March 22 2006 • 1:40 AM
By:
Michael Murphy
Episode 15: Cheap Tricks (VIDEO)
Add depth and interest to an InDesign layout using the “cheap tricks” demonstrated in this episode, which uses a magazine feature to demonstrate what I called “Poor Man’s Lighting Effects” in Episode 4. In the process of building this example, I put a lot of other features to use including dropshadows, transparency, layers, step-and-repeat, object styles, gradient swatches and more.
That
was one cool video clip. Let me congradulate you on your podcast,
because this tip was super useful and extremely practical. In the end
that’s what matters, not just learning cheap tricks with the program
like shortcut keys, but real examples of how to improve your designs
and actually do something productive with the program.?r?n?r?nI
watched videos from Lynda.com, Total Training and i must say that you
offer some invalueable information for free. Thanks again and i will
even go on Itunes and vote for your pocast, that’s how much i
enjoyed this video tutorial… i think i will also pratice your tip
right now
nice?r?n?r?nsimple and effective?r?n?r?n(my wife was with me just
now and watched this one then said: “doesn’t he make it easy to
follow”?r?n?r?ndamn straight
Thanks for that, and welcome to
the blog. Funny that you mention your wife watching with you. When I
started doing the videos, I had my wife — who knows nothing about
InDesign but what she’s heard me blather on about — watch it to see
if she could at least follow the concept. That’s been my litmus test
ever since.
Ending with Episode 15 and any videos prior to then only have an MP4 version. Do you plan on posting an Ipod version of those videos as well?
The alternate iPod versions began with Episode 17 after a few requests from subscribers who expressed interest in a “portable” version. There is no iPod version for Episodes 11 through 15 as the “masters” were not saved, and compressing down the MP4 files to iPod format produced inferior quality results. The audio is fine, but the video is very difficult to see in the “re-compressed” and re-sized iPod version.
For now on, all I see is really really useful and done with a lot of simplicity. But I just have a question about this video, didn’t you have problems with the transparency?
David — In fact, I kept transparency in mind throughout the process, making sure that my text existed above my transparent objects and effects (either by moving it to the front of a layer, or onto a separate, higher layer altogether), so that there would be no problems upon output.
Hi Michael just found your amazing site, New to indesign myself. Just watched your cheap tricks vid and was fantastic. Just one question where do I find the object style palette?? I’m using indesign CS and cant find it. So I’m asuming I need to upgrade my programme??
thanks
Paul –
Object Styles were introduced in CS2, so it’s definitely time for you to upgrade.
Michael