What NLE should I learn?

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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?

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)

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

CS4 Upgrade Policy

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!

Adobe Updates InDesign CS3 to 5.0.4

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

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

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

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.

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

Creative Suite 4 Highlights - Photoshop & Illustrator

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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?

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:

Smashing Magazine

Noupe

Net Diver

The FWA

280 Slides

AIGA

Ads of the World

Threadless

Typorganism

Creative Pro

Steampunk Studios

Typography.com

Logo Lounge

The Graphic Reporter

The Design Police

Shag

Kinetic Type

Firefox 3 is out!

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.