Final Cut Studio, Avid, Adobe, and Video Streaming

Media Composer Windows XP install 3GB

2009-07-03T14:45:22Z

If you are an Avid Media Composer user, and you’re like me, you’ve been hestitant to upgrade to Windows Vista. After all, Windows XP Professional has been a steady workhorse for Avid Media Composer users. With the Microsoft's Windows 7 coming out soon, it may be worth completely skipping out on upgrading to Windows Vista.

That being said, if you are a Media Composer user running Windows XP 32bit, you may need to take the extra step of modifying the boot.ini file for Windows XP. This is because the maximum amount of memory that Windows XP Professional can use is limited to 4GB. Worse yet, the virtual address space for applications is still limited to 2 GB.

In the past, running with only 1 or 2 Gigs of memory wasn’t a big deal. But now, since every retail version Media Composer comes bundled with Avid Marquee and Avid FX, memory resources can become scarce. In my case, my Media Composer software would crash quite frequently when attempting to use the Avid FX plugin.

The fix is to run the /3GB switch which will allow the Media Composer software to access an additional 1GB of ram. Again, doesn’t sound like much, but it made a huge improvement on my own system. My Avid FX plugin no longer crashes my system after performing the upgrade.

Run the install 3GB program located on the c:/program files/Avid/utilities/3GB. A command prompt will open up with recommend settings for changing the boot .ini file.

As an additional side note, when upgrading your systems memory, I reccomend purchasing memory from a discounter like Crucial memory. I also reccomend running their system scanner to detect which memory is compatible with your system. Also, it's probably worth pitching your old memory so you can run all new memory with matching speeds. Myself, I couldn't believe the performance increase moving from 2GB to 4GB with the faster memory.

Photoshop titles that are high quality

2009-07-02T13:30:00Z

Photoshop is an invaluable tool for video editor, and I've always been a big fan of teaching the Photoshop basics as it applies to video editing. One basic Photoshop skill is the ability to cut out a company logo so it can be placed as a 'bug' or integrated within a video project to help brand a business. You can read up on a Photoshop tutorial for creating a glass bug on how to actually do this.

For myself, I like to keep things simple. I've always touted using the file format .png to when saving graphics for import to/from Avid Media Composer or Final Cut Pro. This keeps things relatively simple, and you do not have to worry about merging layers or flattening the image for things to look right. Of course, you still should save a .psd copy in case you decide to make changes to your original Photoshop file.

For simple things, you can cut your logo using Photoshop. It's best to save the image with a .png (portable network graphics) extension. That's it!

However, there is one annoying element that may come into play when saving graphics that contain a transparent background. When saving a selected image with Photoshop, the selected area overlaps with the transparent background. This is translated as 'white' when it is brought into Avid Media Composer or Final Cut Pro. This means you'll end up with a 1 pixel white edge around your image. For simple things, you may never notice. However, if you are a perfectionist, or if you graphic is keyed over a dark scene, it's quite noticeable and it looks poor.

Click the image for a closer look.

Here's an actual 'blown up' example of the GeniusDV logo imported into Avid Media Composer. You can see hints of an edge that has come over from where the selection and the transparent background meet. Again, this may not be noticeable in certain occasions, but this has grown into one of my pet peeves.

]]> There are several ways to fix this, but I've always been hesitant to go into all the steps required to make things look just perfect. That was until I discovered a relatively easy way using a Photoshop feature that I stumbled upon. I'm not entirely sure when this feature was implemented, but it's included in Photoshop CS3, CS4.

To make my point, let's assume you've got a logo that you've scanned in from someone's business card, and it happens to be a on white (or solid) colored background. You should be able to easily remove the background by using the 'magic eraser' tool located in the Photoshop tool palette. Using the Magic Eraser tool may save you a step or two because you won't need to unlock the background layer in order to use it. Just point and click on the background color that you want to remove!

This example may be a bit simplistic, so you may have to implement other methods of cutting out your logo. However, they idea here is to remove the background area so you can key your graphic or object.

Using the magic eraser tool, click on the background to remove its contents. The checkerobard area represents a transparent background or alpha channel.

After the background has been removed, it's as easy as saving your graphic with a .png file type extension. However, you'll still end up with a 1 pixel outlined edge of where the selection and the background meet. Here's where the 'Refine Edge' function within Photoshop comes to the rescue! To use this function you need to make sure your layer is selected and activated.

To do this, highlight the layer in the layers tab, and control click on the layer.

*This step is very important, otherwise, you will not be able to select the Refine Edge function from the menu, it will be greyed out. Again, it's important that both the layer is selected and that you see a selection 'dancing ants' around your layer.

Navigate to the Selection menu and choose Refine Edge.

You can use the Refine Edge tool to basically eliminate that awful white edge by experimenting with the parameter sliders. I

I've found that adjusting the contrast value upwards provides for the best immediate results. Adjusting the feather and and contract/expand controls will also help. You can preview what your selection will look like with a Black background, White background, colored mask, or as a straight matte.

As you can see, I was able removed the entire without sacrificing the edges of the logo.

The last step is to inverse the selection that is made from the Refine Edge tool.

After the selection has been inverted, press the delete key to remove the outside selection. That's it! You can now save the file with a .png extension. You should now be able to bring your graphic into Avid Media Composer or Final Cut Pro without having to sacrifice the quality of your logo or graphic.

Universal Mac Color Palette in Final Cut Studio

2009-07-01T15:35:27Z

The Mac OS Color Palette is dynamic, and holds preferences across applications. The presets are not always visible, and it is very possible that you don't realize it is there. At the bottom of the Color Palette there is a small dot that can be drug down to expose the Preference Grid. To populate the grid you need only drag from the Color Window to the Preference Grid. These preferences will be available in most Mac applications, including the Final Cut Studio, & iLife. This is very useful when you are attempting to maintain a project color theme across multiple applications.

Compiler Error Message in DVD Studio Pro

2009-06-30T22:44:08Z

When building your DVD Studio Pro projects, do you ever get this error message?

The best way to deal with this situation, is to simply delete your preferences. We do this by going through the Finder > User > Library > Preferences > com.apple.dvdstudiopro.plist and putting it into the trash. Empty the trash and restart.

It is important to remember to write down your preferences or back them up before trashing them. That way anything specific you might have changed for your particular project will still be available.

No one can say exactly why this error message happens; it could be any number of things from encoding to destination settings. But trashing the preferences seems to do the trick. In some cases others have had to reinstall the software.

Remember, that with any of our training classes, included is full technical support after you've taken the class. Ongoing support is invaluable anytime you have a quick question, need help with a project, or just get stuck with a problem. Just another one of the great benefits of taking one of our classes. Check out our upcoming schedules, and call us today!

Creating Radiant Title with Avid Marquee

2009-06-29T13:55:06Z

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a tutorial for Avid Media Composer. I thought I’d mix it up a bit and share an extremely valuable tool for creating moving mattes. The ability to create moving mattes is a critical skill when building effects. This tutorial demonstrates how you can use Avid Marquee to create a giant title with a ‘glassy’ appearance that travels through a scene.

This exercise is not for the light hearted and requires some basic knowledge of the Media Composer interface. I’ve done my best to include as many screen shots as possible to help you along. GeniusDV teaches these types of exercises in its 5 Day Media Composer training course.

I’ll admit, I probably went a bit overboard with the length of this tutorial, and it does take on the assumption that you have some basic Media Composer editing skills. However, I wanted to give everyone a taste of some of the things we like to teach in our Media Composer training course.

Marquee is a complex 3D title tool supplied with all current versions of Avid Media Composer. One of Marquee’s strengths is the ability to animate objects with relative ease. Take a look at the effect above. Here are the basic steps:

If the following dialog box doesn’t appear, look for the Marquee Title settings in the Project window. Set the Marquee Title Setting to 'Marquee or Ask me'.

After Marquee launches, change the Toolset menu to ‘Basic Animation’. You can also use the keyboard shortcut F4. The Basic Animation toolset will open a timeline window so you can easily animate a moving matte.

Set the main Monitor Window’ to 25%. This will reduce the workspace so you can see outside the visible picture area.

Type some text Using the ‘text tool’ from the Marquee toolbox. Change the text size so the title is very large. In this example, I’ve chosen a font size of 430. I also recommend that you use a relatively basic font set. In this case, I’m using the Arial Bold font.

Place the text object off to the extreme right of the visible picture area.

Next, place the blue timeline position indicator at the end of the timeline at the 5:00 mark. You can change the default timeline duration by right-clicking on the value, but I’m going to leave it at 5:00.

Next, click on the Animation Mode button. The animation Mode button is located at the top of the toolbar. It looks like a filmstrip.

Move the text object over to the left portion of the visible picture area. Holding down the shift key will constrain the horizontal movement so your object moves in a perfectly straight line.

Okay, that’s it! You can now turn off the Animation mode button. If you back up and press the play button in the timeline window, the title should crawl across the screen. Navigate to the File Menu and exit Marquee. It will now take a minute or two for Marquee to save the title to an Avid bin.

*Now, you may be asking yourself, why not use Marquee’s automated crawl function? Well, I must tell you, I started off writing this tutorial using Marquee’s the crawl function. That method will work perfectly fine until you attempt to finish the last part of this tutorial. It turns out using this manual method of animating the title yourself is less confusing.

Next, find some background media to place onto V1. Since the Marquee animation is 5:00 you'll want to edit at least 5 seconds of material onto V1 which will be your background. Next, edit the Marquee title onto V2, and then again onto V3. Your timeline should look like this:

The next step is to add an edge to the title that is on V2. De-activate the V3 and V1 tracks. Enter into effects mode by clicking on the Effect Mode icon in the upper left corner of the timeline window.

The Avid effect editor window will appear. Click the ‘other options’ icon in the upper left corner of the effect editor to change the title on V2. This will re-launch the Avid Marquee title tool.

The key to making this effect work is to add an edge to the Marquee title. Remember that we are adjusting the title that's on V2. Select the title object by activating the ‘edit tool’ within the toolbar. *You may need to zoom out a bit from the Monitor window in order to see your text object.

Activate the ‘change edge properties’ parameter within the Quick Titles Properties dialog box. Also activate the Enable Lighting and Enable Gradient parameters. Set the Size to a value between .30 and .40. In my example, I am using a value of .39.

*Navigate to the file menu and exit Marquee. Make sure you choose EXIT. DO NOT perform a ‘save as’, otherwise you’ll break the link between Marquee and its ability to update the Media Composer timeline.

You should now have three layers that are laid out as follows:

V3: Marquee Title without an edge
V2: Marquee Title with an edge
V1: Background Video

The next step requires that you edit the same background video that you used on V1 into the nested track of V3. Nesting can be a tricky thing to learn, and you may need to practice the concept a few times or read up on how nesting works.

To open up the nest, activate the ‘red segment arrow’ located in the lower left corner of the timeline window. Double click on the V3 clip segment. This will open the segment into three nested tracks. (1.3 – Alpha Matte, 1.2 The Fill, 1.1 Empty background track).

The trick is to place a copy of the original background into 1.2. Load the original background clip into the Media Composer source window. Patch V1 to V1.2. Mark In-Out points for V1.2. Overwrite an exact copy of the background video that you used on V1 into V1.2. Make sure your timeline looks like this before you move onto the next step.

Click the image for full rez picture.

When finished, you can collapse the nest by using the red segment arrow and double clicking on the clip segment located on V3.

To make the title stand out, add a color effect to V1. Then enter into Effects Mode.

Then adjust the saturation parameter to -100 to change the V1 background clip to black and white.

This next step requires that you’ve installed the Boris Continuum Filters. Boris Continuum now ships with every retail version of Media Composer. Unfortunately, Boris Continuum does not ship with the Academic version of Media Composer. You’ll have to purchase it separately if you own an Academic version of Media Composer.

Place the BCC Rays_Puffy filter into the V2 track that contains the Marquee Title

Then enter into the effect editor for V2. Twirl down the disclosure triangle for Title Matte and click on the ‘Apply to Title Matte’ parameter.

]]> With the help of using Avid Media Composer’s Marquee title tool, you can bring in resolution independent files. This means, you can create moving mattes that exceed the format resolution set within the Project window. The trick to making this effect look good is to create two identical titles on top of each other on V2 and V3.

Start by launching the Marquee title tool.

Using the Slip Function in Final Cut Pro

2009-06-29T00:54:01Z

Sometimes you will find a spot in your sequence where the content doesn't exactly start or end at just the right point in the space you have to work with. You can use a trimming function called Slip to adjust a clip's in and out points without changing it's duration or position in the Timeline. We refer to it as slipping because you "slip" a pair of In & Out points inside the available footage.

To perform a slip edit:

Double-click on your clip to load it into the Viewer
Move the playhead to the frame where you want the shot to start
Select the Slip tool by the keyboard shortcut, S
Position the pointer over the In point. The pointer changes to the Slip tool.
Click and drag the edit point to match the position of the playhead

It is important to remember that to slip a clip, it must have handles on both sides, meaning there must be additional media available on both the head and tail of the clip. If you are having trouble slipping a clip, check to make sure that the clip has handles on both sides.

Trimming in Final Cut Pro is like fine-tuning your sequence. The point is to make you a quicker and more efficient editor.

Producing SD and HD with DVD Studio Pro

2009-06-26T15:02:20Z

If you are producing both a Standard Definition, and a High Definition project in DVD Studio Pro here is a very important piece of information to keep in mind. When setting the DVD Standard, set it to SD DVD first, author out the entire project, even build it. BUT, before you change the Video Standard to HD DVD, save the project with the HD suffix atatched, then change the Video Standard for that project to HD DVD. If you change a project from SD to HD, you cannot change it back. If you need to build another SD DVD, you won't be able to reset the DVD standard. You can upgrade from SD to HD, but not the other way.

]]> If you are producing both a Standard Definition, and a High Definition project in DVD Studio Pro here is a very important piece of information to keep in mind. When setting the DVD Standard, set it to SD DVD first, author out the entire project, even build it. BUT, before you change the Video Standard to HD DVD, save the project with the HD suffix atatched, then change the Video Standard for that project to HD DVD. If you

Becoming Efficient with Final Cut Pro

2009-06-25T23:21:30Z

To become efficient with Final Cut Pro there is one thing you need to do. Use keyboard shortcuts. One study showed that using keyboard shortcuts saves you up to eight hours a week. Here are two great ways to condition yourself to use keyboard shortcuts. The first is to use an Editor's Keyboard. These keyboards have the default unmodified commands printed directly on the keys they're assigned to, which encourages you to reach for the keyboard vs clicking on menus to activate a function.

The second and most important way to learn keyboard shortcuts is more psychological than anything. When you get to the point in a menu where you are about to click on a function, STOP, read the keyboard shortcut, click off the menu, and use the keyboard shortcut. By actually performing the keyboard shortcut, you will remember it easier than by just reading the keyboard shortcut next to the menu function, and thinking "I will use it next time". This is a very effective way to condition yourself to use keyboard shortcuts.

GeniusDV's Final Cut Studio Training teaches a contemporary use of the software, and leave students with a comprehensive knowledge of the software.

Using the Simulator in DVD Studio Pro

2009-06-25T00:51:03Z

The Simulator in DVD Studio Pro is a great tool for checking your project while you are still creating it. The Simulator behaves just like a standalone DVD player. There shouldn't be any question as to how your project is going to look using the simulator.

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There are also a variety of ways you can force the Simulator to start at a specific element. For example, you can Ctrl+Click the element in the Outline or Graphical tab and choose simulate from the shortcut menu. This allows you to test parts of the project without having all of the elements in place.

There is also the Log Tab that contains a simulation log that provides information on a simulation while it is in progress. This can be useful when you are trying to work out a problem with your project.

Frames Per Second In Motion

2009-06-23T18:01:01Z

It is good to get into the habit of monitoring your Frames Per Second (FPS) when viewing playback in Motion. FPS tells you how close to real time you are playing at. It's easy to think that your timing is off if you don't notice that your FPS has dropped below 17. Heavy compositing will cause low FPS.

The FPS value is displayed during playback in the Status Bar. RAM preview will allow real time viewing. It is easy to not notice that you are playing at less than three quarter speed if you don't have any audio, which is why it is a good habit to constantly monitor the Frames Per Second.

If your FPS is not displayed during playback, there is a box you need to check in the appearance category of the Motion preferences.

Avid: Using the Fit to Fill Button for Motion Effects

2009-06-22T17:30:56Z

Most Avid editors are unaware that you can use the Fit to Fill button to make motion effects. If you have a space in your time line that you need to fill or you can set and in to out and simply use the fit to fill button to create your motion effect. There are a few things you need to be aware of when using the fit to fill button. By default it creates the effect using the Duplicated Field rendering which does not produce the cleanest looking motion.

You need to change this to Interpolated Fields in the render settings dialog box in your project window. It is very simple to use fit to fill and saves a lot of time if the exact duration of your clips are not important. The best way to practice this is to mark an in and out on your timeline in the desired area of your timeline. Click the fit to fill button and save to your bin of choice. I reccomend mapping it to your keyboard for easy access from the command palette or placing it as a button under your source window.

Audio Mixing in Final Cut Pro

2009-06-22T02:39:24Z

The Audio Mixer in Final Cut Pro is the main tool for mixing more than one channel of a program's audio in real time. The Audio Mixer has faders, panning sliders, and solo and mute buttons for each track in your sequence. There are also master meters for each audio output channel in your sequence depending on your audio output presets. As you make level and pan changes in real time, you can record your changes as keyframes, allowing you to automate your mix when you play your sequence back. After you record audio level and pan keyframes, you can tweak them in the Timeline or the Viewer using the Pen Tool to adjust the clip overlays.

To open the Audio Mixer, go to the Tools menu > Audio Mixer.

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The mute button will turn off audio playback for that track. Muting a track does not delete pan or audio level keyframes; it only affects playback. The solo button is used to listen to a track apart from the others. Again, the solo button only affects playback. Faders are vertical sliders used to adjust audio levels of clips at the position of the playhead. You can adjust the audio level from +12dB to silent. The track audio meter shows the levels of the current audio clip in a track. You an use the audio track meter to make sure the average level of each clip is consistent with other audio clips and that peaks are not above 0dBFS.

Using the Audio Mixer in Final Cut Pro lets you quickly manage the audio tracks and clips in your project so that you can make early-on decisions about how your audio will fit together while you edit.

Audio Scrubbing in Final Cut Pro

2009-06-20T03:45:02Z

What is Audio Scrubbing? Simply put, Audio Scrubbing is the bits and pieces that you hear when you drag the playhead across your clip, depending on how quickly you move the playhead. This way, Final Cut Pro lets you monitor audio as you look at non standard frame rate picture. Scrubbing through audio is helpful when you are trying to find a particular spot in your clip, for example, in a music track. However, for some people, that "scrubbing" can get very annoying. There is an easy toggle shortcut to turn on and off scrubbing. Shift+S will turn on and off audio scrubbing. You can also turn it on and off by going to View > Audio Scrubbing; the checkmark notates scrubbing is On, unchecking it will turn scrubbing Off.

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When using the shuttle controls in the Viewer, and you have audio scrubbing activated, you will hear the audio slower or faster than normal speed audio playback.

Introducing the Genius Gear Shop

2009-06-18T13:00:00Z

We've been teaching digital video workflows for a long time, and we've gotten good at finding the right hardware to make those workflows run smoothly. Finally, we're proud to share our gear finds outside of our classroom: introducing the Genius Gear Shop.

We're starting out small. Today, we're launching with just a couple of the products that our students have liked best. For each product, we're working on an honest, hands-on video review to explain why we think it's worth a look -- and we'll give you a discounted price if you'd like to buy it directly from us.

Speaking of videos, we're also selling video walkthroughs and completed project files of several of our tutorials. You're more than welcome to tweak the project files for your own projects.

Read on for an introduction to some of our new products ... or head on over to the store and browse around!
]]> Logic editing keyboard at every workstation -- and by the end of the class, almost every student decides to buy one to take home. One of the most important ways to save time in the edit suite is to use the keyboard rather than the mouse. Unfortunately, there are dozens of keyboard shortcuts, and they're hard to remember. These color-coded keyboards expose the specific shortcuts that your editing software uses, so you can learn them faster than ever.

Also, our students often ask about recording good-quality voiceovers at minimal cost. If, like many of our students, you don't have much audio equipment, we recommend the Snowball USB Mic from Blue: it combines pro-grade acoustics, unbeatable ease-of-use, good looks, and a really cheap price point.

We've published a few books over the years, and we're proud to offer our latest title for sale direct from the company that wrote it. Portable Genius for Final Cut Pro is a fast, no-nonsense read. Unlike most Final Cut training books, our Portable Genius title is more than an extended "feature tour": Portable Genius is organized around specific problems, workflows, and needs.

If you do work on the production side as well, we've found some really nice toys for you. Our Ultrabright LED camera light mounts to whatever you're shooting with, and throws out a full 600 lumens of daylight-temperature light. It's cool to the touch, it runs on a battery that holds 45 minutes of charge -- and you can "tile" several of them together. To easily smooth out your camera motion, take a look at our Lightweight Steadycam: it can accommodate up to 5 pounds' worth of camera, it packs up small, and it comes with an inverter arm to shoot at waist- or ground-level. Plus, it works surprisingly well -- we're putting together some preview videos right now.

Sometimes, text-based tutorials don't quite give you the full picture of the process you're trying to learn. We're building up our library of video tutorials, which we'll start selling through the store for a nominal fee. In addition to the high-quality screencast in each tutorial, you'll be able to download the actual project files that we build during the process, and tweak them for your own use.

Creating subtle contrast between text and picture

2009-06-17T21:42:42Z

In order for a text super to be readable, the text should (obviously) stand out from the picture that you composite it onto. In some cases, you can manage this on a one-off basis: if you have a single title, for example, you can (and should) allow the specific picture for the title slide to dictate how you style your text.

Other times, you'll want to have more confidence that your text will stand out regardless of what picture happens to be underneath it. For example, you might use subtitles, series titles, and multi-purpose templates like lower thirds over a variety of pieces of footage. For that matter, imagine that the video under your title pans from, say, a (dark) mountain over to (bright) sky: you need for your text to be readable over both settings.

Traditionally, folks have improved the contrast of their text using treatments like heavy, high-contrast outlines (see, for example, many subtitles); drop shadows; and heavy-handed styles like bevels. All of these approaches can be useful, but there are a couple of strategies that might allow you to make more subtle choices that are still visually acceptable.

Read on for some theory and a couple of tips ...
]]> Theory
The most important factor in legibility is the luminance contrast between foreground (text) and background (picture). This is not the same as color contrast: check out some of the example images at the Ames Color Lab. You can use this fact to your advantage in a couple of ways.

First, take luminance into consideration as you choose your text colors. This is when the Mac's color picker can be useful: the "color wheel" mode gives you a rough brightness slider on the right, and lets you pick the color qualities separately using the wheel at left. Cast your primary title in a more extreme luminance value (dark or light), and if you need a secondary title treatment (for less important text in the same title), pick a luminance value closer to the middle of the luma range. Do bear in mind that the "brightness" slider on the color palette does not necessarily correspond to "brightness" the way the human eye sees it: if you have Photoshop, take a look at the "L" box in the color picker (luminance, in the L*ab color space) to get a better idea of a color's perceptual brightness.

Avoid fully saturated colors, especially primaries (red, green, and blue). If you must use them, remember that their contrast features depend on their luminance, not their saturation: put another way, a color that's "100% blue" isn't "100% bright," or even "as bright as 100% green." Pure broadcast blue has a perceptual luma value around 30%; red around 50%; and green around 90% -- so pure blue contrasts better with light colors, red doesn't contrast well with much, and pure green contrasts better with dark colors -- as you can see for yourself in the image below. To affect the perceptual luminance of these colors, mix the pure colors with some black or some white.

Tips
Here's an intentionally awful background image to title over, with an intentionally awful placement and size for the title. None of these options are fantastic, but remember that, for this exercise, we're after readability first and artistic merit a distant second ...

Avoid fully-saturated colors, because they tend to be harder to read.
A thin stroke around your text is almost as effective as a thick one, and it's more subtle. Be sure to select a stroke of the opposite luminance of your text's face color -- dark stroke for light text, or light stroke for dark text.
For a more subtle contrast than a drop shadow, consider a black outer glow at a high spread and a relatively low opacity. In applications like Photoshop, be sure that the black outer glow is set to a Darkening or Normal compositing mode, or you won't see it at all. This increases luma contrast between your text and picture, while preserving the color details of the background picture. Often, this technique provides quite satisfactory "pop" for your text without being immediately obvious to the viewer who's not looking for it.
To keep your text consistent with the palette of your image, use the eyedropper to pull colors from your image, then adjust only their brightness (or, better but trickier, their perceptual luminance) to provide effective contrast.

You could also adjust the hue according to a color theory to get contrasting but compatible colors -- for example, to get a compatible contrast color using a triad-based palette, you could add or subtract 120° from the hue value of your eyedropped color. In the example below, I adjusted both the hue and the brightness of the color that I selected (one of the tan colors on the buildings); decide for yourself whether or not that was a bad idea. Also, Adobe's Kuler is a great resource for discovering this kind of color theory.