Adobe Tools of

the Trade 1
Photoshop
We will start with Photoshop because it
is the most common. If an image is ‘Pho-
toshopped’ it would have been manipu-
lated, retouched or altered in some way.
However, this description is an under-
statement because that only scratches
the surface of what is possible in Pho-
toshop.

Photoshop works well with raster (bit-

map) graphics and is capable of produc-
ing highly detailed compositions. While
originally intended to be a photo manip-
ulation program, Photoshop has been
taken up by digital painters and design
professionals.
Photoshop integrates well with the rest Photoshop can be used to:
of the Adobe Creative Cloud. The good • Design Storyboards
news is that Photoshop is easy to use. • Create a GIF
Just start with a few basic tutorials and • Edit Textures
move-on from there. Once you have a • Create Digital Paintings
good understanding of the tool bar and • Stitch Images Together
the basic functions you can take your • Rotoscope
design skills to the next level. • Create 3D designs
• Digital Collages

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Illustrator
Can be said to be the Photoshop of vector
graphics. Vector graphics are also known
as resolution-independent graphics, be-
cause they do not use pixels but are com-
posed of individual geometric shapes such
as circles and lines. Unlike raster graphics,
vectors can be changed, added or deleted
without disturbing those remaining.

Vectors have less detail but can be resized

larger infinitely without loss of quality.
Since vectors are not size dependent, a
design could be used on a small card but
then scaled to the size of a billboard with-
out a loss in quality.

Illustrator can be used to create:

• Illustrations
• Logos
• Graphics for business cards
• Infographics
• Clipart
• Icons

NB: Vectors can easily be converted to ras-

ter, but raster cannot be converted back
without difficulty.

Quiz Answers: 1.Visual Design 2.Contrast 3.Line 4.Dreamworks 5.Green

6.Socialise 7.Hue 8.Louis Braille 9.Romans 10.Carolingian Minuscule
11.Small Letters 12. Hieroglyphics 13. 22 14.Cuneiform

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After Effects
After FX as it is popularly known has been used for video compositing since the
’90s. It is used for adding visual effects to videos or animations. After Effects can
also be used to create animations of both text and complex characters. Other
things like adding clips into a clip or overlaying green-screens come with ease.
After Effects packs some of the most powerful editing tools available for video.
These features make this program hardware intensive, so be sure to have at least
8GB of ram and a ton of CPU power before trying to use it.
After Fx can be used for:
• Simulation Effects
• Character Animation
• Template Creation
• Logo Reveals
• Slideshow Design
• Title Animation
• UX/UI Design Mockups
• 3D Compositing
• Web Design Mockups
• Motion Tracking
• Explainer Videos
• Object Removal
• Kinetic Typography
• VFX

Premiere Pro
Similar to After Effects is Premiere Pro, which is used to edit and cut video tracks,
and then export them in the desired format. The project panel allows you to grab
individual clips and add them to a timeline to create a movie. Titles can be added,
elements from the rest of the Adobe suite can be added, and color corrections
can be applied.

Prelude
Prelude is a video tool for the cutting and editing footage before sending to the
production team. If you have hours of footage to go through, it will take forever
to do it in Premier. That is where Prelude comes in to save the day. Prelude can
log videos, tag, transcode, and search through footage quickly. If there’s a particular
scene or shot that you need to find, Prelude can find it almost instantly. Prelude
isn’t for editing; it is for screening clips and organizing them.

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