LAdobe :: Los Angeles Adobe User Group

Join LAdobe on Thursday night, October 27th at 7pm at NextSpace at 9415 Culver Blvd. in Culver City. Parking is available on the street for free after 6pm (on some streets) and you can also park for free at various indoor parking lots located throughout Downtown Culver City. Remember, all LAdobe events and meetings are always free to attend with no RSVP required.

For this meeting, we will focus on all the various announcements from Adobe MAX earlier this month at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Both managers of LAdobe, Adam Bell and Michele Weisbart, were at the conference and have a lot to share first-hand. What is the Adobe Creative Cloud? How will that affect how we work? What sneaks did they see? What sessions were first-rate and which failed to keep us awake? You’ll find that out and more on the 27th. In addition, we have an extra-MAX tote bag and the USB 4 gig Flash Drive (and it’s really tiny!) to give away to a lucky attendee. So even if you didn’t attend MAX, you still might score some sweet swag!

From there we’ll look at two of the new web applications, Adobe currently has in Labs. Muse allows InDesign users to easily convert their creations into full-scale websites and Edge offers HTML5 based animation and now interactivity to users who have experienced a difficult time grasping how HTML5 works. We’ll spend a little time on Muse and focus heavily on Edge and how it offers great features to your web design toolbox. Especially if you’re used to Flash or even After Effects.

Well have drinks from as well as book prizes from our various sponsors and another prize pack from NewEgg. Remember, our next meeting will be in Culver City so make sure you make a note of it and we’ll see you on October 27!

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LAdobe: the Los Angeles Adobe User Group along with the Los Angeles Photoshop User Group, the Los Angeles Illustrator User Group, the LA/Pasadena Designers’ Group and LAFlash: The Los Angeles Flash User Group present Sidekick 2011 which will take place Saturday, October 1 at 6pm at Indie Desk on 816 South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Admission to the event is totally free and parking will be available at meters as well as various parking lots and garages in Downtown Los Angeles. We’re starting early so you can attend Sidekick and also have a great night out afterwards whether in Downtown LA or elsewhere.

NOTE: In order to attend Sidekick, you must RSVP here at our Eventbrite page –>

Sidekick is presented as a special event for the Los Angeles area Adobe Community and features presenters who are in town for the Adobe MAX conference at the nearby Los Angeles Convention Center. For those of you still on the fence about attending MAX, this night will offer a small taste of the conference while you can still make up your mind whether to attend or not. For those of you who cannot afford to attend MAX due to financial or work-related conditions, this night offers a chance to hear from some of the top minds in technology while they are in the area.

Our presenters are as follows:

ALEX LIEBERT, JOSHUA GRANICK-The HAXE Framework

He’s worked as an animator, software engineer, and producer for clients including The Gap, Meez.com, and Blend Films.  Alex started Milkman Games, LLC in 2010 with a mission of bringing  fun, beautiful and accessible games to the mobile space.  Milkman Games’ debut title, Aqualux, launched on a variety of phones and tablets earlier this year. Follow Alex on Twitter: milkmangames

Joshua Granick has a passion for great games, functional design and tools that make life easier.

He has twelve years of industry experience; three as a small business owner. He has produced applications and games for brands like Adobe, Apple Jacks, Disney and Eldorado Stone.

From his former selection of TI-series calculators to his current selection of phones and tablets, Joshua loves developing for mobile devices, especially as the skill set for mobile, desktop and web development continue to blur.

He has three kids and a beautiful wife, and currently works in HP webOS Developer Relations. Follow Joshua on Twitter: singmajesty

DAVID POWERS-I Didn’t Know Dreamweaver Could Do That

David Powers of Foundation PHP in the UK is an author and trainer, who’s passionate about web standards. He’s written or contributed to 15 books and video series about Dreamweaver, PHP, CSS, and other web-related technologies. His most recent titles are HTML5, CSS3, and jQuery with Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5: Learn by Video, and Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5 Studio Techniques: Designing and Developing for Mobile with jQuery, HTML5, and CSS3 (both Adobe Press). David’s articles are among the most popular tutorials in the Dreamweaver Developer Center. David is an Adobe Community Professional for Dreamweaver and specializes in developing web solutions using PHP and the MySQL database. Prior to his career as an author, David was a BBC radio and TV journalist, and spent many years working in Japan. He has translated several musical plays from Japanese into English.

ROBERT REINHARDT-Comparing Web Video Technologies, from Flash to HTML5 to Silverlight

Robert Reinhardt, VP of [the MAKERS] in Portland, OR, is internationally regarded as an expert on multimedia development, particularly in Adobe Flash and online video. Selling over 200,000 copies in over 13 languages, Robert’s books include the Flash Bible (Wiley) and Video with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Studio Techniques (Adobe Press). As an Adobe Community Expert, he develops workshops for schools and corporations, and he creates tutorials at DesignProVideo.com. Robert has spoken at industry events since 1998, including Flashbelt, FITC, SIGGRAPH, and Adobe MAX. Robert is currently building a professional video encoding and hosting service, VideoRX.com. Follow Robert on Twitter: flashfreaker.

STEFANO VIRGILLI-Is It Photoshopped?

Stefano has an Italian degree in communication design. His experience in the training and education sector has been growing since 2000. Stefano started teaching 2D graphic design and photography post production. Later on, he further specialized in video editing, 2D and 2.5D animation.

In 2006, Stefano brought his expertise and experience to Singapore. His years in training were augmented by his work in a design studio in Italy, which he built from scratch. He directed both Ultimate Video Fx as well as VOX. The experience placed him in a solid position to combine theory and practical hands-on work.

Today, Stefano is the director of LAB School, where his knowledge and insight are in demand across the island, from several government bodies, institutions, and private enterprises.

Stefano is certified competent in the WSQ Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment (ACTA) Trainer®, Assessor® and Developer® Facilitated Learning.

We will have beverages from Zenify, Function Drinks and other surprises as well. Prizes will include a copy of one of the bundles of Adobe Creative Suite 5.5, books from O’Reilly, Peachpit and other book publishers and much more.

NOTE: In order to attend Sidekick, you must RSVP here at our Eventbrite page –>

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Join LAdobe on Thursday night, August 25th at 7pm at NextSpace at 9415 Culver Blvd. in Culver City. Parking is available on the street for free after 6pm (on some streets) and you can also park for free at various indoor parking lots located throughout Downtown Culver City. Remember, all LAdobe events and meetings are always free to attend with no RSVP required.

For our first presentation at our new location, we’re pleased to be bringing back one of our best speakers, Stephen Burns, the president of the San Diego Photoshop Users Group and most recent instructor to the Light Photo Workshops. He has written the books, Photoshop CS5 Trickery & FX, The Art Of Poser 8 Pro & Photoshop CS5, The Art Of Poser & Photoshop, Author of Advanced Photoshop CS4 Trickery & FX, Author of “Advanced Photoshop CS3 Trickery & FX, Author of “Advanced Photoshop CS2 Trickery & FX and also Photoshop CS Trickery & FX for Charles River Media.

Stephen will be returning for part two of his ‘Concept to Creation’ presentation he started back in January at our meeting in Hollywood. Since that time, Creative Suite 5.5 has been released and Stephen will be expanding his presentation to include new features from the upgrade. As usual, Stephen is open to all Photoshop related questions throughout his presentation. So don’t feel shy about asking any type of question.

Well have drinks from Function and Zenify as well as book prizes from our various sponsors and another prize pack from NewEgg. Remember, our next meeting will be in Culver City so make sure you make a note of it and we’ll see you on August 25th!

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Join LAdobe on Thursday night, July 28 at 7pm at Border Stylo at 729 Seward St. in Hollywood. Parking is available on the street for free after 6pm and the agency also has a private lot they may open for members to park as well. Remember, all LAdobe events and meetings are always free to attend with no RSVP required.

For this meeting, we’re pleased to bring in another great presenter from Adobe. Kevin Schmidt is a Solution Engineer with Adobe focusing on Enterprise RIA’s (Rich Internet Applications) and mobile application development utilizing the Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform for the public sector in Washington DC. It’s not Kevin’s first time speaking in LA. Back in 2005, he was part of the panel at MiniMAX 3 in Venice, CA that October.

Enterprise RIA’s are hot! And Adobe has the best in class tooling for building Enterprise RIA’s! For our July preso, we’ll focus on that as Kevin will explain and inform as you’ll get the chance to  learn about building Enterprise RIA’s with Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 and the new Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform.

The evening will feature free drinks courtesy of Function, Zenify, as well as Groundwork Coffee courtesy of Border Stylo. We also plan to give away a couple of Adobe Flash Catalyst in addition to Alien Skin plugins and a variety of books from our usual book sponsors. If you’re into mobile web development and Flash and Flex Rich Internet Apps in general, you need to come out to this event on July 28 in Hollywood.

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Join LAdobe on Thursday, June 30 at 7pm at Steingarten LA at 10543 W. Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. Steingarten is a new gastropub in West LA that specializes in unique beers and wine offerings as well as a variety of sausage offerings and other unique menu items such as Baby Back Ribs Bliss Cake, Duck Confit and All Natural Grass Fed Beef Sliders and Burgers.

LAdobe will be meeting up this evening for our first ever summer mixer. A chance for our members to get together for a casual evening of getting to know their fellow members and discuss what happened the first half of 2011. It’s also a great way to create new relationships and alliances in a pressure-free environment. Some come in, experience a new place to dine and drink in LA and just enjoy the atmosphere!

That night will also be our finals of Photoshop Idol. The chance to help determine the new name and identity for our annual big LAdobe community event, MiniMAX. This years’ finalists are Harold Buchman, Kimberly Guccione and Ed Ward. They’ve come up with some great designs for this years’ finals and you’ll help determine who’ll be the big winner of a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and a host of other prizes from O’Reilly, Alien Skin Software and more. We’ll begin the finals around 8pm.

We’ll also have some additional prizes as well and discuss some of the big events we have planned later in 2011. So please come out to Steingarten LA on June 30 for your first big event of the long Independence Holiday weekend!

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Join LAdobe and the entire Los Angeles Adobe community for a special event on Friday evening, June 3rd at 6pm at the offices of AlmerBlank located at 525 Venezia Ave in Venice, CA. Free Parking will be available on the streets surrounding the AlmerBlank offices and we suggest you arrive early as this is going to be one of the biggest Adobe events in Southern California this summer.

To register for this free event and ensure being part of the door prize drawings, sign up here on EventBrite –>

For this event, we’re going to celebrate the launch and upgrade of Adobe’s Creative Suite 5.5. This is no ordinary update as Adobe has added a lot of new and exciting features to many of its’ applications. Especially when it comes to designing and developing for the burgeoning mobile industry. Not to mention the new subscription model Adobe has installed for people who just want to use CS5.5 on a temporary basis. For this event, we’re bringing in one of Adobe’s best presenters, Paul Trani, to provide the LA tech community with the insights into this upgrade and all the new features each Adobe Creative Suite app can produce no matter what screen it is for.

In addition, Aaron Houston from Adobe will also be present for a Q&A on the new Creative Suite features and anything else Adobe related you would like to ask him.

We’ll have all sorts of prizes to give away from our various book sponsors, swag from Adobe and Blackberry, plugins from Alien Skin, food and drink from Cookie Good, G.F.C. Catering, O.N.E. Coconut Water as well as Beer and Wine courtesy of the Calabasas/Malibu Wine and Food Festival on June 18th (courtesy of Adobe and Artisan Creative) and much, much more! Plus we’ll end early enough for all of us to continue down Abbot Kinney for the monthly First Fridays block party that takes over the entire strip. It’s going to be one incredible evening and we want you to be there!

To RSVP for this evening and ensure you will be in our door prize drawings, please go sign up at either our Eventbrite page You can also learn more at our Facebook event page.

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Join LAdobe on Thursday night, April 28th at 7pm at Working Village at 212 Marine St. in Santa Monica. Parking is available on the street for free after 6pm in some spots with meters elsewhere. Working Village is just steps away from Chaya Venice, Espresso Cielo, 212 Pier, Library Alehouse and many other great Santa Monica spots along Main Street. Remember, all LAdobe events and meetings are always free to attend with no RSVP required.

For this month’s presentation we’re following up on our successful WordPress WOW! Night by continuing to discuss web design with our long-awaited HTML5/CSS3 night. These are the latest updates to the popular web markup language and style sheets and they provide a lot more flexibility for the web developer. New tags, integration of Audio and Video, cleaner code and animation capabilities are just the some of the exciting new features in these updated languages. And while neither is a W3C standard just yet, you need to start learning it right now. Especially for the burgeoning mobile market.

We’ll start out the evening with an introduction to the new tags and features of HTML5/CSS3 and then ShaRon Folio who is the co-manager of DMA/LA will present on how to use the new video tags in HTML5 to embed and stream media that even an iPhone and iPad will display. She will present an overview of the video element, What video formats are supported, explaining the vendor pre-fixes and how to best leverage the video capabilities.

ShaRon got her start working with video at the local cable station in the early 80′s producing, editing and teaching. Today she does front-end development incorporating video and rich interactive experiences for her clients on multiply screens.

From there, dataTV’s Adam Bell and Southpaw Digital’s Tim Perry will be on hand to show off how they created interactive mobile apps for Ford Motor Company that in the past, would’ve been a natural for Flash but for this project, it needed to be done some other way. Instead of using Objective C, they instead used a combination of HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript frameworks like jQuery to create a highly interactive visual app to promote Ford’s new line of automobiles and push Ford to being an innovator in the mobile space. Be prepared not just to see the app but learn how the animations were created and the hurdles they ensued.

We’ll have a number of HTML5 and CSS3 related books to give away from all our major publishing sponsors as well as prizes from NewEgg, Photoshop plugins from Alien Skin Software and more. We’ll also have free beverages from Function as well. So we hope to see you by the beach at Working Village on the 28th to view the next big phase of the web!

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Join LAdobe on Thursday night, March 24 at 7pm at Border Stylo at 729 Seward St. in Hollywood. Parking is available on the street for free after 6pm and the agency also has a private lot they may open for members to park as well. Remember, all LAdobe events and meetings are always free to attend with no RSVP required.

For this meeting, it’s all about WordPress. What was once simply blogging software has matured into an amazing Content Management System used by major corporations around the globe. Including our own LAdobe site as well as the LAFlash site. All powered by WordPress.

For this meeting, our LAdobe User Group Manager, Adam Bell of dataTV, will present a number of projects he’s created in WordPress over the years and show how to theme your WordPress site starting with the base TwentyTen theme and turning it completely upside down to look nothing like the original theme at all. He’ll show up the new menu system, how to easily edit the code and make it simple even for non-programmers. He’ll also show some of the must-have plugins to use in WordPress.

Speaking of plugins, we’re pleased to offer a live presentation by the creator of one of the most innovative plugins for WordPress, Pods CMS by Scott Kingsley Clark. Scott will be joining us from his home in Dallas to show how Pods works and how you can create all sorts of custom content fields to make it easier for your clients to insert data without ever knowing it.

A perfect example of this is set by local developer, Thom Meredith who created a media kit presentation in WordPress for the Los Angeles Times. This presentation uses Pods as well as other plugins, to tie in data for a unique sales presentation for potential advertisers. Thom will explain how he put this all together and how you can do the same for some of your projects.

The evening will feature free drinks courtesy of Function as well as Groundwork Coffee courtesy of Border Stylo. We also plan to give away Alien Skin plugins and a variety of WordPress books from Wiley and O’Reilly. If you’re a current WordPress developer who still can’t get past the blog, you need to come out to this event on Match 24 in Hollywood.

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Join LAdobe in conjunction with LAFlash and LA Flex on Wednesday night, Febraury 23rd at 7pm at the offices of AlmerBlank at 525 Venezia Avenue. in Venice. Parking is available on the street for free around the office complex.

For this special event we will look into the use of Flash and Flex in the creation of apps for the upcoming Blackberry Playbook, Our presenter will be Paul Bernhardt from RIM covering the following points in a one hour presentation. Afterwards there will be some time dedicated to Q&A to answer all your questions regarding the PlayBook. RIM may also talk about their announcement from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.

Further information: Webinar Slide Deck: http://bit.ly/augs-rim2011-slidedeck

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