beTech :: Evolve Already

I’d like to ask for input on an idea I’ve had for some time now. Would there be significant interest in a new community that included both ITC’s Local Support Partner (LSP) program, as well as the input and expertise from the beTech community? The community could be called the “LSP Developer Community.” It could perhaps piggyback on the existing infrastructure already in place with the current LSP program, but expand on it, with the help of beTech.

In other words, this would not take the place of beTech. BeTech could live on as-is. Instead, could the LSP program be expanded upon to include content that sort of sits in between beTech and the LSP developer content?

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For the designer or pre-production person, one of the top-ranking moments of dread has to be when you need a logo for the client’s Web site and print materials and they send you a 150 pixel JPG (or other bitmap/raster image) file. You, of course, need a vector graphic that will scale nicely between icon size and billboard size without pixelating; and they, of course, have nothing of the sort. This is where a vectorization tool comes in.

Unfortunately, most vectorization tools cost too much, are a pain in the keister to use, and don’t really produce usable results without a lot of finagling. I haven’t tried the Corel product in years, but Adobe Illustrator’s Live Trace leaves much to be desired. It tends to round corners in the strangest of places and make up new colors to fill in the pixelization blend areas. Thankfully, we now have another alternative: Stanford University’s VectorMagic.

VectorMagic is a free online application that takes your randy little raster images and converts them into amazingly accurate vector EPS or SVG file. Comparing it to the Adobe and Corel products is unfair, but we’ll do it anyway. Looking at the images side-by-side, VectorMagic does what we’d expect and want a vectorizer to do: take a big-picture view of our messy, aliased (that stair step, building-block appearance) artwork and churn out something appropriate. The other applications seem to be taking a pixel-by-pixel approach which probably accounts for the additional colors and the unusual corners. It looks as though the big boys (Adobe and Corel) have some catching up to do. Kudos to James Diebel and Jacob Norda, the Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory research project developers, for their work.

All that’s required to run it is a modern browser, a Flash player, and an image to vectorize. And, while we’ve been talking about logo conversion, you certainly don’t have to restrict your images to graphics. There are already a couple of photos in their examples that look quite stunning as well. Take it for a spin and let us know how it works for you.

UPDATE: See update notes below.

Recently I needed to crank out a visual sitemap (or is it a directory tree?) from a rather large site and had a devil of a time finding decent tools to help. Everything I found in my search was either too costly, too complicated, or too unattractive for my purposes. A case in point was CSS Diagrams—a damn fine piece of work (and free), but it really didn’t suit my needs. But it did give me an idea. Why not roll my own sitemap diagram in HTML and CSS? (Note: If you want to cut to the chase, check out the demos in vanilla and chocolate flavors.)

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Sure the iPhone is a slick piece of interface and hardware design. Yeah, I want one real bad. But, sorry, I just can’t justify the initial cost plus the monthly service agreement with AT&T. (the University didn’t want to help me out there either, drat!) Furthermore, even though there was an initial burst of buzz and tools for developing applications suited to the iPhone’s 480×320px screen (e.g., the Aptana iPhone Development Plugin), it just didn’t seem prudent to take the leap as a Web designer/developer yet.

Yesterday’s Apple Special Event announcements changed all that. The entry price for the iPhone was dropped to $399 in time for the holidays—and that was nice. But what’s really got me turning from naughty to nice for Santa’s list is the new iPod Touch. Holy Smokes! For $299 I can have the internet in my pocket! And not some mobile version of the web*—nay!—I’ll have the real McCoy! That’s right. A Wi-Fi-enabled (802.11b/g) mobile web browser (Safari) that actually renders pages as they’re seen on the laptop/desktop, only smaller (until you zoom in!).

And if I’m planning a future with my little iPod Touch buddy, my gosh, I bet the rest of you are considering the same. Holy smokes! There’s an imminent iPhone/iPod Touch critical mass approaching. It’s time to start developing!

What applications are you contemplating or already developing for the iPhone/iPod Touch? What site design changes will you make to better suit this duo? Will affect your approach to the mobile Web?

* BTW: The Office of Web Communications has a great resource for the mobile Web at UVa. It’s worth checking out!

You’re invited to join the beTech bunch on September 12th at noon for an hour of rousing Web graphics conversation. beHungry is a low-key lunch gathering for Web professionals and the Web-curious. Bring lunch, relax, and enjoy Alan Musselman’s 30-minute Adobe Connect session on Fireworks. Following Alan’s presentation you’ll have time to network and review the latest Web and design news with all your tech-hungry compadres.

This meeting will also introduce the new “Graphic Designer WAYWO (What Are You Working On) Bag Lunch” which occurs on the second Wednesday of every month. Meet people from UVa and beyond who are just as passionate about graphic design as you are. See what your peers are up to and share your own mad design skillz and latest masterpieces.

The Creative Challenge finale presentation will feature graphic artist, Steve Stedman sharing his patented secrets of graphic art creation! Don’t miss your one time opportunity to learn how to create killer logos using Adobe Fireworks, Illustrator, and of course Photoshop CS.

After countless weeks and months of relentless arm twisting, graphic artist and ITC Webmaster, Steve Stedman, has kindly yielded and will give a presentation demonstrating one of his many passions, Ninja Logo Creation. Thank you Steve!

At this meeting the Charlottesville Adobe User Group will give away one licensed CS3 premium suite of products. No kidding, almost $2000 in software. Thanks Adobe, we’ll take it! The give away will be done in lottery fashion and point based as follows:

• One point: awarded for attending a meeting (three meetings total—potential of three points: March 6th, April 10th, May TBD)
• One point: awarded for bringing refreshment drinks to a meeting (contact dmoody@virginia.edu to arrange this please)
• Two points: awarded in raffle fashion at each meeting, giving you the chance of gaining two more points!
• Two points: awarded for presenting at one of the three meetings.

The current point leader is Ruth Kastenmayer.

Fire up your Adobe Illustrator creativity at the next Creative Challenge presentation on Thursday May 31st. Nancy Kechner from The Scholor’s Lab will present Adobe Illustrator and give out her class guide with exercise files at the meeting, don’t miss it!

Nancy Kechner is a long standing Adobe Illustrator enthusiast who occasionally drops the Adobe Illustrator bomb on a Clemens Digital Media Center class. Look out! We are excited and thankful Nancy has offered to share her knowledge and class material with us in this meeting:

Remember we are giving away one completely free license of Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3). Don’t miss the next presentation and increase your chances to win! The current leader is Ruth Kastenmyer.

The Creative Challenge is a series of three monthly UG meetings focused on presentations involving Adobe Creative Suite products. At the end of the meeting series a fully licensed version of the new CS3 will be awarded to the attendee who has accumulated the most Creative Challenge Points. Points are awarded as follows:

• One point: awarded for attending a meeting (three meetings total—potential of three points: March 6th, April 10th, May TBD)
• One point: awarded for bringing refreshment drinks to a meeting (contact dmoody@virginia.edu to arrange this please)
• Two points: awarded in raffle fashion at each meeting, giving you the chance of gaining two more points!
• Two points: awarded for presenting at one of the three meetings.