Rufus Deuchler | Travelogue

Masters Tour in Taiwan and Hong Kong

2008-07-02T11:08:19Z

This Asia trip that I am doing together with Greg and Jason is truly inspiring. Yesterday we did our Masters show in Taipei, flew to Hong Kong in the evening and performed again today.
It is truly amazing that hundreds, thousands, of people chose to take a day off work and come watch us for five hours as we go through a truly integrated workflow, using all of the applications in the Adobe Master Collection CS3. The live feedback we get from our audiences is what gives us the strength to move on. The attention, the heads nodding, the cheers and the laughter are our blessing. Thank you Taiwan and Hong Kong.

感谢台湾和香港

Next stops Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Caffè Fibonacci - Behind the scenes

2008-07-02T10:53:19Z

This is totally Adobecadabra material! Kush Amerasinghe has a new episode on Adobe TV that shows you how the virtual set in Caffè Fibonacci works [link to show]. Awesome stuff! I am glad that he chose to investigate that matter at "Ask the Adobe Ones". Thanks Kush, I love your show and that was pretty good Italian you spoke there ;-)

Seoul (서울)

2008-06-28T13:18:44Z

Yes, one word. That is all that comes to my mind. Now, that was an incredible event. The entire team at the Adobe office in Korea managed to get about 3'000 creative professionals into one room to listen to what Greg, Jason and yours truly had to say, for an entire day.

The "Adobe Masters Class 2008" in Seoul was a huge success, and that's a euphemism. After a morning session, where we presented an integrated CS3 workflow to produce content for print, web, and video, we split into three separate sessions.
Mine was a three hour design track, during which I took my audience through Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop Extended, InDesign and Adobe Kuler. The korean audience, typically very quiet and reserved, was cheering and clapping at every feature, old and new, that was shown to them and explained in depth.

Later, when we gathered up in a general session where there was a lucky draw, we had dozens of fans asking for photographs and autographs. Well, that was certainly a first for me.

Greg, Jason, and I left Korea asking ourselves "was that for real?".

Thank you Korea! - 당신을 감사하십시오 한국

Now to Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur.

Adobe kuler just got cooler!

2008-06-28T12:10:52Z

A new version of kuler desktop is now available and it allows users to import kuler themes directly into three CS3 applications: Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop (instead of having to save a Swatch Exchange to the desktop first).

Just as a reminder, kuler is a web-hosted application for exploring, creating and sharing color harmonies. And, as I always say in my seminars, it's great source for downloading color themes. But what is even more interesting is that you can upload your own! And maybe, one day, your color scheme will be top of the list. Go create!

This version is also a great example of the integration that is possible between Adobe AIR and the Adobe Creative Suite, using SwitchBoard. For the more nerdy among us, SwitchBoard, which is available on Adobe Labs, allows AIR applications to communicate with CS applications via an ActionScript API (application program interface). Using the API you can send ExtendScript commands directly to the Creative Suite applications that support the ExtendScript Library. Cool stuff! The possibilities for developers are infinite.

Reggio Emilia InDesign User Group Chapter Meeting

2008-05-26T14:13:09Z

On Saturday, May 24, Leonardo Agosti held the first Reggio Emilia InDesign User Group Chapter Meeting, and it was a great success. Over thirty of our friends (the vast majority from inEditoria.net, my first attempt at creating a community around InDesign in Italy), and some unregistered participants showed up. It was great being able to put a face on names that I had read about in my InDesign forum for years. I got to show my presentation on the "making of InDesign" and do the technology preview of the feature that would allow InDesign CS-next users to export in a format (.xfl) which would in turn enable authoring in Flash Professional CS-next. Cool stuff!
Present were also Mauro Boscarol (italian color management guru), and Matteo Oriani, an Application Engineer at Adobe Italy. Discussions were interesting and vivacious.
One of the attendees told me that "it is such a relief to see that there are other martians out there that can spend a day talking about this kind of stuff". Exactly! This is what the InDesign User Groups, or user groups in general for that matter, are for: learn new stuff, share ideas, and meet "martians" just like you.
We then all went to eat "gnocco fritto", "tigelle", stuffed with salami, cheese, ham, and things I better not remember. Literally saw cholesterol levels go through the roof. But man, is that stuff good.
Cannot wait for the next Reggio Emilia InDesign User Group Chapter meeting.

Nordics tour. Wow, and thank you!

2008-05-22T17:02:30Z

Four countries, 7 cities, 9 days; Helsinki, Oslo, Malmö, Götheborg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Aarhus. I had the great opportunity to talk to about three thousand of our friends. What I showed in the three hour presentation included the Appearance Panel, working with Symbols, and Live Color in Adobe Illustrator CS3. I then went to show just how cool the kuler color community is; and remember to post your own colors (who knows, maybe yours will be "most popular"). After that we got an in depth look at how Object Styles can make your work more efficient in Adobe InDesign CS3.
That is also when I showed the fastest way to get a Photoshop file into an InDesign document. Thank you all for not answering that the fastest way would be a "copy and paste", which would obviously be wrong.
Here's a little reminder:

Yes, just drag and drop the icon onto your InDesign page. This is the fastest way!

]]> Using Object Styles reduces production time drastically because image frames in InDesign know how to behave when an image gets placed into them. Also using styles (paragraph, character, and object styles) is an essential operation to best export your Indesign content to the web by using the new Cross Media Export feature that allows you to export in XHTL for Dreamweaver CS3; these styles will be turned into fully fledged CSS declarations that are so easy to edit in Dreamweaver.
Then we had Peder Engrob, and Alan Rosenfeld show us 15 minutes of fun using the Creative Suite 3 with Leopard. Cool stuff!
After the break, I showed the audiences a technology preview of what our engineers are working on for InDesign CS-next and Flash CS-next. Like I said, a preview, no guarantee it will make in the next release. Basically we are working on a new feature that would allow InDesign users to export their beautifully laid out content into Flash! Here's an example of what it could look like. Interactivity, animation and more could be added in Flash to create an engaging reading experience. Make sure to look at the last page, and see how publishers are already leveraging Flash for their publications.
I also showed some Photoshop CS3 Extended magic, using such features as Auto-Align Layers (yes you can do vertical panoramas too), Auto-Blend Layers, Vanishing Point, and 3D objects. Here's a little more info: Photoshop CS3 extended supports 3DS, OBJ, Collada, KMZ, and U3D, the choice is yours. Oh, and since we are talking about KMZ here is where you can find the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended Plug-In for Google 3D Warehouse™ on Adobe Labs.
Leaving the best for last, I then edited a movie using Photoshop CS3 Extended, animating Opacity and Position of a pasted logo, and then placed the movie onto my InDesign document, which I then turned into an interactive PDF with embedded movie and navigation buttons.
Thank you Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, for the enthusiasm you showed me! This makes my job truly rewarding!
Thank you also to Benny Thaibert who wrote a review in Danish (Adobe Indesign seminar på fisketorvet)

Your help needed to cure the "Stupid PDF Syndrome"

2008-05-22T16:12:30Z

Tim Cole and I felt an urgent need to do this Public Service Announcement at Caffè Fibonacci on Adobe TV. The "Stupid PDF Syndrome" is an affliction that affects millions of PDF files each and every day. Here's how you can help.

View the movie on Adobe TV by following this link.

]]> Oh, and yes, so that the search engines can catch this, it is all about the Adobe PDF Print Engine.
For more information about how you can help, click here.

InDesign User Group Switzerland - Grüezi zämme

2008-05-08T19:53:12Z

Today I attended the Swiss InDesign User Group Meeting in Nottwil, Switzerland.
The organizers had a very peculiar request; they wanted me to talk about "how InDesign is made". So, a couple of weeks ago, during a stay in the Seattle Adobe headquarters, I did my homework and interviewed Product Managers Chad Siegel (who also gave me a behind the scenes tour) and Michael Ninness. The history behind InDesign is actually quite thrilling!
The attendees all enjoyed my slide show (believe it or not). The session then evolved into a Q&A session on InDesign. I herewith make it a point again, Adobe does listen to users and we gather information from all over the world to provide the solutions users really need. Even the Feature Request/Bug Report Form actually gets read and analyzed with great cure.

]]> After that I did a session on my favorite tips & tricks in InDesign, which spanned all the way from nested styles to my beloved "cornered frames".
Then, everyone came on stage and showed their favorite trick. And, since we were in Switzerland, we put it to the vote. And the winner was Roger, who won a software package of his choice. Not bad.
Merci zämme!

CS3 A tutto ritmo - Day 3

2008-05-06T13:53:09Z

Today Paolo Santoro, Matteo Oriani, and yours truly are in Florence, my home town (so to say). How could I miss that?
Attending were about 150 friends from Tuscany, and beyond. Again, in the four hours of the presentation we went through a complete workflow that included InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop Extended, Dreamweaver, and Acrobat. The thing that marvels me each time we do that, is how much users still do not know, and how much I can learn from their questions. Truly inspiring.
The tour now goes to Mestre and Rome. I will be in the Nordics, so Michela di Stefano, and Alberto Comper will be replacing me.

Grazie a tutti quelli che hanno partecipato! E' sempre bello poter insegnare e imparare qualche cosa.

CS3 A tutto ritmo - Day 2

2008-04-23T09:47:27Z

Day two of the tour. Today we are in Arese, a city North of Milan.
What I forgot to mention yesterday, was that this entire tour has been organized in schools. This is actually a pretty cool idea because it has virtually no cost, and is a win/win situation. The school gets advertised for free to a broad range of professionals from the field. I mean, how many times, as a Designer, have I been asked "what school would you recommend for a good graphic design preparation?". Now I have a few more answers. And we get access to large auditoriums for our presentations.
Today, in Arese, the school has asked to do the presentation to their students in the morning (the same we will be doing to professionals and companies in the afternoon). Like I said, win/win.

]]> After a light lunch we came back to the venue and found a line of people waiting almost one hour prior to starting time. Our demonstrations went really well and the crowd was very interested, and we had a full 45 minutes of Q&A.
The tour now proceeds to other cities, to which I cannot go because I have other scheduled events. I will however be speaking in Florence in two weeks.
Yours truly.

CS3 A tutto ritmo - Kicks off!

2008-04-22T13:13:34Z

Today, yours truly is in Turin speaking at an event organized by Adobe Italia. This is the first stop of a tour that will take us through six different Italian cities. Just under 200 friends from all over the are where pushing on the doors forty-five minutes before start.
I am here with my colleagues Paolo Santoro and Matteo Oriani. Each one of us has a different role in the workflow. Paolo is the InDesign layout artist, Matteo is the Illustrator guy, and yours truly is the Photoshop geek. Together we show the audience a workflow that will take them through most of the new features in Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium (yes, the one with Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop Extended).
Thank you Turin! Next stop Arese (Milan)
____________
Oggi, mi trovo a Torino ad un evento organizzato da Adobe Italia. Si tratta della prima tappa di un tour che ci porterà in sei diverse città italiane. Quasi 200 amici della zona di Torino si trovavano dietro le porte già 45 minuti prima dell'inizio dell'evento.

]]> Sono qui con i miei colleghi Paolo Santoro e Matteo Oriani. Ognuno di noi ha un ruolo diverso nel flusso di lavoro che c siamo inventato. Paolo è un impaginatore, Matteo il nostro illustratore, e io sono il geek di Photoshop. Insieme facciamo vedere un flusso di lavoro che presenta la maggior parte delle novità all'interno della Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium (si, quella con Dreamweaver, Flash e Photoshop Extended).
Grazie Torino! Prossima tappa Arese.

Upcoming InDesign User Group meetings in Germany and Switzerland

2008-04-21T14:32:55Z

May 8 will see two InDesign User Group meetings; one in Munich, and one in Nottwil (Switzerland). This will be, yet again, a very good opportunity to learn, share, and mingle. Both these events are in German, and yours truly will be participating at the Swiss meeting.
Thank you Wolf and Haeme for organizing these events.

]]> Auf Deutsch weiter...

Münchner Programm: Standort Leiter Wolf Eigner
Hurra und willkommen!
Unser Zweiter ist ein besonderer Abend: Die Firma Schulz sorgt nicht nur für Raum und Erfrischung, sondern hat sich bekanntlich, wie wir auch, dem Wissenstransfer in Grafik und Medienvorstufe verschrieben, vor allem im Bereich Typografie. Seit einiger Zeit besteht dazu eine Kooperation mit der Typografischen Gesellschaft München, und auch die InDesignUserGroup wird herzlich willkommen geheißen.

Agenda
- PDF Print Engine
- Keine Angst vor XML!
- Sonstiges

Schweizer Programm: Standort Leiter Haeme Ulrich
Rufus Deuchler, InDesign-Freak der ersten Stunde und jetzt vollzeitlich für Adobe unterwegs, berichtet aus der Entwicklung von InDesign. Rufus führt Sie an diesem Nachmittag in eine InDesign-Welt ein, die sonst nicht öffentlich bekannt ist. Im Anschluss bleibt noch genügend Zeit, InDesign-Tricks auszutauschen und beim Apéro zu diskutieren.

Agenda
– Begrüssung/Infos Haeme Ulrich, Präsident InDesign-User-Group
– Vortrag «So entsteht InDesign», Rufus Deuchler, Sr. Worldwide Evangelist bei Adobe
– Pause
– Rufus' liebsten InDesign-Tricks, Rufus Deuchler, Adobe
– InDesign-Tricks und -Kniffe austauschen, alle
– Wettbewerb

Touring Scandinavia like Vikings on their longships

2008-04-17T13:57:17Z

Greg and yours truly will be touring Scandinavia in May to show you how to best use Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium in your creative workflows and production. We will be focusing on InDesign as a hub for putting together your assets, but we'll also touch Photoshop Extended, and Illustrator. During the three hours of our presentation, we’ll be looking at the possibilities these applications can offer and demonstrate their tight integration. We'll be going over each application and also explore some workflow integration with Adobe InCopy. With Greg, we'll also show how to best prepare your documents for XHTML export, and then rapidly edit the CSS in Dreamweaver to publish content on the web.

]]> The dates are:
Finland (register)
Tervetuloua täydellistä työympäristöa käsittelevään seminaariin!
Helsinki, May 12
Norway (register)
Velkommen til et seminar om det perfekte arbeidsmiljøet!
Oslo, May 13
Sweden (register)
Välkommen till ett seminarium om den perfekta arbetsmiljön!
Malmö, May 14
Göteborg, May 15
Stockholm, May 16
Denmark ( register)
Velkommen til et seminar om det perfekte arbejdsmiljø!
Copenhagen, May 19
Aarhus, May 20

Up Anchor and Full Sail Ahead!
I am looking forward to meet all our scandinavian friends soon!

Caffè Fibonacci now open on Adobe TV

2008-04-09T10:51:36Z

Today is a very good day! Both the Adobe Media Player and Adobe TV have been launched.
In January, Tim Cole and yours truly went on a secret mission somewhere in Texas. We could not talk about it then, but now I can say that we have been recording our initial episodes there. We chose to call our show Caffè Fibonacci for several reasons: mainly it's a pretty cool and exotic name, and second you can actually use the Fibonacci numbers to build some amazing grids for your layouts. The kitchen backdrop is a tribute to Tim's love for cooking (hence the kitchen), and the Tuscan countryside was put in to not make me feel too far from home.
The description of our show is: "Welcome to Caffè Fibonacci, where Tim Cole and Rufus Deuchler share their favorite recipes and productivity enhancing tips and tricks for cooking creatively with Adobe Creative Suite". [Watch it here]

]]> The idea behind this is to show how to best use the design tools that are included in the Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium. We talk about InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Bridge and how they all work together to allow you to produce great designs effectively.
I cannot wait to get you feedback on this one. We put a lot of effort into it, and we hope that you will both enjoy the show and find it instructive.
You can watch our show directly in you browser, or if you want to have access to the content from your desktop you can download the Adobe Media Player and subscribe to our show.

CS3 Tour in Italy. Mamma mia!

2008-04-07T17:42:34Z

For the end of April, beginning of May, Adobe Italy has organized a tour to show what it truly means to work within the Adobe Creative Workflow. We'll be touching Turin*, Arese*, Verona, Florence*, Venice, and Rome (I will personally present at the shows marked with *).
And, since these events will be in italian I will continue the description in the language of Dante.

Adobe Italia sta organizzando un tour per mostrarvi che cosa significa lavorare nel flusso di lavoro Adobe. Il tour passa da Torino (22/4)*, Arese (23/4)*, Verona (29/4), Firenze (6/5)*, Venezia (10/5), e Roma (14/5). Sarò personalmente presente nelle città indicate da un asterisco.

]]> Ecco il programma completo dell'evento:

Sessione 1 - Dalla forma all'impaginazione "one-click" con l'aiuto del "dream-design-team"
Conoscere meglio Adobe InDesign e renderlo una vera e propria macchina da produttività. Come unire la forma alla funzionalità, per produrre impaginati di altissima qualità sfruttando la potenza di InDesign nella programmazione e nella gestione di flussi evoluti di contenuti. Usare un unico ambiente di lavoro, passando dal disegno vettoriale all’elaborazione di immagini fotografiche, per completare il prodotto usando lo strumento di impaginazione più evoluto è facile. Il dream-design-team (Photoshop+Illustrator+InDesign) è spettacolare. Siete pronti a progettare oggi le riviste e i cataloghi del futuro?
Costruiremo sotto i vostri occhi una rivista, con ritmo incalzante! Individueremo le difficoltà che quotidianamente dovete affrontare e vi illustreremo le soluzioni:
* gestione testi e contributi che arrivano in diversi formati
* coerenza cromatica e di progettazione
* utilizzo immagini
* comunicazione e collaborazione di più team che lavorano insieme sullo stesso documento

Sessione 2 - Riviste del futuro... in PDF e sul web
Il mondo del web è sempre più poliedrico e sempre più evoluto: il PDF non è più solo un formato per documenti, ma un’esperienza multimediale tutta da scoprire e sfruttare, e la potenza di Dreamweaver abbinata a Flash permette di generare in modo semplice siti dal look e dalle funzionalità incredibili. Ma non vi accontentate delle promesse e delle parole, vero? Per questo abbiamo preparato questa sessione; per voi, che volete fatti concreti e avete tanta voglia di stupirvi e di stupire i vostri clienti.
Trasformeremo la rivista in un prodotto distribuibile su canali multimediali dinamici soffermandoci su:
* passaggio e riutilizzo dei contenuti al grafico web
* organizzazione di gestione di soluzioni grafiche multiple e/o alternative

Sessione 3: Le vostre Domande e Risposte
Nelle due sessioni risponderemo certamente a molte delle vostre curiosità ma dopo aver visto così tante meraviglie ulteriori domande sorgeranno spontanee... ne aspettiamo tante! Risponderemo a tutti!
Potrete anche vincere una delle t-shirt "Adobe CS3 a tutto ritmo!" in omaggio ma attenzione... la domanda deve essere sintonizzata sul ritmo più coinvolgente!

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