Introduction 1 Why is It Important? 2 About This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 4 Icons Used in This Book 4 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 5 Book 1: Getting Started With the Creative Cloud Suite 7 Chapter 1: The Creative Cloud 9 Applications Covered in This Book 10 Crossing the Adobe Bridge 11 Getting started with Photoshop CC 11 Introducing InDesign CC 11 Using Illustrator CC 12 Working with Acrobat DC 13 Prototyping your apps with Adobe XD 14 Integrating software 15 Acquiring assets for this book 15 Chapter 2: Creative Cloud Application Management 17 Downloading Your First App 17 Checking for updates 19 Getting started 20 Chapter 3: Creative Cloud Extras for You 21 Launching the Creative Cloud App 22 Apps 22 Categories 23 Managing Your Fonts 24 Resource Links 24 Your Work 25 Libraries 25 Show Cloud Documents 29 Discovering Design Opportunities with New Fonts 32 Finding Images with Adobe Stock 33 Promoting Yourself with Behance 34 Creating a Cover 36 Bonus! Adobe Portfolio 37 It''s Not Just Apps! 38 Chapter 4: Using Common Menus and Commands 39 Discovering Common Menus 39 Using Dialog Boxes 41 Encountering Alerts 43 Discovering Common Menu Options 44 About Contextual Menus 45 Using Common Keyboard Shortcuts 46 Changing Your Preferences 48 Chapter 5: Exploring Common Panels 51 Understanding the Common Workspace 51 Using Panels in the Workspace 53 Moving panels 54 Looking at common panels 55 Book 2: Adobe Bridge 57 Chapter 1: Organizing and Managing Your Files with Adobe Bridge 59 Getting to Know the Adobe Bridge Workspace 60 Practice makes perfect 62 Finding and using your folders within Adobe Bridge 62 The default workspace 64 Looking for a better view 65 Creating a new folder 66 Moving a file to another folder 67 Making a favorite 68 Investigating the Application bar 69 Developing a Bridge habit 69 Chapter 2: Taking Advantage of Metadata in Adobe Bridge 71 Locating Your Files 71 Using Keywords 74 Creating a Metadata Template 75 Searching for Files Using Adobe Bridge 77 Searching by name or keyword 77 Using the Filter panel 78 Saving a Collection 79 Chapter 3: Using Automation Tools in Adobe Bridge 81 Getting Files from Your Camera 81 Automation Tools in Adobe Bridge 83 Batch renaming your files 83 Exporting your files from Bridge 85 Loading files as layers 85 Building a contact sheet 86 Book 3: Photoshop CC 89 Chapter 1: Getting into Photoshop CC Basics 91 The Start Screen 91 The New Document Window 92 Sample Images Can Help You Investigate More Features 93 Opening an Image 94 Getting to Know the Tools 94 Navigating the Work Area 97 Changing your workspace 97 Resetting your workspace 99 Docking and saving panels 99 Saving your workspace 100 Taking advantage of workspace features 100 Zooming in to get a better look 100 Choosing Your Screen Mode 102 Getting Started with Basic Tasks in Photoshop CC 102 Cropping an image 102 Using grids as you crop 105 Using the Frame tool to create cropped images 106 Saving images 109 Chapter 2: Messing with Mode Matters 111 Working with Bitmap Images 111 Choosing the Correct Photoshop Mode 113 Bitmap 113 Grayscale 113 Duotone 114 Index color 117 RGB 117 CMYK 118 LAB color 118 Multichannel 119 Bit depth 119 Chapter 3: Making Selective Changes 121 Getting to Know the Selection Tools 121 The Marquee tool 122 The Lasso tool 125 The Object Selection tool 126 The Quick Selection tool 127 The Magic Wand tool 128 Painting a selection with the Quick Mask tool 129 Manipulating Selections with Refine Selection 132 Transforming selections 132 Transforming selections 132 Feathering 135 Tweaking the edges of a selection in the Select and Mask workspace 138 Selecting the Subject 143 Saving Selections 144 Chapter 4: Using the Photoshop Pen Tool 145 Selecting the Right Pen Tool for the Task 146 Using a Path as a Selection 146 Creating Curved Paths 148 Clipping Paths 150 Using Shape Layers 152 Creating and using a custom shape 153 Changing the color of the shape 155 Changing the color fill of a custom shape 156 Changing the stroke on a live vector shape 157 Creating a stroke on a custom shape 158 Removing a shape layer 159 Chapter 5: Creating Images in the Right Resolution for Print and the Web 161 Creating Images for Print 161 The resolution formula 163 Changing the resolution 163 Determining the Resolution for Web Images 166 Applying the Unsharp Mask Filter to an Image 167 Chapter 6: Creating a Good Image 169 Reading a Histogram 169 Breaking into key types 172 Starting the process to improve your image 174 Creating a Good Tone Curve 174 Finding the highlight and the shadow 176 Setting the highlight and shadow values 180 Adjusting the midtone 181 Finding a neutral 182 Editing an Adjustment Layer 184 Testing a Printer 185 Chapter 7: Working with Painting and Retouching Tools 187 Using the Swatches Panel 187 Choosing Foreground and Background Colors 188 The Painting and Retouching Tools 189 Changing the brush 190 The Spot Healing Brush tool and the Content-Aware feature 191 The Healing Brush tool 193 The Patch tool 194 The Red Eye tool 195 The Brush tool 195 The Clone Stamp tool 198 The History Brush tool 200 The Eraser tool 201 The Gradient tool 201 Blending Modes 204 Painting with color 206 Filling selections 207 Saving Presets 208 Chapter 8: Using Layers 209 Creating and Working with Layers 209 Duplicating a Layer 212 Selecting a Layer 212 Controlling the visibility of a layer 213 Rearranging the stacking order 213 Creating a Text Layer 213 Warping text 214 Fine-tuning text 214 Check that spelling! 215 Using Layer Masks 215 Creating a layer mask from a selection 216 Creating a vector mask from a pen path 218 Organizing Your Layers 220 Activating multiple layers simultaneously 220 Layer groups 220 Duplicating a layer group 221 Filter Capabilities in the Layers Panel 222 Merging and Flattening Images 222 Merging 223 Flattening 223 Chapter 9: Going Beyond the Basics with Layers 225 Using Layer Styles 225 Applying a style 225 Creating and saving a style 227 Thinking about opacity versus fill 228 Smart, Really Smart! Smart Objects 229 Finding Tools and Features That Are Hidden 230 Using the Frame Tool 231 Working with Artboards in Photoshop 232 Adding additional artboards 234 Adding content to the second artboard 234 Experimenting with 3D Files 237 Preserving Corrective Perspective with the Vanishing Point Feature 238 Chapter 10: Saving Photoshop Images for Print and the Web 243 Backing Up with a Save 244 Choosing a File Format for Saving 244 Wonderful and easy Photoshop PSD 245 Photoshop EPS 245 Photoshop PDF 245 TIFF 246 DCS 246 Saving Images for the Web 246 PNG 247 JPEG 248 GIF 250 Matte 254 Saving Settings 254 Book 4: InDesign CC 257 Chapter 1: Introducing InDesign CC 259 Getting Started with InDesign CC 259 Creating a new publication 260 Opening an existing publication 263 Touring the Workspace 263 Tools 265 Menus 266 Panels 267 Contextual menus 270 Setting Up the Workspace 271 Showing and hiding grids and guides 271 Snapping to a grid or a guide 272 Using Smart Guides 273 Customizing menus 274 Customizing the interface appearance 275 Saving a custom workspace 275 Working with Documents 276 Importing new content 277 Viewing content 278 Saving your publication 278 Chapter 2: Working with Text and Text Frames 281 Understanding Text, Font, and Frames 282 Creating and Using Text Frames 282 Creating text frames with the Type tool 283 Creating text frames with the Frame tool 284 Creating text frames from a shape 284 Adding Text to Your Publication 284 Importing text 285 Controlling text flow 285 Adding placeholder text 286 Copying and pasting text 287 Looking at Text Frame Options 287 Changing text frame options 288 Using and modifying columns 289 Modifying and Connecting Text Frames on a Page 290 Resizing and moving the text frame 291 Threading text frames 292 Adding a page jump n.