Meeting Summary: Season Start-Off Meeting

Wed, Sep 14th, 2011 at 6:30 PM

Madison Media Institute

Event Details

The first meeting of the 2011-2012 season was a soaring success! Our largest crowd yet enjoyed a great night filled with celebrities (Mike Rankin, James Wamser, and James Fritz), good conversation, and important information.

Guest speaker Mike Rankin flew in from Boston to talk to us about everything "fx" in InDesign. Who knew InDesign could handle cool effects as well as Photoshop and Illustrator? Mike did! In his talk, Mike really challenged our understanding of the Effects panel, blending modes, and output. All great news for most designers and prepress experts.

Mike explained Global lighting and how it works from one document to another. He showed us creative tricks with blending modes that used to be reserved for Photoshop. Then he demonstrated working with live type and drop-shadows. "Live type will only take on a single stroke attribute. That is, of course, unless you convert it to outlines first, then you can apply multiple attributes," Mike said. He went on to show us tricks for making soft, realistic shadows under photos, adding shine to objects, and even applying a "wet" look. Everyone wanted more!

The good news is that all Mike's fabulous tips and tricks are available in his eBook, The InDesign Secrets Guide to Graphic Effects. Check it out on indesignsecrets.com!

Visiting Milwaukee IDUG reps, James Fritz and James Wamser, announced the InDesign Secrets Live seminar going on in Milwaukee on September 27th, 8:30-4:30 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. One lucky Madison IDUG member even won a ticket to attend! If you would like to know more, or book a seat for yourself, log on to C2GPS.com and look for "events."

We ended the evening with ever-popular prizes such as an eBook from Mike Rankin, a ticket to InDesign Secrets Live, and a free copy of Illustrator CS5.1! Everyone was happy! Buying tickets for door prizes and donating to the food fund helps us provide prizes and snacks for the next meeting. So, consider buying extra tickets at the next meeting and increasing your chances of winning a really great prize!

(By the way, if you won the subscription to InDesign Magazine, you need to contact your chapter rep, Maribeth at maribethf@tds.net, to claim your prize.)

Thanks for attending! We'll see you in November for another great meeting, this time on XML!

Thank you

Thank you to our sponsors, Madison Media Institute, for allowing us use of their wonderful theater!

Job Opportunities

CYGNUS Business Media INC
1233 Janesville Ave
Fort Atkinson, WI 53538
http://cygnusb2b.com.
Contact Dave Haglund

They are looking for contract workers for designing and publishing to iPad in InDesign. Call Dave ASAP!

Upcoming Industry Events

*InDesign Secrets Live!
Seminar with James Fritz in Milwaukee, WI on September 27th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. 8-4:30pm with topics covering top features of Cs5.5, sneak peeks at new things coming from Adobe, and ePubs and iPad apps in InDesign. Check it out on
http://idwi.eventbrite.com, indesignsecrets.com, or c2gps.com.


*Vegas, baby!
A deep dive into InDesign with Anne-Marie "Her Geekness" Concepción on Wednesday, November 2, in Las Vegas! GREP styles, Live Captions, Quick Apply, and other important techniques every power user must know. Discover free scripts and other useful materials you may not know you already have! Attendees will receive an information-packed mini-course in digital eBook publishing as well as bonus materials from lynda.com and InDesign Magazine.

To register or learn more about the seminar, visit the InDesign Secrets Live Las Vegas event page at http://ids-lv.eventbrite.com.

IDUG members receive a 10% discount on tickets to EITHER of the events above. Use the discount code IDUG.

Comments from attendees

"1st IDUG meeting, a lot of good information, and great presenter." —Sheila Olig

"Outstanding venue, fantastic speaker with a very useful and interesting presentation." —Josh Lenius

"His (Mike's) presentation not only covers stuff I didn't know, but is incredibly smoothly organized!" —Shirley Smith

"Interesting topic! I could have done a lot of this stuff in Illustrator — I like the idea of keeping it in InDesign." —Candace Gallant

"I wasn't aware of all the tricks that could be accomplished in InDesign." —Bart Putzer

Photos from this Meeting

See the photos