Working with Photoshop Color Range

Photoshop guys are very familiar with the color range option of Adobe Photoshop. Color range command is a great tool for selecting the areas of an image based on sampled color. And it's somewhat similar to Magic Wand Tool. In Magic Wand Tool you need to manually click on the areas of an image that needs to be selected. But if you use the color range option, you just need to choose the sample color. And Photoshop will make the selection by itself! 

This tutorial applies to all running versions of Adobe Photoshop including CS4, CS5 and CS6. But I've prepared the tutorial using Photoshop CS5. All the images of this post will be based on Photoshop CS5. 

Color Range

Color Range belongs to the Selection part of Photoshop. You will find it under the Select Menu. Run Photoshop from your PC > Open an image from your hard disk > Go to the Select menu > Choose Color Range. You will get the following image: 

Have you noticed Marks PC Logo on color range window? Here the white part is currently selected. If you would like to expand the selection area then click on the pencil button from the right side with plus mark. Now go to your image and hit on the part that you want to add to your selection. 

Make sure Sapmled Colors is enabled in the Select option. 

You can also increase/ decrease the amount of Fuziness adjust the selection. If you make any wrong selection or if you'd like to remove something from your selection then choose the Pencil button with negative sign. Then hit on the part of image you want to deslect. 

Eyedropper Tools

The three tools just below the Save button is know as eyedropper tools. The left one is called Eydropper, middle one is Add to Sample and the right one is Substract from Sample. 

Fuziness and Range

I've told earlier that Fuziness will control the amount of selection. By increasing and decreasing the range, you can control the amount of selection. And Range will control how much area of the image will be selected. 

To be honest, color range command is somewhat difficult to explain. You need to practice it by yourselft. If you click on the options, increase or decrease the value of different fields, you can easily understand. So, try to explore! 

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Quantify your Site by Quantcast

Hello bloggers! Hope you're doing fine in blogging. Today I'm gonna write a review on Quantcast. Actually quantcast is a great site for audience measurement tool. You can collect huge information through Google Analytics. But I think Google Analytics is too heavy and sometimes it's really difficult to use. In that case, quantcast is more comfortable and convenient for the webmasters. 


Quantcast is also capable of showing the real time situation of your site worldwide! Yes! Just like Google Analytics, quantcast can fetch your real time visitors through world map. Thus you can see who is in your site right now. 

Do you use Web Rank Toolbar? I've found quantcast from Web Rank Toolbar. Earlier whenever I opened Web Rank Toolbar in Iron Browser, I saw my site is not ranked by quantcast. Because quantcast only measures your site when you set up its code in your site. 

Then I implemented quantcast code in my site and get it quantified! See the current status below: 

Or you can directly visit quantcast to check the status of Marks PC Solution. Hit on the  quantcast image button: 

If you would like to qantify your site, follow the method below:

Open a new tab in your browser and type - 

https://www.quantcast.com/markspcsolution.com

Just replace the red part of the URL with yours. Now go to this address. Check your site's rank if available. And also look upper right corner. You will see - Not quantified. If your site is already qantified then you will see Quantified button. 



How to get Quantified? 

In order to get quantified, you must have an account with quantcast. I know most of you have no account qith quantcast. First open an account there and follow the steps below. 

• Go to Quantcast Home. 

• Look at the right panel - Add a Website. Hit on it. 

• A new window named General Tag will pop up. 

• Enter your site's URL. ie. http://www.markspcsolution.com

• Copy the code from Your Tag and paste it just before the </body> tag in your site.

• Now hit on the Submit Site button. 

Wait for a few days. You will get an email notification when your site gets quantified. 

Code Implementation Help for Blogger

Directly go to Blogger Dahsboard/ Control Panel > Now go to Template > Edit HTML > Press Ctrl + F within HTML Layout > type </body> > Place the copied code just before the ending body tag. That's it.


You can also check - Working with New HTML Template Editor. Here you will learn, how to work with the new HTML template editor of blogger. 



Real Time Status


To check the real time you have to enter this URL - 

https://www.quantcast.com/labs/real-time/site/

Now after the site/, enter your site's address - markspcsolution.com

Check my Real Time Status

 

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How to Print PowerPoint Slides?

PowerPoint slides are usually very colorful. A presentation may include colorful backgrounds, charts, images etc. The slide maker always tries to make the slides attractive so that the audience concentrate to the presentation. Those slides though look amazing on a projector screen, may not be printer friendly at all! If you print a color slide normally, you can't read this well. 

Not many people need to print from Microsoft PowerPoint. Some of you may know the power point printing tips. But most guys copy the slides one by one and paste them to Microsoft Word! :) 

Today I'm gonna discuss about how to print PowerPoint slides as handouts. 

PowerPoint 2003

Open your presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint 2003. Now press Ctrl+P to open the Print Window. Look at the image below:

Go to the Print What option and choose Handouts. In the color option, choose either Blank and White or Grayscale. Now go to the Handouts option > Slides per page > Choose 3, 4, 6 or 9 as your wish. 

Almost done! Choose your printer and hit on the OK button to print. 

PowerPoint 2010/ 2007

Office 2010 is the smartest version of Microsoft Office. I really like the print options of Office 2010. PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 is somewhat different but most of the options are almost same. 

To print handouts in Office 2010, open your presentation. Then press Ctrl + P to open the print window. Now look at the image below:

From the Slides option, choose the number of slides. And from the Color option, choose Grayscale. Choose your printer and hit on the Print button to print. 

Note: If you would like to save your paper and ink, you can choose Outline instead of slides. Simply go to the Slides and choose outline. Check the preview. It it's okay then hit on the Print button. 

Important Keyboard Shortcuts

• Press F5 to start the slide show

• Press Shift+F5 to start the show from the current slide

• Press Spacebar/ Enter to change the slides

• Press Esc to end the show

Hope you've enjoyed the post. leave comment to share with us . . . 

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Angry Birds Space for Windows (Installed)!!

Hello Guys! This is my post # 350 and it's going to be special! Today I'm gonna share Angry Birds Space (Ver 1.2.2). And this is the largest game I've ever shared - 32.3 MB only. All of you're familiar with Angry Birds Series. This is the most played game in Android Phones. And this is also the most popular game in social networks like Google+ and Facebook. 

Angry Birds Space is really an awesome game. Sounds, Music, Background, Character everything is extraordinary. I can swear - once you start playing, you will be addicted to it for sure! 

Download Angry Birds Space from the link below. It's uploaded in zip format. In order to play the game, you have to unzip it first. 

Download Angry Birds Space

To play the game, you have to unzip it first. This is a portable version of the game. Even you don't need to install. 

How to Play?

All of you should be capable of playing this lovely game. There is no complexity at all. But as a routine work, I'd like to discuss something.

Go to the game folder. Now doulbe click on AngryBirdsSpace.exe to start the game. Within few seconds it will be loaded. At the bottom of the screen you will see - Activate the Full Game. Simply copy and paste the following code in the box and hit on the Register button. 

FULL-GAME-SOFT-WARE

Now hit on the play icon to play the game. You will get 06 levels. After completing a level, you will get the next level unlocked. Otherwise you can't access the next levels. 

The Levels are :

• Pig Bang

• Cold Cuts

• Fry me to the Moon

• Utopia

• Eggsteroids

• Danger Zone

Now start with the Pig Bang. And finish the stages one by one. If you wanna see how to play, then start a stage. Then press the Esc key and hit on the question button to see the tutorial. 

Shortcuts

• To quit the game, press Alt + F4
• To pause the game, press Esc
• To go to the desktop, press Start + D

Hope you'll enjoy this a lot. Just one request - don't steal my contents and never publish it to another site! 

After having the custom domain, Marks PC Solution is experiencing the record fall in traffic. Now the traffic is less than that it was more than 2 years ago! I'm requesting my dear readers to share the new link with friends. 

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Download Nero Micro for Free (11.2 MB)!!

Today I'm gonna share a light version of Nero - Nero Micro 8. And it's 100 % free for you! This version includes Nero Express 8 and Nero Burning ROM 8. With this version of Nero, you can perform almost any disk related tasks - Copying Disk, Burning Image Disk, Creating Audio & Video CD/ DVD etc. 


Download the zipped folder from the link below. It's 100% free, safe and reliable. 

Download Nero Micro 8 for free

After downloading the file, unzip it first. Then double click on the Nero Micro 8.exe to start installing the software. It will take only few seconds to install. 



System Requirement

This is a very tiny version of Nero. So it doesn't need any special hardware configuration. It works fine with any running version of Windows including Windows 8. 

Nero Micro 8 Includes -

Nero Express 8 - To work with Data, Music, Videos, Image, Project. 

Nero Burning ROM 8 - For extensive burning tasks. 


Usage

Most of the users only need Nero Express. Burning ROM is not necessary for all. With Nero Express you can burn CD/ DVD, Copy Disk, Create Music Disk etc. 

You can also use this tool to copy bootable Windows disk. In that case, you have to use the Data Disk option. You can also use Image, Project, Copy option for this purpose. Have a look at the Nero Express tools below - 

Nero Express contains the essential options only. But if you're looking for more customization, then you can use Nero Burning ROM. 

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Download Puzzle Flash Game - Save Them

Hey Flash Game Lovers! Today you're getting an amazing puzzle game - Save Them! It's a flash game and the download size is only 382 KB. In this game, you have to move 3 missionaries and 3 cannibals from one side to another through a boat. In any side, if the number of cannibals is more than the number of missionaries, then cannibals will eat the missionaries! 

Download Save Them

Download the game from the above link. It's a zipped file. Download size is only 382 KB! After downloading the game, you have to unzip it first. Then double click on the SaveThem to start the game. 

How to Play?

After starting the game, you will get the instruction. You have to make sure that in no side, the number of cannibals is not more than the number of missionaries. This is your only challenge. You have to take them from left side to the right side of the lake through a boat. 

Press on a character to jump to the boat. Thus you can take any two of them at a time. Then hit on the GO button to move the boat. After reaching the other side, click on a character to jump to the land. 

Thus you have to move all the six characters from one side to another. 

Solution

It's a very challenging game. Not many people are able to solve it. And only few people are lucky enough to solve it at first try. Even I have to try this game more than 10 times to solve it!

Let's solve it - 

Step 1

Take 1 Missionary and 1 Cannibal in the boat from the right side. Then move the boat to the left side pressing the GO button. Now jump the Cannibal to the land. And get back to the right side with the missionary. Jump the missionary to the land. 

Step 2

This time, take the remaining 2 cannibals to the boat and move to the left side. Jump one of them to the land. And the other cannibal will back to the right side with the boat. Jump the cannibals to the land.

Step 3

Now take the remaining 2 missionaries in the boat and go to the right side. Jump both missionaries to the land. Now there are 2 missionaries and 2 cannibals in the left side. And 1 cannibal and 1 missionary in the right side. See the image below - 

Step 4

Now take 1 missionary and 1 cannibal to the boat from the left side. Move the boat to the right side. Jump the cannibal to the right side and take the missionary to the boat. Now move the boat to the left side with two missionaries. Jump both missionaries to the left side. We're almost done! 

Step 5

Now take the only one cannibal from the left side. Move the boat to the right. Take another cannibal from the right side. Back to the left side with two cannibals. Jump one of them to the left side. 

Again go to the right side. Take the last cannibal in the boat and move it to the left. Now jump both cannibals to the land. Solved! 

Always remember, the number of cannibals can't be more than the number of missionaries. Then it will be easier for you to solve the game. :) 

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Bow and Arrow Game Free Download!!

Well this is the smallest game I've ever shared! It's a superb target practice game - Bow and Arrow. Download size is just 32 KB! This game has 7/8 levels. And it's only 141 KB after extracting. Can you imagine? :) 

Download Bow and Arrow

Download the game from the above link. It's a 100 free, safe and reliable download link. You will get the game in zipped condition. After downloading the zipped folder, please unzip it first. Then start playing. 

How to Play?

• Press F2 to Start the game

• Press F3 to Pause the game

• Press F4 to close the game

• Press Spacebar to Reactivate the menu during the play

• Press Alt+F4 to exit the game window

Controls

• Click right mouse button to load the arrow

• Click, hold and release the left mouse button to shoot the arrow

Useful Tips

Adjust Screen Size: You can adjust the screen size from the Options menu. While you're practicing target, keep the screen size minimum (600 x 400). And sometimes you may need to keep the window full (800 x 600). Remember, you can't change the screen size while playing a level. Adjust the size before or after finishing a level. 

Move the Archer: You can move the archer up and down. Press left mouse button over the archer to move him up and down. 

Save and Restore: It could be tough for you to finish the game at a time. You can save and restore your game. After finishing a level, go to the File menu > Save > Choose 1/2/3. There are 3 save options. To restore a game, go to the File menu > Restore > Choose your saved game. 

Remember, while you're in the mid of a play, you can't save the game. But you can restore it from the file menu. To activate the menu, press the spacebar. 

Hope all of you will enjoy this lovely game. Please leave your comment . . .

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Flash Game Nuclear Bike Free Download!!!

Hello Gamers! Today I've come with another small flash game - Nuclear Bike. But I swear you will get the flavour of a heavyweight game in Nuclear Bike! It's just 6.45 MB in size. But serves like a hundred megabyte motorbike game. It's an awesome game with beautiful background and amazing music. 


System Requirement

Nuclear Bike is a flash game. So you can play this with any version of Windows. There is no special requirement. You don't need to think about Graphics Card, Direct X Version, RAM, Processor type etc. 

Download Nuclear Bike

It's a 100% free download link. No ads, no spyware, no malware, no virus. It's clean, safe and fast download link. 

Download the game from the above link. It's a zipped folder. Download size is 6.45 MB only. After downloading the file, you have to extract/unzip it to start the game. After extracting the file, it will be 7.9 MB. 

How to Play?

It's a simple game. Though it's very challenging, controls are very easy. And you must practice properly to be an expert. 

Up Arrow - Accelerate
Down Arrow - Brake/ Move Backward
Left Arrow - Increase biker's weight to backward
Right Arrow - Increase biker's weight to forward.


Press Spacebar to Pause the game. Spacebar can also be used to restart the game after crashing. 

At the right bottom corner of the screen, you will get a speaker icon. Hit on the speaker to turn off the music if necessary. 

When you're gonna cross a high place, bump your bike to pass it. 


Tips

In this game, your bike may turn over very often. If your bike is about to turn over forward, press Up Arrow + Left Arrow. And when you're about to turn over backward, press Down Arrow + Right Arrow. 


No Profile/ Option to Save the Game!

Since it's a tiny game, it has no saving option. You can't create any profile here. I don't know how many levels are there in the Nuclear Bike. Each time you start the game, it will be started from the beginning. 


I've played 6 levels so far. If you can finish the levels, please inform me about how many total levels are there. 
  

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Trues and Falses in Optimizing AdSense

Couple of days ago Google AdSense offered its first online course for the Publishers. And I've been too. The course will be opened on 20th May, 2014. Register now for the course and take a Pre-Course Assessment to justify your AdSense knowledge! 

Course Outline

• Pre-Course Assessment
  
  
• Introduction
  
  
• Unit 1 - CPM and CPC: Winning Valuable Ads
  
  
• Unit 2 - Clicks and CTR: Designing and Placing Your Ads
  
  
• Unit 3 - Impressions: Showing More Ads
  
  
• Wrapping Up
  
  
• Final Assessment 

Just after getting the invitation for the course, I took the Pre-Course Assessment Test. There are 15 questions. You just need to choose one of the options - True, False and I don't know. 

I scored 12 out of 15. This assessment will help you understand what you already know about AdSense and what you still have to learn. Have a look at the questions (modified) of Pre-Course Assessment - 

1. Enabling both text and image ads increases the auction pressure for your website’s Ad and is very likely to increase your AdSense Earning. (True)
2. Every page should have a 728x90 banner ad on it because this is the highest performing Ad Size. (False)
3. Blocking Ad categories in AdSense account will not affect your revenue because the auction will just replace Ads from that category with ads from other categories. (False)
4. You can put the same Ad unit into multiple custom channels. (True)
5. AdSense Experiments can be used to test and compare the performance of different sizes or styles of your Ad units. (True)
6. CPC and CTR are different acronyms for the same thing. Both of them measure how often users click on Ads. (False)
7. The only way to be sure that you’ve put Ads in the right places on your site is to test frequently and understand the behavior of your users. (True)
8. The best way to format text Ads is to blend/ mix with your content as much as possible. (False)
9. If your page calls for an Ad to be served but no Ad is returned, this will be considered as an Ad request, a page view, and an impression. (False)
10. In the AdSense auction, if Advertiser Sami bids $2.40 CPC, Advertiser Raj bids $2.10 CPC, and Advertiser Chris bids $2.15 CPC, Advertiser Sami wins and pays $2.40 for the impression. (False)
11. With contextual targeting, the Google web crawler analyzes colors, images and videos to match ads to your content. (False)
12. The number of AdSense Ads you can place on a desktop site is the same as you can place on a mobile site. (True)
13. Page speed is important to Ad revenue because users are more likely to stay on your page and return again if the site loads faster. (True)
14. If the AdSense crawler can't crawl a web page, the Ads displayed to that page may not be relevant to the page content. (True)
15. A rejected Ad request occurs when site's content does not comply with AdSense policies. (False)

Explanation of the False Ideas/ Concepts/ Notions

Idea # 2

728 x 90 Banner Ads perform well. But it doesn't mean that your page must have it. It  depends on your site's style and type. 

Idea # 3

Blocking non performing Ad categories may increase your revenue if done properly. But personally, I don't believe it - Learn more . . .

Idea # 6

CPC - Cost Per Click is the amount you earn each time when a user clicks on your Ad. CPC is determined by the Advertiser. 

CTR - Click Through Rate is the number of clicks against pageviews. If you get 2 clicks against 10 pageviews, then your CTR is 20%.

Idea # 8

Blending Ad Units in such a way that users can't differentiate between Ads and Contents may be harmful for your AdSense account. Even you could be banned from AdSense program!

Idea # 9

If your page calls for an Ad to be served but no Ad is returned it will considered as rejected Ad request. 

Idea # 10

The Advertiser with the lowest CPC will win the bid. Advertiser Raj bids $2.10 CPC. So he will win the bid not Raj. 

Idea # 11

Contextual targeting analyzes your keywords, topics, text, language, link structure, page structure etc. It considers the central theme of your site rather than a single topic. To be honest, I don't know much about contextual targeting.  

Idea # 15

A rejected Ad request occurs when your page calls for an Ad to be served but no Ad is returned. But if your site doesn't comply with the AdSense policies, simply you will be banned from AdSense! 

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Working with Photoshop Stroke

Photoshop Stroke belongs to layer style. You can add stroke outside of an image, text or shape. When you apply stroke over something, it looks like a border or outline. You can also choose different colors for stroke. And you can also adjust the size, position and opacity while applying stroke. 

Last month I wrote about how to work with Fill & Opacity in Photoshop. I think you should also have a look to this tutorial. It will be helpful for you. 

Photoshop Stroke

Look at the two images below side by side. The left one has no outline. But the right one has a border outside of it. 

No stroke has been applied on the left image. And the right image has a stroke outside of it. You can also use stroke with texts and shapes. Stroke can highlight something. Sometimes after applying stroke over something, you can minimize the fill. In that time, you will get stroke highlighted and the inside dimmed! Learn more . . . 

How to Apply Stroke?

If you wanna apply stroke over an image then open it. Or create a new document and then type something or take any shape on which you wanna apply stroke. Now make sure you're on the right layer I mean your image or text is selected. Also make sure that your Layer window is turned on. Now go to the strong as shown in the image below. 

Hit on the fx (Add a layer style) at the end of layer panel and choose Stroke. Now you will get the Layer Style window. Look at the Stroke options below:

Adjust the size and look at the effect of your stroke outside the image or text. This is very important. Sometimes 1 px doesn't make any sense. Though it depends on the situation I prefer 2 or 3 px. Certainly a fat stroke will not make any sense. 

Keep Position - Outside, Blend Mode - Normal, Fill Type - Color and Opacity - as your wish. If you minimize the opacity from 100% to 60 or 70%, then your stroke color will be darken somewhat. 

And finally choose a brilliant color for the stroke. Hit on the color box and select different colors to test the result. After choosing the color, hit on the OK button. 

You can also explore some additional options from Layer Style window. Suppose Drop Shadow, Gradient Overlay, Satin, Bevel and Emboss these are really cool options here. These can turn your normal image into an outstanding one. And these are really awesome for creating superb text! 

After applying stroke, also adjust the Fill and Opacity of the layer. These control the transparency of your image. Adjusting the transparency will give you a completely different look. 

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