Rufus Deuchler

Adobe Muse New Features (August 2012)

August is surely a hot month this year: Adobe Muse is getting some new features that will make many users very, very happy. I just love how this application is evolving into a really good tool for designers to create content for the web without having to get their hands dirty with coding and markup.

There are improvements in the following areas: a brand new Align Palette, the ability to upload assets (which users can then download), many improvements in code generation, a new Forms Widget to create contact forms, font improvements, FTP Upload, Adobe Edge integration, and much, much more...

Here's the scoop, taken from the Release Notes:

Align Palette

• We've added a new Align Palette, available from the Window menu, or by clicking on the new 'Align' control in the control strip.
• You can use the new Align features to align or distribute selected objects relative to each other, or to the page content area (which is the area from the bottom of the header to the top of the footer).

Asset Upload

• You can now link to any external file (i.e. PDF, .zip file, .dmg or .exe) and add a hyperlink to it to enable users to download the file from your web site.
• All linked assets will be uploaded / exported along with the rest of the Adobe Muse site, in a new 'assets' folder.

Package Files - Adobe Illustrator CS6 (August 2012 Sneak Peek)

UPDATE: August 28 -- This feature and others are now live. Find out more here: http://adobe.ly/Orq9mI

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This is a sneak peek of a feature that will soon be added to Adobe Illustrator CS6 for Adobe Creative Cloud members and point product subscribers only. I could not help to sneak this specific feature because it was so highly requested by Illustrator users from all over the world, and the wait is almost over. What you will be able to do is to automatically create a folder that contains all of the elements necessary for working with the file (linked files, fonts, etc...) for archiving purposes or to share with another designer in your workflow.

Package files is only one of the enhancements that will come to Adobe Illustrator very soon, so stay tuned because the time for running your Adobe Application Manager has almost come. [Sneak published in August 2012]

I hope you will find that feature useful in your design workflows.

Remember that if you are a current Creative Suite user you can save $20/month for the first year on Adobe Creative Cloud (Offer available to qualified registered users of individual products and suite editions, CS3 or later). And this offer is ending very soon...

Links to Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium Help Documents

Todd Kopriva is maintaining a great list of all help documents for Creative Suite CS5, CS5.1, CS5.5, and CS6 applications. Here is a quick link to the same documents for the aplications included in Adobe Creative Suite CS6 Design and Web Premium (I have added Acrobat to the list). 

• Photoshop Extended [PDF (20Mb) • html]
• Illustrator [PDF (20Mb) • html]
• InDesign [PDF (20Mb) • html]
• Acrobat X Pro (PDF (23Mb) • html)
• Flash Professional [PDF (17Mb) • html]
• Dreamweaver [PDF (13Mb) • html]
• Fireworks [PDF (7Mb) • html]
• Bridge [PDF (2Mb) • html]
• Media Encoder [PDF (1Mb) • html]

All of these applications (and more) are of course also included in the Creative Cloud Membership.

I hope you find this list helpful, and happy learning!

 

Create a repeating Pattern for the Web with Adobe Illustrator CS6

Creating Patterns with Adobe Illustrator CS6 is extremely easy, and so is exporting the pattern to be used on a Web page.

These are the 4 simple steps you have to follow:

1. Create your pattern using the new Pattern Creation Tools in Adobe Illustrator CS6.
2. Drag the Pattern Swatch from the Swatches Panel onto the artboard, and check out the Pattern Tile Bounds (blue outline).
3. Select the Artboard Tool, press the Shift Key and start drawing an Artboard that matches the size of the Pattern Tile Bounds
4. With the Artboard selected, choose File > Save for Web... and choose your preferred export oprions for PNG, JPG, or GIF.

Now you can use that pattern with Adobe Dreamweaver or in Adobe Muse to fill background areas. Pretty cool no?

If you have missed it, here's a short video I create to explain how to create a Japanese Pattern with Adobe Illustrator CS6.

Create a Japanese Pattern with Adobe Illustrator CS6

It has really become very easy to create seamless repeating patterns in Adobe Illustrator CS6.

In this video I will show you how to create a repeating Japanese pattern using just three circles and the new pattern creation tools.

Patterns made like this can then be used in your illustrations, layouts, or even as tiles in the background of your web pages.

Enjoy!

Adobe Nordic - Design Tour February 2012

Me and my colleague Terry White will be touring Finland, Sweden and Denmark for a series of events that will show the latest developements in Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium, including Muse, Digital Publishing Suite, and the Touch Apps.

• 15/2 Helsinki
• 16/2 Stockholm
• 20/2 Gothenburg
• 21/2 Copenhagen
• 22/2 Århus

Register here for Finland,  Sweden, or Denmark. 

This will be fun!

Cut&Paste | London, Berlin, and Helsinki

To begin this year of travel, I will show up at some of the Cut&Paste events in Europe.

• London: Postponed (stay tuned)
• Berlin: February 2
• Helsinki: February 4

I have a slot in the "Show&Tell Presentations" and there will be an exciting Adobe Ideas challenge as well. In a 15-minute offstage round, designers will sketch a graphic that represents an activity they would do to raise money for clean water using the iPad and Adobe Ideas app. The winner from all global entries receives the opportunity to work on a charity: water campaign.

Please make sure to say hi if you are around.

Season's Greetings 2011 - Adobecadabra!

Dear friends near and far,

I herewith send you my most sincere wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012. It shall be grand. For sure!

"The clouds, the only birds that never sleep".
Victor Hugo, The Vanished City.

You all take care,
Rufus

Introduction to Adobe Muse (Public Beta)

This video will show you how to create a website using Adobe Muse (Code Name), from the initial idea to the published site. The whole workflow.

The four steps I am covering here are:

1. Planning the site using the Plan workspace
2. Designing with freedom using Muse's InDesign layout metaphor
3. Adding rich interactivity with widgets and arbitrary HTML or iFrames
4. Publishing your website to HTML or using Adobe Business Catalyst

If you want to follow along and do what I am doing, here are the assets I used: IntroMuse.zip [3.2Mb]

To check out what I have created in this video, see this website on Adobe Business Catalyst: http://ourplanet.businesscatalyst.com

 

Adobe Ideas, an iPad, a Wacom Bamboo Stylus, et voilà!

It's been quite a while since I wanted to do something with Adobe Ideas that went beyond just doodling. Some impressive work has been produced with this app (check out this Flickr Group for example); I needed to see for myself. Adobe Ideas lets you draw on the go, and the drawings you create with it are in fact vector graphics.

I thought who is better to inspire me on this new experiment that the father of vector graphics himself? John Warnock it was. I mailed myself a picture of him and saved it to my Photos on the iPad, and then added a Photo layer in Ideas to have a base upon which to draw. Then it was just a matter of defining light and dark areas (you know the drill). To have more precision (beyond the thickness of my fingers) I used the Wacom Bamboo Stylus and added strokes and areas of varying widths, and also used the eraser to gain control over negative space. The experience was actually quite relaxing and it took me just under two hours to create this:

 

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Why would I do this with Adobe Ideas, you ask? Well, the awesome thing about Ideas is that it is a tablet application, and I could have done that drawing anywhere and on the go, in the garden, on a plane, or in my bed. The result can then easily be transferred to Adobe Illustrator (for example) to be refined.

Here's the file I emailed myself from Ideas. But I am pretty sure that I will continue working on it as time goes by. That's another interesting thing about the app, you have your drawings with you on the tablet, and you can work on them whenever you feel inspired.