You know the drill. Enjoy!*

*Owing to a super-tight deadline that’s looming over me, I’m only going to post the pencils for the strips until mid-June. In this way, you get to enjoy the thrice a week continuity while I get to keep my sanity (or what’s left of it, anyway.)

-Krishna
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1. Open my FTP application (Transmit)
2. Navigate to the proper folder on my computer
3. Drag the file into the appropriate folder on the server. (I keep all my comics within the same folder on my server.)

As is the case with my comics, every time I make a revision (and in some cases I’ve revised a strip 20 times over the course of a day), I’d have to repeat the above steps each and every time.

So…

…given all the whiz-bang computing power we have at our disposal in 2012, shouldn’t there be a better way?

Thankfully there is, and it’s called automation. To automate the steps above, I used two applications: Hazel and Automator.

Hazel ($24.99) is an incredibly powerful program that automates filing, organizing and cleaning files and folders that live on your computer. Automator is an app bundled with Mac OS X that bills itself as a “personal automation assistant” using drag-and-drop workflows.

To preface this discussion: there are many ways to skin this cat. This is what worked for me.

First, I’ve created a rule within Hazel called “Latest Toons”. This rule will examine the date of the file and checks to see if it was created within the current week. If that condition is true, two actions will be performed.

1. Hazel will set a color label on the file (marking it green).
2. Hazel will launch an Automator workflow to upload the file to the appropriate folder on my server

I use Panic’s Transmit ($24.99) for all my FTP tasks. Transmit comes with an Upload action that is accessible from within Automator.

In Automator, I selected the Upload action and moved it into the workflow area. Next, I configured the Upload action to use one of my Transmit “Favorites” (a bookmark of sorts that contains all my FTP login info, including the correct path to open on the server). After configuring the action, I saved the workflow for Hazel to access.

Now, whenever a new comic file is saved in my pcw_toons folder, Hazel automatically uploads the file into the appropriate folder on my server. Translation: I’ll never have to manually upload a comic to my FTP server EVER again!

To sum it up: Automation is a powerful method of saving time on repetitive tasks. It lets your computer handle the mundane, routine activities while freeing you up to focus on the real tasks at hand. And with tools like Hazel and Automator on the Mac, it’s never been easier!

-Krishna
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My top secret (well, not so top-secret, I guess) project is keeping me hella busy. I’m under the gun to get it finished before June 11th, so publishing comics here will be shaky this week and next week. Thanks for your patience.

Or we could run guest-strips. (Hint. Hint.) ;)

-Krishna

P.S. I tweaked panel 4. Below is the original:

And here’s the revised version:

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One big advantage of owning a display like the HP ZR24w is that it supports both landscape and portrait modes. While I’ve been using my display almost exclusively in landscape mode since I first purchased it, curiosity about the idea of “going vertical” got the best of me, so I went ahead and flipped the display over to portrait mode.

Portrait mode is fantastic for making comic pages. Instead of only seeing a portion of the full image, I can see the entire comic page in one go. To fully use the display for illustration in this mode, I had to adjust my Wacom tablet driver settings to match the orientation of my new display. No biggie. Once the settings were adjusted, my tablet worked like a charm!

Having used this setup all weekend, I’m starting to prefer portrait mode over landscape. I’m curious to know if other digital artists work with portrait mode, and what they think of using a display in this fashion. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

-Krishna

Update: One week in, I’m positively sold on the portrait display. I’ve never been more productive.Similar Posts:

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I’m taking a quick detour from the storyline to address a tech topic that’s been weighing on my mind: Microsoft Signature.

So, here’s what it is:

In a nutshell, you can buy a MS Windows PC directly from their store without any trialware or crapware pre-installed. Each Windows Signature PC comes pre-tuned and optimized for the hardware it’s on. In other words, the way it should be sold. But if you didn’t buy a PC directly from the MS store you get to PAY Microsoft for the privilege of having all that crapware removed for the grand price of $99. Amazing.

Too bad the Windows signature PCs are still littered with stickers across them. Nascar anyone?

The story continues next week. Stick around…

-Krishna
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It’s a great image – full of contrast and color – but the crisp detail of the photograph has a nasty side-effect: it makes the text underneath the hard drive icons more difficult to read.

What’s my work around?

Simply take the image into Photoshop (or your favorite image editor) and add a Gaussian blur to it.

You’ll still have all the wonderful color and contrast that makes the image so appealing, but now it’ll be much easier to discern the icons from the background. Give it a try. You might actually like it.

-Krishna

It’s a defining moment for Chastity. I’m proud of her!

-Krishna
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Pencils are up Colors and inks are now accompanying the latest PCW! Inks and colors should be coming very soon. The set-up is complete – things are about to get CA-RAAY- ZEE.

-Krishna
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A couple of plugs for your Friday perusal. First up, my artwork graces two billboards somewhere in Orlando, FL for the brand new TikiWho restaurant. If you’re in the Orlando area, give it a try – it sounds like a fun place!

Missing the tech strips? Fret not, they will eventually return. In the meantime, you can read some of my geeky comics for site sponsor, Other World Computing, as the one panel preview below shows.

Happy Friday! Please do me a favor and share the PC Weenies with your friends and co-workers. They deserve to read it. Why? Because it’s Friday! (Do you really need a reason?) :)

-Krishna
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DragonDrop is an elegant and useful Mac app that lets you set down what you are dragging without worrying about keeping the mouse button held down. It works great with files, folders, text snippets, etc. and has already improved my productivity ten-fold. It sells for $4.99 at the Mac App Store, and is easily worth its asking price.

How does it work?

Drag a file or set of files and shake your mouse cursor back and forth. A transparent DragonDrop window appears. Stuff your contents in the window and retrieve them when you’re ready to move them into their proper location. That’s it!

If you’re not a “mover and shaker”, you can use DragonDrop’s Menu Bar icon instead. DragonDrop’s prefs (shown below) are simple and self-explanatory.

In the snapshot below, I’ve selected three files and shaken my mouse cursor. The DragonDrop window (or portal, as I like to think of it) appears.

Drop your files into the portal until you are ready to retrieve your files.

DragonDrop is one of those little apps that quickly makes itself indispensable. I can’t imagine using any Mac without it. DragonDrop has eliminated the need for me to use a dual-paned window (a la Forklift or PathFinder) to move files because I can invoke it at a whim.

I’ve tested DragonDrop version 1.1.5 for about a day now and I’ve already given it a hefty workout. I haven’t run into any snags or bugs in my usage, but I’ll update this review if I run into any problems.

Conclusion

If you move files on a regular basis (and who doesn’t, really?), DragonDrop is easily the best $5 you’ll spend and earns a mighty 5 Bob Weiners. Highly Recommended.

-Krishna
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