CS Apps for Dummies: What They Do and Which One to Choose if More Than One Do the Same Thing

Continuing the policy of holding meetings in various locations so that it’s in someone’s backyard at least once during the year, the November meeting will be held in in Westchester near Los Angeles International Airport. And guess what? Parking is free and plentiful.

You know the Big Four: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver. But what about the other 16 Creative Suite applications and six services? Do you know what they do and when to use them? For instance, several CS applications can do animation. When should you use one over the other? Get answers at this meeting.

• Learn the difference between the Creative Suite and the Creative Cloud.
• Discover what each CS application does.
• Get up to speed on how the Creative Cloud serves up software.
• Gain insight on choosing the right application from those that perform similar functions.
• Understand the difference between buying software outright and paying for monthly access.
• Find out about Creative Cloud offerings for students and teachers.

Many of us work by habit, doing things the way we first learned them. Discover new CS tools that are just waiting to be used. You’ll never work the same way again!

Students, beginners and experienced users can benefit from the powerful information that will be offered at this meeting. If you know the basic programs, you’ll go up and beyond! If you don’t, this is the perfect place to begin.

About the Host

Special thanks to Kathleen Marinaccio of Otis College of Art and Design who moved heaven and earth to make the college available to us. She will co-facilitate the meeting along with our own DeShawn Burton.

Agenda

7:00 p.m. - Meet and greet

7:30 p.m. - Welcome and announcements

7:45 p.m. - Presentation (with mid-presentation break)

9:45 p.m. - Raffles

10:00 p.m. - Goodbyes

Meeting Notes

By Alvin Takamori

Theresa Jackson took a subject which could have been a very dry – what each of the 20 applications and six services that make up Creative Suite do—and breathed real world life into it. She began by reminding us that it’s not enough to be able to draw and paint these days, but that you must learn the technology. On the other hand, she was quick to stress that it wasn’t possible for anyone to know all there is to know about any application. There’s just too much.

She pointed out the difference between Creative Suite and the Creative Cloud. The former is Adobe’s comprehensive name for a set of its graphic applications, while the latter is largely a place where you go to download the various applications to your own computer. With the exception of Muse, you do not use the application while online. Theresa noted that initially she was skeptical of the Creative Cloud thinking that all the applications would only be able to be used online.

She pointed us to the Creative Cloud Buying Guide on adobe.com that is a convenient summary of all the CS application and their relation to the Creative Cloud. Theresa happens to be an award-winning photographer, and noted that access to Lightroom through the Creative Cloud was also a major advantage for her.

Theresa described each of the CS applications one-by-one with a summary of their uses. She noted that they can be grouped into print, web and video categories although some applications straddle the dividing lines. She then compared several popular applications head-to-head: Flash vs. Affect Effects, Fireworks vs. Photoshop, Photoshop vs. Illustrator and Illustrator vs. InDesign.

Earlier she had spoken of her preference for Photoshop and at this point began in earnest to speak about the differences between creating something in InDesign, Photoshop or Illustrator and why one might prefer one to the other. Not only are there workflow reasons for preferring particular applications, but also variations in the nature of the final output. For instance, she showed how, under certain circumstances, a PDF is composed of slices, while, say, a PSD file of the same image would be undivided. Such a difference might be unimportant for printing a flyer or postcard, but could become an issue in outputting poster or billboard sized images. She closed her very informative and well-received presentation by explaining and demonstrating the advantage of using several applications in concert, on the same job, each doing a portion it using the program optimized for a particular design consideration.

Thanks to Theresa for making the long drive from San Diego to Los Angeles to be the evening’s presenter.

And thanks to Kathleen Marinaccio who moved heaven and earth (including some last minute issues) to facilitate our extraordinary venue, complete with two wall-mounted monitors for the benefit of people location in the rear of the hall.

Farthest Attendee

The person who travels the farthest to attend the meeting will receive a one-year subscription to InDesign Magazine. This prize has a $69 value. If everyone is kinda sorta in the area, then this prize will go the person who just had or is about to have a birthday.

Special Extra Raffle

SOFTWARE: Adobe Creative Cloud. Value $599.88
Full access to the Creative Cloud for an entire year

Regular Raffles (Not That They're Not Special Too)

SOFTWARE: one eDocker product. Value to $995.00
Your choice of ONE of the following: eDocker2, eDocker Tablet Publisher

SOFTWARE: one Adobe CS6 product. Value to $699.00
Your choice of ONE of the following: InDesign CS6, InCopy CS6, Illustrator CS6, Dreamweaver CS6, Flash Professional CS6, Flash Catalyst CS6

SOFTWARE: Markzware product. Value to $399.00
Your choice of ONE of the following: Q2ID plugin, ID2Q, PUB2ID, PageZephyr, FlightCheck, PDF2DTP

3-MONTH SUBSCRIPTION: Fotolia. Value $349.00
50 high resolution photos or vector images per month for three months. (two raffles)

3-MONTH SUBSCRIPTION: Stock Layouts. Value $299.00
Full access to the entire Stock Layout template library for three months.

PUBLICATION: InDesign Magazine. Value $69.00

SOFTWARE: TypeDNA. Value $49.00

Raffle Prize Winners

Congratulations to the raffle winners: Barbara Fier won full access to the Creative Cloud for an entire year, Ximena Outon won eDocker Tablet Publisher, Francisco Ponce won InDesign CS6, Ximena Outon won Markzware’s Q2ID plugin, Barbar Fier and Bonnie Barrett each won 50 Fotolia high resolution photos or vector images per month for three months, Elias Wondimu won full access to the entire Stock Layout template library for three months, Tomas Aispuro won a year’s subscription to InDesign Magazine, and Kathy Sazueta won TypeDNA. As the attendee who came the farthest, Carey Gansert won a year’s subscription to InDesign Magazine. And finally, we had two live actions for non-technology items: Tomas Aispuro won a sheet and pillowcase set, while Ximena Outon took home the charger organizer and plug-in box.

Extra December Meeting

In addition to our regularly scheduled November and January meetings, there will be an extra December meeting at which Brian Wood will speak on Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition. Save December 20. And in the spirit of holiday giving, the big raffle prize of the evening will be Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium, a prize worth $1899.00.

Job Opportunities

We are looking for someone to be our liasion to book publishing companies including Peachpit Press and O’Reilly Press. This includes ordering books for raffle, selecting review copies, recruiting reviewers and managing the review process.

Thank You to our Sponsors

Adobe
eDocker
Fotolia
InDesign Magazine
Markzware
TypeDNA
Stock Layouts
O’Reilly Press
Peachpit Press

About the Presenter

Theresa Jackson

Theresa Jackson graduated from UCLA with a BFA in 1984. Shortly after she embarked on a career in the graphic arts / print industry. Working in prepress during the early years of digital imaging, she developed an expertise in photo retouching, photo composition and all matters related to pre-press and printing.

Her work experience includes technical support and training for a color management software company, project management, and product development. Since 2005 she has worked as an independent contractor/graphic artist, with a major focus in print design, including large format printing.