FINISHED: Apple / MacOS Tip a day for a year !

[cowasaki]

Sunday 20th September
Tip 311 - MacOS[148] - File systems.

Disk formats are simple…..

MacOS will read and write the following formats:

Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Mac OS Extended, case sensitive (Journaled)
Mac OS Extended
Mac OS Extended, case sensitive
FAT32, Older windows file format brought in with Windows 98 and still popular for external devices.

MacOS will also read

NTFS - Newer Windows file format

The reality is that all these formats are overkill as far as your use of your Mac is concerned. The first format in the list is the only one you need for you computer so use that.

Use FAT32 for external devices because they will then be compatible with PCs

MacOS will read NTFS which is useful for reading Windows drive.

Do not use CASE SENSITIVE options as Adobe CS will not install it you do.

 

[cowasaki]

Monday 21st September
Tip 312 - Backup[1] - General.

Right, this is a subject that is VERY important so I am going to cover several individual applications over the coming days.

There are a number of ways to backup your data but you need to always consider what you are backing them up from. There is little point in backing up your entire photo collection into a folder on the same hard drive. Better would be a second hard drive but what if the computer were stolen or the house caught fire.

Hard drives are CHEAP very very CHEAP.......

You can buy an external 1Tb hard drive for under £70 so just buy one and use that. I personally bought TWO....

This is what I do....

I have a HP proliant server running freeNAS which sits on my network with its 2Tb of storage space and holds backups of EVERYTHING. If something goes wrong I can recall the lost item very easily and I can also store software on there and other items.

I have 2 external hard drives. I backup my data onto hard drive A once a week and take it to work where I swap it with hard drive B which I then bring home. The next week I do the same.....

It works for me....

On a Windows computer I often found it difficult to locate every bit of data so that I could do a backup and found that the best backup was an image. With this in mind I bought GHOST which is a brilliant package. We have something similar on the Mac and this is called Carbon Copy Cloner what this does is just copy your entire hard drive onto another drive. If you did this once a week and swapped the drive with another stored at work/elsewhere you would never lose more than a weeks work and the restoration would be simple but there are problems with this method. The alternative method is backing up the data itself. This costs nothing and allows upgrading of your computer whilst keeping the data intact.

Image backup (Carbon Copy Cloner etc)

advantages

Simple
Everything is backed up including applications/updates
Quick restore

disadvantages

If there is a problem with a file and this is missed you backup the fault!
It is more complicated to restore individual files
Small cost of buying the software


File backup

advantages

You can backup just what you need to
If something goes wrong with one thing eg email you can restore just that
No software cost
If you upgrade your OS you can restore everything so a clean install give good results

disadvantages

Easy to miss a vital file(s)


Well I am going to explain how to backup the files for specific applications and generally over the next few days and include how to restore those files afterwards. I will start with MAIL then go on to other applications later explaining where those applications store their data.......

 

[cowasaki]

Tuesday 22nd September
Tip 313 - Backup[2] - Mail.


UPDATE (23/09/09): NOW INCLUDING BACKUP OF YOUR SETTINGS AND ACCOUNTS

Backup

Mail stores its files inside one directory and any downloaded attachments inside another directory.

Main directory = [user] :: Library :: Mail
Attachments = [user] :: Library :: Mail Downloads

Create folder on our external drive called "BACKUP 090918"
Shut down Mail by quitting it.
Copy the directory Mail into our newly created directory on the external drive.
Copy the directory Mail Downloads into our newly created directory on the external drive.
Create the directory Mail Settings on the backup drive
Copy the file com.apple.mail.plist in the directory [user] :: Library :: Preferences into this new directory

Restore

Make sure that Mail has run at least once so if this is a fresh installation run Mail and then quit it.
Open the directory Mail Settings on our backup
Open the directory [user] :: Library :: Preferences
Copy the file com.apple.mail.plist from the directory Mail Settings on our backup into the directory [user] :: Library :: Preferences on our computer.
Open the directory Mail on our computer.
Open the directory Mail on our backup.
Hold [CMD] and press [A] to select all the files in the backup directory.
Drag these into the Mail folder on the computer.
Answer "REPLACE" when asked.
Open the directory Mail Downloads on our computer.
Open the directory Mail Downloads on our backup.
Hold [CMD] and press [A] to select all the files in the backup directory.
Drag these into the Mail Downloads folder on the computer.
Answer "REPLACE" when asked.

DONE.

 

[Wail]

Darren,

Doesn't Time Machine come in here? I have never used it; but have been told it's outstanding and dead-easy :shrug:

 

[cowasaki]

Darren,

Doesn't Time Machine come in here? I have never used it; but have been told it's outstanding and dead-easy :shrug:

Time machine is easy to use but it is a running backup option so if for example you open you best ever picture of your daughter and just for a joke you give her google eyes then accidentally click SAVE instead of SAVE AS you can get the original back. Time machine will not help you if your house burns down and all your data is lost. It is a very useful addition but not ideal if used as the only option. It is also far more use on a Mac pro with multiple hard drives rather than a laptop or similar which has just one.

The list of applications that I have written instructions for is now:

Documents
Mail
Lightroom
iTunes
Aperture
iPhoto
Keychains
iWeb
Photoshop presets, scripts and actions.

and these will appear over the next few days if someone has any other applications that they want me to consider just let me know and I will see if they need specific instructions.

 

[Wail]

Thank you very much for the clarification.

I currently re-thinking my whole back-up scheme and will want to implement something that is very robust and offers a lot of security and data integrity. Not sure of what set-up to go with. I guess I will have to wait until my mind is a bit more clear

That list, excellent . . . can't wait to start reading the bits on Lightroom, iTunes, Keychains . .. . the whole lot basically . As always, thank you very much for all the effort you put into this.

 

[cowasaki]

The perfect strategy is a running backup of your home directory using Time Machine and then back up your other files using the methods I am showing you . There are numerous off site internet based backup sites which you can use together with an external drive. It sounds a lot but an external drive costs peanuts. There is a Time Machine for sale in the for sale section now at a good price with 500Gb storage. That would make an ideal incremental backup then use my methods onto an external drive and the internet. Job done..

 

[Wail]

Thank you for the tips; but I will have to explain to you my current set-up so that you may see just how complicated it really is. I don't want to hijack your thread here, so I will explain this over PM.

Give me a few days and I will come back to you on this, if you don't mind. Right now, I can't get my mind beyond a couple of sentences. Too much at home

 

[cowasaki]

Thank you for the tips; but I will have to explain to you my current set-up so that you may see just how complicated it really is. I don't want to hijack your thread here, so I will explain this over PM.

Give me a few days and I will come back to you on this, if you don't mind. Right now, I can't get my mind beyond a couple of sentences. Too much at home

Wail,

You can always email me privately if you have a problem so don't worry. You have my email address so use that rather than PM as it is easier for replies containing screen shots etc and the PM box gets full too quick.

Darren

 

[cowasaki]

Wednesday 23rd September
Tip 314 - Backup[3] - Keychains.

A keychain is a secure file containing a list of passwords that you use to access other systems and files. Like a chain full of keys! So when you attach to your NAS and it asks if you want to store the password in your keychain it is here that it stores it. The file itself is just stored on the computer but you need a password to get into this keychain. Your user has an automatic keychain which is the default one but you can also create extra keychains for specific tasks and require a password to open those chains.

I will do another tip or two later specifically about keychains but for now lets backup those that you have.

Backup

Your keychain files are stored in the folder

[user] :: Library :: Keychains

There will normally be just one file called "login.keychain"

Create folder on our external drive called "BACKUP 090918" (if not already done)
Copy the directory Keychains into our newly created directory on the external drive.


Restore

Now restoration isn't just a matter of copying the file back or it would not be very secure would it !

We need to run a utility called Keychain Access

Applications :: Utilities :: Keychain Access

Now once run you should see something like this…

Now to restore our keychain we go to FILE :: Import Items

Navigate to the file stored on our external drive and select it

You will now have to give the login password for the account at the time of the backup.

DONE.

 

[cowasaki]

Thursday 24th September
Tip 315 - Backup[4] - iTunes.

Backup

Your iTunes files are stored in the folder

[user] :: Music :: iTunes (unless you have moved them!)

There will be a number of files and some directories. The actual music is stored in the directory "iTunes Music"

Create folder on our external drive called "BACKUP 090918" (if not already done)
Copy the directory iTunes into our newly created directory on the external drive.


Restore

Make sure that iTunes has run at least once so if this is a fresh installation run iTunes and then quit it.
Open the directory Music on our computer.
Locate the directory iTunes on our backup.
Click on the directory iTunes and drag this into the Music folder on the computer.
Answer "REPLACE" when asked.

DONE.

 

[cowasaki]

Friday 25th September
Tip 316 - Backup[5] - Lightroom.

Lightroom has two options when importing images one of the options leaves the pictures in their original location the other imports them into the normal lightroom directory. This is the option that I use and the best option in order to make backups easier.

One off task

If you move the PRESETS into the same folder it again makes backing up easier. So run Lightroom and select

LIGHTROOM :: Preferences

Select the Presets tab

Click on "Store presets with catalog"


Backup

Your Lightroom files are stored in the folder

[user] :: Pictures :: Lightroom (unless you have moved them!)

and also your import folder which in my case is:

[user] :: Pictures :: Photo Library (or whatever you call it!)

Create folder on our external drive called "BACKUP 090918" (if not already done)
Copy the directory Lightroom into our newly created directory on the external drive.
Copy the directory Photo Library into our newly created directory on the external drive.


Restore

Make sure that Lightroom has run at least once so if this is a fresh installation run Lightoom and complete the above One off task then quit it.
Open the directory Pictures on our computer.
Locate the directory Lightroom on our backup.
Click on the directory Lightroom and drag this into the Pictures folder on the computer.
Locate the directory Photo Library on our backup.
Click on the directory Photo Library and drag this into the Pictures folder on the computer.
Answer "REPLACE" when asked.

DONE.

 

[cowasaki]

Saturday 26th September
Tip 317 - iDVD[10] - Dtown tip part 1 - get the information.

Download the series

Go to the web site in Safari at http://www.dtowntv.com/?feed=podcast
Create a folder on your desktop called "D-Town".
In Safari scroll to the bottom of the screen.

Right click on each episode and download them to your computer….
So for the first episode there is a link that states:

d-town-tv-episode-01.mp4

Right click on this and save it into the newly created "D-Town" directory on your desktop called episode1

Repeat this for every episode at the same time, they will all download in the background.

Don't close the page yet as you will need it again shortly…...

Copy the episode information

Start Text Editor
Click on Safari
Hold down [CMD] + [A] to select all the text
Hold down [CMD] + [C] to copy all the text
Click on Text Editor
Hold down [CMD] + [V] to paste all the text

Save the text as "Episode Inf.txt" in your "D-town" directory

Save a screen shot to disc

The following image was created using the screen grab tip and is just the opening screen saved to disc. Just drag the image to your "D-Town" directory.

 

[cowasaki]

Sunday 27th September
Tip 318 - iDVD[11] - Creating the DVD & setup.

You will need to have read and completed Tip 324 first.

To create a new DVD project ….

Remember back to iDVD[1] Tip 224

Run iDVD

Click "Create a New Project" and call it "D Town TV series 1"

Click "Widescreen (16:9)

Click "Create"

You will now be presented with the following screen:

First we need to change the DVD size to single sided and the encoding quality to professional this is so that 8 episodes will fit onto each DVD. At the end I will show you how to setup the defaults but as we have already created our project changing the defaults will now affect this particular one.

Bring up the iDVD project info panel from the menu Project :: Project Info or holding [SHIFT] + [CMD] then pressing .

Set DVD Type to "Single-Layer (SL) 4.2Gb"

Set encoding to "Professional Quality"


Now that the Contents will fit onto a DVD I will show you what the buttons do and we can complete the contents of the DVD in tomorrows tip. I will call each box in the display a tile.

So from the left:

The "+" icon brings up a menu allowing you to add a sub-menu, movie or slideshow.

The "i" icon brings up a tile information window giving you information about the tile that is selected.

The "box above two boxes" icon brings up the project's hierarchy showing how all the tiles are connected.

The "two arrows" icon brings up the preview of the tile selected.

The "arrow into a box" icon changes between two modes of editing in preview.

The slider is a volume control

The "play button" does just that. It plays from the point selected allowing you to check your project.

The "shutter" icon burns your project to disc.



Change the default for a new project

Go to iDVD :: Preferences…

Then the "Projects" tab

Set DVD Type to "Single-Layer (SL) 4.2Gb"

Set encoding to "Professional Quality"

 

[cowasaki]

Monday 28th September
Tip 319 - iDVD[12] - Adding the content.

You will need to have read and completed Tips 317 & 318 first.

Now click on the icon for DVD Map (one box over two boxes) on the bottom line.

Now you can see the DVD Map which is a hierarchy of the menus and files.
At the moment this only consists of the Main Menu. Click on this tile (the one shown highlighted in blue above) and then we need to create a sub menu attached to this.

So to add the sub-menu click PROJECT and this Add Sub-menu.

Now we have a sub menu this is going to be for episodes 1 to 4. If you click on this new tile you will be taken to a preview. In the preview click on the tiles title "Revolution Extras" and change this to "Episodes 1-4". Now click once again on the DVD Map icon.

Now with the "Episode 1-4" tile highlighted we need to create 4 movie boxes. Click on PROJECT and Add movie four times {as an alternative hold [SHIFT] + [CMD] and press [O]}

Now open the directory "D-Town" and drag episode 1 to the first box, episode 2 to the second box, episode 3 to the third box and episode 4 to the fourth box.

You should now have something looking like this:

You can preview the current DVD by clicking on the PLAY button on the bottom bar, first though click on the "Revolution Main" tile.

So we have a partially created DVD. You can click on "My sub-menu" and then "Episode 1" and it will start to play. Stop the preview and click on DVD Map again.

Right so now we are going to change the text on the Revolution Main tile to fit with the project. Click on the tile then double click on it.

Now double click on "Revolution Main" and change this to "D Town TV series 1 disc 1" and then "my sub menu" and change this to "Episode 1 - 4".

You will notice the text "Drop Zone 1" scrolling about on a box to your left. We can drop a picture onto this. We will drop the screen shot that we saved in the last tip onto it so click on "TIP317a.PNG" from the "D-Town" directory and drag this onto the drop zone.

Now the main menu is done we can add the same image to the drop zone in the sub-menu.

Go on try the DVD out again….

Right now that you have done the above you need to do it all again for episodes 5-8.

We should now have a DVD with a main menu, two sub menus and eight movies.

We need to create another TWO DVDs for episodes 9-12 & episodes 13-16 then episodes 17-20 & episodes 21-24.

Remember to label them disc 2 and disc 3

NOTE about Episode 12

D Town TV has been created using iDVD and they left episode 12 in a format that is editable. When you drag it into your project it will change things. It will rename your disc to EPISODE 12 and rename the sub-menu to EPISODE 12 and add all manner of new menus. To fix all this just do the following, it will then work just the same.

Go to the sub menu and ….

rename "Play movie" to "Episode 12"
click on scene selection and play delete
rename the sub menu from "Episode 12" to "Episodes 9 - 12"

Go to the main menu and …

rename the main menu as "D Town TV series 1 disc 2"
rename the sub menu "Episode 12" to "Episodes 9 - 12"

 

[cowasaki]

Tuesday 29th September
Tip 320 - iDVD[13] - Burning to disc.

You will need to have read and completed Tips 317, 318 & 319 first.

Right we now have our project and if we click on the main menu then the play button we can view it. A few years ago what we have done here would have been impossible on a home computer but basically we have our DVD ready.

In the background iDVD has been encoding your project but it will only have managed a small amount and we are just about to make the program encode the whole thing.

Basically the movie files are in a specific format now, we need to change them into a format that your DVD player can understand and is expecting. Yes some DVD players would have been quite happy if you had simply dragged all 24 episodes onto a single DVD and stuck it into the player but we have created a standard DVD that should be playable on all machines.

The encoding process is SLOW and will take a long time. If you have a Mac Pro with eight processors running at 3GHz then you are looking at about an hour or so. My Quad Xeon mac pro takes about an hour and 40 minutes. The dual processor Macbook pro 2.66GHz takes about 3 and a half hours. You will just have to leave it to do its stuff.

The options we have are:

Burn DVD
Save as Disc image
Save as VIDEO_ts folder

Burn DVD

If you are going to just burn a single copy of the project onto one disc then just click on the first option Burn DVD.


Save as Disc image

If you click on "Save as Disc image" you can mount that image and play it as a DVD on your mac. You can also write that image to disc as many times as your want.

If you double click on it the default application is "Disc image mounter" this will create an open volume and auto run it just like sticking a disc into the drive.

If you open with "Disk utility" which is the second option you will see a screen like this:

Click on the entry in the left hand pane "D Town series 1 disc.." and then to write this to a disc click "Burn" on the top line.


Save as VIDEO_ts folder

This saves the image in the same way that it would appear on a DVD as the separate files. You can use this method to create the layout of the disc ready to add further content.

For example if you created a project containing a slide show of your best images you could save this project in the manner then you could open TOAST and create a video DVD. You could drag the actual files into this new DVD and then add extra folders and files to the disc such as RAW files, a picture viewer or such like.

 

[cowasaki]

Wednesday 30th September
Tip 321 - Backup[6] - iPhoto & iWeb.

Backup

Your iWeb files are stored in the folder

[user] :: Sites (unless you have moved it!)

Your iPhoto files are stored in the folder

[user] :: Pictures :: iPhoto (unless you have moved it!)

Create folder on our external drive called "BACKUP 090918" (if not already done)
Copy the directory Sites into our newly created directory on the external drive.
Copy the directory iPhoto into our newly created directory on the external drive.

Restore

Open the directory Pictures on our computer.
Locate the directory iPhoto on our backup.
Click on the directory iPhoto and drag this into the Pictures folder on the computer.
Open your home directory on our computer.
Locate the directory Sites on our backup.
Click on the directory Sites and drag this into your home directory on the computer.
Answer "REPLACE" when asked.

DONE.

 

[cowasaki]

Thursday 1st October
Tip 322 - Backup[7] - Photoshop.

Backup

Your Photoshop files are stored in the folder

[Applications] :: Adobe Photoshop CSx (unless you have moved it!)

You cannot just copy this directory as it contains the application itself and also security files etc. The files we want though are stored in the directories PLUG-ins & Presets.

Create folder on our external drive called "BACKUP 090918" (if not already done)
Create a folder inside this called Photoshop
Copy the directory PLUG-ins into our newly created directory on the external drive.
Copy the directory Presets into our newly created directory on the external drive.

Restore

Open the directory Adobe Photoshop CSx on our computer.
Open the directory Photoshop on our backup.
Click on the directory PLUG-ins and drag this into the Adobe Photoshop CSx folder on the computer.
Click on the directory Presets and drag this into the Adobe Photoshop CSx folder on the computer.
Answer "REPLACE" when asked.

DONE.

 

[cowasaki]

Friday 2nd October
Tip 323 - Backup[8] - Documents and other files.

Backup

Just like we have been doing you need to locate the files you want to backup and then save them to your backup folder. If you open your home folder you will see a directory called Documents, copy this file as it is straight to your backup.

For other files create a folder on the backup with a meaningful name e.g. DESKTOP and copy the relevant files to this location.

If the location is not obvious then create a text file inside the backup folder and just make notes in there about where files came from

Restore

Work your way through the backup folder and just copy the files back. Some of the folders you copy are SYSTEM folders and cannot be copied over such as DOCUMENTS. For these you need to go into the folder on the backup and hold down [CMD] then press [A] to select all then right click and select COPY then go into the folder on your computer and right click and select PASTE (or drag them).

DONE.

 

[cowasaki]

Saturday 3rd October
Tip 324 - Backup[9] - Aperture.

Aperture has two options when importing images, the first is to leave them where they are and the second is to import them into the main Aperture library. This backup procedure is for the import option. If you use the "leave them where they are" option then you can still follow this tip but you will also have to restore your images to their directory as well

Backup

Your Aperture files are stored in the folder

[user] :: Pictures :: Aperture (unless you have moved it!)

Create folder on our external drive called "BACKUP 090918" (if not already done)
Copy the directory Aperture into our newly created directory on the external drive.

Restore

Make sure that Aperture has run at least once so if this is a fresh installation run Lightoom and then quit it.
Open the directory Pictures on our computer.
Locate the directory Aperture on our backup.
Click on the directory Aperture and drag this into the Pictures folder on the computer.
Answer "REPLACE" when asked.

DONE.

 

[cowasaki]

Sunday 4th October
Tip 325 - MacOS[149] - Change default email account.

In mail click on:

MAIL :: Preferences

and then on the Accounts tab.

In the left hand pane you will see a list of your email accounts. The top account is your default account. To move another account to the top click on it and drag it upwards. Using this you can change the order of all your accounts. This is also the order that they will appear within Mail on screen.

 

[cowasaki]

Monday 5th October
Tip 326 - Safari[9] - Customize Toolbar.

The standard toolbar in Safari is:

But we can make changes to this by right clicking on the toolbar and selecting "CUSTOMIZE TOOLBAR…", you will now be shown the following window.

Now in order to change the toolbar just click on the icon that you want to add and drag it on to the toolbar in the location that you want. If you wish to remove an icon just click on it and drag the icon off dropping it on the desktop.

In this example you can see that I have added the HOME icon and the DOWNLOADS icon.

 

[cowasaki]

Due to being at the convention I have posted the tips until Monday....

See you all there.

 

[Wail]

Good luck at the convention, and I hope you all have a blast.

Question, if I may .....

I bought an album from the Apple Store, via iTunes. It was downloaded to my old (Black) MacBook. The album got fried when the hard drive from that machine went dead!

The question .. how can I get the album again, without having to re-buy it again. Is that allowed, if so, how do I do it.

 

[cowasaki]

Good luck at the convention, and I hope you all have a blast.

Question, if I may .....

I bought an album from the Apple Store, via iTunes. It was downloaded to my old (Black) MacBook. The album got fried when the hard drive from that machine went dead!

The question .. how can I get the album again, without having to re-buy it again. Is that allowed, if so, how do I do it.

Evening Wail,

I don't use iTunes much myself BUT if you log in using the same file details and authorise the computer then check available downloads it should appear. If that does not work then I will look into it on Monday. I've only ever downloaded one album and it is in my list so the computer wouldn't download it!

 

[JasonRS]

You can also go into your account, and deauthorise old machines to free up the license from the old macbook.

 

[cowasaki]

You can also go into your account, and deauthorise old machines to free up the license from the old macbook.

You can IF it doesn't have a catastrophic hard drive failure

 

[cowasaki]

Tuesday 6th October
Tip 327 - Illustrator[1] - Creating business cards.

ILLUSTRATOR ONLY

Run Illustrator

Create new document, we will call this "business card demo"

Change the size to A4 landscape (or A3 portrait)

Click [OK]

You will now see a black rectangle on your screen.

Zoom in so that you can see the full screen.

Create a box in the bottom left of the window the right size for a business card.

This is your choice but I am going to use 85mm x 55mm. To do this click on the rectangle icon and just draw a rough box in the bottom left of the page.

Adjust the box size and location.

On the top bar your will see four values, these are X, Y, W & H. You will also see nine little tiny squares in a 3x3 pattern with one of these squares black. Click on the bottom left of these nine squares and it will go black. This means that all the numbers now refer to the bottom left corner of the item selected which in our case will be the blank business card. Change the values as follows:

X = 8mm
Y = 10mm
W = 85mm
H = 55mm

Now you can save your business card template.

Create your design

Then place your information, pictures etc to create the card..….

Right now we need to group everything on the card.

Use the white arrow (direct selection tool) and select the box and everything in the box. Then go to OBJECT and then GROUP.

Now we magically duplicate it to cover the page.

Zoom back out so that you can see the whole page.

Goto EFFECT :: DISTORT & TRANSFORM :: TRANSFORM…

Click PREVIEW

Change Horizontal to 90mm

Change copies to 2

Click somewhere else in the Transform Effect box.

You should now see three copies of your card across the screen.

Click [OK]

Now group these three cards by clicking on the white arrow again and selecting all three items then going to OBJECT and selecting GROUP.

Now we can duplicate them in the other direction…

Goto EFFECT :: DISTORT & TRANSFORM :: TRANSFORM…

You will get a warning saying "This will apply another instance of this effect" - Click [Apply New Effect]

Click PREVIEW

Change Vertical to 60mm

Change copies to 2 (6 if using A3)

Click somewhere else in the Transform Effect box.

You should now see nine copies of your card across the screen.

Click [OK]

Your card is still editable!

You will see nine (or however many cards you can fit) on your screen. If you edit the original card (ie the bottom left one) your changes will affect ALL the cards!

So now you can print the card and cut out your cards.

 

[Wail]

Darren / Jason,

Thank you both for the tips; I will check them out and post back. The thing is, it's almost midnight right now so I only be able to do some checking tomorrow.

Again, thank you for the tips ... have fun at the convention

 

[cowasaki]

Darren / Jason,

Thank you both for the tips; I will check them out and post back. The thing is, it's almost midnight right now so I only be able to do some checking tomorrow.

Again, thank you for the tips ... have fun at the convention

Will do

 

[cowasaki]

Wednesday 7th October
Tip 328 - Photoshop[1] - Cutting out a model.

PHOTOSHOP ONLY

This tutorial is using an image of Danielle a model for ISL togs print. It is with kind permission of ISL that we are able to use this image.

This is a mini tutorial on ONE way to cut a model from a picture in order to replace the background.

There are several ways to cut objects and people from pictures. This is the way I chose to cut Danielle out of this particular picture.

Download the picture

I have zipped up a 1200px high copy of one of the shots I took of Danielle, the model at the TP convention and you can download it below as a ZIP file. Just unzip the file and you will have a jpg of her against a white sheet.

Download file

Now Load the picture into Photoshop

For this it would be easier to change the colour of the transparent background from light grey so I am going to change it to GREEN for this.

Go to Photoshop's Photoshop :: Preferences :: Transparency and Gamut…

I would set the Transparency Settings to:

Grid Size = Medium
Grid Colors = Medium

Then click on the 2nd coloured square and change this to a bright green then click [OK].

Now we need to change the image from a background image (default) to a normal layer. The easiest way is to drag the layer from the layer pallette on the NEW LAYER icon this is the one at the bottom next to the trash bin.

A new layer will appear, now drag the original layer onto the trash bin.

Right we are ready to start now…..

We are going to use a tool called the background eraser!

So click on this icon (If you cannot find it it is under the normal eraser icon so right click that icon and select it).

Now select a large brush (use [ & ] to change the size to maybe 250ish).

Now when you click on a space it will delete that colour from that area unto the change of colour.

Work you way round the model clicking on the background and changing the brush size if necessary in order to delete the unwanted background. Try to overlap the bits you want as little as possible as this will cut down on the repairs later but the point of this special brush is that it allows you to overlap as it works out where the edges of the model actually are.

If there are any bits in the background that you are trying to delete that are close to the body colour such as gaffer tape etc then it is often easiest to delete these directly with the eraser tool before going round with the background eraser.

You will now have a roughly cut out model. You will however find that if you look closely there will be bits of transparency showing through in places where there shouldn't be and if you look closely there will be bits of the background that have not been removed.

We now need to zoom in and sort out these problems.

Now select the History brush (see above).

Now paint over the areas that the background brush has caught by mistake (I have been less that careful with the background eraser brush on purpose so that I can demonstrate this bit so your cut should not be as bad as this).

Select a hard edged brush and run it over areas that should have no transparency whatsoever such as her head. If you see any areas of white select the normal erase brush and zap them too. Hair is always a problem which is why I have picked this image for its difficulty. You can have the history palette showing and use this to go back a step or two if you make a change that is not right. You can also change the tolerance level of the the background eraser and try playing with the "Limits" option. Try playing with the options and using the history pallet.

If you look at the background you will see that some of the folds of the sheet are still there. If you switch to the normal eraser you can perform another pass of these areas to remove them. I normally find that changing to a massive hard edged eraser of maybe 400px and moving the background as I pass the eraser over it means that I catch everything.

If you cannot see everything then try creating a new layer and filling it with blue then placing this behind the current background. This will make any stray bits stand out more fully - Create new layer (icon next to the trash bin in layer palette), drag this under the current layer, select paint bucket, change colour to blue, select the new layer and click on the layer.

 

[cowasaki]

I am sure Danielle would have chosen a different attire for the beach but I am sure she would have preferred this location for the photo shoot.

 

[cowasaki]

Thursday 8th October
Tip 329 - MacOS[151] - Navigating folders with keys.

Sometimes its just quicker to use the keys !

Columns Mode

Start finder and switch to columns mode by either clicking on "VIEW :: as columns" or clicking on the "Columns" icon on the toolbar.

You can now navigate through the files and folders using the cursor keys, left, right, up and down. If you click right whilst on a folder then that folder will be displayed in the next column. If you then click left then you will go back to the parent folder.

Cover view mode

Using keys in cover view mode can be a quick way of previewing lots of pictures. Just switch to cover view mode using either the icon or "VIEW :: as cover view" then resize the top of the finder window to be most of the window. Now as you move about using either up and down OR left and right the picture will change.


Pressing [ENTER] - This highlights the file name and is a quick way to do multiple renames.

Pressing [+=] - This goes to the top of the list.

Press [CMD] and

​

- This opens the folder in cover view mode.

Press [CMD] and

​

- This closes the folder in cover view mode.

Press [CMD] and [DOWN] - Launch this file in it's default application.

Press [CMD] and [UP] - Go to parent folder.​

 

[JasonRS]

You can IF it doesn't have a catastrophic hard drive failure

Makes no odds, the itunes account is online.

To deauthorize all computers associated with your account

If you find you have reached 5 authorizations, you can reset your authorization count by clicking Deauthorize All in the Account Information screen.

1. Click iTunes Store in the menu on the left side of iTunes.
2. If you're not signed in to the store, click the Account button, then enter your account name and password.
3. Click the Account button again (your ID appears on the button), enter your password, and then click View Account.
4. In the Account Information window, click Deauthorize All.

Note: You may only use this feature once per year. The Deauthorize All button will not appear if you have fewer than 5 authorized computers, or if you have used this option within the last 12 months. If you need assistance on using this feature, please contact the iTunes Store support via email

From here

 

[cowasaki]

Excellent, I don't use iTunes much. They must have added this because it wasn't there about 18 months ago when the mini went dolalley when I was installing a new drive! Thanks for your input!

 

[cowasaki]

Friday 9th October
Tip 330 - MacOS[152] - Start MacOS Help.

Press [CMD] and [SHIFT] + [/] to start MacOS Help!

 

[cowasaki]

Saturday 10th October
Tip 331 - MacOS[153] - Select buttons with TAB.

In Windows when you get a dialogue box on screen you can select YES or NO by using the TAB key. This does not work on the Mac and was always one of my major annoyances. Well hidden away in the KEYBOARD preferences menu is this little gem.

At the bottom of the screen click "All controls" rather than "Text boxes and lists only".

Now you can change between dialogue box options using the tab key.

 

[cowasaki]

Sunday 11th October
Tip 332 - MacOS[154] - Make your Mac talk.

Go to APPLE :: System preferences… :: Speech

You will see the option "Speak selected text when the key is pressed", click on this and then click on [Set Key…]

A pop up window will appear, now click in the text box then press the magic key sequence you want to use. My suggestion is [CMD] + [ALT] + [CTRL] + . Press these and click [OK]

Now in order to make the computer speak just select some text in the application that you want such as an email and press this combination.

You can change the voice using the "System Voice" and "Speaking Rate" options.

Don't select too much text though as I cannot see a way of stopping it talking after it starts

JUST FOR A LAUGH

If you have Apple's REMOTE or use screen sharing then leave the monitor switched OFF on that computer and go to another room. Setup speech and type what you want into text editor then press the keys to make a computer in another room talk to people there.

 

[cowasaki]

Monday 12th October
Tip 333 - Snow Leopard[9] - Regular words with symbols.

SNOW LEOPARD ONLY

If there is a word you regularly type that contains symbols you can include the word in your "symbol and text substitution" table

Go to APPLE :: System preferences… :: Language & Text

Select the [TEXT] tab

Now click on the [+] in the bottom left and a new line will appear.

Type in the word you want (not case sensitive) and then type in it's replacement (including case).

In my example I am creating the word "Chloë". I type in without the capital "C" and without the umlauted "e" into the first box then in the second box I type it how I want it to appear i.e. capital C, hlo then the umlauted e (created by holding [ALT] and pressing then releasing them and pressing the [e] button.

You could also use this for regular strings so if their is a very long filename that you type in a lot. Type a short cut

e.g. I have to type "www.upgradeyourmac.co.uk/toptips/TIP" so I could type %%%tip and have it change automatically.

 

[cowasaki]

Tuesday 13th October
Tip 334 - Snow Leopard[9] - Improved finder view options.
SNOW LEOPARD ONLY

In finder when we are in a folder we can right click and we can see a number of file options (note you can also get this using [CMD] + [J]. These have improved dramatically with Snow Leopard.

Leopard

Snow Leopard

Most of the options are pretty self explanatory such as "Date Modified" and "Date Created" etc but…

Calculate all sizes

This calculates the size of folders and displays it

Comments

This is a nice new addition and allows a comment to be added to a file to explain what it is. If you click this option an extra column will appear in finder labelled "Comments".

To make use of this click on a file and bring up the information by right clicking it and selecting "Get info" or alternatively holding [CMD] and pressing . You will then see the info box like this:

Type the comment into the comment box as shown above and then this will appear in the column as can be seen here.

Icon size and Text Size

With very hi-res screens it can be quite useful to increase the size of the text in finder and also the icons. These two options now allow you to do just that.

If you want this setup to apply to all new folders click on [USE AS DEFAULTS]