Essential Image Techniques

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Jason Hoppe

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

Essential Image Techniques

Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Central

How you handle images can make or break your design (and your workflow). Fortunately, there are tons and tons of useful tips and tricks for working with images in InDesign! And in this fun and fast-paced session, we’ll share as many cool image-related tips as humanly possible in the span of 60 minutes.

You’ll see tips for:

  • Placing and sizing
  • Relinking and exporting
  • Enhancing images with custom frames and special transparency effects
  • Making images pop

Engaging Interactive Documents

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Laurie Ruhlin

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

Engaging Interactive Documents

Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Central

If you’re curious how InDesign can create engaging interactive documents, this is the session for you! InDesign has a rich toolset for adding buttons, slideshows, and even animation. But to use these features well, sometimes you need to think outside the box. In this session, we’ll take a look at the “trickery” involved in producing a series of interactive effects, using some obvious and not-so-obvious techniques. If you’ve tried InDesign’s interactive features and found them lacking, join this session and look again.

We’ll cover techniques for creating:

  • Animated bar charts
  • A hamburger menu for navigation
  • Creating a slide show
  • Pop-up windows

InCopy: The Key to Editorial Workflow

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Anne-Marie Concepción

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

InCopy: The Key to Editorial Workflow

Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 3:15 pm Central

We wanted to call this session “InCopy for Fun and Profit” because… well, like we say, “if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right!” But can software for editors actually be “fun”? It sure can, especially when you consider the alternative: endless revision rounds, mark-up, and design proofs for everyone involved. And just watch how profitable it can be when it reduces your publication’s turnaround time in half. (And at only $4.99/month, it’s Adobe’s most affordable Creative Cloud app.)

Join InCopy/InDesign workflow expert Anne-Marie Concepcion as she demonstrates how it works, starting from a “first proof” partially-finished InDesign layout all the way to sending the final, packaged publication to the printer. She’ll explain when InCopy is the best solution as well as when it isn’t (and alternatives to consider), as well as strategies for gradually incorporating InCopy with your existing workflow.

You’ll learn:

  • How to edit an InDesign layout in InCopy
  • Sharing files locally and remotely
  • Checklists for designer and editors
  • Best practices for a smooth workflow

Pattern Design for Textile and Other Applications

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Robin Schneider

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

Pattern Design for Textile and Other Applications

Tuesday, 9:00 am – 11:30 am Central

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
  • Printing yardage: resources and techniques for easily creating amazing fabrics
  • Third-party services for printing on items like tote bags and phone cases

Illustrator Deep Dive

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Tony Harmer

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

Illustrator Deep Dive

Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm Central

Taking some strong fundamental skills, developing and building on them is what this Illustrator Deep Dive is all about.

In one continuous illustration workflow you’ll cover a range of topics that aim to boost your productivity and improve your confidence in working in the Illustrator environment, including working with perspective planes, 3D effects, freeform gradients, opacity masks, symbols, brushes, appearances and more. You’ll find out how to make artwork-specific guides, learn how (and why) to use linked document workflows, create flexible compound shapes and apply textures. The techniques and tips in this session can be applied to almost any Illustrator workflow.

Covered in this session

  • Adding and working with art in perspective
  • Opacity mask techniques including multi-level and layer transparency
  • Using Live Paint to refine a drawing
  • Creating art and scatter brushes
  • Understand freeform gradient points

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of Illustrator and a sense of humour.

CSI Illustrator: Solving Mysteries

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Laura Coyle

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

CSI Illustrator: Solving Mysteries

Tuesday, 3:45 pm – 4:30 pm Central

Have you ever purchased a piece of vector stock art thinking it would simplify your life, only to discover a virtual crime scene of innumerable misplaced anchor points, strange groupings ,and uneditable text? Or maybe you jump in to change a color in your colleague’s Illustrator file, only to spend an hour you don’t have?

In this session, Laura will demonstrate an organized, time saving method for working in Illustrator.

You’ll learn:

  • How to “investigate” an Illustrator file from top to bottom, find transparency and identify all the components
  • Best practices for editing and creating files to save you from spinning and crashing
  • Plugins that keep order and improve performance
  • Quick color-change methods and organization
  • Creative Cloud Library Tips for collaboration
  • Tips for dealing with problem Illustrator files

Creating Animations for Email and Social Media

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Chris Converse

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

Creating Animations for Email and Social Media

Tuesday, 2:15 pm – 3:15 pm Central

In 2019, email marketing outerformed social media, search, news, and corporate intranets combined. The good news is that marketers are looking for attractive, animated content for their marketing campaigns. The bad news is this means animated GIFs and file size restrictions.

Email animations can be very frustrating to create, and their simplicity is deceptive. Creating small, looping animations with limited file size can leave you feeling helpless. Learn techniques that you can use in Photoshop, AfterEffects, PowerPoint, and Keynote to create compelling animations that leverage your work against the limitations of this popular medium.

Topics include:

  • Understanding why these limitations exist, and exploit the weaknesses
  • Learning techniques for creating looping animations
  • Using various animation techniques for email
  • Leveraging content from your existing projects
  • Creating animations from video
  • Optimizing Animated GIF with Photoshop and other tools
  • Exploring 3rd party compression options

Revisiting Photoshop Layers

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Nigel French

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

Revisiting Photoshop Layers

Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Central

Sometimes the most important features are hiding right in plain view. One example is Photoshop’s extraordinary layers feature. If you’re still using layers for simple stacking, you’re not getting the most out of Photoshop!

Learn why the deceptively simple layers feature is actually a goldmine of productivity, flexibility, and power.

Putting it Together: Compositing in Photoshop

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Lisa Carney

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

Putting it Together: Compositing in Photoshop

Tuesday, 10:30 am – 11:30 am Central

Composites are more than just merging images together. To make a great composite, one needs to consider light sources, shadows, color, and perspective.

During this in-depth session, you will learn how to conceptualize your design, solve each piece of the puzzle, and combine the many parts using Photoshop.

In this session, you’ll learn:

  • How to use adjustment layers to check the luminance, saturation, and hue of a composite
  • How to make composites come to life by adding ambient color
  • How to use familiar tools in unconventional ways to help you create realistic composites
  • And much more!

Power Tips for Photoshop

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Jesus Ramirez

Jesús Ramirez

ARCHIVE: This session was presented at CreativePro Week 2020.

Power Tips for Photoshop

Tuesday, 9:00 am – 10:15 am Central

Join Jesús in this information-packed session where he will share his best Photoshop tips and power shortcuts for designers!

In this session, you will learn timesaving techniques, little-know features, and better ways to work with the tools that you already use. This session will leave you saying, “I wish I knew that years ago!”

In this session, you’ll learn:

  • Time-saving techniques
  • Little-know (hidden) Photoshop features
  • How to make blending modes work for you