Session 5 [Wed 270110] - Scan For Print/ Improving Scans in Photoshop/ Printing/ Set Up Written Work/ Resample Images/ Illustrator Templates

A good session today. Very productive. Thanks for all your undivided attention.

Homework
Three things to do for homework -

• Produce six drawn heads that share a common concept/ theme, on A4 paper ready for tracing in Illustrator.
• Prepare your biography and portrait assignment in Word and print hard copy for handing in next Session [Mon 010210].
• Finally, be sure to practise your Illustrator skills every chance you get!

See you next time ;-)

Session 4 [Mon 250110] - 50 Heads Review

Homework
You all saw today that your head sheets contain concepts of varying strength. You also were asked to consider how your drawings might animate and what might make for an appropriate avatar representing your heads to your prospective audience.

For Session 6 then, you have been commissioned to develop six heads on six sheets of A4 paper for one of the concepts determined today.

You also need to suggest how your heads might be animated and must be able to justify one of your six characters as an avatar.

NOTE: Please make sure you have your first drawing for scanning next session [Wednesday 270110].

We were not able to do any computer based work today. We will be sure to spend all our time in mac related activities next time.

Session 3 [Wed 200110] - Quiz/ Backup Strategy/ Copying & Archiving/ The Brief Is Sacred/ PDF Handling/ A Word On PreparingText/ Illustrator Technique

Homework

1. For Monday , we really want to see those 50 Heads! Remember, at least 10 made in Illustrator.


2. Be sure to read the Head briefs closely too!

Illustrator Techniques
Loads covered today! -

• You learnt the difference between Open Paths [lines] and Closed Paths [shapes] in Illustrator.


• Where you can, you must make Closed shapes. These can be easily filled and controlled. Only use Open Paths when you want to make thin hair or narrow lines on a face or an object.


• You saw how Illustrator arranges shapes in a Stacking Order that can be rearranged using the Object > Arrange menu.


• You saw how to make a colour background using a large filled rectangle.


• Shapes can have a Stroke and/ or a Fill colour, and interesting offset effects can be had by using over-lapping duplicate shapes, one with a Stroke, the other with a Fill. Use the Forward Slash [ / ] shortcut or click on the RedStripe swatch to change a Stroke or Fill to None to achieve this effect.


• Use the Alt key to Drag/Copy a shape on the page. The Alt key can also be used to draw an ellipse or a rectangle from the middle.


• You saw how to Group and Ungroup shapes from the Object Menu or by using the Apple-G/ Apple-Shift-G shortcuts.


• With the White Arrow or Sub-Selection Tool you learnt how to select individual shapes within a group or even manipulate individual points in a vector object. We even manipulated the curves in a shape with the same tool. Cool ;-)


• Finally, you saw how to use some of the Transform Tools to Rotate, Scale, and Distort Shapes.

I think that may be it. Thanks for all your enthusiasm this session. See you next time.

Session 2 [Mon 180110] - Review of Drawing Homework/ Partial Briefing on the Heads Project - Examples & 50 Heads Homework/

Homework [4 hours worth!]

• You were commissioned to make your 50 heads today for next Monday [250110]. Good luck with that!
• Also, find time to continue your Illustrator training. Explore the Basic Shapes Tools, Fill and Stroke, Color and Swatch Panels, the Pencil, and the Selection [Black Arrow] Tool [There are additional tips on Illustrator below].
• There will also be a quiz next session which will include what we have covered so far as well as any extra info there might be on the blog posts.
• Welcome Greg and Alpa - please complete your biography and accompanying drawing for next session [Wed 200110].

Help Resources
Before a recap on today's introduction to Illustrator, a mention of some of the Mac Help resources is warranted. These are available to you for gaining further understanding of the rudimentaries of the Mac and the creative Adobe applications.

1. In the Finder there is the Help Menu at the end of the Main Menu Bar - use this to help you search for further information on getting started - using the keyboard, the mouse, managing and customising windows, using the System Preferences, etc.
2. On starting Illustrator you are presented with the Welcome Screen giving you access to video tutorials to guide you around the program and the new features of Illustrator CS4.
3. Finally, Illustrator has its own Help Menu that takes you to a rich source of Online Material.

Vectors and Rasters
Also, remember before you continue that Illustrator is a Vector based application and deals with Hard-Edged graphics for the most part using mathematically described vector shapes, unlike Photoshop which deals in photographs or Raster based graphics. This is a very important distinction. Mark it well.

Intro To Illustrator 1 – Setting Up

• Opening Illustrator -choosing the Essentials Workspace
• Creating a New Artboard [Artboard is the work surface metaphor for Illustrator]
• Make the document A3 [European Paper sizes A4, A3, etc]
• Save the file with a sensible name to a logically named folder within your Heads project folder [an example of deeper folder Nesting]
• Make sure to use the .ai extension to your file name [Native file formats for the Adobe CS Applications - AI for Illustrator, PSD for Photoshop, INDD for InDesign, FLA for Flash].

Intro To Illustrator 2 – Anatomy of Vector Objects/ Selecting & Copying

• The Illustrator GUI - Introducing the collapsible Tools Palette and Panels
• Different Views [Apple-Zero fits the document to the screen]/ Zooming [Apple +/-]
• Stroke and Fill [ x to toggle the Stroke and Fill]
• Colour Panel/ Swatches Panel [Routine - mix colours in the Colour panel and store them by dragging to the Swatches Panel]
• Use the Black Arrow [Selection tool] to select and drag shapes. Copy objects by holding down the Alt key and dragging a copy to a place on the Artboard. Shift click to select multiple objects and copy them in the same way.
• Try using the White Arrow [Sub-selection tool] to drag individual points on a shape.

Intro To Illustrator 3 - Shape Control

• The Shift key can restrain to perfect square or circle as you drag out those particular shapes. Also, by holding the Alt key you can drag out a shape from the centre for additional placement control. Also, use the spacebar to move the shape as you are drawing it. Use all three keys together as you drag for ultimate control!
• You saw how, as you are drawing with a shape tool, you can use the Up and Down Arrows on the keyboard to change the properties of an object on the fly - rounding off corners on a round corner box, changing the number of sides of a polygon, or the points on a star.
• Try holding the Tilde key [the wavy line key to the right of the Shift key] as you drag out a shape to create amazing Spirographics. Wow!

Hands-On Illustrator
You finished the session with some hands on head-making. You all seem to be getting a handle on the program.

Some of you enquired about more advanced aspects of the program - using Pathfinders, Making Colour Backgrounds, altering the Smoothness/ Fidelity by double-clicking the Pencil tool, Arranging the Stacking Order of objects, taking care to make Closed shapes when you need them. All good stuff to learn!

Whew! That's a fair amount of information for one session. Thanks for your concentration, much appreciated!

Session 1 [Wed 060110] - Introducing the MacOSX GUI/ Keyboard Shortcuts/ Setting Up For Work/ Printing/ Printing Head Start Brief

Welcome to the course web log for Intro To Mac. This is the place where you can catch up with any important information you may have missed.

Homework First
Each blog entry begins with a reminder of the homework allocated in the session. Please note that homework is officially set at four hours per each two hour class session. With three courses a week of classes and their accompanying homeworks you will have completed a standard working week [without pay ;-) ].

You have the following things to achieve for Session 2 -

1. Purchase A3 layout pad, class note book and a USB stick for document storage.
2. Download and read the Syllabus and the Head Start Brief
3. Finish your titled and subtitled 3 paragraph biography
4. Make a drawing or multiple drawings of what you think the person in the text would look like. Spend a good amount of time on the drawing[s]

Remember also, we have a five question quiz at the beginning of Session2.

Introducing the MacOSX GUI
The Finder - On logging in you are confronted with the Finder and your first interaction with the MacOSX GUI or Graphical User Interface

The GUI - can be customised through the System Preferences Panel. You saw a few of the features in the preferences set. The Universal Access panel for Screen Zooming and the Desktop & ScreenSaver panel to change your desktop image to the professional level mid-grey Desktop Screen.

The Dock - You also saw how to drag application icons to the Dock available at the edge of the Finder for handy use. Also, how to change the position of the Dock via Apple Menu > Dock > Position… and to show/hide the Dock via Apple > Dock > Turn Hiding On/Turn Hiding Off.

The Traffic Lights and Avoiding Minimalizing Windows - At the top left corner of any full Finder window are a set of what are often nicknamed Traffic Lights for obvious reason. The Red Light closes the window just like Apple-W, the Green Light toggles between custom window size and smallest window size to accommodate the window's contents. The Yellow Light Minimalizes the window, sending it off to the Dock.

Minimize is a poor feature as there is no short cut to retrieve the minimalised window and it leads to memory problems in applications such as Photoshop as you can get into the bad habit of minimalising multiple memory intensive file windows leading to a clear performance go-slow. So, AVOID MINIMALISING where you can.

Keyboard Shortcuts
For almost every action we took today in managing the MacOS GUI, you learnt the equivalent Keyboard Shortcut to each related Menu item command. Shortcuts are achieved by using some combination of Modifier Keys [Apple, Shift, Alt, Ctrl, etc]

Some shortcuts included -

• Apple-N equivalent to File > New Finder Window
• Apple-Shift-N equivalent to File > New Folder
• Apple-W equivalent to File > Close Window
• Apple-Shift-A equivalent to Go > Applications
• Apple-1, Apple-2, Apple-3 in an active FInder window is equivalent to clicking on the Window View Icons
• Apple-Alt-D equivalent to toggle showing/hiding of the Dock

If you go to the Help Menu in the FInder menu bar and type shortcuts you can scroll through and learn a comprehensive list of shortcuts for Finder management activities.


Briefing on Head Project
There will be briefing for the Heads project next session.

PS. Thanks for all your contributions today. That was fun!