Results tagged “InDesign”
No App Is an Island
0 COMMENTSWhile you may have one favorite Adobe app, I’ll bet you’ve also used them together in combinations: for example, placing a layered Photoshop file in InDesign to take advantage of the flexible Layer Comps feature.
Adobe’s “No App Is an Island” contest challenged participants to describe your own multiple-product workflows. We recently chose the winners, and they’re a great cross-section of how today’s creatives make the most of our software.
For example, Theo Lipfert, an award-winning filmmaker and associate Professor in the School of Film and Photography at Montana State University, demonstrated how he combines Illustrator and After Effects to create animations that can range from simple to sophisticated:
For his video tutorial, Professor Lipfert goes home with the Grand Prize: a year’s subscription to the Creative Cloud.
Another winning how-to, by Howard Pinsky, used Lightroom and Photoshop to create a high-dynamic range photo with rich detail in the shadows and highlights:
The remaining winners are Jason Anderson (“Complete Map-Making Workflow”), Sara Frances (“Photo Effects and Filters”), Mike Gentilini (“Customizable Twitter and Facebook Logo Videos”), Kirk Nelson (“Create Cool Pie Charts”), and Kelly Vaughn (“Acrobat Highlighters that Don’t Require Recognizable Text”). Theo Lipfert was also recognized for two other entries: “Using Lightroom as a CinemaDNG importer for After Effects” and “CinemaDNG Round Tripping Between After Effects and Premiere Pro”.
In the coming year, look for all of the tutorials to appear in several places across Adobe. But in the meantime, anyone interested in cross-product how-to’s should download issue 2 of Adobe SWAPP, a free iPad publication. Every article in issue 2 (created by such experts as Von Glitschka, Ben Willmore, and David Blatner) is a multi-product goldmine.
Thank you to all the contest participants, and a big congratulations to the winners!
Top 5 Creative Cloud Tips (and Benefits) from Dave Cross
Our team noticed Photoshop trainer, author, speaker and photographer, Dave Cross (@DaveCross) sharing Creative Cloud tips on Twitter, so we tapped him to see if he’d be up for sharing his insights with our Creative Layer readers. Dave told us that in the relatively short time that he’s been an Adobe Creative Cloud member, he’s already benefited in some unexpected ways, and continues to see additional opportunities where he can take advantage of Creative Cloud features. Here are Dave’s top 5 Creative Cloud tips (and really some benefits), written by the pro himself:
Tip #1: Apps
Of course, having access to all the Adobe applications is pretty sweet. But there’s a “hidden” benefit: Adobe Creative Cloud members get access to new features before they are released to everyone else. There have already been exclusive new features added to Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Muse and more, and I expect that will continue in the future with other apps.
Acrobat XI is Here and Coming Soon to Creative Cloud
We’re happy to announce Acrobat XI., which will soon be available for Creative Cloud members. Acrobat XI eliminates inefficiencies in the conversion between document formats and makes documents flow more smoothly between users. For creative pros, a newly added feature enables users to mark up and annotate PDFs on tablets and smartphones, so you can easily work on the go. Along with the extensive editing systems and the expanded security within the program, there are a host of new additions that make this the most comprehensive version to date and the friendliest to the freelancer or on-to-go designer.
Easily Edit PDFs
It is easier than ever to edit existing text and images, in addition to preserving reflow of text and saving time. And do it on the go, with the ability edit PDFs on tablets and smartphones.
Export to PowerPoint
Save significant time reusing existing slides in PDF format with the seamless transitions that Acrobat XI provides.
Get Signoff Electronically
Through integration with Adobe EchoSign, the signing and approval process is simplified and more transparent, making it easy to get projects kicked off.
End-to-end Web and PDF Form Design, Distribution, Data Collection and Analysis Workflows
Adobe FormsCentral and the FormsCentral desktop app via the cloud integrates with Acrobat XI Pro and streamlines client service request forms, customer surveys, online ordering, and more. Use existing PDF forms – such as those created in InDesign CS6 – start from scratch or take advantage of convenient templates.
Customize Your UI
Acrobat XI Pro UI can be fully customized through custom tool sets, allowing users to customize the toolbar and Tools pane with only the tools they need specifically for their work. These tools can also be organized and categorized with user preferences in mind.
Learn more at Adobe.com and get started on making your workflow FLOW.
Creative Spotlight: Q&A with Animator Lee Daniels
You may have stumbled across Lee Daniels’ work on our Adobe Stories site or our Adobe Facebook Page, but we recently caught up with him to really find out the depths and origins of his creativity when it comes to animation and cartooning.
Adobe: What’s your story? How did you get to where you are today?
Lee Daniels: After experiencing a lack of support for cartooning in grammar school, I decided to get a job in graphic design rather than University education. I got to learn all the Adobe software by trial and error in a real world environment on company hardware, which was always better than what I could afford at the time. I then became a digital retouch artist and graphic designer for a magazine publishing firm for 13 years after leaving school. Since then, I’ve been working as a freelance illustrator in London for almost 4 years (8 including the crossover with my last design job).
What was it about animation that got your attention?
Cartoons like Wile E. Coyote and Tom and Jerry. I always saw the levels of creativity, invention and escapism in cartoons as light-years ahead of the live action drip-feed in to our living room for the other 95% of viewing time.
Cartoons have always been generally viewed as childish because of the history in kids TV, which is why I like to use the medium to create work that is not necessarily childish – without taking it too far of course, that’s the job of South Park.
Inspiration: Is it easy to come by for you or is it a rare pearl? How do you find it?
My previous videos include everything from the misfortune of frogs, though triumphant hamsters, to incompetent Secret Service agents and intelligence tests for a reluctant chimp. Although there is no overriding theme to all, I would have to highlight the common thread as the success of seemingly inferior beings over their seemingly superior tormentors. So inspiration for this can be found pretty much anywhere and tends to come fairly easily. I’ve usually got about 2-3 ideas for future shorts in mind while working on any one project.
Do you believe in creative blocks? How do you push through them?
Yes, absolutely. Although this is almost impossible to do, I find the best way to get through a potential day-spoiler is to just drop everything, stop working and go for a run. Admittedly this is much easier to do now that I’m working for myself – leaving an employment situation in this fashion would be frowned-upon at best! The only real escape to freedom during a creative block in my old job was a trip to the coffee machine the long way round, which was not very inspiring.
What’s your go-to product within the Adobe Creative Suite? Why?
This may sound like a cop-out answer but my go to product is the Creative Suite. I like to view it as one playground. More specifically, if I’m static illustrating or cartooning, it would be a mixture of Illustrator and Photoshop. If I’m animating it would be the previous two plus After Effects, Premiere Pro and Soundbooth. If I’m doing a graphic design job it would be Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. But generally, whatever project I’m working on, I can guarantee to be pressing Apple + Tab multiple times throughout. I’ve downloaded free trials of a lot of different software over the years, but nothing comes close to Adobe in my opinion. I treated myself to the Master Collection after leaving my job to go freelance, and I wouldn’t change it for anything else.
What was your favorite project you worked on while using Adobe Creative Suite?
My most recent work ‘Jungle Brawl‘ is definitely my proudest achievement so far. I made a decision early on not to cut any corners when creating the background artwork and even playing the music myself on guitar as opposed to ‘loops’ (apart from the drum loops, which I don’t play). Previously, I’ve concentrated my efforts mainly on the characters, but I spent a lot of sleepless nights storyboarding, painting the rainforest environment and thinking of new ways to shoot the scenes in an attempt to keep up the filmic quality.
I utilized all the major Creative Suite applications during production – as you’ll see from the credits – and After Effects is definitely the star of the show, although heavily backed-up by Photoshop and Illustrator. After Effects is an incredibly powerful cartoon animating tool and I’m pleased to be championing its use for this medium.
Who are your creative role models?
Stylistically, I take inspiration from hundreds of undiscovered creatives in my online networks. Inspiration from more publicly known artists and companies would be some of the more obvious: Frank Miller, Jamie Hewlett, Patrick Brown, Dave Gibbons, Pixar, Warner Brothers.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new animator/artist starting out, what would it be?
Learn the software and practice, practice, practice. Every piece of software I’ve used has been predominantly learned by trial and error. I find that pure experimentation throws up unexpected problems and only deepens your knowledge in the long run by forcing you to learn what NOT to do.
To find out more about Lee’s upcoming work, you can follow him on Twitter @LeeDanielsART.
Creative Cloud and CS6 Ask a Pro Sessions
With the arrival of Creative Cloud and CS6 just around the corner, we wanted to give our Fans and Followers a first-hand look at some of the new features they can expect! We’ve put together a schedule of 10 Ask a Pro sessions with details below.
Whether you’re into graphic design, web design and development, video production and/or photography, there’s a little something for everyone! Just remember to register for the sessions of interest. read more…
Design and Publish a Website with Adobe Muse (code name)
If you haven’t had the chance to get to know Adobe Muse yet, here’s your chance to learn all about its capabilities from beginning to end. Muse is an application that allows designers to create and publish websites without having to worry about tagging or writing code. This application creates all the necessary parts of the website in the background.
Check out this video below as I show you how to:
- Plan your website using Muse’s intuitive planning workspace
- Design with freedom using Muse’s InDesign layout metaphor
- Add rich interactivity with widgets and arbitrary HTML or iFrames
- Publish your website to HTML or using Adobe Business Catalyst
And if you want to follow along, feel free to download the assets here: http://rufus.li/uM89UO
To check out what was created in this video, you can find the resulting website on Adobe Business Catalyst: http://ourplanet.businesscatalyst.com
Ring in the New Year with our Favorite Moments of 2011
What an exciting year it has been! We wanted to share some of our favorite happenings in 2011 with a countdown of sorts, and highlight our top 11 of ‘11. Stay tuned here because we’ll be posting our favorite moments from the year leading up to New Year’s Eve. And, if you think 2011 was exciting, just wait until you see what we have in store for 2012! From the whole team at Adobe, have a happy new year!
Get to Know Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition
This sure has been an exciting Adobe MAX 2011 for designers! During Monday’s keynote, our Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), Single Edition was announced by our CTO Kevin Lynch. This new edition is truly a game changer as it’s an affordable solution, which means everyone gets the opportunity to publish. Freelance designers, designers at small businesses and smaller design firms can now affordably publish a single branded publication to the iTunes App Store. DPS, Single Edition enables you to publish content including brochures, highly-visual books, annual reports, or a personal design portfolio.
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