Eye Yummies Activities & Resources
Most of the material on this page is in .pdf format and
requires Acrobat Reader to view and print. You can download
Reader from www.adobe.com
or from the first page on my desk. Just click on "David's
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Screen Capture
Software
Skins for Standard Numbers IntelliKeys
Overlay
Tips for Making Skins
Eye Yummies Handout
Graphic Software & Activities
Handout
Scanning Tips
Links to Other Resources
Screen Capture
Software
CaptureEze
Pro : For Windows 95/98/NT. A great screen capture
program that includes cool edge effects, image editing, and
automatic print features. Tryout works for about 45 days,
registration is $39.00. Their web site is www.screencapture.com
SnapzPro
: A great screen capture program for Macintosh that lets you
save as images (including jpeg or gif) or as movies,
including audio. Tryout version works for 30 days then costs
$40.00 to register. Their web site is www.ambrosiasw.com
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Skins for Standard Numbers IntelliKeys
Overlay
There are several ways to create a "skin" for a standard
overlay. The easiest is to change the colors. You can do
this in Overlay Maker or open an image of the overlay in a
paint program and move all the colors at once with a
spectrum slider. This gives weird colors (an example is
below) but can be interesting.
Another way to create a skin is to paste images onto the
overlay in Overlay Maker. I have posted several examples
below. These images can be graphics from clip art, digital
pictures, scanned photos or art work form a paint program,
such as Kid Pix or Painter Classic.
Working directly in a paint program enables you to change
all the elements of the overlay in some very creative ways.
I have posted three examples below that I created in
ImageStyler. These look very cool and were fairly simple to
create. ImageStyler includes many 3-D effects.
Change the colors (Photoshop hue slider)
color
Paste clip-art images in the background (Overlay
Maker)
- baseball
game
- baseball
sliding home
- dinosaurs
- fish
- ocean
life
- mars
landing
- north
people
- ship
1
- ship
2
- valentine
Create backgounds with a paint program (Painter Classic,
Overlay Maker)
- ivy
- poppies
Using a filter in a paint program (emboss in
Photoshop)
emboss
Create a completely new look (ImageStyler)
- apples
- hearts
- paint
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Tips for Making Skins for
Overlays
Using a program such as CaptureEze Pro makes it easy to
grab an image, size it, copy it and place it on an overlay.
But there are some problems that occur when resizing an
image, especially when making it larger. Most images
available on the Internet are in the jpeg or gif format. If
you enlarge them they will usually start to exhibit some
jagged edges and other blemishes or artifacts (think of
these as spotty areas). To help maintain a good quality
image, try some of the following tips.
1. Always start with as big an image as possible. You
will have better quality if you scale an image down instead
of make it bigger.
2. When you do have to enlarge an image, try a blur
filter. You will only want to use a little bit of blur, but
this can help decrease jagged edges. There is a blur filter
in CaptureEze Pro.
3. Use a full featured image editing program to size you
image. Programs such as Photoshop can look complicated, but
they offer the tools to help make an image look as good as
possible. If you do use a program such as this, keep your
final image under 1800 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high.
Overlay Maker has problems dealing with pasted images that
are larger than this.
4. For files that end up enlarged, jpeg files usually
look better than gif files.
5. Most of the example skins on this page were created
simply by pasting an image or several images behind the keys
on an overlay in Overlay Maker. If you really want to get
fancy, scan the numbers overlay into a program like Painter
Classic or Photoshop and build completely original images
for each key as well as the background. You can start with
this jpeg image of the
numbers overlay. Just open it in an image editing
program and start playing. Increase the resolution to 144
dpi to increase the print quality.
6. Printing to coated or glossy paper results in brighter
colors than printing on regular paper. It may be difficult
to find coated or glossy in legal size (8.5 x 14 inches) but
it is worth the trouble.
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Eye Yummies Handout
The Eye Yummies
Handout is a printed copy of the opening presentation
during an Eye Yummies session. It includes basic information
on working with computer graphics.
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Graphic Software & Activities
Handout
Fantastic Creations in Art
is a handout from a presentation I did a year or so ago.
It includes information on some great paint programs as well
as some basic material on color, multiple intelligence, and
some lesson plans.
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Scanning Tips
One of the absolute best places to get information on
"all things scanner" is at www.scantips.com.
This site is an electronic version of a book written by
Wayne Fulton. You can order the book from him if you want
the printed version.
Below are two files of scanning tips. The first one is a
great overview on many scanning issues. The second one is
from scantips.com and introduces the concept of using a
histogram to get good quality scans.
- Scanning
Overview
- Using a
Histogram
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Links to Other Resources
ArtToday - A
great clip-art resource
ArtsNet
Minnesota: Designing Spaces and Places
The
Incredible Art Department
The
Lesson Plans Page - Over 400 Lesson Plans!
Welcome
to the @rtoom
Geometry
Forum - Shapiro, Geometry Through Art
Start
with the Arts
Express
Diversity! Program Welcome
Education
World ® - Curriculum: Teaching Special Kids: On-Line
Resources for Teachers
MetaCreations
Adobe
Systems Incorporated
Photoshop
Professional Tips & Tricks
Draw
and Color a Cartoony Party with Uncle Fred
The
Principles of Design, Online Art Instruction in Design
and Composition
Design
elements and principles
ArtMatic
Best of Gallery
Alphabetical
Listing of Lesosn Plans & Curriculum Ideas
ArtLex
- dictionary of visual art
Crayola
DesignCafe
Tips - quick 3D effects in Photoshop
Scanning
Art in Photoshop
ArtsEdNet
Adobe
Tips: Web Digest in PDF
Tips and Techniques
for Scanning
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