#macos sonoma full installer

[damienns]

My GIF Making process: Screen capturing using MPV player, Organizing files, 3 Sharpening settings, Basic Coloring PSD + Actions set

This is a very long post so heads up.

I’ll try to be as thorough and true as much as possible to the way I make my gifs (I already use Photoshop Actions which I’ve long since set up but now for this tutorial I’m reviewing them to show you the exact steps I’ve learned to create my gifs 😃) and present them to you in a semi-coherent way. Also, please bear with me since English is my second language.

First things first. Below are the things and tools we need to do this:

Downloaded 4K or 1080p quality videos (let’s all assume we know where to get these—especially for high definition movies and tv series—so this post doesn’t get removed, okay? 😛)

Adobe Photoshop CC or the CS versions can work as well, but full disclosure I haven’t created gifs using the CS versions since 2020. I’m currently using Adobe Photoshop 2024.

mpv player. Use mpv player to get those frames/screenshots or any other video player that has a screen grabber feature. I’ve used adapter for the longest time but I’ve switched to mpv because the press to screenshot feature while the video is playing has been a game changer not to mention ultimate time saver for me. For adapter you need to play it in another video player (like VLC player), to get the start and end timestamps of the scene you want to gif which takes me ages before I can even open Photoshop.

Anyway! Please stop reading this post for a moment and head over to this amazing tutorial by kylos. She perfectly tells you how to install and use mpv player, both for Mac and Windows users.

One thing I have to share though, I had a tough time when I updated my MacOS to Sonoma since MPV is suddenly either duplicating frames or when I delete the duplicates the player seems to be skipping frames :/ I searched and found a solution here, though it didn’t work for me lol. My workaround for this in the meantime is decreasing the speed down to 0.70 then start screenshotting—it’s not the same pre Sonoma update but it works so I’ll have to accept it rather than have jumpy looking gifs.

Now, after this part of kylos’ tutorial:

you can continue reading the following sections of my gif tutorial below.

I want to share this little tip (sorry, this will only cater to Mac users) that I hope will be helpful for organizing the screenshots that MPV saved to the folder you have selected. Because believe me you don’t want to go through 1k+ of screenshots to select just 42-50 frames for your gif.

The Control + Command + N shortcut

This shortcut allows you to create a new folder from files you have pre-selected. As you can see below I have already created a couple of folders, and inside each folder I have selected screenshots that I want to include in one single gif. It's up to you how you want to divide yours, assuming you intend to create and post a Tumblr gifset rather than just one gif.

Another tip is making use of tags. Most of, if not all the time, I make supercorp gifs so I tag blue for Kara and red (or green) for Lena—just being ridiculously on brand and all that.

Before we finally open Photoshop, there's one more thing I want to say—I know, please bear with me for the third? fourth? time 😅

It's helpful to organize everything into their respective folders so you know the total number of items/frames you have. This way, you can add or delete excess or unnecessary shots before uploading them in Photoshop.

For example below there are 80 screenshots of Kara inside this folder and for a 1:1 (540 x 540 px) Tumblr gif, Photoshop can just work around with 42-50 max number of frames with color adjustments applied before it exceeds the 10 MB file size limit of Tumblr.

Sometimes I skip this step because it can be exhausting (haha) and include everything so I can decide visually which frames to keep later on. You'll understand what I mean later on. But it's important to keep the Tumblr 10 MB file size limit in mind. Fewer frames, or just the right amount of frames, is better.

So, with the screenshot organization out of the way, let's finally head over to Photoshop.

Giffing in Photoshop, yay!

Let’s begin by navigating to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack…

The Load Layers window will appear. Click the Browse button next.

Find your chosen screenshots folder, press Command + A to select all files from that folder then click Open. Then click OK.

After importing and stacking your files, Photoshop should display the following view:

By the way, I'll be providing the clip I've used in this tutorial so if want to use them to follow along be my guest :)

If you haven't already opened your Timeline panel, navigate to Windows > Timeline.

Now, let's focus on the Timeline panel for the next couple of steps.

Click Create Video Timeline, then you’ll have this:

Now click the menu icon on the top right corner then go to Convert Frames > Make Frames from Clips

Still working on the Timeline panel, click the bottom left icon this time—the icon with the three tiny boxes—to Convert to Frame Animation

Select Make Frames From Layers from the top right corner menu button.

So now you have this:

Go and click the top right menu icon again to Select All Frames

Then click the small dropdown icon to set another value for Frame Delay. Select Other…

The best for me and for most is 0.05 but you can always play around and see what you think works for you.

Click the top right menu icon again to Reverse Frames.

I think Photoshop has long since fixed this issue but usually the first animation frame is empty so I just delete it but now going through all these steps there seems to be none of that but anyways, the delete icon is the last one among the line of feature buttons at the bottom part of the Timeline panel.

Yay, now we can have our first proper GIF preview of a thirsty Lena 😜

Press spacebar to watch your gif play for the very first time! After an hour and half of selecting and cutting off screenshots! 😛 Play it some more. No really, I’m serious. I do this so even as early (lol) as this part in the gif making process, I can see which frames I can/should delete to be within the 10 MB file size limit. You can also do it at the end of course 🙂

Now, let’s go to the next important steps of this tutorial post which I’ve numbered below.

Crop and resize to meet Tumblr's required dimensions. The width value should be either 540px, 268px, or 177px.

Convert the gif to a Smart Object for sharpening.

Apply lighting and basic color adjustments before the heavy coloring. I will be sharing the base adjustments layers I use for my gifs 😃.

1. Crop and Resize

Click on the Crop tool (shortcut: the C key)

I like my GIFs big so I always set this to 1:1 ratio if the scene allows it. Press the Enter key after selecting the area of the frame that you want to keep.

Side note: If you find that after cropping, you want to adjust the image to the left or another direction, simply unselect the Delete Cropped Pixels option. This way, you will still have the whole frame area available to crop again as needed and as you prefer.

Now we need to resize our gif and the shortcut for that is Command + Opt + I. Type in 540 as the width measurement, then the height will automatically change to follow the ratio you’ve set while cropping.

540 x 540 px for 1:1

540 x 405 px for 4:3

540 x 304 px for 16:9

For the Resample value I prefer Bilinear—but you can always select the other options to see what you like best.

Click OK. Then Command + 0 and Command + - to properly view the those 540 pixels.

Now we get to the exciting part :) the sharpen settings!

2. Sharpen

First we need to have all these layers “compressed” intro a single smart object from which we can apply filters to.

Select this little button on the the bottom left corner of the Timeline panel.

Select > All Layers

Then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters

Just click OK when a pop-up shows up.

Now you should have this view on the Layers panel:

Now I have 3 sharpen settings to share but I’ll have download links to the Action packs at the end of this long ass tutorial so if you want to skip ahead, feel free to do so.

Sharpen v1

Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen…

Below are my settings. I don’t adjust anything under Shadows/Highlights.

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.4

Click OK then do another Smart Sharpen but this time with the below adjustments.

Amount: 12

Radius: 10.0

As you can see Lena’s beautiful eyes are “popping out” now with these filters applied. Click OK.

Now we need to Convert to Frame Animation. Follow the steps below.

Click on the menu icon at the top right corner of the Timeline panel, then click Convert Frames > Flatten Frames into Clips

Then Convert Frames > Convert to Frame Animation

One more click to Make Frames From Layers

Delete the first frame then Select All then Set Frame Delay to 0.05

and there you have it! Play your GIF and make sure it’s just around 42-50 frames. This is the time to select and delete.

To preview and save your GIF go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)…

Below are my Export settings. Make sure to have the file size around 9.2 MB to 9.4 MB max and not exactly 10 MB.

This time I got away with 55 frames but this is because I haven’t applied lighting and color adjustments yet and not to mention the smart sharpen settings aren't to heavy so let’s take that into consideration.

Sharpen v1 preview:

Sharpen v2

Go back to this part of the tutorial and apply the v2 settings.

Smart Sharpen 1:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.3

Smart Sharpen 2:

Amount: 20

Radius: 0.5

We’re adding a new type of Filter which is Reduce Noise (Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise...) with the below settings.

Then one last Smart Sharpen:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.3

Your Layers panel should look like this:

Then do the Convert to Frames Animation section again and see below preview.

Sharpen v2 preview:

Sharpen v3:

Smart Sharpen 1:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.4

Smart Sharpen 2:

Amount: 12

Radius: 10.0

Reduce Noise:

Strength: 5

Preserve Details: 50%

Reduce Color Noise: 0%

Sharpen Details: 50%

Sharpen v3 preview:

And here they are next to each other with coloring applied:

v1

v2

v3

Congratulations, you've made it to the end of the post 😂

As promised, here is the download link to all the files I used in this tutorial which include:

supercorp 2.05 Crossfire clip

3 PSD files with sharpen settings and basic coloring PSD

Actions set

As always, if you're feeling generous here's my Ko-fi link :) Thank you guys and I hope this tutorial will help you and make you love gif making.

P.S. In the next post I'll be sharing more references I found helpful especially with coloring. I just have to search and gather them all.

-Jill

[apn-music]

ujam release 'Virtual Drummer LEGEND' VSTi

Ujam has released the virtual drummer plug-in LEGEND.

Enter the studio of the ‘70s icons who innovated the dry drum sound. This punchy drummer cuts through mixes with a warm, retro feel. Customize LEGEND for varnished beats and raw jams alike. - 690 playable MIDI phrases in various styles - MIDI Drag-and-Drop and direct MIDI out for custom tweaking - 5 Drum Kits with 6 Mix Preset aesthetics to fine-tune your sound - Special ‘Dust’ and ‘Color’ FX controls to alter miking technique Nostalgia runs the show when it comes to standing out in the music scene. Whether you’re an indie rockstar or a lo-fi mastermind, LEGEND’s naturalistic impact is touching.

Engineers of the past sought to refine their rhythm section with close mics on deadened drum heads and other dampening techniques. We’ve emulated these classic tactical strategies in LEGEND. Clean, tight drums are the gold standard for experimental production. Call it a day with LEGEND’s up front, direct recorded sounds - all primed to absorb additional processing to make them your own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paVCAxf_U54 LEGEND offers a collection of 5 unique Drum Kits, 6 Mix Presets and 30 Styles, each with 23 pre-designed MIDI patterns totalling 690 playable phrases. Use the special Dust slider to control mic proximity and find that sweet spot between historic miking techniques and proximities.

LEGEND brings you a wide spread of 70s-inspired drum grooves that are ready for out-of-the-box use and custom tweaking. Access each of the 690 MIDI phrases via Drag-and-Drop or direct MIDI out for further control. Operating Systems Windows: Windows 10 — Windows 11 Mac: macOS Catalina (10.15) — macOS Sonoma (14) ℹ️ Supported on Intel Macs & Apple silicon Macs (Rosetta and native). You may have success on earlier versions but UJAM doesn’t support and fully qualify them. Minimum Requirements 8 GB of RAM 4.73 GB of free Disk Space 1280x768px Display, Internet Connection. If you want to move your .blob file to an external drive, we recommend the use of a SSD to prevent dropouts. Plug-in Formats VST 2, VST 3, AU 2 and AAX All plug-in formats are 64-bit only. Delivery Format Automated installation via UJAM App, or downloadable installer file. Authorization Quick authorization via the UJAM App, or enter your email and password within the plug-in. LEGEND's regular price is $99, and you can currently purchase it for $68.31, a 31% discount. Loyalty discounts and bundle discount amounts can be found on the ujam website. Read the full article

[logic-pro-download]

Logic Pro for macOS Sonoma

Logic Pro, developed by Apple, is a robust digital audio workstation designed to meet the needs of professional musicians, composers, and audio engineers. With the release of macOS Sonoma, Logic Pro has received a significant update, offering users an even more powerful and feature-rich experience.

What is Logic Pro?

Logic Pro is an advanced music production software with various tools and features for creating, recording, editing and mixing music and audio. It is known for its intuitive interface and high-quality sound processing capabilities.

macOS Sonoma: A Brief Overview

macOS Sonoma is Apple's latest operating system, known for its stability and performance improvements. Logic Pro has been optimized to take full advantage of the new features and capabilities offered by macOS Sonoma.

Compatibility and System Requirements

Before diving into Logic Pro on macOS Sonoma, ensuring that your Mac meets the system requirements is essential. Logic Pro's compatibility has been extended to many Mac models, making it accessible to more users.

Installation and Setup

Setting up Logic Pro on macOS Sonoma is a straightforward process. We'll guide you through the installation steps to get you up and running smoothly.

User Interface Enhancements

One of the highlights of Logic Pro on macOS Sonoma is the refreshed user interface. Discover the new design elements and how they improve your workflow.

Enhanced Performance

With macOS Sonoma's optimizations, Logic Pro delivers better performance. We'll discuss the improvements in speed and efficiency.

New Sound Library

https://www.logicprodownload.com/ now offers an expanded and diverse sound library, including virtual instruments, loops, and samples. Explore the new additions and how they can elevate your music production.

MIDI and Audio Recording

Logic Pro continues to excel in MIDI and audio recording capabilities. Learn about the enhancements in recording and editing MIDI and audio tracks.

Virtual Instruments

Explore Logic Pro's collection of virtual instruments, ranging from synthesizers to realistic orchestral sounds. We'll delve into the versatility and creative possibilities they offer.

Audio Effects

Logic Pro's array of audio effects plugins has been updated and expanded. Discover how these effects can shape and enhance your audio productions.

Mixing and Automation

Adequate mixing and automation are essential in music production. Find out how Logic Pro on macOS Sonoma streamlines these processes.

Mastering Tools

Achieving a polished and professional sound is easier with Logic Pro's mastering tools. Learn about the mastering features and how they can benefit your final mix.

Collaboration and Sharing

Logic Pro now provides improved collaboration features, allowing artists and producers to collaborate seamlessly. We'll explore how you can collaborate and share projects effortlessly.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Logic Pro for macOS Sonoma represents a significant step forward in audio production software. With its enhanced features, improved performance, and extensive sound library, it remains a top choice for professionals in the music industry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Logic Pro compatible with older Mac models?

Yes, Logic Pro on macOS Sonoma is designed to be compatible with a wide range of Mac models, including some older ones.

Can I use third-party plugins with Logic Pro on Sonoma?

Logic Pro supports third-party plugins, allowing you to expand your creative toolkit.

How do I update Logic Pro on macOS Sonoma?

You can update Logic Pro through the App Store on macOS Sonoma. Updates are typically complimentary for existing users.

Is there a trial version of Logic Pro available?

Yes, Apple offers a free trial of Logic Pro for a limited period, allowing users to explore its features before purchasing.

Can I collaborate with other Logic Pro users on different operating systems?

Logic Pro's collaboration features work best when all users are on macOS Sonoma. However, it is possible to collaborate with users on older macOS versions with some limitations.