New Year

New Year Eve

Celebrations for New Year begin from New Year's Eve on 31st December. This is the last day of the Gregorian calendar and the day before New Year's Day. The idea behind New Year's Eve celebration is to bid adieu to the year gone by and give a warm welcome to the coming year. Popular way of celebrating New Year's Eve is to party until the moment of the transition of the year at midnight. 

New Year's Eve is a public non-working holiday in several countries including France, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, Mexico, Greece, the Philippines, and Venezuela. 

New Year Eve Traditions

Tradition of celebrating New Year's Eve vary in several parts of the world due to cultural variations. In most countries people cut cake as the clock strikes for midnight on New Year's Eve and open champagne bottles to express their joys. Given here is a brief description of some of the other most popular and interesting traditions of New Year Eve celebrations. 

Father Time and Baby New Year

A common image of New Year's Eve celebration is the incarnation of Father Time - the old year represented by an old bearded man wearing a sash across his chest with the previous year printed on it. This Father Time hands over his responsibilities to the Baby New Year - the personification of New Year represented by a baby wearing a sash with the new year printed on it. 

Auld Lang Syne

Inspired by an old Scottish tune, the song Auld Lang Syne (meaning 'the good old days') has become the National Anthem of New Year's eve celebration. The song is traditionally sung at the midnight on the New Year's Eve in almost all English speaking countries of the world. The lyrics to the song Auld Lang Syne were written by the poet Robert Burns and published after his death in 1796. Bursting of Firecrackers In most parts of the world, people welcome the New Year by bursting noisy firecrackers. Some even fire celebratory gun-shots. The tradition emerged from an ancient belief that noise and fire helped to dispel evil spirits and bring good-luck. 

Greeting Happy New Year

Just as the clock strikes at midnight on New Year's Day people start Greeting Happy New Year to everyone around. At several places there is also a tradition to kiss one's beloved at midnight. It is said that kissing ensures affections and ties will continue all through the year. To dear ones staying in distant cities, greetings are sent over phone or through SMS and New Year greeting cards. 

Popular New Year Eve Celebrations Around the World

Many countries take pride in their New Year's Eve celebrations but New Year's Eve of Times Square, Trafalgar Square and Sydney are most popular amongst them all.

Happy New Year! 2011

The acclaimed iranian filmmaker was sentenced to six years in prison today, and banned 20 years.

The acclaimed Iranian filmmaker JAFAR PANAHI winner of the VENICE, CANNES and BERLIN film festivals was sentenced to 6 YEAR OF PRISON and banned from directing and producing films for the next 20 YEARS from AHMADINEJAD dictatorship regime.

Panahi, an outspoken supporter of Iran's opposition green movement, was convicted of gathering, colluding and propaganda against the regime, Farideh Gheyrat told the Iranian state news agency ISNA.

"He is therefore sentenced to six years in prison and also he is banned for 20 years from making any films, writing any scripts, travelling abroad and also giving any interviews to the media including foreign and domestic news organisations," she said. Gheyrat said she would appeal against the conviction.

Panahi won the Camera d'Or award at the Cannes film festival in 1995 for his debut feature, The White Balloon, and took the Golden Lion prize at Venice for his 2000 drama, The Circle. His other films include Crimson Gold and Offside. He is highly regarded around the world but his films are banned at home.

Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies at Columbia university, told the Guardian the sentence showed Iran's leaders could not tolerate the arts. "This is a catastrophe for Iran's cinema," he said. "Panahi is now exactly in the most creative phase of his life and by silencing him at this sensitive time, they are killing his art and talent.

"Iran is sending a clear message by this sentence that they don't have any tolerance and can't bear arts, philosophy or anything like that. This is a sentence against the whole culture of Iran. They want the artists to sit at their houses and stop creating art. This is a catastrophe for a whole nation."

Panahi, 49, was initially arrested in July 2009 after participating in a mourning ceremony for the protesters killed in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election. He was released shortly afterwards but was denied permission to leave the country. In February 2010, he was arrested along with his family and colleagues, and taken to Tehran's notorious Evin prison.

Muhammad Rasoulof, one of the film-makers who was arrested at the same time, was also sentenced to six years in jail today.

Senior Hollywood figures including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and Juliette Binoche condemned his arrest. Binoche held up Pahani's name in protest at the Cannes festival.

In May, he was released on $200,000 (£129,000) bail after several days on hunger strike. He has since been denied permission to attend film festivals where he was invited as a judge, including a recent invitation from the Berlin film festival.

In an interview in September, Panahi said: "When a film-maker does not make films it is as if he is jailed. Even when he is freed from the small jail, he finds himself wandering in a larger jail."

Jafar Panahi, a celebrated Iranian filmmaker who was arrested in February and accused of working on an “anti-regime” film, was sentenced to six years in prison on Saturday in Tehran, his lawyer told an Iranian news agency on Monday.

Mr. Panahi, who had expressed support for Iran’s opposition green movement during post-election protests in 2009, “has also been banned from making films, writing any kind of scripts, traveling abroad and talking to local and foreign media for 20 years,” according to his lawyer, Farideh Gheyrat.

The 50-year-old filmmaker was first detained in July 2009, six weeks after Iran’s disputed presidential election, when he attended a mourning ceremony in Tehran for protesters who were killed during the demonstrations. The following month, Mr. Panahi was allowed to travel to the Montreal Film Festival, where he was the president of the jury, and he made a point of wearing a green scarf to the opening ceremony.

His conviction comes despite a high-profile campaign by fellow filmmakers inside Iran and abroad to win his release. In March, Abbas Kiarostami, Iran’s most famous director, wrote an open letter to Iran’s authorities calling for the immediate release of both Mr. Panahi and another detained filmmaker, Mahmoud Rasoulof, who was also sentenced to six years in prison for his work on the same unfinished film. In April, a group of leading American filmmakers — including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola — signed another open letter on Mr. Panahi’s behalf. In May, days after Juliette Binoche was filmed crying as Mr. Panahi’s detention was discussed at the Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Panahi was granted a temporary release on bail.

Among Mr. Panahi’s prize-winning films are

“The White Balloon,” “ The Circle,” “ Offside,” and “ Crimson Gold.”

In an interview with Agence France-Presse in August, Mr. Panahi explained that the film he was shooting with Mr. Rasoulof concerned a “family and the postelection developments.” He added: “When a filmmaker does not make films it is as if he is jailed. Even when he is freed from the small jail, he finds himself wandering in a larger jail. The main question is: why should it be a crime to make a movie? A finished film, well, it can get banned but not the director.”

Last month, Mr. Panahi delivered an impassioned defense of his work as a filmmaker to the court in Tehran. Near the end of his statement, he explained that he loved his country and had no desire to make films anywhere else:

All said, despite all the injustice done to me, I, Jafar Panahi, declare once again that I am an Iranian, I am staying in my country and I like to work in my own country. I love my country, I have paid a price for this love too, and I am willing to pay again if necessary. I have yet another declaration to add to the first one. As shown in my films, I declare that I believe in the right of “the other” to be different, I believe in mutual understanding and respect, as well as in tolerance; the tolerance that forbid me from judgment and hatred. I don’t hate anybody, not even my interrogators.

Despite the international acclaim Iranian filmmakers have brought to their nation in the past two decades, the country’s government has banned many films that have won prizes abroad and shown a surprising fear of fiction films that deal with life in Iran. In 2000, one of Iran’s most popular filmmakers, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, explained that his plans to establish a film school in Tehran in 1996 had been rejected by the government at about the same time he had produced a drama based on his own part in the country’s Islamic revolution, “A Moment of Innocence.” Mr. Makhmalbaf wrote:

I informed the Iranian ministry of culture of my plans to accept 100 students of cinema through a selection exam, and to use new methods to train them for 4 years. But the ministry of culture of the time did not accept. They feared the generation of a new wave of young filmmakers making films in favor of democracy, thus officially announced that one dangerous filmmaker like me was enough for one country and that one hundred others like me were not needed.

Filmography 

"Crimson Gold" (2003)

The Wounded Heads (Yarali Bashlar, 1988)

Kish (1991)

The Friend (Doust, 1992)

The Last Exam (Akharin Emtehan, 1992)

The White Balloon (Badkonake Sefid, 1995)

Ardekoul (1997)

The Mirror (Ayneh, 1997)

The Circle (Dayereh, 2000)

Crimson Gold (Talaye Sorkh, 2003)

Offside (2006)

Awards and honors

Jafar Panahi has won numerous awards up to now. Here are the most important:

HIVOS Cinema Unlimited Award (2007)

Pudú Award, at the Valdivia International Film Festival 2007 for his life-time artistic accomplishments.

Silver Bear, Berlin Film Festival 2006.

Prix du Jury - Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2003.[35]

Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 2000.

Golden Leopard, Locarno International Film Festival 1997.

Prix de la Camera d'Or, Cannes Film Festival 1995.

Film festival work

Panahi was a jury member at numerous film festivals:

President of the jury of Montreal World Film Festival (2009)

President of the jury of Rotterdam Film Festival (2008)

Chair of the International Film Festival of Kerala Jury (2007)

International Eurasia Film Festival (2007)

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (2001)

why legendary RGV is splitting a banana into 2 halves instead of eating single solid piece?

Rakta charitra 1 is much more better than 2 in all aspects. But when you prolong one hour story to more than 2 hours with slow motion effects and making two sequels instead of one makes the audience feel awful.


Message on the first screen: "Characters and story are fictitious. No resemblance to reality."
Message on the second screen: "Based on a True Story"
A "controversial" film?


On the editing & camera-work, the least said, the better. It was bad this time. It was an attempt, a different one. Too much use of close-up shots of gangster stubbles and nostril-hairs, 180 or 360 degree turns, shaky handwork during intense scenes, shadow-filming... Some of them were distracting, unlike in the prequel. The camera, as usual, rotates a full 360 degree or is found slanting behind some stairs. In one particular car chase scene, the camera rotates a 180 degrees and the half minute scene is hilariously shown upside down.The loud background score succeeds in charging up the intensity of action sequences. The cinematography was convincing enough.


Still....
when you stretch a small story for more than 2 hours then it becomes a big bore. RGV could have easily put both the movie parts together in 1 piece and that would have made it a great watch.


Many scenes move in slow motion. The technique works at the start but then you see too many scenes following the pattern that it tires you, especially in the end.


On the whole, I personally liked the first part rather than the second, but that is just a personal choice.

Things to ponder before you choose an IT/ Animation Training Institute.

Note: This points are applicable only to students who are serious about what they want to do in life and want to create a career, those who are learning just to kill time in vacations or for fun, please do not waste your time reading the following points:

1. Choose a course/ program that suits your background: 

Many students get carried away by what is possible but do not do a reality check. Let me give an example, today we see many students without commercial art or similar background rush to do animation courses. They realize they have done a big mistake only after they completed the course, spent valuable time and money. Yes it is fun to learn and do animation; yes you might even get your first job because there is serious crunch of animators in the industry. But the real story starts once you are into the job for 6 months or a year. You will feel stuck and find yourself not growing and not getting higher responsibilities not for any other reason but the fact that you are misfit for doing high end jobs in the field. Do you really want to get into a career where you don’t grow?

2. Take advice from someone who has been there done that: 

As a student you might not have the right knowledge to judge the quality of course content. Everything written on that beautiful brochure would mean wow to you. However, due to various reasons, not all institutes including those having centers in every corner of India update the courses to match the pace according to what is required in the industry. So please find out an experienced professional who can help you judge the content of the course. Preferably the person advising you should have more than 3 – 4 years experience in the respective field. For god sake don’t do a course just because your friends or relatives are doing it. It is good to have company, but then it cannot be the reason to join the course. I think you can put your Facebook, Orkut & CGtantra skills to good use to find someone who can help you.

3. No Pain No Gain: 

One of the weird reasons why students choose a particular institute is because they are nearby their home. If you know an institute which is away but better then the one near your home, please don’t be silly to compromise on quality just because of location. If you are doing a course to build a career, take the pain to travel, and learn from best possible location, all efforts will give you rich dividends in the future.

4. Pay the Fees in Installment whenever possible: 

You are all excited about learning a new skill, you find a place, you pay the full fees, you get a receipt which has clearly written on it ‘NON REFUNDABLE’. Later if you find the institute is not up to the mark, or you don’t feel interested in the subject, be prepared for a lifelong reminder from your parents. ‘You paid the fees but you never completed the course’. The escape route here is to choose to pay in installments, so that you only pay the next installment if everything is going in line with your expectations.

5. Choose a technology of future rather then a present phenomenon: 

Hype is one demon that can take even the most wise men for a ride. Don’t do a course just because it is in demand right now, consider the duration of the course and assess will you be able to capitalize on the hype, or will the hype fizz out by the time you complete the course? Try to find out areas which are not in demand right now, but have a huge potential in next 4-5 years. It is always good to be associated with a technology which is yet to reach its peak, rather then getting into a technology where the top slot is full.

6. Don’t continue learning at a bad institute: 

Time is money, but we forget to implement its essence in our lives. You have paid the fees, but unfortunately the institute is not upto the mark. Quit it immediately, spending more time at a bad institute is not going to help your career in anyway. You can prevent such situation to arise by doing your homework well.

7. Do not choose a course just because the course/ program fee is less: 

IT/ Animation Training is an expensive business. Keeping good infrastructure, hiring quality trainers with in-depth knowledge is expensive, hence at many institutes the fees though may seem to be high, but the value they deliver more then makes up for the high cost. Unfortunately, many institutes are expensive for wrong reasons. To fund their advertisement expenses. Learn to differentiate between the 2 types. Because of the franchise system, the sole objective is money making and sadly wrong things end up being compromised. If an institute is charging radically low fees, I doubt you will get quality. You might get the satisfaction of getting an amazing deal and making huge savings. But it is being pennywise and pound foolish. You will get a raw deal in terms of salary if you have not learnt from quality source, or worst you will not get a job.

Please Note: Please stay away from 21 courses in Rs. 5000/- types. 

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1. Age of the Institute

All successful institution go through a trial and error period in fine tuning their course, where they work out what works best for their students. If it is the first time the institute is opening, it is not the best idea to become the Institute's "Guinea Pig". Besides the older the school, the bigger the alumi would be which translates into a goodwill in the market for that institute, hence the recruiters would be more keen to see your work than compared to others.

2. Experience of Faculty

You should demand to know the experience of the tutors there. It is not a uncommon to find that the sometimes the faculty are actually fresh graduates of the institute. Ask to see their showreels if possible to see what exactly have they worked on.

3. Number of Faculty

A school which employs many teachers to teach a specialist subject(modelling, texturing, animation) is slightly better because then the teachers can you give better attention, since the teacher to student ratio is spread out and is low. Plus if you don't get along well with one teacher, there is always others you are can rely on. Having said there are lots of generalist teachers out there who are very competent.

4. Demo Reel of Students

Ask to see the showreels(not stills) of the students. One should see what the final product looks like. It is always good idea to compare the quality of the showreels versus good International Institutes such as Ringling, VFS or Animation mentor. Stay away from institute which refuse to show their work of their best students.

5. Course Content

Choose institute which also makes emphasis on the art side, apart from the technical side, ie they also teach a bit of 2d Animation, sculpting, life drawing, acting classes etc. These would help you build a good artistic foundation of your career. If your institute does not provide these facilities, it is recommended you do these courses along with your 3d program.

Light and Camera

Top 20 Animation Movies - What Makes Them Tick?

Being in the animation industry, it is in my interest to keep abreast of which animated feature films are taking the most box office profits. Today I run by this list of the top 20 highest grossing animation movies of all time and I would like to share my views on why I think these movies did as well as they did. They will make up my recommended recipe for an animated feature box office hit.

1. Shrek 2 (3D) - $436,471,036
2. Finding Nemo (3D) - 339,714,978
3. The Lion King (2D) - 328,539,505
4. Shrek the Third (3D) - $322,719,944
5. Shrek (3D) - 267,665,011
6. The Incredibles (3D) - 261,657,004
7. Monsters, Inc. (3D) - 255,870,172
8. Toy Story 2 (3D) - $245,852,179
9. Cars (3D) - $244,082,982
10. Aladdin (2D) - 217,350,219
11. Ratatouille (3D) - $206,445,654
12. Happy Feet (3D) - $198,000,317
13. Ice Age: Meltdown (3D) - $195,330,621
14. Madagascar (3D) - $193,595,521
15. Toy Story (3D) - $191,780,865
16. The Simpsons Movie (2D) - $183,135,014
17. The Polar Express (3D) - $179,100,434
18. Ice Age (3D) - 176,387,405
19. Beauty and the Beast (2D) - $171,350,553
20. Tarzan (2D) - $171,091,819

Shrek - Top of the Crop

Shrek 2 takes the lead as you can see from the list. In fact, the Shrek trilogy takes the 1st, 4th and 5th positions, all in the top 5 positions. This is a very impressive feat and in my opinion, Shrek took the cake because the stories were really good and the gags were good. Of course it helped a lot that 4 major stars were casted - Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas and Mike Myers. In fact, of the Shrek trilogy, I enjoyed Shrek 2 the most, so personally I am not surprised that it performed the best out of the three.

3D versus 2D

From the list below, we can see that 3D movies take 15 of the spots, in comparison with its 2D counterparts that take only 5 seats. It would seem from this statistic that the audience is favoring 3D animation to 2D animation. Even 2D/3D fusion shows like Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Treasure Planet did not seem to please them enough. It would seem that The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Tarzen are only in the top 20 positions because of their strong family-orientated storylines and classic branding. The Simpsons Movie benefited basically through a huge fan base through its TV series. Barring such unique franchises, it would appear that a 3D show would trounce a 2D one any day. The animation studios seem to be echoing this sentiment as the quantity of 2D animated features produced has dwindled drastically in recent years.

A Strong Storyline

This is probably not new to you, but I will say it anyway. I think that one of the most important factors that will drive an animated feature would be a strong and compelling storyline. In fact I would go as far as to say that if you forgo everything else, you must have a great story to tell! Every single movie on the list tells an interesting story (well almost) and they all did well enough to make it to top twenty.

Laughter, the Best Medicine

People like to laugh. They like to laugh at others. They like to laugh at themselves. They just like to laugh. All things constant, I think Shrek takes three of the top five positions because of their gags and original jokes. And do not forget the two maestros of comedy - Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy - who performed the voiceovers for Shrek and Donkey respectively. How can you beat that lethal duo?

A Strong Voiceover Cast

It is a fact that a star-studded cast for the voiceovers is a crowd-puller, especially when the celebrities are well-liked and great performers. Again, refer to Shrek's cast. With Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, how can the movie go wrong?

The Importance of Recognizable Characters within the Show

This is just my theory, but I strongly believe that besides having a strong storyline, animated features should also showcase recognizable characters. And when I say recognizable characters, I don't mean plain human characters. I mean monsters. I mean animals. I mean super heroes. With characters that are more interesting than humans, they are instantly more recognizable. Look at the list closely. Besides a couple of the old 2D movies, which other movie had a cast that only had plain old human beings for its lead? Having interesting and identifiable characters will most definitely attract ticket sales because people want to pay to watch interesting characters in an animated feature, not plain old human being! I don't have to remind you again what a flop Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was, do I?

My Personal Favorites

In case you are wondering, my personal favorites are Monster Inc, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Shrek 2 and Ice Age in that order. My reason? They all have strong and compelling storylines. And I put them in this order according to how much I enjoyed each individual movie. I must say that Monster Inc gave me the best enjoyment factor!

Conclusion

So here's my recommended recipe for a animated feature box office success:

1. The movie must be done in 3D
2. It must have a compelling story to tell
3. Inject lots of humor into the show
4. Get a strong cast to be your voiceover talents
5. The character designs must be interesting and memorable

I hope that this article has been an interesting read. 

The Rule of Thirds

Using the steps outlined previously will help to tighten up your composition. Now we will look at a few techniques you can employ to help improve your composition. If you are taking photographs for your own pleasure, as I assume you are, then you only have to come up with pictures that please you. You may be able to overlook the huge empty spaces or people with their heads cut off but no-one else will. That cute kid looks really cute it's just a pity that you need a magnifying glass to see him. Producing pictures that are pleasing to someone other than yourself will make your photography much more rewarding. 

The Rule of Thirds. 

One of the most popular 'rules' in photography is the Rule of Thirds. It is also popular amongst artists. It works like this: Imaginary lines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect. I've even made a little diagram for you

(fig 1).

As well as using the intersections you can arrange areas into bands occupying a third or place things along the imaginary lines. As you can see it is fairly simple to implement. Good places to put things; third of the way up, third of the way in from the left, you get the idea. Duff places to put things; right in the middle, right at the top, right at the bottom, away in the corner. 

Using the Rule of Thirds helps produce nicely balanced easy on the eye pictures. Also, as you have to position things relative to the edges of the frame it helps get rid of ' tiny subject surrounded by vast empty space' syndrome.

One last thing about the Rule of Thirds for the time being. Once you have got the hang of the Rule of Thirds you will very quickly want to break it! This is fine. As I said earlier these 'rules' are best used as guidelines and if you can create a better image by bending or ignoring rules then fire away.

The Rule of Thirds is fairly structured but there are a great many methods you can employ which rely on your ability to 'see' things and incorporate them into your composition. Next up we will look at some, but by no means all, of them.

Happy Diwali

शुभ दीपावली ! आपका जीवन मंगलमय हो !

Wishing you a very Happy & Prosperous Diwali.

A little facts about Diwali.

Deepavali is celebrated as the homecoming of Rama after a 14-year exile in the forest and his victory over Ravana at many places of India and Nepal. The people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed Rama by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (dipa/diya).

In South India, it marks the victory of Krishna over Narakasura. Over time, this word transformed into Diwali in Hindi and Dipawali in Nepali, but still retained its original form in South and East Indian Languages. In Dravidian languages it is called as Deepavali and the same is used in Malaysia and Singapore.

In Jainism, Diwali marks the attainment of nirvana by Lord Mahavira.

Deepavali has been significant in Sikhism since the illumination of the town of Amritsar commemorating the return of Guru Har Gobind Ji. Sikhs often refer to Diwali also as Bandi Chhorh Divas - "the day of release of detainees."

The festival is also celebrated by Buddhists in Nepal, particularly the Newar Buddhists.
In India and Nepal, Diwali is now considered to be a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians and Nepalese regardless of faith.

While Diwali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light".

 

The History of Photoshop

The next time you fire up your copy of Photoshop, spare a thought for the scores of developers and the reams of code that have gone into making it…


While you won’t find it printed on any calendar, 2005 marks a quiet anniversary for the program that you, and many other graphic designers, probably use the most. It was 15 years ago in February that Adobe shipped version 1.0 of Photoshop – still its most popular (and lucrative) application, and possibly the only bit of software to have spawned its own verb form.


But the true origins of Photoshop go back even further. The program whose splash screen now displays 41 names was originally the product of just two brothers, Thomas and John Knoll, as fascinated by technology as they were by art. It was a trait they’d inherited from their father, a photography buff with his own personal darkroom in the basement and a penchant for early home computers.


Thus Thomas dabbled with photography, learning about colour correction and contrast in the darkroom, while John happily tinkered with his dad’s Apple II computer. When their dad – clearly an early adopter – bought one of the first Macs on the market in 1984, both were bowled over by its capabilities. Yet ironically it was its frustrating inadequacies that would eventually lead to the multi-million dollar application sitting on nearly everyone’s hard drive today.


In the beginning
By 1987, John Knoll was working at Industrial Light and Magic – Lucasfilm’s nascent special effects division, founded for Star Wars – while Thomas was studying for his Ph.D. on image processing at the University of Michigan. Having just bought a brand-new Apple Mac Plus to help out with his thesis, he was dismayed to find it couldn’t display greyscale images on the monochrome monitor. So, in true hacker style, he set about writing his own code to do the job.


Unsurprisingly, John was also working on image processing at ILM, and during a holiday visit he became very impressed with Thomas’s progress. In the book CG 101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference, John says: “As Tom showed me his work, it struck me how similar it was to the image-processing tools on the Pixar [a custom computer used at ILM].” Thus the pair began to collaborate on a larger, more cohesive application, which they dubbed – excitingly – Display.


It wasn’t long before John had bought a new colour Macintosh II and persuaded Thomas to rewrite Display to work in colour. Indeed, the more John saw of Display, the more features he began to ask for: gamma correction, loading and saving other file formats, and so on.


Although this work distracted Thomas from his thesis, he was quite happy to oblige. He also developed an innovative method of selecting and affecting only certain parts of the image, as well as a set of image-processing routines – which would later become plug-ins. A feature for adjusting tones (Levels) also emerged, along with controls for balance, hue and saturation. These were the defining features of Photoshop, but at the time, it was almost unthinkable to see them anywhere outside of specialist processing software in a lab – or at ILM.


By 1988, Display had become ImagePro and was sufficiently advanced that John thought they might have a chance at selling it as a commercial application. Thomas was reluctant: he still hadn’t finished his thesis, and creating a full-blown app would take a lot of work. But once John had checked out the competition, of which there was very little, they realised ImagePro was way ahead of anything currently available.


From ImagePro to Photoshop
Thus the search began for investors. It didn’t help that Thomas kept changing the name of the software, only to find a name was already in use elsewhere. No one is quite sure where the name ‘Photoshop’ originally came from, but legend has it that it was suggested by a potential publisher during a demo, and just stuck. Incidentally, splash screens from very early versions show the name as ‘PhotoShop’ – which seems far more in line with today’s craze for ExTraneous CapitaliSation.


Remarkably in retrospect, most software companies turned their corporate noses up at Photoshop, or were already developing similar applications of their own. Only Adobe was prepared to take it on, but a suitable deal wasn’t forthcoming. Eventually, though, a scanner manufacturer called Barneyscan decided to bundle it with its scanners, and a small number of copies went out under the name Barneyscan XP.


Fortunately for the future of digital imaging, this wasn’t a long-term deal, and John soon returned to Adobe to drum up more interest. There he met Russell Brown, then Art Director, who was highly impressed with the program and persuaded the company to take it on. Whether through naivety on Adobe’s part or canniness on the brothers’, Photoshop was not sold wholesale but only licensed and distributed, with royalties still going to the Knolls.


It wasn’t as if this deal meant the Knoll brothers could sit back and relax; if anything, they now had to work even harder on getting Photoshop ready for an official, 1.0 version release. Thomas continued developing all the main application code, while John contributed plug-ins separately, to the dismay of some of the Adobe staff who viewed these as little more than gimmicks.


Curiously, this attitude still remains among some purists, who claim that most Photoshop plug-ins are somehow ‘cheating’ and not be touched under any circumstances, while others swear by their flexibility and power when used properly.


As in the program’s formative days, there were always new features to be added, and somehow Thomas had to make time to code them. With the encouragement of John, Russell Brown – soon to become Photoshop’s biggest evangelist – and other creatives at Adobe, the application slowly took shape. It was finally launched in February 1990.


Digital imaging for everyone
This first release was certainly a success, despite the usual slew of bugs. Like the Apple of today, Adobe’s key marketing decision was to present Photoshop as a mass-market, fairly simple tool for anyone to use – rather than most graphics software of the time, which was aimed at specialists.


With Photoshop, you could be achieving the same things on your home desktop Mac that were previously only possible with thousands of dollars of advanced equipment… at least, that was the implicit promise. There was also the matter of pricing. Letraset’s ColorStudio, which had launched shortly before, cost $1,995; Photoshop was less than $1,000.


With development of version 2.0 now underway, Adobe began to expand the coding staff. Mark Hamburg was taken on to add Bézier paths, while other new features included the Pen tool, Duotones, import and rasterisation of Illustrator files, plus, crucially, support for CMYK colour. This was another canny move on Adobe’s part, as it opened up the Photoshop market to print professionals for the first time. The program’s first Product Manager, Steven Guttman, started giving code names to beta versions, a practice which survives to this day. ‘Fast Eddy’ – version 2 – was launched the following year.


Until now Photoshop was still a Mac-only application, but its success warranted a version for the burgeoning Windows graphics market. Porting it was not a trivial task: a whole new team, headed by Bryan Lamkin, was brought in for the PC. Oddly, although there were other significant new features such as 16-bit file support, this iteration was shipped as version 2.5.


Like that difficult third album which can make or break a band, version 3 had to really deliver if it was to corner the market. Fortunately, the team had a whopper of an ace up their sleeve: layers.


By general consensus, the addition of layers has been the single most important aspect of Photoshop development, and probably the feature which finally persuaded many artists to try it. Yet the concept of layers wasn’t unique to Photoshop. HSC – later to become MetaCreations – was concurrently developing Live Picture, an image-editing app including just such a facility. While an excellent program in its own right, Live Picture was vastly overpriced on its launch, leaving Photoshop 3.0 for both Mac and Windows to clean up.


Nothing in later versions quite matched the layers feature for its impact, but there have nonetheless been significant changes. Version 5 introduced colour management and the History palette, with its extra ‘nonlinear history’ behaviour, which certainly opened up whole new creative possibilities. A major update, version 5.5, bundled Adobe’s package ImageReady in an entirely new iteration, giving Photoshop excellent Web-specific features. Layer styles and improved text handling popped up in version 6, and the Healing brush in version 7.


Today and tomorrow
Surprisingly given the age and market leading position of the application, Adobe continues to come up with new features for Photoshop. With Photoshop now part of the rebranded and remarketed Creative Suite 2, Adobe appears to be currently emphasising interoperability through the likes of Bridge.


But the program can’t and won’t stand still. For one thing, it faces much greater competition from a host of rivals, many of which claim to offer Photoshop’s power without the price. Lower-cost apps aimed at the amateur or home enthusiast, such as Paint Shop Pro on Windows, have had many years to learn from Photoshop. Adobe’s solution was to join them, launching the budget priced and feature-reduced but still immensely powerful Photoshop Elements – which itself has now reached version 4.


And the future? Unsurprisingly, Adobe isn’t telling. Photoshop is the jewel in its crown and its development is closely guarded. But there have been hints. Bryan Lamkin, now Senior Vice President of Digital Imaging and Digital Video, speculated earlier this year on a true 64-bit version of the application, and perhaps support for Apple’s CoreImage technology, which would bring enormous speed improvements. Rumours that Illustrator will merge with Photoshop have also abounded for years.


Whatever happens, it’s likely that Thomas Knoll will be involved in some way. Although not directly concerned with Photoshop these days, he still keeps his hand in, recently developing the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in and posting occasionally to the Adobe forums.


His brother still works at ILM too: appropriately enough, he was Visual Effects Supervisor on all three of the new Star Wars films. Without the original Star Wars, there would have been no Photoshop; and with no Photoshop, your job, this magazine and the entire graphics design industry would be very different from how they are today.

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-Orion

The Story never ends!

10th grade 

As I sat there in English class, I stared at the girl next to me. She was my so called "best friend". I stared at her long, silky hair, and wished she was mine. But she didn't notice me like that, and I knew it. After class, she walked up to me and asked me for the notes she had missed the day before and handed them to her. She said "thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I wanted to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

11th grade

The phone rang. On the other end, it was her. She was in tears, mumbling on and on about how her love had broke her heart. She asked me to come over because she didn't want to be alone, so I did. As I sat next to her on the sofa, I stared at her soft eyes, wishing she was mine. After 2 hours, one Drew Barrymore movie, and three bags of chips, she decided to go to sleep. She looked at me, said "thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why. 

Senior year

The day before prom she walked to my locker. My date is sick" she said; he's not going to go well, I didn't have a date, and in 7th grade, we made a promise that if neither of us had dates, we would go together just as "best friends". So we did. Prom night, after everything was over, I was standing at her front door step. I stared at her as she smiled at me and stared at me with her crystal eyes. I want her to be mine, but she isn't think of me like that, and I know it. Then she said "I had the best time, thanks!" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why. 

Graduation Day

A day passed, then a week, then a month. Before I could blink, it was graduation day. I watched as her perfect body floated like an angel up on stage to get her diploma. I wanted her to be mine, but she didn't notice me like that, and I knew it. Before everyone went home, she came to me in her smock and hat, and cried as I hugged her. Then she lifted her head from my shoulder and said, "you're my best friend, thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

A Few Years Later

Now I sit in the pews of the church. That girl is getting married now. I watched her say "I do" and drive off to her new life, married to another man. I wanted her to be mine, but she didn't see me like that, and I knew it. But before she drove away, she came to me and said "you came!". She said "thanks" and kissed me on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

Funeral

Years passed, I looked down at the coffin of a girl who used to be my "best friend". At the service, they read a diary entry she had wrote in her high school years. This is what it read: I stare at him wishing he was mine, but he doesn't notice me like that, and I know it. I want to tell him, I want him to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love him but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why. I wish he would tell me he loved me! `I wish I did too...` I thought to my self, and I cried.