Textile and Fashion Design with Photoshop and Illustrator

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Do you need to design for fabric? Trying to create realistic textile or clothing? This session will act as a quick overview of the tools and skills you need to understand to be successful. Topics include:

  • Scanning, coloring, and rendering hand-drawn illustrations
  • Using filters and brushes to simulate textures such as linen, flannel, wool, denim, or fur
  • Manipulating patterns and textures with the Transform and Puppet Warp tools
  • Using Symbols for maximum flexibility

RGB vs CMYK: Let’s Put This Argument to Rest Right Now

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It’s the 21st century… are you really still converting images to CMYK in Photoshop? Are you picking the right CMYK at the right time? What the heck is InDesign’s “transparency blend mode” and should you choose RGB or CMYK? This is the session that every InDesign user needs to watch—at least the ones who care about quality and productivity!

This session includes:

  • How to create a PDF that works for both onscreen viewing and printing on a desktop printer
  • Why converting images should be called “targeting” them
  • Why using the default settings will just get you boring color

Wow: Type Projects

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You can’t help but love everything typographic! If the word fonts gets you excited and hearing about special ligatures and swashes makes your mouth water, then this session is perfect for you.

In this fun, fact-filled, and educational hour, we won’t just look at type — we’ll explain it as we pull the designs apart and learn what makes them tick.

The Most Important Skill in Photoshop: Quality Selections and Masks, Part 2

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In Part 1 of this two-part tutorial, we learned the basics of making great selections (masks) in Photoshop. Now, let’s look at “next steps,” including:

  • How to end up with a great selection
  • The power of channels for making challenging selections
  • How to mask a mask

Advanced Pattern and Tessellation Tricks

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In Part 1 of this tutorial, you learned how to make basic patterns in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Capture. Now, it’s time to take it to the next level with tessellations (regularly repeating patterns)! Learn tricks of the trade by a professional with years of pattern-making experience!

  • Making seamless repeating patterns
  • Patterns that appear 3D
  • The 17 core patterns of the Alhambra palace
  • Random vs regular patterns

Interactive PDF and Forms: Opportunities and Limits

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Fillable PDF forms let your readers enter information on desktop and mobile devices, regardless of whether they have an internet connection. In this session, you’ll learn how to use InDesign to build PDF forms and then how to refine those forms in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.

In this session, you’ll learn:

  • Best practices for adding form fields in InDesign
  • Tricks for adding form fields in Adobe InDesign
  • Tasks you’ll need to perform in Adobe Acrobat
  • Tips & tricks to help you build flexible and robust forms
  • Dealing with changes to forms

Photoshop + Illustrator + InDesign: How Three Apps Work as One

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It’s the ultimate Adobe power-trio: InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator! But you’ll never be efficient with any one of them if you don’t understand how they work with the others!

Topics include:

  • How to properly set up Photoshop and Illustrator files for InDesign
  • Choosing between layers and artboards
  • CC Libraries: the secret back door conduit
  • Best practices for managing vectors and pixels

The Most Important Skill in Photoshop: Quality Selections and Masks, Part 1

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One of the most important skills in Photoshop is making selections (sometimes called masks) – and doing it quickly without too much effort. In this two-part session, you’ll learn the most important tools and techniques for selecting and masking, and the role of channels. You’ll see how to use selection tools individually and together, how to fine-tune your selections, and how to take full advantage of layer masks and channels.

In Part 1 you’ll learn:

  • The magic of the Select and Mask feature
  • Tips for getting the most out of layer masks
  • The 5 most important selection tools in Photoshop

See Part 2.

Patterns: Find Them, Make Them, Edit Them

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Patterns are everywhere! But as much as Adobe wants you to think it’s easy as clicking a button, creating and using great patterns is an art as much as science. Whether you’re creating patterns for textile/fashion design or print, it’s critical that you understand what makes a great pattern work.

Topics include:

  • Big patterns: From wallpaper to wrapping paper
  • Tips and shortcuts for building high-quality patterns with Illustrator, Photoshop, or Textile designer

This session is Part 1 of 2. See Part 2.

10 Essential InDesign Productivity Tips

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Let’s kick off Day 2 with a fast-paced, fun-filled tip-a-palooza to boost your productivity! We’ll zip through a ton of handy tips and tricks that every InDesign user needs to know. Plus, you’ll get amped to soak up all the InDesign goodness the rest of the conference will bring.

Topics include:

  • If you’re not customizing InDesign, you’re not doing it right
  • Essential shortcuts
  • What to do when something (inevitably) goes wrong