Digital Concepts Design

Issues: Install CS3 causes error messages such as:
Adobepdf.dll not found
Adobe Lingusitics Library not installed
Installation Failed

I spent a couple days online trying to solve the problem. Then I called Adobe support at (866) MY-ADOBE, they will support this issue for free, as long as you legit own product. Adobe support is EXCELLENT, even if speaking accented English. Don’t give them a hard time. They’re fantastic.

The tech had me run the cleaner program available from:
http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cs3clean.html

You may need an application from Microsoft to get this to work. The cs3 clean should tell you what it is called. This cleans out any remnants from previous install attempts.

Read these dialogs of the cleaner ap carefully, you want to agree to the EULA and do an option #1, don’t back up anything etc. Make sure to put in your install directory when it asks.

Once complete, run the cleaner again, this time type 4 at the option prompt, I know there will be no option 4 visible on the options display, but option 4 is a deep clean . Run this cleaner at least 4 times.

Go to start, Run and type msconfig and hit enter.

MSCONFIG.EXE

Click the Services tab and turn off all NON MICROSOFT services, click the Start up tab and turn off all startup aps. Reboot.

Run CS3 install.

If install asks for AdobePdf.dll click X on the WINDOWS box asking for it (NOT the Adobe installer).

After CS3 install complete, follow instructions here: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb401731

You will install Windows update KB930627, and then you will need to update Acrobat later. The Windows installer will suggest that you reboot, and you should.

Once you’ve rebooted, you should be able to register your product and use it normally.

I hope this helps. If you see I missed any steps or have a different issue, feel free to comment.

I recently was let in on a little secret that I believe will revolutionize the way websites are managed and edited.

Often I’ve created a website and handed it over to a client fearing the day when the client would want to make minor changes to the website, knowing that such changes would come at an inopportune time, and usually require a lot of work. Often the client would balk at the maintenance charge, wondering why changing a small bit of text would cost so much.

I’ve worked in the past with a website design firm in Los Gatos, CA called Internet Simplicity. I was unaware, however that they had encountered the same website maintenance issues I had and had been working on a solution. This solution has finally been revealed to the public as Typeroom.

Typeroom is an easy-to-use content management system that enables website owners to edit their sites directly using a web-based system. Text, graphics, and even links can be edited and changed on the fly. Typeroom also has a “preview” system that makes it easy for changes to be viewed by others in a team and approved.

From Adorama News Desk: Eye-Fi, a California-based company, announced this morning what they say is the world’s first wireless SD memory card for digital cameras. The 2GB card, which will retail for around $99, is said to make it possible to send photos wirelessly from a digital camera to a Wi-Fi-enabled Mac or PC using wireless networks (also known as “hot spots”). The card works with any current SD-compatible camera, and will automatically upload photos onto pre-selected social networking sites or on-line photo labs when the camera is turned on. The feature, if it works as promised, could very well save photographers time spent uploading images to computers and then to web sites. The card is expected to be available immediately.

So this is a 2GB SD Card that can transmit photos over 802.11g wi-fi to the user’s PC and/or to specific social networking sites.

During a simple set-up process, users select from among 17 popular online photo sharing, social networking or blogging sites to share their photographs, and select where on their PC or Mac they want to archive their images. Once the set-up is complete, users can focus on taking pictures and sharing memories – and not on the process of uploading photos from their camera.

Without seeing the setup process, it is hard to judge what kind of impact this might have, however, I can see benefits in not having to download photos all the time. My concern would be what would happen if the camera is shut-off or loses connection while uploading photos from a 10+ megapixel camera, is wi-fi connectivity going to make sense?

It has certainly been a while since I’ve added to this blog. Work and life has kept me from saying much of anything, however there’s some new stuff going on you should look into. Firstly, Tiffen has some plugin software for Photoshop that will greatly enhance your photographs.

Before After

These pics dramatically express the abilities of the Tiffen DFX software. Its interface is quite intuitive and makes enhancing a quick job. I highly recommend that you take a look at it.

Now onto Photoshop CS3… The entire line of Adobe products has been updated as the Creative Suite 3. The majority of the changes seem cosmetic, at first, the interface freshened with a more vista-esque design and the dialog boxes more in the style of Photoshop Lightroom, but under the hood the software is faster, more responsive and provides quicker access to the tools I use on a daily basis. Keep in mind I’m using a Intel Core Duo 2 with 3Gigs of RAM, so don’t expect an old AMD 3200+ to run like a Ferrari.

That said, one of the most interesting features of the new Photoshop is the “Refine Edge” command that has replaced “Feather”. I used “feather” on a daily basis when outlining objects to pull from photos, specifically furniture or cars… now with the “Refine Edge” command I can control the edges of a selection to the Nth degree. No longer am i stuck with .5 pixel feathering, I can actually expand or shrink the edge by tiny increments allowing precise control of the selection edges! Plus the review mode allows you to see the selection in several different ways, as part of the entire image, over a red mask, on a white background etc.

Also, the method Adobe uses to tile the tool boxes is quite intuitive. I appreciate the ability to set them up in a ‘tray’ of sorts. And the ability to pull them out to other locations if need be (ala Lightroom).

Adobe Bridge is back . The light-box-like application that allows you to browse your photos and graphics and pull them into Photoshop, Illustrator, etc… in CS2 the implementation of this application was less than stellar. In fact, I hated it. Bridge used to be a slow memory hog that I only opened accidentally, much to my chagrin. Now the app is much more well behaved and plays well in being the central element in a multimedia system. Allowing collection and retrieval of photos etc easier.

I hope to talk later about Illustrator CS3 and Flash CS3. The integration between these two made-for-each-other applications has finally been achieved. No longer does one have to jump through hoops to copy/paste between them, nor export outlines from Illustrator and attempt imperfect imports into Flash, now these two apps integrate nearly-seamlessly. Examples forthcoming!

If real, this will revolutionize advertising, photography and just about every print medium in existence. David Berlind at Ziff-Davis is reporting on a new technology that will allow for high-speed, full-color prints.

Inventor Kia Silverbrook has apparently created a technology that allows full color printing of up to 60 pages-per-minute at 1600dpi! Called “memjet” technology, it consists of a printhead covered with ink nozzles.

“Printheads are comprised of individual microchip segments, joined together into page-width printing systems. Each chip measures just 20mm across and contains 6,400 nozzles. The printheads incorporate five color channels that can be flexibly configured to meet the needs of diverse markets. The driver chip is an integrated printing system that calculates 900 million drops per second and drives 70,400 nozzles in a standard A4/letter printer, delivering color page-width printing at 60 pages per minute.” -memjet.com

There’s some question as to the accuracy of the reports, but you can see the video yourself here. If this turns out to be real, it has the potential to change the world, perhaps on the scale of Gutenberg.

Imagine printing images at that speed, brochures, banners… yikes!

As a designer on a shoestring budget, I often get requests to spice up a project with photography only to have the client freak out when I explain the cost of royalty free photos. Sure there are some good deals out there, but few match the impressive quality and quantity of Stock.XCHANG. I’ve used many photos from this site in projects to great effect. Please notice, however, that the licensing differs from photo to photo and give credit where credit is due.

There’s a set of filters for Photoshop that no designer/photographer should be without. Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0. The newest version has a nice interface that enables multiple filters to be layered on an image as well as the results faded. One good example:

Before

After

Forget your polarizing filter? Nik Efex can simulate it pretty darn well. Check out their filters.

I’ve started noticing a growing trend in the photos at deviantart.com. I’ve been stunned by the colors and clarity achieved by many of these folks, some seemingly new at photography. Someone there mentioned “HDR” and that sent me searching the ‘net and finding several resources for achieving these breath taking images. (Photo by Sugardaddy)

Firstly there’s the Wikipedia article…

A complete how-to at Pop Photography…

A great gallery of photos by Sean T. McHugh, including tutorials on several techniques including HDR.

And some more photos by an HDR master…

Finally a generic search of deviant art for HDR images…

Now, get out there and start taking photos! Post links to your galleries.

Macromedia (recently purchased by Adobe) Freehand has long been the underdog in the vector graphics battle. Illustrator has always been the favorite, given its ease of compatibility with Photoshop and the other part of the Adobe triumvirate (which used to be Pagemaker, now InDesign.)

My employer has recently upgraded to Macromedia Studio 8, in the new version, Freehand is no longer included. While we own Macromedia Studio MX, the older version’s cd has gone missing.

Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, since I normally use Illustrator for everything, however, one of the companies we advertise (AT&T Yellow Pages!!!) with has shown an inability to properly handle Illustrator AI, EPS, or even PDF files. Since their designers use Freehand 10, and since I’ve lost my copy, I needed a quick way of converting just for the week, until the graphics community can convince them to switch…

After spending time at Adobe.com, searching the web etc for a way to convert files back and forth between Freehand and Illustrator, I found a fairly elegant solution: Install a trial version of Freehand MX till I find the original CDs.

Adobe still has a trial version of Macromedia Freehand MX software available for download at http://www.adobe.com/products/freehand/. This is only a 30-day trial, so, for the long run I’ll have to hunt down the CDs!

Adobe has posted a site for the CS3 Beta. They’re allowing downloads… with a lot of other nifty stuff there. Check it out.