Aviary Blog

Zoomin Adds Filter Effects to Their Facebook App

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:23:56 EST

Zoomin is a leading online service that enables you to share, store, and print your digital images, easily and affordably. From photo books, prints, postcards, gifts, stationaries and more, Zoomin is no doubt on top of their game. Their photo prints and gifts are of the highest professional quality, using world class technology and infrastructure to deliver you top notch products. Zoomin ultimately allows their members to connect with family and friends, sharing love, laughter, and life - online and offline!

Zoomin's latest initiative, Zoomin Postcards, is a Facebook app that allows you to upload and send any of your Facebook photos as REAL postcards! Send them to your friends, your family, who knows, maybe even your dog! Currently, these real-life postcards are limited to being sent only in India, but Zoomin plans to offer digital postcards soon, allowing any user across the world to benefit from their app.

The best part? They've just integrated Aviary's Effects API, adding a variety of effects for their users to have fun with, including First Camera, Old Newspaper, and more! This is a great example of how our API can be used to enhance your already awesome app or platform. We're more than excited to be a part of Zoomin's fun and creative project!

If you're interested in testing, integrating, or learning more about the features of our Server API, email us at api[at]aviary.com or visit the Effects API documentation!

Getting started with Zoomin Postcards is easy. Visit Facebook.com/Zoomin and 'like' their page. Then click on Zoomin Postcards in the sidebar, located on the left-hand side (or you can just go straight to apps.facebook.com/zoominpostcard).

Select your favorite Facebook photos and albums, and choose up to 3 photos...

Then customize your postcard! You can choose from 4 different filter effects, located underneath the photo.

Flip the photo over to add a message and address, and you're good to go!

Here's a video tutorial to help you get started!

If you've integrated our Server API onto your site, let us know at api@aviary.com. If you're a developer and would like to try it out, get an API key, read the technical documentation, or use it on your site, check out the Effects API documentation!

Customize Your Gmail with Aviary Images

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:37:52 EST

Gmail has just announced the ability to add your own background images!

This means you can finally customize your inbox with your favorite Aviary creations!

To start, make sure you're logged into your Gmail account, and go to the 'Themes Tab" in Settings. Choose 'Create your own theme', which is located on the bottom of the page.

Click on the background in the Theme Creator to reveal the color pallete sidebar. On the bottom of that sidebar, you'll notice the option to add your own background image.

Once your image is uploaded, close the Theme Creator to reveal your new customized Gmail! Bam!

Need something to work with? View our Hall of Fame to find a variety of fun, quirky, interesting, and awesome creations!

Try new features first: Sign up to be an Aviary alpha tester!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:00:03 EST

We've just implemented an Alpha Tester page where you can get access to all the newest features in Aviary's applications. This is part of an ongoing effort to empower you, the users, to provide feedback on what you like as well as what you wish we were doing differently (previously).

Here's how it works: head over to the Alpha Tester page and select "Yes" to activate the experimental versions of our applications. As long as "yes" is selected, opening an application will launch the newest experimental version. We'll always list the current experimental features on this page so you know exactly what to look for.

Right now, we're testing:

Desktop saving in Phoenix! Backup .egg files to your computer and import them later in their original layered format.
A new version of Myna with Roc built in to the interface.
Path filters in Raven, which you can access by right-clicking on an object and selecting "Filters." Includes the commonly-requested Text to Path feature!

Keep an eye out for many more exciting experimental features soon :)

Of course, the most important part of alpha testing is feedback. If you find any bugs, or have an idea for a better way to present a new feature, or just want to tell us what you think, please let us know! You can always contact us through our support site, or you can submit feedback straight through the apps (Phoenix: Feedback>Send Feedback, Myna: About>Send Feedback, Raven: Feedback>Send Feedback).

If at any point you want to revert to the stable versions of the apps, either click the "Experimental" button inside the editor to revert, or just return to the Alpha Tester page and change your selection to "No." Please keep in mind that creations utilizing experimental features may not display them the same way in the stable versions of the apps (i.e., if you use a path filter in the experimental version of Raven, it'll display a default path style in the stable version of Raven).

We'll also be maintaining this Sticky in the forums with a changelog of all the apps; this is the best way to stay updated on what's new in the experimental versions!

Enjoy!!

Aviary X New Boyz

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:07:47 EST

Since we're constantly trying to stay as hip as possible, (and we'd like to think we're doing well so far!), it simply makes sense to team up with The New Boyz, to help them promote their upcoming album, "Too Cool to Care", which will be dropping in stores May 17th.

The New Boyz are an American hip-hop/rap crew from California, famous for their viral hit, "You're a Jerk". The song made it to the top thirty of Billboard's Hot 100, and is recognized as the first song to bring the jerkin' style to the public.

Join us and the New Boyz as they go on a mission to digitally tag every website possible! With the help of our Screen Capture tool and our Simple Image Editor, New Boyz fans will have the entire web at hand to tag like there's no tomorrow!

Getting started is easy. First, visit tag.thenewboyz.com

Enter the URL of any website you want, and click 'go tag'

Once the website is captured, our Simple Image Editor with a custom New Boyz skin will appear, where you'll be able to doodle, add text, adjust the brightness/contrast, and more!

Note: The New Boyz have gone ahead and added their own custom stickers, including 'life-size' versions of "Ben J" and "Legacy". Click on the stickers option to reveal the rest!

Once you're finished, click save, and your tagged site will be added to the gallery, where it'll be rated by other fans, shared on twitter, facebook, and more!

If you've integrated our Simple Image Editor onto your site, or would like to inquire about custom stickers and skins, let us know at api@aviary.com. Our Simple Image Editor is free to use and free to implement on your site. If you're a developer and would like to try it out, read the technical documentation, or embed it on your site, go to www.aviary.com/html5

The Easter Bunny Visits Aviary

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:07:51 EST

Our best friend, The Easter Bunny, has left us a basket of goodies for our Simple Image Editor! (codename: Feather)

Add some colorful eggs, squeezable bunnies, and more to your creations! There's enough fun-filled stickers to make a grown man cry for joy!

Launch our Simple Image Editor now to access our Easter themed sicker pack, and to start spreading the cheer! You'll find the stickers option on the right-hand side, along with the other tools.

If you've integrated our Simple Image Editor onto your site, let us know at api@aviary.com. Our Simple Image Editor is free to use and free to implement on your site. Stickers are customizable, meaning you can create your own sticker packs like this one! Check out Dogster's custom stickers! If you're a developer and would like to try it out, read the technical documentation or embed it on your site, go to www.aviary.com/html5

A Strong Wind Blows

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:40:52 EST

TL;DR: Looking for the new Aviary homepage preview?
Click through here to avoid the wall of text... :)

Aviary's achievements to date are mind-blowing. When I think back to just a few short years ago, when I was sitting around with my good friends, Michael Galpert and Israel Derdik, discussing the problem of creativity not being accessible to the masses; and to now, when we are a full blown company of talented individuals and have provided the world with a suite of powerful alternatives to desktop software, it's really amazing. I don't think that anyone could ever say again that they would be an artist, if only they had access to the tools.

But as I think back to that day I find myself wondering if we really fulfilled the core of our mission of democratizing creation. In order to do that we'd need everyone in the world to feel and be more creative. We have certainly provided the software to make it possible, but in doing so we have affected change only among artists and future artists with the skillset and sophistication to use powerful editing software. In order to really change the world and make it a better-looking place, we need to make sure that we are enabling everyone on the planet to be creative.

And to do that we need to think even more progressively about how we are providing creativity tools. Instead of simply trying to duplicate the desktop software experience, we need to think from the ground up: what is the best user experience for creating or improving content in a world where no other model exists?

Creating our embeddable HTML5 editor, Feather, was the first step in that direction. It was a tool that was built with a specific purpose: to be injected seamlessly into the existing creative workflows of other applications across the web and mobile. And to provide exactly the functionality needed for that workflow: No more, no less.

The next step in our goal of powering the world's creativity, is to fully open up the powerful bulk Effects API that helps run Feather's filters behind the scenes. This API will enable web and mobile apps to batch process photos and improve them in three major areas without any needed user interaction:

* Auto-correction (i.e. remove red-eye, fix lighting, fix blurriness, contrast and color levels)
* Apply stylistic filters (i.e. retro, polaroid-like, frames, comic book, etc..)
* Utility operations (i.e. smart-crop a photo to a person's face, rotate a photo, make thumbnails, etc...)

More detail on this particular bulk Effects API is coming very soon, but if you want early access please do email api@aviary.com and we'll provide you with documentation and an API key.

As part of this expansion we needed to make a new website - something that speaks to people at all levels of the creative spectrum. I realized that our homepage and various websites weren't readily accessible and the full breadth of what Aviary offers wasn't clear. With our continued expansion we needed a way to organize all of the various Aviary-related properties under one central easy-to-understand (we hope) homepage.

I hope that by organizing our site into more of a portal into the various components that make up Aviary we will better serve everyone who visits Aviary in finding exactly the tool or service they need. And best of all, we'll continue to service the core artist community that makes up our life-blood, by keeping the tools and community that uses them intact.

We're going to make the new homepage opt-in for the community and use the time-period before it goes live to accept feedback and make tweaks to it. I welcome your direct feedback - please reach out to me at avi[a]aviary.com and let me know what you think.

By taking all of these steps we hope to further extend Aviary's reach and impact on the world of creativity... and maybe in doing so make the world a better-looking place.

Soaring higher!
Avi

PS: You can activate the new homepage beta HERE... and if you don't like it, no worries you can always revert back.

Edit an Image, Get an Aviary t-shirt and More!

Thu, 7 Apr 2011 13:48:53 EST

Want an Aviary t-shirt + stickers + and more!?

Your task is to give this whale a friend, a companion, maybe a tree, maybe a shirt, a hat? Simply put, it's a FREE-4-ALL! Add anything to this image!

To start, open up the file. Then click on 'Open in Vector Editor'

Once your creation is finished, add a link to our Facebook Post. (You must 'like' the Aviary page to post a link)

The contest will end on Wednesday, Friday, April 8th, at 5PM EST. The winner will be chosen based on how creative or jaw-dropping their creation is!

Need a quick refresher on how to use our vector editor? Click here

******Update******

Way too many good entries to choose from, so we decided to pick 2 winners! Congrats to elbb and UniqueInTheory! See the rest of the amazing entries here!

Tip Tuesday - Color Formulas

Tue, 5 Apr 2011 21:04:25 EST

Toucan has a great color formula system that makes it quick and easy to create great color palettes. There are six color formulas to choose from, each producing a different color scheme based off of a single color sample. To try them out, first choose a color formula. Depending on the formula, you may have several parameters to adjust the colors further.

Next, pick a base color in the color wheel. The base color and the resulting subordinate colors will be displayed to the left, on the color wheel. When you are satified with the colors, you can push them directly to the color palette above by pressing the To Palette button . Try out this awesome feature and start making color palettes to use within the other apps! It's especially useful for web design :)

Learn more about the color app Toucan.

Simple Image Editor Module for Drupal

Mon, 4 Apr 2011 12:46:12 EST

Do you use Drupal to power your site?

Drupal is an open source content management platform that offers thousands of add-on modules and designs to allow you to build any site imaginable. Not only do they power millions of websites and applications, they're built and supported by an active community from all over the world.

You can now install our Simple Image Editor (codename: Feather) into your site, with our latest module for Drupal. Edit any image online with our powerful, feature-rich editor, and save resulted images back to your site. The original image is kept in backup with a different name.

You can find all the documentation here.

Once installed, you should see an 'Edit photo in aviary' box appear anytime you hover over a photo.

Click on it, and you'll open up the lightbox version of our Simple Image Editor.

If you'd like to add this module to your Drupal account, click here. If you have any questions related to this module, feel free to contact us!

The Weekly Birdbath for March 26th - April 1st

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:44:23 EST

March 26th - April 1st

Congratulations to madameava,yotambonehbait and Redstar for their 1st 2nd and 3rd places in the Peacock Minimalism: Play With Plaid! contest. Also congrats to Redstar, mpeutz and bisowski for their 1st 2nd and 3rd places in the Phoenix This contest. There are lots more contests starting all the time so come and win yourself some credits and trophies!

Generisk

For this week, the Birdbath features something a little bit different than it usually does for Artist of the Week. We've added rhinestones and a filtered water pump! Yay!

All joking aside... considering the extra emphasis that Aviary has been placing on the music apps recently (think Rocapalooza and Worth 1000 contests for music), we have a special treat.

Coming to you from K-ROC FM in Cape Girardeau, MO... Indie artist Generisk is spinning Roc beats mixed in Myna that are truly worthy of the word "phenom." FX master Generisk (the name alone is cool!) has taken advantage of all the new Instrument Folders recently available in Roc, and has used Myna for some wicked effects to make some electronica music that will top the charts. Whatever you're listening to right now, turn it off... get your iPod ready to download, and tune in to these crazy good tuneages - from robotics to eerie sound effects. You'll thank us when you can say "Yep, I knew Generisk back when he was on Aviary."

Grave Walker.egg on Aviary.

FX-it.egg on Aviary.

Disco-Tech-Robot.egg on Aviary.

This week's challenge has just popped back to the top of the forum after a very, very long leave of absence; in fact, it was the first Raven challenge ever! Some of your entries were outstanding way back then, so it will be very interesting to see how we have all grown in talent and skill. So come and join the fun in this Raven Mini Challenge # 1!

Some of our faves:

This week's Blackbox is The Color Newspaper, which will add some comic book goodness to your images.

Try out Parrot, the new voice control addition to all of our apps. It's way cool!

Simple Photo effects with Peacock | Getting started with Roc | Creating a Podcast with Myna | Cropping a captured image with Talon and Falcon | Creating and using color palettes with Toucan

Tip - Load Color Palettes

You can access your Toucan color palette, along with every other color palette saved to Aviary, from within Phoenix and Raven. Open the in-app color picker by double-clicking on any color control in the apps. From within the color picker, click the double arrow button at the bottom to open the palette importer. A fly-out panel will open where you can search for your palette. Type the name of your saved palette in the search box and press find. All the palettes that match your search will load in the slots below. To push a palette to the color picker, click the circle button next to the palette. Once a palette is loaded into the color picker, you'll have access to the colors every time you open the color picker.