First, these are the new natural brushes in CS5:

They can be found in the brushes pulldown menu in the options bar (while using a brush-based tool) or in the Brushes panel.

These are the different strokes created with the brushes. These were created using a mouse so they do not have variable stroke pressure for the demonstration:

However, using a Wacom tablet and stylus, you can create a great, natural effect (especially if you use one with the new 6-D controls). When using a stylus, it can be helpful to use the Brush Preview (found under View>Show>Brush Preview).

Using the Brush panel can also yield fun results just by adjusting a few of the brush settings.

Here is an example of the various results by adjusting the Bristle Qualities:

Even using the default settings will give you a variety of results. If you do choose to adjust the Bristle settings, be sure to save the brush, or it will reset to default when you select another style brush. You can save your new brush by clicking the “New Brush” icon on the bottom right of the panel.

In the next session we are going to put these brushes to work, painting a simple shape and experimenting with various techniques.

We had great turnout for our discussion of HTML5 on Friday afternoon, Thanks to everyone who attended.

As promised, here is a list of the links visited during the demo of HTML5 and related technologies.

A very short history of the web – from basic text to the equivalent of the printed page

http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

http://web.archive.org/web/19961017235908/http://www2.yahoo.com/

http://web.archive.org/web/19961225070933/http:/www.bestbuy.com/

http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=/206/206.css&page=0

Examples of HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript – applications in the browser window

http://www.apple.com/html5/

http://radikalfx.com/files/collage/demo.html

http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/

http://htmlfive.appspot.com/static/gifter.html

http://mrdoob.com/projects/harmony/

http://html5demos.com/

HTML5 references and browser capability resources

http://diveintohtml5.org/

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_reference.asp

http://caniuse.com/

http://beta.html5test.com/

http://www.findmebyip.com/

http://www.findmebyip.com/litmus/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_layout_engines_(Cascading_Style_Sheets)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_layout_engines_(HTML5)

http://html5demos.com/

HTML5 28 Tips

HTML5 Slideshow

CSS3 Generator

HTML5 & CSS3 feature detection and Javascript browser enhancement

http://www.modernizr.com/

http://diveintohtml5.org/detect.html

http://remysharp.com/2009/01/07/html5-enabling-script/

http://css3please.com/

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fontface/generator

Exercise showing the new HTML5 semantic tags in use

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/04/designing-a-html-5-layout-from-scratch/

New HTML5 Attributes

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_ref_standardattributes.asp

New HTML5 Events

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_ref_eventattributes.asp

New HTML5 Form Elements, Types and Attributes
(Note: Only the Opera browser currently has a noticeable amount of support for these new features)

http://people.opera.com/brucel/demo/html5-forms-demo.html

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_form_input_types.asp

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_form_elements.asp

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_form_attributes.asp

Geolocation
(Note: these demos are only useable on mobile devices for the most part)

http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/geolocation/trip_meter/

http://www.drdobbs.com/web-development/225600440

http://developer.practicalecommerce.com/articles/2066-An-Introduction-to-HTML5-Geolocation

Local Storage

http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/webdatabase/todo/

Session Storage

http://demos.w3avenue.com/html5-unleashed-tips-tricks-and-techniques/sample-09-sessionstorage-demo.html

Web Workers

Guide to web workers

http://html5demos.com/worker

http://www.drdobbs.com/web-development/225701170

HTML5 Audio Tag

http://code.coneybeare.net/getting-html5-audio-tag-and-flash-fallback-to

http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/audio/quick/

http://html5doctor.com/native-audio-in-the-browser/

HTML5 Video Tag

http://jilion.com/sublime/video

http://camendesign.com/code/video_for_everybody

http://henriksjokvist.net/archive/2009/2/using-the-html5-video-tag-with-a-flash-fallback

HTML5 Canvas Tag

http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/

http://www.canvasdemos.com/

http://html5games.com/

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/canvas_tutorial

http://thinkvitamin.com/dev/html-5-dev/how-to-draw-with-html-5-canvas/

http://www.rgraph.net/

http://www.html5rocks.com/

New HTML5 Tags

article
aside
audio
canvas
command
datalist
details
embed
figcaption
figure
footer
header
hgroup
input*
keygen
mark
meter
nav
output
progress
rp
rt
ruby
section
source
summary
time
video

*(input itself is not new but there are so many new input types and attributes that I want to draw attention to those)

Existing tags that have been redefined in HTML5 (some subtly)

!DOCTYPE – simplified, shortened
a – used for hyperlinks ONLY, name is no longer valid attribute, must have href.
address – new rule when address is in article tag
b – stylistically offset
em – stress emphasis
hr – paragraph-level thematic break
i – alternate voice
legend – legend can now be used with figure tag and details tag in addition to fieldset tag
menu – list form controls, no longer deprecated
small – side comments and small print
strong – strong importance

Removed Tags

acronym
applet
basefont
big
center
dir
font
frame
frameset
noframes
s
strike
tt
u
xmp

Today in Part 1 I will show you the different Mixer Brush settings. To choose a proper setting, you must first understand the different options at your disposal, starting with the Blending Brush Combinations.

This is the Mixer Brush, found in the tool bar, under the normal Brush Tool:

Once selected, these are your options:

1. Brush Type   2. Brushes Panel   3. Current “Load” (Swatch)   4. Load the brush after each stroke   5. Clean the brush after each stroke

6. Blending Brush Combinations – (This is what we will showcase today.)

7. Wet settings   8. Load amount   9. Mix ratio   10. Flow (think opacity)

11. Airbrush Option – this causes the brush to react like a spray can with poor results.  (I never use this option.)

12. Sample All Layers.

Blending Brush Combinations gives you a preset group of “useful” wet, load and mix combinations. Each one has a different reaction to your image and can give you great results once you are familiar with their settings.

The Blending Brush Combinations go from very little mixing to heavy mixing in order, starting with “Dry”.  Here is my starting image:

I have chosen the “Round Point Stiff” Brush from the Brush Type menu (1).

Whenever painting from a photograph, I find it helpful to lock the photo layer and paint on a new blank layer using the Sample All Layers option (12) using the clean/load brush after each brush stroke  (4&5). I sampled an average skin color from the hand. Here are the results from each blending combination:

Next week, we will take a look at the new Natural Brushes in Photoshop CS5 and the options available for each. For now, try using the Mixer Brush with different Blending Combinations and see what results you can get using just one brush.

Have fun!

Developers and mobile designers take note! Normally I post tips, tricks and product information on the blog, but today I thought I would switch it up to talk about a great mobile app.

James Conway and I are attending Photoshop World 2010 in Las Vegas at the end of this month. Normally to figure out the schedule of events you would review the website, literature and try to coordinate classes. However, Photoshop World has taken this to the next level with a very cool iPhone/iPad app from Shawn Welch (@shawnwelch). This is how a conference should use mobile devices. I dare say this is the Swiss Army Knife of conference apps.

First you can search for events and classes by date/time, instructor or course track. But that’s just the start – you can also search for exhibitors and other events throughout the conference. It live updates for room locations, schedules, and information to keep you completely up-to-date with information.  It even has a built in Twitter feed complete with #psw searches for Twitter users and news feeds from Photoshop World. You can also use Bump technology to share your schedule and information with other attendees.

Bundle all that with maps for the hotel and convention center and you have one very useful tool for this conference. Hopefully mobile developers, designers and other conference organizers will take note of this very clean design and usability to bring similar apps to other events.

Have you taken our Adobe Photoshop Course and are now looking to become an advanced user? Are you a photographer who wants your photos to pop? Short on time and want to maximize your Photoshop potential? Then we have the class for you!

Introducing C2′s new Adobe Photoshop Retouching Techniques mini-course! This course is designed for Photoshop users to advance their skill set with professional retouching techniques and effects. Not only will you be learning how to clean up those lackluster images, but we will also give you the tools you need to create works of art.

Our Photoshop mini-course is four hours and covers the following topics:

• Workflow and Bridge organization

• Importing and color correction – including Camera Raw adjustments

• Basic, intermediate and advanced portrait retouching techniques

• Advanced selection techniques; complex masks

• Lighting adjustment tricks

• Retouching landscapes

• Photomerge vs. manual stitching

• High Dynamic Range effects

• Filters and Effects

• Preparing for both print and web

and much more!

To find out more about this course or to register today click HERE or contact Kate Barrie, Training Specialist at 414-431-0062. Classes are available in both Madison and Milwaukee locations. Act now!

After presenting at the Designer/Developer Workflow Conference and seeing recent discussions on the Twittersphere, I started to realize that a lot of designers do not use Adobe Fireworks when creating comps for the web. In fact, a lot of posts would lead you to believe that Fireworks is useless, which is not an accurate perception.

Currently, many designers use Adobe Photoshop to create a webpage design and then pass it off to a developer. The developer will dissect the file, add in some code behind the scenes and output the final comp for the client. In this current workflow, it increases the project expense every time a developer has to touch this file just for comping/proposal purposes. But what if a designer could very easily add interactivity to the comp? Perhaps you need to mock up an entire site and not just a splash page? Well then this is where Fireworks steps in.

Fireworks allows you, the designer, to import layered .psd files (including live text) AND native vector files from Illustrator. You can then use those assets to flush out an entire website, not just a page. It enables you to create animations, rollovers, buttons and links for navigation and more with very easy-to-understand menus and tools. You can then add additional pages to your site using a Master Page (sound familiar?), keeping design elements and navigation consistent throughout.

The argument against Fireworks is “Photoshop has slicing and a Save for Web command, so I will just use that.” My rebuttal is yes, you can use Photoshop to create a flat page with slices with html links and some animation. Now create an entire site to show a client. You would have to create a different Photoshop file or worse yet, a single bloated file with multiple layer comps. Then, try to create a rollover or image swap without using Dreamweaver. Finally, assume that your client comes back with changes to the content or interactive elements of the site (they never do that, right?). Think of how you would have to edit either multiple files or an html file from Dreamweaver.

Editing elements in Fireworks is easy. You can make a change on either the Master Page and it propagates to the rest of the site, or manually choose to distribute to all pages on the site.

In the end, Fireworks is another way Adobe Creative Suite allows designers to take their flat, static designs and push them further into the next phase. Fireworks is something that should be in every designer’s arsenal of skills.

The Madison Web Design & Dev Meetup is a great group of web professionals of all skill levels and a fantastic resource for the Madison web community. If you’re very experienced you’ll find peers you can discuss the most advanced development topics with and anyone just dipping their toes into web design can get real world answers they’ll understand from working professionals in the field.

You can find all their contact info here:

http://www.meetup.com/madisonwebmeetup/

If you’re interested in learning more about HTML5 (and CSS3 and Javascript) here is a list of the sites visited/discussed during my presentation.

A very short history of the web – from basic text to the equivalent of the printed page

http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

http://web.archive.org/web/19961017235908/http://www2.yahoo.com/

http://web.archive.org/web/19961225070933/http:/www.bestbuy.com/

http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=/206/206.css&page=0

Examples of HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript – applications in the browser window

http://www.apple.com/html5/

http://radikalfx.com/files/collage/demo.html

http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/

http://htmlfive.appspot.com/static/gifter.html

http://mrdoob.com/projects/harmony/

http://html5demos.com/

HTML5 references and browser capability resources

http://diveintohtml5.org/

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_reference.asp

http://caniuse.com/

http://beta.html5test.com/

http://www.findmebyip.com/

http://www.findmebyip.com/litmus/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_layout_engines_(Cascading_Style_Sheets)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_layout_engines_(HTML5)

http://html5demos.com/

HTML5 & CSS3 feature detection and Javascript browser enhancement

http://www.modernizr.com/

http://diveintohtml5.org/detect.html

http://remysharp.com/2009/01/07/html5-enabling-script/

http://css3please.com/

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fontface/generator

Exercise showing the new HTML5 semantic tags in use

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/04/designing-a-html-5-layout-from-scratch/

New HTML5 Attributes

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_ref_standardattributes.asp

New HTML5 Events

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_ref_eventattributes.asp

New HTML5 Form Elements, Types and Attributes
(Note: Only the Opera browser currently has a noticeable amount of support for these new features)

http://people.opera.com/brucel/demo/html5-forms-demo.html

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_form_input_types.asp

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_form_elements.asp

http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_form_attributes.asp

Geolocation
(Note: these demos are only useable on mobile devices for the most part)

http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/geolocation/trip_meter/

http://www.drdobbs.com/web-development/225600440

http://developer.practicalecommerce.com/articles/2066-An-Introduction-to-HTML5-Geolocation

Local Storage

http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/webdatabase/todo/

Session Storage

http://demos.w3avenue.com/html5-unleashed-tips-tricks-and-techniques/sample-09-sessionstorage-demo.html

Web Workers

http://html5demos.com/worker

http://www.drdobbs.com/web-development/225701170

HTML5 Audio Tag

http://code.coneybeare.net/getting-html5-audio-tag-and-flash-fallback-to

http://www.html5rocks.com/tutorials/audio/quick/

http://html5doctor.com/native-audio-in-the-browser/

HTML5 Video Tag

http://jilion.com/sublime/video

http://camendesign.com/code/video_for_everybody

http://henriksjokvist.net/archive/2009/2/using-the-html5-video-tag-with-a-flash-fallback

HTML5 Canvas Tag

http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/

http://www.canvasdemos.com/

http://html5games.com/

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/canvas_tutorial

http://thinkvitamin.com/dev/html-5-dev/how-to-draw-with-html-5-canvas/

http://www.rgraph.net/

http://www.html5rocks.com/

New HTML5 Tags

article
aside
audio
canvas
command
datalist
details
embed
figcaption
figure
footer
header
hgroup
input*
keygen
mark
meter
nav
output
progress
rp
rt
ruby
section
source
summary
time
video

*(input itself is not new but there are so many new input types and attributes that I want to draw attention to those)

Existing tags that have been redefined in HTML5 (some subtly)

!DOCTYPE – simplified, shortened
a – used for hyperlinks ONLY, name is no longer valid attribute, must have href.
address – new rule when address is in article tag
b – stylistically offset
em – stress emphasis
hr – paragraph-level thematic break
i – alternate voice
legend – legend can now be used with figure tag and details tag in addition to fieldset tag
menu – list form controls, no longer deprecated
small – side comments and small print
strong – strong importance

Removed Tags

acronym
applet
basefont
big
center
dir
font
frame
frameset
noframes
s
strike
tt
u
xmp

Time was blasted for being irresponsible with their portrayal and lack of disclosure using the enhanced image of O.J.’s mug shot. The debate started up with people citing free speech and artistic license and Photoshop was at the heart of it all.

It has become common to refer to something as being “Photoshopped” (a term that Adobe dislikes, by the way) when referring to retouching. But when do you take it too far? How do you differentiate between reality and artistry?

Here’s my take on the whole discussion– basic retouching (wrinkles, teeth whitening, scratches, smears, etc.) is fine as long as it still represents a realistic view of the subject matter. However, once you start using Liquify to lose weight, blurring techniques to reduce the age of someone or something else drastic, then you have to ask yourself, “Is this still a realistic representation of my subject?” If not, then you have created a photo illustration. Which is fine as long as you give credit where credit is due, every time.

There is no way to regulate this, but if you give the appropriate credit it’s a step in the right direction. I would have no issue seeing a photography credit followed by a retouching credit in a publication or website. If it was an illustration or fictional work, it would give credit to the artist, just as if it were created traditionally.

In the end, you can’t always believe what you see today, but checking the credits can help.

Well, here is a neat trick to convert your existing swatches (and artwork) to Pantone.

First, create a document with shapes filled with default swatches.

Next, go to your swatches panel and delete ALL your swatches.

Note: This step is great for organizing, but is not critical.  If you have swatches you need to keep, you can just skip to the next step, but be aware that you will end up with duplicate swatches.

Then, select the objects you wish to convert (in this case all) and click the “New Color Group” button located at the bottom of the swatches panel. DO NOT deselect your artwork. Keep it selected throughout this process. It saves you a step later on.

Name your group, and be sure to check “Convert Process to Global”. I prefer not to have my tints end up as separate swatches, but you can include them as well if you so choose. Click OK and you will now have a new color group with your existing colors.

Now go to your Color Guide Panel or the Options bar and click the “Edit or Apply Colors” button (the color wheel).

This will take you into the “Assign” section of the Edit or Apply Colors dialog box.

Here are the final steps to complete the conversion:

In the “Color Groups” panel on the right, click your newly created Color Group.

Next, click the “Color Reduction Options” button.

This will launch a new dialog box “Recolor Options” (I know it’s a different name than the button).

Go to the “Limit to Library” pull down and choose your Pantone Library and hit OK.

You have now mapped Pantone colors to your color group. Click OK and go back to your document.

Looking at your Swatches panel, you will notice that all of your swatches in the panel have been converted to PMS colors and your artwork has automatically converted.

This past weekend I had the privilege of speaking at the first ever Designer/Developer Workflow Conference (D2WC) in Kansas City, MO. I thought I would recap some of the highlights of the conference and talk about my presentation. The focus on this conference is the workflow between designers and the developers who work on projects together, be it applications, websites, Cold Fusion projects, etc.

There were many high-profile speakers there including Doug Winnie, Adobe Principal Product Manager for Adobe Flash Catalyst, Flash Platform Workflow and WorkflowLab (as he put it: the longest title at Adobe); Tom Green (not the comedian), Adobe Higher Education Leader, Product Advisory Boards member for Flash Media Server and Fireworks at the Adobe Corporation and Layers Magazine contributor, and Pariah Burke, Adobe InDesign Instructor and former technical lead for InDesign, InCopy, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat.

Doug Winnie opens the conference with his keynote address.

Doug Winnie opened the conference with a great keynote on “The Designer/Developers of Kansas City” which included “episodes” detailing common breakdowns in a typical workflow and how Adobe products help to address these problems.

My Designer Track presentation was “Fast Web Prototyping Using Adobe Creative Suite”.  My focus was on using Adobe Products that designers are familiar with to bring ideas to the web for clients as a working prototype that can then be passed along to a developer cleanly. First up was Adobe Illustrator, which I presented how to properly save out a vector image as an SVG file format.

Next was Photoshop. The main points were layer organization, optimizing graphics for the web with proper sizes and formats, and how to import into Adobe Fireworks. As expected, not many people had used or even seen Fireworks before. Using Fireworks, I took the flat Photoshop file, added buttons, rollovers and interactive elements with simple-to-use interface elements. I then added multiple web pages and linked each one to the Master page. Finally we tested the protoype in our web browser and exported.

Finally I was able to show how a designer can create an HTML email using Photoshop, slices and links to create stunning creations. The final step was to export out the HTML and images and import into a waiting Dreamweaver template with header and footer coding already supplied. Just cut the Photoshop HTML code and paste into the awaiting space and you are all set. Pass it over to your website admin for upload!

Speaking at the Designer/Developer "Shootout".

My second session was a Designer/Developer “Shootout,” where I participated in a panel discussion with JP Revel, Chad Udell, James Polanco and Pariah Burke. This discussion focused on issues between designers and developers in the working community. Shifts in paradigm with ad agencies, quoting projects, when to consult and communication were all hot topics. Both sides left the session with a greater understanding of the other and much more respect for the work that goes into each portion of a hybrid project.

Rob Huddleston presenting Flash Catalyst workflows.

Other sessions that were really well received covered Flash Catalyst with Rob Huddleston, Killing the “Transition” between art and code by Seb Lee-Delisle (from the UK – the farthest traveling speaker), and Tom Green’s Shaking the Toolbox presentation.

Speaking with several attendees at the start of Day 2, they were very pleased and excited about the speakers, topics and overall conference. I am happy to report that this is only the first year of this conference and speakers are already planning their trip for next year.

Many thanks to Dee Sadler, Adobe Community Professional and Certified Instructor for organizing (and inviting me to) this amazing conference. It was a huge success. Hopefully all of you will be able to attend next year and experience a first-class series of presentations from not only Adobe related speakers, but also the experts who work with this everyday.

D2WC Speakers enjoying dinner and "geek speak" before the conference.

Photos courtesy of Aaron Pederson (@aaronpederson) and Lisa Heselton (@kavka).

If you are a digital photographer then this is the week for you!

Starting this past weekend, Adobe announced the Camera Raw 6.1 update, which includes the Canon EOS 550D and several other cameras in the package.

Then onOne Software released the 64-bit, CS5 versions of its popular Photoshop Software FREE to current registered users. Details and downloads can be found on their blog.

But it just kept getting better. Adobe posted the new GPS Data Panel for Bridge, Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator and more. If you have a GPS-enabled camera, this is very cool tech.

And finally, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 has launched. After 600,000 downloads of the public beta, the final free trial is available for download. Upgrades are available for $99 and full versions are $299 (retail).

The latest release candidate of the Flash Player (candidate 7 of 10.1) does not appear to be vulnerable to this exploit and it seems version 8 and earlier are not affected either.

See Adobe’s official notice here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa10-01.html

The link for the latest release candidate here:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/

If you would like to assume more control over when Flash material runs in your web browser, you may be interested in installing a Flash blocker plug-in for your browser. The blocker stops all Flash content by default but you can just click on any content you would like to see and then you can watch or interact with it as you normally would. You can even whitelist entire sites with most blocker plug-ins so you don’t have to click-to-load each Flash movie on that site. Blockers allow you to enjoy Flash content on the web but assume more control over what happens in your web browser.

Blocker for Apple Safari

http://clicktoflash.com/

Blocker for Firefox

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433/

Blocker for Chrome

http://www.chromeextensions.org/appearance-functioning/flashblock/

Blocker for Microsoft Internet Explorer (not a plug-in, a built-in whitelist)

http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/disable-flash-all-but-whitelist-sites-ie8/

(Please use the browser appropriate for each link when clicking!)

Recently Adobe and Condé Nast came together to develop a rich interactive version of Wired Magazine for the iPad. The results were impressive. You can view a short demo below.

And while the app is cool and fun to view, it really hit home with the fact that print is not dead. It is only the beginning.

Designers today can no longer be just a Print Designer or Web Designer, instead they must evolve to become a Communication Designer. Your project may end up being printed, but it may also downloaded as a PDF, previewed at on a mobile device as an ePub, published on a site as an interactive Flash element or any number of different outlets.

The cool thing about this is that Adobe products can help you do all of this with your existing software. Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator allow you to not only design a great printed piece, but translate that project to a new form of communication using Adobe Creative Suite 5.

For instance:

InDesign has always allowed you to publish as an interactive PDF format or an ePub format. CS5 takes that a step further and now adds animation and interactivity for Flash development.

Photoshop and Illustrator have been able to go to the web directly, or more appropriately use Fireworks or Dreamweaver to create HTML sites. And now through Flash Catalyst you can use Photoshop and Illustrator to create rich interactive experiences for Flash or Flex.

Fireworks allows you to create interactive HTML websites with minimal coding experience and a great visual interface.

Armed with this software and the knowledge provided by C2, you can evolve into the future of design. Print isn’t dead. It is only the beginning.

Having given several presentations on CS5 and seeing how people are reacting, it’s nice to get some perspective on what others think are the cool features of Illustrator and not just my two cents. So here they are.

Need to create a complex shape but lack the pen skills necessary to do so? Use the new Shape Builder tool to combine objects. Simply select the objects you wish to use then drag the Shape Builder across them and viola! Instant shapes!

The new Artboard Panel allows you to name and organize your Artboards, similar to Layers. If you are saving files that use Arboards, like .eps, individual files will be named using the Artboard names.

Use the Draw Behind feature to ignore stacking order when creating images or use Draw Inside to create an instant clipping Mask.

You can now vary your stroke width using the Width Tool. Adjust your stroke as needed and change back using the presets available in the options bar.

Given all the updates and changes to Photoshop CS5, I thought I’d highlight a few of my favorite new features so you can see just how big of an update this really is. These are just a few of the features included in CS5. Add in 64-bit support, Mini-Bridge and Repoussé among others and you can see just why people are so geeked about this.

Content-Aware Fill. A lot has been talked about this feature even before the release. Having worked with this for a while now, it does live up to the hype. Select your flawed area, hit Delete (on the background) or Shift+Delete (on a layer) to instantly bring up the fill dialog box. Choose “Content Aware” under Use and hit ok. The results are amazing. Complex textures and tones are intuitively added to replace the flawed image.

Puppet Warp. Not only is this feature fun, but very simple. Take any object on a layer, then go to Edit>Puppet Warp. Click to add handles over the automatic grid, then drag them to warp your image.

HDR Toning. Finally Photoshop can create quality HDR images with a single file through the use of the new HDR Toning adjustment. It has several presets to choose from or you can manually create your own style. This adjustment allows you to still create HDR images traditionally with several images in a series or with just one image.

Mixer Brush. This is probably my favorite new Photoshop feature in a very long time. The new Mixer Brush will give you total artistic control of your image using virtual brushes that mimic traditional techniques, such as a fan brush, dry brushing, wet media mixing, etc. The best part is, it is perfect for using a Wacom tablet and stylus. The newer Intuous series that feature the 6-point stylus work best, but even with my $59 Bamboo I can paint directly on my image or create a new masterpiece from a blank canvas. The possibilities are endless. A friend asked me the other day, “Does this mean the end of Corel Painter?” My answer is simple – yes.

April 12th was the official announcement of Adobe Creative Suite 5. With it came a lot of great features that we will be highlighting here in our blog and also LIVE in the following weeks (find out more here). It also has given us the freedom to answer some questions customers have been asking.

What is included in Creative Suite 5? This comparison chart shows the software included in the suites. The biggest changes are the addition of Flash Catalyst, the end of Design Standard, and Adobe Soundbooth is no longer available in Web Premium.

CS5 Comparison Chart

We just upgraded to CS4 recently. Now what do I do? Historically persons who purchased CS4 after or close to the announce date automatically received a voucher for a free upgrade. This may not the case this time. Check out this FAQ from Adobe regarding your eligibility here. Sources say that the product will be available by June 1.

How much does this cost?

Design Premium – $1,899  Web Premium – $1,799  Production Premium – $1,699  Master Collection – $2,599

Upgrades to an individual Suite from CS4 are $599 and from CS3 or CS2 are $799. Master Collection Upgrades start at $899. If you need help figuring out your upgrade, you can use Adobe’s Upgrade Eligibility Tool here.

What are the system requirements?

Adobe has a full listing of system requirements posted on their site here.

Is it really that different?

Yes, and it’s all for the better. CS5 has some really big changes and improvements to both the workflow efficiency of the suite and the individual applications themselves. Functions that were issues before are stable, 64-bit support (on the Mac!) and more. Photoshop alone boasts 11 new features, not including changes to existing functions. This is a “major update” according to Adobe.

So where do I learn about these new features?

From us! We will be posting videos and features here on our blog and LIVE over the next few weeks. Check our upcoming events for a full listing of CS5 events in the community, and watch your email for upcoming announcements on CS5 hands-on upgrade classes, which will be available soon after product release.

C2 has many great events coming up in the next few weeks! From $5 Fridays to our new series Mad Smart Mondays in Madison, there’s something – or several things – for everyone!

$5 FRIDAYS (MILWAUKEE)

• May 21 Designing for Mobile – Register now!
• June 18 Social Media Strategy and Design Integration – Register now!
• July 16 Best Practices in Digital Printing – Register now!
• August 20 Embracing the Future of the Web with HTML5/CSS3 – Register now!

MAD SMART MONDAYS (MADISON)

• May 24 Designing for Mobile – Register now!
• June 28* Social Media Strategy and Design Integration – Register now!
• July 19 Best Practices in Digital Printing – Register now!
• August 23 Embracing the Future of the Web with HTML5/CSS3 – Register now!

*Date changed from June 21 to June 28

Other industry Events C2 is sponsoring or attending:

• May 21 AIGA Annual Meeting – More info
• May 26 Milwaukee Adobe User Group Meeting – More info
• June 17 United AdWorkers Golf Outing – More info
• June 21 Business Marketing Association Big Swing 8th Annual golf outing – More info

Coming this FALL: Creative Transitions Seminar Series (CTSS) returns.

Madison

• September 7 Content Management Systems – Register now!
• October 5 (9 am to 4 pm) SuperUsers Unite! Masters Techniques in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign – Register now!
• November 9 Mobile & Web Application Design & Development – Register now!
• December 7 Advanced web design with HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery – Register now!

Save big when you register for all 4 Madison CTSS offerings at once – Register now!

Milwaukee

• September 21 Content Management Systems – Register now!
• October 19 (9 am to 4 pm) SuperUsers Unite! Masters Techniques in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign – Register now!
• November 16 Mobile & Web Application Design & Development – Register now!
• December 14 Advanced web design with HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery – Register now!

Save big when you register for all 4 Milwaukee CTSS offerings at once – Register now!

Thanks for the insightful presentations Jeff, looking forward to the next one, Web Analytics that Clients LOVE!

Join C2′s own Kevin Stohlmeyer and other industry professionals as they present at the first D2W conference this June in Kansas City. The focus of the conference is workflow and improving the relationship between designers, developers and hybrids.

Kevin will be presenting on how to take Adobe Photoshop CS5 to the web via Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and the new Flash Catalyst. Each route will allow designers to push their design and ideas further into the developer workflow than ever before.

Other speakers include:

• Doug Winnie- Principle Product Manager, Adobe Flash Catalyst, Flash Platform Workflow and Workflow Lab

• Anne Marie Concepçion – Co-host InDesign Secrets and InDesign Guru

• Rob Huddleston

• Pariah S. Burke

and more!

Register

Original Image

color key for clipping

Photographers are always concerned with how much we can pull out of the shadows of an image and how far we can push the highlights without completely losing detail. But we can’t always tell where the lightest and darkest parts of our images are. When we push the shadows or highlights too far and they lose all information we call it “clipping.”

One of my favorite “quick-tests” (while I’m still in Adobe Camera Raw where I still have access to all the camera data) is to give the Exposure slider an Option-Drag (Alt-Drag in Microsoft Windows).

This shows me exactly which pixels are going to clip. This technique shows ONLY the pixels that will clip – if you want to see the rest of your image with the clipping overlayed on top, press “U” to see the shadow clipping and/or “O” to see the highlight clipping. Think “U”nderexposure and “O”verexposure.

So great, now you can find the lightest and darkest parts of your image as you are changing the exposure. Now what do all the various colors mean?

Using the “Exposure” or “Recovery” sliders the following rules apply:

black – no clipping
white overlay – all 3 channels clipped
red overlay – only red channel is clipped
green overlay – only green channel is clipped
blue overlay – only blue channel is clipped

cyan, magenta or yellow – 2 of 3 channels clipped

Using the “Blacks” slider these two colors switch meaning:

black – all 3 channels clipped
white overlay – no clipping

Note that which colors clip depend on which color space you are opening the image into.

• CTSS 3 – Web Design & Content that Delivers ROI
  
• CTSS 4 – Web Analytics that Clients LOVE!

CTSS 3 – Milwaukee April 13; CTSS 4 – Madison, April 27, Milwaukee May 11

Jeff, a prolific researcher and writer on the topic of digital ROI, has explored this subject repeatedly in his blog, Digital Solid. We’ve attached a few of our favorite posts to tease and intrigue you. Sign up today to see Jeff LIVE in Madison or Milwaukee, so he can help you take advantage of the incredible technological evolution impacting in our industry.

–WHAT BUSINESSES ARE VALUING–

–OVERALL APPROACHES TO DIGITAL ROI–

–FINDING “HIDDEN” ROI–

Fall Creative Transitions Seminar Series:

April 12, 2-5 pm:             Madison Adobe User Group – Flex 4, Flash Catalyst Tour event

April 22, 6-8 pm:             Madison InDesign User Group -  InDesign CS5 at Madison Media Institute, 2702 Agriculture Drive
Madison

April 29, 6-8 pm:             Milwaukee InDesign User Group -  InDesign CS5, featuring Adam Pratt, Adobe Systems at WCTC

April 30, 9 am-12 pm:        C2 presents: CS5 Roll Out event – T3 Training, 13400 Bishops Lane, Brookfield, featuring Adam Pratt from Adobe

April 30, 1:30-4:30 pm:     C2 presents: CS5 Roll Out event – Milwaukee Downtown, at Proven Direct, 1301 Canal Street, Milwaukee

May 3, 1:30-4:30 pm:       C2 presents: CS5 Roll Out event – Madison

Does that sound like heresy to you? You could interpret that as a “veiled threat” from the manager – nearly pushing talent out the door, or asking folks to have one foot in their organization and one on the way out.

That is one way to look at this suggestion.  Another might be that the Director is asking staff to keep their skills current, so that they are relevant and contemporary and adding value every day for their firm.  Their portfolios can be shared with clients, and having a current resume allows you to have your info at hand for a promotion, a press release, a speaking opportunity, a pitch, etc.

Telling your staff to keep their resumes and portfolios current is also a way of demonstrating proactively to clients that your staff is happening and has their finger on the pulse of the advertising and design world.

This manager is also being a good mentor, by teaching his team that in the 21st Century, there is little job security, but there is career security.  Career security comes from doing d) all of the above – keeping your resume current, your portfolio updated (with written permission of course), your skills and abilities sharp through on-going professional development - through formal learning or volunteering, and keeping your style current and your own.

By now, as we’re ready for warmer weather to be enjoying the outdoors, New Year’s resolutions are long forgotten. But, it might be time to drag those resolutions out of the archives, and see what you thought you should be learning next, doing next, contributing your time to, to help you round out your skills and your resume. Adobe is announcing Creative Suite 5 on April 12, and there are user groups and resources galore for you to use to your advantage.  Several organizations in southeastern Wisconsin offer training and development or volunteer opportunities to enrich your resume, your career or enhance your life or the community and make you a more interesting person. Even Manpower, the largest staffing company in the world recently added a career management function to their website.

Here are a few links:

UW Extension Continuing Outreach and E-Learning

Brazen Careerist

Milwaukee Area Technical College

The Volunteer Center of Greater Milwaukee

United Way of Dane County

An easy way to keep on top of all of this of course is to use the C2 links to user groups and the pipeline on all the happenings in our community, including several events hosted here at C2 or at some of our strategic partners!