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Business Move Insults Industry Loyalty, Says PIA/GATF

July 3rd, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Pittsburgh, PA, July 2, 2007—PIA/GATF has always viewed Adobe as a company that offers high-impact digital solutions to the entire print community. Over the years, their products and services have transformed the printing process from an analog to a digital workflow. This partnership between Adobe and the printing industry has resulted in not only significant improvements to graphic communications, but also millions of dollars for Adobe. Despite this positive and loyal relationship, it was disappointing to learn of Adobe’s partnership with FedEx Kinko’s.

“When it was discovered that Adobe had made the decision to include a ‘send to FedEx Kinko’s’ button in Acrobat 8.1 Reader and Acrobat, we felt terribly betrayed by the company who has been supported by the printing industry,” states PIA/GATF President and CEO Michael Makin. “We understand the need to make the workflow process as efficient as possible, but Adobe’s decision to give up its neutrality and try to align its business with one printer is unacceptable. It is our hope that Adobe’s CEO, Bruce Chizen, will realize the mistake that has been made and rectify the situation as soon as possible,” continues Makin.

As the world’s largest graphic arts trade association representing an industry with more than 1.2 million employees, PIA/GATF is working with senior-level officials at Adobe and asking for a meeting to resolve this unfavorable situation. “We value our relationship with Adobe and respect what the company has done over the years for the printing industry; however, our main focus lies with the concerns and needs of our more than 12,000 member companies,” Makin states. “We have heard in volumes from our membership that the alignment with one print company is sending the message that the print business which has supported Adobe in the past is no longer valuable.”

PIA/GATF will continue to share these concerns with Adobe and urge them to offer the same consideration to all print providers that have an interest in this type of partnership.

About PIA/GATF: PIA/GATF is the world’s largest graphic arts trade association representing an industry with more than 1.2 million employees. It serves the interests of more than 12,000 member companies. PIA/GATF, along with its affiliates, delivers products and services that enhance the growth, efficiency, and profitability of its members and the industry through advocacy, education, research, and technical information.

Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF)
200 Deer Run Road, Sewickley, PA 15143
Phone: 800/910-4283 - Fax: 412/741-2311
Web site: http://www.gain.net

From the Mac Guy: Photoshop CS3 Versions

June 5th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

The Mac Guy: Photoshop CS3’s two versions expand graphic capabilities

Adobe Photoshop CS3 is now available in two versions: Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. While both applications offer the same core features, the Extended version adds capabilities targeted to some of these niche users although usable by many others.

Photoshop CS3 has a newly refined interface that helps you manage your tools and palettes more efficiently. The Tools palette can be displayed as a single column of icons docked on the side of the screen. Similarly, the palettes can be displayed as icons or icons with labels on the other side of the screen, giving you a maximum amount of screen real estate for your images. Additionally, when you press the Tab key to hide the palettes and then mouse over to the edge of the screen the palettes automatically will show up and then hide themselves again when you mouse away.

Read more about Adobe Photoshop CS3

How-To Make A Lightsaber in Photoshop

April 9th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

We can do anything in Photoshop nowadays from swapping people to making them disappear. When I read this technique to make a lightsaber from Star Wars, I just had to share it.

From Photoshop 911 comes this great little technique to take your Adobe to the next level:
Create the object you wish to make the light sabre. Use the Pen tool to create a simple straight path. This will provide the structure for the “light” …

Now, set a soft-edged brush to the appropriate size to be the thickness you need for the sabre.

Now, you’ll use the Stroke Path command to paint the sabre. The Stroke Path command allows you to create a paint stroke (using the current settings for your painting tools) that follows any path.

Start a new layer. When you stroke a path, the color values appear on the active layer. Make sure the layer you want is active before beginning.

1. Select the path in the Paths palette (Cmd/click or Ctrl/click).
2. Click the Stroke Path button at the bottom of the Paths palette. Each click of the Stroke Path button builds up the opacity of the stroke and in some cases makes it look thicker.

[Read more]

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