Encore DVD 2.0 Essential Training demonstrates each step involved in authoring a DVD with Encore DVD 2.0. From planning a project, gathering content, and creating navigation to bit budgeting, authoring (creating and burning), and testing, instructor Chad Perkins teaches users how to complete a professional DVD project. Exercise files accompany the training, allowing you to follow along and learn at your own pace.

Good business depends on good communication, and Acrobat Connect Professional can help facilitate the process. Instructor Tim Plumer has spent more than a decade teaching people how to best utilize Acrobat in business. In these tutorials, he demonstrates in detail how to use Adobe’s latest professional-level meeting, presentation, and instructional tool to its fullest potential. He shows how to use the application to bring people together via online meetings in real time, with the ability to collaborate at various levels with other participants and control content flow. He also covers how to deliver smart presentations with or without audience participation, and how to use Acrobat Connect Professional with work teams in various locations to share files and streamline communication. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.

By 2007, 77% of internet users over the age of 13 — about 131.3 million people — will shop online. In these tutorials, instructor Lawrence Cramer helps give business owners the tools to harness this market effectively. Using an in-depth case study and other varied examples, Lawrence demonstrates how to seamlessly create and incorporate a shopping cart and back end to support online customers. Building an Online Shopping Cart covers everything from the general concepts of e-commerce to the nitty-gritty of setting up and customizing credit card and order processing features. The training also covers security, customer privacy, building a store, and developing and integrating customer service and policies.

Photorealism with Bert Monroy: Volume 1 (Using Photoshop & Illustrator) will take you inside the creative mind of renowned artist Bert Monroy and show you how to create ultra-realistic images using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. These movies showcase Bert Monroy’s personal methods for getting realistic details into an image. He demonstrates his techniques for creating lighting, fire, smoke, grass, reflections and even mold. In these movies you will get up close and personal with Bert’s paintings as well as learn to make your own photorealistic imagery. Though these movies were created using Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS, the principles and techniques apply to older and newer versions of both programs in addition to other paint or vector-based drawing tools. lynda.com is very pleased to bring you Bert’s work and we hope you will find it as exciting as we do!

Illustrator artwork appears everywhere. Magazine ads, cereal boxes, maps, scientific diagrams, children’s book illustrations, and even fine art are often created using Illustrator. And yet, for all its power and complexity, anyone can master Illustrator by learning a few key concepts. Illustrator CS2 Essential Training with Jeff Van West shows new and intermediate users how these simple concepts work together and relate to the complete suite of Illustrator tools. Training begins with basic drawing, coloring, and editing, then advances to transparency, type, advanced path tools, special effects, and much more. Tips and specific examples that teach users how to improve workflows and maximize productivity are also included. This training is flexible, so experienced Illustrator artists can go directly to the movies on features new to CS2, while beginning students can watch all of the movies in progression. Exercise files accompany the training, allowing you to follow along and learn at your own pace.

Introduction to Internet Searching with Patrick Crispen is a movie-based tutorial designed for both novice and experienced Internet users who want to quickly and easily use the Internet to find relevant web pages, news articles, pictures, and other resources. Easy-to-follow, real world examples show you how to effectively use most of the Internet’s popular search engines and directories. This tutorial begins with a quick review of basic search strategies and moves on to cover topics such as advanced Google search operators, other search tools, evaluating web resources for relevance and accuracy, and even simple search engine optimization.

Learning Discreet 3ds Max 6 with George Maestri is a movie-based workshop developed to help users become comfortable with the basic features and techniques of the Windows-based software and to build a strong foundation in the principles of designing in 3D. The title begins by introducing 3ds max’s interface and application workflow and advances to cover important features such as polygonal modeling, texturing, animation and rendering. Exercise files for the Windows platform accompany the title, allowing you to follow along and learn at your own pace

All design starts with an idea, and generating good ideas is what separates the wheat from the chaff. But unlike software than can easily be learned, the practice of generating ideas is far more complex. In Interaction Design: Process and Inspiration, acclaimed designer Brendan Dawes takes you through some of the processes he employs in his own work. He’ll show you how he approaches projects as a series of “sketches,” more akin to working with pencil and paper than pushing pixels. From interface design, usability, and using sound to branding, designing for the audience, and experimental approaches, Interaction Design offers an award-winning designer’s insight into the techniques he uses every day to push, play, and constantly explore the realm of possibilities in interactive design.

Learning Blogger with Molly E. Holzschlag is a movie-based workshop for audiences new to blogging and to the newly revamped Blogger weblog service, a free service from Google. Begin by learning what blogs are and the various ways they can be used. You’ll quickly get into setting up your weblog, adding specialty features such as comment systems and news-feeds, working with and customizing templates, and even creating team blogs and audio blogs. The included exercise files, articles, and resources enhance the title, allowing you to follow along with the movies and learn at your own pace.

Learning Microsoft Excel 2003 with Mark Swift is a movie-based workshop for users who are new to working with spreadsheets, or those wanting to improve their skills. This workshop begins with a basic overview of the application and quickly advances to cover useful formulas, functions, techniques for enhancing spreadsheets including charts, and much more.