Wisnaes.com - Visual communication

I must admit I like to challenge my students sometimes. Just mess a little with their brain. And one of my favourite subjects is the dpi setting in Photoshop. It might be old news to you, but there is still a strong belief that if you are going to use an image for web or TV, it should be 72 dpi. So here is what I say.

Statement 1: Dpi has no impact at all on filesize.

Statement 2: A setting of 3167 dpi is very nice for web. Or TV.

Do you feel the urge to shout "Wrong!!!!!!" ? A lot of people do… But let us examine it closer.

Dpi has no impact at all on filesize.

This is actually very easy to show. Open a picture and change the dpi to 300. Save it. Then change the dpi to 50 and save it again with a different filename. If you have done this correct, the files should be very close in size. There could be a few bytes difference due to the way the filesystem store things. But no dramatic difference.

But maybe you have a huge difference between the files? Then you forgot to uncheck the Resample checkbox. Remember, I said change dpi. Not resample the image. As soon as you uncheck the Resample checkbox, the pixelsize of the image is greyed out in Photoshop. And the only thing that happens when you change dpi, is that the print size changes.

A setting of 3167 dpi is very nice for web. Or TV.

Actually, a setting of 64 dpi is just as nice. Try it.  Make a 300 x 225 pixel file at 3000 dpi. Then make a 300 x 225 pixel file at 50 dpi. Put them on a webpage and compare. Or take a look at my examples here.

The reason for both of these statement is the same. And very easy to explain. Dpi is all about print. Not about monitors or other forms of similar displays.  It is actually very clear in Photoshop. Take a look at the area that has the print size and dpi. There is a border around it that separate it from the pixelsize. This is because on most  monitors you can display a variety of resolutions and as the resolution change, the ratio between the physical dimention of the monitor and the number of pixels it displays per inch changes. Without any change to the dpi setting of the file. And on a TV in Europe, the size is 720 x 576 non-square pixels. This fills the TV no matter how big or small the TV is. So all that matters when you are going to output on a monitor is the number of pixels. Get the pixelnumbers right and set the dpi to whatever you prefer.

You might argue that if only the software could detect what monitor it is and how big it is, you could add a feature that will display the picture according to the right size. But this is a big if. I do not know about any software that can do this at the moment. The only software I know that really cares about dpi is software that is primarily meant for output to a printer. They will scale a picture on a page, relative to the size of the paper.

Please add any comments you might have.

I have followed Avid Technology and their products for some years. And sometimes I wonder where some of the people that used to be central in the company are now. After some searches I found an article in Boston Business Journal that was quite enlightening.

It seems like some of the former executives and middle management of Avid still keep in touch and meet regularly. The article have some interesting comments on the development of Avid and where some of the people are today.

Put the radiostation in your pocket. Or at least the programme. Listen to the radioprogramme when you want. A radiostation for each of us. By anyone of us. There are noe ends to the smart ways to describe podcasting. But to make it simple - it is all about a new systematical and automated way of distributing an audiofile. Or blogging with audio instead of writing.

The term podcasting was as far as I know coined by Adam Curry, a former VJ at MTV. He started to record his ramblings and send them out as attachments to RSS2.0 feeds. His podcast is called  Adam Currys Daily Cource Code, and at iPodder.org you will find a lot about the podcast "reader" he made. There you will find a good explanation of the history behind podcasting. You could also take a look at what Wikipedia has to say about it. The idea is that the software running on your computer will download the programme and you put it on your iPod or any other player that can play the file. Then you listen to it whenever you have time. Out jogging or on the train to work.

There are still not as many podcasts as there are blogs on the net. But the number is really growing. Just take a look at  Podcast.net . And this is where I stumbled upon one of the new podcasts in my list. Avid Technology!

Avids podcast started in August and has so far produced 2 issues, but hopefully more will come. The podcast is hosted by J.C. Bouvier, Avid Marketing Programs Project Manager and contains interviews and news about different Avid products. No big surprises, but well worth to listen to  . You find the link to their page in the sidebar on this page.

The internet is and endless source of information. But it can be difficult to keep up with the constant flow of news. The simple task of checking for new articles at 20-30 websites each day is a very timeconsuming task even if you use bookmarks. And with the invvention of blogs, the number of websites that would be interesting to follow each day has multiplied several times over.

This is what RSS feeds, also called syndication, sets out to overcome. It is a way to tell a special reader program what is new at a website. The most common way to list up new articles is in an e-mail like format. But what reader should be used? There are three main types.

Plug-ins for well known programs or web browsers

If you prefer to minimize the number of applications you need to keep running, you might want to see if there are any plug-ins available for one of the programs you already have. Outlook, Internet Explorer, ThunderBird and Firefox are only some of the programs that have plug-ins available. Check with the respective websites for each of these programs to find the plug-ins or do a search on the net.

Stand-alone programs

This is where you find most of the heavy, feature rich, programs although you also find programs that focus on being simple and easy to use. Some of the programs in this category are amphetaDesk, FeedDemon, FeedReader, NetNewsWire, SharpReader and Straw.

Web based services

If you are a real cyber nomad than keeping it on the net is a good thing. That way you can access your feeds no matter where you are and you can use any tool that can display webpages. You are not restricted to one operating system, you do not even have to use your own computer. Any computer connected to the internet will do. Even your phone if it has a browser like Opera. If you want to look at some of these services, you can check NewsIsFree or Bloglines. These are only a couple of examples. Try a search to find more.

My own choice (so far..)

I have tried many different systems and they all have they good and bad sides. I like to be able to download the feeds to my laptop so I can read them later. This rules out the web based services. I also prefer to have as little functions and plug-ins in a program as possible. In my experience this leads to faster respons times and more stable programs. So when I find something new, I check their webpage first, and if it look like it might outperform the one I am using at the moment, I download it and try it out. I never go for a new program that does not have OPML export/import. This is a format for exporting and importing the list of feeds you subscribe to. And it makes it very easy to switch from one reader to another.
(more…)

This is a book that most editors and definitely system managers should have in their library.The book contains a lot of good information from someone that know Avid from the inside. Steve Bayes has worked as a Senior Instructor and then moved over to Product Designer for Symphony and later DS. Here is what it say about the book at Amazon:

The Avid Handbook caters to video editors bordering on intermediate who are ready to unleash the full power of the Avid but don’t know where to start. Rather than focusing on arcane keystrokes, the book teaches production procedures, the real key for getting a job done. Time saving, shortcuts, and strategies are emphasized, and the author tackles such real-world problems as set up, keeping a facility running, minimizing crashing, and troubleshooting head on. Bayes has helped thousands to avoid downtime and maximize creative time.

If you are not living in total isolation, it is quite likely that your computer will at some point be vulnerable to viruses. So you need something that can protect you from it.

There is not shortage of these products. Antivirus software can be downloaded for free, you can use online scanners, you can buy it in the nearest supermarket alongside potatoes and diapers and I guess you even got a CD from your ADSL supplier and from your PC dealer.

But the quality of these programs differ a lot. And some of them totally drain your computers resources. A standard install of some of these might even make it impossible for you to be able to do your work on the computer!

Through a friend that run an ISP I was made aware of a company called Eset that have a product called NOD32. He recommended that I tried this antivirus solution and I have not regretted it for a second. It is fast, it uses very little resources and it performs well in all tests I have seen so far.

If you need a good program for your facility, your office or your home, I suggest you take a look at it. There is a 30-day free version that you can download and it is not crippled in any way.

Wisnaes.com is now being totally redesigned and will over the next few days get the functions needed to publish tips and tricks for people working with visual communication based on TV and film.

To allow a wider audience to read this site, the main language here will be English. And I am hoping to be able to add some translation to the site eventually. 

For those that is interested in the technical aspects of this website:

I am using a blogsystem called WordPress with a few extra plug-ins. The theme is called Connections, but it has been changed quite a bit. As I get more familiar with the system, I will try to add things to make it work better.