Orlando InDesign User GroupMeeting Notes Archive
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
We had 68 graphic professionals in attendance at our February meeting.
First to take the podium was Katherine Russell of Russellware, Inc., beginning the meeting by making a presentation about flowing data into InDesign documents. Katherine is a certified FileMaker 8 technologist who specializes in building databases of all kinds. Flowing data sets into InDesign® takes advantage of the many great features of the program, including variable data.
A FileMaker database is used to customize layouts, for instance, doing business cards. This elemental structure creates the database of fields, tables, and information groups. She demonstrated dynamics, structure, and root for tags (root/comment used for information input). This database is then exported to InDesign, where it can be further customized under event management.
XML is your markup language for documents containing structured information (containing both words and pictures). This performs the flow-through of information from FileMaker to InDesign.
 Visit Katherine Russell at www.russellware.com
Next to take the stage, and back by popular demand, was Katherine “Katie” Houghton, Senior Adobe Instructor, ACE, Future Media Concepts. People will remember Katie as the entertaining and informative first-ever presenter for our InDesign/Creative Suite user group, and she didn’t fail to impart wisdom and have a lot of fun this time, either! It’s always great when Katie comes to visit.
The Orlando InDesign user group has a tremendous advantage with Future Media Concepts participating in our meetings. They have been generous to offer any Adobe curriculum at a 15% discount to InDesign members. An hour spent with a professional instructor (like Katie) is better than 100 hours trying to hunt around for productive answers on your own. In the future, be sure to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
Katie demonstrated the PDF package process to send final work to the print shop. Preflight checks were illustrated to review finished work before data is summarized, presets locked, and the work exported as a PDF. She stated that it is important to ask your printer what presets they prefer. In this way there will be fewer issues or problems encountered.
Here is a short list of notes taken during Katie’s presentation.
Any Adobe PDF should be according to printer’s press color standards (i.e., CMYK, RGB). Use color map applications to communicate to high-quality printers.
Export with presets:
- PDF/x-1a not color profile
- PDF/x-3a color profile; also has print controls attached
- High-quality print; has print controls attached
Go to Acrobat® and open and test-preflight the PDF. View palette, toolbar/print production.
Check if your file is a compliant PDF, per the printer’s standards.
Make flattener changes in Acrobat.
Short course:
- In layout
- Table of contents
- Bring over style, headers (if info crashes out, reset preferences)
- Palette
- Window
- Interactive Palette
- Bookmarks listed
- Hyperlink — have to set state first
- Destination, name, URL or unnamed URL
- Interactive pages
Katie said you can’t do everything in InDesign, but it gets you ready for Acrobat.
There are more preferences in Acrobat.
Acrobat is used for interactive and printing preferences, but by using InDesign to get there.
InDesign also has better control when dropping movies in, whereas Acrobat has less of a feature set when it comes to dynamic content.
- LifeCycle• Designer XML web
Visit Future Media Concepts at www.fmctraining.com
Raffle Winners
Tools of the trade — once again, our sponsors gave many of us an extra edge for our professional lives. Many graphic professionals discover these books for the first time at our meetings.
From Adobe
From O’Reilly Publishing
- Adobe InDesign CS2 One-On-One
Deke McClelland
(ISBN#: 0596100973) (u.p.c.: 780596100971)
Under McClelland’s seasoned guidance, you will proceed at your own pace through 12 step-by-step lessons packed with entertaining and informative real-world projects. More than 500 full-color photos, diagrams, and screenshots walk you through InDesign’s many features, and multiple-choice quizzes following each lesson let you test your knowledge — and serve as an exceptionally practical tool for classroom instructors.
- Ambient Findability — What We Find Changes Who We Become
Peter Morville
(ISBN#: 0596007655) (u.p.c.: 780596007652)
Morville discusses the Internet, GIS, and other network technologies that are coming together to make unlimited findability possible. He explores how the melding of these innovations impacts society, since web access is now a standard requirement for successful people and businesses. But before he does that, Morville looks back at the history of wayfinding and human evolution, suggesting that our fear of being lost has driven us to create maps, charts, and, now, the mobile Internet. The book’s central thesis is that information literacy, information architecture, and usability are all critical components of this new world order.
- InDesign Production Cookbook
Alistair Dabbs, Anne-Marie Concepcion, Ken McMahon, Keith Martin
(ISBN#: 0596100485)
Unlike the traditional “bible” approach to learning new software, InDesign Production Cookbook’s unique combination of concise explanations, expert tips, and practical recipes will bring new users up to speed quickly, while providing more seasoned professionals with the information they need to complete specific tasks on the run.
- DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish
Ian Aronson
(ISBN#: 0596008481) (u.p.c.# 0596008481)
Thanks to the digital revolution, film artists now have a spectacular array of powerful, new, inexpensive tools for creative expression through digital film. The once-powerful studios can no longer stifle an artist’s creativity. With the power of the Internet, film artists are finding once unimaginable ways to distribute their creations worldwide. DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish covers all aspects of the new digital video frontier for amateurs and professionals alike — from the nuts and bolts of timecode and aspect ratio to framing, lighting, and sound recording, as well as editing, special effects creation, and distribution.
- Digital Video Production Cookbook: 100 Professional Techniques for Independent and Amateur Filmmakers
Chris Kenworthy
(ISBN#: 0596100310) (u.p.c.: 780596100315)
Digital Video Production Cookbook will show you how to create sophisticated-looking visual effects, dramatic shots, and powerful sequences using low-cost methods adapted from high-end professional techniques. Author and award-winning filmmaker Chris Kenworthy explains how you can use a digital video camera and basic editing software to create high-end production values with household equipment and a little imagination.
- FileMaker Pro 8: The Missing Manual
Geoff Coffey, Susan Prosser
(ISBN#: 0596005792) (u.p.c.: 789596005795)
Author Geoff Coffey has many years of experience using FileMaker Pro (he was, in fact, an early beta tester for the product). Author Susan Prosser is a FileMaker Certified Developer who trains other developers. Together, Coffey and Prosser show you how to:
• Get FileMaker up and running quickly and smoothly
• Import and organize information with ease
• Design relational databases that are simple to use, yet powerful
• Take advantage of FileMaker Pro calculation capabilities
• Automate processes with scripting
• Customize FileMaker Pro to your needs and preferences
• Share information with other people (co-workers, clients, and customers) and other programs
• Understand and select the best security options
O’Reilly book winners, please remember to write your reviews; guidelines are at http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html.
Visit O’Reilly Publishing at www.oreilly.com
From Peachpit Press
- Photoshop Classic Effects: The Essential Effects Every User Needs to Know
Scott Kelby
(ISBN#: 0321272250) (u.p.c.: 785342272253)
Inspired by the column of the same name in Photoshop User magazine, Photoshop Classic Effects shows you exactly how to do the same special effects you see every day in magazines, on TV, in the newspaper, and on the web. These are “The Classics” — those tried-and-true effects that are everywhere — and for a lot of professional photographers and designers, these effects are their bread and butter (as you’ll see inside the book). It’s not the wild stuff, it’s not the weird stuff — it’s the stuff you can really use, the stuff clients always ask for (and expect that you’ll know).
- Photoshop CS2 Up To Speed
Ben Willmore
(ISBN#: 0321330501) (u.p.c.: 780321330505)
As the first major Photoshop® update since Adobe revamped its product line in 2003, this is the release you’ve been waiting for — and this is the guide that will get you up to speed on it fastest! Rather than sift through hundreds of pages detailing every last Photoshop feature and function, you can go directly to the new features that interest you most and get the explanations you desire in classic Ben Willmore style — intuitive, crystal clear, and in-depth. By focusing on a single topic-what’s new in this version — the award-winning author provides precisely what experienced Photoshop users like yourself have been clamoring for, with exactly the depth you demand. Including just enough information about older features to make the new ones understandable, Ben shows you not only which buttons to push but also why.
Visit Peachpit Press at: www.peachpit.com
iStockphoto
- T-shirt and cards offering three free photos
iStockphoto is the world’s fastest-growing collection of royalty-free images, at the world’s best prices. There are no subscription fees or extra costs. Just the best stock photography, vector illustrations, and Flash files online, at prices for everyone.
Visit iStockphoto at www.istockphoto.com.
From StockLayouts
- Two individual templates, to two lucky winners.
For the one-off project, these are the perfect way to market a business with high-impact and impressive style.
Visit StockLayouts at www.stocklayouts.com
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