100 Percent Fresh

Recent CS4 Updates

2009-05-15T13:54:00.001-05:00

(this is a repost from John Nack at http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/)

In case you've missed it, the CS4 versions of Flash, Fireworks, and InDesign have received updates in the last couple of weeks.

Flash PM Richard Galvan lists the issues addressed in the Flash release, including performance problems & crashes.
InDesign's 6.0.2 update (download for Mac, Win) includes the cumulative fixes from the 6.0.1 update (posted in February). For a list of fixes, check out its release notes (PDF), plus info on previous updates.
Of the Fireworks update, newly minted Fireworks PM Bruce Bowman writes, "This updater fixes the most common bugs that we know about in Fireworks CS4, including numerous text shifting problems, stability issues on Mac and Windows, and bugs related to pasting text from Microsoft Office applications. The team would like to thank you for your patience as we developed this updater." Here are the full release notes (PDF).

Web Design for Print Designers Made Easy

2009-05-07T16:30:00.005-05:00

Web design differs from print design in so many ways, yet employers and clients really expect that designers be able to manage both media with ease. The complexity of web standards, usability, accessibility and other best practices can make learning the web daunting...UNTIL NOW!

Really understand the process of designing for the web with this jargon-free introduction to the right way to make web pages. This one-day seminar provides a step-by-step introduction to the web design process. Originally designed to help print designers add web design to their skill set, this seminar will help anyone interested in how great web pages get built (with an emphasis on the best practices in the field).

Topics include: usability, accessibility, fright-free coding, process for developing goals for a web page, how to get a pixel perfect layout, and more!

Save the date to join Jim Conway, C2's lead instructor and web/Flash alpha geek on Tuesday, July 14 from 9 am to 4:30 pm. Lunch on your own from 12:00 pm to 1:15 pm. Registration opens June 1 for this $99.00 seminar.

Coming soon to C2!

2009-05-07T15:20:00.002-05:00

C2's 100% fresh attitude will soon apply to the C2 web site, tagline and some fresh new marketing materials.

In June C2 will roll out the new site, designed to offer clients a better, more efficient experience for class registration and talent requests.

New C2 collateral designs crafted by C2 instructors Kevin Stohlmeyer and James Fritz will also be unveiled next month, all featuring the new tagline: C2, Your Shortcut to Success.

C2 strives to exceed client expectations through our training and talent placement services, and hope our new look and online interface do the same.

Apple Keynote Tips and Tricks

2009-05-07T13:33:00.003-05:00

Shape Masks

You can use shapes created in Keynote to mask your image similar to a layer mask in Photoshop. First, create your shape, then using the Media Browser, drag the image onto the shape. You can then change the mask (scale, rotation, etc.) using the "Edit Mask" function. When finished, click outside your photo or on "Edit Mask" button to apply the mask.

Custom Keynote Themes

Online resources, such as keynoteuser.com, offer great custom themes for the beginner. Advanced users can create their own from scratch. Keep in mind that there is one trick. Never build your theme on a slide. Instead build your theme on a master slide. To see all your master slides, drag the divider down under the "Themes" window. This will reveal all the masters. Click one and go nuts.

Importing Photoshop?

YES! In keynote, I am amazed at the diverse file formats that Keynote can accept, including layered, unflattened, wonderful Photoshop files. I use these to build my own custom theme backgrounds (see above).

Audio files

One thing I am always asked when it comes to Keynote is how to create a continuous soundtrack for a presentation, or a looped track. Here's how:

In the Inspector panel, click the document inspector button, then choose "audio". Then either choose a track from itunes or drag an audio file from the finder into the audio panel. Here is the crux of the soundtrack - to make the audio file play through repeatedly while the presentation is running, choose "loop" from the pop-out drawer in the audio panel.

The other issue to keep in mind is that this is a linked file, therefore it must go with your slideshow or it wont play. Here's a simple remedy - when saving your document, make sure to select “copy audio and movies into document” in the Save dialog box . This will embed your audio files and movies.

We can't do it alone... C2 Partners, a love note

2009-05-06T15:45:00.005-05:00

Every business has partners, sometimes known as business resources or valued vendors. I wanted to take a few minutes to both ENDORSE and thank our partners, our trusted and valued business resources. If you ever need support/advice/service in their area of expertise, don't hesitate to contact them directly or ask me to make an introduction.

In alphabetical order:

Big Shoes Network - need a job? an internship? a resource for marketing, advertising or design in the midwest? Look no further. Jeff and Martha Carrigan have created an on-line networking empire! We love that BIG Shoes Network!

Bill McGinnis - Bill is the guy who says NO! Until he says yes! He serves as C2's strategic & financial advisor. He facilitates meetings, advises on hiring, interviewing and on-going employee evaluation, compensation and professional development. He helps us budget (saying NO more frequently than yes, but that's why we're still here!), provides long-range strategic planning and short term crisis management as needed. He's our one-man board of advisors. Bill usually takes on bigger fish than C2, we're thrilled and lucky to have him on the team.

Burton & Mayer - Brett & Steve Waterhouse do an incredible job! From the start they've exceeded our expectations, getting jobs done on short notice or connecting us with clients. They're rock stars and I cannot say enough about the level of genuine care and over-the-top service they've provided to our business since our inception in 2004.

DigiCopy - Paul Otero owns the local branches of Digicopy. As a former Apple guru he trained his staff well. Martje and the crew at the Erie Street location really know the hardware and software needed to get short run jobs done FAST and right! If you need to hit a quick copy place, look no further!

Fairway Promotions - We love our green C2 pens, hopefully you have one on your desk right now! Dale Tegtmeier is our preferred purveyor of chatckes! We like to call him the Chatckes King of Milwaukee. If you can put a logo on it, he can make it happen!

K2PR - Kathryn Wellner serves as our public relations pro, getting us placement in local, regional and national publications. We have a stack of clippings attributed to her hard work. She reps clients that need TV and radio appearances, as well as trade show and other media placement. Even though we're small potatoes compared to some of her clients, she always makes us feel like we're her number ONE priority. She's responsive, talented and well connected.

Locatelli and Company - CPAs to the STARS, that's Jim Locatelli and his band of brainiacs. Jim, Sheri and Chris all make our life at C2 easier, helping us with budgets, taxes and guiding us through the fun challenges of business ownership. AND, they throw a heck of an after-tax party, reason enough to become a client! L & C serve several advertising, marketing and design firms, so they know our biz, our clients and are an invaluable resource to us.

MC Services - As one of the only purveyors of Apple Certified training, the pros at MC Services are both stellar trainers for Apple network support and FileMaker Pro training, they act as consultants in both areas as well. Duane Maas is an experienced technician and instructor, as well as a dedicated Brewer's fan! We're thrilled to have them on our roster of partners.

Park Bank - Jack Walden isn't just a banker, he and the people at Park Bank are supportive allies and friends. They really understand the needs of creative businesses and many of our clients are their clients. They've played an integral role in helping us grow!

Proven Direct - With brilliant new space on Canal Street, the team at Proven Direct has become an invaluable event partner for C2. They put incredible thought and care into their build-out, this 5S lean, green digital printing operation often hosts C2 and Adobe User Groups in their new auditorium on the 2nd level. They share both their space and expertise regularly and we appreciate them greatly! Thanks to Mike Limbach, Dave Hess and Rick Bauer for all the support.

Sells - James "Jimmy" Wamser and Robert Hammen know Adobe and Apple software at expert levels and we're thrilled to have them as a training partner. When it comes to network and pre-press technology they're the answer. The Wams (as we affectionately call him) is an Adobe Certified Instructor with certifications in Acrobat, Photoshop and InDesign, while Robert is positively certifiable, boasting several Apple certs: Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist, Apple Certified Technical Coordinator, Apple Certified Systems Administrator.

Stamm Business Technologies - Dave Stamm has put together an incredible team of Apple and PC network pros offering the best cross-platform, IT/network support available. They service several creative firms and the internal design/advertising/marketing departments of some of Milwaukee's top companies. They understand the unique challenges of font related technologies, RIPs, Adobe and Quark software, etc. We partner with them regularly, sending our clients to them with hardware and network challenges. Stamm's crew always gets RAVE reviews.

The Eisner - We love The Eisner...and we show it every year at their I LOVE THE EISNER event, also known as the XO (kiss hug). Join us at the XO every February and show this industry gem YOUR love, or just pop into see an exhibit or catch an industry speaker. We've used their amazing space for seminars, meetings, classes over the last 6 years, clients alway leave impressed. We appreciate the ever-evolving exhibits, Cori Coffman and Katie Sorenson's professionalism and dedication to both the museum and industry. The Eisner always needs volunteers...contact C2 or The Eisner for details!

C2 Gallery Night Returns - with Community High School!

2009-04-17T11:13:00.006-05:00

The "Layers - Distilling Excellence" program is a collaborative effort with C2 Graphics and Community High School showcasing students work using Adobe Photoshop. The images explore both the internal and external forces that shape the “essence” of our self and represent how these influences have contributed to each student’s layers of memories, thoughts, dreams and opinions.

The exhibit is the result of a digital media/graphic design course provided by C2 Instructors James Fritz, Kevin Stohlmeyer, and Angelo Vasta with C2 talent Brad Krause and CHS Staff members Jason O'Brien and Roxanne Mayeur.

Each students art is unique both in their artistic expression, but also with the story that accompanies each piece. Students that would normally not have an opportunity to express themselves creatively in digital media really took to using Adobe Photoshop® and create spectacular works.

The exhibit is from 5-9 pm tonight (April 17) in the lobby of our offices at 222 E. Erie Street. All 21 Students are scheduled to be on hand to showcase their work, so please stop by and show your support to these young artists.

Shown below are some of the works from the show.

Adobe Photoshop 1.0

2009-04-13T08:48:00.002-05:00

Before you hesitate upgrading to Adobe Photoshop CS4, take a look at this video and contemplate how far we've come in 19 years. (Yes Photoshop is 20 next year!) This is version 1.0 from 1990. The amazing advances from 1990 to today is one of the reasons I love what I do. (and you should too!). So sit back, take a relaxing breath and be happy that Adobe is coming out with better, faster, greater products for all of us to enjoy. Now go forth and upgrade.

Fireworks CS4 Tips and Tricks

2009-04-06T11:09:00.001-05:00

This month, C2 Instructor Jake Stroh is sharing some great tips and tricks for Adobe Fireworks. Read up on this exciting addition to any designer's arsenal.

The key to profitability in web design and development is to build great prototypes for your clients, arrive together at a sign off point on the interface and then begin the build-out process.

This process can be further aided by demonstrating your prototype as a clickable PDF, where the navigation actually takes the user to the corresponding page of the prototype, or by exporting your Fireworks page layouts as a “demo” which produces a clickable flash slide show as a way to sell your design ideas to your clients.

Exporting a clickable PDF:

Once you have designed a navigation system that you like, it would be a good idea in an effort to save time, to create a Master page of this. To set your current page as a Master page, goto the PAGES palette and by using the palette pulldown menu, select “Set as master page”. Now when you create a new page all of your master page items will already be on the page.

Once all of your pages are prototyped you can then return to your master page, select the “Rectangle Hotspot tool” in the WEB section of the Tools palette. Drag a rectangular box across each navigation button. Once created you can select the cyan colored box and go to the inspector and select from the LINK pull down menu. This link menu will give you options to the names of each of your pages. If you took the time to name them (by clicking on the default names “01 PAGE” and typing in your own name), then it should not be all that hard to associate the named link with the proper Hotspot area.

With all of the hot spots LINKED to the proper pages, select FILE, EXPORT, Export as PDF. This will generate a multi-paged PDF that will jump to the proper page when the user clicks on the hotspot area.

Demo current document:

Another way to create an interactive slide show of your prototyped website, is to simply select COMMANDS, DEMO CURRENT DOCUMENT at any point during your design process. This will bring up a prompt that will give you the ability to CHECK which pages you wish to include in your presentation.

The benefits to this approach are: The presentation is viewed in a web browser and can be uploaded to a staging area for presentation on the we. A clickable thumbnail navigation appears when mousing over the bottom portion of your web browser and disappears when mousing off of the thumbnail navigation, which is a great non-intrusive way to present and navigate your designs.

Be mindful that this approach produces many files in order to work: Thumbnail and presentation images, HTML, XML, SWF and JS files produce this simply elegant way to present your ideas.

On a soapbox for public art

2009-04-03T11:15:00.005-05:00

Day-to-day I represent professional artists: graphic designers, photographers, creative directors, production artists, copy writers and most related creative professions. Many of these professionals also paint, sing, dance, play instruments, write, sculpt, garden, weld, sew, bead, sketch, build furniture or otherwise immerse themselves in the arts to feed their souls. Lots of these creative-types and artists subscribe to this mailing list, as well as those of us who hire, train, educate, administrate and serve as vendors to these folks. Today I find myself on a soapbox talking to all of you about public art. I enjoy being surrounded by thoughtful architecture, colorful sculptures, paintings, photography and the energy of a city that appreciates art. Controversial as public art may be, it creates jobs, adds character to neighborhoods and promotes lively conversation.

I want our creative community to step up and support the already funded and art board-approved public arts project that the Milwaukee Common Council has yet to approve. This effort necessitates timely support, as deadlines for supplies needed by the artist fast approach. Please read the summary of the situation below and join me in supporting public art in Milwaukee!

From an email written by Christine Harris of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee:
Many of you may be aware that a public art project, which had gone through the proper process of selection and approval, was taken to task by some of the City Council's Aldermen earlier this week at a Department of Public Works Committee meeting. The project was shelved at least until the next meeting and may be in jeopardy. The Cultural Alliance and many others in the cultural community believe this action has hurt the cause for public art in our community. We are asking you to communicate with the committee Aldermen in support of approving this public art project by Janet Zweig. For more background on the project, please go to Mary Louise Schumacher's blog site http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/artcity.html.

The Cultural Alliance is taking the position that Bob Bryson and Alderman Bauman thought they had the votes to move this project forward and therefore didn't need to rally the troops. We believe we should be thanking Ald. Bob Bauman for his support. In addition, we will be working behind the scenes to help problem solve together with the Aldermen. Hopefully, the combination of grass roots impact and 'grass tops' communication will move this project forward. Both are needed.

In addition to your personal point of view, which is an important expression, here are some talking points:

This public art process was put in to place years ago and the project has been moving forward according to all of the guidelines. The money has already been approved.

The public art committee was comprised of people with the background and commitment of the public interest to make an artist choice that will serve our community well and meet the budgetary requirements.

The chosen artist, Janet Zweig, has committed to spend the $60,000 matching dollars being approved with local artists, thereby giving very valuable jobs to our city and helping to make the project community-relevant. Furthermore, she has a stellar international reputation for her work and a Milwaukee background.

We (the Cultural Alliance) believe that a well structured public art program is critical to having an interesting, culturally diverse community and that it not only adds to our quality of life but it helps to distinguish our region by reflecting our unique expression.

Please, please, please be respectful. We are not going to change attitudes or behaviors by beating people up - that only escalates negative visibility, as we can see by the opening comments being quoted in today's Stingl column. We have learned we still have much advocacy to do. I would like to share some comments from Brad Lichtenstein's well crafted letter to his Alderman.

"We can raise the entire cultural capital of Milwaukee in part by takings risks and supporting public art. You don't need to personally like every piece of public art that you vote on. Art is a matter of preference. You just need to like the idea of crafting a first-class city that can compete in these trying economic times. Art goes hand in hand with better transportation, business development and all of the other efforts to bolster our economy. I hope you'll reconsider your sentiments and support this project. Oh, and by the way, the part the city would pay for supports local artists by giving them jobs." Brad Lichtenstein

Contact information for the Aldermen is below. If you need to see which district you reside or work in so you can make the letter more personal, please go to: http://www.ci.mil.wi.us/router.asp?docid=304 . If you wish to contact YOUR Alderman in support of this project, please do so. Mail Address for all is City Hall, Room 205, 200 E. Wells, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Ald. 4th District Robert Bauman, Chair; rjbauma@milwaukee.gov voted in favor

Ald. 11th District Joe Dudzik, Vice Chair; jdudzi@milwaukee.gov

Ald. 7th District Willie C. Wade; wwade@milwaukee.gov

Ald. 8th District Robert G. Donovan; rdonov@milwaukee.gov

Ald. 9th District Robert W. Puente; rpuent@milwaukee.gov

We also believe that on the larger Common Council, Ald. Mike Murphy and Nic Kovac will likely be supportive.

Next Steps: Once we know the date of the next meeting where this project will be discussed we will get that information to you, along with a suggested strategy.

Thank you for being advocates for our furthering the reputation of our region by being a strong and mobilized creative community.

Photoshop 3D fix

2009-04-02T11:13:00.003-05:00

Ok, I know a lot of you have not used the 3D feature in Photoshop, or have had issues with bringing in the really cool Collada files from Google 3D warehouse. If you are not aware, when you currently import a Collada file into a 3D layer, the surface opacities come in at 0%. This means it is invisible and you cannot see anything until you go through the significant struggle of changing all surfaces to 100% opacity (and guessing which ones should be less than 100% ie. glass, etc.)

Well a new script has surfaced thanks to John Nack at Adobe via his blog post today. Download this script file and load it into Photoshop. Run the script on your Collada file and BOOM! Corrected opacities! Righteous!

Here is the tech doc.

Fooling Around with InDesign

2009-03-30T08:19:00.000-05:00

Since April 1st is just around the corner, I thought it would be a good idea to show off a few different ways in which you can mess with a co-worker on April Fools day. Be warned, you may not be employed on April 2nd if you try these techniques on your boss. I don’t recommend doing all of these because it will be obvious that you did something. Just choose one or two and observe the results from a save distance, preferably behind bullet-proof glass.

Change all of your layers colors to white
This will make it impossible to for anyone to tell if they have anything selected. Bonus points. Edit the layer and uncheck print, now everything on this layer will be non-prining.

Change the keyboard shortcuts
Cmd(ctrl)+S changed to Quit
Cmd(ctrl)+Q changed to Save

Hiding Menu items.
Under the edit menu, you can choose menu’s at the bottom. In file menu, turn off save, save as, save a copy, place, print and package. Since you have changed the keyboard shortcuts, they will probably try the menus next, but they won’t be there!

Default Font
Change the default font in the basic paragraph style to something lovely like comic sans 72pt magenta 3pt leading.

Swatches
Rename the colors in the swatches panel. If you are clever (which I am not), you could create sentences with the names. For bonus points, change them all to spot LAB colors.

Preferences

Change the tools tips to none (who needs reminders)
Turn the thumbnail previews for placing off.
Turn on auto collapse for panels (this will drive them mad)
Change the ruler units to custom and put in 256 pt

Change the snap zone for guides to 36. Now if you even get remotely close, everything will just get sucked over to the guide.
Move the raster image view settings to the far left which will grey out every image.
Change the Greek Type Below to 128 pt. Good luck editing

Misc
If you are looking for other non-InDesign related pranks I recommend my favorite subtle prank. Every morning go to a co-workers desk and remove all of the staples from their stapler before they get to their desk. Do this every day consistently. At first they may not notice, but eventually it may drive them mad.

Coolest.Technology.Ever.

2009-03-16T14:57:00.004-05:00

While reading my weekly posts from around the design web, I ran across this amazing new tech called Augmented Reality. AR, as it is referred to in the industry, integrates 3D objects into live video, the video is digitally processed and “augmented” with the 3D components. In other words this digital processing mixes real and virtual worlds together, in real time.

So after researching this a bit and finding cool video snippets (see below), I actually was able to demo this myself using several websites (see further below). After playing around and showing this to the office, I can say that this is the coolest thing I have seen come out of technology in a long time. Leading the way with AR is Total Immersion. They have even signed with Topps Baseball Card Co. who is jumping the shark and using AR in their 2009 lineup of specialty cards.

Video examples of AR:

2007 demonstration:

Mini Cooper Germany Demo:

Topps Baseball Cards Website.

Demonstrations. In both cases, you must print out the marker PDF and have a webcam.

Demo #1 (scroll past demo video to see directions)

Demo #2

Take the next step...

2009-03-05T15:52:00.010-06:00

In August 2008 the Creative Transitions Conference inspired participants to evolve into creative supergenuies in just 3 days. The CTC team knows professional development can't stop there, so we're bringing on the NEXT STEP in your evolution, the Creative Transitions Series '09!

We identified three hot industry topics that will help supercharge your skills:

* Web Skills for Print Professionals
* Best Practices in HTML Email and Social Media Marketing Implementation
* Advanced InDesign Skills to Enhance Workflow and Efficiency

Each $99 session provides participants six hours of expert instruction and, as take-aways, video tutorials and printed reference materials.

C2 Events plans to expand the series to provide year-round professional development opportunities for creatives in Madison and Milwaukee. Our April C2 NYCU newletter will provide more details about the Creative Transitions Series '09.

Why can't I just learn Dreamweaver?

2009-03-03T14:27:00.004-06:00

Let's talk about web design for a minute.

In the print world, if you know how to use InDesign or Quark you essentially know how to create any document or page (with a couple caveats based on background knowledge like: placed images need the proper resolution, no accidental spot or RGB colors, etc). What you see is what you get.

Web design is different in that just knowing the Dreamweaver program does not allow you to make proper web pages. Or maybe a better way to put it is that there is much more required background knowledge before you will be able to build a professional, useful, successful web page. With that knowledge, Dreamweaver is a great tool for building websites but that background knowledge needs to come first.

What do you need to know before Dreamweaver is useful?

1 - You need to learn the rules for saving images for the web. Easy.

2 - HTML is how you get "stuff" on the page. You need to learn HTML and semantic markup (a fancy way of saying "tag things by their meaning, not their look"). It sounds like programming but it's really not, it's typing. You have to learn about 10 basic tags for HTML and then you're up and running. You can get a working knowledge of HTML in a couple hours. Fairly easy to learn.

3 - You need to learn CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This is, admittedly, the difficult part of web design. Everything you think of as "Design" is CSS on the web - from font control to page layout. CSS has to be created by hand by typing text to create a set of rules - you can't use a tool like the frame tool InDesign to draw a box. This isn't as difficult as it may sound - you only use about 20 CSS properties on a regular basis so that's another 20 words to understand. But yes, CSS takes a while to learn because it's really more about judgement and problem solving than learning some "code words". And that's why when people ask me "Why isn't there a program where I put stuff where I want it then makes a web page for me?" I have to tell them there isn't a program like that because the act of laying out a web page involves creativity, judgement and problem solving and no program can do that for us (yet).

Acceptance that web design is not done the same way as print design is the first step.

We have 3 web related classes:

In our Standards-Based Web Design class we use Dreamweaver as we learn the 3 topics above and we create websites at the highest level of professionalism - what's known as "Standards Based web design" - This class has my strongest recommendation.

We do have a Dreamweaver specific class that teaches all the "parts" of Dreamweaver but it is for people who are part of a team that already uses Dreamweaver and that person is not responsible for creating pages but maybe updating them or doing a couple specific things using Dreamweaver. Recommended only for special cases.

We also have a class dedicated to Creating HTML Email - even though they may look the same, the rules are completely different for web pages and email HTML pages. This class uses a very specific subset of Dreamweaver's tools along with Photoshop.

Flash CS4 Tips and Tricks

2009-03-03T14:20:00.004-06:00

Remember the new tweens live on the object, NOT the timeline, so select the object first then move the red playback head to the new frame and make your changes. The changes are "property changes" not "keyframes".

You want an object to finish its tween then stay in that state for an extended time? Shift-drag the last frame to the right (if you just drag, you extend the animation).

Be very careful with the scroll wheel on your mouse when you are over an editable field in the property or motion inspectors - most of the fields are active the moment your cursor is over them and scrolling the wheel changes values (handy if you're aware it's happening, annoying when you're trying to navigate).

BONUS TIP: If you are using the scroll wheel to change values, adding the SHIFT key changes the values by 10, COMMAND-Mac/Control-windows changes values by .1

Help Bring Back Bridge Home.

2009-02-18T09:51:00.002-06:00

Having been a big advocate for Adobe Bridge over the years, I was shocked and sickened to discover this message when I started up my Bridge this morning.

Adobe Bridge Home was one of the best assets available and a bragging point for Adobe Bridge. Having experienced the confusion and frustration trying to find information about my products via the Labyrinth that is Adobe.com, I was always pleased with the experience and ease-of-use from Adobe Bridge Home. Where else can you find one place that has tutorials, tips, product information, upcoming events related directly to your Adobe Products? Now you will have to search several pages in Adobe.com to find the same information housed in one source.

Shame on you Adobe for abandoning something that your users 1. actually used and 2. worked great without the need for major updates.

If you feel the same way I do, I encourage you to email bridgehome@adobe.com and let them know it.

Hopefully we can bring back this very important asset to all Adobe Users.

User Groups and Networking Overload!

2009-02-17T18:34:00.008-06:00

As I am writing this, I am attending the first meeting of 2009 for the Milwaukee Adobe InDesign User Group. This made me think of the great opportunities for graphic designers, marketing gurus, and web heads to gather and share their creative mojo.

In these troublesome times for employment and job hunting, marketing yourself and networking is a great way to keep yourself informed of the latest trends and opportunities.

This can become a little overwhelming at times, I know firsthand with all the memberships I try to keep straight. For instance:

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) is the Milwaukee Adobe User Group meeting here at C2 as is our $5 Friday on Adobe Fireworks (held oddly enough on Friday). Also Friday is the I Love the Eisner Event (XOXO) which is the very fun and exciting fundraiser for the Eisner.

Then there is also the Web414 group, Web Meetup, Graphic Design Meetup, Madison Adobe User Group, Adworkers, Ad2 and so many more. It can really make your head spin.

Thats where C2 comes in.

Check our C2 Pipeline for the latest meeting information for all of these groups. Think of it as your Networking Concierge.

Do yourself a favor and bookmark it to your browser. If you haven't already, shame on you.

Instructor Tips and Tricks

2009-02-13T13:50:00.003-06:00

InDesign tips and Tricks:

Cmd+Opt+G will select all of the guides on any given page.

Cmd+click to select objects that are underneath other objects.

Shift-double clicking on the ruler will put a guide across the spread to the nearest tick mark.

Everyone knows that Cmd+A selects all, but few people know that Cmd+shift+A deselects all.

New in CS3 - Double-click to switch between the black and the white arrow.

New in CS3- If you are typing, hit ESC to "escape" out of a text box and select the box with the black arrow.

Duplicate and copy & paste is so last century. Opt+drag to drag a copy of whatever you are working on.

Are there any jobs out there?

2009-02-13T13:45:00.003-06:00

Are there any jobs out there?
As the Placement Specialist at C2, clients and talent ask me this question daily. The answer is YES, of course! However, looking for a new position may take longer than it used to, and you may have to re-qualify yourself and look in different places. Employers have the advantage in this competitive market and Talent must stand out among their peers and shine above the rest! Increase demand for YOUR brand and make yourself more attractive by following these 6.5 steps:

1. Update Your Resume—Today!
Get your resume updated NOW! Ask several people to proof it. If you can’t do it yourself, find someone to assist you, or pay an expert copywriter or proofreader. Your resume reflects directly back to you. This includes getting your skills updated if you aren’t current for the market. Take some courses in the classroom or online to make it happen. Just as importantly, make sure your portfolio is current and doesn’t have dated, irrelevant material in it.

2. Keep in Touch!
Make sure that you are collecting contact information for friends and colleagues in case your company is “restructured.” Review your business cards and reconnect with anyone you haven’t communicated with in the past six months to say hello. You never know who can help you find your next opportunity.

3. Link In!!
Using LinkedIn is a great way to expand your network. Search for current and former colleagues or friends and link in. Use your completed resume (see #1 above) to start your profile on LinkedIn, and ask former associates for recommendations.

4. Why You?
Make sure you can succinctly tell someone who you are and what makes you stand out! Prepare a 30-second elevator speech and write it as if you were riding the elevator with a famous person you admire. Summarize what makes you unique, interesting and the best fit for a potential new position.

5. Network, Network, Network!
Attend events in your industry. Volunteer to help with these events or for nonprofit organizations in your neighborhood or religious organization. Donating your time helps the community and exposes you to new opportunities. Actively participate in organizations and associations that can benefit your career and your professional development. Use these events as opportunities to meet people who can give you advice (not a job!) and be a reference. Don’t bring your resume, asking, “Do you know anyone who’s hiring?” Being a good networker means being a resource – sharing your expertise and advice and asking people for the same.

6. “I’m Gumby, Dammit!”
The real Gumby was optimistic, flexible and friendly. He was resourceful and a great problem solver who never allowed obstacles to get in his way. Silly analogy maybe, but sometimes we allow salary, location, job title or some ego-threatening idea become an impediment to working for a great organization. Be open, be flexible and be friendly. You never know who will be impressed. Use resources like C2, the premier boutique staffing agency for contract and direct hire talent in the creative industry. Utilize our friends at Jobing.com and Big Shoes Network, and other niche job boards and resources out there for creatives.

6.5 Keep the faith!
If you follow these steps, what’s the worst that can happen? You’ll have a current resume, have expanded your skills and your professional development, updated your portfolio and met some wonderful new people and organizations along the way, enriching your life and helping you grow. Best-case scenario? You’ll be offered a new job!

Friday Good Stuff

2009-02-06T08:51:00.002-06:00

Typolution

20/20 and John Stossel tackles Graphic Design

And just so that you are not screwed. Here is Paul Rand...

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Mac

2009-01-22T14:02:00.004-06:00

Believe it or not, the Apple Macintosh turns 25 this Saturday. Everyone give a collective cheer for the two geniuses responsible for saving our creative lives.

Also, be sure to check the Apple website Saturday for a surprise.

What is Adobe Fireworks?

2009-01-19T15:22:00.003-06:00

A common dilemma when creating websites is the efficient interaction between the designer and the programmer. When the designer isn't happy, the design suffers. When the programmer isn't happy, the site suffers. Success is dependent on the compromises made between the two.

Adobe Fireworks is the middle ground between these individuals. Its environment caters to both the designers and the programmers. Fireworks supports native Photoshop and Illustrator files (which makes the designers happy) and it exports flawlessly to Dreamweaver (and the programmers rejoice).

Advantages for the Designer:
Fireworks is a pixel editor and a vector editor, which means it is a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator. It also supports multiple pages and paragraph styles just like InDesign. Since InDelutratorshop wasn't a very good name for a program, Fireworks had to do. Rollover buttons, hotspots and drop down menus can be designed without having to touch any code. Common elements like form elements and buttons are built into the program which makes laying out a webpage a breeze.

Advantages for the Programmer:
WYSIWYG features for the designer are great, but if they caused the programmer grief when they build the webpage, trouble might be brewing. Thankfully, image exporting for the web is fantastic. With the entire layout intact, you can choose exactly what pieces or area that you would like to export and fine tune the compression settings to the level that you require. Even form elements that the designer put in the layout can be exported into correct form tags in the HTML.

Exporting a click-through website is a hidden strength of Fireworks. Anyone can easily export the prototype of the website for a client to test drive. This is not a finished website by any means, but it will give your client an understanding of the functionality of the site. It can contain rollovers, drop-down menus and hyperlinks, all without the need for any programming. This is important because if the client changes their mind, you are still early enough in the design stage that you can accommodate the change without having to retool everything.

This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of Fireworks. Don't miss out on this month's $5 Friday and see Fireworks in action. When you are ready to learn more, contact Kate about our upcoming Fireworks classes.

Photoshop Goodies and Fun

2009-01-14T11:54:00.004-06:00

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Goodies

Check out this great article by Derrick Story from Macworld.com. Some of the features are just mind blowing (bird's eye view) and others will really help push your workflow in a faster direction.

Whats in Photoshop CS4?

Scott Kelby and the gang at Photoshop User TV have come out with a series (this is part 1 of 4) on what is so great about Photoshop CS4. A lot of good inside tips and tricks are revealed and some bad jokes as well.

Keynote 09

2009-01-12T10:43:00.007-06:00

As a designer, I use the Adobe Creative Suite on a daily basis, however there are some projects that require me to use other apps. One of those that come up more frequently than most is creating a presentation or slideshow.

Now I know what you are thinking - PowerPoint right? Nope. Keynote. I actually used PP for years and still teach it from time to time, but ever since Apple launched iWork with Keynote, I haven't found a compelling reason to switch back.

At this year's MacWorld Conference Apple announced iWork 09. Now in the spirit of full disclosure, I don't use any of the other apps in iWork except Keynote. If you use Pages, stop reading, look to the left of your screen and take an InDesign Class.

Here are some of the new features of Keynote:

Better Animations and Transitions. Apple has really ramped it up with Text Based Transitions, including Anagram, Slide In and improvements to Shimmer, Sparkle, among others. Slide transitions include the very cool Object Zoom, Object Push, Twist and many more. Even object animations are greatly improved with Magic Move. Click and record the movement for easy animations.

Enhanced Themes. Not that I use themes a whole lot, but these are a very cool way to start a new presentation quickly and just modify for an original look.

3D Charts and animations. This was an unexpected improvement. 3D Charts were around in previous versions, but now the animations are specific to Charts. Watch them pop up and enhance your graphs.

Keynote Remote. This is still a big unknown with me. It has the potential to be cool if 1) you have a iphone and 2) you have a WiFi connection to run your presentation through. A less expensive alternative is to use your Apple Remote.

The only draw backs that I have noticed and its really been an ongoing issue, is that with each new advance, Keynote becomes less and less compatible with PowerPoint. This is a critical issue in mixed usage workflows. You can create a cool preso on a Mac, but then when you export it for your client or coworker to work on in PP, all hope is lost for keeping your cool design. The other is I wish Apple would sell Keynote as a stand alone app, and not part of a package with other useless apps (anyone use Numbers instead of Excel?)

New Years Resolutions for Photoshoppers

2009-01-06T10:32:00.003-06:00

After reading all the posts on the net about the "Year in Review", I thought it would be good to have a "Year in Preview" for Photoshop Users. This is my list of things to look forward to in 2009 and have the potential to make you geek out in a good way.

First is the advances in Photoshop CS4. We've all talked about it, posted about it, and shown you a lot of cool things, but I know people are slow to adopt. But when you do, watch out and be ready for a great time. CS4 makes Photoshop fun again (not that it really wasn't before...).

Second is Photoshop World Conferences. With Apple pulling out of MacWorld after this year, and Adobe following suit, this poises PSWorld to be the biggest Adobe related conference outside of the über expensive MAX.

Be sure to check out Photoshop User Magazine and subscribe here. PS User Magazine and its counterpart, Layers are the two best resources for Adobe Creative Suite applications that I have found. Plus, as they are the main sponsors of PS World and The Photoshop Tours, you get insider information and discounts to events hosted by them. The website alone is worth the subscription cost. Be sure to click the link posted here for a bonus DVD with your order.

Next, I am really looking forward to the new Intel chips (dual-core nano processors, etc.) and what they can mean to both Mac and PC users. Im expecting a big ramp up on speed and in turn more Photoshop wow from Adobe.

And lastly is something that I talk about from time to time – Adobe Labs. This is Adobe's cutting edge tech available for you to preview and read about before it is released to the masses.

Adobe has released two really awesome applications/plug-ins for Photoshop in the past two months and they are really going to push the app into the new year.

First is Pixel Bender. If you haven't hear the gossip about this, Pixel Bender allows everyday users an interface to create their own complex filters using simple coding interfaces and a small number of tools that are sufficient to write complex image-processing algorithms (ie. Filters or Effects.

Next is Configurator. This Flex App allows you to create your own custom Photoshop panel with tools, menu options and information specific to your needs. Think of it as a way to simplify all the panels in Photoshop to fit your workflow.

So that is my short list of what I think will be the big news for 09 with Adobe Photoshop. Id love to hear what geeks you out with your favorite app.

Steve Jobs Responds to Rumors

2009-01-05T13:04:00.001-06:00

Apple has published a letter today from Apple CEO Steve Jobs that addresses speculation surrounding his health. Steve Jobs reveals that he has been recovering from a hormone imbalance that has been causing an unhealthy weight loss.

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I'm getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I've decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause - a hormone imbalance that has been "robbing" me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment. But, just like I didnt lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple's CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I've said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

Apple's board of directors also distributed the following statement:
It is widely recognized both inside and outside of Apple that Steve Jobs is one of the most talented and effective CEOs in the world.

As we have said before, if there ever comes a day when Steve wants to retire or for other reasons cannot continue to fulfill his duties as Apple's CEO, you will know it.

Apple is very lucky to have Steve as its leader and CEO, and he deserves our complete and unwavering support during his recuperation. He most certainly has that from Apple and its Board.

What NLE should I learn?

2008-12-08T09:36:00.001-06:00

Some of my students have asked me over the years, which is the best non-linear editor to learn? There is only one answer I can give them.

It depends.

This is not just because I don’t like to give firm answers. The truth is there is a lot of reasons to learn different editing software. Here is the rundown of some of the main editing systems, and their advantages. Also this is biased towards the Milwaukee market, as that is where my current experience comes from. Each market is slightly different. This does not apply to New York or L.A.

Adobe Premiere: They recently had a new release of this software in the new CS4 package. The editor has had some greatly improved functionality, especially in the media browser. The transcription program is neat but awful in terms of accuracy. It works great as part of the Adobe suite, which is such a good package of software that it seems a shame to use all Adobe products except for the editor.

Who uses it? Mostly corporate locations that buy the package as a whole and tell their print graphics designers to learn how to edit using this software that they bought. Also I noticed that when working in D.C. that the government agencies use it a lot.

Good for price and the software has caught up tremendously in the last four years. Still not quite as good as the top dogs but good enough that you will likely not find anything that you can’t do in it that you want. They teach this in a lot of schools which leads to people using this as freelancers but most production houses still are too snobbish to use Premiere. It is cross-platform which is a huge plus.

Apple Final Cut Pro: The Final Cut Pro suite is great. Final Cut Pro is a tremendously useful editor, though it would be nice if it could be transfered more easily to other editing systems (as is true with all of them). Motion 3 is the best yet and is quickly giving After Effects more of a run for its money. Soundtrack has always been a cool tool, and in combination with the Mac software Garageband, makes music making a much easier task. Livetype is by now a dinosaur and should be removed since you can do it all in Motion. DVD Studio Pro needs an upgrade (Blu-ray!!!!) but is still a very powerful authoring tool.

Who uses it? To be perfectly honest, every time I have heard of freelance jobs needed (in general) it has been for Final Cut Pro. Boutique production houses and design firms are gaga for Apple, so they like Final Cut Pro as well. I am ambivalent on this, but I have worked now in Mac shops for the last 7 years. They are gaining traction in bigger firms as well as the suite is quite convenient.

If you have a Mac and you love your Mac, use it. If you want to find the most freelance opportunities in this area, this is probably your safest bet. It will do everything you want and more. If you like PC, then you cannot use this.

Avid Express Pro (or Media Composer): To be honest I have not had the opportunity to even use an Avid in five years. My basis for this is based on my historical use of it. Still the “big” dog of the field, Avid is the top name in video and film editing. That does not necessarily make it the best choice. As more and more places switch over to software based editors, the advantages of the Avid dissipate quickly.

Who uses it? Big ad firms, powerful production houses. If you want the best jobs, know Avid. It looks much more impressive than Final Cut Pro. You aren’t likely to get as many freelance jobs, but these are the decent staff jobs.

Only for the PC (though they sometimes pretend to make MAC versions, everyone knows better). Market share shrinking. But at the end of the day it looks the best on the resume....unless the shop uses only a different editor.

Sony Vegas: Let me say this up front. I have only barely used this. And never for a job. This software is neat and has everything you need in one program (unlike say FCP or Premiere where you really need to go to things like After Effects and Motion). It is also quite popular in Wisconsin (which I hear is partly due to the fact that it was partly developed in the Madison area).

Who uses it? Established freelance veterans. It seems like people who have been at it for some time gravitate to this software. It definitely has some advantages, mainly that as part of the Sony line it interfaces better with its own products which means that Sony cameras and Blu-ray technology is much better placed.

Only for the PC, but cool, cool program. Not very popular so people may not even know what the program is.

So what does this all mean - you still haven’t answered the question.

Basically it does not matter which editor you know, as long as you can edit. Practice as much as possible and at least get your hands on each software. This will give you the basis to edit with any of them - and flexibility is so often the name of the game now.

WPPC PDF Handout

2008-12-03T13:17:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, Dec 2nd, was the annual WPPC Production Technology Update. As promised here is the link to download the layout with the information about CS4.
WPPC PDF

Here is the link to Robert's Tech Update on Apple Technology
APPLE TECH

You're in my Heart and InDesign

2008-12-02T11:10:00.002-06:00

This video was shown at the InDesign Master Class in Seattle a few weeks ago. It was created using Adobe After Effects new Cartoon effect.

For more information about this video, check out the original video at InDesign Secrets

The Future of Video Manipulation

2008-12-01T09:04:00.002-06:00

This video submitted by the University of Washington showcases the first glimpse of a new project in collaboration with Adobe and the college. It is groundbreaking and will become the future of video manipulation as we know it. Very cool.

InDesign Secrets Contributor

2008-11-26T16:18:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to announce that I am now a contributor on InDesignsecrets.com
Check it out, it is an amazing resource for all things InDesign.

Top 10 Reasons to Attend Photoshop World (#09)

2008-11-25T08:13:00.003-06:00

Ok continuing with the Top 10 Reasons....

Number 9 is The Guru Awards

This special Photoshop competition is just for Photoshop World attendees.

Winners will receive awesome trophies, prizes, and have their work showcased in Photoshop User magazine. Their work willl also be prominently displayed for all to see at Photoshop World.

Seriously, there's no better (or more fun) way to get your work noticed by your peers and the industry! Having entered at last years event, I can tell you that the competition is tough! Be sure to check out this years winners here.

Printing - How it used to be

2008-11-24T12:06:00.004-06:00

Please take a moment to watch this 1947 video about careers in printing. It's fascinating! I also love the web site that hosts the video, www.ilovetypography.com.

Enjoy!

Printing—your life work series (1947) from ilovetypography.com on Vimeo.

I Make Videos, Why Should I Upgrade?

2008-11-13T13:52:00.005-06:00

Ok, so maybe you are like me and you see these new enhancements to Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc. and you wonder why, as a video editor/graphics person, you should upgrade to Creative Suite 4. There are not nearly as many 'sexy' updates on the video side as we may have seen before. I know exactly what you are saying:

"With Cs3, After Effects had some really neat updates to After Effects like the Puppet Tool and the Brainstorm function. This version just seems to have some dumb filter called Cartoon."

Ok, yes. Cartoon is dare I say it...pretty useless. Someone else has mentioned it out there but it is basically there to do the Richard Linklater effect which is apparently now in vogue now with those Charles Schwab commercials (which seems to be a really silly use of the effect, in my opinion).

Before I get to After Effects, let me start with Premiere. As a Final Cut Editor, reading down the list of improvements, I certainly notice a lot of, let's say, similar functions which have been added to the product. But they really were worth adding on. The functionality has been greatly improved.

The neatest part of Premiere however is definitely the Speech/Transcription function which labels clips with searchable metadata. Now before you get out your credit card - this is not an effective automatic transcription. But it is pretty good. And you can edit the text easily. Plus you can just edit based upon these words which are tagged to the time code.... I hope I am not the only one that thinks that this is incredible. It is not yet perfect - but it is sure pretty cool.

Now back to After Effects - two really neat things (neither having to do with Cartoon). Ok not the most interesting thing, but very useful: Improved composition navigation. Mini-flowcharts and keyboard shortcuts makes it SO much easier to jump into your precomps. I have always hated how difficult it is to go four comps deep...and I really like to precomp.

Second thing, Unified Camera tool. Ok this should have been a no-brainer several versions ago, but Adobe put this into place where you do not need to switch between three different camera tools, just to change between x, y , and z movement. I was amazed at how much easier Motion's camera was when it came out, but this is now once again comparable. All you need is a three button mouse and it work much like some popular 3-D programs work.

So final verdict...you'll be fine with CS3 if you don't want to outlay the cash. If you are CS2 or earlier, it is definitely worth it for you to update. These updates are not nearly as essential as something like Flash CS4 is or as I felt AE 6.5 and 7 were - but still cool enough to venture a look.

Oh - and all of the products now have trials available for download....FINALLY.

Top 10 Reasons to Attend Photoshop World (#10)

2008-11-11T14:20:00.005-06:00

With Fritz out of the office attending Adobe HQ in Seattle (sooo jealous!) I am posting the top 10 reasons why you should attend Photoshop World coming up in Boston this spring.

My number 10 reason to attend Photoshop World is the Portfolio Reviews and a Help Desk - LIVE!

Check out the links or go to www.photoshopworld.com to register!

Interesting Retro Type Video

2008-10-29T11:00:00.002-05:00

CS4 Upgrade Policy

2008-10-20T08:30:00.001-05:00

I have been asked alot lately about what the upgrade policys and costs are to upgrade to CS4. Thankfully, Adobe has made a very simple webpage that answers all of your questions.

CS4 Upgrade Policy

Suitcase Fusion 2 is coming out soon!

2008-10-16T16:48:00.000-05:00

Adobe Updates InDesign CS3 to 5.0.4

2008-10-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

According to Adobe, InDesign CS3 5.0.4 is a compatibility update, addressing issues with the recently released CS4. The update also provides fixes for File Size, Hyphenation, Performance, Anchored Objects, Character Alignment, Step and Repeat, Indexing and Table of Contents, Text and Fonts, Dictionaries, Color, Scripting, Import/Export Graphics, InDesign Interchange files (INX), XML, Library files, and Printing.

InDesign CS4's New features

2008-10-15T14:34:00.003-05:00

Here is a listing of InDesign CS4's new features. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list, but it will definitely point out the newest features

Smart Guides/Spacing

Say goodbye to the align panel with smart guides. As you move frames around on the page, guides will temporarily pop up and help your frame snap to the right spot. If this annoys you, don't worry since you can always turn it off.

Spread Rotation

If you work on packaging, you will wonder how you ever worked without spread rotation. This alloys you to temporarily rotate a spread 90° and make changes. This will really save your neck.

Table editing in story editor

Overset text problems in tables are now fixed forever. Before CS4 it was impossible to edit the overset copy in a table, but now we finally can. As an added bonus, InCopy users will be able to track changes on tables too.

Redesigned Links Panel

The new links panel has been completely redesigned from the ground up with an almost ridiculous amount of information. You can now choose which information you want to see including effective resolution, thumbnails and status. The ability to sort the links by these traits is also incredibly useful.

Preflight Panel.

Preflight is finally fixed! This is hands down the most useful new feature. Preflight is now very customizable. You can set up warnings to stretched images, missing fonts, live area and much much more. The best part is that once you have a profile set up, ID is constantly checking it and will let you know if there is a problem and even offer how to fix it!

Flash Export

There are now two new different ways to get your ID layout on the web. The first option is the ability to export your pages as a swf. This lets you make a simple slide show of your work, or the ability to move between pages of a magazine. The second way is to export your layout as a XFL file which can be opened inside of Flash. This will allow a flash developer to add rich interactivity to your files and create a dynamic website.

CS4 IS SHIPPING

2008-10-15T10:46:00.002-05:00

Just announced: Adobe is shipping Creative Suite 4 to domestic U.S. customers starting today! If you have chosen to be an early adopter and have ordered or will soon be ordering, let us know! We will be offering CS4 classes very soon and want to make sure everyone interested gets early notification. If you have any comments or questions about CS4, drop us a line via e-mail at info@c2gps.com and we will offer you some guidance.

How to turn an inline object into an anchored object in InDesign

2008-10-07T08:22:00.003-05:00

If you deal with manuals or longer technical data, InDesign's inline anchored objects are a huge time saver. Unfortunately, some people don't realize that it is possible to convert an inline graphic into a anchored object. Here are are the steps you need to take to convert an inline object into an anchored object.

Select your inline object with the selection tool.
Go to the Object > Anchored Object > Options menu
Change the position option from "inline or above line" to "custom"
Now it is an anchored object and you can freely move the graphic around the page.

Creative Suite 4 Highlights - Photoshop & Illustrator

2008-10-07T07:46:00.013-05:00

Over the past two weeks, C2 has been hosting a number of Creative Suite 4 Launch Events. I thought I'd highlight some of the new features in Photoshop and Illustrator (be ready to Ooo and Ahhh). Over the next week, C2 instructors will bring you some of the new features for the other Creative Suite 4 applications.

First, let me tell you about the Creative Suite in general terms. According to Adobe, this is the biggest software launch they have ever done and I tend to agree. When CS3 was released it was only halfway through the Adobe product development cycle (which is 18-24 months normally), due to Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia. This endeavor put everything on hold - the sexy new features and updates to help accommodate the inclusion this new software. Creative Suite 4 brings you a full set of updates for all the applications including new interfaces and better compatibility between software.

So, here are some of the new features for Photoshop and Illustrator.

Photoshop

• Live, nondestructive corrections with the Adjustments Panel. This allows you to create nondestructive adjustments, similar to the Adjustment Layers available in CS2/3. With CS4 you have much more control and its all live on your document, no dialogue box or menu to go to.

• Re-editable, feathered, density controlled masks. This is the companion panel to the Adjustments Panel, allowing you to edit your masks live on your document using the same controls as the Refine Edge command.

• Enhanced Auto-Align, Auto-Blend, and new 360° panoramas. Photomerge now allows you to create 360° panoramas and in conjunction with the updated Auto-Align and Auto-Blend, is even more seamless than ever. Auto-Blend can now create an omni-focus photo from a number of Macro lens shots. Very cool.

• Fluid canvas rotation. I love this feature, as it allows you to temporarily rotate your entire image on screen to get a better angle for painting, retouching, etc. similar rotating your sketchbook on your desk. See below for more info on this...

• Ultra-smooth pan, zoom, preview and painting tools. Photoshop CS4 now takes advantage of your computer's Graphics Processor (GPU). This allows you to have fluid transitions including zoom, canvas rotation (see above) and allows you to throw your document around the screen. This new GPU utilization really speeds up the redraws in PS.

• Breakthrough 3D editing and compositing. This is one of the biggies. You can now not only edit 3D directly in Photoshop CS4, but you can also CREATE 3D. Now instead of taking 4 steps to edit a 3D shape, you can paint, merge objects, and transform live in your document. Using the new 3D menu, you can take a panoramic shot and create a Spherical Panorama (3D bubble view), or a number of preset objects. Try the hat shape, its pretty funny.

Illustrator

• Multiple Artboards. Nuff said. This has been the number 1 request of Illustrator and former Freehand users for years, and Adobe has come through and exceeded all expectations. Now you can have multiple artboards (not pages) and different sizes, orientations, crops, etc. You can export directly to a multipage PDF or to the Web as a gallery. Nice!

• Gradients. What can you possibly do to improve gradients you ask? How about the ability to create gradients with transparency! Or, how about an on-screen gradient interface. No longer will you need to use the gradient palette (except to change the format from linear to radial). The new interface is slick and a huge time saver. Love it!

• Blob Brush. Ok I admit, I love the name of this tool. But beyond that. The Blob Brush is the natural progression from the Eraser. You can now add to a shape by just painting - imagine that, illustrating in Illustrator. Using the Eraser, you can remove from a shape.

• In-Panel Appearance Editing. This is a great feature and a HUGE time saver. With the new appearance panel, you can access your effects directly in this as well as stroke, swatches, and more!

• Separations Preview Panel. Now you can preview your color separations a lá InDesign in Illustrator. Huge plus for artists to double check their work before sending it down the food chain or placing it in another application. Now to just make sure that they use this!

So those are just some of the new features in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator Creative Suite 4. Keep watching our 100% Fresh Blog for new posts and features on CS4 from C2 instructors and creatives.

CS4 Launch Events

2008-10-01T08:08:00.014-05:00

Adobe Creative Suite 4 has finally been announced and C2 is here for you with Live Creative Suite 4 Launch Events. Our first event was Monday at the Eisner Museum in downtown Milwaukee and had a great turn out. Thanks to all who attended and a special thank you to Tom Petrillo, Steve Cronin, and Tim Plumer from Adobe for their presentations.

C2 instructors James Conway, Kevin Stohlmeyer, James Fritz and James Wamser from Sells Printing demonstrated some of the new and exciting features of Creative Suite 4.

Thanks go out to the Milwaukee Adobe Users Group for the prizes and congratulations to our winners: Cynthia Akey, Dave Grady, Mike Selke, Rick Johnson, and Ed Heidenreich won t-shirts, Michelle Berenz won a Adobe User Group Cap, and Tami Weiss won a Photoshop CS4 "big box".

A big congratulations to Candice Sullivan from Tribune Media Services, who won a FREE class from C2 and Chris Campbell from Finn Digital who won a copy of CS4 Web Premium!

Application Splash Screens

2008-09-10T21:15:00.003-05:00

Take a stroll down memory lane and look at the history of splash screens from various graphic applications. It is a lot of fun to see if you can remember what you were working on with each version of the software years ago.
Splash Screens

2016 Olympic Logos

2008-09-05T08:03:00.003-05:00

The Olympic Committee has just released a collection of logos for the cites competing for the 2016 summer Olympics. I am happy to see they are vastly better than the 2012 London logo. My favorite is the Tokyo logo.

Photoshop World Day 1

2008-09-04T18:17:00.004-05:00

Greetings from Las Vegas! Today was the first open schedule day including three session slots and the ever-popular keynote address by Scott Kelby, NAPP President and Johnny L., Adobe Systems VP.

While this is Scott's convention, the keynote is really Johnny's show. Starting by showcasing the new Photoshop Elements 7 (coming soon) and Adobe Lightroom 2 (along with John Knack, product manager), he also brought the crowd to their feet by showing off the newest version of Adobe Photoshop.

Some of the features have already been leaked, but another feature that really oo-ed and ahh-ed the crowd was channel splitting, which allows you to create lenticular prints (the print moves when you look side to side) or a 3-D image. Now how much does this shot remind you of Jaws 3-D?

Finally we ended with the NAPP Guru Awards (darn it - I didn't win) and the Photoshop Hall of Fame induction ceremony. A big personal congrats to John Knack on his induction.

Today's sessions included a packed room for Burt Monroy speaking about painting in Photoshop and Ben Whitmore's standing room only presentation on "Jaw Dropping Photoshop Techniques" and let me tell you – they were.

The tech expo hall featured presentations from Cannon, Adobe, and more. Be sure to check out this week's "Deke Pod" starring Deke McClelland. Watch behind him as someone familiar walks past...

Well thats it for day one, but judging from everything going on here - we will have to have an event soon to bring you up to speed on all the latest info.

Blog you tomorrow! - Kevin

Making the Case for FileMaker Pro

2008-09-03T10:19:00.005-05:00

C2 is proud to offer an exclusive 5-day course of the Official FileMaker Training Series. Come join Cris Ippolite, one of only 24 authorized FileMaker instructors in the world, as he provides training on all 12 Official FileMaker Training Series modules over 5 days. The FileMaker Training Series is FileMaker’s official curriculum and is not offered elsewhere in Wisconsin. He is very excited to be coming back to his hometown of Milwaukee to teach the series to you!
Training will be held the week of September 15 and each course will be 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.
Seating is limited for this fantastic opportunity! Please contact Kate Barrie @ 414.431.0062 or kate@c2gps.com for more information and pricing detail. We hope to see you all there!

A Word From Cris Ippolite...

FileMaker Pro. Many of you have heard of it or may have worked with it, but did you know it has been in the marketplace for more than 20 years?

In that time, more than 13 million units of FileMaker software have been sold around the world. FileMaker enthusiasts include ALL of the top 50 universities in the U.S., the top 250 U.S. school districts, and 70 of the Fortune 100 companies.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Apple, Inc., FileMaker isn’t just for Mac users anymore! Cross-platform capabilities that run natively on both Mac and Windows platform make FileMaker the premium database software on the market today. It has muscled its way into IT infrastructures in all industries.

Currently on version 9.0, FileMaker underwent a massive database engine redesign in version 7. It allows for multiple “tables” to be combined into a single FileMaker file. This feature has cut down both development time and cost, and has brought forward some of the most powerful features in the product’s history.

Most notably, FileMaker now allows for up to 250 concurrent users via Server, full support for php Web integration and a partnership with the MySQL alliance that spawned a connection kit (called “ESS”), allowing for LIVE connections to data sources running MySQL, SQL Server and Oracle!

Imagine connecting to your organization’s SQL Server, Oracle and MySQL databases from one place, and using the information without additional programming. With FileMaker, you can! FileMaker Pro 9 creates secure easy one-way or two-way connections to External SQL Data Sources. The SQL data acts just like FileMaker data. Create custom reports, add calculations and other fields, build relationships with existing FileMaker data, using the easy-to-use tools of FileMaker Pro.

There are new layout objects that allow you to do everything from automatically resizing your layouts to embedding FULL web viewing functionality into your existing FileMaker database layouts.

With the PHP features of the FileMaker Server, you can publish information to external websites, gather information from Web users, and create new solutions combining a Web-based front-end with a rich, FileMaker Pro back-end. Support for popular open source Web standards PHP and XSLT means you and your Web developer will be reading and writing live FileMaker Pro data in no time.

All these reasons support FileMaker Pro as the #1 best-selling standalone database for both Macintosh and Windows.

When business professionals outgrow spreadsheets, they depend on FileMaker products. Customizing, creating, and sharing easy-to-use software solutions is quick and easy. FileMaker is powerful enough to integrate with corporate data environments, share on the web, and evolve with your needs.

Want to learn more about using FileMaker or take your FileMaker skills to the next level?

C2 Shout Outs!

2008-09-02T12:19:00.001-05:00

C2 Shout Outs: Spreading the C2 love for achievements in the lives of our talent and clients.

The C2 Talent Placement team congratulates the following C2 Talent and clients for finding one another. Best wishes for a prosperous future!

Tim Panicucci has joined Marx, McClellan & Thrun
Mike Driscoll in his new role as Junior Art Director at CI Design
Dan Oen on long-term assignment at EMD Chemical as a Graphic Designer
Paul Hammell is at Pentair Water as a Senior Graphic Designer
Joan Kersten for her new position as Senior Graphic Designer at Berger Boats in Manitowoc

Save the Date! Celebrate AIGA Wisconsin’s Return with Pentagram and the Harley-Davidson Museum

2008-09-02T12:09:00.003-05:00

AIGA Wisconsin marks its return with a special presentation on the creation of the new Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. We welcome Pentagram New York partners James Biber (architect and designer of the museum) and Abbott Miller (designer of the museum’s permanent exhibition) to share their experiences showcasing the history, culture and engineering of this American icon.

Designers, architects, and other enthusiasts are encouraged to join us on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, from 6 to 9 p.m. Please mark your calendars now!

More information will be available on our web site launching in early September at wisconsin.aiga.org.

LIVE! From Photoshop World 2008

2008-09-02T11:11:00.003-05:00

This week I am attending Photoshop World in Las Vegas. Stay tuned to 100% Fresh for updates, information, and photos on the latest developments from the conference as I plan to blog daily from the Strip. Wish me luck and please be sure to comment on the posts with any questions or requests!

Google Chrome

2008-09-02T08:59:00.003-05:00

Today Google is releasing its first beta of a new internet browser called Chrome. This new browser is based on webkit, which is also the same core technology as Apple's Safari. The beta is initially only available for windows, but it will be made available to both OS X and Linux shortly.

For more information click here

Remove extra returns from PDFs

2008-08-25T08:12:00.003-05:00

Have you ever copied text out of a PDF and noticed that at the end of the every line break there is a hard return? This can be quite annoying when you are trying to copy and paste text out of a PDF and then re-flow it back into a new document. The trick it to create a tagged PDF. In Adobe Acrobat Professional go to the advanced menu and choose accessibility > add tags to document. Now when you copy and paste the text it will re-flow correctly when pasted into a new document.

CTC Conference After Effects Hands-on Files

2008-08-18T09:49:00.004-05:00

For everyone who was in the After Effects hands-on, here is a link to many of the files that we worked on - and some we did not get to:

http://mythtaken.com/CTC/

If anyone in the class wants to contact me - feel free to email me at:
alex@c2gps.com

Learn What Application Made your PDF

2008-08-11T08:28:00.003-05:00

Have you ever wondered what application made any given PDF? It is very easy to find out. Just open any PDF in Adobe Acrobat Professional and go to File > Properties. This will open up the general properties dialog and halfway down it will tell you application (and version) created your PDF.

Hiding Master Page items

2008-08-06T14:48:00.003-05:00

A client contacted me yesterday with a problem they were having with masterpages. After talking to them on the phone to make sure they were doing everything correctly, they sent me the files so I could take a look.
After take a closer look at the files I realized that the masterpage was being applied correctly, but the masterpage items themselves were not present. That is when I went to the pages panel menu and noticed that "hide master items" had been chosen. After choosing "show master items" from the menu, everything went back to normal again.

Come learn direct from Adobe and nationally recognized experts!

2008-07-08T10:34:00.012-05:00

This year C2 is hosting the new 2008 Creative Transitions Conference here in Milwaukee. This is a unique opportunity for all creatives, whether you are in print, web, video, animation, or multimedia. The three day conference runs August 13-15, 2008 at the Milwaukee Hilton City Center.

We are bringing the talent to you - no need to fly to the east coast or down to Chicago to learn from the best. Speakers for the 2008 conference include: Anne-Marie "Her Geekness" Concepción, co-host of the popular InDesignsecrets.com podcast and InDesign guru; Lesa Snider-King, author, istockphoto guru, and a nationally recognized Photoshop Expert; Adam Pratt, Adobe Senior Solutions Engineer and co-host of Adobe TV's "The Lazy Designer"; Michael Kanfer, Adobe Business Development Manager and Academy Award Winner for Visual Effects (Titanic, 1998); Tom Petrillo, Adobe Senior Solutions Engineer; and many more!

Sessions can be attended at will - no confusing schedules or limiting track-only presentations. You choose who you want to see!

Day three will feature hands-on workshops hosted by many of our speakers and C2 certified instructors. Three hours of training direct from the experts!

Exhibitors from Adobe, C2, istockphoto, Shutterstock, Widen Enterprises, O'Reilly Media, Proven Direct, and more will be presenting their products and services throughout both days in our Exhibit Hall.

Another great incentive for our conference, being a veteran of the conference circuit, is food is provided (which also lends to the creative credo - if you feed them, they will come). Breakfast, lunch, cocktail/snack hour, and a great keynote address banquet is all included in the conference packages.

Your registration also includes a free Thursday night pass to Milwaukee Irish Fest, the largest Celtic celebration in the United States.

Click here to view the conference website, or contact us for special discount codes and rates!

Hope to see you all at the conference. Together we can make this a rousing success!

Kevin

Create Crop marks instantly in Quark and InDesign

2008-07-07T08:42:00.011-05:00

Creating crop marks can be a time consuming operation. Luckily both Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress for the mac have scripts built in that can automate this process.

In QuarkXPress, select your object and go to the applescript menu and choose box tools > Add Crop Marks. After a few seconds the crop marks will be complete.

(click on image to see animation)

Inside InDesign, select your object and go to window > automation > scripts. Now in this panel choose application> samples > applescript or javascript > crop marks. Follow the onscreen directions and you are done!

(click on image to see animation)

Object-Based Alignment

2008-07-02T15:53:00.011-05:00

How many times have you tried to center two objects in Illustrator only to have them both move to the midpoint and not center on one object? Well the solution was eluding me until I discovered what Adobe calls "key objects". Here's how it works:

Step 1: Take your two objects and select them both.

Step 2: While selected, click on the object you want to lock in place, and have the other objects align to. Note: Click on it, do not shift click or double click.

Step 3: Select your alignment from the align palette or the options bar at the top of your window. Viola! The objects align to the key object!

Have fun! Kevin

Double-Clicks inside InDesign

2008-06-30T08:14:00.003-05:00

Adobe InDesign has a bunch of hidden tricks, just by using the double click. Here are a few.

Double-Click the hand tool in the toolbar and you will fit a spread in the window
Double-Click the hand tool in the toolbar and you will zoom to 100%
Double-Click a graphic frame with the black arrow and you will select the frame with the white arrow (CS3 only)
Double-Click a graphic with the white arrow and you will select the frame with the black arrow (CS3 only)
Option/Control Double-Click a graphic frame to edit original
Option/Control Double-Click a text frame to open text frame options
Double-Click a text frame with the black arrow and you will switch to the type tool

What Inspires Us?

2008-06-25T09:22:00.003-05:00

Last night, C2 participated in the AMA/Ad2 Agency Crawl in the Third Ward. As part of our presentation, we showcased some websites that inspired our instructors. Here is a listing of sites mentioned in the presentation:

Firefox 3 is out!

2008-06-23T12:14:00.003-05:00

Firefox 3, the alternative web browser was just released last week. I just tried it out and to my surprise it is very fast and stable. I now use it more often than Safari on the Mac.

You can download the installer here

280 Slides

2008-06-16T15:37:00.001-05:00

280 Slides is a new website that lets you create slideshows and presentations that are quite similar to Apples Keynote and to a lesser degree, Microsoft's Powerpoint. The service is free to use and is quite impressive. The entire site is built using a Cocoa-inspired JavaScript framework called Objective-J/Cappuccino. Flash is not used at all, which means it will work on the iphone/ipod touch.

Online Marketing Summit Summer Tour returns to Milwaukee July 15

2008-06-10T00:47:00.001-05:00

This summer, over 2,000 marketers in 12 cities across the U.S., will gather to share ideas and learn from expert online practitioners. Unlike most tradeshows and conferences, OMS is built around content that drives action and delivers insight that we as marketing professionals can actually use and build into our marketing plans.

In additional to exposure barters with many of the industry’s leading publications, OMS has partnered with National and Local Chapters in the selected cities of the following organizations: Direct Marketing Association (DMA); Business Marketing Association (BMA); Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO); Email Experience Council (EEC); Interactive Marketing Association (IMA); Web Analytic Association (WAA); Electronic Retailers Association (ERA); iMarketers; and many local “groups” . These partnerships help to provide the best environment for learning amongst qualified attendees.

Education: The objective of OMS is to educate, collaborate, network, and learn how to execute on the best known practices in Online Marketing. Events include hands-on workshops, on-site usability and SEO labs, thought-leadership presentations, and peer-to-peer collaboration on the subjects of:
• Social Media Strategies
• Search Engine Optimization
• Paid Search
• Website Usability
• Web Analytics and Tracking
• Email Marketing
• Content Management
• Site Search
• Website/Online Budgeting and Planning
• eCommerce
• Integrated Marketing
• Behavioral Targeting & Testing

SIGN UP TODAY! BMA-Milwaukee members get a 20% discount - Use code: BMAMILWAUKEE

C2's Standards-based Web Design Training

2008-06-05T10:38:00.003-05:00

Standards-based web design is a process that uses open standards (like HTML and CSS) to create web sites that are fast-loading, clean, accessible to everyone, backwards and forwards compatible, search engine friendly, beautiful and purposeful.

C2's Standards-based Web Design class is for designers (or anyone) serious about creating professional web sites that adhere to these principles. The techniques taught in this class are used to create the most popular and well-designed sites on the web. Standards-based web design focuses on the process of implementing a design in the most efficient, accessible method possible, using a set of standardized techniques without needing complex programming language knowledge (all you really need is a text editor to create pages). Using C2's best-practice driven curriculum, this class provides all the skills necessary to create an entire web site including:

planning & information architecture

hand-coding HTML & CSS

design and layout techniques

typographic control

image preparation

navigation systems

interactive behaviors

search engine optimization

accessibility, usability and compatibility

email HTML

site testing, optimization,validation and management

Apple/Photoshop Saving Error

2008-06-04T09:08:00.003-05:00

From John Knack at Adobe:

I've been getting quite a few inquiries about problems saving files from Photoshop directly to network drives when using the recently released Mac OS 10.5.3. (I'm told the issue can affect InDesign and maybe other apps as well.)

The short story is that we've been working closely with Apple to troubleshoot the issue and have identified the cause. Apple is working on a fix, and we expect they'll release it in the next System Update.

The slightly longer story is that saving directly to a network is a generally bad idea. Here's what I've heard from a contact in engineering:

Directly writing to a network filing system adds a level of complexity, which includes timing issues, network noise, performance, and other potential issues. We've occasionally run into bugs with different configurations/combinations, but as there are too many variants for us to reliably test and certify all the clients, servers, hardware and software, we recommend the safer course of working with files locally and then copying them up to a file server when you're done. While directly reading/writing to network file systems should work in theory, and while we do some limited testing in the most popular configurations to verify that it does, we can not certify that it will work reliably in your configuration.

I know that's not what you may want to hear, but it's a long-standing advisory. Saving files locally, then transferring them, offers better performance as well as greater reliability.

Video Event at the Eisner

2008-06-02T16:44:00.009-05:00

Some of you may have seen that there is an event this Friday at the Eisner Museum called: "3 Steps to Better Business Videos". I strongly encourage anyone who is at all interested in using video in their business, whether it be training videos, marketing, or viral video, to attend this event.

We have a great lineup of speakers and panelists that will be glad to share their experiences and knowledge of what it takes to make successful videos. The panelists span all parts of the business from production houses, ad agencies, independent artists, and end clients.

I encourage people to send in questions they may have, or even send in experiences that they have had in making videos - even if they cannot make the event. I would like to work in some email questions in the panel if at all possible, so submit by Thursday evening. You can send these to my email address at alex@c2gps.com.

Also, as a video instructor for C2, I would love to answer any questions anyone might have about video training, expectations about training, and the courses that we offer. Please do not hesitate to come up to me during the event so that I can answer any questions that you may have.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Alex Lucas

C2 Shout Outs!

2008-06-02T15:04:00.005-05:00

C2 Shout Outs: Spreading the C2 love for achievements in the lives of our talent and clients.

Congrats go out to:
Dustin Drees, C2 Talent & Instructor, and wife Sherie for the healthy birth of their twins, Avery and Elliot!

The C2 Talent Placement team congratulates the following C2 Talent and clients for finding one another. Best wishes for a prosperous future!

Elisa Diamant for her new gig as an Art Director for Marx McLellan Thrun.
Jake Ströh for his new gig as an Interactive Designer for Johnson Direct.
Kathy Sena & Scott Davis for their long term placements at Discovery World.
Matt Kunz for his long term placement at Core Creative.
Toni Tooke for her long term placement at Northwestern Mutual.
Melissa Barbeaux-Lindsley on her long term placement at Waldbillig & Besteman.
Matt Pickard for finding his own gig in the marketing department of Rogers Memorial Hospital.
John Dagitz for finding his own gig as an Interactive Technical Designer at PlainBlack.com.
Dave Kriebel for finding his own gig as a Graphic Designer at Duluth Trading Company.

Tracking in Adobe and Quark

2008-06-02T08:28:00.004-05:00

Tracking is the process of changing the space between a selection of letters. In QuarkXPress people are used to tightening up the space by changing the amount to -1, -2, or -3 and most people are comfortable with these amounts. If you have been using Quark for awhile and then jump into InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop and try to use tracking, you may run into some issues. Quark and Adobe measure tracking differently.

In QuarkXPress tracking is measured in units 1/200th of an em. In Adobe applications this is measured in units 1/000th of an em. This means that you are using to measuring -1, -2, or -3, you will need to multiply that number by 3 to get the same results in any Adobe application. Therefore you new numbers to type in for tracking are -5, -10, and -15.

Quark 8 is out!

2008-05-29T08:28:00.004-05:00

QuarkXPress 8 has just been announced and should be shipping within 60 days. The new features include a streamlined interface, grid styles, hanging indents, flash export and more. Check out http://8.quark.com/learn_more.html for more information

Been away with good reason...

2008-05-27T15:38:00.005-05:00

Hi all,

As you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging much as of late, but I have a good excuse.

I recently returned from Adobe's headquarters in San Jose, CA and have been busy compiling all the information I received on the latest version of the Adobe Creative Suite and other Adobe applications.

Lucky for you, I will be presenting this information (at least what I can say publicly without prosecution) on June 12 for our latest 100% Fresh presentation. More information to follow with the News You Can Use. The next few months will really be informative so be sure to follow along with C2 for the latest in Adobe news!

Cool way to learn keyboard shortcuts

2008-05-22T10:01:00.005-05:00

Another reason for me to geek out. Now everyone can learn the Apple keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop, Aperture, Final Cut Pro, After Effects and more! Photojojo has release a new series of keyboard skins for your mac with pre-printed shortcuts for many popular applications! Check out the product and order here!

Paste in Place

2008-05-19T08:23:00.000-05:00

A commonly overlooked function of Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress is paste in place. If you copy something to the clipboard, and then go to another page and just paste, it will go in the center of the screen. But, if you choose paste in place from the edit menu it will be pasted in the same XY coordinates that you copied it from.

Amazing use of Adobe/Apple Programs

2008-05-16T16:28:00.000-05:00

Link a vector mask to a smart object in Photoshop

2008-05-16T14:44:00.001-05:00

I love using smart objects inside Photoshop, but they have always bothered me because I could not link a vector mask with a smart object. I have found a way around this limitation. Put your smart object into a folder and then create a vector mask on the folder, which in turn is a mask on your smart object.

Drag a copy in InDesign

2008-05-12T08:39:00.000-05:00

If you ever need another copy of an object inside InDesign, you could use the duplicate command, copy and paste or an even better method. When you have an object selected with your black arrow, hold down the Option key (ALT for PC) and you can click and drag a copy of your object. As an added bonus, if you double click while you see the double arrow on a placed graphic, you can edit the original graphic in its native program.

New at C2!

2008-05-05T01:56:00.004-05:00

C2 is pleased to announce the addition of two new sales and client support professionals to our staff, Kate Barrie, Training Solutions Specialist and Luci Klebar, Placement Solutions Specialist. These two new hires position our firm for our next phase of growth and service to creative professionals in both Madison and Milwaukee.

Kate most recently served as an Accounts Administrator at Kerry Inc, while Luci served as the Director of HR Solutions at Bryant & Stratton College. The C2 team welcomes their energy, skills and perspective. We'll do our best to get them introduced to our clients, vendors and allies in the next few weeks.

Save your Find/Change Queries inside InDesign

2008-04-28T08:31:00.003-05:00

A useful feature of Adobe InDesign CS3 is the ability to save your find/change queries. After entering your find/change operation, click on the little floppy disk icon(if you can still remember what those are) and you can save your query. The next time you need to use this find/change you will be able to load it from the drop down menu.
It is also possible to bring your find/change query to another computer(or even sell on ebay if it is a really good search). Below are the locations of the the locations of the findchange file(which is saved as a small .xml file).

Mac OS: Users\[username]\Library\Preferences\Adobe InDesign\[Version]\Find-Change Queries\
Windows XP: Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Adobe\InDesign\[Version]\Find-Change Queries\
Windows Vista: Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\[Version]\Find-Change Queries\

Change the Default font in InDesign

2008-04-21T08:23:00.001-05:00

Personally, I am really sick of Times New Roman. Every time I make a new text frame and start typing inside Adobe InDesign, the text will be Times New Roman. Luckily, I have changed by default font to something else. Here is how you do it.
1. Close all documents you have open.
2. Click on the type tool.
3. Change the font to a new default font.
For every new text frame you make in new projects, this will be your new default font.

Create your own custom placeholder text inside InDesign.

2008-04-14T06:26:00.000-05:00

I love the placeholder text that Adobe InDesign generates, but sometimes I get sick of having to use Lorem ipsum all the time. You can use your very own text if you wish. Just create a plain text file and name it "placeholder.txt" and place it in the same folder as InDesign. The next time you use the fill with placeholder text command it will use your own text file.

Panorama Fun in Photoshop

2008-04-10T16:22:00.013-05:00

I just flew in from Prague and boy are my arms tired.

But seriously...one of my favorite things to do when shooting pics in a beautiful area is to make panorama shots. But the truth is that since I don't own a tripod, nor do I usually take the time to stay on a manual setting on my camera, my pics look a little uneven to say the least.

To have Photoshop automatically create the panorama, go to File --> Automate. Select the Photomerge... setting. Inside the dialog box, select all of your pics (either if they are already open or just sitting in a folder) and make sure that the box that says "Attempt to Automatically Arrange Source Images" is checked. You can do this manually, but why bother if Photoshop can do it more effectively and efficiently.

I have read that in earlier versions (I am looking at you CS2), this feature was either non-existent or at least not as well refined and gave you less than perfect images. So if you are going to do this, keep in mind that CS3 would probably be your best bet, although it is available in CS2.

Click ok and voila, hopefully your panorama is finished.

click pic to view larger image

And yes...this was just an excuse to post a picture from my vacation.

The final picture I show is about 180º of my vantage point.

Thriving in Lean Times, hints for keeping your head above water

2008-04-09T07:50:00.003-05:00

I've read a number of articles and reports that predict economic doom and gloom, while others say that the creative economy will weather the storm with little impact. I can't predict what will happen, but I can share a few tactics which may keep you in the black.

1. Managing employee salary and benefits: It might be time to get creative with employee benefits. Some organizations, instead of offering a salary increase or raise, have decided to offer non-monetary bonuses which have an intangible value. These bonuses don't impact fixed expenses and some can provide an immediate or long-term return on your investment.

a. Negotiate additional vacation time.
One day or one week, most employees will appreciate the flexibility extra time off affords
them.

ROI? A rested and relaxed employee who comes back to work ready to rock-and-roll. Happy staff are productive staff.

b. Provide professional development opportunities.

ROI? Depending on the training course the employee attends, it could mean increased productivity, efficiency or an increased understanding of the tools they use to complete billable work for clients. An example of this might be sending a print designer to some advanced software training at your favorite Adobe Authorized Training Center, C2. The employee picks up new skills which make them speedier and more efficient, allowing for better files to the printer and more billable projects being completed by that employee.

c. Cross-train employees.
This is an alternate method of providing professional development, although it's an investment of internal staff time, as opposed to a one time fee for a continuing ed class or Adobe Authorized Training course.

ROI? Cross-trained employees add value to the business by being able to provide support in multiple areas of the business, and ultimately they benefit by broadening and adding depth to their own marketable skill set.

2. Manage projects with outsourcing: Hiring sucks! The time-consuming process can prove expensive when you add up all the time and money spent to find a good candidate. Step 1: write a good job description to attract the best candidates (those who will enhance the culture of the organization AND get the work done well). Step 2: post the job in a place the best candidate will see it and apply (Craig's list and other free listings might not be enough). Step 3: sort though all the applications. Step 4: coordinate interviews and portfolio reviews, going back and forth with candidates and internal staff matching up calendars. Step 5: interview, portfolio review and skill assessment. Step 6: salary negotiation Step 7: make an offer and negotiate a start date. Don't forget to inform all other applicants of their status and take down the job posting! WHEW!

a. Eliminate steps 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7. Give your job description to a talent placement coordinator at a firm who outsources the type of talent you need...If you need a creative talent, you can call on C2! The placement coordinator should be someone who can provide you qualified candidates, set up interviews, negotiate rates and start date.

ROI? You only invest the time to interview and do a portfolio review. If you need someone FAST, a talent placement coordinator can find you the best candidate for your project and get them to your office right away. Hiring longer term? Try before you buy, temp to perm is a great way to go!

Keep your eyes on this blog, we'll have more ideas and tactics for keeping you in the black posted here in the coming weeks!

Library items that remember their X/Y Position inside InDesign

2008-04-07T09:32:00.001-05:00

I always thought that the disadvantage of using a Library inside Adobe InDesign was the fact that you had to place the items where you wanted manually. I thought this was the case until last week when a student in a class pointed out that if you select a library item and choose "place item(s)" from the panel menu it will be placed at it's original X/Y position on the current spread. Previously, the only way to do this was with snippets, but now we have another.

The importance of backing up your files

2008-03-31T16:44:00.001-05:00

Last week my hard drive died on my laptop. The worst part about this was my lack of backing up my data. I really lost a lot of data. I have spent about two days now reinstalling my programs, updating them, and configuring my system to get it back to the state it was prior to my hard drive failure. Even after I get everything up and running the way it was, I will still be with out a bunch of files that I was working on.

I am writing this as a reminder to everyone to backup your data regularly. I always heard the saying, there are two type of people. One that backs up their data, and one that will after they lose their data. I never paid much attention to it since I have never hard a problem. Now that I have learned the hard way, I will be backing up quite often.

Photoshop Express is Here!

2008-03-27T08:30:00.007-05:00

(Note: the previous post regarding this is available here.)

The long-awaited, much-discussed beta of Adobe Photoshop Express is now available online. This is the next evolution for Adobe, taking the big leap forward into Rich Internet Applications. Not only can you now upload your photos onto the net and edit directly in your browser, there will also be an Adobe AIR based desktop version forthcoming.

Editing could not be easier, since Adobe has done the work for you. Please note that this is never going to replace the full version of PS, it is more focused on consumer use (mom & pop). The controls are easy to understand and the visual interface is damn sexy (even if the demo photos are not - ha).

Controls for basic corrections include Crop & Rotate, Auto Correct, Exposure (levels), Red-Eye Removal, Touchup (the healing tools), and Saturation.

Then there are "Tuning" controls - White Balance, Highlight, Fill Light, Sharpen or Soft Focus effects. Each of these begin to customize your photo.

The final set of tools are the Effects tools, which include Pop Color, Hue, Black and White, Tint, Sketch (preset filter gallery effects) and Distort.

After all is said and done, people can argue that this is "Photoshop Lite" or "for Dummies" but I think this is a great direction to take the Photoshop Family and expose the masses to what is possible using Adobe products, not only Photoshop but their Flex and Air applications as well.

FAQ: Final Cut Pro: Transitions

2008-03-26T16:00:00.013-05:00

One of the most common questions I get from former students in Final Cut Pro is this:

How come sometimes I can't put my transition in the place that I want it? (see pic)

Well, while there could be a couple of reasons, the most common reason is due to "handles" on the media.

Imagine it like this.

The way a transition works, in this case the cross dissolve, it grabs the 15 frames before and after the edit point for both clips to create an evenly fading transition.

Since there is available data on either side, Final Cut Pro will use these frames to form part of the transition, although you originally edited this out. So be warned, if you are using transitions, be mindful of what is in this handle. There is probably a reason you edited it in the first place.

You may come across flashes of other shots, or an errant clapper, because of this.

If you have two clips together that do not have an extra 15 frames in either direction, then this transition cannot occur.

See how in the diagram, the transition does not have enough frames from Clip 2 to make a full transition. You could choose to have this transition "begin at the edit", as there is more than enough handle in Clip 1 to accommodate.

If your transition cannot happen, you will likely see the little 'x' next to the transition icon inside of Final Cut Pro.

One neat thing about Premiere (though I am working on memory here - so don't quote me) is that it will interpret every frame before the first (or everyone after the last) as a freeze frame. This allows the transition to happen, even if you do not have the handles.

Part of the reason I bring this up, is that this can be a good workaround if you need to squeeze a couple of extra frames out of a transition. Make a freeze frame before or after the clip that needs it, then nest (precompose) it. Now the transition should work.

If all else is failing - make sure you are not putting an audio transition on the video, or vice versa. Trust me - I do this more times than I can count.

What are you doing April 10?

2008-03-26T10:51:00.002-05:00

April 10 is a fairly busy day in the industry - so if you're not doing anything, you'll have plenty of options!

Join the Business Marketing Association (and me & Erica) for the Bell Awards presentation from 5:00pm-9:00pm at The Italian Community Center. The event is great B-to-B networking, not to mention you'll get to see who the leaders and innovators are this year.

Not fond of appetizers and socializing? Need something a bit more? Check out the Eisner Museum's presentation - What Software? - and hear our panelists discuss how they created some of their favorite pieces and what software knowledge is a must. Moderated by C2's Jim Conway. Panelists include Dan La Vigne of Freight Train, Jeremy Ampe & Michael Baldus of Full House and Jayne of The Daily Reporter. Pizza & beverages included!

Not in the mood to sit? Have a bunch of useless knowledge in your head? Then join Adworkers at Club Garibaldi starting at 7:00pm for Trivia Night. You'll need a team of 3-5. C2's Jim Simon, Kevin Stohlmeyer & Jim Fritz will be participating.

Random creativeness

2008-03-25T08:44:00.003-05:00

I'm always amazed at the creativity people have with traditional (and in some cases non-traditional) mediums. Here are some great posts:

"Book Autopsies" by Brian Dettmer

"ABC3D" by Marion Bataille

And of course, the troupe at Improv Everywhere, which is quickly becoming my favorite site. Be sure to check out the Grand Central Freeze and Mobile Desktop. Truly inspired.

How to round just one corner in InDesign.

2008-03-24T09:32:00.002-05:00

Rounding corners is all the rage to day with the cool kids, but the problem is that if you try to use the corner effects/options menu in Adobe InDesign you will can only round all them. What if you want to be trendy and round just one, or two. Be crazy, what if you wanted to do three! Well, the answer my friend lies in the scripts panel.
To open the scripts panel go to window > automation > scripts. In InDesign CS2, you will not have any scripts. They are on your InDesign install CD, but CS3 does indeed install many scripts by default. Inside your scripts panel, is a script called corner-effects. To run the script, just select your object and double-click the script and enter your desired numbers in the options window and pops up.

What is your biggest question about video?

2008-03-19T16:40:00.003-05:00

Everyone out in the C2 blogosphere.... I have a quick question for you.

What is your biggest question about video?

Please respond back to the blog with your questions. If you are embarrassed about a question - comment anonymously.

I ask for several reasons. I want to know what questions people have about video, how it works, and misconceptions people might have about it. I want to be able to talk directly to you, the reader, about topics in video that you might not understand. I also want to be able to have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) available for people that want to get their feet wet in video. Also if we ever have a seminar about video, I have an idea about the questions people are interested in.

Sample questions might be:

What is frame rate?
Why does my YouTube video look like garbage when I put it onto the site?
What is streaming video?
Why do post-production houses charge so much for editing?

If any of these are a question you want me to answer please let me know as well. I will post some answers depending partly on the volume of questions.

Thanks! -- Alex

After Effects Quick Tip - Illustrator Images Straight Into After Effects

2008-03-19T15:54:00.013-05:00

I like After Effects. Possibly an unhealthy amount. But it allows me to do things just like my mind thinks.

Sometimes my mind wanders and thinks about integration across programs, like copying and pasting text, and I wonder...why can't this work in other situations?

Part of After Effects' beauty, and there is a lot that is beautiful, is its integration with Photoshop and Illustrator, allowing you to import files with their layers, and even with their layer styles attached and editable inside of After Effects.

But sometimes there are parts of pre-created images that I want to animate.

Now if I am making shapes, I can always create them inside of After Effects - but frankly I still don't like to do this, even with the shape tools and shape controls inside of CS3. The benefit would be that I could animate these shapes by individual points by using the Mask Shape attribute. But with a pre-made image you can't do this...or can you?

If you make an image inside of Illustrator, you can select the path and copy it (command-C) and paste it (command-V) inside of After Effects on a solid layer, voila.

Hmm...even better I can make one shape turn into another by pasting it later into the same Mask Shape. This is like Shape Tweening inside of Flash - yet without having to make a single thing inside of After Effects.

God, I love this program!

This means you can even take things like custom symbols (like a Fish) from Illustrator and turn it into a mask just by copying and pasting.

Save a Quark 7 file as a Quark 6 file

2008-03-17T08:13:00.001-05:00

If you have a QuarkXPress 7 file and want to save it as a Quark 6 file it can be tricky if you don't know where to look. Instead of doing a save as, you need to choose file > Export > layout. Now you can choose version 6 and you are done!

Find out how to type special characters in OS X

2008-03-10T14:25:00.006-05:00

Last week Kevin posted a great article on how to input nonstandard characters on your computer. Today I just found out about a piece of software that can insert characters for you, and tell you how to type them yourself. It is like Adobe's Glyph panel on steroids.

The product is called popcharx and retails for about $45. I personally have not used it, but it looks promising.

http://www.ergonis.com/products/popcharx/

*I just wanted to thank the people commenting on this post that ergois actually has a windows version of this software too called popcharwin. Thanks for letting me know!

http://www.ergonis.com/products/popcharwin/

How blogging effects your business.

2008-03-07T16:31:00.004-06:00

Before pouncing into blog world, there's one significant item you'll need to understand - you'll need to keep up on searches. Blog comments are an opportunity to make amends or say thank you ...

For instance, here's a blog comment from Brad Winkler about an blog posting written by Russ Bickerstaff (read it here).

This is a blogging-good-practice. If you plan on launching a blog you should NOT monitor your comments. Instead, watch what people are saying. Make amends if they feel that something was not done ethically or in good-interest, and say thank you when they post something lovely.

This style of free-writing for your clients is the best interest for your company.

2008-03-06T11:01:00.005-06:00

I just had an interesting question posted by one of our clients regarding the glyphs palette and keystrokes. They were wondering how to type a registered trademark, copyright, and standard trademark. (The common keystroke for all three is option/alt + 2 for ™, option/alt + g for ©, and option/alt + r for ®.)

The bigger question behind this though is why the glyphs palette doesn't show common keystrokes for alternate characters, especially with accents! What it really should do is give you a keyfinder option. However, this is not deemed necessary or urgent so don't hold your breath. Here is a couple of sites that will help you if you are in need of a certain key stroke: Mac OSX Keystroke Guide and Windows Keyboard Shortcuts.

©øø∂ ¬¨ç˚ (option/alt + good luck)

InDesign and Flash CS4 preview

2008-03-05T08:16:00.002-06:00

Last week at the InDesign Conference in Miami, Adobe showed off a pre-release version of InDesign. It showcases an amazing ability to export InDesign files to Flash.

part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3-0AtqeSng

part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-MNlNqPMk

Composition Zones for Adobe InDesign

2008-03-04T08:12:00.007-06:00

One feature of QuarkXPress 7 that has always intrigued me was composition zones. This feature would let more than one person work on one file at a time. The problem was that it was convoluted to use and inherently broken since there was no way for you to bring all aspects of the file back into Quark once you let someone else work on it.
But last week an amazing script called Layout Zones was released for Adobe InDesign CS3. This FREE scripts does everything that combustion zones does, but better. To use this script, just unzip to to the root level of your Scripts folder (Applications/Program Files > Adobe InDesign CS3 > Scripts).

Inside InDesign create a frame for the portion of the page that you want someone to work on. Select this frame and choose edit > layoutzone > Object to InDesign Document. This creates another ID document for someone else to work on. You are also linked to this file now.

Have someone else work on this ID file and when they save it, it will update on your page. Next, once your design is complete, select the linked ID file and go to: edit > layoutzones > Linked ID page to Objects, and everything comes in like you created it yourself.

This scripts is truly amazing that I hope it becomes standard inside CS4.
Here is the link.
http://automatication.com/downloads/LayoutZone.zip

A Note from Fritz

2008-03-03T10:38:00.001-06:00

What the Heck is XML?

A lot of people have heard about XML, but they don't know what it is. XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. It facilitates the sharing of structured data across different information systems. Translated into English this means that you can move data from one form to another easily. XML does not contain any formatting information, it only contains raw data. The program that receives the XML gets to decide how the data will be displayed.
If you have a database of information it can be sent via XML to InDesign for a catalog layout, a webpage, a pdf for ebooks, and even reformatted to fit your iphone.
Another question a lot of people ask is "How do I make XML?" or "Where can I get XML". Well, it really isn't that hard. You can just type it out if your really wanted to in any text editor, but most people get it out of a database application like File Maker Pro or Microsoft Excel. In either of those programs you can either export or save your database as XML. Next you can import it into InDesign or another program and decide what you want to do with it.
Keep a look out for another 100% fresh event this April where Jim Conway and I will talk about XML and how to move your print layout to the web.

Quick Web Tip , Part Two

2008-03-01T21:42:00.005-06:00

Ok...just finished part one, but this second tip will be a lot quicker and less confusing.

I know whenever I am testing a site (on my Mac) I am frustrated by the fact that I cannot test on Internet Explorer, which I believe is still well over 50% of the viewing public. That is without launching Parallels, Bootcamp, or something similar. But that wastes some time, and there are some other browsers that I don't have that I should probably check too - not to mention previous versions which I have long ago overwritten with newer versions of browser.

Well fret no more, if you did before, because there is a site which will test your site on a wide variety of browsers, over different verions, on different platforms.

BrowserCam is an amzing website which lets you upload html, or even a site that is currently live and takes snapshots of it in the browsers that you select. I selected every browser and it gave me something like 120 different images of my about page (Mythtaken). Now when I was using the site, the speed was really slow, but the service is certainly cool.

Quick Web Tips/Notes, Part One

2008-03-01T21:15:00.004-06:00

I always find it interesting as I teach or work in my daily life, how little things that you might accidentally discover may revolutionize your workflow, or maybe add some efficiency to your practices.

While reading up more on web standards and practices, I have come upon two little neat things that have helped immensely with two headaches I have had in the past concerning website creation.

Headache #1: When working with something like a blog where you need some links to launch in a new browser - but you don't want every link to launch a new browser window.

Why a headache: Well suppose you put your blog in as a frame in your website, and it is perfect for the blog size, but external sites look really bizarre embedded in your site (beside the potential for copyright issues). But if every link opens up a new page, every internal link you have also opens a new page, leading to the potential for dozens of open pages.
Well, if you yourself are writing all the content you can always write your own targets for each link, but if you have people contributing who don't write in HTML - well, problem city.

Solution:

Part 1: Writing code that makes all links launch in a new window. Solves the issue of links appearing inside your frame - but means a new launch window for every link clicked. (I could also write this directly into CSS, but in this example, I don't have access to the CSS)

(using [ instead of < and > so it can be read not as code)

[base target='_blank']
[/base]

Part 2: Naming the target blank window, so that all links will go to the same window.

[base target='display']
[/base]

Now when you click on a link it will open up a new window, but all future links will open in that same window (named "display").

Neat little bit of knowledge though not hugely applicable for most situations, where you will probably write targets inline, or as CSS. But even in CSS, naming the window vs. having all windows open up is the same.