#not to mention i used a handful of cc which includes the paneling on the outside

[pigeonplaysgod]

i saw a cute little victorian house while running errands a couple weeks ago and was overwhelmed by the urge to build one in the sims for my Plum (and eventually Orange) generation

[saiilorstars]

It Had To Be You

Ch.27: I Know // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Female OC

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Thawne starts putting the pieces together for his final attack on team Flash while they're distracted with one talking gorilla.

{Previous chapters}

"So, you figured it out, then?" Noah laughed in Belén's face.

The ombre-blonde stood outside the pipeline, arms crossed, with a deep glare on the laughing man. She expected nothing less than this but it didn't mean it wasn't infuriating. He had known this whole time that Plasticine was Maritza, and much more that Maritza had been the one to get him to work at CC Pictures with her to be a spy.

"Maritza is gone and I need to find her and Rayan. Do you have any idea where they could be?" Belén got straight to the point of her visit.

Noah planted his palms against his pod's wall and smirked. "Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you a thing."

"Do you know something?"

"I've no idea where Maritza is but I'm pretty sure Rayan and Pixel are at the usual place."

Belén waited a moment before speaking again. She wanted to give Noah the chance to do something good but it was clear that he was not on the same page. "I'm taking care of Maritza's son and he's asking for his mom. What the hell do I tell him, hmm? You may be evil but even you didn't hurt kids, huh?"

Noah rolled his eyes. "My eyes were on STAR Labs, and for the last time I don't know where Maritza is. If she hasn't appeared with your brother then maybe she's not with him either."

Belén pursed her lips and thought for another moment. She had thought that was a possibility too. Perhaps Maritza was on her own this time, without Rayan at her side. It would explain Pixel's solo appearances in the city lately. Plasticine had vanished. Belén wasn't sure if this was better or worse, honestly.

"You all played me, you shot me...all I am asking is for you to tell me where Rayan or Maritza are, please," Belén wanted to spark the last shred of decency Noah had, but it appeared like there was nothing left.

He laughed so loudly that Belén was sure if there was anyone in the cortex they would have heard by now. "Forget it," she spat and moved to close the pipeline down.

"It doesn't even matter now, Belén," Noah started talking once her hand moved for the control panel. "Maritza's gone, Rayan is losing his mind, and Pixel will just destroy the city out of sheer fun. Your family's done - it's been done."

"We'll see," Belén upheld a glare as the pipeline shut down. But even when the pipeline was closed, she could still hear his laughter's echoes.

~ 0 ~

Rayan's finger boredly circled the cool metal of a pipe while Angie babbled on about the latest clothes she stole the previous night.

"Piece of cake!" she laughed and jumped to sit on one of the old crates of the warehouse. She pushed some of her hair behind her shoulders and looked over to Rayan only to find out he hadn't been listening to her at all. "Excuse me, I'm talking!"

"And if it was interesting, I would have paid attention," Rayan looked up from the pipe briefly to glare at her. "I asked you to go find Maritza and instead you steal from...Forever21?"

"It wasn't Forever21, and-"

Rayan balled his fist and forced a water pipe above them to come crushing down on the ground between them. As the water spilled, Rayan moved around the pipe he'd been messing with - using his power to deflect any water drops from hitting him - and walked straight up to Angie. "I haven't seen my sister in weeks and as far as I know, she's not living with Belén either."

"Maybe she ran away?"

"Yes, but from what?"

"I don't know," Angie shrugged. "But maybe if you'd been paying attention you would have noticed how strange Maritza had been acting lately. She was keeping something from us."

"But what?"

The two had a mini-stare down until a gust of wind broke them apart. Angie fell off the crate and hit the ground with a thud while Rayan was pushed back against a pipe.

"Your sister was keeping a big secret from you, Mr. Palayta," the Reverse Flash stood between the two metas.

Rayan shook his head as he sat upright and immediately glared at the intruder. Maritza had told him about the second speedster who'd murdered their father - this one had to be it. He focused his eyes on the speedster and used all of his power to control the intruder. However, after a minute, the speedster mockingly laughed.

"Don't bother with that blood control - my molecules move too fast for you to even attempt to control."

"Then I'll just kill you the old fashion way," Rayan began to get up on his feet when Reverse Flash sped towards Rayan and pinned him against a wall.

"Or we could be smart and you can listen to what I have to say and offer."

"I say we listen..." Angie sat upright and rubbed her back. "Mostly cos I don't feel like fighting in my new clothes."

"I'd never talk to the man who killed my father!" Rayan gripped Reverse Flash's hand curled around his neck.

"What if I were to tell you that I know why Maritza ran?" Reverse Flash smirked when Rayan froze. "Or how about I mention my knowledge of the Flash's identity?"

That piqued Rayan's interest. Though he had a cloudy mind, everything snapped back to the present at the mention of the Flash, or even Belén for that matter. "What do you want?"

Reverse Flash let Rayan go and surprised the two metas by pulling off his hood.

"Dr. Wells?" Angie got up on her feet and threw Rayan a look. "We were right - that guy was always hiding something."

"First of all, my name is Eobard Thawne and second of all, as I told Belén, it really was not my intention to kill your father, your entire family was collateral damage," Thawne explained calmly. "And do you know who's at fault?"

"You," Rayan accused.

"No, the Flash. I wanted him, I still do, and because of him I had to go through so many people - including your sister - to get him. And if things continue they way they are, I'll have no choice but to kill her too."

"Fine," Rayan said all too easily, even for him. "Belén chose him anyways. Our entire family is broken."

"Well, I'm sorry to say that it does not get better. See, in my time - because I'm from the future by the way-" Thawne paused only to take in the two's comical faces, "-she's, how do you say, the Mrs. Flash?"

"NO!" Rayan's face went completely red within the minute. He thrust his hands forwards, picking up multiple crates and crashing them against the walls. "You're lying!"

"Are you willing to wager on that based on everything you know so far? Everything you've seen so far?"

Rayan breathed heavily, his chest rising as anger bubbled underneath. "What the hell do you want?"

"I want to get home and you want revenge on STAR Labs - I'm sure there's something we can come up with together. After all, your mind is still sane enough for a decent plan."

~0~

Searching for Eddie and Thawne was a much more complicated job than anyone could have thought. Days turned into a week and still no one could find them. Feeling so overwhelmed, the group had finally brought in Nina to officially help them as well. Nina searched from above, Belén through the small spaces, and Barry anywhere else in the city.

Feeling even more cautious, the group decided to never be alone. Where one went, another person was to accompany. There was a special emphasis on Iris, being the one of them who suffered more considering her boyfriend remained missing and she had no idea why. Belén tried spending as much time as she could with Iris, but the woman seemed to be a little distant. Belén didn't press for any talking that Iris didn't want to do - she was just there to be with Iris.

But on the nights that Iris preferred to stay alone - although for the time being back at her dad's - Belén was to spend her nights alone at home...or so she thought. Barry had taken Iris' words very seriously, figuring that although Belén was focusing on helping to catch Wells - or Thawne at this point - she too was hurting as her siblings were basically hunting her down for a death match. She was still processing how her own life had been altered because one man chose to do it.

Barry made it his job, or his responsibility, to make sure Belén knew she wasn't alone no matter what.

Belén stopped being surprised each night she found her boyfriend on the other side of her front door with an idea of how to spend their night. Even though he didn't spend the night, it made her feel good, safe, and best of all she wasn't lonely.

One night it was dinner.

...that they bickered about because they couldn't decide whose lasagna was better.

"I'm Italian, Barry! My lasagna will top yours any day!" Belén shouted at him.

"Hey, adding something new to the recipe doesn't mean it'll taste bad!" Barry argued right back with the same determination she had. It was clear that neither would back down, which meant they needed to find a solution fast.

"Auntie Belén!" Axel skipped into the kitchen from the backyard. "What are we eating? I'm hungry!"

The two metas glanced at each other with the same idea popping into their heads. That night Axel had two different plates of lasagna he could taste and when he happened to choose the plate Belén made, Belén cheered and gave a smug smirk at Barry.

"Told you," she even added.

"This is not a pretty side of you, Bells," Barry said with a small 'tsk' afterwards.

The next night Barry came over, it was series marathon night and both decided they owed Cisco by catching up on the Walking Dead. When Axel was put to sleep, Belén and Barry settled on the couch and watched the series for as long as they could before sleepiness would take over.

"It's still unbelievable their effects are this crappy," Barry would say every five minutes or so.

Belén, sitting beside him, rolled her eyes. "Barry…"

"I know, I got it, shut up now," Barry nodded and forced himself to keep his mouth shut for as long as possible. Two minutes later, however… "The aim was completely disproportionate-"

"Barry," Belén looked at him expectantly. They were just trying to watch a television series and here he was rambling on about the reality of things. It was so...Barry.

"I know, sorry," Barry apologized and lowered his head a little. But, when he looked back at the television, he just couldn't control himself. "Oh c'mon-" he flapped a hand towards the television, "-that could never happen!"

"Oh my god!" Belén exclaimed and hit him with one of the cushions, giving up on ever being able to watch television without him yapping through it.

"I'm just saying-"

"SHUSH!" she nearly jumped over him as she pushed the cushion over his face. Maybe this way she could get an episode in silence!

The next night, feeling guilty he had ruined their marathon day, he offered a movie night...where he promised he wouldn't speak unless it was for a good reason that did not involve science and logic.

Belén said he was on probation.

"Well, Axel is fast asleep," Belén returned from upstairs after making sure Axel remained asleep. "You are, and I quote, his favorite 'new uncle'." She moved around the couch and promptly took a seat on Barry's lap. Barry couldn't help but think back to the future article written by Belén's future self. He coughed awkwardly, making Belén laugh. "Calm down, Barry, he's four. Axel will call anyone his favorite aunt or uncle if they give him ice cream for breakfast."

"Sorry," Barry still smiled awkwardly. He hadn't the nerve to tell her about the article because he didn't want to freak her out. Most people didn't like seeing their future planned out like that.

Belén chuckled and looped her arms around his neck. "You're too cute sometimes." She pecked his lips once then put a finger over his lips. "Even if you do talk throughout my shows."

"Sorry," he apologized once more, prompting her to laugh again.

The next night, it was an active search for Thawne and Eddie. Due to that, Belén left Axel with Iris at the latter's home. Belén came back first when she figured it was time to head back for her own house, but somehow Iris convinced Belén to stay over for the night.

"Do you know where Barry went off to?" Iris walked into her bedroom just as Belén had placed one of her bags over her armoire.

Belén didn't look up as she was fixing Axel on the mattress beside Iris' bed. "Em, I think he and Cisco had a guy's night planned out," she was so good at lying now it made her feel sick. Of course she knew where Barry was. He was still out searching for Eddie.

"Hm," Iris crossed her arms, and Belén missed her suspicious look directed at her. "Are you sure that's where he is?"

This time, Belén looked up and saw through the mirror's reflection Iris seemed a little bit off again. "Uh, yeah, where else would he be? With another girl? You would tell me though, right?" she smiled and went back to digging through her bag.

"Of course," Iris said, biting her lip unsurely. "Just like...you would tell me...if there was anything...I needed to know, right?"

"Course," Belén said, this time without looking up.

Iris felt bad for not completely believing Belén's word. There was no doubt in Iris' mind that Barry truly was the Flash and that he had purposely not told her about it. She wanted to know who was in league with him, besides STAR Labs. Because there was also no doubt in her mind that Dr. Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco also knew about it and were even helping him to be the Flash. She was just unsure if Belén was in the dark like she was. After all, Belén had seemed clueless that the Flash liked her. Of course he would, the Flash and Barry were the same person but...maybe Belén didn't know that?

Belén realized how uncomfortable Iris seemed after finally finding what she was looking for. "Are you okay?" She turned around.

"Yeah," Iris gave her an odd look in return. "I think...I'm just going to sleep early today."

"O-okay," Belén nodded. "Axel is out for the night and I'll be as quiet as a mouse," she placed a finger over her lips. Iris gave her a thankful smile and started getting her pajamas. In the meantime, Belén hurried to grab the last of her things to go downstairs. She had no intention of sleeping until Barry returned.

So, she waited, even when she felt the sleepiness taking over.

And she didn't know what time it was but she spent it all in the living room watching television until she felt the familiar wind as Barry zipped in straight for his bedroom. She rolled her eyes as she sat up, turning off the television. She got up and walked up the staircase to see what he had come up with. Acknowledging the late hour, she knocked lightly on his bedroom door asking if she could come in.

Course she could come in, he told her. And stepping in, she found him already changed for sleep as well...and with a very tired face.

"No luck?" she asked, closing the door behind her.

"I swear I am looking through every possible place," Barry began to pace, feeling even more stressed knowing Eddie was being forced to spend another night God knew where with Thawne.

"Hey," Belén moved over, stopping him in the middle of his pacing, "I know that. We all know that, I promise. But Thawne is just from the future so of course he's going to know things we don't. Doesn't mean we won't catch him, just...maybe it'll take a bit more of our time."

Barry sighed again, the stress combining with general tiredness.

"You're tired, get some rest and then tomorrow we'll both go out and search for Eddie again," she suggested, more like subtly ordered, but nonetheless kindly. She gave him a goodnight kiss and turned to leave.

But Barry wrapped his arms around her from behind, this time refusing to let her go. "Can you stay here instead?"

The question made her momentarily blush. "Um...I mean, if you'd like…"

"I really would," he admitted, keeping his arms tightly around him in case she actually left. "If Axel wakes up, I'll speed you to Iris' room myself."

She chuckled. "Lucky for you, Axel rarely wakes up in the night. I guess we can talk for a while," she tilted her head up to meet his gaze. "Fair warning, I might take all the blankets in the meantime."

"Fine, but I'm taking all of you then," he kissed her forehead and brought her back to bed.

"Wow, your jokes are even worse in the night," she said before climbing into bed with him.

"Right now, they're not good at any moment. I'm surprised this one was good," Barry sighed. He reached for her body to pull her closer to his. "Thanks for staying a while more."

Belén yawned before replying, "I needed this too. My siblings are M.I.A. and I'm a little scared of when they'll be coming back for me."

Barry tightened his hold on her just thinking about Maritza and Rayan. "I don't think Maritza would hurt you," he admitted. "When I told her everything, she seemed more broken and confused than...evil."

"Hmm..."

"Maybe, with luck, this time away from her son and you might give her a reality check," Barry continued but stopped when Belén gave no response. He shifted a little to look at her face and realized she'd fallen asleep too. She must have been really tired, then. Barry thought about bringing her back to Iris' room where Axel was but...he didn't want to.

Maybe it made him selfish to keep her with him but...he was comfortable where he was right now. He felt good. Lately, everything in his life had been confusing and terrifying but Belén made the feelings wash away when they were together.

Those were the last thoughts he had before he too fell asleep.

~ 0 ~

When Barry woke up the next morning he felt no less stressed. Although, when he felt his girlfriend's patterned-breathing hitting just below his jawline, it did make things better again. He leaned his head just the slightest to kiss her hair, but unfortunately she breathed in deeply, signaling she was waking up.

"Sorry," Barry apologized quietly, still pretty groggy himself.

"Good morning. I guess I fell asleep here, huh?" Belén greeted, languidly blinking and shifting herself a little to look at him. She had her head resting on his chest and refused to move at least for another while more. "I hope Axel hasn't woken up yet. Did I steal your blanket like I promised?"

"Mm, a but, but I kept you with me like I promised."

"I stand corrected - your jokes are worse in the mornings. Well I'm sorry, but your bed is actually really comfortable, and I learned that one the first time I stayed here." Belén smiled to herself as she then admitted, "It smelled like you."

Although still a bit sleepy, Barry cracked a smirk. "Well, being honest, when I moved back in it still kind of smelled like you in here."

"Shut up, you moved in like a month later," Belén chuckled lightly.

"No, I'm not kidding, it really did. Blankets, pillows, hell, there was even one particular shirt I swear smelled like you. I thought I was losing it."

Belén made a face he couldn't see. "That shirt...was it green and black? Plaid?"

"Yeah," Barry sniffed, beginning to will himself to finally wake up.

Belén shifted once more so that she could tilt her head up at him on his side. "I may have accidentally worn that at one point. Sorry."

"You wore my shirt?"

"Uh, yes, yes I did."

Barry looked down at her for a moment, thinking about this and how much sense it made later. Then, with a smirk on his face, he looked up to the ceiling. "That's kinda hot…"

Belén's face flushed bright red. "Barry…"

"No, I mean it," Barry rubbed one of his eyes, "Feel free to wear any of my clothes whenever you want."

Belén continued to blush but giggled. "I will make a mental note of that."

~ 0 ~

Cisco was hard at work on the many cameras Wells used to spy on them. He was busy taking one apart when Barry walked in.

"Hey. You planning on keeping all those cameras Wells used to spy on us? That's kind of creepy, don't you think?"

Cisco looked up completely disagreeing. "First rule of mechanical engineering, dude. Never waste good tech." Barry rolled his eyes but the computer beeping at them took over the conversation. Cisco moved over to see the problem. "Central City Gold Reserve's under attack."

"Gold?" Barry repeated. "That's the case Singh wants us on. I'll be right back."

Quickly in his suit, he sped over to the location of the ongoing crime. He was able to see the remnants of a violent car explosion when he spotted an armed figure covered in protective gear along with a helmet.

"You picked a bad day for this, pal," Barry intended on going forwards when he felt some sort of pressure in his brain. The pressure turned into a fierce pain that froze him to his spot. He saw brief images of irrelevant things such a medical lab, but in the process he fell to the ground unable to see more.

And then, just like that, the pain vanished. The armed figure ran away.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin flashed a light in Barry's eyes after hearing of the attack. "Your eye movement is normal. No signs of neurological damage."

"Do you think the thief might have been a meta-human who put the whammie on you or something?" asked Cisco who believed it could be a plausible reason for Barry's condition.

"I... I don't know. When Rainbow Raider got in my head, all I felt was anger. But this was not that. This was just overwhelming fear," Barry tried to explain as best as possible, but really the feeling was all new for him as well.

Cisco sat down at the small desk in the side room with them and brought up the security feed of the site of the rob. There they saw both Barry and the armed figure going down as if they had been both attacked.

"Hmm. Looks like when you went down, the thief got disoriented too," Cisco pointed out, moving to the side so that Caitlin and Barry could see as well.

"Maybe we both got whammied," Barry weakly theorized.

Iris walked in at that moment, shocking everyone, but not that she cared. She was...upset, and very. "Then you know how it feels. Hi, Barry. Or should I say The Flash?"

In less than five minutes, Iris and Barry had relocated to the training room to speak more privately, or so they believed as they didn't know they were being heard by Caitlin and Cisco out in the cortex.

"How did you find out?" Barry failed to wrap his mind around this.

"When I touched The Flash the other night, I felt a jolt of electricity. The only other time I have ever felt anything like that was when you were in a coma after the accident." Iris shared a bitter chuckle. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner."

"I can only imagine how angry you are-"

"I'm not angry, Barry. I'm just disappointed." Iris shook her head. "Does Eddie know?"

Barry hated to put Eddie on the spot like that when the man wasn't even here to give his own defence statement, but Iris was so upset he thought it was just better to get through with the truth. "Yes, he does."

Iris' eyes filled with tears. "Is that why he got kidnapped?"

"No, I don't know why Wells took Eddie. I…"

Iris once again gaped. "Dr. Wells is the Man in Yellow?"

Barry sighed and began to explain. "Everything he's been doing, helping me... it was all a lie. Wells killed my mom."

"Is he gonna kill Eddie?"

"No, he's not. I'm gonna get Eddie back, I swear."

Iris crossed her arms. "Yeah, the Flash said the same thing yet here we are."

"Look, Iris, you have to believe me, I... There were so many times I wanted to tell you. You were the first person I wanted to tell, but everything started getting crazy, and I thought maybe Joe was right and I shouldn't say…"

Iris made a gesture for him to stop talking. "Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me that my dad knew and he told you not to tell me?"

"He was trying to protect you. We both were-"

"Yeah, well, maybe it's time you both stopped," Iris lowered her hand and took a moment before speaking again. "Did everyone know before me?" she asked quietly, tilting her head. "I mean, what about Belén? Does she know that you're…"

But Barry couldn't hide it anymore on his face.

Iris sighed in utter deception. "Of course she did," she once again bitterly smiled. "Of course she did. How couldn't she, hm?" She shook her head and promptly stormed out of the room.

~ 0 ~

Feeling incredibly guilty he was the source of the newfound problem, Barry had a quick, brief conversation with Belén over the phone to warn her that Iris could very well be on her way to speak with Belén next...probably to show her disappointment. Well, Belén decided she didn't want to wait until Iris showed up. She would be brave and face her close friend first. And that was why she had come into CC Picture News that following night, knowing Iris would probably be delving into work to forget or to distract herself.

"Hey," she politely greeted Iris, the latter only looking up briefly before returning to whatever was on her computer screen. Belén sighed and walked over to the desk opposite of Iris'. "I know you know…"

Iris didn't give her another look. "And what do you happen to know, Bells? That I know Barry lied, that my own Dad lied, or that you lied?"

"It wasn't my place to tell you-"

Setting down her pen rather loudly on her desk, Iris' eyes flickered to Belén. "It was your place because you knew that my best friend - my brother - was out there on the streets being the freaking Flash. When you are this close to me-" she gestured between herself and Belén, "-it is your right to tell me."

"It wasn't," Belén insisted, unable to get a bit teary. "When Barry told me he was the Flash I was just as mad - hell, I was more mad. And I figured it out like you did, so it wasn't even him deciding to tell me. I wanted to punch him in the face for about two weeks after I learned."

"When you went to Starling, huh?" Iris had put two and two afterwards, thinking it was way more sensible than Belén just spontaneously visiting her mother in Starling.

"I left because of that but also for other reasons. But look, in the beginning I was so mad that I didn't want to hear what Barry had to say. I just thought that he was a liar and that he was just laughing at me behind my back. But then I realized it wasn't as easy to do. I was kidnapped - twice - because people thought I had a connection to the Flash. I mean, Barry has to carry that with him - he has to carry with the fact things can happen to people around him because of who he is."

"It doesn't matter," Iris laid it out the way she saw it. "Because I could have helped instead of continuously getting in his way, getting in everyone's way. We grew up together, we shared everything."

"I know, I get that it's difficult, but please just look at it from his perspective," Belén tried reasoning with her.

"You want me to look from another perspective?" Iris challenged, crossing her arms as she feigned to think for a moment. "Hm, well, let's start with you then. You must have had your share of laughs with Barry behind my back when I stupidly theorized the Flash had a thing for you."

"That was-"

"That was a proper concern for me, you know that? That you could get seduced or swooned by this man who could run at lightspeed and...and forget that someone as sweet and caring as Barry was right there with you," Iris' anger simmered as she revealed this thought.

"I would never have done that even if they were two separate people," Belén whispered.

"But I thought it could happen, because I didn't know," Iris' voice shook. "But I mean, Barry liked you-" she gestured with one hand, "-and so the Flash liked you," she gestured with her other arm like a weighing scale. "How much did you laugh?"

"No one laughed, Iris, I swear," Belén sighed. "Look, you deserved to know, I'm not going to argue, but this is what happened and I'm sorry. And…" she sighed again, pausing as she considered if her next move was even worth it, "...since you know about Barry then...I guess you should know who I am."

"What?" Iris lowered her arms, growing confused again.

"I'm the Azalea, Iris. It's the other reason why I left for Starling," Belén shrugged while Iris' eyes widened. "I was affected too, and I didn't tell anyone - including STAR Labs - about it for a very long time."

"H-how...what…?" Iris looked to the side, now dumbfounded. "So you and Barry were just...out there...saving people…"

"Well, not exactly always but...sort of...yeah…"

"Unbelievable," Iris sat down on her chair to think things through.

"I'm sorry," Belén said, but Iris said no more. Feeling like she was done, Belén grabbed her purse and walked out of the building.

~ 0 ~

"And so I told her," Belén recounted her meeting with Iris to Barry that same night, but much later. The two were at Belén's house, both finding it easier not to face Iris for that night at her place. "Like...everything. And now she's kinda mad at me too."

"It's my fault," Barry rubbed his forehead with a deep sigh escaping through his lips.

Belén scooted closer to him on the couch, draping one arm around his shoulders. "It's not-"

"It is. I should have never listened to Joe-"

"If you hadn't and something happened then you would've blamed yourself too. This is a game that's hard to win at, Barry."

Barry lowered his hand from his face and looked at her, the tiniest of smiles on his lips. "I should count myself lucky, I guess, that she didn't react like you."

"I told Iris the same thing," Belén said in amusement. "I really did want to punch you, you know."

"Well deserved, I guess," Barry gave a sway of his head. "And if Iris wants to do it too then I'll just let her."

"So does that mean I still get to punch you?"

"Uh, no, it expired when you left to Starling for a month."

"It has no expiration date!"

"Oh yes it does! And besides, you owe me too, you know."

Belén feigned offence. "And what for?"

"For going to Oliver for help," Barry made a face that really did have offence written all over it.

Belén dropped her charade and smirked. "Barry Allen are you jealous I chose the Arrow over the Flash?"

"I'm just saying that I could have helped more than Oliver. And it would have involved a lot less arrows on your back." Belén burst out laughing much to Barry's disappointment. "I'm being serious!"

Belén just laughed some more.

~0~

The next day, the group of metahumans had come across their mysterious culprit in armed clothing as he tried to steal golden bricks, only to be caught this time by the Flash and Joe. Upon tearing off the helmet of the culprit, however, they came to the shock of finding General Eiling underneath. Although quickly they realized that Eiling wasn't quite there with them as the man had gone through an entire transition to the pipeline without so much as a word.

"I don't get it, what's wrong with him?" Belén looked away from Eiling who was now imprisoned in one of the pipeline pods.

Caitlin was making a face that said she was just as lost as they were. "I pulled a bullet out of his shoulder and he didn't even flinch."

"And that should have hurt him like hell," Joe mumbled, as he had been there with Caitlin to provide any security should Eiling have acted in the process.

"It didn't even seem like he felt it," Caitlin continued with her story. "I did a complete body scan, and otherwise, General Eiling is perfectly healthy."

"So why is he just standing there like a robot?" Barry asked the million-dollar question.

Cisco walked into the pipeline after finishing his talk on the phone. "I just got off the phone with ARGUS. Officially, Eiling is on administrative leave."

"Unofficially, then?" Belén gave a tint of a smile.

"I spoke with Diggle's wife, Lyla, and she said Eiling's been missing for the past three months and ARGUS is covering up for it."

"There you go," Belén glanced back at the imprisoned man.

"Last time I saw the general was when Ronnie and us broke Professor Stein out of that military facility. I'm sure they're covering that up too," Barry remarked.

"So where has he been since then?" Joe inquired and moved up closer to Eiling's pod. "General Eiling, why were you trying to rob the gold reserve?"

"Maybe he's in some kind of a trance?" Caitlin theorized, but she would of course need more studies.

"General, do you remember me?" Barry tried his hand at it and received an instant reaction from Eiling.

"Flash," went the man in a gruff voice.

"How does he know you're the Flash?" Belén panicked and looked at Barry.

"I've no idea," Barry honestly replied, eyes now glued to Eiling.

"General...Eiling not here. Eiling bad."

"Maybe it's some kind of psychotic break presenting itself as dissociative identity disorder," Caitlin said shortly afterwards.

Eiling's eyes flickered to the brunette. "Caitlin. Caitlin good."

"Oh, uh, thank you?" went Caitlin who became confused. She hadn't even met Eiling face to face before.

"Mm. Forget multiple personalities," Cisco said, just totally freaked out. "You guys have seen the Exorcist, right?"

Belén couldn't help smile as she glanced back at him. "You and your movies."

"Keep talking to him, Barry," Joe encouraged the metahuman. "He seems to respond to you."

"And Caitlin," Belén added curiously, wondering what kind of connection that could have.

Barry looked at Eiling again, a bit nervous and out of good question. "Uh, why is Eiling bad?"

"Eiling hurt me. I hurt Eiling."

"Okay, uh, so if you're not Eiling, then who are you?"

"I... Am...Grodd. Fear...me."

Joe looked back at Caitlin and Cisco, the two sharing a look between each other, and asked, "What is a...Grodd?"

~ 0 ~

"Oh, Grodd is a...gorilla," Barry sounded unimpressed as he, Belén and Joe watched a short video Caitlin had put up for them in the cortex that showed Grodd the Gorilla being fed through a cage by Caitlin herself.

"You guys had a gorilla?" Belén was just dumbfounded STAR Labs went this far to study. "No, wait, and you named him Grodd?"

"Five years ago, Eiling and Wells were working on a project to expand soldiers' cognitive abilities during battle," Caitlin began to explain. "What we didn't realize is that Eiling was trying to create soldiers with psychic abilities."

Joe frowned. "What do you mean "psychic"?

"Eiling was trying to create these super-soldiers with telepathic and telekinetic capabilities," Cisco clarified for them.

"But when Dr. Wells found out about the terrible experiments that Eiling was doing, he shut down the entire project," Caitlin finished.

"So our psycho-killer has a soft spot for animals," Joe made another face and looked back at the video. "That's sweet."

"What happened to Grodd?" Barry asked, figuring neither really knew.

"We don't know," Caitlin admitted. "After the Particle Accelerator exploded, I went down to check on him, and his cage was empty."

"Wait, are you telling me that Grodd could've been affected by the Particle Accelerator too?" Belén turned to the two scientists. "Can that happen?"

Cisco contemplated on the concept with a sigh. "When the dark matter hit Grodd, all the drugs and serums that Eiling injected him with could've activated. Maybe the Accelerator explosion created a meta-gorilla-" and then he became excited, "-And I think we know what happens when a super-intelligent ape who's pissed off at humans escapes captivity."

"Oh my God," Belén was once again amused by his movie sharing.

Caitlin moved over to the desk and started searching for Grodd's old file. "Cisco's right about the first part. This is the first brain scan that I did on Grodd."

She brought up one brain scan of Grodd's to the computer wall for the others to see. A good section of the brain were lit up with colorful shades.

"Whoa. His primary motor cortex and Broca's area are lit up like a Christmas tree," Barry remarked with widened eyes.

"From Eiling's experiments. And this is the brain scan that I just did on Eiling," Caitlin pulled up a second scan on the side of the first, revealing two near exact brain color shades. "His brain is lit up in the exact same way."

"So Grodd and Eiling are connected somehow?" Joe deduced after a moment.

"I think that somehow, Grodd is transmitting neural signals to Eiling's primary motor cortex. Mind control, telepathy…" Caitlin theorized, "Who knows what Grodd is capable of now?"

"What do we think Grodd wants? Revenge?"

"I do not like the fact that Wells rescued Grodd," Joe looked away from the screens. "I don't think it's a coincidence that this gorilla shows up at the very same time we're looking for Wells."

Caitlin could see that perhaps Joe could be right. "Grodd and Wells always did have a special bond."

"It wouldn't surprise me if Wells was using Grodd to distract us. If we find Grodd, we find Wells. If we find Wells…"

"We find Eddie," Iris walked in determinedly, expecting a good share of arguments just to stay there. "And I'm gonna help."

Caitlin looked at the rest nervously, and decided she would step in for Iris' case. "Know anything about gorillas?"

A grateful smile spread across Iris' face at Caitlin. "I just might."

~ 0 ~

Iris was given a seat at the desk to show the information she had gathered over her blog period and time at CC Picture News.

"There have been reports of some sort of animal down in the sewers," she explained as she brought in an article having to do with the topic.

"Mm. Alligators. C.H.U.D.S. R.O.U.S'es?" Cisco thought out loud but everyone gave him blank looks. With a frown, he sighed. "Am I the only one who watches movies around here?"

Iris continued searching. "Uh, a few months ago, two sewer workers went missing. The search party reported hearing strange animal like noises down in the tunnels."

"Where exactly did they go missing?" Caitlin asked her.

"Uh, Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street."

Cisco then took a seat on Iris' other side to turn on the third computer. "There's an access point to the sewers about two blocks east of that intersection."

"I'll start there," Barry said without a moment's thought.

"Not alone," Joe warned him. "I'm coming too."

"Huh, wading through miles of rats, roaches, and human excrement... count me out," Cisco said but then got a sharp look from Joe. "Count me in?" he amended disappointingly.

"He's your monkey," Joe had a brief laugh as he walked out of the cortex.

~ 0 ~

"Can we see them, still?" Belén asked Caitlin for about the third time after the men's cameras went online. Caitlin smiled and nodded her head, reassuring Belén that everything was going good so far. She knew Belén was annoyed that she had to stay back so Caitlin would answer her as many times as Belén asked.

"Well we can definitely hear Cisco yelp every time he sees a rat," Caitlin said thoughtfully before chuckling.

"Shush," they promptly heard Cisco over the comm.

Caitlin and Belén shared a mini-laugh afterwards.

"Belén? they heard Iris return. The woman had gone for a coffee down the hallway after their friends and her father decided to go on their own.

"Yeah, Iris?" Belén slowly looked at her, wondering where they stood in regards to their friendship.

"Why didn't Barry want to let you go?" Iris came up to the side of the desk they were sitting at, placing her cup over the taller side of said desk.

"Because your brother is overprotective, that's why," Belén sighed, but she knew Iris deserved a better explanation than that. "But that's not it. I...wanted to show you something." Iris gave her a questionable look but saw that Belén and Caitlin seemed to be on the same page. "Follow me," Belén started leading Iris out of the cortex.

Iris didn't ask any questions on their way into the pipeline, not even when Belén opened up the pipeline. But once she saw the familiar face of Noah inside a pod, her eyes widened in shock. "Is that...?"

"Oh, so now she knows too?" Noah jerked a thumb at Iris while looking at Belén.

"Why is he in there?" Iris was almost covering her mouth in shock. At first glance, Noah didn't look dangerous.

"Because he's Azul," Belén crossed her arms. "He's the one who tried killing us when the Trickster and James Jesse attacked, remember?"

Upon remembering, Iris fixated a glare on Noah. "You were Azul? This whole time you were playing us!"

"He was a spy..." Belén said slowly, "...for my brother and sister."

Iris opened her mouth with the intention of saying something when Belén's words registered in her head. "I'm sorry - brother? What?"

"My brother's alive, Iris, and he's a metahuman," Belén sighed as she got ready to say the next part, the most important part of the story. "And he's decided to use his powers for evil. Literally. Maritza's known about it all along and the reason she's gone is because Barry gave her an ultimatum: tell me the truth or leave. She chose to leave."

Iris looked between Belén and Noah with her mouth falling in a gape. "Oh my God..."

"You see why we didn't want to tell you everything? It's drama, and it's painful, and you didn't have to share the burden."

"If I had known I would have helped you," Iris said without the anger that had been lacing her words with everyone else. "At the very least I could have helped by just being there for you. Because learning all of this couldn't have been easy." Belén's gaze lowered, proving Iris' point. "I was there when you lost your brother, I could have been there when you learned he wasn't dead, but just...gone."

"I know," Belén slowly moved to close the pipeline. "It would have been nice..."

Iris could feel that Belén was doing her best not to show any tears. "Oh, Belén," Iris moved forwards to hug her friend. She expected to be there whenever any of their friends needed her from now on.

~0 ~

After a failed attempt of facing Grodd - that resulted in Joe's kidnapping - Cisco brought Barry back to immediately get checked over by Caitlin. Grodd had attacked Barry again, which resulted in the metahuman being knocked out cold.

Caitlin had pulled up his results of the brain scan and came to a familiar conclusion. "You're experiencing a spike of activity in your primary motor cortex. It's the same thing we saw in Eiling. The images you saw were some kind of psychic attack by Grodd."

Iris was in near tears at the side of the room. "First Eddie gets taken by The Man in Yellow, and now my dad…"

"And we're going to find them," Belén promised her, holding her hand. "We're getting them back, don't you worry."

"Hold up. I put a tracker in the tranq dart you shot Grodd with," Cisco recalled and started heading for the controller of said tracker. "As soon as it activates…"

Barry pulled off the device around his head meant to scan him and got up from his chair. "No, Cisco. I can't wait for that. I will search every inch of that sewer if I have to."

But Belén turned him around, slightly irritated he was entering his impulsive side again. "And then what, genius? Grodd is a gorilla that can telepathically attack you."

Barry knew she was right and sighed. He looked back at Caitlin and Cisco, pleading. "I don't... I mean... Can you guys build me something? Some kind of tech so he can't get into my head?"

Cisco looked unsure, matching Caitlin's expression. "I don't know. Maybe if Dr. Wells were here."

Iris looked between the two in disbelief. "I don't understand," she spoke up, making everyone glance at her to see her becoming upset. "Every day you guys figure out a way to help people. All of The Flash's powers and all of this equipment, and you can't save Eddie and my dad?"

"It's not that, we're just...a bit disoriented," Caitlin tried not to argue knowing that Iris was going through hardships. "We're lost, okay? But make no doubt Cisco and I are going to try. Aren't we?"

Seeing her looking at him expectantly, Cisco nodded his head. "Yes! On it! Now!"

And partly to avoid more accusations, the two scientists walked out the side room to get working.

Iris was left to look at Barry and Belén, and still mighty upset. "I can't get that sound out of my head. My dad screaming. Why did he insist on going down there with you? He's always preaching about being safe, but not once does he think about running into danger himself."

"That's just-"

"No," Iris said before either one could say more. "He's just a regular cop. He is not some meta-human with superpowers. He's not you two."

"We understand how you feel, and believe us, we're going to find him" Barry promised her.

~ 0 ~

It had taken them a little over two hours, but Caitlin and Cisco came through with a device meant to help Barry avoid being telepathically attacked by Grodd.

Caitlin presented to them a head device in her hands. "An anti-telepathy strip. It uses magnetic resonance to neutralize any foreign neurological stimulus."

"So it'll protect Barry from being mind-controlled?" Belén inquired.

Caitlin nodded but slowly came to a stop as she sighed and admitted to them, "That's the hope, but we have no way of knowing if it actually works."

Barry had faith in his friends' work and rook the device from Caitlin. "It'll work."

One of the computers started beeping and prompted Cisco to rush forwards. "The tracker just came online. We have Grodd's location."

Barry wasted no time and changed in a second. Belén sighed with full concern as he came towards them.

"You know we still have to work on your powers," he said as she continued to give him those worried eyes of hers.

"Doesn't mean I can't wish I was there with you," she countered glumly.

"We an't risk you losing control against a gorilla. A regular metahuman, fine. At least this way if we get our assess kicked it'll just be mine."

"My hero," Belén chuckled. She leaned forwards and gave him a short kiss on the lips.

"Always," Barry hugged her tight.

"Please get my dad back," Iris said after the two metas had pulled away.

"Promise," Barry nodded and sped off.

"Barry, what's your ETA?" Cisco had taken a seat by the desk in order to begin their plan.

"I'm in position," Barry called back.

"Wait for my signal."

Iris and Belén looked over to one of the computers on the wall. Iris saw two dots meaning to represent Barry and Grodd but was yet to understand what they were supposed to do next.

"Cisco?" Caitlin called after a minute.

"Okay. Here goes nothing," Cisco dramatically pressed on the keyboard."The steam's working. Grodd's on the move."

"I don't understand. What is the plan?" Iris asked from them, a bit impatient.

"He's maneuvering Grodd into a tunnel 5.3 miles from Barry…" Caitlin began and stopped as Belén gasped.

Iris saw her friend's off reaction and frowned. "So Barry can do what?"

"Oh, hell no," Belén glanced back at Cisco rather annoyed. "Is that why you didn't want to tell me?"

"Well, if we had then you wouldn't have let me say this-" Cisco took an excited breath in and exclaimed, "-Supersonic BOOM!"

"CISCO!" Belén half shouted but the man laughed anyways.

At the same time Barry took off from his position and made it towards the sewer. Soon as his balled fist made contact with Grodd, the gorilla grasped it effortlessly and threw Barry to the side.

Barry tumbled a bit until he landed flat on his back. "The supersonic punch failed." He pushed himself up and faced Grodd, seeing the gorilla narrowing its large eyes as it prepared for another mental attack. "Uh-oh. Here we go." He remained strong against Grodd, feeling nothing in his head. "It's okay, Cisco. The headset's working."

"Yes. Okay, uh, try some speed punches on him," Cisco suggested.

Barry nodded and endeavored in a series of super punches. "This isn't working!"

Cisco faltered as he came up with another idea. "Okay, what if you try…"

But Grodd acted first and seized Barry by the neck. Immediately the others saw his vitals acting out. Grodd threw Barry through one of the brick walls. From such a force Barry had to stay down over what felt like train railroad tracks. The built device malfunctioned after the strong blow and left Barry vulnerable against the telepathic attacks. Even as he tried getting upwards Grodd would mentally push him down with another attack.

Caitlin couldn't look at the screen anymore that showed Barry's vitals. "Barry's brain activity is off the charts. It's way worse than last time."

"That's because of the device failing, no?" Belén panicked as she got a glimpse of the screen.

"Grodd's attacking him psychically. He's paralyzed!"

"But it's at a railroad track!" Iris exclaimed.

Cisco hated making things worse but he warmed them. "Come on. There's a service train coming!"

Iris frantically looked at the three. "Do something please!"

"I can't stop the train!" Cisco said as he fiercely tried getting himself into the system.

"I-I have to get there!" Belén decided and made a move for her old suit when Cisco called her.

"You'd never make it and besides, you risk losing your control!'

Belén whirled around frantically. "I have to do something!" she ran back to the desk and situated herself between Caitlin and Cisco where the comm. was. "Barry, listen to me, okay? You have to concentrate on my voice. Whatever is happening to you, you have to fight it. I know you can do this. You've shown me how strong you are. I know you are so please, please stand up to Grodd. You can do this. Please. Barry, do it for me."

Her words rang true in Barry's head. He forced himself to get up, albeit wobbly, and quickly sped to the near wall as the train zoomed by. When it passed, he saw Grodd coming in through the giant hole of the other wall. Barry stepped forwards, back into the railroad tracks once he heard Cisco's warning. Grodd lunged towards him, nearly getting him if Barry hadn't sped back against the wall and the second train hadn't passed by. Grodd was swept away.

Barry then wasted no time and went through the tunnels to get Joe.

~0~

"Joe is going to be just fine," Caitlij emerged from the side room Joe was being kept in to recuperate. She had left Iris with him to look after him seeing the man was far more interested in getting back in the fight than to rest.

Belén had clung to Barry the moment he'd return from the tunnels. Even now she had her arm wrapped around him, refusing toblet him go in case he wanted to still go and find out what became of Grodd. "Maybe it's a good thing we didn't catch Grodd," she spoke up. "I mean, I doubt you guys have a super pipeline that can hold back a super-intelligent, telepathic gorilla."

"As always, right," Cisco pointed at her from the desk.

"Joe mentioned that Grodd called Wells 'Father.' And Wells must have ordered Grodd to come after us," Barry had thought about it long and hard and realized this was the only plausible reason. "It's why Grodd didn't kill Joe. I think Joe is right. Everything Grodd did, it was just to distract us." He then noticed Cisco's distant face. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Just thinking about this headset. It wasn't strong enough. You could've been killed out there, man."

Barry smiled. "No, dude, your tech worked, and it proved that we don't need Wells. The three of us took on Grodd and rescued Joe. Together, we can do anything."

"Actually, it was the five of us," Belén corrected, smiling. "If it wasn't for Iris, we wouldn't have even known where to begin our search."

Barry agreed with a nod. He lowered his head and kissed her hair. Perhaps he could relax just a little now...

~0~

Later on, Barry had wanted to see how Joe was doing before taking Belén home. In the meantime, Cisco had begun making other searches for their missing gorilla at the desk while Belén, Caitlin and Iris lounged about.

"You really think Grodd would actually still be in the city?" Iris looked at Cisco.

Cisco continued typing with eyes glued to the screen. "If he was working with Wells then I would assume though."

"Yeah, but where would they be?" Caitlin sighed as none of them came any closer to figuring out the answer.

"I don't know," Cisco answered truthfully. "He could be like Planet of the Apes and be plotting to destroy us again or maybe more classical like King Kong climbing up the tallest building in our city-"

Belén clapped a hand over his mouth. "No more movie talks, got it?" Cisco playfully narrowed his eyes on her. Belén slowly lifted her hand from his mouth and leaned back on her chair, laughing as she shook her head. "Sometimes I think this is the real reason we didn't work out as a date - you kept talking over the movie!"

Caitlin and Iris exchanged amused looks while Cisco became offended.

"I was trying to inform you!"

"It was a movie I'd never seen, Cisco, I didn't want to be informed," Belén shook her head.

"I didn't hear you complaining with all that popcorn you were eating!"

"That was me trying to focus on the movie!"

"But you say Barry does the same thing!"

"Yeah but at least he quiets down when I make him!"

Caitlin and Iris had to laugh as the other two got more worked up over their failed date. Unfortunately, Iris spotted Barry slowly coming into the cortex and immediately stopped. She whacked Caitlin and made the brunette see him as well.

"You two went out?" Barry walked around the desk leaving Caitlin and Iris behind him and Cisco and Belén in front.

Cisco exchanged a look with Belén, the latter getting more nervous by the second. He stood up and tried to explain as best as possible so there could be no room for doubts. "It was way before you woke up from your coma and then, as I'm sure you heard, it didn't work out!"

Belén got up as well to help Cisco out. The last thing they needed was to be divided among themselves while Wells was still out there. "We saw we were better as friends and that's how we stayed. Always."

Suddenly there were so many things that made sense to Barry. It explained why Belén and Cisco always seemed to share a closer bond than with anyone else. It explained why often times it seemed like Belén was more concerned for Cisco than a regular friend would be.

"You two…" he rubbed his temples, "...you two went on an actual date…? Like, Like with hand-holding, and-and kissing-"

"No!" went both Belén and Cisco.

"Well…" Belén sighed as she realized it wasn't entirely true. "It was...it was just at the end, and...and…"

"It didn't happen!" Cisco insisted. "Because we couldn't do it at the last moment. We leaned in but we couldn't go through with it."

Barry tried to understand that but the more he thought about it, the less he liked it. Picturing it was not helpful. He shook his head and looked at the two in question. "I-I..."

"Barry, you can't be mad..." Belén whispered, her heart actually hammering under her chest. Now all she was thinking was that she should have said something earlier, something even in passing...anything would have been better than Barry learning about it this way. "I'm sorry..."

Barry made a hand gesture for everyone to stop talking, despite Belén being the only one talking. Without saying a word, he turned and left the cortex.

Cisco drew out a long breath as everyone remained silent probably for their sakes. He looked over to Belén, seeing her close to tears, and wished he had never, ever gotten the idea to ask her out.

[osborneflood4-blog]

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC Understand & Assistance

For more than 10 years, Lightroom has been the industry regular for photo editing. The longer I spent with Casey, the far more facts” I believed I knew had been corrected. Soon after just a single day, my approach to editing photos in Lightroom improved ten-fold. Adobe Stock now includes built-in templates to aid you dive correct in to your styles. Plus, you can drag and drop Adobe Stock search final results from the Libraries panel proper into your canvas to start off making use of correct away. Correct-click on a stock image to do a visual search for similar images. And if you choose to subscribe to the Inventive Cloud and then cease subscribing and shed access” to your pictures as PSDs or multi layer files, you know that going in. Adobe debuted the Inventive Cloud a year ago and mentioned buyer response has been much better than it expected. Matt, Adobe says that for now Lightroom is not impacted, but they also indicated that it might move to the cloud fully in the future. As of now, Lightroom is already a element of the Inventive Cloud. Up until Lightroom 3, Lightroom (and Adobe Camera Raw for that matter) has been making use of a processing technologies developed back in 2003. In Lightroom three, Adobe did a fairly sweeping update to how it processes your pictures, which is excellent in and of itself. But if you are bringing more than pictures that you edited in an earlier version of Lightroom, there are some critical items you need to know now, prior to you begin editing your photos, so you can select no matter whether to take benefit of these modifications or not. As far as the Adobe cloud factor getting hacked… completely saw it coming too. I actually hope either a) competitive non cloud primarily based program emerges to take Adobe's spot. or b) Adobe loses so much $$ they go back to performing issues the way they often did. The key right here is that there's no proper or wrong, or ideal way” right here. They're the editing tools that Adobe delivers. If your organization requirements to frequently modify, improve, and organize photographs, but has no use for the other net, print, and graphic design applications in Adobe Inventive Cloud, the Photography program delivers just what you need and nothing you never. An additional benefit of this approach is that the catalog itself is fairly tiny, frequently taking up only a handful of hundred megabytes on your difficult drive even if you have numerous thousand photos in Lightroom. https://filter.mattwalterphoto.com/what-is-lightroom-cc/ The second sort of user carries out the bulk of their image processing in Lightroom. For tasks Lightroom cannot deal with, they may possibly use an older version of Photoshop, a much less effective system like Photoshop Components, or a plug-in such as the Nik Collection or Ideal Photo Suite 9. These users could be wondering no matter whether to continue using the standalone version of the software program or to subscribe. There is a ton you can do in Lightroom to organize your photographs and I cover it all. The complete import procedure, the folder technique I use, adding key words, rating photos, using collections, geotagging and a lot more is all covered in-depth. Fundamentally, if you need to have to combine images and make precise selections, you need Photoshop (or some other image-editor), but if you simply want to improve single photographs then Lightroom can practically definitely do it on its own. Premiere Pro is component of Creative Cloud, which indicates you can access and share all your creative assets — like Motion Graphics templates and Adobe Stock videos — across your apps, desktop, and mobile devices. One particular issue I really like is I can access my Creative Cloud Photography plan from any device, anytime and anywhere. You can do some seriously exciting things to your photographs like I did with the photo of Caitlin above. I just played with different hues and coloring on her photo.

[lorrainecparker]

Adobe announces updates to the Creative Cloud video apps ahead of IBC, Premiere Pro included

With IBC just around the corner that must mean it’s time for another update to the Adobe Creative Cloud tools. As usual when a big trade show rolls around these days, Adobe will update their entire suite of video tools with new features across the board. We like to look at Premiere Pro, so let’s do just that.

But Audition first!

One of my favorite things coming to the CC tools is coming to Audition. That is audio ducking. I mention this first as I hope we can pressure Adobe to bring this to Premiere Pro. We need this in Premiere Pro. I mean come on … Avid added this to Media Composer!

Audio ducking could be a great thing if we can get it added to Adobe Premiere Pro’s Essential Sound panel. Until then it will be in this upcoming version of Audition.

And now for Adobe Premiere Pro

Since I really like those little features that will be loved by the craft editors of the world, here’s one: more label colors. Any believe it or not they are normal colors. All labeling preferences have been consolidated under one preference.

Yep, Cerulean is still there but so is Green, Brown and Yellow. There’s 16 colors in all. I’d love to see all these in Markers as well. Why not?!

Remember that workaround you have to do to delete gaps that might be between clips in the timeline? Not anymore.

  If you use the new text tools in PPro you’ll like the new font menu with a font preview. Plus you can favorite fonts for quick recall and filter by Typekit.

One bit of big new here is Multiple Open Projects. Premiere editors have been asking for this forever… like we had in Final Cut Pro 7. Personally, once the Media Browser came along I’ve found the need for multiple open projects to be not so much a need anymore but I can still see it’s usefulness.

See those tabs above? Two Premiere Pro projects open at the same time. And you can drag between them.

Multiple projects is pretty simple in operation. The difference in the file menu is there’s now a few new options like Close All Projects and Save All. If you have multiple open projects then being able to save them all is a good thing.

And you can toggle between those multiple projects via the Window menu.

If you’ve worked with PPro for any length of time you know that when you have media in a timeline then it must have a master clip living in the project. Such you can see when importing a sequence via the Media Browser as it will import master clips as well. The same happens when dragging from one open project to another but there’s an interesting new preference called Automatically Hide Dependent Clips that will hide the master clips when dragging in a sequence from another project. It really helps to keep things tidy. And there’s a couple of others prefs there now as well that look taken from an Import Project dialog box.

This Automatically Hide Dependent Clip only seems to work when moving between open projects and not the Media Browser. Further experimentation will be needed.

Another big thing you’ll hear about this Premiere release is all about collaboration.  You may have heard about this as Hollywood Report posted about this recently and called it, as many will, “bin locking.” I don’t know a ton about Hollywood-style collaboration overall but it isn’t “bin locking” but rather Project Locking. It says it right there in the new Collaboration preference.

Proper collaboration comes to Premiere. Hollywood (and others) rejoice.

The Premiere project structure isn’t the same as Avid Media Composer so by that design it can’t “lock bins” in quite the same way I don’t think. Rather collaboration and project locking are this (from the Adobe press release):

When working with multiple editors or assistants simultaneously on a single project, lock projects to alert others when a project is currently being edited so other users cannot overwrite edits. Assign read-only access to those that need it for viewing purposes only.

This is some good stuff for those editors needing to work together and it’s a natural progression of Team Projects, which will come out of beta. What’s cool about this new collaboration is that editors can work “on premise or remotely” giving some nice flexibility. I wonder how it might work with two editors in different locations who have duplicate media on their own local storage. Editors will have to dig into the new collaboration features to really see how well they work. Team Projects is its own cost above and beyond your standard CC subscription which really is a bummer considering we’re on a subscription here. But it is what it is.

And we’ll even get a little lock icon in the corner of the project pane as well as in the project tab next to the project name. When a project is locked “read only” this lock turns red.

Those are most of the noteworthy features that I saw for the diehard craft editor out there. But they aren’t the only things as there are updates to Motion Graphics templates and a ton of work that has been done with VR editing (remember that Skybox acquisition?) No word that I’ve seen on when these updates will ship (we got the last ones day and date of the NAB announcement but not this time) so keep an eye on your Creative Cloud app.

Here’s the pr points for all of the notable features:

Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Work on multiple projects simultaneously via a tab-based structure and freely edit and copy portions of one project into another. With Project Locking, lock shared projects to alert others when a project is being edited and assign read-only access to project viewers. The Essential Graphics panel includes time- and position-based controls for building in Responsive Design to your motion graphics so that they respond intelligently to changes in duration, aspect ratio, and frame size. The graphics workflow also allows you to select and manipulate multiple graphic layers simultaneously in the Program Monitor and Essential Graphics panel. A new font preview menu allows you to select favorites with filtering and search options. Editors wanting to work with dynamic graphics or graphics packages created in After Effects can access Motion Graphics templates created by talented professionals in Adobe Stock. Immersive: a new space for new kinds of storytelling in Premiere Pro and After Effects Adobe Creative Cloud gives you the tools to craft and refine immersive video. Edit the way you’re used to with VR video mode in Premiere Pro and the new VR Comp Editor in After Effects, which transforms equirectangular 360 footage into flat rectilinear images. The Adobe Immersive Environment in Premiere Pro allows you to view, review and

scrub through your timeline in a headmount display and still maintain the ability to use keyboard driven editing for things like dynamic trimming and adding markers. New effects deliver clean results across stitched content, including stereoscopic media, without artifacts or seamlines in both After Effects and Premiere Pro. In Premiere Pro, edit VR content using orientation-based audio and get powerful VR transitions that extend your editing toolkit. In After Effects, the new Extract Cubemap simplifies motion tracking and object removal in 360 video. Design immersive motion graphics experiences, using the new Create VR Environment feature, including camera positions – with or without live-action footage. The VR Converter lets you switch on-the-fly between different immersive formats so you can ensure your final content will play well on any platform.

After Effects CC

Build show promos, communicate schedule changes, present motion capture data, or generate the same graphic but deliver it in multiple languages with new Data Driven Animations. Animate with path points using powerful new expression access to Bezier path points on masks, shape layers, and paint brush strokes. Work with 3D elements faster with Cinema 4D Lite R19. Performance & navigation enhancements include the ability to render layer transforms, motion blur and more effects on the GPU. Keyboard Shortcut Mapping allows you to quickly find, adjust, and customize keyboard shortcuts using a visual map like the one used in Premiere Pro and Audition. Navigate After Effects quickly by knowing where to start just after opening the application with a new start screen while a new font menu allows you to set fonts as favorites or filter to see which are available via TypeKit.

Character Animator CC

Show, hide, swap or cycle through different puppet parts with your keyboard or MIDI device. A new Triggers panel gives you one place for all your triggers and an intuitive way to rig your characters. The Controls panel makes performing visually easier by displaying triggers and puppet properties as buttons and sliders. Improvements to eyes and eye brows make character faces more natural looking. The pose-to-pose option smooths out transitions between poses for a hand-animated look. Take advantage of new behaviors such as Fader and Collide to open up new animation possibilities. Audio improvements provide a visual representation of audio amplitude with a new audio waveform display while mouth shapes more accurately match to sounds using a new lip-sync algorithm.

Adobe Audition CC

With Auto-Ducking, automatically lower the volume of music when dialogue and other sounds are audible. Get up to 400% faster mixdowns, enhancements to surround panning for better positioning and accuracy, and new time selection commands support quickly marking time ranges around selected clips. Smart Input Monitoring allows talent to hear the most relevant audio source at the most appropriate moments. Maintain full-screen video preview between sessions or when switching between applications, and see precisely where you are in a project with the new Timecode Overlay display. Support for the Mackie HUI protocol gives Audition users access to modern control surfaces and consoles, including support for HUI-enabled timecode display and control devices.

Team Projects

Users of Creative Cloud for teams and enterprise work more effectively with Team Projects. Hosted in the cloud and integrated into Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Prelude, store source files locally or share lightweight proxies to make it easy for remote editors to collaborate. Now get the ability to view the personal auto-save history, bring an asset from a previous auto-save into your current version, and create a new Team Project from an auto-save.

The post Adobe announces updates to the Creative Cloud video apps ahead of IBC, Premiere Pro included appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

First Found At: Adobe announces updates to the Creative Cloud video apps ahead of IBC, Premiere Pro included

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1800 Miles per Hour: Ultrafast Charging Tech Moving Far Faster Than Anticipated

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Many who reject the option of an electric vehicle say that they’ll consider one only when EVs have the range for occasional long-distance drives and can recharge about as quickly as you can refill a car’s tank with gasoline. Well, that time is nearly here—a lot sooner than even many experts in charging technology anticipated.

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Charging hardware being installed this year will be upgradable to the capability to restore 300 miles or more of driving range in just 10 minutes. In “charging miles per hour,” as the upstart electric-car maker Faraday Future and others have called it, that’s 1800 mph.

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Although designed to be capable of that rate, few of these new-generation public-charging cabinets will be equipped to do so initially, in part because few cars are ready to swallow electrons as quickly as these devices can pump them into the batteries. The point is, we’re at a place in the evolution of electric cars in which commercial charging hardware is no longer trying to play catch-up to the batteries and the cars. Instead, charging technology is poised to be well ahead of the hardware on most cars, to a point that surprises industry insiders.

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Current DC fast charging, on either the CHAdeMO or Combined Charging System (CCS, or Combo) interfaces, runs at up to 50 kW—even though some carmakers list higher numbers that are still only theoretically possible. Both systems are in the process of being upgraded to be compatible for up to 150 kW, with the first publicly accessible chargers at that rate expected to be online late this year. Ultrafast chargers with compatibility to 350 kW and beyond—the charging ability that would get us nearly to gas-station fill speeds—are in the works, with a 350-kW test installation underway in Baker, California.

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“If you had told me seven years ago that we would be here talking about 350 kW, I would not have believed it at all—and now we’re talking about much more,” said Johan Peeters, vice president for marketing and sales at ABB, one of the leading producers of charging hardware.

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460 kW: Soon, the New Fastest Charging Lane

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How much more? Within a few years, a new high-powered CCS standard, employing a special liquid-cooled version of the connector that’s backward compatible with today’s vehicles, will be able to provide DC fast-charging power up to 460 kW, 920 volts, and 500 amps. That will surpass even the seemingly unbelievable 800-volt figure that seemed like far-off vaporware in 2015, when Porsche mentioned it in conjunction with its Mission E concept. That would allow more than 250 miles of recovered range in as little as 15 minutes.

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Even at such rates, experts caution that you’ll need a battery pack with range about 25 percent longer than the distances you seek to drive between charges. No matter the size of the pack, truly fast charging happens only for the first 80 percent of the capacity, Peeters noted, comparing it to pouring a glass of beer. Much depends on the technique and conditions, he said, but “you have to slow down for the last 20 percent or it will foam over.”

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Part of what has driven these deployment plans for fast-charging systems of 150 kW and higher, according to Peeters, is that lithium-ion battery packs are becoming more affordable—and thus larger—more rapidly than was anticipated some years ago. “Long story short, if you don’t have an EV with a 40-kWh battery, next year you’re out of business. It’s that simple,” he said.

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With current technology, cars with batteries in the 40- to 60-kWh range, of which there will soon be many, will take most of an hour to regain 80 percent after being fully discharged (or as near to that state as automakers will allow them to get). If drivers are heading out on long weekend drives, that hour is often too long for their purposes, Peeters and other charging-industry representatives argued at a recent panel on the topic.

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Yet, not everyone agrees that a bigger battery corresponds to the need for more fast-charging capability. “It really comes down to use case,” said Fred Ligouri of General Motors, who pointed out that the Chevrolet Bolt EV with its 60-kWh battery pack is easily capable of handling any daily-driving need for the vast majority of its drivers as well as most weekend-driving chores.

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Cross-Country Capacity for Premium EVs –

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Premium EVs will be distinguished from the proletarian versions not only by their larger battery packs but by their ability to charge those packs very quickly, a point Tesla is already illustrating with relatively modest capacities in comparison to what’s being proposed for the future. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted that the company intends to go well beyond 350 kW. Chargers on the company’s Supercharger network today are capable of 145 kW, although Tesla vehicles charge at a maximum of 120 kW. As we discovered during our long-term test of a Tesla Model S P85D, cross-country travel is possible, but 45-minute Supercharger stops prove tedious, making quicker charges an enticing prospect.

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To accommodate both mainstream models at 50 kW and future premium models at 400 kW, commercial charging-hardware manufacturers and commercial charging networks need a lot of flexibility built in. That’s why several of the leading charging-equipment suppliers are looking at modular upgradable systems.

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ChargePoint took over all of GE’s commercial charging stations earlier this year and now claims to be the world’s largest charging network. The company has announced a new Express Plus architecture that’s 1000-volt compatible and employs combinations of liquid-cooled power modules and power cubes. The company notes that a car of comparable efficiency would recover 45 miles in 15 minutes from a 50-kW DC fast charger or 370 miles of range in the same time with 400-kW hardware.

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ABB, too, has designed its chargers—which ChargePoint rival EVgo will implement—with grid stabilization in mind, so that one of its 1.2-MV (AC) substations can power six of these dual-standard ultrafast chargers.

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With hardware that’s built to be upgraded over time, providers also need to be careful where they locate stations. As Michael Jones, ChargePoint’s vice president of sales, pointed out in a recent presentation, 400 kW equals the power demands of an entire grocery store.

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Because of improved, next-generation hardware, home charging may move from today’s rates of 3 to 7 kW up to 10 kW or beyond, while up to 50 kW (from 20 kW or less today) will be found at so-called Level 2 commercial charging locations, those found at shopping centers, restaurants, and parking lots. A third tier of commercial chargers will be focused around providing “charging on the road”—at the rapid rates cars need to quickly regain a significant amount of charge. For cars with smaller batteries, that would be up to 150 kW, while mainstream, midmarket EVs would offer 120- to 150-kW rates, and top-segment models would be capable of charging at 300 kW or more.

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A Host of Expensive Issues

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As these ultrafast chargers come online, public-charging providers (and automakers) will be faced with new issues. Beyond higher initial costs, these chargers can cost a lot to operate because of surcharges known as demand charges, which are levied by public utilities for energy draws beyond typically expected levels. According to EVgo, these demand fees make up about 80 percent of the operating costs for their chargers. Installing more stalls per site is one way to smooth out usage, bringing the demand-driven expenses down.

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Another issue is that—as programs such as Nissan’s No Charge to Charge have illustrated—users tend to opt for the fastest charger their vehicle can use, whether they need that faster rate or not. The Bolt EV’s predecessor, the Chevrolet Spark EV, saw about 80 percent of units sold with optional fast charging. Despite the Bolt’s mammoth improvement in range (238 miles versus the Spark’s 82, per the EPA), GM expects at least that same 80 percent will opt for fast charging on the Bolt EV.

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Automakers are quick to point out that ultrafast charging won’t come cheaply; it involves additional weight in the cars (for batteries and cooling systems) and research and durability testing to make sure battery packs can take it. Nevertheless, the newest fast-charging hardware paves the way for a handful of vehicles that will be able to make use of it. These include the Porsche Mission E, the Audi e-tron, and perhaps the Lucid Air and the Faraday Future FF91, that will start arriving in 2018 and 2019.

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Chargeway Aims to Make Choices at the Charger Easier Than at the Pump

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Free Fast Charging Is Helping to Sell EVs, But Should Automakers Subsidize It?

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First U.S. 350-kW Charging Station Will Allow Speedy L.A.-to-Vegas EV Road Trips

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With accelerated funding this past year from automakers including Nissan and BMW—and a surge of funds from Volkswagen’s dirty-diesel-atonement organization, Electrify America—it now appears that the hardware to charge at gas-station speeds is well on its way to wide availability. How much more will owners pay to recharge at “1800 mph”? Nobody will venture to say just yet, but as charging providers struggle toward profitability, ultrafast charging could prove to be the secret sauce that transforms the car market.

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12 Essential Free Sketch Plugins

As Sketch 44 exits beta, we take a look at one of Sketch’s best features: the huge selection of open source plugins.

The Sketch community is wildly supportive and you can find tons of amazing plugins that’ll radically improve your workflow. In this post I’ll cover the 12 best Sketch plugins that every designer should have.

1. Sketch Measure

Sketch Measure helps designers organize and outline their work for developers, project managers, and other team members.

But this is also incredibly useful to lone wolves who design & code all of their projects. With the Measure plugin you can outline elements showing specific width/height dimensions to get proper measurements at a glance.

This includes all page elements like buttons, text, icons, and even major parts of the artboard.

With Sketch Measure you can even export pages into HTML/CSS with page styles in-tact. Granted there are Adobe tools that can do this too. But having all this functionality right in Sketch makes your job that much easier.

2. InVision Craft

A while back the InVision team announced a new plugin Craft. But this is more like a suite of plugins where you get tons of extra features and shortcuts.

One example is the Data plugin which lets designers pull text/data straight from public APIs on the web. This way you can auto populate your app with real content & images on the fly.

InVision developers are constantly updating Craft with new plugin features to make this even more valuable to designers. And did I mention this is totally free?

So far Craft has 6 major plugin features, all of which are worth adding into your design workflow.

Freehand – realtime collaboration in Sketch

Prototype – dynamic high-fidelity prototyping

Sync – instant syncing between InVision prototypes & Sketch

Data – pull real data from the web into your Sketch mockup

Library – design assets in the cloud shareable with your entire team

Duplicate – lightning-fast UI cloning

Take a look at the Craft homepage and see what you think. Once you try it you’ll never want to go back.

3. Sketch Toolbox

Every Sketch user should know about the Sketch Toolbox. It’s an exquisite plugin manager that just makes installing/customizing your plugins a lot easier.

With this Toolbox you can browse through hundreds of Sketch plugins and choose which ones you want to install. You just click what you want and it’ll automatically download to your computer, ready to use.

And the Sketch Toolbox auto-updates plugins to keep them running smoothly.

Technically this is still in beta and it’s always receiving new updates on GitHub. But I think it’s solid enough to use in a production workflow. In fact, I’d argue a good Sketch workflow wouldn’t be complete without this incredible plugin manager.

4. Export Assets

One of the most detailed tasks of a designer is allocating resources and sharing them with developers. All the little icons, graphics, background patterns, these all need to be exported (usually by hand).

The Export Assets plugin makes this process a breeze. Just note this plug is made specifically for mobile apps where designers need to export Android/iOS interface assets. This includes retina assets for @2x and @3x screen sizes.

I haven’t seen any features related to retina web design, but you can check out the Sketch Exporter plugin too. It’s currently in beta and it’s meant to be an improved version of the original.

5. Content Generator

The Craft plugin I mentioned earlier offers content generation. But you may want something a bit simpler like this Content Generator by Timur Carpeev.

With this installed you can auto-populate multiple Sketch elements at once with related data such as:

User avatars

First & last names

Dummy paragraph text

Custom strings(geos, prices, CC card numbers, etc)

All content is pulled from open source databases like Unsplash and Uinames so you can use this on multiple projects, commercial or otherwise.

  6. Looper

Photoshop has its own Actions panel where you can automate repeated actions. Sketch doesn’t have a panel like this but it does have the Looper plugin which is completely free and super easy to learn.

This is most useful for creating repeating patterns that take over the entire page. Graphic designers may find more use for this plugin than web designers, but it can save a lot of time looping through repetitive scaling/duplication tasks.

Take a peek at the Looper homepage to see what it can do. It may not be useful for everyone, but for those who can use it you’ll find yourself saving a lot of time.

  7. Sketch Iconfont

Web designers love icon fonts. Great icons make UI design a lot easier and font files are generally smaller than images.

The Sketch Iconfont plugin is a complete management suite for storing, sorting, and pulling icon fonts right into Sketch. By default the plugin comes empty so you’ll need to download icon fonts locally to use them.

But this grants you complete access to work with any icon fonts you find online. There’s actually a font bundle pack made specifically for this plugin if you’re looking to fill up your iconfont folder quickly. And you can always scour the web for more as time goes on.

I absolutely recommend grabbing a copy of this plugin. Icon fonts are here to stay and they’re invaluable to modern websites.

  8. Style Inventory

Whenever you start a new Sketch file you either have to re-make styles from scratch, or you need to copy/paste styles from previous mockups.

With the Style Inventory plugin you can bypass all this extra work. Just a few clicks imports all your previous styles right into your new Sketch document for easy access.

These styles include colors, text styles, and symbols, along with layer styles for certain elements.

This plugin is rarely updated but I do recommend it for merging similar mockups. You might also try the Sketch Palettes plugin for saving & importing color schemes.

  9. Pixel Perfecter

Every digital designer prides themselves on pixel-perfect mockups. This task isn’t hard but it does require every design element to be perfectly aligned with the grid leaving no overlaps or imperfections.

If you ever want to check your work before exporting you can run Pixel Perfecter. This very small plugin checks all your file assets to see if any pixels overflow the traditional X/Y coordinate positions creating imperfect pixels.

Note this won’t automatically fix these offset pixel values. It’ll just find the layer(s) causing issues and highlight them so you can go in and fix them yourself. Still it saves a lot of time checking each layer manually.

  10. Dynamic Button

The original dynamic button plugin was somewhat abandoned in 2015, but the newer Dynamic Button plugin is even better and compatible with Sketch 3.5+.

It automatically adds padding and button styles onto any text layer you create, and the padding is dynamic so it updates regardless of text size. This is wildly helpful for UI designers who are constantly making changes to their mockups.

This can also be used for mobile apps where buttons generally follow a fixed size/ratio. It’s not the most glamorous Sketch plugin but it does its task well.

  11. Compo

If you want a button generator along with some extra features then the Compo plugin is worth testing.

Compo’s creator got the idea after using the Dynamic Button plugin for a while, eventually wanting something a little quicker. Compo auto-generates the proper button size and text size to match your exact specifications. One click and you have a working Sketch component that’s automatically sized & positioned properly.

Normally when you create a button and change the text it’ll only affect the text layer. So the underlying button would be too small. Compo automatically resizes the button and the text as if they’re one element.

You can find tons of demos on the GitHub repo along with some user guides for getting started.

12. CSSketch

Last but certainly not least is the CSSketch plugin. This is most useful for designer+developer combos who want direct access to CSS code for all the styles they create.

Any page you design can be run through this plugin to export a full stylesheet with all assets accounted for. But since this is automated you can’t expect A++ quality code.

I still prefer to code my CSS by hand, but this plugin at least offers a starting point for non-technical designers or developers who want to save a bit of time.

  540+ High-Quality Vintage Illustrations – Flowers, Nautical, and More! – only $24!

Source from Webdesigner Depot http://ift.tt/2qrvCTL from Blogger http://ift.tt/2pKVA60

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Creative Use of the Radial Filter in Lightroom

Back in 2013, which is about two thousand years as far as digital photography is concerned, the folks at Adobe introduced a brand new tool into the kit of Lightroom 5. That tool is the Radial Filter and it has become not only one of my favorite tools in Lightroom but is one of the most versatile and powerful mechanisms we have for selectively applying edits to our photographs.

The Radial Filter tool has evolved and changed to where we find it becoming more and more useful in the latest version of Lightroom CC. In this tutorial, I will show you just how strong the Radial Filter has become. Most importantly, you will learn some of the great things it can do for you and your work.

What is the Radial Filter?

The term “radial” implies that the tool is circular of course but it goes quite a bit further than that. The Radial Filter is best considered as a virtually infinitely manipulable ellipse; meaning that the user can change the size and shape of the filter up to (and even beyond) the view window of the Develop Module.

Access the Radial Filter by clicking it on the toolbar in the Develop Module (is the second from the right, next to the Adjustment Brush). You can also open it by using the keyboard shortcut (shown above) Shift+M or by going to Tools > Radial Filter from the menu at the top of Lightroom.

The edits that can be applied using the Radial Filter with the current version of Lightroom CC include virtually all the develop options from the Basic Panel plus the recent addition of the “dehaze” feature from the Effects Panel. So essentially the Radial Filter allows you to apply edits to specific areas of the frame where you need them. You can set the filter so that the edits are applied to either the inside or outside of the filter margins (more on inversion later.) You can even use multiple Radial Filters together in order to achieve some impressive effects.

Applying and Manipulating the Radial Filter

Of course, the shape and position of the Radial Filter are the largest parts of the usage pie. To apply the filter, drag the cursor while holding down the left mouse button. You will see the filter expanding as you drag. There will be a placement indicator in the form of an opaque circular dot. This dot represents the location of each Radial Filter within your image. You’ll notice that there are also four square shapes around the perimeter of the ellipse. These are points where you can change the shape of the filter as you please.

Grab any of these points to expand the Radial Filter in that direction.

The entire filter can also be rotated by placing your cursor around the edge until it turns into a curved double-headed arrow (shown below).

You can rotate the Radial Filter around the center point when you see this symbol.

Left click to change the position of the filter.

Seeing Red – the Mask Overlay

One of the great things Adobe has included for you is a way to see where your edits are being applied by its filters and brushes. When using the Radial Filter, hover your cursor over the center dot indicator for about a second and you will see a wonderful bit of magic. Wherever the radial filter has applied its edits will now be highlighted in red.

Well, it’s not exactly magic, but it sure is close.

Note: If you want this mask to show all the time just hit O on your keyboard. You can change its color, or you can rotate through white, black, green and red by pressing Shift+O. 

Feathering, Duplication, and Inversion

There are some other tips when it comes to applying the radial filter. The most basic of these is feathering, duplication, and inversion.

Feathering

Feathering determines how hard or soft the border around the radial filter is, and in turn how noticeable the transition will between the edits applied and the rest of the photo.

Here we have a very abrupt transition….

Feathering at 0 the transition is harsh and very obvious. There is a definite line where the filter ends, and the unedited images begins.

Now you can see the softening of the border brought about by maximum feathering (+100). Depending on your needs feathering can make all the difference.

Feathering at +100 the transition is very gradual and less obvious.

Duplication

Now, let’s say you find yourself in a situation where there is more than one area which needs a similar adjustment to one that you’ve already applied with a Radial Filter. This happens frequently when working with groups of people or in a scene that has multiple elements such as a landscape.

Take this image for example; a shot of two people with similar lighting. I want to brighten both of their faces and add a little sharpness.

I created a Radial Filter using some slight exposure and sharpness increases and applied it to the man’s face. Instead of starting from scratch and creating a separate Radial Filter for the woman, I simply duplicated the Radial Filter. To do this, simply right click on the locator dot in the middle of the filter, then select duplicate (as shown below).

What this will do is copy all the settings of your current filter into a brand new Radial Filter which you can then move about and change as you see fit. It saves a lot of time and ensures you have a great starting point for your next edit.

The duplicated Radial Filter moved into place over the woman’s face.

I also added a third radial filter to add a little more contrast to the couple.

Inversion

On the other hand, inversion is something very different than duplication because you’re still working with the same filter and the same edits but in a completely different way. You’ll find the Invert Mask checkbox at the bottom of the Radial Filter panel.

Click the Invert Mask checkbox to invert the Radial Filter.

When left unchecked, all your edits will be applied OUTSIDE the filter. This is great for applying brightening and sharpening to faces and small areas of a frame as well as creating sunspots. Conversely, when the invert mask box is checked all your edits will be applied INSIDE the filter. This is great for creating custom vignettes and bringing down bright skies or overexposed areas within the image.

Integration of the Brush Tool

A wonderful advancement that is now included with the Radial Filter is the ability to adjust the filter’s edits using the brush tool. While the brush tool has been a standby in Lightroom for some years it has only recently been included as an advanced edit option for the Radial Filter tool. What the brush tool allows you to do with the Radial Filter is to tailor its effects more than ever before. You are now able to use the brush to apply the settings of the Radial Filter free-handed to extend outside or inside of the filter.

Here I have painted in the same edit selections with the brush tool that I used in the radial filter.

You can still hover to better see your edits while in brush mode (or click O on your keyboard to show/hide the Mask Overlay).

Furthermore, the brush has all the functions of the dedicated Adjustment Brush tool which includes the ability to erase edits.  If you’re like me and find yourself saying, “Oops, I went too far with the brush!” all you need to do is select erase and paint over it again.

Erase switches the brush into erase mode. Now you can erase the edits you don’t want.

Pretty great!

A Few Tricks

Sunspots

I mentioned sunspots a little earlier. They are a great way to add depth and interest to an image. While creating a sunspot where no sun exists isn’t always a good idea, the Radial Filter tool really helps to enhance the brightness (or darken) and warmth of a preexisting sunrise or sunset.

Here are two examples of using the Radial Filter to increase the impact of sunspots: First without the Radial Filters…

Original before adding the Radial Filter.

And now with two radial filters applied for brightness and warmth.

One more.

Three radial filters were used here to brighten the branches and add warmth to the sun in the background.

Tame the Moon

Another nifty way to use the Radial Filter tool is for toning down an overly bright or dull moon. Here we have a before and after split-view of the moon after some sharpening and clarity was applied with a single Radial Filter.

I also brought ought the shadows by darkening the blacks and then cooled the image a bit.

Simulating Depth of Field

It doesn’t stop there. The radial filter can also be used to simulate extremely shallow depth of field. This works great if you want to give an image a very old-time tintype feel. This is the original image:

Here I have used multiple Radial Filters to blur out the background, along with some other edits to give the image an antique feel.

Some Final Thoughts

The Radial Filter tool has come a long way since its introduction. Now you have the power to use the virtually all of the basic edit tools in Lightroom very selectively. The integration of the brush option takes the possibilities even further by adding versatility like never before. With a little creativity, the Radial Filter can do so much more than simply adding vignettes to your images. After some practice, it will likely become your workflow’s best friend.

How do you use this tool with your images? Please share your thoughts and images below.

The post Creative Use of the Radial Filter in Lightroom by Adam Welch appeared first on Digital Photography School.

from Digital Photography School https://digital-photography-school.com/creative-use-of-the-radial-filter-in-lightroom/

[robertvasquez763]

1800 Miles per Hour: Ultrafast Charging Tech Moving Far Faster Than Anticipated

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Many who reject the option of an electric vehicle say that they’ll consider one only when EVs have the range for occasional long-distance drives and can recharge about as quickly as you can refill a car’s tank with gasoline. Well, that time is nearly here—a lot sooner than even many experts in charging technology anticipated.

–

Charging hardware being installed this year will be upgradable to the capability to restore 300 miles or more of driving range in just 10 minutes. In “charging miles per hour,” as the upstart electric-car maker Faraday Future and others have called it, that’s 1800 mph.

–

Although designed to be capable of that rate, few of these new-generation public-charging cabinets will be equipped to do so initially, in part because few cars are ready to swallow electrons as quickly as these devices can pump them into the batteries. The point is, we’re at a place in the evolution of electric cars in which commercial charging hardware is no longer trying to play catch-up to the batteries and the cars. Instead, charging technology is poised to be well ahead of the hardware on most cars, to a point that surprises industry insiders.

–

Current DC fast charging, on either the CHAdeMO or Combined Charging System (CCS, or Combo) interfaces, runs at up to 50 kW—even though some carmakers list higher numbers that are still only theoretically possible. Both systems are in the process of being upgraded to be compatible for up to 150 kW, with the first publicly accessible chargers at that rate expected to be online late this year. Ultrafast chargers with compatibility to 350 kW and beyond—the charging ability that would get us nearly to gas-station fill speeds—are in the works, with a 350-kW test installation underway in Baker, California.

–

–

“If you had told me seven years ago that we would be here talking about 350 kW, I would not have believed it at all—and now we’re talking about much more,” said Johan Peeters, vice president for marketing and sales at ABB, one of the leading producers of charging hardware.

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460 kW: Soon, the New Fastest Charging Lane

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How much more? Within a few years, a new high-powered CCS standard, employing a special liquid-cooled version of the connector that’s backward compatible with today’s vehicles, will be able to provide DC fast-charging power up to 460 kW, 920 volts, and 500 amps. That will surpass even the seemingly unbelievable 800-volt figure that seemed like far-off vaporware in 2015, when Porsche mentioned it in conjunction with its Mission E concept. That would allow more than 250 miles of recovered range in as little as 15 minutes.

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Even at such rates, experts caution that you’ll need a battery pack with range about 25 percent longer than the distances you seek to drive between charges. No matter the size of the pack, truly fast charging happens only for the first 80 percent of the capacity, Peeters noted, comparing it to pouring a glass of beer. Much depends on the technique and conditions, he said, but “you have to slow down for the last 20 percent or it will foam over.”

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Part of what has driven these deployment plans for fast-charging systems of 150 kW and higher, according to Peeters, is that lithium-ion battery packs are becoming more affordable—and thus larger—more rapidly than was anticipated some years ago. “Long story short, if you don’t have an EV with a 40-kWh battery, next year you’re out of business. It’s that simple,” he said.

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With current technology, cars with batteries in the 40- to 60-kWh range, of which there will soon be many, will take most of an hour to regain 80 percent after being fully discharged (or as near to that state as automakers will allow them to get). If drivers are heading out on long weekend drives, that hour is often too long for their purposes, Peeters and other charging-industry representatives argued at a recent panel on the topic.

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Yet, not everyone agrees that a bigger battery corresponds to the need for more fast-charging capability. “It really comes down to use case,” said Fred Ligouri of General Motors, who pointed out that the Chevrolet Bolt EV with its 60-kWh battery pack is easily capable of handling any daily-driving need for the vast majority of its drivers as well as most weekend-driving chores.

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Cross-Country Capacity for Premium EVs –

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Premium EVs will be distinguished from the proletarian versions not only by their larger battery packs but by their ability to charge those packs very quickly, a point Tesla is already illustrating with relatively modest capacities in comparison to what’s being proposed for the future. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted that the company intends to go well beyond 350 kW. Chargers on the company’s Supercharger network today are capable of 145 kW, although Tesla vehicles charge at a maximum of 120 kW. As we discovered during our long-term test of a Tesla Model S P85D, cross-country travel is possible, but 45-minute Supercharger stops prove tedious, making quicker charges an enticing prospect.

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To accommodate both mainstream models at 50 kW and future premium models at 400 kW, commercial charging-hardware manufacturers and commercial charging networks need a lot of flexibility built in. That’s why several of the leading charging-equipment suppliers are looking at modular upgradable systems.

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ChargePoint took over all of GE’s commercial charging stations earlier this year and now claims to be the world’s largest charging network. The company has announced a new Express Plus architecture that’s 1000-volt compatible and employs combinations of liquid-cooled power modules and power cubes. The company notes that a car of comparable efficiency would recover 45 miles in 15 minutes from a 50-kW DC fast charger or 370 miles of range in the same time with 400-kW hardware.

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ABB, too, has designed its chargers—which ChargePoint rival EVgo will implement—with grid stabilization in mind, so that one of its 1.2-MV (AC) substations can power six of these dual-standard ultrafast chargers.

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With hardware that’s built to be upgraded over time, providers also need to be careful where they locate stations. As Michael Jones, ChargePoint’s vice president of sales, pointed out in a recent presentation, 400 kW equals the power demands of an entire grocery store.

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Because of improved, next-generation hardware, home charging may move from today’s rates of 3 to 7 kW up to 10 kW or beyond, while up to 50 kW (from 20 kW or less today) will be found at so-called Level 2 commercial charging locations, those found at shopping centers, restaurants, and parking lots. A third tier of commercial chargers will be focused around providing “charging on the road”—at the rapid rates cars need to quickly regain a significant amount of charge. For cars with smaller batteries, that would be up to 150 kW, while mainstream, midmarket EVs would offer 120- to 150-kW rates, and top-segment models would be capable of charging at 300 kW or more.

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A Host of Expensive Issues

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As these ultrafast chargers come online, public-charging providers (and automakers) will be faced with new issues. Beyond higher initial costs, these chargers can cost a lot to operate because of surcharges known as demand charges, which are levied by public utilities for energy draws beyond typically expected levels. According to EVgo, these demand fees make up about 80 percent of the operating costs for their chargers. Installing more stalls per site is one way to smooth out usage, bringing the demand-driven expenses down.

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Another issue is that—as programs such as Nissan’s No Charge to Charge have illustrated—users tend to opt for the fastest charger their vehicle can use, whether they need that faster rate or not. The Bolt EV’s predecessor, the Chevrolet Spark EV, saw about 80 percent of units sold with optional fast charging. Despite the Bolt’s mammoth improvement in range (238 miles versus the Spark’s 82, per the EPA), GM expects at least that same 80 percent will opt for fast charging on the Bolt EV.

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Automakers are quick to point out that ultrafast charging won’t come cheaply; it involves additional weight in the cars (for batteries and cooling systems) and research and durability testing to make sure battery packs can take it. Nevertheless, the newest fast-charging hardware paves the way for a handful of vehicles that will be able to make use of it. These include the Porsche Mission E, the Audi e-tron, and perhaps the Lucid Air and the Faraday Future FF91, that will start arriving in 2018 and 2019.

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Chargeway Aims to Make Choices at the Charger Easier Than at the Pump

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Free Fast Charging Is Helping to Sell EVs, But Should Automakers Subsidize It?

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First U.S. 350-kW Charging Station Will Allow Speedy L.A.-to-Vegas EV Road Trips

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With accelerated funding this past year from automakers including Nissan and BMW—and a surge of funds from Volkswagen’s dirty-diesel-atonement organization, Electrify America—it now appears that the hardware to charge at gas-station speeds is well on its way to wide availability. How much more will owners pay to recharge at “1800 mph”? Nobody will venture to say just yet, but as charging providers struggle toward profitability, ultrafast charging could prove to be the secret sauce that transforms the car market.

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