paper, producing two portrait letter sized pages per spread. Using these dimensions will also allow easy conversion to pdf and single page printing for design sheets. Go to File > New > Document and set the desired page size, margin, and bleed.

Step 2: Setting up the templates

The top portion of the Page window is for setting up master templates. Designing templates allows you to make a set of consistent layout that can be applied to your pages. This step ensures a continuity throughout the portfolio. Plus, then you spend the time setting up a set of default layouts and do not have to create page of your portfolio disparately.

Step 3: Placing images and text

Frames on pages with templates applied can be selected by Ctrl + Shift +Click or Apple + Shift + Click. Once selected in this manner a frame will become local and modifications will not modify the default template. Place images or text into a frame by selecting it and going to File > Place.

Step 4: Preparing for printing

You will want to export your finished portfolio file to pdf for proofing. To do this go to File > Adobe PDF Presets > High Quality Print. To ensure bleeds and trim marks are correct follow the directions in the above video. Before doing the final export you will need to decide what type of binding you want. InDesign has a built in tool (File > Print Booklet) to reformat your file in the correct order for several types of bindings, but they take some fiddling with. Adobe offers limited help on proper fiddling, but results may vary. If this step becomes a problem, you can save a copy of your finished portfolio and manually reorder pages so that they will fold and bind properly.

External resources

A typography primer with some good links embedded.

The book about grid layouts from a master.

InDesign official help and tutorials from Adobe

CDisco Part 3: Cameras for Documentation

Having a camera is an essential tool to capture your design process, inspirations, and artifacts. But the camera market can be very confusing and reviews are not necessarily tailored to the type of work we do. I propose here a list of recommended cameras based on a thorough trade study of the current market. In general the cost, speed, image quality, and feature set are linear.

Enthusiast Point and Shoot (less than $500)

Canon S90: 10 MP, RAW, 28-105mm equivalent lens
Lumix LX5: 10 MP, HD video, 20mm equivalent Leica lens

Entry level DSLRs (less than $750)

Canon Digital Rebel T1i w/18-55mm lens: 15 MP, RAW, full HD video, live view
Nikon D3000 w/ 18-55mm lens: 10.2 MP, RAW, Nikon’s entry level SLR

Enthusiast DSLR (less than $1500)

Canon 50D: 15 MP, RAW, live view
Nikon D90: 12.3 MP, RAW, HD video, live view

Prosumer DSLR ($1500+)

Canon 7d: 18 MP, RAW, live view, full HD video, magnesium body
Nikon D300s: 12 MP, RAW, live view, HD video, magnesium body

For most students an entry or enthusiast DSLR will provide an appropriate level of features, speed, performance, and flexibility to enable you for years to come. Remember that megapixel count is not necessarily equal to increased quality. Go to your local camera store and get a feel for each model. In the end the best camera is the one you have with you, so spend some time researching before making a purchase. For more information dpreview has a good DSLR buying guide.

CDisco Part 2: Processing Design Project Images

After images, drawings, illustrations, et al. have been captured and backed up they need to be prepared in Photoshop. This tutorial aims to give the essential skills for processing images for entry into your portfolio.

Step 1: Image Size

Start by verifying that your image resolution is at least 150ppi, 300ppi is preferred. To do this in Photoshop select Image > Image Size. If your image is below 150ppi go back and photograph (model) or export (drawing) at 300ppi. In the photo process setting your camera to JPEG Fine will ensure a high quality image. When exporting drawings from Illustrator go to File > Export and select the filename and filetype and select Save. In the resulting dialog box select 300 dpi. Note that dpi, dots per inch, and ppi, pixels per inch, are often interchanged although they are not technically synonymous.

Pixel Dimensions: file size, width and height of the image
Document Size:print dimensions and image resolution in pixels per (ppi)
Scale Styles: layer styles are scaled when resizing or resampling the image
Constrain Proportions: original proportions of the image are maintained
Resample Image: pixel dimensions will be maintained

Step 2: Color Balance

Setting the white balance and hue matching your photos is possible by several methods in Photoshop. If your images have white whites and black blacks you can skip this step. But most of the time it is worth a few steps to bring them into line. I recommend first opening the image in Photoshop and go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Double click on the balck eye dropper and make the color RGB: 8,8,8 and select OK. Next, select the black dropper icon and place it above the darkest spot on the image and click. The image is adjusted to pull that selection to black. Double click on the white eye dropper and make the color RGB: 244, 244, 244. Next, select the white dropper and place it above the lightest spot on that image and click. The image is further adjusted to pull that selection to white. The video below demonstrates this process on a slightly discolored photograph.

If you have a series of photos that all require the same modifications you can use a batch process to save yourself a lot of time. Batch processing has the advantage of editing a series of images exactly the same and can make a series of images visually congruent. Be careful, however, that all of the photos in a batch were shot in the same lighting conditions with the same settings before processing them in this method.

Additional methods of color correction can be done through the Curves, Hue/Saturation, and Color Balance dialog boxes. They are all found under Image > Adjustments and you can experiment with each to see which one works best.

Step 3: Saving With a Purpose

After the photo is color corrected and edited to your satisfaction it is a good idea to save two copies of the image. First save the 300ppi image for printing purposes then go to Image > Image Size change the resolution to 72ppi and click OK. Be sure to have the Resample Image box checked when changing the resolution. Finally, select File > Save As to save the 72ppi image for web and screen use. Be careful not to save over the original 300ppi image!

You image is now ready to import into InDesign, post on the web or insert into a presentation. If you need to change the size (resize) of the image for print use deselect Resample Image and change the dimensions or resolution to the desired values. For changing the size of the image for the web or screen (resample) select Resample Image and change the pixel dimensions to the desired values.

CDisco: Documenting a Design Project

Part 1 in a series on documentating design projects.

As the Career Discovery program draws to a close it seems useful to document a couple of lessons learned. Amongst my colleagues and the CD students there is often confusion regarding how design artifacts go from studio >> camera >> computer >> portfolio or web. Since a minority of people will never see your original models, prototypes, drawings, etc. the documentation will be the end representation of both your work and skill to the rest. This first part in a series of posts aims to give an overview of the documentation process.

Step 1: Design

Using good craft on your design deliverables will yield the best results in the documentation phase. It is difficult, if not impossible, to make great images of poorly conceived and/or executed projects. Build good models, make readable drawings, and your documentation will work for you.

Step 2: Capturing the Artifacts

At the GSD we have a simple photography studio setup that is great for taking photos of objects and models. If you do not have access to something similar do not fret! It is simple to get a working setup with minimal investment. The three keys to a successful photographic studio are lights, background, and camera. Up until last year I used a couple of desk lamps, a large sheet of paper and a Nikon D80 to document all of my work. Drawings, diagrams, and other digital representation are already captured, but require similar processing as photos for final output. A further post will detail setting up a studio and scanning documents in more detail.

Step 3: Photo Processing

Transfer the photos onto your computer and save a backup before processing them. Your models and drawings will never look as the day you shot them, things fall apart, so backups are essential. Open your most promising photographs, drawings, and diagrams in Photoshop and process them in preparation for the final steps. Tutorial for this step here.

Step 4: Portfolio Design

Having a printed version of your work is a good idea for designers. Most design jobs and graduate school programs require a portfolio for application so your documentation becomes the face of your skills as a designer. Physical portfolios are generally laid out in Indesign and require high resolution images for printing. For publishing on the web images can be lower resolution and require a different process for publishing.

Step 5: Web Portfolio

Maintaining a website for your portfolio is a great way to be able to quickly and easily display your work. While a printed portfolio is considered more formal, a personal website can be updated and shared more easily. There are several great systems available on the interweb for publishing portfolios including Indexhibit and WordPress.

Configuring a Treo for Mac

I tired of not finding a concise tutorial on how to make this work. If you have a Treo using Palm software bookmark this entry and you should never have trouble getting sync to work again.

1. From your Mac download and install the appropriate Palm Desktop.

2. Open iSync on your Mac and go to Devices -> Enable Palm OS Syncing… Follow the instructions and select OK to close the window. The instructions at the end of the process are confusing so just continue.

3. Go to your Mac’s hard drive and browse to Applications -> Palm -> HotSync Manager. In the HotSync manager go to HotSync -> Edit Users then click on the New User button. Enter your desired name for the Treo you want to sync and click OK.

4. Make sure that the HotSync window has the HotSync Enabled button selected.

5. Still in the HotSync Manager go to HotSync -> Conduit Settings… and double click on the item iSync Conduit. In the iSync Conduit window check the box Enable iSync for this Palm device and select OK.

6. Back in the Conduit Settings dialogue select each of the conduits and give them the desired functionality for your Treo / Mac synchronization. Once complete close the Conduit Settings and HotSync Manager windows.

7. Go back to iSync and you should see your device shown. Click on your device and the window will expand to give you options for syncing your Treo.

8. Configure your synchronization for iCal and Address Book as desired. Note: there is some bug in iSync that will not allow categories in Address Book – you MUST delete the categories in Address book for any iSync synchronization to work in Leopard. While this is lame, the Palm will not really utilize categories anyway, so they are of limited usefulness.

9. Connect your Palm to the your mac using the USB cable and press the sync button. HotSync should launch on the Mac and Treo and you should be synchronized!

I have no idea why this is so complicated, but I have an inkling that the iPhone is quite a lot simpler. Too bad I am locked in a contract with Sprint and the iPhone’s internet is so slow. Once they release a 3G capable iPhone, Treo goes bye bye.

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