Month: April 2010

Photoshop Brush Presets: Tips

Posted on by Timothy Dempsey

Over the last few years, I have always kept an eye out for collections of free Photoshop brushes. Today – after epic amount of time thinking about it – I actually started to make my own.

Here are some things to lookout for as you setup your custom brushes:

  • Use a grayscale image. The background must be white and the stroke tip black. This image illustrates the kind of thing you want to setup, before you make your marquee selection and select Edit/ Define Brush Preset:
  • There’s scant info in the Help, but it does uh, help. You probably already realize that if you are running an older version of Photoshop, the Adobe knowledge base tends to wither and die on the vine for the older versions (such as CS3). The basic steps ought to remain the same.
  • Save your brushes in your own collections. By saving your custom Brushes to an external .ABR (Adobe Photoshop Brush file), you’ll be able to reload it in case you need to delete your preferences (where the built-in set resides by default). And you will need to delete your preferences.
  • Options in the Brush palette allow you to flip along the X, Y, or both. This allows one Brush to perform multiple duties for variety – you don’t want too much of a rubber-stamped look (unless that is your intent creatively) – but neither is it necessary to save multiple brush orientations.

I was able to quickly put this image together using the above Brush, plus one other similar to it:


For inspiration, make sure to check out free Photoshop brushes at Brusheezy and get cracking!

Two Can Play At That Game: A Side-by-Side Review of Two Current Games

Posted on by Timothy Dempsey

I was meaning to review the stunning “Heavy Rain”, a Playstation3 exclusive as I completed one play-through, but thought I might compare it to another big social gaming favorite “Bubble Island” by Wooga on Facebook.

Let’s compare them on a couple of fronts, fully tossing away that this is an apples vs. oranges debate; indeed not a “fair fight”. Yet these are the two games I’m playing, so here goes nonetheless:

Graphics

Both are equally stunning. They occupy opposing ends of the spectrum stylistically yet are dead-on appropriate for both audiences. While Bubble Island is a candy-colored casual gamers delight enhanced with ultra-cute animations of the Raccoon host, “Heavy Rain” switches from candy colored to ominous browns and muted grays along with the story in an almost reverse “Wizard of Oz” fashion.

Both are masterpieces.

Gameplay

Bubble Island does not break any new ground here. It’s a copy of a game called Snood/Splume which has been around for awhile. Aim colored shapes and explode groups of the same color before the roof comes down on you, and you have the idea. It isn’t doing anything new, but what it does, it does very well. A game-changer for my own personal engagement that altered my way of thinking about the whole crop of Facebook games.

Heavy Rain for PlayStation 3 from French studio Quantic Dream was teased enough last year in the game blogs that I knew it would be a must-have from my point-of-view. A murder mystery that plays like a Hollywood style thriller that might star Morgan Freeman or Brad Pitt, it uses a lot of Quick Time Events and can result in several outcomes depending on choices you make.

Customer service

Here is where the two game experiences part ways, and was the compelling reason to write this post.

Having plateaued at a very difficult level, I finally reached a save point in the Bubble Island “Cave” stage. However, that save point required me to “Invite a Friend” in order to utilize it.

I had a problem with this. I was spending way too much time with this appealing game – but that was my choice. Reaching out to a friend or relative is not a disruption I’d like to cause, I’m a private single-player gamer, unless I’m playing co-op with my son or with others at a Rock Band party.

Since all Facebook games make links available to contact the developer, I filed a complaint. It seems the game penalized players, I stated my above reasons (and acted a little bratty, I’ll admit) and figured that was it – Game Over.

The next day the developer of Bubble Island, Wooga replied to my email, thanking me for playing, disclosing there would be an upcoming upgrade in a few months but most importantly: unlocked my save points so that I do not need to “Invite Friends” to continue enjoying their game.

I’ll say again: my game was tweaked to my liking by the developer (beyond all expectations) and I couldn’t be happier. Can you imagine a AAA console game dev doing that for one single player?

This is the start of something huge in gaming, make no mistake.

Webcomic World Shout-Out

Posted on by Timothy Dempsey

If you have linked here from my guest strip for Odori Park by Chris Watkins, which launched on April 02, 2010 thank you for taking the time. I’ve been a fan of Odori Park for a while and count it among my top five favorites. I love his line quality, art style and the overall refreshing wholesomeness of the writing.

Please try out the Random button to peruse the Archive. The strips that run on Fridays – a recent addition to my publishing schedule – currently follow a story arc that starts here. Thanks to TV Tropes, I subsequently learned this is called B Side Comics. And for you young ‘uns, B Sides were the flip side of a vinyl record containing the song you didn’t intend to buy.

Please feel free to leave a comment and if you are feeling wildly generous, tell a friend about my comic. Thank you.

– T.A.D.

Film Review: How To Train Your Dragon 3D

Posted on by Timothy Dempsey

How To Train Your Dragon is the latest offering from the venerable Dreamworks Animation. DWA is second only to Disney Pixar (Pixar themselves second to none) in the CG animated feature film field. They have brought us great stories like Shrek and ANTZ.

What I Liked

Full disclosure: as a CG artist myself, I have dabbled in a lot of the tools and techniques used in these films. The noteworthy exception is that a feature film is staffed by the talents of dozens of the worlds best artists and technicians. I’m a fanboy of the craft, so take my “angle” for what it’s worth.

  • The visuals are stunning throughout. Textures, atmosphere, stylized – yet seemingly authentic Viking imagery – are simply breathtaking. The scale of pivotal scenes like the “boss battle” with the Queen Bee dragon and the swarming hordes of cartoon Vikings (all evidently unique – or at least not noticeably repeated instances as in video game crowds) is simply compelling.
  • Fur and hair are lushly rendered and sported by engagingly designed characters.

What I Didn’t Like

  • I can’t shake the feeling that this has all been done before – the misfit “fish out of water” slight Viking child named Hiccup who longs only for his father’s approval and subsequently saves the day. How many times must we pay to see the Hero’s Journey remade?
  • It was short on genuine laughs with only a couple of chuckles – mostly juvenile.

Best LOL Jokes (Spoilers!)

There were no big laughs, at least for the parents., sadly no bullet list this time around. Is it really that hard to write comedy in feature animated films? The Toy Story 3 preview preceding this film was funnier.

Parental Watch-outs

None to really be concerned about. “Hell” is used one more than one occasion if you are that concerned about language.

Overall Grade: B

Even though I had a good time seeing it, with a premium paid for the 3D experience – I would like to see something more original and enduring. Do to unfortunate timing with Avatar, the scenes of flying on a dragon would have seemed more unique, but only served to take me “out of” the film.