iCreate » Tutorials & Tips

How to change your system password for security on your Mac

Freddie Harrison — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:57:34 +0000

Security is always a hot topic when it comes to computers. The amount of usable data for hackers and thieves on any given laptop would be enough to severely affect your life no matter how well insured you are. One of the most basic things you can do to protect yourself on a regular basis is to change your password. This means that anyone spying on your Mac or using it regularly that may aim to make changes or steal information using your password will no longer be able to do so. Changing your password is a simple affair and can be done at any time. You do, of course, need to pick new passwords that mean something to you and that you can easily remember. You don’t want to lock yourself out of your machine. The process itself is so simple that we can tell you in just two clear steps, which makes it inversely proportional to just how much safer this can make your machine.

Step 1: Preferences

Load your System Preferences from your Dock or from the Apple menu and then click on the Accounts button in the System section. Then, with your account selected hit the Change Password button.

Step 2: Keep it catchy

Now enter your old password followed by the new one twice. Remember to use the reminder tip as this could save you all kinds of hassle down the line. When you’re done click Change Password.

Learn how to create your own custom invoice in Apple’s Pages

Freddie Harrison — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:57:18 +0000

Although the ready-made templates in Pages are stylish and beautifully designed, occasionally you may want to break away from the restrictions of using them and instead create your own bespoke design, particularly if you want something to accurately reflect the nature of your business. If you don’t feel confident designing something from scratch, have a look at some of the Apple templates or other examples, to get some inspiration and to get a rough idea of what you like and don’t like. You could even try sketching something out on paper first (something that many graphic designers still do). This tutorial will show you how to create an invoice from a blank page, using a little bit of originality and creativity combined with borrowing a little bit from a pre-made template and adapting it to suit your own design.

Step 1: Open and select

Open Pages and select a blank page. If you’re stuck for ideas, try scanning through the pre-made templates for inspiration.

Step 2: Drag and drop

Our invoice is for a photographer, so we want to make it more image led. Drag images from the media panel and drop them onto your template.

Step 3: Using guides

Use the blue guides to align images; drag the corner points to resize. You don’t need to hold the Shift key down as you might do in other software.

Step 4: Shapes

You can use the Shapes drop-down menu at the top of the interface to add graphic elements to your Pages template.

Step 5: Format

Use the Inspector palette or the format bar at the top of the interface to style your graphic elements, including colour, stroke and opacity.

Step 6: Adding text

Click on the Text box to add text. Type it in, then use the Fonts panel (indicated by the ‘A’ icon) or the format bar to style the text exactly as you want.

Step 7: Template Chooser

We’ll steal the data table from another template. In the File menu, select ‘New from Template Chooser’. Select an invoice that most suits your design.

Step 8: Select all

Once the chosen template has opened, go to the Edit drop-down menu and choose Select All or use the keyboard shortcut Command+A.

Step 9: Paste

Paste the text into your document by pressing Command+V. You can then style up the text using your chosen fonts.

Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations.

Tutorial month concludes with Learn iCloud Week!

Freddie Harrison — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:57:54 +0000

We’re rounding off our month of Mac, iPhone and iPad tutorials with a syncing service that brings them all together – iCloud. Over the course of Learn iCloud Week, we’ve lined up some of the best tutorials we’ve produced to help you to get to grips with Apple’s own cloud-based syncing service. We’ve got the best guides to setting iCloud up on any device, as well as troubleshooting information to help you solve any problem you have. As ever, we’ll be finishing things off with our online iCloud Genius Bar – giving you the chance to ask questions and have your iCloud problems solved. On top of this, everyone who submits a question to the iCloud Genius Bar will be entered in to a prize draw to with something for your Mac, iPhone or iPad from our famous ‘cupboard of dreams’.

To get involved with the iCloud Genius bar, post your questions on our Facebook wall, Tweet them to uswith the hashtag #LearniCloudWeek or email icreate@imagine-publishing.co.uk. We will answer your questions in the iCloud Genius Bar on Monday 7th May and the prize draw will follow shortly after. Everything you need to know about the prize draw is below, but before you look there check out the Learn iCloud Week tag to see all of our Learn iPad Week posts and get in touch with us with your questions! See you on the other side.

Don’t forget, for a complete beginner’s guide to iCloud, check out our iCloud for Beginners book, built in iBooks Author specifically for the iPad. It’s available on iTunes now for just £0.99/$1.99.

Terms and conditions: To enter into the Learn iPad Week online Genius Bar competition you’ll need to have submitted an iPad-related question or problem to us via Facebook, Twitter or Email (details above) by 11.59PM GMT on Sunday 6th May 2012. Out of everyone who submits a question, we’ll draw one winner at random to win a prize from our cupboard of dreams on Tuesday 8th May 2012. The prize not transferable and there are no cash alternatives. Editors decision is final. Double-entries will not be counted (you can submit more than one question, but you’ll only be counted in the draw once).

Learn iPad Week: Compile incredible collages in Noteshelf

Freddie Harrison — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:34:03 +0000

Noteshelf is a truly multi-functional app – as well as giving you the opportunity to create multiple notebooks with hand-drawn notes, it also allows you to import photos for annotation and manipulation. On top of that, this great little app will allow you to export your work as an image or PDF document in a number of different ways. Why not make the most of Noteshelf’s photo integration and create a photo collage of your latest holiday or trip – it’s easy to do and you’ve got total control over how your final collage looks. Photo collages are a great creative project for a rainy day but can equally be built in a flash on the go. Either way, they’re one of the best ways to display your photos without simply opting for a slideshow. Once you’ve created your masterpiece, you can send it to the cloud via Dropbox or Evernote, transfer it your Mac via iTunes or email it. Creating a good collage works through trial and error, but with Noteshelf’s undo function it’s always easy to go back if you make a mistake. With apps like these there’s a myriad of options to choose from with a creative project like this, but we’ll show you what works when it comes to creating a captivating photo collage. So, fire up the app and follow these nine simple steps to get started.

Step 1: Open a book

Fire up the app and tap the plus icon in the top- right corner of the bookshelf to create a new notebook. Notebooks store individual notes, which is great for grouping together larger projects.

Step 2: Name and style it

Choose a paper and cover type from the menu – there’s everything from plain to ruled and squared to musical staves. Give your notebook an appropriate name by tapping the title at the top.

Step 3: Add a photo

Tap the photo icon in the note’s top menu to select a photo from your iPad. Once you’ve found your first photo, tap it to add it into your note to resize, move and rotate it.

Step 4: Rinse and repeat

Add as many photos as you like into your collage, but bear in mind that too many will take away from the detail of some of your best snaps. Rotate additional photos to make them stand out.

Step 5: Pick a pen

Tapping the pen icon in the menu for a little longer than usual will bring up its colour and size options. Try to select colours that will contrast well with photos and really stand out.

Step 6: Labelling up

You can write and draw on top of your photos if you like, so labelling who’s in them is a great way to add some detail to your collages. Just tap undo if you’re unhappy with it.

Step 7: Add an emoticon

Tap the star icon in the menu to select and add emoticons to your collage. It’s a good idea to use these sparingly – while they can add to your art, too many can make them look a bit childish.

Step 8: Export it

Once you’re happy with your collage, tap the binoculars icon in the menu to view all the notes in the notebook. Tap the Export button, select the pages you want to send and tap Export again.

Step 9: Mail it out

If you choose to export your document via email, Noteshelf will automatically bring up a new Mail window with your collage attached as either an image or PDF file depending on your choice.

This tutorial is part of our Learn iPad Week series; for more articles just like this, visit the Learn iPad Week tag. At the end of the week, we’ll be giving away a prize to one lucky person who gets in touch with a question or problem related to the iPad. To get involved, simply tweet your question, plus the hashtag #LearniPadWeek, to @iCreateMagazine or post on our Facebook wall.

It’s Learn iMovie Week on iCreateMagazine.com

Freddie Harrison — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:30:32 +0000

Following on from last week’s Learn iPhoto Week, we’re sticking with Apple’s iLife suite on OS X and stepping into the realm of iMovie. Over the next seven days, there will be new tutorials based on Apple’s movie editing software, as well as the opportunity to ask us specific questions that you want answered about iMovie on iOS and Mac OS X. If you’re having a problem with your movies, get in touch with us on Twitter (@iCreateMagazine) with the hashtag #LearniMovieWeek, email us at icreate@imagine-publishing.co.uk, or write on our Facebook wall with your question or problem. We will answer your questions in another live Genius Bar on Monday 23rd April, and everyone who has been in contact with us will be entered into a prize draw, and you could win a fantastic prize from our much-loved Cupboard of Dreams.

Everything you need to know about the prize draw is below, but before you look there have a look at the Learn iMovie Week tag to see all of our iMovie Week posts and get in touch with us with your questions! See you on the other side.

Terms and conditions: To enter into the Learn iMovie Week online Genius Bar competition you’ll need to have submitted an iPhoto-related question or problem to us via Facebook, Twitter or Email (details above) by 11.59PM GMT on Sunday 22nd April 2012. Out of everyone who submits a question, we’ll draw one winner at random to win a prize from our cupboard of dreams on Tuesday 24th April 2012. The prize not transferable and there are no cash alternatives. Editors decision is final. Double-entries will not be counted (you can submit more than one question, but you’ll only be counted in the draw once).

Use Instant Alpha to quickly cut out images in Preview

Freddie Harrison — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:55:32 +0000

Preview is the application that opens by default when you double-click on a JPG, PNG or other image file on your Mac. As OS X has matured, Preview has taken on some interesting features that are not immediately obvious but that provide some of the functionality of bigger image editing programs. The ability to identify areas of an image that are of similar tone and colour is one such tool, and can be used to cut parts of a picture out of their background. It works with the alpha channel, which is a part of a digital image that stores information about transparency and the way that existing colours overlap. You don’t need Photoshop to work with the alpha channel – you can do it from Preview.

Step 1: Open your image
Take an image where you want to cut something out of its background or remove an element from the whole picture, leaving only the background.

Step 2: Choose the tool
Go to the Select button in the Toolbar in Preview and click on it to reveal the additional tools. Select the tool called Instant Alpha.

Step 3: Select the background
Click somewhere in the background and drag the mouse to choose a larger area. The detection works best where the background colour is quite uniform.

Step 4: Redo if necessary
If Preview has included some incorrect areas, click once to undo the selection. Drag the mouse while holding to increase or decrease the sensitivity of the tool.

Step 5: Hit backspace
With the areas selected, hit backspace on your keyboard. The selected content is deleted. With complex backgrounds it’s better to work in stages.

Step 6: Keep removing background
It’s rare that one or two selections will clear a whole background so you may need to keep selecting areas and deleting them manually.

Step 7: Use the other tools
If you’re left with lots of small, fiddly areas of background, switch to the Rectangle or Lasso tool and draw around larger areas to delete them quickly.

Step 8: Stick with it
When you have lots of tiny areas to remove, such as areas between strands of hair, you will have to spend a while deleting but you will end up with a cut out image.

Step 9: Reverse the process
To remove the subject rather than background, select using the Instant Alpha tool then choose Edit>Invert Selection. Hitting backspace will remove the subject.

(Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations)

Use the Select tool to crop in Preview – OS X Tutorial

Freddie Harrison — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:55:33 +0000

The composition of a picture is almost as important as the lighting, exposure and colour balance. You may not realise it but almost every photograph that you see in a book, gallery or magazine will have either been framed meticulously when it was taken or, more likely, cropped manually afterwards. The reasons for cropping are numerous. For a start, you often need to centre your subject within the frame to make them the focus of the image. Or, you may need to remove an overhanging tree branch from an otherwise clean scene. In yet another example, cropping can be used to change the message given by a picture, for instance by removing a person from it, a trick that some tabloid newspapers are not averse to using. Luckily, cropping in Preview is easy enough to do. Read our step-by-step tutorial to find out exactly how it works…

Step 1: Choose a picture
Find a picture that could be improved by cropping and double-click to open it. It should automatically open in the Preview application.

Step 2: Select an area
Click the Select box in the toolbar. The default tool is the Rectangular Selection tool and if you click and drag round an area, you will see a marquee appear.

Step 3: Resize the box
Drag the handles at the corners and edges of the marquee to change its size. When you’re done, select Tools>Crop or press Command+K.

Step 4: Crop the picture
The area inside the marquee will be kept while the rest is discarded. Save the image under a new filename so as not to overwrite the original.

Step 5: Use a different tool
Take the original image, choose Elliptical Selection under the Select tool and select an area. You can hold the Shift key to constrain it to a perfect circle.

Step 6: Reposition crop area
Instead of dragging the resize handles at the corners and edges, you can drag from the centre of the selected area to reposition it.

Step 7: Crop the image
With your circular area selected, choose Tools>Crop as before and you will be left with a circular image rather than a square one.

Step 8: Use the Lasso
The Lasso tool can be used to draw custom selection areas. Click in the image and draw freehand around a shape, just like if you were cutting with scissors.

Step 9: Cut it out
Choose Edit>Invert Selection, then press backspace to erase everything except the area selected. This is a good way to cut things out in a freehand manner.

Add graphics to your Keynote presentations – iWork Tutorial

Freddie Harrison — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:55:28 +0000

It’s easy to create presentations in Keynote, but not so easy to make them stand out from the normal templates. This tutorial is designed to show you how to turn an average presentation into a great one by adding a few simple graphical elements. There a few ways to do this and although we’ve added three different elements to one slide, don’t feel restricted by this. Keep things simple by adding one element per slide or make a standing element by having the same thing throughout – this can help hold a presentation together if you have included a lot of information or images. The important thing is to experiment and have fun.

Step 1: Text box
The first way to add graphics that we’re going to show you is by using text. When you’re ready, go to the top of the interface and click on Text Box.

Step 2: Position text box
Position the text box in a place that you can see it clearly and then open the Font panel by tapping the icon at the top right of the interface.

Step 3: Choose a font
Make sure that ‘All fonts’ is selected and choose a font that is made up of graphical elements, such as Bodoni Ornaments or Zapf Dingbats.

Step 4: Test the font
Try out a few different letters until you find something you like. Then size it up using the Font panel and add some colour using the colour palette.

Step 5: Shapes
The second way to add graphics to presentations is by drawing them. Go to the Shape tool at the top of the interface and select the last option.

Step 6: Draw a shape
Click the mouse to add a new point and hold down the mouse key and drag to make a curve. When you’ve joined the dots together, add some colour.

Step 7: Stock images
Another way to add graphics is to use stock. Some sites are free, such as this one, and others such as iStock charge a fee. You’ll need to create an account first.

Step 8: Download an image
Type a keyword into the search facility and when you find something you like, click on it. Under ‘Availability’ check the licensing restrictions and then hit download.

Step 9: Import
You’ll need to import the image into iPhoto in order to see it in Keynote. Drag and drop to the place you want, then resize as required.

(Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations)

iWeb Tutorial: Link to external webpages

Freddie Harrison — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:06:43 +0000

When you create multiple pages on your site, iWeb takes care to link them all together, making sure your readers can access every page no matter which pagethey may be reading. There are, of course, ways to limit this, should you not wish your navigation menu to become so full as to lose its usefulness. But if your site is simple, iWeb’s automatic link creation helps you get online in next to no time.

But what if you wanted to be a little more advanced, and be able to link to a page that someone else created on the web? Better still, how about linking from other sites to your own, as a means of boosting traffic to your own pages?

Step 1: Find an address
Open your web browser and find the page you’d like to link to. If you’re using Safari or Firefox, use the keyboard shortcut Cmd+L to highlight the address.

Step 2: Into iWeb
Copy the address (Command+C) and head to iWeb. There’s no need to display the actual address on your site – just highlight part of your text and link to it.

Step 3: The Inspector
With the desired section highlighted (you can also select an image if you prefer), reveal the Inspector by clicking on its blue button, lower-right of the interface.

Step 4: Already copied
Select the Link Inspector (second from the right) and click on the ‘Enable as a hyperlink’ tick box. You’ll notice that the address you copied is already in the URL field.

Step 5: Publishing
The easiest way to link to your site from another is in a forum or comments section. Start by publishing your site using the settings supplied by your web host.

Step 6: Visit your site
Once the upload process is complete, iWeb will offer you the option of visiting the site online. Do so to launch your browser and see the results of your work.

Step 7: Copy the link
Locate the page you’d like to link to (it doesn’t have to be the main page; you can link to any one you desire) then repeat the process carried out in steps 1 and 2.

Step 8: Add a comment
Add a comment or new post in a forum of your choice and paste your address in there (either directly as a URL or embedded within text, as per step 2).

Step 9: Monitor your visitors
Then it’s just a question of sitting back and checking how many visits you’re getting from the various places you’ve linked to, using your host’s traffic analysis.

(Click on the image below to view the annotations)

iWeb External Links Tutorial - Annotated Points

iPhone Tutorial: Use the YouTube application

Freddie Harrison — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:47:11 +0000

Despite the fact that there are many sites on the web which are designed to host your videos, YouTube remains the undisputed champion in that field. The drawback until recently has been its absolute reliance on Adobe’s Flash, a format deemed unsuitable by Apple for its portable devices. As a result, the YouTube app was born, a place where you can watch H.264 versions of most of the same videos.

With the release of iOS 3.2 for the iPad and 4.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch, the landscape changed slightly and you can now watch YouTube videos straight from your browser, so you may think that the YouTube app is no longer necessary. But the program’s interface is designed to take advantage of your iPhone’s size and touch screen and you may find that it’s often a more pleasant experience than visiting www.youtube.com from Safari.

Through the course of this tutorial, we’ll be showing you how to find your way around the program as well as seeing how you can customise the interface to make the program function the way you like it to.

Step 1: Menu buttons
You’ll find the interface is sparse, with just five buttons at the bottom of the screen. Tap on the first one to take you to YouTube’s recommendations.

Step 2: Scrolling through
Videos are shown in a list you can scroll through by swiping your finger up or down the screen. Tapping on one of them will take you to the video.

Step 3: Re-orientation
You can watch in most orientations: with the home button to the left, right or bottom. Double-tap on the video to take it in and out of Full-screen mode.

Step 4: Get info
Click on Done (top-left) to be taken to the video’s info page. Swipe down to Rate, Comment or Flag the video.

Step 5: Comment and sign in
Tap on the Rate, Comment or Flag button. If you aren’t already signed in, you’ll be asked to do so once you’ve clicked on the Send button (top-right).

Step 6: Making favourites
Tap on the Back button (top-left) to be taken to the video’s summary page. From there, you can add it to your playlist or share it with your friends.

Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations.

iPhone Tutorial: The YouTube App Explained

Great tips for taking panning shots with your camera

Jimmy Hayes — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:04:28 +0000

Panning photos are a great way of conveying a sense of action, energy or motion and they’re easy to master once you have the basic technique nailed.

Join Andrew Newey in his weekly travel photography blog at http://news.dphotographer.co.uk/category/blog/ and bag yourself some must-have photography techniques.