http://www.claudiamccue.com Graphic Arts Training for Professionals Sun, 14 Feb 2010 04:16:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Little on the outside, big on the inside: the Seagate FreeAgent Go 640GB (that's 671,088,640MB) drive is currently on sale for about $110 at Best Buy (regularly priced from $129-$145 at other sources). Available in Ruby Red and Tuxedo Black. Other capacities are also available, from 250GB-1TB. The drives are ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2010/01/room-to-go/ True confession: I don't have an iPhone (what?! What's wrong with you?!). That's right -- I'm a cellphone infidel. I'd like to have a sleek, hip iPhone, but I'm not willing to abandon Sprint for the more expensive AT&T service that's spotty out here in the sticks where I live. Yet, ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2010/01/color-expert-app-for-iphoneipod-touch/ If you've ever had to silhouette a girl with windblown hair, you know what a challenge it can be to create the perfect mask. I've always used channels, duplicating the best one and using Levels, Curves and judicious handwork to create a mask. As long as the subject has some ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2010/01/ez-does-it-really/ I realize this doesn't fall under the heading of "graphics," but I'll bet a lot of you have an iPod touch. Even though I'd heard that the screen is sturdy and scratch-resistant, I wanted to ensure its smooth surface would remain unmarred. There are a bazillion products to protect these things; ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2010/01/great-cheap-ipod-touch-screen-protector/ ======================================= Don't you just love the tabbed document display in Creative Suite 4 applications? If you do, you're in the minority, judging by the number of people who ask "How do I change that?" often followed by "What were they thinking?!" I can help a bit with the first question, but I ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2009/11/please-dont-put-it-on-my-tab/ You're probably familiar with Helvetica Neue. On the Mac, it's even one of the built-in System fonts. It's a commonly-used font — and commonly mispronounced. It's not "Helvetica Nu." It's "Helvetica Noy-yeh." Sparked by my teenage love of German cars and a stint in high-school German classes, I long ago learned ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2009/10/its-not-helvetica-nu/ The Font Bureau, Inc. has filed a $2 million lawsuit against NBC over unlicensed installations of fonts, including Bureau Grotesque and Interstate. Apparently, NBC used purchased fonts on many more computers than the original license allowed, and also used fonts which had not been purchased. More information here. Guess we can look forward ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2009/10/nbc-sued-over-font-licensing/ If you have to import Microsoft Word files and map Word styles to InDesign styles, here's some good news. Although the option to save style mappings as presets was first offered in InDesign CS3, it didn't work in CS4. The preset name was saved—but it was empty! Now, the just-released 6.0.4 ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2009/09/indesign-cs4-604-update-fixes-style-mapping/ Before you freak out, it's not a common circumstance, nor is it a showstopper. Just thought you might like to know. Here's the equation: Place a layered PSD as an anchored object within a header or footer row in a multi-page threaded table, and then attempt to print to a PostScript ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2009/09/snow-leopard-header-row-psd-indesign-cs4-print-error/ Occasionally, when I answer tech support questions for attendees in classes or seminars, they thank me twice: once, for solving their questions, and again for saving them from dealing with Adobe tech support. Citing long holds, repeated handoffs to other support personnel, undecipherable accents, and unsatisfactory results, they'd ask, "Can ... http://www.claudiamccue.com/2009/08/adobe-tech-support-letter/