Category: Digital Media Studio

Adobe Acrobat Pro is available in Media Services!

Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 is indeed available here in Media Services. It can be found on four of our Macs in the Digital Media Studio: DMS workstations 5 – 8. It can also be found for PC next door to Media Services in the Library’s E-Classroom at the standing scan scanner station in corner. Feel … Continue reading “Adobe Acrobat Pro is available in Media Services!”

Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 is indeed available here in Media Services. It can be found on four of our Macs in the Digital Media Studio: DMS workstations 5 – 8. It can also be found for PC next door to Media Services in the Library’s E-Classroom at the standing scan scanner station in corner. Feel free to stop by the Media Services desk to inquire about any of these stations and we’ll be happy to assist you.

DMS [Awesome] Help –

Watch this and tell me it’s not an awesome intro. Any interest in learning how to do this? Or maybe you’d like to learn how to add amazing special effects to your PREEXISTING film. Or maybe you need to spice up your motion graphics portfolio? Either way, you MUST see Video Copilot (the video above … Continue reading “DMS [Awesome] Help –”

Watch this and tell me it’s not an awesome intro.

Any interest in learning how to do this? Or maybe you’d like to learn how to add amazing special effects to your PREEXISTING film. Or maybe you need to spice up your motion graphics portfolio?
Either way, you MUST see Video Copilot (the video above was done after using a Video Copilot tutorial). It’s a website that offers a huge number of truly stunning After Effects tutorial. If you wanna stand out, this is site to learn how. Click this to make sublime motion graphics. Just hold your mouse over any of the images and you’ll see just how sophisticated (and professional) some of these effects can look

DMS Help – Awesome Photoshop Effects to Jazz Up Your Project

Photoshop CS5 (academic price): $250 Stock photo of a blonde holding back her hair: $5 Taking the time to check out the tutorial below on how to spice up the photo of the blonde: $0 + 60 minutes Putting this image up on the board during project presentations in your class (and consequently showing up … Continue reading “DMS Help – Awesome Photoshop Effects to Jazz Up Your Project”

Photoshop CS5 (academic price): $250

Stock photo of a blonde holding back her hair: $5

Taking the time to check out the tutorial below on how to spice up the photo of the blonde: $0 + 60 minutes
Putting this image up on the board during project presentations in your class (and consequently showing up all your classmates): Priceless
There are some things money can buy, but for everything else there’s Photoshop.
And the best part is, the effects you see in this image are not hard to reproduce. Nor are the rst of the effects in this amazing list of awesome Photoshop effects tutorials: CLICK ON THIS RIGHT NOW!

Todd’s Tips – Overlay Video Or Photos Over Video in iMovie ’09

Often times students come to us in the Digital Media Studio with an assignment to create a video about a particular subject. More often than not this “video” assignment doesn’t actually involve shooting a video and then editing it together to tell a story. Typically students are told to create a montage of images and … Continue reading “Todd’s Tips – Overlay Video Or Photos Over Video in iMovie ’09”

Often times students come to us in the Digital Media Studio with an assignment to create a video about a particular subject. More often than not this “video” assignment doesn’t actually involve shooting a video and then editing it together to tell a story. Typically students are told to create a montage of images and videos from the web to explore their topic. And, from time to time, these students ask us if it’s possible to overlay images on other images or video; they want to create more “poignant juxtapositions” [someone really said that to me once] of ideas.

While this notion is unheard of for iMoveHD, it is possible in iMovie ’09. And we have that program.
Check out this video on how to do it. Also, turn up the volume a bit, the kid is talking kinda softly.

Todd’s Tips – Visual Hub Should Be Your Facebook Friend

Actually you should really just leap ahead and marry it. It’s amazing. One of the most frustrating things about video work is conversion between one format and another. This typically comes up when you’ve finished your project. You export it, make a DVD and then someone says, “You should put it on the web/your website/YouTube.” … Continue reading “Todd’s Tips – Visual Hub Should Be Your Facebook Friend”

Actually you should really just leap ahead and marry it. It’s amazing.

One of the most frustrating things about video work is conversion between one format and another. This typically comes up when you’ve finished your project. You export it, make a DVD and then someone says, “You should put it on the web/your website/YouTube.” And this is when things get hairy.
What do you do when you have a huge Quicktime (.mov) file and you need it to be a small Quicktime file or maybe even an .mp4 or something else for the web? What you do is go to Visual Hub. Check it:
A quick look shows you two things. It’s a simple interface and it has a lot of workable formats. You can convert to formats for all types and generations of iPods and other Apple devices. You can convert to .dv, .avi, .mp4, .wmv and even Flash video. And, as you might imagine, you can convert back from all these file formats as well. As such, it’s also one of the best converters for moving video out of un-wieldy Windows formats like .wmv and .avi.
Unfortunately VisualHub is no longer available to the general public; the company that built and sold the product has discontinued it. However, the Digital Media Studio has it on all its macs.
So, if you have some video to convert, stop by and let us show you how. Or you can watch this video. And if you can get around the fact that the guy sounds like John Leguizamo, you can actually learn a lot about this awesome program:

Fix Shaky Video in iMovie ’09

Yes, you read that right, “fix shaky video.” One of the hardest things about doing video assignments for class can be shooting your video. Interviews are easy because you’re likely sitting and (maybe) resting the camera on something steady. But when you need other footage there’s a good chance that you’re shooting handheld. This is … Continue reading “Fix Shaky Video in iMovie ’09”

Yes, you read that right, “fix shaky video.”

One of the hardest things about doing video assignments for class can be shooting your video. Interviews are easy because you’re likely sitting and (maybe) resting the camera on something steady. But when you need other footage there’s a good chance that you’re shooting handheld. This is hard to do and keep your image steady.
But, if you’re using iMovie ’09 to edit, it’s no problem. The video below shows you exactly how to stabilize your footage. One thing to remember though when you do this: it takes a LONG time to do even short clips. So keep your stabilization to a minimum. Or use a tripod.
Check it:

Save Some Time – Automate your Photoshop Tasks

Have you ever been in a situation where you have a bunch of photos on which you need only to make basic alterations? Has it ever frustrated you that you have to sit there and do each one individually? Yeah. Me too. But now you don’t have to. Use Photoshop’s Automate command to have the … Continue reading “Save Some Time – Automate your Photoshop Tasks”

Have you ever been in a situation where you have a bunch of photos on which you need only to make basic alterations? Has it ever frustrated you that you have to sit there and do each one individually?

Yeah. Me too.
But now you don’t have to. Use Photoshop’s Automate command to have the application do the work for you. Check out this tutorial on how to do it:

Get Savvy on Dreamweaver – Jazz up Your Assignment

Dreamweaver is one of the most useful of Adobe’s applications. It can allow you to visualize all sorts of code and layouts before you publish your site. It comes with a number of templates for common website layouts. It will even write code for you. One thing that Dreamweaver is no so good at is … Continue reading “Get Savvy on Dreamweaver – Jazz up Your Assignment”


Dreamweaver is one of the most useful of Adobe’s applications. It can allow you to visualize all sorts of code and layouts before you publish your site. It comes with a number of templates for common website layouts. It will even write code for you.

One thing that Dreamweaver is no so good at is helping users with CSS. Often times we get users in the Digital Media Studio who want to create rollover links, or other neat CSS effects and they pound their heads on the wall because it just won’t work. Often times it’s something simple, one bit of syntax out of place and the whole thing is wrecked.
Well, for all those folks with headaches, I have a solution for you.
Check out this website: Entheos.
Its a massive repository of recipes for cool Dreamweaver and CSS effects for your website assignments. And by recipies I mean step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish things. And, in many of the recipes, they give you take-away code. You can’t loose.

Todd’s Tips: Take Your DVDs to the Next Level

One of the easiest ways to put the movie you’ve made onto a playable DVD (as opposed to a file saved on a disc) is to use iDVD. Which is admittedly a fine way to make a dvd for class. But, suppose you want to make a DVD that has your project and your contact … Continue reading “Todd’s Tips: Take Your DVDs to the Next Level”

One of the easiest ways to put the movie you’ve made onto a playable DVD (as opposed to a file saved on a disc) is to use iDVD. Which is admittedly a fine way to make a dvd for class.

But, suppose you want to make a DVD that has your project and your contact info. Suppose it’s something you want to submit as part of an internship or job application? What do you do then?
Well, you probably don’t want to use iDVD since all you can get there are pre-made themes with music and all other kinds of stuff you can’t get rid of…
There is an alternative: DVD Studio Pro. Here are some tutorials to get you started…

Titling in iMovie HD

It’s true that iMovie HD is one of the simplest video editing programs to use, but some folks still have problems with it. That isn’t to say that there are just some among us who are simply media illiterate… Ok, maybe some folks do have problems, but I think that’s less because they aren’t “wired” … Continue reading “Titling in iMovie HD”

It’s true that iMovie HD is one of the simplest video editing programs to use, but some folks still have problems with it. That isn’t to say that there are just some among us who are simply media illiterate…

Ok, maybe some folks do have problems, but I think that’s less because they aren’t “wired” to get software and more a result of bad teaching.
Enough philosophy though. My point is that one of the trickiest parts of iMovie HD is titling. And even more than that, moving and editing titles once they are in place.
But don’t fret. Here’s a great video that explains how to do just that: