Best of Tuts+ in June
We’ve collected the top 5 tutorials and articles from each Tuts+ site in June, covering web development, Photoshop, vector art, audio production and music, After Effects, Flash and 3D. Now would be a good time to explore a part of the Tuts+ Network you’ve never seen before!
Cgtuts+ – 3D
How to Create a Video Game Dumpster: The Complete Current-Gen Workflow
As technology evolves, the tools and requirements for creating current-gen game art are constantly changing. In this tutorial we will learn the current game art workflow in its entirety, from the low-poly model all the way to final game-ready asset. We will create a realistic grimy dumpster suitable for any urban setting.
This mammoth video training series features over 194 minutes of video instruction on all aspects of game art creation, including creating the low-poly and high-poly models, the UVW unwrap, baking normal maps from high-poly, and creating diffuse, specular and detail bump textures.
Create Amazingly Realistic Renders Using Advanced Render in Cinema 4D
Maxon’s 11th release of Cinema 4D introduces significant improvements to Advanced Render. AR 3 now uses two new algorithms (Irradiance and Quasi-Monte Carlo), making it much easier and faster to get clean, and beautiful renders than ever before. In this tutorial we will learn how to take advantage of these amazing new features!
Sculpt, Model and Texture a Low-Poly Skull in Blender
Normal maps are widely used in games to make low poly models look high poly. In this tutorial you will learn how to create a high res Skull model, generate a normal map from that model and learn how to apply this to its low poly version.
Techniques covered in this tutorial include multires sculpting, baking a normal map, baking ambient occlusion and applying the maps to a low poly model.
Model, Sculpt and Texture a Demon-like Monster in 3ds Max and ZBrush
This is a multi-part tutorial on creating a Demon-like ‘Lok Warrior’ with realistic muscle anatomy. On the first day of this tutorial we created a base mesh for our character using poly modeling. On the second day, we took the mesh into ZBrush and sculpted the intricate muscle anatomy. On the third day we will texture the monster.
Create a Spectacular Crash Animation With Maya Dynamics
It is always great to learn new animation tools and techniques that can help you to bring your creations to life. In this tutorial we will learn how to use Maya’s powerful animation, dynamics, and camera tools to create an explosive crash effect between two vehicles.
Aetuts+ – After Effects
War! Or How to Create a 3D Particle Generated Video Display
Wes comes back with another adrenalin fueled piece that is sure to become an Aetuts+ favorite. Using Trapcode Form as the basis to display video, he shows how to use the audio reactors built in to form to achieve something very very cool.
Create an Effect Inspired by the Bourne Ultimatum End Credits Sequence
In a very clever use of Trapcode Particular, this tutorial shows us how to create an effect that is inspired by the Bourne Ultimatum end credits sequence.
Create a Split-Flap Type Display
Split-Flap-What? It’s the term used for displays that are found in train stations and airports, where they typically display departure and/or arrival information and do that cool flipping of letters to display the new information.
This tutorial does not show how to create the effect from scratch but instead it is a tutorial to explain how to use the project file created by Mattias Peresini who runs the totally awesome mattrunks website which has incredible tutorials for After Effects in French. We are very happy to have Mattias doing his first English tutorial for us here at Aetuts+.
Create a Sci-Fi Movie Title Sequence
This tutorial covers the creation of a space-like si-fi title sequence from scratch. Michael shows us how you can easily create a visually interesting and impressive title animation with some simple title cards and text animation. The tutorial uses the Twitch plugin from Video Copilot, though a similar effect could be obtained by manual keyframing.
Create a Surprising Billowing Cloth Reveal
It’s amazing how much pseudo-3D you can do in After Effects today. This tutorial will focus on using a new plugin that brings 3D bicubic deformations to layers that allows you to truly bend and twist layers in 3D space. If you are familiar with 3D packages, this is true displacement as opposed to just bump mapping.
Nettuts+ – Web Development
24 JavaScript Best Practices for Beginners
As a follow-up to “30 HTML and CSS Best Practices”, this week, we’ll review JavaScript! Once you’ve reviewed the list, be sure to let us know what little tips you’ve come across!
20 Tools to Make the Life of a Web Developer Easier
Developing a well-rounded aesthetically pleasing website can be a daunting task even for the most seasoned web developer. You must identify current trends and standards and determine ways to incorporate them into your designs. Luckily, there are many free tools which are available that can help you speed up your efforts and work in a more efficient manner. Below are 20 tools which are sure to benefit all developers.
Outside the Box Navigation With jQuery
Just about every website uses the regular navigation concepts we’re all used to. After awhile this can get pretty boring, especially for designers who thrive on creativity. While mimicking the OS X dock and stacks isn’t new, it’s certainly not common.
10 Essential SQL Tips for Developers
SQL is yet another essential language for developers wishing to create data-driven websites. However, many developers are unfamiliar with various aspects of SQL; so in this article, we’ll analyze ten essential tips.
Build a Custom CMS Using PHP and MySQLi: New Plus Tutorial
In this video tutorial, we’ll be building a custom Content Management System (CMS) using PHP and MySQLi. We’ll start off by pulling our content from a MySQL database and then build a CMS admin panel to manage our content. For easy content management, we will be using TinyMCE as our editor. I hope you enjoy the screencast. Join today!
Flashtuts+ – Flash, ActionScript, Flex
Animate a Continuous Quad Run Cycle With Flash
In this tutorial we’ll create a quad run cycle. The animation will be created using simple lines. Along the way we’ll cover a bit of work flow and animation theory, then near the end we’ll use Motion Tween and ActionScript to move the animal across the screen.
Create an Apple Inspired Flash Preloader
Preloaders are a must have in your Flash applications. They tell the user that the program is running but can’t show any contents until they’re sufficiently loaded. In this tutorial I’ll help you create an Apple inspired preloader MovieClip and teach you how to display some loading information. All this using Flash and ActionScript 3.0.
50 Flash Twitterers Worth Following
There’s no denying how useful Twitter can be when it comes to trawling the web for content. With that in mind, here’s a quick roundup of 50 twitterers who tweet some of the most useful Flash-related content around.
(It goes almost without saying; if you have any more who deserve a mention, we want to hear them!)
Using the YouTube Player API with ActionScript 3.0
Though more and more of us are developing with AS3, certain technologies remain in AS2. This forces us to find fast, simple ways to use these technologies within our projects. One such technology is YouTube.
The current YouTube player is still in AS2 and until it’s updated to AS3, we have to create a wrapper to allow us to load videos into our projects. Remember, stealing the FLV feed is against YouTube’s terms and conditions, so let’s do it the right way using the chromed or chromeless player.
AS3 101
Pads are an extremely useful device for all styles of music, allowing for warm, calming, uplifting, sad, ominous, or even threatening effects. This tutorial shows you one simple way to create your own unique pads.
Creating your own pads is yet another way to help build a custom library and develop a personal voice. And by having more control over the various elements that make up your pad, you have more freedom to add subtle layers of complexity and imperfection for an organic sound.
Audiotuts+ – Audio and Music
How to Use Saturation Effectively
Saturation is an often misunderstood process, sometimes written off as basic distortion effect, too subtle for most uses. While this isn’t entirely inaccurate, saturation has a lot to offer and can impart a true analog flavor on our mixes if used correctly. Most saturation plug-ins are pretty simple devices, but the real key to using the effect is understanding how it works. Let’s take a look at the process in detail and then we can go through a few examples of a few saturation plug-ins in action.
A Guide to the Electric Guitar
This article is a general overview of the electric guitar. We cover the woods, acoustic sound, construction, necks and fretboards, pickups and hardware and show you how to purchase and maintain an electric guitar that you’ll love for years to come.
7 Places to Find Inspiration for Songs
Where do you find inspiration? It is as intangible and elusive as a ghost. You know when you have it, and can’t manufacture it when you don’t. Without it, creative work is a chore, and often a fuitless one. With it, magic happens.
The question of where inspiration comes from interests me, and over the years I’ve kept notes about where the inspiration for successful songs has come from. It has been found in many and varied places. Most of all, it comes from real life – especially from sincere insights into life truths, and emotional responses to events and relationships. Some artists seem to have discovered ways to help the creative process, and inspire inspiration.
Working With the Intangibles of a Mix — Audio Plus
In this week’s Audio Plus content, Bobby Owsinski teaches us how to set about creating a mix that works beyond the basic techniques of getting levels right. This tutorial is about planning the mix and creating the balance that makes everything come together. Bobby is the author of many best-selling audio books including The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook — this is a tutorial of expert advice that’s not to be missed!
How to Use Reverb to Create Your Own Pads
Pads are an extremely useful device for all styles of music, allowing for warm, calming, uplifting, sad, ominous, or even threatening effects. This tutorial shows you one simple way to create your own unique pads.
Creating your own pads is yet another way to help build a custom library and develop a personal voice. And by having more control over the various elements that make up your pad, you have more freedom to add subtle layers of complexity and imperfection for an organic sound.
Psdtuts+ – Adobe Photoshop
Making Sense of the Warp Tool – It’s All About the Lines
Every now and then a project comes along that challenges me to use one of Photoshop’s tools more than ever. This particular image was part of a series of ads I was working on with photographer Richard Radstone for a clothing line based in Colombia, South America. he challenge with this one was to wrap an accordion around the palm tree like a giant snake.
It’s Time to Create a’Neo-Constructivist’ Poster with Photoshop
Constructivist graphic design is often associated with communist politics and propaganda, but it’s more than that, Constructivism is about using bright colors, playing with lightness, perspective, geometrical forms, besides photomontage techniques and digital collage. This time I’ll dare to name this tutorial a ‘Neo-Constructivist’ design. It’s time to get started!
Illustrate a Sensitive Subject Using Poser, Cinema 4D, and Photoshop – Psd Plus Tutorial
We have another Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your illustrative skills to the next dimension, then we have an exciting tutorial for you. Discover how to use Multiple 3D programs to create a composed render, then use Photoshop to add texture, polish, and refinement!
Creating a Spy Fly Photo Manipulation
Welcome to a new Photoshop based tutorial. This time I’ll try to describe the main steps in creating a dead robot fly. Before we get started, I would like to thank Hortensiu Milstein (Personal Portfolio) for the great collaboration. We decided to make this tutorial a year ago, but the lack of time postponed the realization of this tut. This piece was actually created for a contest and off course the first prize was the result. The concept of this illustration was to take a picture and be creative, use parts of that image and create something unique. So, let’s get to it!
How to Create a Moka Express Icon
The staple of every Italian breakfast is home espresso coffee, brewed with the iconic ‘Moka Express’ pot. In this tutorial, we’ll create a Moka entirely from scratch using shapes, layer effects and a bunch of productivity-enhancing tips. We will then proceed to turn our design into a Leopard and Vista-ready professional icon. So get your coffee mugs ready and let’s start brewing!
Vectortuts+ – Vector & Illustrator
How to Create a Rocketing, Vector Aircraft Shuttle
In this tutorial, we’ll be creating a illustration of a speeding aircraft shuttle. It’s going to be all vector, but along the way we’ll use blends, and other techniques that give this rocketing aircraft an interesting look. Let’s get to it!
How to Create a Stinking Zombie Flesh-Eater in Illustrator
In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a cartoon zombie in Illustrator. Starting by creating a fresh corpse, we will then ‘yuck’ it up using a number of techniques. Let’s ‘rip’ this one apart!
How to Create a Smokin’ Western Type Treatment in Illustrator
In this easy tutorial, I will show you how to create a western type treatment primary using Illustrator’s Effects. Using the effects from this tutorial, you can easily apply them to other type treatment and logos. Let’s get started!
How to Design a Custom Newspaper Icon – Vector Plus Tutorial
We have another great Vector Plus tutorial available exclusively for Plus members today. If you want to learn how to craft a custom newspaper icon in Illustrator, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. In this tutorial, Jonathan takes us through the process of using Illustrator’s tools to construct this icon. Learn more about this tutorial at the jump!
How to Create a Fun, Illustrated Skateboard Design
Today we are going to be making a skateboard design. I will show you how I turned a funky looking character into the skateboard you see. The great thing about skateboard designs is that there are no limitations whatsoever. You can make a skateboard design about anything you want and let’s learn how!
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