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How To: Use FX to shrink yourself into a miniature village

Rick Vanman reveals the secrets to professional video effects using your own computer software. Position your model houses into a setup of your liking. Take a picture of the houses with a digital camera using the macro setting. Edit your picture in Photoshop. Disguise any unwanted objects with the cloning tool. Separate the foreground and the background of the picture into 2 different layers. Film yourself in front of a green screen. Key out the green with your video editing software. Using y...

How To: Draw a koi fish in Photoshop

This is an excellent kids tutorial to draw a koi fish easy and simply using a Adobe Photoshop. The artist shows you how to hand draw the body, add the fins and other features of the fish. Then you create guidelines to make a perfect pattern of scales on the fish. Next he starts texturizing the fins as well as creating a realistic flip of the tail. He then takes the outline of the fish and puts it on one layer then traces it over on the next layer. On subsequent layers, the artist paints the f...

How To: Make bio diesel

Make your own backyard biodiesel with the help of Kipkay. It's easy to make a small batch that will work in any diesel engine. You won't need any special equipment--an old juice bottle will serve as the "reactor" vessel--and on such a small scale, you can quickly refine your technique and perform further experiments. Thanks go to Rob Elam for the original article in Make Volume 3To download Making Biodiesel MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes. Check out the complete Making Biodiesel article...

News: Man Builds Camera as Big as His Dog

Gil Adam, a student of Industrial Design in Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Israel, has created a 3:1 scale model of his favorite plastic camera, the Holga. While the camera is just a model (non-operational), it's pretty fun to see the oversized object next to Adam's face, and his dog.

How To: Use a digital tuner to tune your guitar

Guitars will need to be tuned continuously to ensure that it is tuned for the correct scale and notes so your music makes sounds the way you intend. If you haven’t been playing forever, you will probably need the assistance of an electric tuner to find the note. This video will show you how to tune your guitar using a tuner.

How To: Make & decorate a "make a wish fish" cake

In this video, we learn how to make & decorate a "make a wish fish" cake. Start out by mixing up your icing with paste color until you have a green color. After this, brush this onto a round cake of your choice flavor. After this is all iced, grab some gum drops and orange slice gummies. Then, place the orange slices on the side of the cake to make it look like fins. Place the gum drops on the top of the cake to make the eye and the scales on it as well. Once you are finished and like how it ...

How To: Use the UVW unwrap modifier in 3D Studio Max

A polymodel head is being mapped. Keep the turbo smooth active to smooth out edges and seams. Use the relax tool to help even out the mesh and areas around the mouth, the ears and the neck as work proceeds. Use the stitch modifier to attach and combine the top and bottom of the head. To get all the seams and areas to match they must be moved, rotated and scaled. Use the weld tool on all the vertices and use the relax tool to get all the seams to match. Use the pelt map for the ears. Use the s...

How To: Create a cool blend text effect in Illustrator

In this tutorial, we learn how to create a cool blend text effect in Illustrator. First, open up Illustrator and draw a path, then change the color to black. After this, click on the line and type in your desired text. Increase the font size to 36 points, then select the red color. After this, copy your path and select the duplicate button. Now, move the duplicated path and change the background color to yellow. Now, scale the path and resize, then place on to of the red path. When finished, ...

How To: Play "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith on electric guitar

In this video, we learn how to play "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith on electric guitar. Start out using the E blue scale with your first finger on the fifth fret of the E string. Using half steps, go to 5,6,7 and 7 on the A string. From here, hammer onto the seventh, then continue to do this process to finish the intro. After this you will do the boogie verse, which will be a C power chord, then place your pinkie on the 12th fret on the a string. Continue to play the notes throughout the song, a...

How To: Create a grassy landscape within MAXON Cinema 4D

This tutorials shows you how to set up a grassy scene, using C4D's Hair engine. Learn about the importance of lights and shadows and scene scale. Whether you're new to MAXON's popular 3D modeling application or are just looking to get better acquainted with Cinema 4D and its various features and functions, you're sure to enjoy this free video software tutorial. For more information, and to get started using this trick in your own Cinema 4D projects, watch this 3D modeler's guide.

How To: Test your system performance in Windows 7

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to test their system performance. Begin by clicking on the Start menu and select Control Panel. Then click on System and Security, and select "Check the Windows Experience Index" under System. Now click on "Rate this computer". The system will then begin to run some tests. This will take about 1-2 minutes. The Windows Experience Index assesses key system components on a scale of 1.0 to 7.9. This video will benefit those viewers who use a Windows 7 com...

How To: Create value-based formatting using data bars in Excel

See how to create value-based formatting using data bars and color scales in Excel 2007. See how to use the Format Cells dialog box and the pop-up mini-toolbar in Microsoft Excel 2007. Whether you're new to Microsoft's popular digital spreadsheet application or a seasoned business professional just looking to better acquaint yourself with this particular iteration of the program, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including step-by-step instructions, w...

How To: Draw a simple dragon

Dragons are one of the most fun, traditional, and challenging things an artist can draw. Fortunately, Drawing Now is here to help you get started with this tutorial on how to draw a cute, simple, Western-style dragon. Here are their step-by step instructions:

How To: Relate the information on your camera to the lens

This is a video tutorial showing its audience how to relate the information that is displayed on your camera lens to your actual camera. The first step is to grab your camera and begin studying your lens. Next look at the mm reading on your lens and the aperture reading. These settings will assist you with setting your depth of field. Next look for your focus ring. Your focus ring will allow you to focus your photos in manual mode. Next look for the focus reading, this will tell you how far a...

How To: Identify pest on the oleander, rosemary, & ivy plants

In this Home & Garden video tutorial you will learn how to identify pest on the oleander, rosemary, & ivy plants. John White presents this video along with Virginia Owens. Spittle bug on rosemary can be removed with a strong blast of water. You can also add a little bit of soap to it. You also have to be persistent with this. Scale is a kind of insect that forms carnication on Spanish Broom. This can be treated with dormant oil in the summer. Ivy gets burnt when exposed to hot sun. So, you go...

How To: Batch resize photo in Photoshop

Are your high resolution photos taking too much space on your hard drive? Tired of getting file too large error when emailing photos? Don't worry Photoshop Samurai will help you batch resize your photos as fast as a ninja! You will need: Photoshop (Not Elements version), photos that need to be resized Go to file, then scripts and select image processor. Select the source folder (where your pictures are stored on your computer). Then select a destination location (where you would like the proc...

How To: Anneal metal to make art jewelry

Take a metal piece and use the gas gun and blow with appropriate pressure so that one can observe the color change. You can see a white layer on the metal. Apply flux on the metal piece and rub it gently so that the small holes are covered. Let it dry for sometime. Start heating the metal gently with high flame for about five minutes. You can see water evaporating out of the flux on the metal. It protects metal from fire scale and will not allow oxygen to stay there. Now turn off the gas gun ...

How To: Create an invisible button in Flash

Ever wondered about when your mouse moves over a website and some animation plays? Well, that's an invisible button. To create one, first type some text in Flash. Then create a new layer, draw some basic shape, and convert it to a button. Then double-click and create a new keyframe on hit. Scale the shape according to the size of the text. Now, when one moves the cursor on the text,the cursor becomes active. It really helps for some animation with greeting cards.

How To: Create image reflection in Photoshop

This is a quick and easy tutorial for Photoshop on how to create a simple but effective reflection of an object. This tutorial uses vector masking, scaling, hot keys, vertical flip, gradient tool, and opacity adjustment. After watching this video you will be able to make a reflection of any object you would like. The product of the tutorial will be a half faded reflection that actually seems as though the image is sitting on a reflective surface such as metal, glossy tile, or a wet surface. A...

How To: Play a minor pentatonic pattern on acoustic guitar

This is an excellent video on to play a minor pentatonic pattern on your acoustic guitar. This video is perfect for beginners as instructor Justin Sandercoe gives you some great tools and tips on making your guitar playing a bit easier. You'll also learn how to create interesting sounding lick from the minor pentatonic. This is also a great way to learn the notes in different orders and help you get to the know the scale really well. Great video, and very easy to follow, but remember practice...

How To: Solo over chord changes on electric guitar

To play a guitar riff is to do more than simply to memorize a short musical phrase. Guitar riffs are like any other musical exercise; practicing them can be a terrific means of building manual dexterity and improving your overall playing technique. We can say of riffs, then, that they are not so much about rote repetition as making available to the guitarist new and different ways of playing. Every new riff you learn will make you a more able and versatile guitarist and better equip you to st...

How To: Understand basic guitar theory

To play a guitar riff is to do more than simply to memorize a short musical phrase. Guitar riffs are like any other musical exercise; practicing them can be a terrific means of building manual dexterity and improving your overall playing technique. We can say of riffs, then, that they are not so much about rote repetition as making available to the guitarist new and different ways of playing. Every new riff you learn will make you a more able and versatile guitarist and better equip you to st...

How To: Use the basics of GIMP

This tutorial is on GIMP Basics. GIMP is a free Photoshop substitute available for all platforms and pre-loaded in Linux operating systems. The tutorial covers the scale, crop, cut with transparency, flip, and rotate commands of GIMP. Part 2 covers saving and file size reduction in GIMP.

News: Is the Metascore Algorithm for Rating Video Games B.S.?

Guiding internet users to useful content is one of the most lucrative businesses in the world. This process is called aggregation. Google and other search engines form the top of the food chain, aggregating all of the content on the web in response to queries. There are all sorts of other important aggregators though, and you probably use at least one every day: Fark and Reddit for web content, Rotten Tomatoes for movie reviews, and Metacritic for a variety of media, but most importantly, vid...

HowTo: Build a Papercraft NSX Super GT Race Car

Is your love of race cars exceeded only by your love of elaborate papercraft? Do you have easy access to industrial-size printers and a surfeit of clean cardboard? If you answered yes to all of the above, odds are you're the Seiko Epson printer corporation, who recently set about assembling an impressive 1:1-scale 3D cardboard replica of a Honda/Acura NSX Super GT race car for the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon: