Join Our Free Monthly Meetings
The Austin Adobe User Group has been meeting monthly since it was founded in 1993 as the Austin Macromedia User Group. It supports the use of the Adobe Creative Cloud with free presentations by experts in a wide variety of Adobe applications.
With the start of the pandemic, our meeting moved from being in-person to being on Zoom. We use the same Zoom room for every meeting. To get the address, please write to austinadobegroupmgr@gmail.com.
Recordings of each meeting are posted a few days after the meeting. Here are the topics we have recently covered and news of our next gathering.
Monthly Programs
from the Austin Adobe User Group
Upcoming Meetings Announced
The following meetings of the Austin Adobe User Group will occur on Zoom. Meetings are free and all are welcome. For the Zoom address, please write to karen@austinadobeusergroup.com. December 9: Roman Villareal - Creating Animated Gifs with After Effects January 13: Tom Berglie - Long Documents in InDesign: Part 2, interactivity February 10: TBD And don't miss the big global Adobe conference, also FREE. Adobe MAX 2021 will be held October 26–28, 2021.
Layer Masks Made Easy in Photoshop
The Austin Adobe User Group will met on Thursday, October 14th, 2021. The presentation was taken from a 3-hours online training that Cornelis Chopin is creating on "Photoshop Essentials Made Easy," in this training you will learn how to create layer masks to design a magazine cover. The Layer Mask is one of the easiest masks to create and use and is the most versatile of all image-based mask types. So, if you had to pick one mask to learn, this would be the one. In fact, most mask types are...
Fabulous Font Faces and Where to Find Them
After taking off the month of August, per our tradition, we will meet again, on Zoom, on September 9th, 6 pm CDT to learn a lot about fonts from Austin Adobe User Group co-manager Tom Berglie. Fonts are all around us: typefaces, letters, text, and all sorts of written messages. But what are fonts really, and how do they work? Does it matter what font or typeface you use for your design project? Are copywriting, proofreading, or illustrations more important to achieve efficient communication?...
InDesign Case Study: Long documents with complex formatting
July 8, 2021, at 6 pm - 8 pm, join the Austin Adobe User Group online for our monthly free meetings. These meetings are free. We'll be on the usual address for Zoom. If you need it, please contact austinadobegroupmgr@gmail.com. InDesign is the world-leading publication layout program for all kinds of colorful and visually rich publications, from a single business card to brochures, posters, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, and on and on. InDesign is also packed with features for...
Illustrator – Part 4, June 10, 2021 Austin Adobe User Group Meeting
Even More Classical Special Effects (F/X) Made Easy in Adobe Illustrator Thursday, June 10th, 6 pm – 8 pm (rescheduled) PART IV: In October, Cornelius presented Classical Special Effects (F/X) in Adobe Illustrator Made Easy and it was so well received that taught more in November and April. In the most recent meeting, we learned how to put images into text, to break up the text so individual letters could be altered, and different images could be placed in each letter. Cornelius is...
Illustrator – Part 3, April 8, 2021 Austin Adobe User Group Meeting
More Classical Special Effects (F/X) Made Easy in Adobe Illustrator Thursday, April 8, 6 pm – 8 pm PART III: In October, Cornelius presented Classical Special Effects (F/X) in Adobe Illustrator Made Easy and it was so well received that he taught more in November and continued in April to show us even more Illustrator magic. Recordings of Part 1 and Part 2 are online.In this training, you will learn how create classical Special Effects in a few steps using: Layer (Clipping) MasksOpacity...
After Effects – March 11, 6pm-8pm
Austin Adobe User Group Monthly Meeting Many of the riveting visual effects seen in the psychological thriller, The Night, after its recent international release, were composited and executed by Austin VFX artist and compositor Jon Merrifield. Jon will demonstrate these scenes with 'before' and 'after' samples He will explain how he used Photoshop and After Effects to aid producers who sought a more photo-realistic finish to a certain VFX shot. This shot was already completed in CGI yet...
Adobe Max 2021- Save the Date
Adobe MAX 2021 will be held October 26–28, 2021. And once again, it’s virtual and totally free.
InDesign, What’s New – Feb 11, 2021 Austin Adobe User Group Meeting –
InDesign, the world’s leading page layout software, is packed with features. Still, Adobe keeps adding new functionality at blazing speeds. In this User Group meeting, we look at some of the recently added features and how to get the best out of them. Don’t worry if you’re new to InDesign, as we’ll start with a brief InDesign “Instant 101” to familiarize ourselves with the user interface and basic techniques. The Zoom-based presentation will be open for Q&A as time permits. Recording of...
Call for User Group Volunteers
Every Tuesday at 5 pm, following our monthly meeting, we have a short Zoom meeting of user group volunteers who would like to volunteer to help our group continue to function well and serve the Adobe community. Extra raffle ticket eligibility comes with the job. Please join us. We meet in the same Zoom room as is used for monthly meetings. Please contact karen@austinadobeusergroup.com for details.
About the Austin Adobe User Group
Become a member of the Austin Adobe User Group
Membership is free! Simply attend a live event online.
Management – Join Mailing List – Site Credit
Meetings
Each month, at 6 pm on the Second Thursday, an Adobe-related topic or demonstration is presented by a variety of group members (share your knowledge) or visiting experts. The meetings are free and open to anyone interested in learning about Adobe products and meeting other Adobe enthusiasts. Before the Covid Pandemic, our meetings were hosted at the New Horizon Learning Center, 300 East Highland Mall Boulevard #100, Austin, TX 78752; (512) 349-9555.
Now we meet on Zoom. For access details, please send an email to karen@austinadobeusergroup.com.
Miss a meeting?
Check the Presentations page and/or our YouTube channel. When possible we record our presentations.
Membership advantages
Why join the Austin Adobe User Group? Besides meeting other Adobe enthusiasts and learning how to use Adobe software (through demonstrations at meetings), there are
- special discounts that are available only for User Group members on
- Adobe products
- training:
- discounts from some of our training sponsors
- discounts on books from PeachPit and O’Reilly (request the discount)
- Members are eligible to win door prizes provided by sponsors and one of the twice-yearly Adobe software drawings; see below for details. Questions? Email austinadobegroupmgr@gmail.com
Management Team
The Austin Adobe Users Group is made possible through the continued service from volunteer coordinators and others.
Cornelius Chopin of Rich Media Services, Group Co-manager, Presenter
Jon Merrifield of Peli Studio, Group Co-manager, Presenter
Karen Kreps of Net Ingenuity Group Co-manager, Google Distribution List Manager/Website host
Join the Mailing List for News and Announcements from the Austin Adobe User Group.
The group maintains a “many-to-many” email list on Google Groups. Anyone may join. The list is used for official group announcements and members are welcome to use it to post news of interest to other Adobe users and well as provides a forum to pose questions and comments. Messages and replies sent to the list will go to all members. There are approximately 500 members on the list at any time.
Share your Skills and Talents
Showcase your skills by volunteering your skills and talents with website design, email management, and event coordination. Gain visibility for yourself and your company. Contact us about how you’d like to contribute.
Get Involved
Give a Presentation at a meeting
Speaking Opportunities for Adobe Users. Want to share tips and tricks of how you use Adobe products? Besides helping others learn, you can network with other Adobe enthusiasts. And you – and your contact info/website – will be listed as a presenter on this site. Contact us about your presentation
About the Group
Our mission is to:
- Provide a helpful and supportive environment for individuals who want to learn about web and multimedia design and development using Adobe products
- Provide opportunities for Adobe users to share information, tips, and tricks.
- Provide networking opportunities for web and multimedia professionals in the Austin, TX area.
Find other Adobe User Groups
All Adobe User Groups are listed at https://aem-augs.adobe.com/adobe-user-groups/
Twice-yearly Drawing for Adobe Software
To encourage people to join and participate in the local user groups, Adobe allows each user group to have a drawing twice a year for one Adobe software package valued up to $2,100. The Austin Adobe User group holds the drawings at the June and December meetings. All members who are present at the drawing are eligible to win their choice of an Adobe product that retails for up to $2,100.
How to increase your chances to win
- Attend the meetings. You must attend at least one meeting before the drawing to be a member and be eligible for the drawing. Each meeting you attend increases your chances.
- Do something that benefits the group – review a book, give a presentation, or contribute in another way. Giving a presentation at a meeting gives the most “bonus” tickets.
If you want to volunteer and earn extra tickets toward the drawing or have any questions, contact Karen Kreps, austinadobegroupmgr@gmail.com.
Website Credits
All work on the Austin Adobe User Group site is done by group members who volunteer their time. Many thanks to the following folks:
Karen Kreps, Net Ingenuity – hosting the site, maintaining the domain name, design team member
Jon Merrifield, Peli Studio – graphic design team member