Digital Classroom Series

Hello All!

Adobe's recent announcement and current shipment of CS4 is exciting news! My previous post included my favorite features of InDesign CS4 and I'm sure everyone has heard news and maybe have even seen some of the new features of CS4.
I'm happy to announce that there is a new series of books that have been co-written by Chad and Rob that can help you get up to speed with CS4 fast. The Digital Classroom Series of books includes titles for many Adobe applications including InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash. The books are written as if you were sitting in the room with one of us instructing you! The books include a DVD with lesson files that are used as you are guided step-by-step through the new features of CS4. Below are links to the Digital Classroom titles and we encourage you to give them a try. I think you'll find them extremely helpful and encourage your feedback here at our blog and on Amazon.com. Until next time!

InDesign CS4 Digital Classroom
Illustrator CS4 Digital Classroom
Photoshop CS4 Digital Classroom
Dreamweaver CS4 Digital Classroom
Flash CS4 Professional Digital Classroom

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Chad Chelius
Adobe Certified Instructor, Adobe Certified Expert, AGI Training
Blog: The Chad and Rob Show

The Eco Dance

OK, if you are looking to be completely weirded out, here is your site. As you may recall from last Christmas we did the good old "Elf Yourself" and while that was pretty entertaining, the Eco Dance takes it to a new level.

Yes, you upload your own photo, but what is really cool about this site is that it actually extrudes your photo in some way, creating a 3D model. And while my nose was a bit more prominent than in real life, it was a bit freaky!

The models physique could use a little help, and I SO didn't want to see my face on that bod, yet it was mildly entertaining for technology sake, rather than on the merits of its content.

Check it out at: http://www.theecodance.com/

of simple pleasures, and perfect design

One of the things designers are often challenged with is looking at something a bit differently, in different terms, defining the experience rather than the product itself. So this evening, I was compelled to try my hand at this, and the medium; not web, not print, not acrylic or sculpture, but that of poetry. A muscle never really flexed, I decided to dive in and try my hand, and quite enjoyed the experience. I share it here with you and hope you enjoy it and are inspired to find something this week that you too can look at through different eyes. Enjoy.

of simple pleasures, and perfect design

This very evening as the cool winds blow through the plains,
the unspoiled flakes of snow blustering about the skies,
I find myself seeking seclusion.
The first winds of winter chill me as the earth
and befall the remaining leaves,
clinging to their only connection to the ground,
their roots, their lifeline no more.

Called from above, by that perhaps contested
mother of Aphrodite, giver of life.
Borne of the earth, the seas, this becomes my retreat.
The steam rises as if a cloud as I settle myself
within thy warm embrace.

To this oasis, I bear a beloved fruit.
Shared throughout the ages, the fruit which
Botticelli himself bestows upon the Christ child.
The artist knows, as do I of the simplistic beauty
held amongst its crimson cortex.

The piercing of its flesh, and Shakespeare's merchant
are much the same. A pound taken, yet more.
The sanguine fluid pours from the fruit,
the sacrifice of one, to reach the multitudes.
Its symbolic nature reaffirmed within me once more.

I hold within my grasp, that which He too had held.
A beauty to behold, ruby facets I admire.
The season of my nourishment once more,
I reflect on the seed of seeds spread throughout the years.
To that which I hold within my hand.

Bittersweet, I sample, I rejoice.
It has been far too long, yet I know within my depths
for each thing, each person, there is a season.
The designer of this crimson flesh, this world, are one the same.
Humbled I reflect.

What I have made is unworthy of compare.
Yet I too am seed, borne of seed.
Perfection within His eyes as is this fruit within mine.
I rejoice.