Rufus Deuchler

Experimenting with Adobe Edge

Sharing a little experiment I've been working on to see how easy it is to get creative with Adobe Edge Animate. I animated the text (Edge Web Fonts) and published it using Adobe Muse, the result can be viewed here: rufus.li/YmmMNY.

This project is leveraging the CSS Blur Filter (which not currently supported by Firefox, IE, and Android browsers). But, because it is HTML it'll show nicely on you iOS devices.

Remember that my background is in print design. So, if I can do it, you can do it too. ;-)

Create Now World Tour 2013

Time to hit the road again. This time around it will be all about Adobe Creative Cloud. The Create Now World Tour will hit over 40 cites worldwide so make sure to check if there's one near you. [http://bit.ly/CreateNow_SM]

As far as I am concerned this is my travel plan:

Together with Jason Levine and Paul Trani.

• Mar 1, Warsaw, Poland (Create Now Stop Warsaw)
• Mar 4, Oslo, Norway (Create Now Oslo stop)
• Mar 5, London, UK (Create Now London stop)
• Mar 6, Stockholm, Sweden (Create Now Stockholm stop)
• Mar 7, Copenhagen, Denmark (Create Now Copenhagen stop)
• Mar 8, Helsinki, Finland (Create Now Helsinki stop)

Together with other great people:

• Mar 11,  Boston MA,  USA (Central MA Adobe User Group - Boston)
• Mar 14,  Amsterdam,   Holland (Create Now Amsterdam stop)
• Mar 20,  Portland OR,  USA (Portland Digital Designers and Artists)
• Mar 22,  San Diego CA,  USA (AIGA Y-Conference)
• Mar 23,  San Jose CA,  USA (Creative Suite San Jose User Group)
• Apr 2,  Miami FL,  USA  (ADC Awards and Creative Festival)

This list is still open, so I may be adding Create Now events that I'll be presenting in the near future. Stay tuned.

2013 Calendar with InDesign CS6 and Liquid Page Rules

So it's this time of the year again... many of you will be producing calendars for yourselves or for your Clients. So I have set myself a little project to make your life easier. But, you will need InDesign CS6 (which is also part of your Creative Cloud Membership) to be able to work with my files, because I am using Liquid Page Rules so that you can easily modify my document to format you like. This is a great example of how Liquid Page Rules can be very useful in your print design projects, and not only for producing layouts for tablet devices. Print FTW! ;-)

Download the InDesign source file here: Calendar 2013 Folder [6.1Mb, ZIP archive]

Here's what I did to create the layout so it is as flexible as possible:

Fun with 3D in Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended

In my presentations I always talk about 3D in Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended and how easy it is to create extrusions of selections, type, or paths directly in the application. What I did here was to go under the menu item 3D > Get more content... (Adobe® Photoshop Extended® 3D content) and got myself a 3D model of a hot air balloon. 

Then, simply by changing textures and lights (colour and position), I was able top create that rather realistic image of a hot air balloon peacefully hovering over the Pilanesberg National Park at sunset.

[Click on the image for a slightly larger version]

Try it for yourself and let me know about what you come up with.

Keep Calm and Content Aware Move

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

**********************************************

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...

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!

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.