There was no better place for the Adobe video team to be in late January than Park City, Utah – home to the Sundance Film Festival.  Sundance is the largest and, arguably, the most important annual event for independent film in the United States.  Over the last few years numerous films, including Precious, Winter’s Bone, and Beasts of the Southern Wild, which premiered at Sundance, have gone on to receive nominations for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.  In addition to film, technology is a large topic of conversation at Sundance – filmmakers, aspiring hopefuls and enthusiasts alike share their opinions and preferences regarding the tools they’re using to produce their creative work.

Sundance 2013 was, once again, a huge success for the Adobe video team.   There was strong Adobe presence all over the festival and numerous films in the festival were cut exclusively with Adobe video tools (through Creative Cloud!).  Creative and technology panels boasted the strengths of Adobe video products and partnerships and festival attendees and filmmakers were proud to make known their plans to switch to Adobe Premiere Pro, if they haven’t done so already.

To learn more about everything Adobe at the Sundance Film Festival check out the videos created on the ground in Park City during the festival – they’ve already garnered over 8,500 views on Adobe TV!

Adobe & Sundance 2013 – Part 1: Sundance filmmakers share why they’ve decided to make the switch to Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Creative Cloud: http://adobe.ly/YvQlTH

Adobe & Sundance 2013 – Part 2: Adobe hosted a panel of industry luminaries – here they share how Adobe video tools are helping them and their colleagues succeed in a rapidly changing media industry: http://adobe.ly/111QyiN

Adobe & Sundance 2013 – Part 3: Adobe loves connecting with the community and is proud of our growing partner ecosystem: adobe.ly/XGhA7b

Filmaker Kyle Patrick Alvarez talks about his film C.O.G. The first and only film adaption of a David Sedaris story, for which he switched to Premiere Pro through Creative Cloud membership: http://adobe.ly/VdSaQu

Filmaker Jim Mickle discusses why he switched to Premiere Pro for his film We Are What We Are and why he thinks Adobe Creative Cloud is the best option for independent filmmakers: http://adobe.ly/11gHo19

We’re excited to announce that Adobe evangelists and other creative leaders are bringing Create Now to a city near you on our Create Now World Tour! Now through mid-April 2013, you can attend a Create Now event in your area to learn what’s new in Adobe Creative Cloud. Whether you’re a photographer, graphic designer, video professional, or web designer, there are innovations in your favorite tools and services to get up to date on. Check out the Create Now World Tour schedule to see when we’ll be in your area, and don’t forget to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter (hashtag #CreateNow).

If you’re in the U.S., check out and register for the below upcoming events, hosted by local Adobe user groups.

• Baltimore Event – March 4th 2013
• Chicago Event – March 7th 2013
• Seattle Event – March 9th 2013
• Boston Event – March 11 2013
• Los Angeles Event – March 13 2013
• San Diego Event – March 16-17th 2013
• Cleveland Event – March 18th 2013
• San Jose Event – March 23rd 2013
• Kansas City Event – April 4th 2013

Also, if you attend a Create Now World Tour event in person, you will receive a discount code for Adobe MAX 2013. Save US$400 — get a full conference pass for just US$1,095! Hope to see you all there!

It’s creativity that leads to some of the most innovative inventions, even if it raises the question, “What in the world?” This is probably what you’ll say to yourself when browsing through Design Milk’s popular tagged posts using ‘WTF’. Check out the top inventions from their 2012 Year in Review: Best of WTF, from which we pulled our top three favorites noted below:

LED Eyelashes by Soomi Park.

Natural Keyboard by Robbie Tilton.

Burritobot: The Tortilla-Filling 3D Printer.

What are your thoughts on these creative inventions? Tell us in the comments below.

We hope these inventions spark your inspiration!  Share with us on Facebook or on Twitter using #CreateNow, what inspires you each day.

What do you get when you combine a popular mobile and web game, a classic painting, and a creative mind? Creative specialist Jeff Sydor’s (@JeffSydor) most recent Creative Cloud project: “A Friend in Need – An Angry Birds Parody.”

After coming across his work on the Creative Cloud Facebook page, we connected with Jeff to learn more about his project, how Creative Cloud played an integral role in the creation, and some features that have helped him evolve his creative process. Get the whole story below, plus learn some tips and techniques you can apply to your next project.

Finally, be sure to submit your own work on the Creative Cloud Facebook wall for a chance to be featured!

[Show as slideshow]

Adobe: Describe a project you are currently working on or have completed with Creative Cloud.

Jeff: I started my Angry Birds poker project in early 2012, titled: A Friend In Need – An Angry Birds Parody. This project was inspired by a tutorial by Marcos Torres (@marcos333) to design a custom Angry Birds scene.

What was your inspiration behind the project?

I wanted to design a scene that no one else had done yet, so I settled on the popular “Dogs Playing Poker” or “A Friend In Need” themed creation. I figured it was only a matter of time until someone made an Angry Birds variation given its relevance to current pop-culture.

The second part of this project was mainly a challenge for me – to design the entire image using tools only found in Adobe Illustrator CS6. Up until this point, I had only used Illustrator to design icons or logos, not full-scale graphics and scenes. I knew I could design many of the elements in Photoshop CS6 (especially the 3D ones), but I wanted to see just how far I could push both my and Illustrator’s limits. This helped me master many new skills and tools that would help me in future projects.

How has the Creative Cloud changed your creative workflow?

The greatest advantage that the Creative Cloud has given me was the ability to specify the computers I use with certain products. I use my desktops at home and at the office for all my Creative Suite 6 tools – whether it’s video editing, interactive design, web development, photo editing, or in this case – illustrating. Then I can specifically use my laptop with the essential applications without using up all my disk space. Plus, now I have the option to install any new and existing applications whenever, and wherever I need them. Thanks to Creative Cloud’s App-Store like interface, I can do this without needing to carry the install disks around with me.

What tools specific to Creative Cloud enable you to work more efficiently?

When I started this project I would carry my work around on a flash drive. The biggest problems with this for me were making sure that I always had the most updated file on hand and worrying whether or not the file would get lost or corrupted. The biggest advantage of Creative Cloud is the ability to save my work in one place, the cloud. This allowed me to save all my files, settings, brushes, symbols, and color palettes while having access to them on any machine I was working on.

Describe your style of work in three words:

Organized, Colorful, Themed.

What advice would you give to an individual who is considering Creative Cloud?

Adobe now offers many useful tools that that you can only get with a Creative Cloud membership.

One Illustrator tool that I especially love and can’t live without, the ability to preflight and package all my data like you can in Adobe InDesign. Now I don’t have to spend extra time finding document links and outlining fonts before sending them to another designer or printer. This allows me to work non-destructively while getting projects completed much faster. The other benefit is that Creative Cloud is subscription based. If you are struggling to justify spending a lot of money to upgrade or buy the most recent software, you can now spend a much smaller amount on a monthly basis.

Anything else you’d like to add?

The only way to discover your potential and creativity is to play, and Adobe’s Creative Cloud is always giving you cool new things to play with. So sit at the computer, open an application, and just try it. Keep trying new things and mixing techniques and you’ll discover something really cool.

You can check out additional projects Jeff has completed by vising his website.

Sundance Film Festival | Park City, Utah | January 17-27, 2013

The video team is proud to partner with the Sundance Film Festival again in 2013. Many films across the festival incorporated Adobe tools into their workflows but the most exciting news from the festival this year was the four films in the festival that were cut exclusively using Premiere Pro [C.O.G, We Are What We Are, Feral and When Zombies Come]. Two of those production teams couldn’t say enough about the benefits of Adobe Creative Cloud membership to their independent filmmaking process. Through their Creative Cloud memberships they used Adobe creative tools for everything from sharing creative inspiration with Adobe Ideas, to cutting, scoring and creating motion graphics for their films with Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition, to creating and sharing promotional materials like posters and flyers using Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat.

In addition to the exciting news from the filmmaking side of Sundance, Adobe also has great presence around Park City as part of the festival. The Adobe panel, “From Script to Screen, the Fusion of Technology and Storytelling in Film” features three luminary Adobe video customers- Tyler Nelson [Assistant Editor – House of Cards, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Social Network], Bill Yukich [Commercial/music video editor - Coca–Cola, Volvo, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adam Lambert] and Bayan Joonam [Head of Production at SoulPancake, actor Rainn Wilson's production company]. Adobe is also hosting a space in the Filmmakers Co-op where festival attendees are able to sign up for Free Creative Cloud memberships and learn all the great features of Adobe Creative Cloud, Premiere Pro and all the Adobe video tools.

Moderator: Meagan Keane; Panelists: Bill Yukich, Tyler Nelson & Bayan Joonam

Adobe continues to strengthen our partnerships with HP and RED. Premiere Pro Product Manager, Al Mooney, joined representatives from HP and RED as part of the HP Panel, “4K and Beyond: The evolving role of technology in digital filmmaking”. And HP will host the Main St. Sundance House where numerous HP systems were loaded with Adobe Creative Cloud and filmmakers could come, learn more about Adobe software and print out high quality copies of their marketing materials to aid them in building buzz around their films throughout bustling Park City.

2013 is going to be a huge year for the Adobe video team and Sundance is the perfect place to kick off all the great things to come! Stay tuned to Premiere Pro’s Facebook and Twitter accounts for interviews and updates from the festival.

Oh, the places you’ll go with Adobe Touch Apps… literally. For Matt Maughan (@somemattpaint), Touch Apps have transformed not only his creative process, but also his life, as his digital portfolio full of Adobe Ideas creations helped him score commissions and a gallery exhibition!

We connected with Matt over Twitter after coming across some of his creations including video game artwork in the style of a Chinese shadow puppet show. Take a closer look at his creative workflow, learn about some of his favorite features found in the Adobe Ideas v2.5 release, and pick up some tips and tricks.

Also, remember to visit our Facebook and Twitter channels to see Matt’s work featured.

[Show as slideshow]

 Adobe: Describe a favorite creation you’ve created with Touch Apps

Matt: That’s a tough one. Maybe the Charles Bukowski portrait which was a commissioned piece, as I enjoyed doing the shadows and detail and I seemed to make use of all of Adobe Ideas’ features to create it.

What role do Adobe Touch Apps play in your creative process?
They are integral, completely and utterly – I can’t stress that enough. I create solely on the iPad and both Ideas and PS Touch are my primary apps for creation. Adobe Ideas has all the bases covered from sketching out ideas right through to full projects. PS Touch is most used as a ‘finishing school’ where projects go to become refined!

How has the integrationof Touch Apps and the Creative Cloud features changed your creative workflow?

The Touch Apps have revolutionized my creative workflow! The simplicity of them, the similarities in the UI which make it incredibly easy to switch between them, the tools offered and ultimately the fact that anything that I create in one app can be progressed, enhanced and polished in another. I’m forever switching between Adobe Ideas and Ps Touch. The Creative Cloud keeps all my artwork safe and allows me to access files quickly, as well as manage them either on my iPad or on my PC.

What are your favorite Adobe Ideas v2.5 features?

Top of the list has to be the new brushes – the tapering paint brush especially. It’s just perfect and adds a real artistry to projects. Lines have a fluid, natural look to them and results in a final image that looks more organic than digital. It’s also possible to add really fine detail especially for faces and hair!

I’m also a huge fan of the ‘fill’ function. So much time is saved now that I can fill specific areas with color just with a simple touch.

Next is the ability to merge layers. This essentially allows for unlimited layers so when a project becomes more complex you can merge together finished layers to create new blank layers for additional content. You can just keep going and going. One of the things I love about Adobe Ideas is that it’s as simple or complex as the user requires. I can do simple sketches like it’s a digital pad and pen or full on, multilayer projects that require duplicated layers, resizing, mirrored layers and varying opacity levels.

What tips/suggestions do you have for creative individuals thinking about getting into Adobe Ideas?

If you want to create digital art on a tablet I personally think Adobe Ideas is a ‘must have’. Then experiment and play with it. Play with the brushes, play with the opacity levels, play with everything. Import a photo and create a unique and accurate color palette with the eyedropper. See what happens when you select a layer and resize it, it may just make your artwork more striking. You can’t mess up so just experiment.

For veteran users like yourself, what tips and/or techniques can you offer them to improve their creative workflow?

Between Adobe Ideas and PS Touch and any other apps you may have, you have a whole array of tools that can help refine your work. Would shadowing look better if you adjusted the opacity level? Would the background work better if you moved its layer to the left? Is there an effect or feature in PS Touch that would really make your Ideas project pop out? I think it’s very easy after working on a project for hours to sit back and say finished! It’s always worth giving it a critical eye and remembering that you are working on an incredibly powerful tablet with incredibly powerful apps that just might make a good image wonderful.

Can’t get enough of Matt’s work? Head over to www.somemattpaint.com to see more creations!

Our Create Now event on Dec. 11, 2012 was an exciting time for all of us. As a way to inspire #CreateNow conversations with you up until the event, we launched our #CreateNow Sweepstakes on Twitter. From Nov. 15, 2012 through Dec. 11, 2012 we held random drawings daily for five lucky winners who participated in the #CreateNow conversation.  For those of you who participated in our #CreateNow Sweepstakes, we wanted to extend a special thanks to you! Congratulations to all the winners below who were lucky enough to win Create Now messenger bags – we hope you’re enjoying them!

On the day of the event we had even bigger prizes to giveaway – Adobe MAX passes and 1-year Creative Cloud memberships. Congratulations to our two Adobe MAX Pass winners, @txelks and @presycemedia, and our two 1-year Creative Cloud membership winners, @TheGreatDanaJ and @JimHoltan!

Follow us on our Creative Cloud Twitter channel, and fan us on our Creative Cloud Facebook page for more opportunities to win fun prizes, and for up-to-date information on the Adobe Creative Cloud. Also, be sure to check out what’s new in Creative Cloud by watching the Create Now event.

Here is the second half of our countdown to our top 12 moments of 2012. We hope you’ve enjoyed the year as much as we did. As we look forward, we’re extremely excited for what’s in store in 2013. Here’s to an amazing new year!

Moment #6 | Creative Cloud Scavenger Hunt 

Back in April, we got creatives involved in a scavenger hunt right in our backyard in San Francisco the day of the Creative Cloud launch – and it sure was a blast. The grand prize was $10,000 and a lifetime Creative Cloud membership, with two runner-up prizes of 1-year Creative Cloud memberships, which ended up being grabbed by some very lucky winners. Thanks again to all those who participated! We had some great memories from your social documentary.

Moment #5 | Create the Web

Kicking off the first leg of the tour in San Francisco, we announced key updates for the web development community, including Dreamweaver updates and new Edge Tools & Services, exclusively for Creative Cloud members. This also included the first release of Edge Animate (formerly known as Adobe Edge). With these new apps added to Creative Cloud, we’ve seen a tremendous appreciation from you – landing its rank at number four.

Moment #4 | Create Now Live

This online event pulls into the number three spot due to the big feature updates we were thrilled to announce for Creative Cloud members. Photoshop updates included Retina Display support and more, Muse acquired a way to create mobile versions for websites, and the very popular announcements of Creative Cloud for Teams and the addition of Creative Cloud Training. You can still watch the keynote and other snippets from the event on our Create Now Adobe TVchannel.

Moment #3 | Adobe & Behance

We’re thrilled that the Behance community will be joining our family! 2013 holds more in store for how we deepen the connections between our creative tools and services via Creative Cloud and creatives like you around the world.

Moment #2 | Creative Cloud Launch

This is where it all began, which is why were placing this in the runner-up spot for our notable moments. Along with the launch of Creative Cloud, we were excited to introduce the new version of Creative Suite 6, loaded with major feature updates to all our CS applications.

Moment #1 | Top 3 Creative Cloud Facebook Posts

None of the moments up to this point would have mattered if it weren’t for you, our community. A big thanks goes out to our Creative Cloud Facebook fans. We hit our 50,000 likes milestone just before the end of the year! Here’s a look at our Fan favorite moments based on your engagement.

We can’t believe 2012 is about to come to a close! Before we start planning for 2013, we wanted to reflect on some of the most memorable moments this year. Join us in counting down our top 12 most notable memories of 2012. Check out the first half of our list below and stay tuned for part two!

Moment #12 | Acrobat XI Launch
October marked a milestone for Acrobat with the release of Acrobat XI. This version is focused on simplifying everyday work from editing PDFs more intuitively to building forms from scratch in limits.

Moment #11 | Exclusive features for Creative Cloud Members
2012 was certainly a great year for Creative Cloud members. Just as we promised back when we introduced Creative Cloud in April, we’re providing exclusive tools and feature updates for fan favorite Creative Suite applications like Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and more. And this is just the beginning. Just wait and see what we have in store for you in 2013!

Moment #10 | Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition Added to Creative Cloud
In September, we launched Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition to members, allowing them to create, develop, and deliver iPad apps – all without writing code! As of our Create Now event this month, there have been more than 20,000 apps published via our Digital Publishing family.

Moment #9 | Muse added to Creative Cloud
Added to the Creative Cloud in August, Muse has continued to receive updates that allow users to design HTML websites like never before. At the recent Create Now event (more on that in part 2), Creative Cloud users learned about added features, which enable users to design for mobile with ease.

Moment #8 | Lightroom added to Creative Cloud
In June, photo buffs certainly received a treat when they found out that Lightroom 4 was available as part of the Creative Cloud membership. The Lightroom team was exceptionally proud of this release – as they found the right balance between powerful controls and an intuitive user experience. Combine that with publishing tools and you have one magnificent update to Lightroom.

Moment #7 | Illustrator 25th Anniversary
On March, 19, 1987, drawing and line art changed forever. Enter Adobe Illustrator. This flagship product turned the big 2-5 this year and took vector graphics to a whole new level with the release of the CS6 version, offered in the Creative Cloud.