Rosetta Stone Version 3: Spanish (Latin America) Level 1, 2 & 3, Set By Sarah B. L., Adobe Illustrator CS4 and Adobe Flash CS4 Professional from Adobe Systems Inc.
By Howard Berenbon
Rosetta Stone Version 3: Spanish (Latin America) Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion
Recently, I began using a copy of Rosetta Stone Version 3: Spanish (Latin America) levels 1, 2 & 3. The software installed relatively quickly for such a large program. The first things I noticed were the eye-catching yet classy graphics.
Rosetta Stone uses images in a method it calls "Dynamic Immersion". These are wonderful tools, though I found them somewhat confusing when they began teaching personal pronouns and the like. Because I am currently taking Spanish in school, I had a good start and already had a decent grip of the language. However, I learned more by memorization than by immersion, and when I ended my first session of Rosetta Stone, I noticed that what I had struggled to remember before came to me quickly and effortlessly.
Several times, Rosetta Stone misheard my speech, but for the majority of my time using it, I experienced no problems in that regard, which was a pleasant surprise.
The one thing I wish that would be different about Rosetta Stone is the lack of cultural influences on the content. The pictures and phrases learned would not necessarily have as much use in Latin America as others would be. For example, the word for woman is "mujer". In Rosetta Stone, to teach the word “mujer”, a picture of a Japanese geisha was shown. If I knew nothing about the language, I might assume that “mujer” is geisha or even girl. There is no assistance or clarification of anything in English. This would be very helpful.
All in all, I would say that Rosetta Stone is worth its price tag. It doesn't slow down computers like you might think, and it can help even those people who have already began learning the language by memorizing. I am now a huge fan of Rosetta Stone software!
Rosetta Stone Version 3: Spanish (Latin America) Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion sells for a street price of $494.10. It will run on any multimedia PC, 1 GHz or faster processor, 512 MB RAM with Windows 2000/XP/Vista, 600 MB of disk space and a CD-ROM drive. It will also run on an Apple Macintosh, operating system 10.3.9 or later. For more information, or to order, visit Amazon.com
Sarah B .L.
Adobe Illustrator is one of the most popular vector graphics drawing programs available for the graphic artist and designer. It allows the designer to create artwork that can be scaled without losing resolution and detail. So, while Photoshop is used to manipulate bitmap images (raster graphics), or photos made of dots, Illustrator is used to create artwork that can be resized, or scaled, without loss of resolution or clarity. The reason vector graphics can be scaled without loss is because it uses mathematic formulae to create the drawing, and when the size is changed, the resolution and clarity are retained. And, the file size of the graphics stays the same. In contrast, when bitmap images are enlarged, the number of dots that make up the image can’t change, and so they lose resolution. Adobe Illustrator is often used along with Photoshop to create print and Internet artwork for publication.
Some History
Adobe Illustrator was first developed for the Apple Macintosh in 1986 and released in January 1987 as a part of their Font and PostScript file format to help graphics designers create artwork and logos for typesetting print media. Windows version 2.0 was released in January 1989.
The Main Menu
When you run Illustrator, the main menu will look very similar to many of other Adobe products. In the center of the screen you can click the Open menu to open a recent item, or move to the right and create a new document a list including Print Document, Web Document, Mobile and Devices, Video and Film, Basic CMYK, Basic RBG or choose a template. And right below Create New, you can click on Take a feature tour. To the left, you have access to more information, especially useful if you’re new to Illustrator. You’ll find links to Getting Started, New Features, Resources and Illustrator Exchange. The menu buttons are at the very top of the screen with File, Edit, Object, Type, Select, Effect, View, Window and Help, Br (Go to Bridge) and Essentials. On the far left side of the screen you’ll find a movable vertical tool bar with the various text and graphics tools (like marquee, lasso, crop, dropper, brushes, text, eraser, etc.) and on the far right the Essentials panel is displayed with access to Color, Color Guide, Swatches, Brushes, Symbol, Stroke, Gradient, Transparency, Appearance, Graphic Style and Layers. In fact, it looks a lot like the Illustrator CS4 screen.
What’s New in Illustrator?
Multiple artboards--create files containing up to 100 artboards of varying sizes and display them any way you want
Save a selected range or all artboards as a multipage PDF file.
Transparency in gradients - define the opacity of any individual color stop in a gradient
Gradients exposed - interact with gradients right on your object.
Blob Brush tool - sketch with a brush that generates a single clean vector shape even when strokes overlap
Integration and delivery - collaborate with your team, work across products, and deliver almost anywhere
In-panel appearance editing - edit object characteristics directly in the Appearance panel, eliminating the need to open fill, stroke, or effects panels.
Separations preview - avoid color output surprises such as unexpected spot colors, unwanted overprinting, overprints that don't overprint, white overprinting, and CMYK blacks in text and placed files.
Here’s some of What’s Enhanced
Refined graphic styles - combine styles for unique effects and increased efficiency, and apply styles without disturbing an object's existing appearance.
Clipping masks demystified - work with masks more easily by viewing only the clipped area of your objects during editing.
Enhanced user experience - interact with tools smoothly, and increase your efficiency using new features and shortcuts.
Tools that enable free-flowing expression, with fine control
Move between tasks fast and efficiently
More intuitive user interface and nondestructive editing
Paint directly on 3D objects
Edit motion graphics for video with enhanced control for speed and precision.
Enhanced image analysis - generate intricate graphics using industry-standard drawing tools and powerful effects
Working directly on the artboard
Move easily between Illustrator and other Creative Suite 4 components
Print delivery is more reliable with Separations Preview.
Adobe Illustrator CS4, IBM PC version, sells for $519.95 and is available for the IBM PC or compatible, 1.8 GHz or faster CPU running Microsoft Windows XP or Vista with 512MB RAM, 64 MB Video RAM, 1 GB Hard Disk space, DVD-ROM drive and QuickTime 7.2 for multimedia features. It’s also available for the Apple Macintosh PowerPC G5 or multicore Intel processor, selling for $522. Requires Mac OS X Leopard or X Tiger, 512 MB RAM, 64MB video RAM, 2GB hard disk space, 1024x768 monitor resolution, DVD-ROM drive and QuickTime 7.2. For more information, or to order, visit Amazon.com.
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
Adobe Flash is the industry standard for developing 2D and 3D animation for publishing online, on your desktop or other devices, in the SWF format, known as “shock wave flash.” And Flash CS4 Professional has some new features and improvements to help designers design animations faster and easier. Of all the improvements, one stands out among the bunch. It’s their object-based animation model that allows designers to create animations by moving objects instead of working with frames. But there’s more:
What Else is New?
New 3D transformation tools, translation and rotation, make it easer to create motion effects
The Deco & Spray Brush Tools allows you to create drawing effects using symbols
Inverse Kinematics with the Bones tool allows you to easily create hinge like movement between symbols
Automatically generate motion paths that are easily modifiable with Bezier handles.
Prebuilt animations that can be applied to any object selectable from dozens of presets or create and save your own
The new Motion Editor allows control over keyframe parameters, including rotation, size, scale, position, filters and more
Adobe Pixel Bender for applying custom filters , bends and visual effects at runtime for real-time
Some History
Adobe Flash was originally developed by the software game programmer, Jonathan Gay, while he was attending college (he was designing games on the Apple while in high school). In 1993 Jonathan formed a company called FutureWave Software with Charlie Jackson, owner of Silicon Beach Software who produced graphics and game programs for the Macintosh. In 1994 they developed a vector graphic drawing program called SmartSketch, and in 1995 they added an Internet graphics animation tool. In May of 1996 they released the animation tool as FutureSplash Animator and it was used by several sites including Disney’s Disney Daily Blast and Fox’s official The Simpsons Website. In December 1996 Macromedia purchased FutureWave Software and FutureSplash Animator became Macromedia Flash 1.0.
The Main Menu
The Flash CS4 Professional main menu is very similar to all the other Adobe Creative Suite products. At the very top you’ll find the File, Edit, Commands, Window, Help and Essentials menus. On the far right you’ll find the Properties and Library panels. To the left of center, you can open a recent item, or you can create a new file in various formats including Flash ActionScript 3.0, 2.0, Adobe AIR, Mobile, ActionScript Communication, Flash Java Script and Flash Project, and to the right, you can click on Advertising to pick from a number of banner templates. You’ll also have links to Take a tour of Flash, Getting Started, New Features and Resources. And below the links you’ll see the Timeline and Motion Editor panels.
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, IBM PC version, sells for $602.49 and is available for the IBM PC or compatible, 1.8 GHz or faster CPU running Microsoft Windows XP or Vista with 512MB RAM, 64 MB Video RAM, 1 GB Hard Disk space, DVD-ROM drive and QuickTime 7.2 for multimedia features. It’s also available for the Apple Macintosh PowerPC G5 or multicore Intel processor, selling for $592. Requires Mac OS X Leopard or X Tiger, 512 MB RAM, 64MB video RAM, 2GB hard disk space, 1024x768 monitor resolution, DVD-ROM drive and QuickTime 7.2. For more information, or to order, visit Amazon.com.
Adobe TV
For those of you who’d like some help from Adobe with any of their tools, they offer a number of short video tutorials for all their products called Everyday Timesavers. Click on a link below to access the videos.
http://tv.adobe.com/#pg+15623 (Design)
http://tv.adobe.com/#pg+15627 (Web)
http://tv.adobe.com/#pg+15625 (Video)
http://tv.adobe.com/#pg+15629 (Photography)
Software Companies Mentioned
Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Ave
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
Phone: 800-833-6687
URL adobe.com
Rosetta Stone
Harrisonburg, VA
Phone: 1-800-788-0822
URL rosettastone.com
