Photoshop Actions Tip!!

I love the Actions Tab in Photoshop.  Now that I use it everyday, I don't think I can live without it, (or make websites)

This guy

One complaint I have is that it's a pain to edit an action.  What if I changed my mind and want the thumbs to be 45x45 instead of 50x50?  Do I have to do this all over again?  

I thought so until today.  The answer is so simple, no one will ever guess.  

You just add more actions to your existing action:  

Select the action you want to edit, and hit the record button and do what you need to do to update your action.

1 & 2 : Old Action String that created a layer with "©2008 Ikumi Kayama."

3&4: New Action String that hides the 2008 and show 2009 that I typed.  

That's it.  Kind of too easy?  

CMYK blues

I look back at my graduate school days at Hopkins, and all I can remember is the wonderful people, one-of-a-kind experience, and overall, such a great time. 

What?  I wept in my mind during that time?

------

oh yeah.

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Printing.

We had a top notch (in my mind) Epson color  printer that did a wonderful job printing.  I used to curse at it, but it did print out 60+ pieces in full color in few nights for the graduate show at the end.  

Of course, we are not supposed to expect that a printout will be an exact duplicate of the screen view.  However, I did spend many hours erasing "smudges" and "random lines" that did not appear on screen, but appeared on the printout.  grrr.

It happened again.  No big surprise.   But it was a surprise!  What do you mean there is an unwanted line on my printout!!  It's not on the screen!

Top image is the printout

Bottom image is the screenshot

Oh yeah.  

So I 'think' the printer didn't like the fact that the montage was a true montage of cmyk, rgb, and greyscale tiffs composed in Illustrator.  I made the fix, and hopefully we won't see that blasted line again.  

Lessons learned:

1. Choose one mode.  

2. Always do a test print. 

3. Don't get upset at people at Kinko's.  

If you leave a comment, you are spectacular!

What do you think?  any comments will be appreciated.   Is it too girly?  Now the circle with the turtle looks too loud.  (because colors can totally talk).

Little note: the studiokayama website is not done, you will be disappointed at how not cool it is.  Instead, go to here and I promise you that you won't be sorry.  

Thanks a bunch!

Happy New Year! --The Year of the Ox!--

Happy New Year!

It's the year of the Ox...the muskox (Ovibos moschatus) counts, right?

Look me up in science-art.com and medillsb.com!

And of course, the bigger and better portfolio site!

CHANL Open House at University of North Carolina

Works by Ikumi have been recognized to be on display as a part of the Scientific Art Competition hosted by Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory Institute for Advanced Materials (CHANL) at the University of North Carolina. 

The CHANL's first annual open house was on January 15, and it was a great success!

These pieces were displayed:

Pyramidal Neurons

3d Studio Max & Photoshop

Dermal Chromatophores of the Chameleon

3d Studio Max &  Photoshop

Central Park

The weather was unusually pretty on Friday, so instead of locking myself up inside a building, I took a leisurely stroll in the Central Park.  I made a big mistake of not taking my maps, so all I found was a pond and the Strawberry fields.  

Next time I need to be more prepared.  :)

Hey look!  Who would have thought that I would be here now!

The cats appreciate the view of the city too...in their own ways

There was a man laying down flowers for the Imagine memorial.  How nice.  I need to contribute something to this memorial too.  The lighting was kind of not good, so the right half seems overexposed.  ha.  Will come back here too.  

New York!

So my adventures in NY starts.  RDU has a direct flight to JFK.  I was wondering why the ticket was relatively cheap.  The plane was a smallish commuter plane... I can't imagine commuting from North Carolina to New York, but the flight was actually shorter than what my commute will be, so who knows.  

I was pretty excited to see my suitcase getting aboard the plane at the same time I was.  That's always refreshing!

The plane leaves earlier than schedule AND the flight is shorter than schedule.  Wow that never happens either!

I was planning to knit my charity hat for an organization, but I didn't get as far as I would have...Knitting in the plane is a wonderful way to pass time.

I got to meet a very nice medical illustrator, Laura, and her husband Chad.  They also had a nice cat, and I was really happy I got to meet them all.  

The next morning...here it is, the moment I've been waiting for!  My "home" for the next 10 weeks!  The American Museum of Natural History!

Wow it's really big!  and the inside is filled with tributes to Theodore Roosevelt.  Interesting.  I didn't look in the museum too much, since I was expecting a meeting there.  

But I did look around the main atrium.  People told me there would be elephants, but there were dinosaurs.  Oh well.  They are cool too.  

...and the murals highlighted TR's accomplishments as President.  I especially liked this one, since it reminded me of Mucha's paintings.  

...I officially start here on Tuesday!  I was told to bring myself, and an open mind!  :)