Williams Murray Hamm founder discusses no-logo approach

Richard Murray of award-winning packaging design company Williams Murray Hamm gives a talk titled, "How did you get them to go with that?", outlining his company's groundbreaking approach to graphic design, next month.The talk, which takes place on November 12 at the Watershed in Bristol, sees Murray explain the way that the studio was established aiming to provide an alternative to the heavily logo-encrusted and standardized approach that dominated packaging design in the 1980s and 1990s.
The studio's approach has seen it pick up accolades including Clio Awards, D&AD Pencils, and New York Festival awards.

Richard Murray will discuss the work and ethos of WMH with examples of projects from concepts to finished results and explain the processes and hurdles along the way.

The talk is organised by the West England Design Forum.
For ticket reservations visit the Watershed Web site.

E-on details Vue 7 line of 3D landscape tools

E-on Software has released details of the full line-up of different versions of its forthcoming Vue 7 software for creating 3D landscapes and environments."Our market research showed that, among independent users who were purchasing our professional solutions, many were doing so for a limited number of highly desirable features, such as, for instance, EcoSystem painting and wind effects. However, other production- or workflow-oriented features -- that they were paying for -- were of lesser interest to them", said Nicholas Phelps, president of E-on Software. "This is why we decided to add Vue 7 Complete to the Vue line. This version of Vue, specifically designed for expert 3D artists and small studios, represents a cost-effective alternative to Vue Infinite."

The following features are now available out of the box in Vue 7 Complete: wind and breeze effects, ventilators, EcoSystem painting, and 3D export. E-on says that a detailed feature list and more information will be made available soon.

Vue 7 Pioneer is the new entry-level version of Vue, superceding the former Vue Easel. E-on says that mewcomers to 3D and casual artists will find in Vue 7 Pioneer all the landscape-creation tools they need to easily create and render amazing images of their own 3D worlds.

Vue 7 Pioneer can be extended with a number of independent modules that add specific functionality to the base product. By adding modules, users can progressively upgrade all the way from Pioneer up to Complete.

The Vue 7 line of products is distributed in 2 sub-lines: Vue for 3D Artists and Small Studios, now comprised of Vue 7 Pioneer ($49.95/£29), Vue 7 Esprit ($199/£117), Vue 7 Pro Studio ($399/£238) and Vue 7 Complete ($599/£351) -- and Vue for Professionals, comprised of Vue 7 xStream ($895/£524), Vue 7 Infinite ($1,495/£876) and Ozone 4.

E-on says that product availability, detailed pricing and upgrade options (including special offers), as well as a
complete comparative chart will be announced soon.

For more information see the E-on Software Web site.

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Akvis releaseses Enhancer 9.5

Akvis has released AKVIS Enhancer v.9.5 for Windows and Macintosh. The program allows improving detail on an image, no matter what was the cause of the unsharpness -- poor/excessive lighting, motion, or bad focusing -- according to the company.The program is available in two versions - as a standalone application and as a plug-in to a Photoshop, where it supports batch processing through Actions.

The software offers three modes that can treat each problem separately:

In Enhancer mode the program brings out details on one single shot by intensifying color transition. The tool is useful in cases when a photo has an uneven exposure. For example, when a picture has been taken against the light source and consequently the objects on the foreground are hardly discernible, which is especially annoying when you take a picture of a person. Or when a photo lacks dramatic effect due to vagueness of the scene.

The Focus mode improves blurred images by bringing into focus the whole image or only certain parts of it. It happens when the camera fails to focus on the object being shot, and the photo comes out fuzzy. This mode can rescue such out-of-focus images.

The HDR mode is only available in the Standalone version of Enhancer. The HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) technology expands the dynamic range of an image and shows details in both shadows and highlights. Several shots of the same scene to generate one HDR-image, but the result is impressive.

Version 9.5 supports the Exif data to the full extent and ensures that the additional camera information (such as shooting date, exposure settings, comments) will not get lost or altered.

The plug-in version of Akvis Enhancer costs US$69 (around £39). The standalone version costs $81 (around £46). Upgrades from previous versions are free.

For more information see the Akvis Web site.

Adobe buys Danish imaging software maker

Adobe on Monday announced it has acquired Danish imaging software maker YaWah ApS to expand the use of Adobe Scene7 software in Europe.The two companies provide rich-media software used to manage and distribute dynamic content, including changing images and text fields, in Internet stores.

Adobe plans to make use of YaWah's client lists as well as integrate some of its technology into Scene7.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Adobe said the deal will not have a material impact on fiscal 2008 earnings.

For more information see the Adobe Web site.

Adobe to announce Creative Suite 4 on September 23

Adobe will officially announce Creative Suite 4 on September 23, 2008. The company will also host a webcast introducing the products to the public.Creative Suite is a collection of Adobe applications that the company sells to help professionals be more efficient. For instance, Adobe currently sells Production Premium, Web Premium, and a Master Collection, all targeted to different market segments.

Creative Suite 3 included InDesign, Acrobat, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop and Premiere Pro.

The Adobe webcast introducing the suite will take place on September 23, 2008 at 9:00 am ET. You can register for the webcast online.

For more information see the Adobe Web site.

Yanobox debuts Motype FxPack

Yanobox (www.yanobox.com) has released the Motype FxPack – a 2D and 3D text animation plug-in for Adobe After Effects CS3, Apple Final Cut Studio and Apple Final Cut Express users.Developed using Noise Industries' FxFactoryPro Plug-in Manager, Motype offers a versatile palette for creating and animating text. Visual effects tools such as particle emitters, trailing blurs, and 3D camera movements enable users to create extremely high quality text and title animations. The context-sensitive Motype interface with grouped functionalities provides an ergonomic, easy to use workspace, says Noise Industries.

Designed to work with Noise Industries' FxFactory version 2.0.4, Motype offers following text animation features:

-- Motion Mixer for mixing geometric transformations and properties that define the motion of the characters. The Motion Mixer allows users to animate without keyframes.

-- Random Characters - users can add rhythm and a jump cut effect to titles with different styles of random characters and symbols. Users can also create theirown character table that can be randomized.

-- Trailing blur - Motion blur simulates the blur created by fast-moving objects. Motype’s Trailing blur uses this principle, but gives more control; using motion blur and smear effects in a more creative way.

-- Per Letters Particles – allows the user to assign particles streams to characters. Particles can be defined to act as a dynamic background or to follow the text animation. Emitters are fully adjustable over direction and time to provide soft coat or an explosive impact on the text.

-- 3D Camera - lets users apply camera movements to the stage. With the auto-animate option, users can quickly create stunning traveling on a particular axis during the animation.

-- Cyclorama - which can show spotlights and textures.

Motype FxPack costs $99.00 amd is available to purchase from Yanobox's website.

EXHIBITION: Francis Bacon at Tate Britain

This Thursday (September 11), a major retrospective of Francis Bacon opens at the Tate Britain. The exhibition celebrates Bacon as one of the leading painters of the 20th Century, assembling many of the artist's most important works, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of his life and creations.Bacon is recognized for his brutal, raw images of people and animals, which are full of distortions and spatters depicting intense emotion. Using the human body, animals and bare, damaged landscapes as recurring themes, his works have a visceral, unsettling quality that has made them loved and loathed in equal measure.

For the exhibition Bacon's works are displayed as they were when they were first created; among the most famous works on display are portraits of Pope Innocent X and triptychs such as Three Studies for a Crucifixion, 1962.

The exhibition runs from September 11, 2008 to January 4, 2009. Click here for visiting information and ticket reservations.

EXHIBITION: Designers in Residence at Design Museum

A band of up-and-coming creatives, hand-picked for their experimental attitude towards design, are the stars of the Design Museum's exhibition Designers in Residence, which opens this Wednesday (September 10).Each designer has the chance to transform a corner of the museum; this year's exhibition has the theme of collections and the notion of collecting.

Exhibits include a Creativity Machine, which visitors can interact with by exploring the various paths and decisions that make up the design process, and a touch-sensitive Interactive Wall, where visitors can view items from the museum's permanent collection and view a dynamic spinning installation that reacts to emotions. There is also a contemporary interpretation of the Curiosity Cabinet, allowing visitors to gain a unique view of unusual collections.

The chosen designers are Tom Drysdale, Matthew Falla & Lea Jagendorf, Jethro Macey, Adrian Westaway & Ben Storan, Freddie Yauner and Sarah Angold, whose installation will be funded by the Tallow Chandlers’ Company.

Design Museum Director, Deyan Sudjic comments, “Designers in Residence is an opportunity for the Design Museum to embrace new talent. This annual exhibition enables the museum to engage with young designers and celebrates the dynamism and potential of a range of designers at the beginning of their careers”.

Last year's former Designer in Residence, Chris O’Shea, will chair the This Happened debate as part of the Festival- themed museum overtime event on 19 September and take a peep behind the design screen as this years designers talk about their work at The Open Rehearsal event on 28 September.

The exhibition runs until October 27; its opening is timed to coincide with the London Design Festival. Click here for more details and visiting information.

Sharpener Pro 3.0 released for Photoshop, Aperture

Nik Software has announced the release of Sharpener Pro 3,0, a new version of their photographic plug-in software designed to help sharpen digital photos. The plug-in works with either Adobe Photoshop or Apple Aperture, and costs US$199.95. Upgrades from previous releases cost $99.95.Sharpener Pro 3.0 lets you selectively sharpen objects in the image using "U Point" control points; this lets you sharpen objects without having to create selections and layer masks.

New to the 3.0 release are new creative sharpening capabilities that let you adjust structure, focus and local contrast; a new sharpening soft proof capability; new output presets; an update raw presharpener; selective tool (for Photoshop); smart filter support (again, for Photoshop); and multi-image support (for Aperture).