In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast I'll show you how to use the NEW Digital Publishing Suite Tools to take your interactive InDesign publication from start to finish fron InDesign CS 5.5 to your iPad (or Android tablet) wirelessly. This is my first look at the NEW .FOLIO builder tools that are now integrated directly inside InDesign. You'll need to grab the latest tools for your copy of InDesign CS5 or CS 5.5 here (Mac | Win).
Note: in the video I show how you can rearrange your articles online via digitalpublishing.acrobat.com. If your Acrobat.com account is NOT provisioned by Adobe to access the Digital Publishing Suite you can simply skip that part of the process and go straight to the iPad.
See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App here. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App:
When I bought my iPad 2 recently I looked around at the dozens of case offerings and skin options. I bought an Apple Smart Cover as part of my original device purchase, but I wanted to protect the back surface as well. Even though there were dozens of case options, back cover protection that was also compatible with my Smart Cover, limited my choices quite a bit. The iPad 2 was already so darn slim, and the Smart Cover added so little to the bulk of the unit, that it seemed a shame to weigh the thing down in a bulky, book-like binder cover. I wanted slim, so I started looking at skins.
Top of my list was the Zagg Invisible Shield because I love the crystal clear, durable protection. The problem is that the application is a wet process and the iPad is so much bigger than the little devices I've covered with it in the past, I was envisioning getting moisture all over the place in my precious new iPad and fighting a war with bubbles under the film. The local mall has a Zagg kiosk with a professional installer and that comes with a lifetime guarantee, but with the installation fee and taxes, it was going to be over fifty bucks! And after the $50 installation I'd have a beautiful, crystal-clear cover that still had tiny seams at the corners so the film would fit the shape of the iPad's curved back. Most skin options don't even have corners covered at all. That's one of the reasons I opted for iCarbons. The big reason though, was that they had a great installation video and their application is a dry process. It doesn't hurt that it was half the cost of the Zagg (just $26 shipped).
iCarbons offers a light and a dark woodgrain option as well as a black or white simulated carbon fiber skin. I opted for the black and it was just as easy to install as their video shows. It was easy because it's a dry process and there were zero bubbles. What you can't see until you have the skin in hand, is that the weight of the material is thicker than you might expect, and the embossed texture of the carbon fiber weave is relatively deep. It looks great on the iPad and it smoothly covers the corners as advertised. The only thing I don't love is the white carbon fiber Apple logo they supply to cover the logo cutout in the middle. I just left mine off so the black Apple logo is what you see.
While some people like keeping the carbon fiber skin theme going all the way around to the front, I wasn't interested in the front frame protector. That just seems a little over-the-top to me, because the Smart Cover does the job on the front. And speaking of the Smart Cover, the magnetic strength seems just as strong through the iCarbons skin as it did on the bare metal of the iPad. No need to cut a notch out of the skin for the smart cover spine like I was considering. If I could change anything, I'd make the skin just a tiny, tiny bit bigger to cover more closely to the edge. Of course, I'm not an engineer, so that extra little bit of coverage might cause the corners to not cover smoothly or it might cause the edges of the skin to peel over time. Maybe this is the best possible coverage after all. It’s also worth noting that this skin is not especially grippy. It’s better than the naked aluminum, but not much. I think GelaSkins and Zagg wins in the grippy category.
In my opinion, considering price, quality, ease of installation, Smart Cover compatibility, looks, and scratch protection, iCarbons is the best skin option for me.
If you missed Photoshop World Orlando, you missed the Adobe Keynote where Photoshop Product Manager Brian O'neil Hughes showed some sneak peeks of some up and coming Photoshop Technologies being worked on in the labs at Adobe. Check out the video above to see what you missed! Was there really a Photoshop for iPad shown? 😉
Last week when I was on The Grid, I got asked to describe how the iPad would fit into a photographer’s workflow and I promised to do a post on it…
The iPad is definitely a revolutionary product that has disrupted the status quo. While I absolutely enjoy using an iPad, I don’t find it to be the end all be all replacement for a desktop/laptop computer. At least not full-time. The iPad didn’t replace my phone, nor did it replace my laptop. It’s another device that I use when it’s more convenient to use than either of the other two devices. With that said the question has been asked “How does the iPad fit in a photography workflow?” Last week my buddy Scott Kelby wrote a post about what he’d like to see in a “real Photoshop for iPad.” Adobe demonstrated some Photoshop technologies for iPad at Photoshop World in Orlando. There are several image editing and image viewing Apps for the iPad. So the question becomes does the iPad fit in a Photographer’s workflow and if so how?
The short answer is YES!
Here are the ways that I use my iPad in my day-to-day photography workflow:
Getting ready for the shoot
If i’m doing a model shoot, then I use the PosePad App to plan out my shoot with photos and notes to pull up right there on the spot and walk them over to the model. This is my digital shot list. This has worked extremely well even on location shoots outside the studio.
I stopped carrying paper releases over a year ago. There are two fantastic Apps for doing CUSTOM (yes, YOUR text) release forms for both Model and Property releases. I prefer the look and feel of the release forms in Easy Release, but I absolutely love the exhaustive number of available custom fields in the Contract Maker Pro. My recommendation: For a basic release only requiring a few fields and your custom text that looks great, go with Easy Release. If your release forms are more complicated or multiple pages go with Contract Maker Pro. Both Apps are GREAT!
When you’re out and on the go chances are you’re going to be shooting and you’ll want to do two things. You’ll want to backup your images and review them. Let’s start with getting them in. There are 3 popular choices. The first is Apple’s own Camera Connection Kit. It works great with SD cards or via a USB cable to your camera. It will bring in your pics (JPG or RAW or both) as well as your videos. However, it will not work with Compact Flash cards. Apple turned down the power of the port via a software update and therefore card readers don’t work anymore connected to the Camera Connection Kit. That brings me to a NEW option: M.i.C. has shippeda CF reader for the iPad. Lastly and probably my favorite method is to shoot wirelessly into the iPad via the Eye-Fi card.
I reviewed Apple's Camera Connection Kit when it first came out. The Apple kit is two adapters. One is an SD reader and the other is a USB port designed to connect your camera directly to your iPad for image import. The one glaring omission is the lack of a way to bring in images directly from a Compact Flash (CF) card. During my review, I showed how you could attach a standard (San Disk) reader to the Camera Connection Kit and bring images in directly from your CF Cards. However, shortly after I did the review Apple released an iPad software update that basically reduced the amount of power that the dock connector outputs making it virtually impossible to power a card reader. I guess they didn't like people plugging in all the things (keyboard, drives, etc.) they were plugging in to the Camera Connection Kit on their magical devices. That left us with the only option being to use a USB cable and connect the camera directly to the iPad. While this works, it's slow and will drain the cameras battery during long transfers.
Problem Solved by M.I.C
This Hong Kong based company has developed a CF Reader that attaches directly to your iPad and allows you to import your CF cards (up to 400x speed cards) right into your iPad. Of course I ordered a couple of these immediately and mine just arrived this past Friday. I was hopeful and doubtful at the same time. I just couldn't figure out how they would get around the power problem. Well, they did! I plugged in my standard SanDisk 8GB Extreme IV card and it showed up just like the Apple Camera Connection Kit does. I imported my RAW (.NEF) files with no problems.
Hallelujah!
You can order the M.I.C CF Reader here. They are back logged (as you might expect), so give it a couple of weeks.
Show me!
I would normally do a video of such a gadget in action. However, they already had a video that shows it in action and I concur with the results shown. So here it is:
I’m liking Eye-Fi on a whole new level these days. This company and their products  have come a long way since I tested/reviewed the first card back in 2007. They’ve delivered on their promise to enable Direct Mode transfers from their X2 cards and they’ve released Mobile Apps for both iOS and Android platforms. This is great news for photographers as it gives you a way to shoot wirelessly from your camera to your tablet device or even your smartphone. Although I was quite content with the testing I had done thus far with the Pro X2 card going through my MiFi mobile hotspot, I’m even happier that I wont need it (the MiFi) anymore to shoot to my iPad 2.
Upgrade your Firmware
The first thing you’ll need to do is download the new Eye-Fi Center Application from their site and upgrade the Firmware of your Eye-Fi X2 card. I and others had problems doing the upgrade as it would immediately fail no matter what. The work around seems to be delete your existing Eye-Fi account (back up your photos first of course) and then create a new account and you should then be able to successfully upgrade your card.
Enable Direct Mode on your Card
Once your firmware is up to date you should then be able to Enable Direct Mode on your X2 card. You will see the SSID (network name) of the card as well as the password for the card’s network. To save time you can turn on Direct Mode while the card is in your computer and then connect your devices to its network. This is what I did with my iPad 2 to enable me to easily see the password while I was keying it in on the iPad.
Download their App
If you have an iOS or Android device you can download their FREE App for your device and log into your Eye-Fi Account. Once you log in you can then enable your card to transfer to the App directly.
A Tip
By default your images will just import and show in the grid. I want to see my images full screen and have them auto advance as i shoot. This is not really called out in the preferences. However if you go to Application Preferences and turn on “Full Screen”, your images will not only go to full screen as they come in, but they will also auto advance! YAY!
See more about the Eye-Fi App
I did a more complete review of the Eye-Fi App here.
How fast is it?
In my testing I used my Nikon D7000 (a 16.2 MP Camera) and I used the first card slot to shoot RAW to my regular 16GB SD card and I put the Eye-Fi Mobile X2 card in the second slot. I set the camera to shoot BASIC JPG to the second slot. This means that it’s transferring a 16.2 MP Basic JPG image to the iPad.
See the speed for yourself here:
The Bottom Line
Before you can say it, yes I wish there was a Compact Flash option (adapters aren’t supported with the X2 cards). However, if you’ve got a camera that shoots to an SD card, this solution totally rocks! If you got a camera with two card slots, then it gets even better as you’ll be able to shoot RAW to one card and your smallest JPG to the Eye-Fi card. I’m loving my D7000 even more now!
You can get the NEW 8GB Eye-Fi Mobile X2 Card here for $79
Oh happy day! I'm pleased to announce that my "Learn The Adobe Creative Suite with Terry White" App has just been updated to be a Universal iOS App, which means that you now get to see the videos in all the iPad 10" glory without having to screen double them. The App is now available on the App Store and is of course a FREE update to anyone who already had it.
If you're new to the App, the advantage here my regular podcast is that many of the episodes have Exclusive Bonus Clips. These clips can only be seen in the App and aren't published anywhere else. Often the Bonus Content includes additional tips and techniques or expands in an area where the regular episode left off. On the iPad these Bonus Clips are highlighted right below the regular episode so you'll more easily be able to identify the episodes that have Bonus Content.
There are literally hundreds of videos available on the various Creative Suite Apps all the way back to CS2. Thankfully the App has a built-in Search feature as well as the ability to Star your favorite episodes and download the ones you want to be able to watch offline.
I want to personally thank you for your support in my podcast as well as my App!
In case you haven't been following me on this story you can start with my "Shoot Tethered (wirelessly) to an iPad" from a couple of weeks ago here. Back then I decided to try out the Eye-Fi Pro X2 Card in my D7000 shooting wirelessly to an iPad 2 via my MiFi mobile hotspot and I was pleased with the overall workflow. Today Eye-Fi just announced a new card (yeah that happens in technology, deal with it!), the Eye-Fi Mobile X2 which is a cheaper card that offers Direct to iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) and Android mobile device shooting WITHOUT the need for a WiFi hotspot. Removing the WiFi hotspot requirement and going direct in an AdHoc fashion makes this solution even better. However, don't fret if you bought the Pro X2 card like I did. They are going to release a firmware update to the existing cards next week. Keep in mind that the Pro X2 card does handle RAW and Geotagging. The new card does not.
This should open up a whole new world for people that want to shoot with a decent camera and share those images even with some minor retouching/adjustments, from a tablet device directly. I'll be shooting RAW to my regular SD card in slot 1 and BASIC JPG to my Eye-Fi card in Slot 2 on my D7000. Life just got a little more fun.
If you don't have an Eye-Fi card yet, you can get the NEW Mobile X2 8GB card with the Direct Mode love built-in here.
Sorry, still not Compact Flash joy.
As soon as I have the yet to be released iOS App and an updated card you expect a review here.
Adobe InDesign CS 5.5 improves in the areas of Digital Publishing to devices. It addresses the number one request from our ePUB authors and that is the ability to embed video in your exported ePUBs and yes those videos play on the iPad (or any other ePUB 3.0 standards compatible device). We've also made some improvements on allowing you to layout your publications for print, but also dictate the order in which elements are exported to ePUB using the new Articles Panel. Another major improvement is the ability to either have InDesign generate your ePUB cover from the 1st page of your document or linking to a specific image that is optimized for a small size "bookshelf" on a device such as the iPad's iBooks App. Here's a video on how some of these features work:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bBNrMoKz0Q
What's new in Interactive Digital Publishing to Tablets?
The video below walks you through some of the enhancements to the Digital Publishing Suite in InDesign CS5.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HR_LdlM31s
There's more new stuff in CS 5.5
See Greg Rewis' post on what's new in Dreamweaver CS5.5 for HTML 5 and Mobile Authoring here.
See Jason Levine's post on what's new in Production Premium CS5.5 here.
See Paul Trani's post on what's new in Flash Professional and Mobile App development here.
Learn more about Creative Suite 5.5 including a New Subscription pricing option for those that don't want to or need to "buy" Creative Suite Products here.
Also see more CS 5.5 videos on Adobe TV. In case you missed it, Adobe TV can now be viewed on your iPad.
Why is Adobe releasing a new version of Creative Suite so soon?
As you know Creative Suite apps have typically reved every 18-24 months. The world is moving faster than that and many of our publishing customers need solutions for publishing to new devices and in new formats sooner. Now you will see Adobe introduce a major milestone release ever 24 months and a mid-cycle release every 12 months. Johnny L is here to tell us all about it:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niE9VT8Yjbo
Join us for a Live Q&A Today (4/11/2011)
We will be hosting a live Q&A Today (4/11/2011) on Facebook at 12:00 noon EDT (GMT -4). Join me and the other Adobe Creative Suite Evangelists, Jason Levine, Greg Rewis, Paul Trani for an hour to answer your Creative Suite questions.
One of the rumors that has been floating around for several months now is that Apple will take an upcoming version of iTunes to the cloud. Perhaps even ship new iPods (normally released in September) that have no storage or very little storage and simply stream YOUR music over the internet to these devices. Music and video streaming is not a new concept. Just look at apps like Netflix and Pandora Radio and you'll see these kinds of services in use everyday. What is a fairly new concept is streaming YOUR music collection over the internet. It seems that Amazon decided not to wait around for Apple and therefore they released their own version for the Amazon MP3 Store.
Introducing Cloud Drive
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkQ55Iij-1M
Amazon's Cloud Drive gives you 5GBs of FREE space for your music collection (or any other documents) to reside in the cloud. You can even get 20GBs for a year by simply buying one of their Albums. I bought a $9.99 MP3 album last night and my space was immediately increased to 20GBs with an expiration date of next year on this same day. At that time I can choose to go back down to the free 5GBs of space or pay $20/year to keep the 20GBs of space. When I bought the Album I was given the choice to either download the songs to my hard drive on my computer or just leave them on my Cloud Drive. Had I chose to just leave them there I could download them at any time in the future if I choose to do so. The purchased Album was available for immediate streaming via the Amazon Cloud Player in my browser and the sound quality was good.
It works with your music too
Cloud Drive not only works with music you buy from Amazon's MP3 Store, but it also works with music in your existing iTunes library (yes including Non-DRM'd AAC files). As a matter of fact you can download the Amazon Uploader and it will automatically sniff out your music collection and offer to upload your music and playlists to your Cloud Drive. I did this with a subset of my collection. I uploaded 396 songs from my iTunes Library on my MacBook Air including all the playlists. The process took about 2 hours to complete, but once it was done it was all there and available for streaming. The 408 songs I have there now only take up 2.8GB of space. The 5GB of FREE space will probably be plenty for me at least for now.
The benefits
The benefits of this service are pretty clear. I've often complained that iTunes needs to be able to sync your library between computers. I have this solution, but this should be something that is built-in. By having my most played music in my Cloud Drive including playlists (a must have) I can now access my favorite tunes from any computer with a web browser. If you're an Android user you can grab the Amazon MP3 for Android App and have instant streaming access on your mobile device as well. It will be interesting to see if we see (and if Apple would even approve it) an iOS version of this App. The other benefit is that this serves as a offsite backup of your music. Granted my music collection is larger than 20GBs and Amazon will sell you more, but it's nice for people with smaller collections to know that their music is backed up offsite in case of a drive failure.
The only downside in streaming is you need to have an internet connection to do so. In the Android App there is the option to download any of your music/playlists to the device so that you can enjoy it offline. That is truly the best of both worlds. You can have all or most of your music in the cloud for streaming and perhaps a playlist or two on the device for those times when you don't have a connection.
Apple, your turn!
Check out the NEW Cloud Drive and Cloud Player here:
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