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Category Archives: Design

On1’s 20th Anniversary Sale – Amazing Pricing on Amazing Software

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On1 20th Anniversary Sale

 

Based in Portland, OR, and originally named OnOne, offering a set of Photoshop plugins, the company has grown tremendously, over the past 20 years. They started by buying some of the best of the best plugins from other developers – the BEST Up-Rez software, the best Masking software, and others. Then, they improved each one’s abilities and their user interfaces.
Now named On1, it’s become one of the very best Photo Editing/Organizing/Correcting/Adjusting/Improving software products available.

To see ALL of what’s available, and the UNBELIEVABLE 20th Anniversary pricing, Click here.

On this page, you’ll see a price for the On1 Photo RAW 2025 App. This is a standalone application that includes all of the functions in the Photo RAW arsenal, in a single application. This is a ONE TIME PAYMENT! It is NOT a Subscription!!! This is an insane $39.99!

Or, you can opt for this amazingly well-priced On1 Photo RAW MAX 2025 package. This includes a Stand-Alone editor, and also includes the application and all the plugins (listed separately below this, on the page) as Photoshop Plugins. So, you don’t have to leave Photoshop to implement what you want to do. Amazingly, this is $79.99, for the whole darned thing! Again, NOT a subscription!

For those of you who only want to be able to use Photoshop plugins and not buy a whole app, their individual plugins are available for $19.99!

I can’t say enough about this AMAZING OFFER!!! On1 implements AI in amazing ways – enhancing your masks, adaptive editing, intelligent sharpening and more – but one of my favorites of their newer additions is their AI powered Photo Organizing! For those of you who shoot lots of photos at once, it offers an amazing way to quickly view, cull, rate and keyword your photos. It’s SO fast, and SO handy! I am awestruck they’re offering it in this insanely inexpensive package.

For those photographers who are annoyed by Adobe’s increasingly frequent subscription price increases, this may be JUST the opportunity to get powerful, professional level photo editing software at an insanely affordable price!

Again – to see the whole offer page – click THIS LINK!

Adobe is increasing it’s plan prices, starting June 17, 2025

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On June 17th, 2025, Adobe will be increasing their pricing across the board, for their Creative Cloud subscription plans. Their new plan will be called Creative Cloud Pro, and will include full access to the AI features that have been introduced to all of the Adobe apps, and 4,000 credits/mo for Premium generative features in Firefly, Premiere Pro and more. This new “Pro” plan will increase all subscriptions by $10/month, making the Individual plans cost $69.99/mo, and their Student and Teacher plan cost $39.99/mo (with a 1 year introductory price of $29.99/mo). This will also offer premium versions of Adobe’s Mobile and web-based apps.
(Note: changes apply to only customers in North America, at this point)

For those who are not interested in their AI features, there is also a new plan called Creative Cloud Standard, which will cost $54.99/mo, with no Student and Teacher pricing. This is a far more limited plan, offering full access to all the apps, but only basic features available in some of the Mobile and Web apps. There is a very limited access (25 credits/mo) to the “Generative Fill” features in some of the apps, and no access to any other AI features.

None of these price changes affect the Single app or Photography plans. It also does not affect existing subscribers of Photoshop Mobile, Adobe Express Premium, Adobe Stock, Substance Collection, Acrobat Standard, or Acrobat Pro.

This change will take place automatically for existing subscribers, leaving exactly 15 days from now, to either alter your budget, change your subscription, or leave Adobe completely.

Personally, I find it infuriating, that they are providing such short notice (note: this post is a bit late, and the changes were announced on May 30th – but still, that would have been 18 days!!! Businesses and Professionals can definitely support the idea of an additional $120/year, but individuals and hobbyists are again, left out in the cold, by Adobe. I realize professionals are their “bread and butter”, but this kind of short notice will really put some people in a bind.

Some popular alternatives to Adobe Software:

  • Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, Affinity Publisher (Photo, Vector Illustration, and Page Layout)
  • DaVinci Resolve (Video Editing)
  • Skylum Luminar Neo (Photo Editing) – use discount code SGANS_DISC for 10% off
  • On1 Photo Raw (Photo Editing) – use discount code AYM4TRAINING20 for 20% off a regular purchase (NOTE: if you go this route, wait until tomorrow, for their 20th Anniversary sale with HUGE discounts!)
  • Audacity – FREE audio editing software
  • Inkscape – Free Vector Graphics Software

There are quite a few more. If you have particular questions, or want other alternatives, please comment below.

For additional information:
Adobe Help Center – Changes to Changes to Creative Cloud for individuals plans including
students and teachers plans

For Font Fans and Font Freaks

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So, I usually don’t pay any attention at all to unsolicited emails, but this one came through a trusted source, so I looked.

She sent me a link to a page that has MORE links. But these links are for Free Commercial Use Fonts.

Caveat: I have not tested all the links on this page, nor have I read all the licensing, but the few I tested link to legitimate sites, and there’s a variety of really excellent fonts on this list, so I had to share.

https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/best-free-fonts/

 

 

Adobe MAX 2020 Goes Online for FREE!

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Adobe MAX 2020 Goes Online for Free this year!

This is pretty amazing!

Despite the extremity of all the problems relating to COVID-19, one good thing is coming out of this:

Adobe MAX 2020 will be offered online – for FREE this year!

Check out the information here!

Adobe MAX This Week!

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This week, Adobe is having it’s Adobe MAX conference in Las Vegas, NV. I’ll be working as a Teaching Assistant for several classes, and according to the conference schedule, anticipate being kept VERY busy for the week! I’m looking forward to it, very much – and anticipate I’ll be “paying” for the worthwhile time with some exhaustion for the entire following week!

For those of you trying to reach me this week, either via the blog, our Facebook page ((2) AYM 4 Training – Home), our Twitter Account (AYM 4 Training (@aym4training) | Twitter)

I do hope that some or many of my students and colleagues will be attending this event, and if so, please seek me out – I’d love to see you! I’ve been assigned to TA the classes named
B342 – Photoshop Magic: Making Brushes to Speed Up Your Workflow, and B341 – Photoshop+After Effects = Awesomeness (multiple bookings of each in my schedule). I’ll also be attending other classes with some of my favorite speakers/writers and Adobe Evangelists.

I hope to see you at the conference, if you can make it, and I’ll do my best to respond to questions and such, as time allows. Have a great week!

 

Adobe Creates the Pen Tool Game

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For my students who need to practice the Pen Tool, Adobe’s created an adorable online game to practice it’s usage. The pen tool is important in Adobe Illustrator (of course), but also in Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, InDesign, Animate… there’s a version of it in almost every Adobe App!

Check out the game here: https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/illustrator/how-to/pen-tool-game.html

InDesign – A Free Script to Rotate Single Characters INSIDE a Text Frame

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InDesignSecrets.com has shared a link to a script that FINALLY allows us to rotate selected characters INSIDE a text box in InDesign. The text remains editable and the effect can be applied to individual letters, selected character, and/or dingbats. So VERY handy!!!

https://indesignsecrets.com/free-script-to-rotate-selected-characters.php

FREE Photoshop Brushes that are Truly Useful!

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As my Photoshop students have already learned, brushes can be made using any set of pixels and can be manipulated almost unendingly with the Brush panel. But sometimes, it’s very helpful to have a starting point. Grutbrushes.com provides some beautifully made starting points! The detail and settings of his brushes are unique in their realism and detail in use. They work well with just a mouse, but like any brush, take on their real strengths when using a pen tablet like the Wacom brand of tablets.

Normally, I pass by a lot of the ads I see on Facebook, but a few months ago, I decided to click on one and found an excellent resource.

At Grutbrushes.com, the (very responsive) developer Nicolai has made sets of brushes, ranging from inks to calligraphy, to natural media, and more. He even provides a Photoshop Extension to open a panel in which you can organize your brushes into sets as you like them. Just recently, I used just one of his cloud brushes in a project, and created very realistic clouds. He offers a LOT of freebies, and if you sign up for his email list, you can get even more. He sells sets of them as well. His full set is a VERY reasonable $22.

Remember, all of the brushes are just starting points – Presets – from which you can use the Photoshop Brushes panel to manipulate them, resize them and alter how they work.

You all know, I LOVE Free stuff – and here, there’s a plethora of freebies along with the paid content. I think any Photoshop user will find a great deal of use and enjoyment of these. Plan on seeing some lessons on this within a few weeks.

Grutbrushes.com

 

For the love of Typography

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As most of my design and graphics students know, I’m a bit of a type geek. In almost every class, even if it’s not in our regular syllabus, I try to include at least a brief introduction to Type as Design – or, Typography. 

And, you probably also know how I stress the idea of kerning – the way individual letterforms fit together, as a method of refining your work, adding a cohesive look and confirming that you’ve taken some time and put in some effort at making your type look good, as well as read well.

Today, I found an excellent infographic at Digital Synopsis.com, that may help you to make better decisions about how to improve your Headers, your Titles, and all display type. Take a look!