Friday, December 28, 2007

On the Verge of the New Year.

It's almost 2008! Where did the year go?

Here at C2 we've seen some major changes, including moving our Milwaukee office to a new space a block and a half away from our old one. We've expanded our staff with Kevin Stohlmeyer moving from contract instructor to full-time C2 employee and we've seen a record number of people using us as a resource for the graphic design community. We definitely can't complain about anything this year.

Next year we'll see even bigger changes - including an expansion of class listings, corporate training, a better testing process for our talent, better customer service for our clients and becoming an even better resource to Milwaukee and Madison.

If there's anything you're looking for, give us a call or drop us an email and we'll be on top of it!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

My New Years Resolution? Get Involved.

Since moving to Milwaukee, one of the things I have found to be a great asset in the design community is just that - the fact that we have a community.

From web programming to social networking, professional to user groups, there is no lack of opportunities for anyone involved in a creative field to belong. I admit, it can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you know what you are looking for, you may find there is a group out there that can help you.

Be sure to check out the C2 pipeline which highlights these organizations, both professional and user groups, who bring insight and involvement into our design community. So do yourself a favor this upcoming new year and get involved!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Hiring in 2008

According to the Business Journal in a poll by Harris Interactive and Careerbuilder.com, hiring will be steady in 2008, with only 8% of businesses planning on decreasing staff.

With a positive job forecast in light, how will you go about hiring or looking for a new position?

Taking it too far?

From my experience at the ad agency I worked at, I know that Pro-Bono ads can be quite a line to cross. On the one hand, you have an extreme amount of freedom in creativity, and here in Milwaukee that often leads to award-winning work - but on the other, you're dealing with delicate subject matter and a line that can be easily crossed.

Recently BBDO created a Pro-Bono campaign highlighting childhood mental illness (check out the ads here: http://osocio.org/message/provocative_ransom_notes_on_childhood_mental_illness/) and after running just a short time, they've been pulled due to content. Critics declared that it highlighted the negative areas of childhood illness, especially with autism.

Does it drive home a negative message? Or do we need to be extreme to get our point across?

Friday, December 21, 2007

Create outlines without deleting the original text

This morning I was setting up a new keyboard shortcut in Adobe InDesign when I discovered something I did not know existed. When you type Cmd+Opt+Shift+O (MAC) or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+O (PC) you will create outlines out of the selected text, but the text will be left alone.

It's Addy Time!

I'm sharing this email from our good buddy Lois at the Madison Advertising Federation!

This year we have TWO dates for bringing in your ADDY entries. The dates are Thursday, January 10 and Friday, January 11 at Studio R (formerly known as Radlund Photography) at 4704 Pflaum Road, Madison . On-line registration is open 24/7; check our web site for the link and the rules and categories, www.madadfed.com. The ADDYs are the largest creative advertising competition in the world. It’s a three-tier competition, starting at the local level, winners advance to the District level and then those winners move on to the AAF National ADDY Competition.

Plastic envelopes are available at Adams Outdoor Advertising, 102 E. Badger Road, Burne Photo Imaging, 4289 W. Beltline Hwy. and Concept Productions, 7878 Big Sky Drive.

Don't forget to enter the Industry Self-Promotion categories. All advertising and special event materials for advertising agencies, advertising suppliers and advertising clubs MUST be entered in this category. Entries submitted in industry self-promotion are not eligible in other categories. However, individual components are eligible for entry in the Elements of Advertising categories. This includes agency, design studio, freelancer, graphic designer, interactive developer, paper companies, advertising specialty companies, printers, color separation houses, pre-press service bureaus, photographers, marketing and public relations consultants, talent agencies, individual actors/actresses/models, as well as video/film and audio production houses, production studios, recording studios and independent video/film producers. It's a great place to enter YOUR work.

PLEASE do not put your corporate logo on your entry form and especially not on labels for audio and video entries. Rules strictly indicate that no logos are to appear on any identified labels.

Question: Just how many copies of the entry form do I need to print out?
Answer: You’ll need to print out three (3) copies of the entry form. Two copies go with your entry and one is to be attached to the manifest. Speaking of the manifest, please put your entries into the order they appear on the manifest. It’ll make checking in so much easier–for yourself (means less time away from the office) and for the people checking you in. While we talking about number of pieces needed, please submit two (2) copies of your print materials and 3D items but just one copy of cassettes and DVDs.

Many thanks to our volunteers. We can still use more for helpers on Thursday, January 10, Friday, January 11 and Monday, January 14. Please contact Ric Genthe - rgenthe@charter.net or Michael Knapstein - mfk@waldbest.com, if you or someone in your office is able to help out. Amyh Hutchinson is the chair f the Judging Committee. As a volunteer for the judging committee, you get to see all the work and also see how the whole judging process works. You will not be a judge but will help to make the process go smoothly. Our judges this year are from Blattner Brunner, Anstey Hodge, Bernstein-Rein and have backgrounds from agencies sucha s Young & Rubicam, Ketchum Advertising and Ted Bates NY. Want to help out on this committee? The judging will be on Friday, January 18 and Saturday, January 19... contact Amy at amy.hutchinson@uniekinc.com.

Thanks to our Gold Sponsor - Madison’s CW; Big Shoes Network (Bronze); Isthmus as a Bar Sponsor and to Charter Media as the Student Sponsor. Want to be a sponsor and get your logo in the show? Contact Kim Lothe - mediapartners@charter.net or Cynthia Everhart - cynthia@twistcom.com

Shut Down.

Check out the link above - the popular Apple rumor web site www.thinksecret.com that launched surprise revelations on the iPod, iPhone and more - has met it's end.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Congratulations to our 40 under 40.

C2 would like to take a minute to congratulate Erica Conway, our fearless face-of-the-company, on her selection for 40 under 40. Her diligence in taking MacPros to C2 with her brother, Jim Conway, has made an impact on our industry in Milwaukee & Madison.

It's with her go-getting initiative that C2 can proudly declare itself a resource to the advertising, design & marketing industries. Thank you to all who nominated her and cross your fingers for her official entry!

Happy Birthday Adobe (and Fritz)!

So not only is today the birthday of James Fritz, one of our Rockstar instructors, but it also marks the 25th anniversary of Adobe Systems, Inc. 25 years ago, John Warnock and Chuck Geschke left Xerox to pursue a new computer system that would incorporate graphics and text into printable pages called Interpress. Interpress and another program called JaM would evolve into the Adobe Postscript language we have all used in our graphics applications today. This was the launching point for the desktop revolution.

Think of it, without the foresight of these two scientist/ mathematicians, we would not have the great applications that are industry standards today. Its hard to believe that in 1988 was the first version of Adobe Illustrator, and three years later, in 1991, Adobe Photoshop was launched. (Makes you feel old doesn't it?)

So Happy Anniversary Adobe! Click the links below to see great video and interactive material from Adobe Systems, Inc. on their silver anniversary!

Kevin

History of Adobe Interactive Timeline
Adobe: 25 Years of Magic Newsletter
Adobe 25 Years of Innovation Video

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Where is this file saved?

Did you Mac users ever find yourself asking that? Here is an easy way to find out without going to "Save As..." or guessing.
At the top of any document opened from your system is the title of the file. (in the example below it is "moto3.fla" with a little Flash badge in front of the name)



If you put your cursor over the name and hold down the Command key (sometimes called the Apple key) you will get a file path showing where exactly that file is. (see below)

(This also works in finder windows on the desktop)



Now this works a little different on things like web pages which are not stored on your computer. If you are in your web browser and you look at the top of the document window you will see the title the the web developer gave this document (it is not the name of the file saved on the webserver)


If you Command-Click on the title of a web page, you get the file path on the web server itself




How Creative is your Holiday?

Coming up with your holiday "schtickt" was always one of my favorite parts when I worked at the ad agency. Now that I'm sitting pretty on the vendor side, it's great to see the whole hoopla that all the ad agencies in town do to get the attention of their clients and partners.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel highlighted some of the local ad agencies in this article. It made me smile to see the continued efforts of thought and care put into each package. Our peeps over at Freight Train sent out coal. Below you can see Dan, Eddie & Mickey sorting out the coal chunks for clients.



Lauglin/Constable
sent out an electronic version of the Magic 8 Ball (take your flash classes next month with us and you can be equally as cool :) ) and other places like Hanson Dodge made donations to different charities on behalf of their clients.

I must admit, my favorite gift thus far has been from our buds at Metagraphix - they bought a tree and sent organic cilantro.

What are your favorite holiday "schtickts?"

Monday, December 17, 2007

Lasso Trick in Adobe Photoshop

During our crazy snowstorm here in Milwaukee I decided to hunker down and do some work in Photoshop over the weekend. While I have been using Photoshop for a really long time, I just discovered a little trick and I wish I would have know about years ago.

When you are making a selection with the lasso pointer tool hold down the Option Key (ALT on windows) while making your selection. As long as your mouse button is pressed, the lasso tool will remain the normal free flowing tool, but when you release the mouse the lasso becomes the polygon lasso tool. Just click and hold your mouse button and it can go back to the regular lasso tool again.

Behold the power of the Option (ALT) key!

Friday, December 14, 2007

The Power of Viral Revisted

Perhaps you've seen Dove's new campaign for Real Beauty featuring the little, red-haired girl leaving the school bus followed by images of ill-proportioned, sex-symbol-esque, surgery wielding beauties, followed by the message "Talk to your daughter before the fashion industry does."

Let me start by saying - I am in love with the real beauty campaign. I think it's a brilliant marketing strategy that the American public needs to hear. With the majority of women in this country being a size 14, it is often too easy to believe that beauty is in the heroin-sheik, or the bottle-wielding tiny bopper celebrities. For a beauty company to come out and tell women that it's okay to be themselves, is in genius. It's a long the lines of Jennifer Love Hewitt's rant to TMZ for dissing her size 2 body a couple weeks back, while enjoying her engagement in Hawaii (see http://www.thatsfit.com/2007/12/08/jennifer-love-hewitt-gets-celebs-talking/). But I digress.

The video for Real Beauty is called "Onslaught," just in case you haven't been one of the hundreds of thousands of clicks. This is an example of yet another viral campaign (my obsession as chatted about last week), and a rather successful one at that. But, when dealing with video campaigns you're often going to get tied into youtube.com and have video comments back. A downside to this type of advertising is that the response may not always be 100% positive, and can indeed be enlightening. Please see what I found on my viral tracking today.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Use up that training budget!

We're just weeks away from the end of 2007! Still have some of your training budget left over? Help get your team up to speed - whether it's upgrading to CS3, intense instruction on certain applications, or a general overview of certain programs. We'll design a specific training course just for you.

By booking your classes by the end of next week we'll help you use up your budget before the end of the year and save money by honoring 2007 rates for all classes booked in the first quarter of 2008.

We'll even come to you! Our instruction for up to 4 hours of on-site training for up to 6 people is only $850.00* and for up to 9 hours of instruction is only $1400.00*. What if you don't have a training room? You can also rent machines from us and we'll set them up for your staff's use during the training! (*plus travel if you're more than 30 minutes away).

And don't forget, all of our instruction comes with a reference textbook & follow up support from our Certified Instructors.

We currently have the following days open for your on-site, custom training - just contact Tiffany (that would be me) to arrange your class!

Photoshop/Illustrator Instruction:
December 17 December 19 December 27 December 28
January 2 January 3 January 4 January 9
January 10 January 16 January 17 January 23
January 23 January 24 January 30 January 31

Quark/InDesign Instruction:
December 17 December 20 December 28 January 2
January 3 January 4 January 8 January 11
January 14 January 15

Flash/Dreamweaver Instruction (including Actionscripting 3.0!):
December 28 January 9 January 11 January 18
January 23 January 24 January 28 January 29
January 30 January 31

Video Instruction:
December 19 December 20 January 2 January 3
January 4 January 14 January 15 January 16
January 18

And don't forget about $5.00 Fridays! January 18, in conjunction with Studio Two, we'll go over tips & tricks in deciding whether or not to use stock photography vs. original and we'll show you time-saving trips for color correction & retouching. Get more information.

Did you miss the How to WOW with Direct Mail $5.00 Friday in October? We're having round two on February 22. We ran out of space last time, so get your seat early.

Great Photoshop Brushes

A great resource I use for custom Adobe Photoshop brushes and patterns is a website called Obsidian Dawn.

Stephanie Shimerdla creates some of the best quality work I've seen in a while for brushes. You may recognize her "swirls" series as something right out of the Adobe.com website. She also has a link called "tip the brush maker" where you can donate $10 and she will create your own custom brush set!


After you have downloaded the free set, just place it in the appropriate folder. For Macintosh users it is found under Applications> Adobe Photoshop>Presets>Brushes. Windows users can find it C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Presets\Brushes. Once in the folder just go to your brushes palette menu in Adobe Photoshop and select load brushes and choose your custom brush set.



Have fun!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Assign multiple keywords with one click in Adobe Bridge CS3

You have always been able to add keywords to images in Adobe Bridge but new in CS3 is the ability to apply sub-keywords and their parents in one simple click, assuming you have made a series of keywords that are related. I created an "animal" keyword that applies to all animals, a "dog" sub-keyword for dogs and a "Labrador Retriever" sub-keyword for just that breed of dog. If I click on just "Labrador Retriever" I apply only the keyword "Labrador Retriever" as shown below

But why wouldn't I want to apply the parent keywords of "animal" and "dog" to this image also? I can do so with 1 click, not 3. If I shift-click on "Labrador Retriever" it adds that keyword and all its parents which is very frequently what I want

Monday, December 10, 2007

Web 2.O for the layperson

I'm astounded by the options for electronic social and professional networking! As a general rule, we at C2 try to stay well connected via networking, attending professional organization events 2-3 times weekly in Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. Just check out the Pipeline to see where you can find us. We're out there!

Recently, the topic of many of these professional organizations' presentations is web 2.0 or social networking. I have a vested interest, as I spearhead marketing and sales efforts for C2, but I also have an interest on behalf of my clients, many of whom call me and ask for web designers and developers. They used to ask for web talent that knew about SEO (search engine optimization), usability and accessibility. Now they're asking about web 2.0!

We're embarking upon a new era. Our clients need our help navigating the options for their clients and their own companies. What was I to do? I decided to jump in and start learning!

I started small (and ignorantly). I went on dates with men I met on match.com, found the love of my life through yahoo personals. About the time I pulled my profiles from those two sites (they had outlived their usefulness), I created a MySpace page. I tried LinkedIn.com, played with plaxo.com and Xing.com, picked up a facebook page (I'm a level 9 Barbary Pirate!), joined some MeetUps, started to blog, hence my blogger.com profile, was invited to participate in ning.com and naymz.com. And I'm not alone, everyone in the office subscribes to blogs, participates on facebook, myspace, second life, flickr, LinkedIn, MeetUp, the list goes on and on. We're out there!

Even with all those profiles, I'm not even close to being connected with all the tools available. I recently read an article about social networking that made me feel like my efforts merely scratch the surface. The article's original intent references OpenSocial, an effort by Google to support developers who create applications specifically for social networking sites. It provides a pretty long list of social networking sites, many which are unfamiliar to me. But, just as I was feeling small and disconnected, I discovered social networking experts in my backyard! Kelli and Jeff Fitzsimmons own Area 444, an online media production company dedicated to exploring social networking strategies. BRILLIANT! In September, Area 444 launched a Facebook application geared at social connections, Friend Connector. Area 444's main web property, Comic Wonder, is the first competitive arena for joke-telling online. Of course, I picked up the phone and invited Kelli to coffee, so I could learn a bit more!

Bottom line: We're at a point in which an electronic connection is approaching the relevance of a face-to-face connection. In fact, the two together are more powerful than just one alone. We must find ways to help our clients understand and embrace the options available to them as well as find the skills or professional practitioners that can apply these new tools to their needs.

Do you have ideas or answers for navigating the labyrinth of opportunities? Let us know, we're curious, interested...we're out here!

Boom

Indent to here


Here is a little pointer that will really make your day in case you have never heard of it. If you are trying to make a bulleted list in any version of Quark or InDesign, simply type your bullet (option-8 or ALT-8) and put a few spaces in. Now if you want your text to hang flush, place your cursor where you want everything to hang and type "CMD \" or "CTRL \". This will type the indent to here character and the rest of your paragraph will indent to the space specified. No tabs needed!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Viral Campaigns

'Tis the season for Viral Campaigns!

That's right, it's the holidays so you can - of course - Elf Yourself, Scrooge Yourself and/or perhaps you'd like to Munk Yourself. It gets better ...

I'm not quite sure what it is about Viral Campaigns, but I love them. I can often find some rather amusing ones to waste away the hours of the day at www.adfreak.com, a blog from AdWeek.

So if you're finding that you have a handful of moments to spare - I recommend checking out a couple Viral Campaigns to laugh at, freak your friends out with or just to waste away time!

Need a little laugh and Elf Yourself, Scrooge Yourself & Munk Yourself didn't quite do it? Why not send a little viral campaign courtesy of Nip/Tuck to a friend and suggest they get plastic surgery? Check it out here: http://housecalls.fxnetworks.com/.

Freak People out at http://www.freakyourmind.com/ - Criss Angel's Viral Campaign for "Mind Freak"

Couple moments to spare? See how Bionic you are with this viral promoting "Bionic Woman" http://www.bat-test.com/

And of course, there's always the "Easter Egg" sites for insights into our favorite shows (perhaps the only way to keep us involved during the writers strike). Personally, I'm addicted to "Heroes" so I'm a fan of Activating Evolution, but if "Lost" is more your style and your itching for '08 - spend some spare time at The Hanso Foundation.

Know of any great Viral Campaigns that I'm missing? Post them in our comments so we can all check them out!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Adobe Leopard Compatibility

For those of you chomping at the bit to go out and upgrade your Macintosh to Leopard OSX, there are a few things to keep in mind before you do so.

Adobe CS3 is NOT completely compatible with Leopard, despite what your friends and coworkers may tell you. It took a while for them to admit it, but Adobe has finally leaked some incompatibility issues with CS3 and Leopard (see below). These issues should be addressed in the upcoming updates due out in January (hold your breath I dare you!).

The next big blow is that Adobe is no longer supporting CS2 software. It is a "forced upgrade" mentality when it comes to Leopard. If you currently run CS2, there are several critical bugs that will not have forthcoming patches or updates to help.

Apple and Adobe agree that when installing it is best to do an Erase and Install, not an upgrade or archive and install. Be aware that this does wipe your hard drive clean, so be sure to backup all important files and settings. After the install, re-install CS3 and many of these bugs are fixed.

Here are some of the known issues with CS3:

Adobe Photoshop CS3
Numerical fields for many tools refuses text input.




When you enter values in numerical fields to set sizes for the brush, crop, marquee, lasso, type, and other Photoshop CS3 tools, those values
revert to previously entered values when you try to apply them. Here are the solutions offered by Adobe:

Workaround for tools with sliders: Instead of typing in a number, use the sliders to change the value.

Workaround for tools with pop-up menus: Enter a value for the size but don’t press Return/Enter to apply the value. Instead, choose it from the top of the Size pop-up menu to commit it.

Workaround for tools which do not have sliders or pop-up menus: For certain tools, such as the Line tool, you may want to set up presets that you can load to set common sizes. Alternatively, you can restart Photoshop CS3 to clear the problem. You will then be able to enter values again. However, the issue typically re-surfaces quickly.


Workaround for type/font input is to use the Character/Paragraph Palettes.

For a full list of bugs, click here.

Adobe InDesign CS3
This is actually a funny bug, InDesign will not hide. Also, if you import .eps files with a jpg compression, the clipping path will disappear and export or print with the full background in view.

The workaround for that is an easy one, convert your file to a .psd file and use the clipping path option in InDesign.

PDF Printer
The Adobe PDF printer(s) do not work in Leopard at this time, it processes into infinity and never creates the pdf. Try exporting in InDesign or worst case scenario, print and use the "save as pdf" feature in the print dialog box. Yikes!

Epson Printers

Users are reporting problems with specific Epson printers, not all.
The Print module may not load. Epson has released a timeline for updates to some of their printers. Unfortunately, some older models are being left behind. Here is the link: Epson Macintosh Leopard Support


Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Power mail searching in Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5)


If you can remember from: , to: and subject: you will be able to get much more out of your mail searches, faster.

In any Spotlight search field (NOT just in the Mail program - this works in the Finder also) if I do a search structured like this:


from:erica to:tiffany


I get just the emails I've received from Erica that also were mailed to Tiffany (watch to make sure you don't put any spaces either side of the colon - search will break)


If I do the following search:

from:jfritz to:jsimon -subject:seminar


I get the mails I've received from jfritz that jsimon was cc'd on removing any results that include the word "seminar" in the subject (note the minus sign in front of subject)

This is a great way to narrow down your search results fast



56 Types of geeks


Which one are you?

Adobe Releases Flash Update Incorporating H.264


Today Adobe released an update to the Flash player. This release (named update 3) finally incorporates H.264. This may eventually lead to flash support for the iphone and other apple devices that currently do not support flash.

Here is a link to the actual file and press release.

Monday, December 3, 2007

QuickLook Plugins


My favorite feature of Apples new operating system Leopard is Quicklook. From the finder I can preview just about any file without opening it. Simply pressing the spacebar will open a preview of the file for review. Unfortunately the default installation doesn't work with Illustrator, InDesign, or eps files. I have found a few solutions.

The first is called SneakPeek Pro. The product does cost $15, but it lets you use quickview to open Illustrator, InDesign, and eps files.

If spending money is not your thing. Here are a few links for free plugins to quicklook.

To install them put the files in User/Library/QuickLook (you may have to create a folder called "QuickLook".

IF $15 is too rich for your blood, here are some links to free QuickLook Plugins.

Free EPS plugin

Free AI plugin

Free Zip file plugin

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Bringing Illustrator gradients into InDesign.

There has been an easy way to share swatches between the adobe apps for awhile now (.ase files. Select the swatches you want, and then panel menu save swatches). Unfortunately you were not able to share gradient swatches between Illustrator and InDesign. Ase files will not let you include tints or gradients. There is a work around however.





Inside Illustrator, create your gradient as usual. Next simply copy and paste your object into InDesign. Inside InDesign you will see in your swatches panel the swatch that you had created inside Illustrator.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Windows Vista and CS3

By now you've probably heard enough about Mac OS X Leopard, so I thought I'd break away and talk about Windows Vista and Adobe CS3.

We all know that Windows Vista has its own plethera of issues with its operating system. Bu there are several things you can do to ensure that Adobe CS3 is not the cause of any headaches or (eek!) crashes.

Many different factors can cause system errors, including conflicts among device drivers, applications, operating system settings, hardware, and corrupt elements in specific files. Although a system error may occur only when you work with CS3, the application may not necessarily be the cause -- it may be the only application that uses enough memory or processor cycles to expose the problem.

Here are some guidelines from Adobe. Please not that you must be logged on as an administrator to perform some of the procedures.

Some of these procedures require you to locate hidden files and hidden folders. Some procedures require you to locate files by their full file names, which include extensions (for example, example_filename.ini). By default, Windows Explorer doesn’t show hidden files, hidden folders, and file name extensions that it recognizes.

To show hidden files, hidden folders, and all filename extensions in Windows Explorer:
In Windows Explorer, choose Tools > Folder Options.
Click the View tab in the Folder Options dialog box.
In Advanced Settings, select Show Hidden Files And Folders.
Deselect Hide File Extensions For Known File Types.
Click OK.

Make sure you meet the minimum system requirements for Adobe CS3.
Seems simple enough but there are people out there that like to cheat and try to get by.
It doesn’t work. Pony up and buy more RAM.

Here are the requirements:
Intel Pentium 4 or Pentium 5, Centrino or equivalent processor
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise Ultimate (certified support for 32-bit editions only)
1GB recommended; 512 MB minimum
2GB of available hard-disk space
1024 x 768 minimum screen resolution 16-bit video card (24-bit screen display recommended)
Internet or phone connection required for product activation
DVD-ROM drive

Install current Windows service packs and other updates.
Updates to the Windows operating system improve its performance and compatibility with applications. You can obtain Windows service packs and other updates from the Microsoft website at www.windowsupdate.com. For assistance installing service packs and other updates, contact Microsoft technical support.

Reinstall and run Adobe CS3 with no other applications running.
After you install, be sure to run the Adobe Updater for the latest patches and updates. Then run your applications with no other software running. If the problem persists, contact Adobe.

If you still experience fatal errors or your application lags, contact us or go to the Adobe Support Center at http://www.adobe.com/support/ for more information. Be sure to make notes on what application you were in, the file size, what command it crashed on, etc. The more information you can throw at them, the more accurate and helpful they will be.

Good Luck!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

OS X Leopard COOOLLLLLNESSSS

I'm sitting in our 100% Fresh event learning about Mac OSX Leopard. It was presented by Robert Hammen, Apple Certified System Administrator, from Sells Printing. I'm FLOORED by all the cool stuff Leopard does. I'm not a power user, I spend most of my time using email, working with MS Office and playing on the internet. I found 2 sexy pieces of functionality that I thought I'd share. (in my own words...and clearer ones from the help menus)

1. Widget creation for Dashboard: So fun! Perhaps you frequent a web site that refreshes often. Intellicast for weather or perhaps your favorite sports team. Instead of launching a browser and navigating to the site to see the latest, you can create a dashboard widget! In Apple's words:
You can make your favorite webpage into a Web Clip widget. When the webpage’s content is updated, your Web Clip widget is also updated. And when you click a Web Clip widget in the dashboard, the webpage you used to create it opens.

To create a Web Clip widget:
1. Open Safari and go to the webpage you want to make into a widget.
2. In the Safari toolbar, click the Open in Dashboard button, shown here.
3. Move the mouse around to select a portion of the webpage. When the portion you want is highlighted, click the mouse button.
4. If you like, reposition the highlighted portion by dragging it. To resize it, drag the circular handles on the edges of the box.
5. When you’re done adjusting the widget outline, click Add.
6. Dashboard appears, with the web clip displayed.

To customize the widget, move the mouse pointer over the its lower-right corner. Click the “i” button when it appears, and then select any of these options:

Edges: Choose an edge style by clicking the small pictures of the widget.

Only play audio in Dashboard: If your widget is a sound clip, select this checkbox if you want the sound to stop playing when you dismiss Dashboard.

Edit: To resize the widget or reposition the content, click Edit. Drag the content around to reposition it, and drag the Web Clip’s lower-right corner to resize it.

2. Cover Flow: This feature is sheer genius for those of us who are organizationally impaired. Example: I have a head shot that I use for press releases and use with any of my online profiles (LinkedIn, FaceBook...) but I can't ever find it right away. I end up in the finder opening folders and then individual files. NOW, I still have to use the finder, but it's a bit faster and a whole lot sexier! The finder used to have 3 options: show files as icons, in a list or in columns. Now there's a 4th option...COVER FLOW. Snagged directly from iTunes, you can page through folders using this visual reference, and can find things much more easily (or I could just use spotlight, but that's NOT a new Leopard feature, although it does seem faster).

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Bug in Photoshop CS3 and Leopard

There is a transform bug with Photoshop CS3(10.0.0) and Leopard(10.5.0). If you transform (cmd T) and type in any numbers it will work the first few times, but after multiple times transforming the control bar goes crazy and you can't type in any numbers.
If you restart Photoshop it will be fine for the next new transformations until it goes crazy again. The workaround is to either use the sliders or just use the mouse to apply your transformations. Adobe is aware of the problem, and hopefully a patch will be coming soon.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Final Cut Studio: Apple ProRes 422


So you have opened up your new Final Cut Studio 2 Box and you have been playing with Final Cut. Sure, the open format timeline and the motion templates are really cool. But what the heck is ProRes 422, and why is it a big deal?

Originally on this post I had put a link to the Apple White Page which talked about the codec, but within an hour, the link had gone down. Interesting...

Anyway, check out this long article by Creative Cow member, Tim Wilson: Click here

Well now the site for the white paper is back up, so you can see it here: Click here

Thursday, November 1, 2007

November Happenings with C2

November is not a light month in the industry! Don't forget to check out our UserGroup Pipeline for all the different happenings and make sure you get your spot for all C2's very own upcoming events ...

Our next $5.00 Friday on November 9 from 12pm-4pm!

What is $5.00 Fridays? It's a new monthly program where C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions partners with a local business to showcase great marketing and design techniques to you in a seminar-based style for only $5.00. The best part? It always includes lunch.

This month we've teamed with Metagraphix to talk about the Next Generation of Variable - the use of PURLs (personalized URLs). The afternoon starts off with Jim Conway showing you great tricks on how to turn your materials from print to web, then goes into how PURLs work. Learn about how the relevance of information helps your return on investment and then find out how to get that relevant information. Registration ends on November 5 at 11:00am and seating is limited. Registration is required. Get your spot by visiting www.nexgenvd.com today!


Did you miss last month's presentation on Variable Data in print?
James Fritz, C2's own InDesign & Quark certified instructor, showcased some great tools on how to create variable images as well as content, then First/Edge took it away with showing us how they get printed. We had a sell-out crowd and are doing another one of the same presentations on February 22, 2008. Get more details at http://5fridays-wow2.eventbrite.com.


Curious about Leopard, the new Mac OS system?
Visit C2 on November 13 (Milwaukee) & 20 (Madison) to see a presentation on all the newest features & get a recap of the Adobe Conference from 4pm-6pm. Get your spot by registering at www.100fresh-leopardlaunch.eventbrite.com. Can't make those? Join James Wamser on November 6 for a presentation at WCTC starting at 4pm (for more information: wamser@sells.com).

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Great video!

One of my favorite C2 Talents, Brad Krause, sent me a link to a hilarious video, created by our friends in Utah, Agency Fusion. Brad Derricott, Agency Fusion's owner/ambassador spent a bit of time in WI this year, presenting to the Milwaukee Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) and Madison Advertising Federation. His presentations, and overall goal at Agency Fusion, demystifies web design/development by focusing on usability, accessibility and search engine optimization. It's great to see smart companies going the extra mile to relate to their target market. Kinda like C2. We've developed our User Group Pipeline to serve our clients, our talent and other creative professionals. It's one-stop-shopping for professional development opportunities. Check it out. Oh, and check out that video from Agency Fusion: http://makemylogobiggercream.com/

Happy Halloween

Don't Forget! Our next 100% Fresh event is coming up soon! Click the movie below for a fun halloween trailer.

Be sure to register at:

http://100fresh-leopardlaunch.eventbrite.com/

Happy Halloween!


Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Final Cut Pro - Quick Tip #1

You know how useful markers are in the timeline - giving you the ability to jump between areas of a sequence like chapters in a DVD (and also useful for making those DVD chapters)? This is only one application of the marker.

Especially when working with a long clip of voiceover, using markers can be helpful for making quick subclips...without specifically making subclips. As well as creating the markers, they can be quickly renamed or simply numbered to match the
block numbers in scripts.

You can use the markers in the browser just like subclips, moving them directly down into the timeline as a pretrimmed clip. Each marker's length is equal to the input of that marker to the in point of the next marker.

Next time you are working with long clips think about using markers. It will organize your work and is very quick!


Quark 7 Leopard Update Coming


I just got back from the Quark symposium in Chicago today and here is what I learned about Quark and Leopard Compatibility.

Quark 6 is not supported on Leopard, and never will be. Use it at your own risk. I will be playing with it to find out if I can run into any problems. Stay tuned for updates.

Quark 7 (current version 7.3) works under Leopard, but there is an apparent issue relating to exporting PDF's. There is a patch in the works (7.3.1) that should under way in the next few weeks.

Quark Interactive design will not let you export to swf, which basically renders it useless until it gets patched. If this program is vital to your livelihood, please hold off updating.

Leopard Quick Look zoom trick

Paging all new Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard users:

A great new trick when using the "Quick Look" technology in Leopard: When you are looking at a PDF (and so far I've found it only works on PDF's) use the Command + and Command - keyboard shortcuts to zoom in and out of your PDF. Just like in Photoshop - slick.

Monday, October 29, 2007

End of the Year...Events and Specials!

Author: Tiffany Ann Weber, C2 staff

With the end of 2007 already in sight and your training budget still in the bank, C2 is once again offering our end-of-the-year special - book your classes for first quarter 2008 (January, February or March) and keep the 2007 pricing when you register by December 15. That's right - whether it's InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, Dreamweaver, Flash or any of our other classes - book now at 2007 rates, and take the classes at your leisure in first quarter '08.

Speaking of the new year, C2 resolves to continue our efforts to be THE resource for Madison and Milwaukee's creative communities. Watch for an Adobe Illustrator Masters class, compelling $5.00 Fridays and our new 100% Fresh events,. Also, in response to your feedback, C2 plans to pop the cork on brand new classes in 2008.

And before this year ends, don't forget to check out the following events:

October 31st at C2 Milwaukee - The Milwaukee Adobe Users Group will discuss frightening tips & tricks. More information here.

November 1st at the Eisner Museum - Taking 2D to 3D with Planet Propaganda. More information here.

November 6th at WCTC - The InDesign User Group meets up and talks about Leopard! More information here.

November 9th at C2 Milwaukee - $5.00 Fridays: The Next Generation of Variable Data. Click here for more information.

November 13th at C2 Milwaukee - 100% Fresh, Check out the Leopard Launch here!

November 20th at C2 Madison - 100% Fresh, Madison's Leopard Launch is here!

November 20th at C2 Milwaukee - The Milwaukee Graphic Design Meet Up does a dessert exchange, more information here!

November 27 at Country Springs Hotel - WPPC's Technology Day, more information here!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

100% Fresh Blog

Author: Alexander Lucas, C2 contract instructor


Yes, the rumors are true. C2, the company who has brought so much to the community before, is now live online with their own 100% Fresh Blog.

Come back and see articles, tips & tricks, reviews, podcasts, news, and other C2 information which we want to share with you.

That's right - you!

You are part of this too, so if you like something about an article or want more information, email support@c2gps.com