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One little checkbox… 2007-03-30 06:06:41 It’s the little
things that make a difference- and nowhere is that more true than in prepress. Prepress is a world where one little checkbox makes the difference between ‘easy’ files and ‘hard’ files.
Here’s a good example: “Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities”. Un-checking this one little box can make my life very difficult.
So what exactly does this box do? When you save a PDF from Illustrator, Illustrator will write the entire original AI file inside the PDF. This makes the file larger, but makes later editing of the PDF much simpler.
(more&hellip
;)
2007 celebrates Helvetica’s 50th birthday. 2007-03-30 05:58:51 2007 celebrates Helvetica’s 50th birthday. To celebrate it’s birthday, director Gary Hustwit filmed a documentary shot all around the world focusing on the use and history of the Helvetica typeface. - http://helveticafilm.com. Helvetica is one of the most commonly used typefaces in the design world. From want ads to billboards, Helvetica is everywhere.
About the font: Helvetica was created by Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haassche Schriftgieerei (Haas type foundry) of Mnchenstein, Switzerland. Practitioners of what would be known as the International Typographic Style (also called the Swiss Style) such as Josef Muller-Brockmann had popularized the use of sans-serif fonts like Akzidenz Grotesk which was created more than 50 years earlier in 1896 and marketed by the German type foundry Berthold. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with Akzidenz in the Swiss market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, the typeface’s name was chang
Bug… QuarkXPress 7.1 Known Issues 2007-03-30 04:28:01 Quark’s website has a list of known issues in QuarkXPress 7.1. Most are fairly obscure, but one isn’t: If several items overlap a semiopaque picture box, the picture box or one of the overlapping items may not be included in the output. Read the full list at www.quark.com/products/xpress/71knownissues.html
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:hellip
, Issues
Bug… StuffIt & Mac OS X 10.4 2007-03-30 04:21:53 Some applications make changes to the contents of folders faster than Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger’s Finder can keep track of them. StuffIt is one of them. This partially explains why, if you expand a StuffIt archive into a folder when that folder’s “Show Item Info” view option is enabled, the expanded archive will appear to have fewer items in it than it should.
There are two workarounds to this problem:
1. You can turn off “Show Item Info” for the target folder by choosing View> Show View Options.
2. After expanding the archive, either drag a new item into the target folder or create a new folder in the target folder. This forces the Finder to show all the items in it. www.CreativeTechs.com
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:hellip
Bug… Excel Warning 2007-03-30 04:13:37 There is a security hole in Microsoft Office 2000, 2003 and 2004 that can allow a malicious Excel
document (and possibly other Office documents) to “execute arbitrary code, resulting in a compromised user system.” In other words, it can delete files, corrupt programs, etc. Microsoft recommends “not opening any unsolicited Excel documents from either known or unknown sources.” But of course, this has always been a prudent policy.
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:hellip
Total Training Helps Adobe Creative Suite 3… 2007-03-30 01:23:44 Total Training
Helps Adobe
Creative Suite
3 Users Get Up to Speed Video Tutorials Demonstrate the Software Essentials
Carlsbad, CA, March 27, 2007 -Total Training, Inc., a pioneer in engaging and innovative video-based training, today announced five new DVD-ROM based training series: Total Training for Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended: Essentials, Total Training for Adobe Illustrator CS3: Essentials, Total Training for Adobe Flash CS3 Professional: Essentials, Total Training for Adobe InDesign CS3: Essentials, and Total Training for Adobe Dreamweaver CS3: Essentials.
Check out the press release Read more:hellip
, Total
, Creative Suite
, Adobe Creative Suite
Pantone’s Fall Colors 2007-03-29 06:09:06 Pantone has released its “Fashion Color Report Fall 2007″, available for free at www.pantone.com/fall2007. The report features the top 10 Pantone colors for women’s fall fashions, which are:
19-1557 Chili Pepper
19-4316 Stargazer
17-0636 Green Moss
18-2929 Purple Wine
16-2215 Cashmere Rose
17-3812 Dusk
18-1354 Burnt Ochre
16-6116 Shale Green
15-0751 Lemon Curry
19-1116 Carafe
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:Colors
PDF to Become a Formal Standard 2007-03-29 05:56:34 Adobe is submitting the Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7 specification for approval as an official ISO standard. (PDF 1.7 is the file format for Acrobat 8.) Once approved, the standard will be governed by an independent panel, and will be available for incorporation into PDF-compatible products, including future versions of Mac OS X and QuarkXPress. The move will also help Adobe put to rest a long-standing feud with Microsoft over inclusion of PDF technology in Office for Windows.
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:Become
, Standard
Microsoft Office 2008 Due Before Year End 2007-03-29 05:54:24 Microsoft plans to release Office 2008 for the Mac sometime in the second half of 2007. The new version will run natively on Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. It uses the same “ribbon” interface as Office 2007 for Windows, adds a Mac-only Publishing Layout that helps create flyers and newsletters, supports the Office Open XML file format used in Office 2007, and more. Because Office 2004 for Mac can’t read the files created by Office 2007 for Windows, this spring Microsoft plans to release a beta version of converters that let Office 2004 open Office 2007 files.
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:Microsoft
, Microsoft Office
Apple Changes Name… 2007-03-29 05:52:25 With the resolution of the decades-long dispute with The Beatles’ Apple
Corps, Apple Computer Inc., has dropped “Computer” from its name. Its official name is now Apple Inc.
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:hellip
Upgrade Fetch 5.2 2007-03-31 15:02:39 Fetch Softworks’ Fetch 5.2 ($25) has a handy new feature called WebView. WebView lets you create standard HTTP addresses you can give to clients and colleagues that need to view images and other files on your website. This is really useful if you have groups of images that need approval or review. The update is free for Fetch 5 users.
Fetch Softworks - www.fetchsoftworks.com
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:Fetch
Adobe Unveils Preview of Acrobat 3D Version 8 2007-04-03 13:19:24 Adobe announced a public preview of Adobe Acrobat
3D Version 8 software, a major upgrade to the desktop application for driving PDF document-based 3D design collaboration and computer-aided design (CAD) data interoperability capabilities to virtually anyone across the extended enterprise. Starting immediately, users worldwide can download a beta version of the product free from Adobe Labs, and experience the new and enhanced capabilities it will deliver for professionals in the manufacturing and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries. The preview can be downloaded at labs.adobe.com/technologies/acrobat3d_version8/ . Read more:Adobe
, Preview
Instant Book Jackets in InDesign 2007-04-03 05:22:38 Dan Rodney’s Make Book Jacket ($20) is a script for InDesign that creates a professional, accurate InDesign layout from measurements you provide for a book’s spine, cover and flap size. It adds fold marks to the slug area, for optional printing. If you frequently create book jackets, this script will quickly pay for itself.Dan Rodney -www.danrodney.com
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:Jackets
Open QuarkXPress 7 Documents in InDesign 2007-04-03 05:17:18 Markzware’s new Q2ID (v2) plug-in ($199) lets InDesign CS and CS2 open native QuarkXPress 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 documents. We tested it on some of our QuarkXPress 5, 6 and 7 documents and found that it produced results similar to what InDesign produces when opening QuarkXPress 3.3 and 4 documents. That is, it converts the geometry of the page layout very well, reformatting text using InDesign’s text engine, but InDesign crashes when it encounters code created by third-party XTensions that it doesn’t understand. Markzware -www.markzware.com
Content provided by Design Tools Monthly. Read more:Documents
SuperDuper: Best Backup Software 2007-04-03 05:10:04 Shirt Pocket Software
’s SuperDuper 2 ($28) is an award-winning utility that lets you not only create a bootable backup (”clone”) of your Mac OS X startup drive, but also can easily update that backup with only the files that have changed since the previous backup. You can schedule regular backups and back up to a disc image (great for burning CDs or DVDs later). Its interface is a model of Mac clarity and simplicity.
Shirt Pocket Software - www.shirt-pocket.com Content provided by Design Tools Monthly.
TechTool for Intel Macs 2007-04-03 03:57:16 Micromat recently updated DiskStudio and TechTool Proteg with support for Intel
-based Macs. DiskStudio lets you repartition hard drives without reformatting or losing data, supports the Intel Mac’s GUID partitioning scheme and the Master Boot Partitioning scheme used by DOS drives, and recognizes NTFS-formatted disks. TechTool Protege is a bootable flash drive that includes a set of system diagnostic and repair utilities, including DiskStudio. Upgrades for either are priced at $25.
MicroMat - www.micromat.com Content provided by Design Tools Monthly.
Branding a Business Through Color 2007-04-04 16:34:44 I’m fascinated by how important color is to the world of marketing products and services. Companies are often able to carry an entire brand based on color alone.
For instance, did you know that Tiffany & Co. has a legal monopoly on the use of robins-egg blue on packaging, bagging and the cover of its catalog? The color purple in the market for gastrointestinal medications may not seem important unless you suffer from chronic heartburn. If you do, you know that the purple pill means Prilosec or its more recent embodiment, Nexium. Or what about UPS and their tag line, “what can brown do for you?” How about Sprint attaching their identity to the color yellow?
(more…) Read more:Branding
, Business
, Color
Contextual Everywhere 2007-04-05 21:22:20 In Photoshop, the contextual menu provides instant access to many helpful features. For example, Control-click (or right-click) with the Move tool on the image, and a list pops up of only the layers that have data directly under your mouse pointer. Choose one of the layer names to activate that layer. With the Text tool over some text, options appear for anti-aliasing, formatting, spell-checking, etc. With the Brush tool, you can control size, hardness and style. With a selection highlighted, options include feathering, transforming, fill stroke, etc. Try it with a few tools to see how useful this is. Read more:Contextual
Hide the White Background 2007-04-05 21:09:23 Here’s a quick and easy way to add scanned black artwork to a existing image in Photoshop, while dropping out the scan’s white background. Just place the scan on its own layer, then change that layer’s blend mode to Multiply. The white background disappears. This also works with imported PDF files… a great trick for using a text document in a Photoshop image. Read more:White
TRADEMARKED COLOR: Orange Will Remain… 2007-04-05 21:05:19 TRADEMARKED COLOR: Orange
Will Remain But Cingular Name To Be Dropped.
With the acquistion of BellSouth and Cingular, AT&T announced a transition branding strategy that will initially marry elements from from the Cingular brand including the color orange, the five signal bars and the jack logo with AT&T’s blue circular logo.“Once the transition ends, the color orange will continue to be associated with AT&T’s wireless services, while the Cingular brand will be phased out,” the company said in a statement. Read more:hellip
A model Q&A… 2007-04-05 20:35:52 Josie Nutter is no stranger to the world of model
ing: this lovely veteran has 7 years of experience creating breathtaking, fresh imagery with talented photographers mostly on a TFCD basis. Josie was willing to talk to me about common mistakes made by photographers, what models really want out of a shoot, and tips to make sure your models want to come back for more.
How long have you been modeling?
I have been modeling off and on since 1999 or so. When I was a naive, impressionable teen, I got suckered into taking “classes” at John Casablanca’s. I didn’t realize at the time that my height and body shape would make mainstream modeling very unlikely/difficult for me, but they happily took my money without informing me of those things.
After doing a fashion show as a favor for a designer friend around a year after my so-called graduation, I was approached by a local photographer and have been actively modeling in the alternative fashion scene ever since.
(more&he Read more:hellip
TRADEMARKED COLOR: Is Blue the New Pink? 2007-04-05 16:33:09 In new construction when you see pink insulation you think Owens Corning. They trademarked the color pink, did an excellent job of marketing their unique color and as each new building is constructed it temporarily becomes an advertisement for their product. Now another company is following their lead with the color teal blue.
BluWood is treated wood used in framing for residential or commercial buildings, and according to their website “provides the building industry with a new level of defense for protection of above ground, covered structure wood framing components against the costly, damaging effects of mold fungus growth*; rot fungi and wood ingesting insects; as well as limiting moisture absorption, a key necessary element for mold growth.”
(more…)
The Twilight Zone 2007-04-05 16:28:51 Mr. Smith, an urban landscape photographer who, after months of poor night shots, is after the perfect twilight photo. Glowing blue skies, lit buildings perfectly exposed and a balance of external and internal light.To capture the elusive scenic he must now enter a time that is neither day nor night. A fleeting moment that happens twice a day. Mr. Smith is about to enter the Twilight
Zone.
*cue music*
If your night photos have black skies and overexposed highlights, if you lose detail in the shadows and you want something better, then sit back and the mystery behind a good twilight photo will be exposed.
The solution to your nocturnal imagery is timing. Not in the sense of sport photography, but certainly a need to be in the right place at the right time. When taking your childs birthday pictures, you wouldnt wait until the party was over to start shooting. Neither do you want to wait until complete darkness has fallen to take a good twilight scenic, often mistaken as a night photo.
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Inside Mac Show - March 31st 2007-04-07 20:07:39 Check out these fantastic guests on InsidemacRadio this week
Graeme Nattress the Founder of Nattress Productions, Inc. experts in video and image processing joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Brad Wright for the first hour to discuss the latest technologies in imaging sensors used in video and photography. Nattress Productions has developed a variety of plug-ins for Final Cut Pro, FinalTouch and Motion that enhance imagery, filters, transitions and overall conversions. To learn more about Graeme and these products visit http://www.nattress.comRenee Mancino an Attorney and a featured Mac Pro on http://www.apple.com, joins Scott and Brad to share her unique story of how she runs her law firm using her MacBook Pro. A member of the MacLaw list serve group, serving the legal community she was discovered by Apple and asked to share her success story in a market traditionally known to be run by the PC platform. Currently located in Las Vegas, NV, the increased productivity she enjoys using her Ma Read more:March
Photoshop Lightroom Ships 2007-04-07 15:15:06 In mid-February, Adobe shipped Photoshop
Lightroom, its professional digital image management application and competitor to Apple’s Aperture. The application is a Universal Binary, allowing it to run natively on PowerPC and Intel-based Macs. The price is $299, but is discounted to $199 through April 30. It includes a slideshow feature, extensive keywording and metadata support, basic image retouching and editing, displays multiple versions of the same image, and more. The shipping version includes all the features of the version released as a public beta, and also these improvements:
The Library module adds advanced keywording tools and an improved import dialog.
A new Key Metadata Browser shows image data and lets you assign colored labels to files and easily pick/reject them.
The Develop module has improved Virtual Copies and Snapshot tools.
New tools for Hue, Saturation and Luminance.
New Clone and Healing tools that eliminate sensor dust across multiple images.
Adobe Systems
Upgrade… Toast 8 2007-04-07 14:45:58 Roxio’s Toast
8 ($80) adds some remarkable new features, including TiVo support, DVD-Audio support, audio mixing features from the now-defunct Jam, better DVD-video authoring, automatic disc-cataloging, recovery of data from damaged discs, the ability to use a Blu-ray disc as if it were a mini hard drive, and more. (Blu-ray recordable (BD-R) and Blu-ray rewritable (BD-RW) disks can hold up to 50GB of data.) This is the most impressive upgrade to Toast we’ve ever seen. There’s a lengthy review at: www.macintouch.com/reviews/toast8/.
Upgrades receive a $20 rebate. Read more:hellip
Upgrade… Intel-native Strata 3D CX 5.1 2007-04-07 04:02:34 Strata’s Strata 3D CX 5.1 ($695) is a major upgrade for this 3D tool for designers. Now a Universal Binary, it has major speed increases on both PowerPC and Intel
Macs. Its updated interface will now be more familiar to Photoshop users, and it can now render a 3D image in Photoshop format, with individual components on separate layers — such as specular highlights, reflections, scene depth and shadows. There are many other new features and improvements as well. The update is free for users of version 5, and $179$495 from previous versions or other 3D products. Read more:hellip
Inside Mac Show - March 24th 2007-04-06 21:29:15 Check out these fantastic guests on InsidemacRadio this week
Michael Grecco: the Commercial Photographer and Canon Explorer of Light joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Brad Wright to share details on his work and new book. Michael specializes in celebrity portrait photography and his work has been featured in most major publications. Michael shares tips from his new book “Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait” which showcases his unique style of portraiture. Learn more, buy the book and see his work at: http://www.michaelgrecco.com
Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus: the Legendary computer columnist, Mac geek and author shares the latest news, tips and insight on everything Mac with Scott and Brad for an expanded segment of banter and reviews of the hottest tools and gadgets. Find out more about Dr. Mac at: http://www.boblevitus.com
Michael Miller: the Author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Recording with Cubase” joins Inside Mac to describe the features of thi Read more:March
INHABITAT T-Shirt Design Competition! 2007-04-09 21:01:56 In honor of Inhabitats recent two-year-birthday they are launching our first ever design competition - a green T-shirt design contest! They are partnering with the greenest T-shirt printers on the planet, T.S. Designs, to produce T-shirts made of organic cotton, using 100% water-based, environmentally friendly inks.
They are looking for designs that are creative, cute and that incorporate the Inhabitat brand some way - either through their color palette, bamboo imagery, or the Inhabitat logo or mascot (Habby the Inhabitat Owl). The winning designer will have their design printed on all of Inhabitats T-shirts, and will also win a $150 gift certificate to their favorite green design store Branch. Visit the site for details. Deadline: 20 April. Read more:Shirt
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