appclinic - graphic design tutorials » CS4

AppClinc 186 – Investigating in InDesign

admin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:17:05 +0000

You might find yourself in a position from time to time where you have to accept files from another designer and continue to work on them. Before you get to work, you might want to do some investigating of the files to see how things are organized and make sure you’re comfortable with the setup. In this episode we’ll look at a few methods of investigation in InDesign to help you check up on the formatting of type and image layout.

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AppClinc 184 – Hyperlinks from Word to InDesign

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:46:55 +0000

One of many irritating issues that we see when placing a Word document’s contents into InDesign is the persistence of hyperlinks and their ugly blue color, underlines and strange gray surrounding box. In this episode we’ll take a look at an easy way to rid yourself of these annoying hyperlinks in one swoop.

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AppClinc 182 – Peeling Sticker Effect – Part 2of2

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:38:50 +0000

So now that we have our image extracted and looking ’sticker-like,” its time to get to peeling! Again using the handy warp mode of the transform feature of Photoshop, we will literally peel back the sticker image and add on some finishing touches to make it look like a realistic peeled sticker.

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AppClinc 181 – Peeling Sticker Effect – Part 1of2

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:11:36 +0000

One of the effects you may have been seeing around the web lately is a ‘peeling sticker’ effect in which a graphic or logo looks like it is being peeled up from the page. Using the handy warp mode of the transform feature of Photoshop, we can easily create this effect and with some slight adjustments, make it look pretty darn real! In this first part of the tutorial, we’ll extract an image from its background and prepare it for the peeling effect.

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AppClinc 179 – Colors in Illustrator

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:48:06 +0000

Changing colors in object with Illustrator can be very basic in nature, but using some of the new tools and functionality that ship with the latest versions of the software can increase productivity and make things a whole lot easier. We’ll take a look at color groups and the (kinda) new Edit Colors feature.

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AppClinc 178 – Appearance Panel in Illustrator

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:31:38 +0000

In this episode we’ll take a look at the appearance panel in Illustrator and see how it can eliminate the need for several other panels and at the same time help us make some pretty cool typographic effects.

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AppClinc 177 – Div Positioning in Dreamweaver

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:31:44 +0000

You may encounter a situation where you need to hang one CSS Div over the top of another. This is exactly the scenaro we will look at how to accomplish in this episode with a little help from Dreamweaver.

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AppClinc 176 – Registration Swatch in InDesign

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:36:35 +0000

Do you know why there is a swatch in your swatches panel named registration? In this episode we’ll take a look at the “Registration” color swatch in InDesign, what its used for, and what NOT to use it for.

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AppClinc 175 – Coloring Objects in Photoshop

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:03:12 +0000

When working on comps in Photoshop, you may find yourself needing to change the color of several different objects in your design. In this episode we’ll look at a couple different ways to accomplish this with minimal effort, so you can make updates very quickly and easily, and cut down the time you spend on iterations.

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AppClinc 173 – Layer Mask vs Vector Mask in Photoshop

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:40:24 +0000

Masking is one of the best ways to add and subtract content from your documents (non-destructively) and the good folks behind Photoshop gave us 2 different masking methods to choose from! Do you know the difference between a layer mask and a vector mask? In this episode we’ll investigate the differences and why one may fit better in a particular situation than the other.

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AppClinc 172 – Tool Settings in Illustrator

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:01:04 +0000

By now you have probably used each tool in Illustrator in at least one way or another, but have you taken the time to discover and/or master the settings of these tools? For each tool there is an accompanying dialogue box that contains some combination of settings that can be used to create different effects and even apply changes to a copy of the object you are transforming. In this episode we’ll look at a couple of those settings and how they can make a difference in our workflow.

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AppClinc 171 – Typography in InDesign (3)

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:42:16 +0000

Whether you’re using InDesign, Quark or any other layout software, typography is key and should be at the top of the list of things for you to pay attention to the details of. In this episode we’ll look at more of the basic principles of typography including kerning, leading as well as line and paragraph composition.

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AppClinc 170 – Black & White Adjustments in Photoshop

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:57:47 +0000

Creating black and white versions of your photos is nothing new in Photoshop but beginning in CS3 there is a new adjustment layer that allows you to achieve black and white with more control than ever. Building upon that, CS4 has added a new tool to the adjustment that allows you to make changes from within the photo itself. We’ll take a look at how this is used and how it might make your life easier when converting color to black and white.

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AppClinc 169 – Symbols and Symbol Tools in Illustrator

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:42:50 +0000

Symbols are yet another handy way to use one piece of artwork numerous times in a document with different instances. This can have numerous advantages including keeping the file size down on your Illustrator documents. We’ll take a look at a quick way to create a symbol and some tools the folks at adobe have provided for us to manipulate instances of our new symbol.

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AppClinc 168 – Data Merge in InDesign

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:49:36 +0000

Have you ever been asked to create a document with several different versions such as business cards? The layout and graphics may be the same across the board, but the data or personal information has to change from layout to layout?! This can be a pain if done manually, but we’ll look at how the process can be automated and easy in InDesign. You’ll wish you had known this years ago… if you didn’t already.

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AppClinc 165 – Composite Designs Using 2 Very Different Images

admin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:50:59 +0000

One of the most powerful features of Photoshop is its ability to manipulate photos to the point where they look like they were taken under completely different circumstances. This of course is what helps us to create composite designs, or take pieces of one image and place them in a completely different image or scene. In this episode we’ll look at a few techniques to make our composite images match and really become one.

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AppClinc 163 – Simplify Your Paths with Illustrator

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:43:02 +0000

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.

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AppClinc 161 – Displacement Mapping in Photoshop

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:58:24 +0000

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.

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AppClinc 160 – Typography in InDesign (2) Special Characters

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:07:13 +0000

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.

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AppClinc 159 – Jumping In Quickly

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:56:05 +0000

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.

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AppClinc 158 – Troubleshooting Problems: Brush Tool

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:11:22 +0000

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.

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AppClinc 152 – Grunge Type Effect with Your PIctures

admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:41:30 +0000

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.

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AppClinc 151 – Placing Multiple Artboard Files in InDesign CS4

admin — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:51:54 +0000

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.

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AppClinc 149 – Move Tool Settings You Should Know About

admin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:56:52 +0000

There are so many different tools and settings in Photoshop it would take years to learn about them all. This can at times create problems when things get turned on and you have no idea what is making tools react differently than you are expecting. In this episode we look at a few setting of the move tool that can help you out in your workflow, but can be frustrating if you don’t know what they do.

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AppClinc 148.5 – Fading a Smart Filter

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:34:09 +0000

Special thanks go out to one of our viewers, Piotr!!! He pointed out a very important little dialogue box I failed to recognize in the last episode about making images that “pop” for your portfolio or leave-behinds. Let me stress the importance of learning the ins and outs of Photoshop (as well as the other apps you use often), using myself as a perfect example of making things harder on myself by not knowing where new functionality can be used in place of the old.

AppClinc 148 – Give Your Images Some Style

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:28:27 +0000

Whether you’re putting images together for an online portfolio, or printed “leave-behind,” there is one constant: you want them to “pop” so the person viewing them takes notice. With only a few very poopular techniques in Photoshop you can transform a typical, boring 2-D image into an interesting, eye-catching piece you can be proud of.

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AppClinc 147 – Back it On Up with Timeline for Photoshop

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:57:28 +0000

You may have heard this one before: “Save Early and Often,” and while that is an excellent piece of advice, you need to be practicing version control at the same time. PixelNovel’s Timeline is a Photoshop plugin that can help you do just that. It allows you to save different versions of your work to a server so you have instant access to it, if you somehow lose the version that is saved to your hard drive or if you don’t have access to your file for any number of reasons. Timeline has a few more bells and whistles and we’ll kick the tires in this episode.

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AppClinc 146 – Liquify in Photoshop

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:25:39 +0000

One of the more powerful tools in Photoshop is the liquify filter. In this episode we’ll take a high-level look at some of the tools that can be used to create dramatic manipulations to a photo, as well as a trick to evening out some of the edges when you’re done.

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AppClinc 145 – Using Scripts in InDesign

admin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:02:47 +0000

There are some handy tools that ship with the CS3 and CS4 versions of InDesign that you may not even know about! These tools don’t reside in the tool bar, but in the scripts panel. In this episode we’ll look at a couple of these scripts, that can be run by easily double-clicking on them, and how they may be able to speed up your workflow.

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AppClinc 140 – Gradients Made Better In Illustrator CS4

admin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:01:34 +0000

In Illustrator CS4 the way gradients are created and edited has been greatly improved to give you a more visual way to make your tweaks. In this episode we’ll take a look at the way things USED to be done, and how that has been improved upon in the latest version of the software. If this doesn’t make you want to upgrade… i don’t know what will!

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