Apple is now shipping quad-core Intel Mac Pro systems. A quad-core processor card has four processors on it, and the new Mac Pros can have either one or two processor cards installed. By putting two processor cards in the new Macs, they have the equivalent of eight processors, each running at either 2.66 GHz or 3.0 GHz.

The new Mac Pros can be configured with varying levels of memory and video power, supporting up to four hard drives and eight displays. Prices range from $2,499 to $3,799.

Content provided by
Design Tools

Acrobat 8 Professional has a feature that attempts to identify text in your PDF that could be a form field. For example, when it sees “Name: ______________”, it will add an interactive form field on top of the underline and name it “Name”. To use the feature, choose Forms> Run Form Field Recognition. Acrobat will find and convert the fields, and display a Recognition Report that lists all the fields it detected. Each item in the report is hot linked to the actual field so you can easily find it and use the Form editing tools to add actions to it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Agfa Graphics Adds Adobe PDF Print Engine into Newest Release of :ApogeeX Prepress Workflow.

:ApogeeX 4.0 to guarantee consistent output, providing the best possible reproduction on paper.

Press release  Mortsel, Belgium  April 25, 2007, 17:00

Agfa Graphics today announced that the Adobe PDF Print Engine will be incorporated into the next release of the :ApogeeX workflow, version 4.0. The inclusion in ApogeeX 4.0 of the Adobe PDF Print Engine, which allows PDF files to be rendered natively throughout the workflow, eliminating the need to flatten transparent artwork, enables a more efficient and reliable end-to-end PDF workflow. With enhanced JDF integration capabilities, :ApogeeX 4.0 offers incomparable support for other components of the print production process including MIS systems, presses and finishing equipment. The new version of :ApogeeX is slated for release in June.

Read the rest of this entry »

Noble Desktop has a free, printable collection of keyboard shortcuts for Dreamweaver 8 at

 www.nobledesktop.com/shortcuts-dreamweaver8-mac.html and

www.nobledesktop.com/shortcuts-dreamweaver8-pc.html.

Content provided by
Design Tools

ORLANDO, FLORIDA — April 19, 2007
ECRM today announced their plans to introduce WorkMates NEWS at the 2007 NEXPO trade show and conference. WorkMates NEWS is a complete, truly-open newspaper workflow solution that allows publishers to process PDF, PostScript, TIFF, PDF/X-1A, PDF/X-3, EPS, DCS, or DCS2 files, and is compatible with all standard models of prepress equipment. Working through hot folders or printing directly from the Apple or PC workstation, production managers can ROOM (RIP Once Output Many) while effortlessly creating, capturing, and outputting production pages to either a platesetter or imagesetter. ECRM is exhibiting at NEXPO 2007 (being held at the Orange County Convention Center, April 21-24, in Orlando) in booth #2267. For more information about ECRM and their offerings, go to www.ecrm.com.

Read the rest of this entry »

If your keyboard doesn’t have a dedicated key for ejecting optical discs, here are some tricks for ejecting them:

Press and hold down the F12 key.

In Mac OS X 10.4 and higher, press Command-E (for “eject”).

Control-click or right-click the disc icon and choose “Eject” from the contextual menu that appears.

Add the Eject menu to your menu bar by double-clicking Eject.menu, located in /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras.

Content provided by
Design Tools

Corel Introduces Ulead VideoStudio 11 for Easy and Powerful Desktop Video Editing and DVD Authoring

Newest Release Delivers Next-generation Video Editing, Authoring and Sharing Features to New and Advanced Users

Ottawa, Canada – April 30, 2007

Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL; TSX:CRE), a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, today announced the availability of Ulead® VideoStudio® 11 and Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus, the newest versions of its award-winning consumer video editing and DVD authoring software. Widely regarded for its powerful features and unmatched ease of use, VideoStudio now includes the industry’s first AVCHD editing solution, enhanced DV-to-DVD Wizard and Movie Wizard features, more title/subtitle and overlay tools and a host of quick-fix solutions for common video problems, including automatic color/tone correction. With the new Plus version, consumers also have a complete, end-to-end solution for capturing, editing, authoring and burning HD DVD videos.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mac OS X includes many new fonts, including six Arabic fonts, three Indic fonts, four Hebrew fonts, and five Thai fonts. This means that if you ever need to set some type in Hindi, Thai, Arabic or Hebrew, you have everything you need already on your Mac.
Because of the extended character sets of these fonts, they are in OpenType format, and can only be used by applications that support Unicode, such as Apple’s free TextEdit, QuarkXPress 7 and Adobe’s Creative Suite.

Content provided by
Design Tools

Certiport Partners with Adobe to Deliver Entry-Level Certification on Adobe Software for Educators and Students

New validated-learning programs for award-winning software to be developed by Certiport and distributed through global network of Certiport testing centers in academic institutions

Read the rest of this entry »

Adobe has now shipped Photoshop Lightroom ($199), and Macworld’s Rick LePage gives it a lengthy, thumbs-up review at www.macworld.com/2007/02/reviews/lightroom. (He mentions that it’s speedy on new Macs, but with 3,000 photos its previews are slow to appear on a G4/1.67GHz PowerBook.) To see how Lightroom compares with Apple’s Aperture, see Jim Heid’s story at www.macworld.com/2007/02/reviews/aperture152.

Content provided by
Design Tools

A resume is the key to your success. Whether you’re job searching, freelancing or starting up a small business, your resume is what will get the ball rolling. A resume is your single greatest asset and first impression. If your resume comes across as weak and lacking information, you’ll stand a lesser chance of landing the position or deal you want.

Resumes consist of several different elements. This article will give you a guideline for writing a strong resume for the graphic design field. None of these suggestions are set in stone, but they do include tested material that has landed me several positions from designer to creative director.

View resume sample (PDF format)

Read the rest of this entry »

If you appreciate efficiency, you may already be using a macro-making tool such as QuicKeys. Using QuicKeys, here’s one example of how to “add features” to an application (the principle applies to many areas of every application):

Read the rest of this entry »

From June 11-22, please come visit us at Newstec 2007 in Brighton (UK). OneVision is to present several new exciting products that will give you greater productivity, more efficient workflows and higher profits. Come to our Booth # D9 for a live demonstation of the new PlugINKSAVEin ink saving tool and the new Workspace solution, and see for yourself why leading newspapers around the world continue to rely on OneVision’s software for all their preflighting needs.

www.onevision.com

If you repeatedly use the same dingbats or illustrations from picture fonts in QuarkXPress, you can eliminate the need to include the font when outputting if you convert those characters to picture boxes in QuarkXPress. Just select the character(s) and choose Style> Text to Box. The result is a native QuarkXPress picture box shaped exactly like the dingbat, and the font is no longer necessary for output. (To anchor it in the text, hold down the Option key when choosing Style> Text to Box.)

Content provided by
Design Tools

Text editor + Transmit + CSS editor + Terminal + Books + More = Whoah.

Introducing Coda. Grow beautiful web code.

For more information you can visit them at http://www.panic.com/

Few people make maximum use of aliases in the Finder. These small-as-can-be files are really just pointers to other files. One handy use for them is for making contact sheets in Photoshop. Let’s say you have a ton of images, and you want to select some of them for a contact sheet. Just create a new folder to hold the aliases, select the images files you want to use, and Command-Option-drag them into the new folder. This creates aliases of those files. Point Photoshop’s contact sheet dialog box to that new folder (File> Automate> Contact Sheet II) and Photoshop will use the original images to build the contact sheet.

(Of course, you can accomplish the same thing in Bridge by selecting the images and choosing Tools> Photoshop> Contact Sheet II, but sometimes it’s easier to work in the Finder.)

Content provided by
Design Tools

Design beautiful, innovative and fast-loading web sites… with a beautiful, innovative and fast app. CSSEdit’s intuitive approach to style sheets and powerful previewing features will make you deliver awesome standards-based sites in no time!

You can visit their page at http://macrabbit.com/

Curious Collection has some of the most exceptional printing stocks anywhere. Translucent stocks include Iridescents in 8 colors, Dentelle (frosted) with optional watermarked patterns, Cromtica (jewel tones), Clear, Metallics in 24 colors, Textures such as Particles and Canevas (deep herringbone felt mark), and Plastics.

Check them out at www.curiouscollection.com.

Content provided by
Design Tools

Living Your Creative Dream

If you could select your ideal job, would it be a creative career?

As the leader in online creative arts education, The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, will award two $10,000 scholarships to help you “live your creative passion.” The scholarships may be used to study Graphic Design, Interior Design, Game Art & Design, Web Design and more at The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. You can choose from our 14 creative arts online programs to find one that inspires you.

How to Enter

1. Upload an image you created that best displays your creativity.
2. Describe how — in 500 words or less — you would live your creative passion.
3. On May 14, 2007, we will post your entry.
4. On May 14, 2007, contact your friends, family and professional contacts and ask them to vote for your entry.
5. Our panel of judges will review the most popular entries and select the scholarship recipients on June 8, 2007.

For more information visit http://scholarship.aionline.edu/

For just $9, www.fontifier.com will convert your handwriting to a font. You write your characters on a template they supply, scan it and upload it to their website. After previewing the result, you can pay for and download your font. Amazing.

Content provided by
Design Tools