[Note: This article complements the “In a Flash” feature that appears in the May/June issue of Layers magazine.—Ed.]

When ZOOLOOK Founder Nicholas Da Silva surveys the community of artists around the world, he sees a giant pool of amazing talent. His strong desire to give artists an accessible venue where they could be more widely recognized and rewarded led him to launch The Greatest Story Never Told (TGSNT), the biggest animated storytelling competition ever for artists using Macromedia Flash from Adobe. For this annual event, independent storytellers from around the world are invited to use Adobe Creative Suite 3, Flash software, and other Adobe software such as Adobe Premiere and After Effects to produce original stories for the Web, DVD, television, film, and wireless devices.

“With Adobe software and the Internet, artists have the technology to create whatever we can imagine,” explains Da Silva. “We no longer have to wait for Hollywood to come knocking on our doors to have our stories seen by the masses. Someday, I want to be able to view full-length, pay-per-view movies online, and Adobe products are helping to make that possible.”

Flash pioneer
TGSNT is the latest in a series of endeavors related to Flash for Da Silva, who has a long history of using Flash and other Adobe technologies to bring stories to a variety of mediums and devices. In 2001, he became the creator, designer, producer, and webmaster behind FlashTV, an award-winning global community site created using Macromedia Dreamweaver software from Adobe and flush with movies, comics, games, and music created by independent storytellers from around the world. FlashTV is also a featured podcast on Apple iTunes. The FlashTV site introduces visitors to Da Silva’s vision for the future: “Kill your television. You don’t need it any more. You’ve got FlashTV.”

From paper to Sony PlayStation Portable and Apple iPod
Originally from Brazil, Da Silva puts a multicultural spin on everything he creates. He starts his artwork using a sketchbook and pencils, calling upon his roots as a traditional artist. Then he moves between Adobe Illustrator CS3 and Photoshop CS3 software to refine his designs. “A friend introduced me to Adobe Illustrator many years ago, and I realized that artwork that took me three weeks to produce traditionally could be created in a few hours,” says Da Silva. “Since then, I’ve never looked back.”

As his ideas take shape, Live Trace in Illustrator CS3 allows him to draw his characters on paper and bring them into the computer quickly. Then, in what he describes as the best part, the software instantly converts the bitmap images to vector graphics. “Live Trace is one of the coolest features Adobe ever introduced,” says Da Silva. “I can’t live without it.”

Da Silva uses After Effects to animate his characters; features like Motion Blur let him create eye-catching story transitions and make movement naturalistic. He also uses camera moves in After Effects to bring realism to his animations.

Easy output to multiple platforms
For final animation and output, Da Silva takes his work into Flash. He often reuses and swaps out symbols in Flash to reduce the time it takes to produce properties. For instance, for his digital comic book series Hitless, about a CIA agent who gets double-crossed by his employer, Da Silva created templates in Flash for various target platforms, from Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) to pocket PCs and the iPod. He can populate the templates with symbols created in Flash, such as talk balloons and characters. He uses Flash to export his work to the required formats, from MPEG to QuickTime. Each comic book also features an original song that Da Silva, who is also an accomplished musician, composes and performs for that issue.

Da Silva’s original plan was to produce Hitless in print, but then he realized that people no longer want to cart around paper comic books. Says Da Silva, “Flash makes it easy to export animated content for multiple platforms. Plus, Flash makes things more interesting because I can add interactive talk balloons, movement, and original music.”

Da Silva credits the combination of After Effects and Flash with his ability to create realistic animations that keep viewers engaged. “With Adobe After Effects and Flash, I can create anything that a high-end VFX studio could produce, only at one-tenth the cost and using my own computer,” says Da Silva. “I’ve read articles saying that 2D is dead, but I don’t believe it, not with the amazing content that artists are creating today using After Effects and Flash.”

When Da Silva creates podcasts such as his FlashTV series for iTunes, he uses Adobe Premiere software to edit the motion content down into bite-size movies. “Adobe Premiere is a fast way to create animations for people with short attention spans,” he jokes. “Podcasts need to be just long enough for someone waiting for a bus.”

Endless energy and talent
Da Silva’s boundless energy and creative talent keep him producing amazing amounts of innovative work. Among his most popular animated characters are the soccer-playing Cave Dudez, who host the TGSNT website and contest. In addition to Hitless, Da Silva has created a digital comic book and music series for the Sony PSP and Apple iPod called Dread & Alive and is co-producing Timeworms, an educational animated series for children. Created by Tim Scully and Da Silva using Flash, the series tells the story of a classroom of bookworms who use time travel to experience world history.

In addition to creating entertainment content, Da Silva’s company ZOOLOOK produces print and online designs for big-name clients such as Chef Hubert Keller of the Fleur de Lys restaurants in San Francisco and Las Vegas, Front 242, Handheld Entertainment, and ZOOM Photography. He also has developed projects for TechTV, Charles Schwab, Divco West, Wyclef Jean, and Maranello California. Still, he says creating entertainment content is his “first love.”

Meanwhile, Da Silva is forging new avenues for other artists. In addition to sponsoring the latest TGSNT competition, Da Silva recently announced the first of its kind: an online casting call inviting the public to appear as an animated extra in his Flash feature film, TGSNT. For a small fee, fans can get their 15 seconds of fame by becoming a member of either the Cave Dudez or Cave Bettiez team. Chosen fans will appear in the background or have an actual speaking part in the movie.

Da Silva is such as prolific artist that it’s a wonder he ever sleeps. He credits Adobe software with his ability to bring his many ideas to life. “I can create a large body of work with the productivity that Adobe software provides,” says Da Silva. “Even better than the time Adobe software saves is the fact that it constantly inspires me to try new things.”

1 Let there be light.

Light and color are rarely flat – why should your objects be? Adding a subtle gradient to a flat object will give it the illusion of depth and dimension.

–img-1

2 Determine a light source and be consistent.

The gradient on the main shape suggests that the lighting is coming from above and left. With that in mind, add shadows and highlights. Here, the black objects were duplicated twice (Copy>Paste in Back). A light yellow was applied to one set and nudged up and to the left for the highlight; the second set was given a darker yellow and nudged down and to the right for the shadow. Note that highlights and shadows are never solid white or gray – they should contain some color.

–img-2

–img-3

3 Do sweat the small stuff.

Pay attention to the smallest details. Even though you may not be able to see the shadows on the bolts at full size, your mind will perceive them.

–img-4

The same goes for the shadows on the post. Adding a little color to the gray and changing the values will give a more natural look to the shadows.

–img-5

You don’t have to go overboard or be flashy, but spending a little extra time will go a long way in bringing your illustrations to life.

–img-6

This video requires Adobe Flash Player.

This video requires Adobe Flash Player.

Creating a nighttime sky star-by-star would be a tedious task. Instead, you can make a quick and lovely star-filled sky with just a few clicks of the Symbol Sprayer tool.

1
Use the Ellipse tool to create a small white circle. Drag this circle onto the Symbols palette (Shift+F11). Your circle should now show up as a new symbol. Double-click on your new symbol and name it “Star 1″.
–img-1A
–img-1B
–img-1C
–img-1D

2
Now make a slightly smaller circle and drag it onto the Symbols palette. Name it “Star 2″. Create an even smaller circle and drag it onto the Symbols palette as well, naming it “Star 3″. You should now have three new symbols.
–img-2A
–img-2B

3
Double-click the Symbol Sprayer tool from the toolbar to open the Symbol Sprayer palette. For now, set the Diameter to 3 in., the Intensity to 8, and the Symbol Density to 5. Make sure all the options on the bottom are set to Average. There are many different options for the Symbol Sprayer, and you can experiment with these settings on your own to create unique effects later.
–img-3A
–img-3B

4
Click on Star 1 in the Symbols palette. Click-and-drag your cursor across your background, loosely but evenly covering it with the Star 1 symbols. To place an individual star, just click once. You can also create a couple “constellations” by grouping some of the star symbols close to each other. Repeat this step with Star 2 and Star 3 from the Symbols palette.
–img-4A
–img-4B

5
Select all your Star 1 symbols with the Selection tool. In the Transparency palette (Shift+F10), drag the slider bar till the Opacity is set at 25%. Now select all the Star 2 symbols, and set their transparency to 75%. Leave the Star 3 symbols at 100% opacity.
–img-5A
–img-5B

6
Make sure all your stars are selected. Go to Effects>Stylize>Outer Glow. Set the Mode to Normal, the Opacity to 100%, and the Blur to .05 in. Double-click on the color square in the corner of the Outer Glow palette, and set the color to white. As in Step Three, there is much room for experimentation at this stage, so feel free to play around with these settings to achieve your desired results.
–img-6A
–img-6B

And there you have it, the dazzling celestial heavens in a few easy steps!
–img-1

STEP 1: Open the Organizer

Click the Organizer button on the File toolbar, or choose File > Organizer > Open Organizer. Acrobat opens the Organizer window, which contains panes to help you group and locate your PDF files.

STEP 2: Add a collection folder.

You can group your files into collections. To add a collection folder, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the Collections category or a collection folder, and then choose Create A New Collection. Type a name for the collection. When you first create a collection folder, it’s empty.

STEP 3: Add files from the History category

Acrobat keeps track of the PDF files you view and lists them in the History category. Click Today, Yesterday, or another option to see the PDF files you viewed in the associated time period. To add a PDF file to your collection, drag it from the Files pane to the collection name in the Categories pane on the left side.

STEP 4: Add files from your computer

To locate files on your computer, click My Computer or My Favorites in the Categories pane, and then navigate to the folder that contains the PDF files that you want to include. To add a PDF file to your collection, drag it from the Files pane onto the collection name. You can also drag PDF files from Windows Explorer or the Mac OS Finder onto the collection folder in the Organizer window.

STEP 5: Rearrange collection contents

If you decide that a PDF file fits more sensibly with a different collection, move it from one collection folder to another. Just click the collection folder it’s in, select the PDF file, and drag it onto the other collection folder. Collections > [Collection Name] > [File Name] to open a particular file. You can add a PDF file to more than one collection. To add a PDF file to another collection, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the file, and then choose Add To Collection > [Collection Name].

STEP 6: View PDF files in collections

After you’ve created your collections, return to the Organizer window to view their contents, including thumbnail views of each page in a selected PDF file. Alternatively, in Acrobat, choose File > Organizer > Collections > [Collection Name] > [File Name] to open a particular file.

Note: You must use a printed proof to check trapping, emulsion options, printer marks, halftone screens, resolution, or objects on hidden layers.

STEP 1: Specify color management settings.

Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS), and select Color Management. From the Settings menu, choose the predefined color management setting that matches your workflow, or choose Custom and choose working spaces for the document. Color management settings that you save in Adobe InDesign CS®, Adobe Illustrator CS®, or Adobe Photoshop CS® are also available in the Settings menu in Acrobat 7.0.

To provide an accurate on-screen preview, Acrobat must use color management to convert the colors from the monitor’s color space to the color space of the output device. An Adobe PDF document may contain both calibrated (color-managed) and uncalibrated colors. Acrobat uses any color management information embedded in the PDF file first, and then relies on the color management settings in the Preferences dialog box to display or print uncalibrated (devicedependent) colors in a document. Select Output Intent Overrides Working Spaces if you want Acrobat to use an Output Intent profile included in the PDF file for uncalibrated colors instead of the profiles specified in the Preferences dialog box.

STEP 2: Specify proof settings.

Choose Advanced > Output Preview. Then choose the simulation profile that most closely matches the device to which you’ll print the separations.

Acrobat uses simulation profiles to approximate output devices and printing mediums when you preview color separations.

STEP 3: Preview separations on-screen.

In the Output Preview dialog box, select Separations from the Preview menu. Select the color name to display the separation or deselect the color name to omit the separation. You can convert a spot color to a process color by clicking the color until the process color icon appears. When only one process separation is selected, Acrobat displays the process separation as a grayscale image.

STEP 4: Use the Ink Manager to make changes as you print.

When you’re ready to print, choose File > Print. Choose a PostScript printer, and click Advanced at the bottom of the Print dialog box. In the Output panel, choose Separations or In-RIP Separations from the Color menu. Under Ink Manager, deselect inks that you don’t want to print. Convert individual spot colors to process by clicking their icons until you see the process color icon, or convert all spot colors to process by clicking the Ink Manager button and selecting Convert All Spots To Process.

The Ink Manager is available only if you’ve chosen to print separations. Changes you make in the Ink Manager affect only the output of the current print job; color definitions in the document are not affected.

STEP 1: Prepare the draft.

Create the document in an authoring application, such as Adobe InDesign® or Microsoft Word. Then, save the document as a PDF file using the Adobe PDF printer, PDFMaker, or an export option. Open the PDF file in Acrobat 7.0 Professional.

STEP 2: Open the wizard.

Click Send For Review in the Tasks toolbar and then choose Send By Email For Review. (If you don’t see Send For Review, choose View > Toolbars > Tasks to show the Tasks toolbar.) Acrobat starts the Send By Email For Review wizard. If you haven’t used the wizard before, you may be prompted to enter your contact information and e-mail address.

STEP 3: Add reviewers.

In the Getting Started window of the wizard, verify that the PDF file selected is the one that you want to distribute for review, and then click Next. (If the PDF file listed is not the one that you want to distribute, click Browse and select the file.) Then, in the Invite Reviewers window, enter e-mail addresses for reviewers, using commas to separate the addresses. Click Address Book to select addresses that you’ve stored in your e-mail client application.

STEP 4: Enable Adobe Reader 7.0 for review.

Click Customize Review Options. Select Also Allow Users Of Free Adobe Reader 7.0 To Participate In This Review. If you want to include drawing tools, such as the Cloud and Arrow tools, also select Display Drawing Markup Tools For This Review. Click OK, and then click Next to continue through the wizard.

When you select Also Allow Users Of Free Adobe Reader 7.0 To Participate In This Review, Acrobat enables reviewing tools such as the Note tool and Pen tool for the PDF document so that reviewers using Adobe Reader 7.0 can enter comments. Instructions for using the reviewing tools are displayed when the document is opened by Adobe Reader 7.0.

STEP 5: Send the file to reviewers.

Customize the subject line and e-mail message for reviewers, and then click Send Invitation.

By default, Acrobat includes the file name in the subject line and instructions for reviewing the document in the body of the e-mail message. You should leave the instructions in place for reviewers who are unfamiliar with Acrobat and Adobe Reader. However, you may want to add a personal message, note a review deadline, or provide additional context for the review in the message.

From the Creative Experts at Adobe. Copyright 2004. Adobe Systems. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Acrobat are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. ©2004 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

STEP 1: Use the Save As command.

After you make any final changes to the Adobe PDF document, choose File > Save As. Save the document with the same name to overwrite the original with your changes.

When you choose Save As, Acrobat rewrites the entire PDF document as efficiently as possible. When you choose Save, changes are appended to the file, meaning the file size might be increased. By default, Acrobat also optimizes a PDF document for faster web viewing when you choose Save As. Documents optimized in this way can be downloaded one page at a time from a web server or network, reducing the time it takes to access and view them.

STEP 2: Audit the use of space in the file.

Choose Advanced > PDF Optimizer. Click the Audit Space Usage button. The audit results list the bytes used by each element and its percentage of the document’s total size.

The audit results can help you identify the most effective ways to reduce the file’s size by showing which elements are significantly large. The audit reports the total number of bytes used by fonts, images, bookmarks, forms, and comments, as well as the total file size.

STEP 3: Optimize images, scanned pages, and transparency.

If you created your PDF document with a scanner, use the adaptive compression slider in the Scanned Pages panel to balance file size and quality based on the color values in the document. For all other documents, use the Images panel to select compression options for color, grayscale, and monochrome images. (Selecting adaptive compression disables options in the Images panel.)

Downsampling lowers the resolution of images. Compression eliminates unnecessary pixel data. In general, you should use JPEG for photographs and other images in which color changes gradually. ZIP is good for illustrations with large areas of solid, flat color. JBIG2 works well for monochrome images. If you choose JPEG compression, select a quality level to determine how much pixel data is removed.

If your file contains artwork with transparency, you can further reduce file size by flattening transparency in the Transparency panel. Transparent areas are divided into rasterized or vector regions.

STEP 4: Unembed fonts, when appropriate.

On the Fonts panel, select the fonts you want to unembed. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Shift-click (Mac OS) to select multiple fonts. Then click the Unembed button. To remove a font from the list of those to be unembedded, select it and click the Retain button.

Fonts often account for a large percentage of a PDF document’s file size. You can safely unembed fonts if you know that they are already installed on the computers of the people who will read your PDF document. If you unembed a font that isn’t available to someone reading your PDF document, Acrobat will display a substitute font when the document is opened on their computer.

STEP 5: Remove unused elements and clean up the document.

On the Discard Objects panel, select the version of Acrobat that you want to make the document compatible with, and then remove any additional items that you don’t use.

On the Clean Up panel, choose a compression option and then select which items to remove or discard from the file. The Clean Up panel lets you remove elements from the PDF document that you don’t need. The options that are selected by default don’t affect functionality, but other options may. Use caution when selecting unfamiliar options. If you choose to experiment, save the optimized PDF file with a new name so that you leave the original PDF document unchanged.

STEP 6: Save the optimized file.

After you select the options you want, click OK. Then save the optimized PDF document with the same name to overwrite the original-or, if you want to compare the optimized document with the original, save it with a new name or to a new location.

Acrobat retains the settings in the PDF Optimizer dialog box. They appear as default settings the next time you use PDF Optimizer.

STEP 7: Optimize files in batches.

If you want to optimize multiple documents at once, consider using a batch processing sequence. For more information, see “Processing Adobe PDF documents in batches” in Acrobat Help for information.

From the Creative Experts at Adobe. Copyright 2004. Adobe Systems. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Acrobat are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. ©2004 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

STEP 1: Open Designer

In Acrobat, open the PDF file that you want to convert to a fillable form. Then choose Advanced > Forms > Make Form Fillable in Designer. Acrobat opens Designer. The New Form Assistant appears.

STEP 2: Choose import options.

Verify that the document that you want to use as a form is selected, and click Next. Then choose import options. Choose Maintain Editability if you want to be able to edit the text later.

Designer opens a copy of the document. The original remains open in Acrobat so that you can refer to it. Because Designer didn’t create the document, it must import the PDF file.

STEP 3: Select a return method.

Select the method by which completed form data will be returned to you. If you select a Submit option, a Submit button is automatically added to the page; specify the email address to which the data should be sent. If you select a Print option, a Print button is automatically added to the page. Click Finish to close the New Form Assistant.

STEP 4: Add and update fields.

You can edit existing fields or add new ones. To add a field to the form, drag a field type from the Library palette onto the page. Then customize the field using options in the Object, Layout, Border, and Accessibility palettes.

You can name the field and specify its appearance using the Object palette, change its size and position using the Layout palette, and design its edges using the Border palette.

STEP 5: Add tool tips and screen reader text.

Use the Accessibility palette to add information about fillable fields. This information can be used by screen readers and other assistive technology to tell users with disabilities about the fields.

STEP 6: Add calculations and actions

You can use JavaScript or FormCalc to include calculations and actions for buttons. Use Script Editor in Designer to customize scripts. For more information, see Adobe Acrobat Help.

From the Creative Experts at Adobe. Copyright 2004. Adobe Systems. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Acrobat are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. ©2004 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.