5 programs I would not be without
Dec 05 '00
I have worked as a graphic artist for the past six years. Working for two different print shops and now working as a freelance artist from home, has made two things very important to me when it comes to design work. Working in both the Macintosh and PC platforms, I have found that there are two programs that you need in either platform.
1. ADOBE PHOTOSHOP – A must have program for working with photographs. From scanning in a photo to creating the most elaborate special effects after you scan it, this program does it all. Once you learn the basics, you can start producing really exceptional photos and as your knowledge of the program grows, you are limited only by your imagination. And with 5.0, Adobe added the “history” pallet, which allows you to go back and undo more than the last operation you preformed making it easier to try different effects.
2. QUARK EXPRESS – Many people feel Quark is harder to use than Pagemaker, and initially it may appear to be but I think that is because it has different ways of doing things. But trust me when I tell you that it is worth any extra effort it may involve. The greatest features about this program are: a) the document layout window, which makes it easy to move from page to page and change the order of the pages. b) The ease of linking text boxes together. c) The usage box, which allows you to see what fonts and pictures are associated with the document. d) The spell check, allows you to check not only a particular text box but, the entire document at one time. e) The collect of output feature, which collects all files associated with the document and gives you a report of all necessary information for your service provider. These are only a handful of the reasons Quark is tops on my list.
3. ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR -– This is a drawing program used to create designs from scratch. I prefer to use Illustrator because it is very compatible with Photoshop and Quark. If you had these three programs, you could create anything. The easy of use and it’s many features, make it tops on my list. The pallets are very similar to Photoshop, which makes it easy to learn.
4. MASTER JUGGLER – This is a font management program, which allows you to have hundreds of fonts in your computer, yet only a small number in your system folder, so your computer is not slowed down by having to mess with all those font. Its ease of use, simply drag the font you need to use onto the icon to open it, allows instant access to all your fonts.
5. INTERNET ACCESS PROGRAM – Why would you need that for desktop publishing you ask? Many reasons. a) It allows you instant access to thousands of graphics to use in your work. You can get a membership to places like Arttoday.com for a small fee, and have high quality clipart, photos and fonts at your disposal 24 hours a day. b) You are an e-mail away from information your clients need to get to you. c) It opens up a whole new market for your work.
I am not saying that these are the only good programs out there, and if work with a lot of people who bring stuff to you on disk, you probably should have Pagemaker, Word, Corel Draw, Paint Shop Pro and Freehand. These are all excellent programs. But if I had to pick just 5, the ones I have mentioned above would be my choices.
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Epinions.com ID:
Vesper_Bell
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Member: Marie
Location: TX
Reviews written: 1
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