appclinic - graphic design tutorials » Podcast Feed

Have you been wanting to explore the 3D tools in Photoshop? In this episode we'll take a look at a 3D feature that allows you to turn 2D artwork into a 3D postcard. This will allow us to experiment and become more familiar with Photoshop's 3D tools and workspace. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

Having too many anchor points in your illustrations can cause a couple of problems. If over-complicated paths are causing a slow down, bloated file sizes or just making it harder to work with your files, the simplify feature of Illustrator, could be the answer to your problems. We'll demonstrate how to use this function to get the results you want while "simplifying" your illustrations. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

If you ever find yourself creating exact copies of documents you create only to change the copy/text within that document, the conditional text feature of InDesign, can save you a ton of time. We'll take a look at how this feature is set up and used and how it can make things much easier on you. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

Have you ever had a problem placing a graphic on a photo and really selling the fact that the graphic is PART of that photo? With displacement mapping in Photoshop, we can make graphics and images seamlessly integrate with the photos we place them on. We will demonstrate this by taking an illustrated logo and placing it on a golf ball and a t-shirt, using displacement mapping to sell the fact that the logo was there when the picture was taken. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

Once again we will be focusing on typography in InDesign. In this episode we'll take a look at some of the most commonly used special characters, how they can enhance our layout and how to insert them into a design quickly and easily using key commands. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

If you work with many documents that are similar in dimensions, there are shortcuts that can get you working more quickly, allowing you to sped more time being creative and less time wading through dialogue boxes. We'll look at a few ways to get going quickly on your projects in InDesign and Illustrator with either limited or no interaction with the new document dialogue box. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

Its almost completely unavoidable. At some point you are bound to have a head-scratcher of a problem when working in Photoshop so its good to know some basic things to look for when things DO go wrong. Step one: don't panic. There is pretty much always an explanation for why your app is behaving in a strange way. We'll take a look at some of the things that could be happening when your paint brush tool is misbehaving. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

The latest trend on the web is to connect EVERYTHING and EVERYONE and Opera Unite does not disappoint on that feature. I want to point out a functionality of the service that I think might be particularly helpful to designers. Opera Unite actually enables you to turn each of your computers into a sort of server, allowing you (or others) to access files on that computer from another computer. A pretty basic idea yes, but the fact that it happens through a browser, is easy to set up and costs you nothing is what makes it exciting. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

Typography is something that designers must wrestle with every day and its more than just hitting the spell check button. Paying attention to these details can make your layouts look more professional and more eye-catching than the next. With some help from InDesign we'll look at a few basic rules to follow to make your paragraphs, quotes and call-outs shine. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

Here is another quick tip, that might not knock your socks off, but can save you some time if you are trying to copy and paste objects or text between documents in Illustrator. Let this tip also be a reminder that there are tons of cool or useful features in the "fly-out" menus of all the panels. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

I wanted to showcase another piece of online software that I think can be very helpful in your workflow, especially if you're a freelance designer. Getsignoff is a web-based collaboration application that allows you to connect with clients, send them versions of your work in progress, receive notes and comments from them, and eventually approval in the form of an electronic "sign off." If you are not getting approval at least a couple times during your projects, you're putting yourself in danger of possibly having to do things over and thus throwing your timeline and pay structure out of whack! This application at the very least can demonstrate a nice flow of doing work, getting feedback, getting approval and moving forward. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

A new feature of Photoshop CS4 is the ability to really customize your workspace with custom panels. For years we have been able to save the configuration of our workspace to maximize the tools that we use most, and now it has been taken a step further. With Configurator we can build our own panels with the tools and options we need (or take the easier approach and wait for someone else to make it)! In this episode we'll look at a custom color picker panel, how to install it and what custom panels might mean to you. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

One of the type trends of the last couple years is grungy looking type. In this episode we'll take a look at a way to create this effect using a snapshot that you have taken and some steps in Photoshop. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

Now that we have made our file with multiple artboards in Illustrator, its time to bring those illustrations into a layout in InDesign. This is where we see that there are some pros and cons to formatting our Illustrator files in this way as far as ease of use and functionality. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.

Have you ever caught yourself daydreaming about being able to have multiple pages in Illustrator? Well my first recommendation would be to get a hobby ;) But seriously, the folks at Adobe have given us the next best thing to Illustrator page... multiple artboards. In this episode we look at what these artboards actually mean to your workflow and how they can be used to store many ai documents in one consolidated file. Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts to start your free trial today.