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Adobe Creative Suite 2: Classroom in a Book |
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Written by David Thompson
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
Adobe Creative Suite 2 introduced a number of new features across the
number of products. If you don't keep up to date on the latest releases
of these products, you may find yourself falling quickly behind the
times. That's why Adobe Press published Adobe Creative Suite 2:
Classroom in a Book.
Adobe Creative Suite 2: Classroom in a Book is written to help those needing to get up to speed with the latest programs in Suite 2. This 297-page book is broken up into 10 chapters covering a variety of topics. The book is also accompanied by a CD that contains each lesson that it taught in the book, QuickTime movie tutorials and additional files to help you learn Creative Suite 2.
Learning All About Creative Suite 2
You begin by learning about asset creation and the general setup in chapter one. There?s a lot of information in this chapter but you should pay close attention because this is the chapter that will set the pace for the rest of the book. In chapter one, you will learn about working with the Bridge, defining CMYK swatches, tracing artwork, preparing artwork for reuse, setting up a new document in Adobe InDesign, placing and scaling Illustrator artwork and adding additional graphics.
Chapter two demonstrates how to design a CD cover. The lesson will show how to examine metadata, viewing and ranking images in Bridge, creating a multilayer document in Photoshop, creating layer comps in Photoshop, reviewing layer comps in InDesign and importing text from word processor files.
Chapter three shows how you can create your own distinct packaging material. The lesson will cover topics such as changing image dimensions and resolution in Photoshop, designing a label in Illustrator, adding guide, graphics and clipping masks, add text, how to use Illustrator?s brushes and symbols, creating a 3d comprehensive and how to map artwork.
Chapter four teaches how you can publish your own newsletter. From setting up the document, working with text frames, linking text frames, adding line art, pasting text as inline graphics to finishing techniques such as exporting PDFs for online viewing, printing a proof and creating a package.
Chapter five teaches you the techniques of designing your own website. Using Adobe?s web design program GoLive, learn to convert CMYK artwork in Illustrator to RGB format, learning to use ImageReady, adding button text, how to set up HTML frames, making links on your webpages and how to set up GoLive to help you design and maintain your website.
Chapter six demonstrates how you can add animation by adding layers in Illustrator, creating frames from layers in ImageReady, modifying frames of an animation, tweening frames in Illustrator, fixing broken links in GoLive, adding head elements in to a webpage, using layers in GoLive, and animating layers with the timeline editor.
Chapter seven shows how you can move your work from print to web. Learn how to edit Smart Objects, add a rollover state to a navigational button, updating modified Smart Objects in GoLive, how to use cascading style sheet editor, inserting stories as Smart Text Components and how to place images from a package. If you?re looking to build a website, you going to need to learn these techniques.
Making a good impression is important and using Adobe?s page layout program InDesign is a great way to make a positive impression through your presentations. In chapter eight, you will learn to use InDesign to create professional looking page layouts. Learn all the essential techniques such as setting up a new document, creating text frames, creating paragraph styles, adding interactive elements and making the final document.
Chapter nine will show you the proper techniques towards submitting work for review. This includes how to save files for reviewing online, how to set up an email-based review, adding comments in a review, how to mark up documents, tracking comments and doing final touchups in Adobe Acrobat. These are important techniques to learn because there?s so many ways to present data to clients and you have to be prepared to make your work available in whichever situation your clients desires.
Chapter ten is all about Adobe?s Version Cue. I have to admit that I wasn?t that familiar with this program so I was very thankful to finally learn what it was all about. Version Cue offers the user the ability to manage their files from within the Adobe environment.
Everything in Adobe?s Creative Suite 2 was designed to work within each other to provide a single solution to your print and/or web design needs. From designing with Adobe Illustrator to tracking your work in Version Cue, you will be well
The Final Word
I found the Adobe Creative Suite 2: Classroom in a Book to be a quick overview of the programs in the suite and how they work together to create your desired project. While you will come away from this book with a better understanding of how these programs relate to one another, I felt that it wouldn?t be suitable for those who are trying to master a specific program.
The chapters are each designed around a specific topic so unless these topics are what you?re trying to learn, you may not acquire the knowledge you wanted. It?s not all negative though. The book does offer some great tips on creating these specific types of projects. By utilizing the lessons on the CD that accompanies the book, you will also be able to follow along with the book as it works through each project step-by-step.
Adobe Creative Suite 2: Classroom in a Book is a good overall book when it comes to utilizing the most used functions for Creative Suite 2. It covers every aspect of the design process from print, web, graphics to page layout, everything you learn from this book will serve you well during your design career. Pick up Adobe Creative Suite 2: Classroom in a Book and bring those creative visions in your head to your computer screen.
You can click HERE to purchase Adobe Creative Suite 2: Classroom in a Book.
About Adobe Creative Suite 2: Classroom in a Book
The Adobe Creative Team is made up of designers, writers, and editors who have extensive, real-world knowledge of and expertise in using Adobe products. They work closely with the Adobe product development teams and Adobe's Instructional Communications team to come up with creative, challenging, and visually appealing projects to help both new and more experienced users get up to speed quickly on Adobe software products.
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