First Mac Lesson Successful

Okay, first off, I wasn't trying to shoot the moon here. I thought that the best first test of my newish MacBook Pro was to make something that would be quick and easy for me on the PC with CorelDRAW.

Jinx in her favorite Christmas present.

So, I thought, why not LOLCats? Basically, all that is involved in that sort of graphic is a picture with text on top. You find a picture of a cat first. I had this one from my own cat under the Christmas tree.

Okay, that'll do. But what should it say?

"I CAN HAS BOX"

"WOT? DIS AINT DA BED U BOT ME?"

"TANKS FER XMUS PRESINT. JERBULLZ WUZ DELISHUS!"

"WOT? I'Z NOT TU FAT FER DIS BOX!"

Okay, you get the idea. A suitably pidgin English phrase wuz was all I needed.

Now, in CorelDRAW, I'd just paste the picture on the pasteboard, after copying from its location (in this case, Facebook). Will that work in Illustrator?

Picture pasted copying it from the internet and posting
onto the pasteboard in Adobe Illustrator CS5.

As it turns out, yes! In my previous Mac, such an action would have returned an error message. But it works in Adobe Illustrator CS5. Cool

Next, I had to type my message. Then, select the text and pick a font, in this case "Impact" will foot the bill. Then, assign an outline, and color the letters white. This is what most LOLCat pictures look like after all.

But I ran into a small problem. And to understand what it is, you sort have had to deal with vector graphics yourself.

The outline, when applied and thickened up tends to obscure the letter faces. As you can see in the next picture.

Yucky outline. Howz I ficks?

See, not too pretty, is it. In CorelDRAW, I would simply have applied the "behind fill" command, and possibly "scale with image," in case I wanted to change the size of the text, but keep the outline proportional. This is second-nature stuff to me in Corel, and even in Gerber Omega Composer, my sign software at work. But not so, at least as far as I can find in Illustrator.

No matter. I've worked with enough files from Mac artists to know that they cheat in their drawings to achieve the same effects that I apply the correct way! So, I simply copied the text, pasted in place--which I had to figure out how to do!--and removed the outline from the newly pasted text. Voila!

Voila!

Now, before you jump on me, I'm completely aware that this is a super-duper simple exercise, particularly for experienced Illustrator artists. In Corel, I could do the job in under three minutes, no problem. And in truth, it probably only took twice that long in Illustrator for me. But it goes to show you that you can apply knowledge from one program to a similar but different one. It will take more study to find out if "behind fill" and "scale with image" are features within Illustrator, and I just don't (yet) know where they are.

I will say that I much prefer the Corel/PC interface, having used it for so long. I love the dynamic toolbar in Corel, that puts all of your tools' variables in one simple toolbar, and changes them, depending upon which tool you're using. It's invaluable. It also may have a doppelgänger in Illustrator, and I just haven't found it.

For now, this satisfies my "must learn on the Mac" New Year's resolution, at least for today. Tomorrow, I'll try something a little more challenging. For now? I'z done. Now I can has cheezburger.

Incidentally, this operation would have taken an interminable amount of time on my old PowerBook. With the MacBook Pro, I was running iTunes (Adele's 21), PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator and Safari, all at once, and toggling between them. There was no performance lag, no "spinning beach ball of death." It works. So I can say without reservation that 2011's four-year-old Mac is a much more useable than 2009's five-year-old Mac! Don't buy a PowerBook on eBay under any circumstances (I can say this now that mine sold!).

My Newer (But Still Old) MacBook Pro

Right in the middle of Christmas shopping, and other holiday obligations, I developed an obsession with replacing my decrepit first Mac, an old PowerBook G4 15. It was in its day--January 2005--a top of the line machine. But bargain basement PCs of the same era could run rings around it. The whole point of getting a Mac laptop was to learn it, particularly the Adobe suite of graphics software. With the PowerBook's slowness, it just wasn't possible.

Yes, Travis, this is the one I got. Yours is better. Got it.

So, I was on a quest. I didn't want a $1000 - $2500 system, especially not so recently after my $800 PC purchase. So, my eBay quest was for a MacBook Pro before the redesign of late 2008. Those are insanely  expensive for used computers. So, the target window was 2006-2008. I lost several sales, and was relieved when I started to notice the processor speeds. But I got a little obsessed, and put a bid on one with everything I wanted, but had a few flaws.

I panicked when nobody bid against me in the waning minutes of the auction. But once it sunk in that I'd won it, I made a plan. I posted my old Mac, my old PC laptop and some software on eBay, and they ended up selling for almost the same amount as what I paid. Wonderful. I tracked the shipment, and was dismayed when it arrived in Las Vegas on Friday night, but would not arrive until Monday.

But now it's Monday! My computer arrived and, a) the flaws in the finish were much less objectionable than they'd appeared in the photo, b) the computer is much, much faster than the old one, c) the computer has much more software on it than advertised, d) the power cable was brand new, and gleaming white, and e) it has un-advertised flaw: some bright-spots in the display that look like eyeball floaters.

I think I'll get used to  them, but it's slightly irritating. It is outweighed though, by the improvement over the old one! Here I am, blogging. That was nearly impossible with the old one. Should even an aging top-of-the-line Mac fail at blogging? Well, what a difference three years makes, I guess. It makes me wonder though, if this one will become a doorstop in three more years. Guess I'll find out.

SIDEBAR: This is an aside to any Cult of Mac-ers out there. My quest for a new(er) Mac was very, very illuminating. It would seem that Macs are not immune to problems. In fact, the number of damaged, broken, troubled used Macs for sale online is higher than the good ones. Screen troubles, drive troubles, clasp troubles, battery troubles, "for parts only". . . Apple's dirty secret is out! Not only that, their users have a habit of denting, breaking and just basically knocking the crap out of their computers!  And then they want the frickin' moon when it comes to resale value!

And then there was my attempt to make a CD-backup of Lion after I installed it. I went to several sites, all of which told me to find the Lion Installer program. Which doesn't exist. This process is--so far--exactly like trying to do a similar thing on a PC. Except, on a PC I generally know what to do! 

Computer Woes: My Ongoing Mac Experience

This is a status update on my experience with life using an Apple Macintosh computer. I bought it from a friend of a friend a year ago or so, to broaden my computer experience. Since my experience in computer graphics--and computers in general--has been on the PC side, practically from its infancy, my Mac knowledge was almost zero. Time to learn.

Since my notebook PC was so terribly slow, my decision was to replace it with a Mac, while keeping my desktop PC. But, I didn't want to outlay a fortune for an experiment. The solution was to buy a Mac that was a couple of years old, and maybe already had some graphics software installed. The one I found is a PowerBook G4, a no longer supported, but at one time top of the line Apple computer. And it has the Adobe Creative Suite 3 installed, as well as Microsoft Office 2007. Sweet!

Not so much, as it turns out. As a web surfing machine, the Mac turns out to be about as slow as the old Intel Celeron machine I ditched. Even with the memory maxed out, the Adobe software is insufferable to run. I can hear Mac enthusiasts saying "don't judge the Mac on the performance of such an old machine!" But why not? The CS3 software was MADE for the PowerMac, and this one has as much memory as it can handle. It should work better than this.

Add to this the Mac's horrible handling of even basic tasks like Google's Blogger software (selecting text, handling basic HTML, like text sizes and bolding and italics), and the stalling out of the Safari web browser. YouTube videos that have to be played one time through, and then again before they are smooth. . . My list goes on and on. My new Samsung Epic 4G cell phone is faster online.

This is not a criticism of the person who sold the computer to me. It's a criticism of the Mac.  Yes, I'm aware that mine is now six years old. But we have a fleet of older computers at work, all PCs, none of which were top of the line when purchased. And all of them can run rings around my PowerMac. Not to mention, there is no task I can't complete faster in the CorelDraw graphics suite, than in the painfully obtuse and slow Adobe suite.  And you know what? Even the very, very, very old Microsoft Office 97 suite I have on my PC works better than Office 2007 on the Mac!

As I type this, my cursor is lagging behind my typing. Fortunately, I am a touch typist. But so far, my Mac experiment has been a bust. What it has done for me, is familiarize me with some of the differences between PC and Mac. But the Mac is only different, not better. Yes, the Apple designs are pretty. And they have--for some reason--a "cool" reputation. But is it deserved?

Mac Update: My Struggles with "Switching" Continue (Take 3)

I've never had this happen before. I've written essentially the same post twice before, and both times had all of it simply vanish.  The post itself may not even be worth the effort, but having narrowed down the problem (a website that apparently doesn't want their images used, attributed or not), I'm going to give it a shot anyhow.

In my ongoing effort to teach myself the Mac OS X Leopard operating system and Adobe CS3 graphics suite, I've tried to teach myself something new every week by creating something.  So, when I needed some street signs for a blog post, I forced myself to sit at my Mac rather than my PC. Using CorelDRAW X3 on my PC, I could complete the job in just a few minutes.  All I needed was two rectangles with radiused corners, some white text, and a nice faux green reflective background. Throw in a soft drop shadow, and voila! Child's play.

Image from Corel.com.
Note the absense of clutter.

I found the project much more vexing with Adobe Illustrator on the Mac platform.  My one-off job took me an hour and a half as opposed to 5-10 minutes.  Part of the problem is just the clutter and distraction offered with the Adobe suite. I've loathed Adobe products since the old days of PageMaker. I don't like the way anything is displayed, I don't like how "import" is called "place," and I especially don't like the 1,000 palettes covering up what I'm working on. Add this to the Mac showing any open programs through all of the little gaps between palettes, and it all hits me like gibberish.

I couldn't figure much of anything out without the Help menu (which turns out to be pretty awesome).  I find this learning curve to be much steeper than the one I faced 13 years ago, when I had to apply my Corel knowledge to the Gerber Omega/Graphix Advantage Composer sign software.  The sign industry grew up on the PC platform, and I was lucky to have started there too with VP Graphics, and then CorelDRAW 2.  While clunky at first, Composer grew to adopt many similar characteristics of Corel's software.  But with Adobe, I'm a lot more adrift.  The knowledge transfers, but the learning experience is frustrating.

A screenshot of Illustrator on my Mac

But I had an epiphany while trying to write this (three times).  Since Corel allows you to set up CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint to look nearly identical to Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop, my next lesson is going to be on the PC, but with this feature turned on.  It would be nice if Adobe offered a similar feature, but maybe I'll have an easier time of things if I'm in a familiar program while navigating unfamiliar tools. We'll see.  Meanwhile, my home schooling project is turning out to be a lot more frustrating, and a great deal less fun than I'd hoped.

Greenlee Gazette Goes Mac

Okay, as a Mac-O-Phobe, I have to state right out in front that I'm not officially "switching" from PC to Mac.  But I am broadening my horizons, and I am retiring my old (very, very slow Dell Celeron PC) computer to the guest room.  I got the idea one night a couple of weeks ago when the Windows 7 "whited out" repeatedly, and that--originally gorgeous, now merely annoying--blue circle would just spin for no reason.

When this happens, the computer is obviously doing something, I just have no idea what.  My first thought was to drop the computer from an extreme height, enjoy the destruction, and then buy a new Dell or HP to replace it.  Then a bell went off in my head.  Maybe I should consider a Mac.  Not because I hate Microsoft, but because I have zero experience using a Mac, and almost none using Adobe graphics products.

Now, I have no intention of quitting my job, especially in this climate. But I realized that I'm wasting away my (mandatory) Fridays off, and that I should probably find a project. What better way to exercise my brains, gain some knowledge and experience, and boost my resume than to learn how to do graphics on a Mac?  It could even help me with my current job, should we receive a file in this format.

But I didn't want to just run out and buy a new MacBook. That's an expensive experiment.  So, I put up an inquiry on Facebook, and very, very quickly got a response from my friend Tracy. She knew a guy (my new friend Ron) who had a PowerBook G4 for sale. After some back-and-forth messaging, and some advice from friends, I decided to go for it. Especially when I found out it was affordable, and included all the Adobe and Microsoft software I'd need to really complete my experiment! Woo-hoo!

Ron did a great job packaging the Mac up, and it was no problem to set up. There was a slight worry when I ran a software update, which took way longer than I thought it would.  But after that, it was easy-breezy. I'm using it now!

I know that beyond upgrading the memory, this machine is maxed out. Apple no longer updates their MacOS X for this model.  And yes, my friends Travis and Stupid Monkey Planet warned me about that. But this is just to get my feet wet, and my brain acclimated.  Once I'm fluent in MacIntoshese, maybe I'll jump in with both feet. But if anyone ever sees this blog become an affiliate of The Cult of Mac, send in the anti-cult brain-unwashers for me, okay?  I don't want to become a shill for any corporation!

I'll probably get some more RAM for it, just to max it out to its limit. And I'll have to learn (and unlearn) tricks and shortcuts (such as a keyboard shortcut for italics and bolds, etc.), and learn about the file structure and differences from Windows. But I thank Ron and Tracy for this chance to embiggen my brain!

Software I Can't Wait For: CorelDRAW X4

Photo from Corel.com

I work in the sign industry, which means I work on a PC platform. This is counter-intuitive to most graphics people, who tend to favor Macs. The reason for this is that sign making machines, once they fully embraced the computer age, opted for the PC. While it may be theoretically possible to operate some of the machines with a Mac, it would certainly take away from the Mac's alleged ease-of-use.

This all worked out for me, because I've been using PC software for graphics almost since such programs were made available. I've used CorelDRAW since version 2. Add to that the fact that I'm a bit Mac-phobic (not scared of them, just dislike them), and also have a profound distaste for Corel's main competitor, Adobe. So I'm kind of excited by a new release from Corel.

One feature that Corel has had for a long time--and one that Adobe lacks--is the ability to set the interface to look almost exactly like the competition. So if you find yourself in front of CorelDRAW, and you are trained on Adobe Illustrator, in a few quick clicks you can be in familiar territory. The only chance Adobe has at ever converting me is to return the favor.

If you're curious about what CorelDRAW X4 (the 14th release) has to offer, here's a preview.

[Excerpt]

CorelDraw Graphics Suite X4

CorelDraw is often regarded by designers as a Creative Suite for marketing departments, but this hasn’t stopped Corel pitching it as much at creative professionals as those who create media as only part of their job. The Graphics Suite X4 bundle combines vector artwork design, page layout and image editing in a single package that costs around a third of Adobe’s equivalent package. . .

Read more at: Digital Arts