Ben Forta's Blog, page 4

Adobe Spark Custom Fonts

We just updated Adobe Spark to support custom fonts, now when creating and managing your brand and branded themes, you can upload your own fonts to the brand. Custom font support is a Premium Feature, so it's available as part of any paid plan (Creative Cloud or Spark). It is also available for free to education users as part of Spark for Education.

The Magic Behind Spark's Magic Layout

Adobe Spark Post's Magic Layout sets you up for success quickly by employing a content-aware layout system to suggest intelligent cropping and layout positions based on the content you choose for your design. It makes educated guesses for you to get you almost all the way to a finished product. For instance, if you choose one tall photo and one wide photo and add a text element, Spark Post will automatically place your content in a layout with one vertical and one wide cell. Even more amazingly, it will position an editable text box where the system detects there's relative empty space and common design rules predict it will be most readable. The magic behind Magic Layout is artificial intelligence, as this post explains.

Register Now For Adobe MAX 2018

Adobe MAX 2018 registration is open. Register by July 31st and you'll qualify for the early bird registration price of $1,295, that's a $300 savings off the full conference price, and I'll see you in Los Angeles in October.

Creative Cloud Now $5 Per Student

Last month we announced Adobe Spark for Education, free for all students, both in K-12 and higher education. Today we announced new Creative Cloud pricing for K-12, $5 per license per year (starting at $2,500 per school per year). These are huge savings, and are part of our commitment to ensuring that all students have access to the right creativity tools.

Roanoke County Adopts Adobe Spark

Roanoke County Public Schools (RCPS) in Virginia gave Spark for Education a try this past school year, and the results were beyond what I could have imagined. Their journey started with teachers from the district coming across Spark and trying it themselves. Within minutes of using Spark, teachers at RCPS were thinking of what this could do for their students and were asking how quickly they could have it in their classroom. And in a matter of weeks they deployed Spark to all of the 15,000+ students and teachers (and in the middle of the school year!). You can read more in Sharif Karmaly's blog post.

Adobe Spark For Education

Today we announced the availability of Adobe Spark for Education, the same Adobe Spark that you know and love (and like Adobe Spark, just as free), but adapted to better suit the needs of our younger users.What is different about Adobe Spark for Education is how it gets deployed and installed. An Adobe Spark for Education deployment adds functionality that is critical to schools, including:

Enhanced data privacy: can be deployed consistent with children's data
privacy laws (e.g. COPPA).
Easier login: Ability to setup single sign-on so students can easily login
with their existing school ID.
Enhanced control to keep students safe: Schools own the accounts
and exercise admin rights over them. Plus, image results are more age
appropriate for K-12 students.
Premium Features for free: Adobe Spark's Premium Features, used to
customize Spark creations, are included for Free (normally cost $9.99
per month per user).

While students can use Adobe Spark (with some important limitations, including a restriction on under 13 users), the free Adobe Spark for Education is better
suited for schools and districts and is the recommended deployment for
student use.

We've posted details and links to get you started at spark.adobe.com/edu.

And, if needed, here are links to out Student Privacy Policy and GDPR statement.

Adobe Dimension CC 1.1 Released

Adobe Dimension is used by graphic designers to create photorealistic renderings using both 2D and 3D assets. Product Manager Zorana Gee has announced the release of Dimension 1.1, and highlighted the new features in this blog post.

$500 Of MAX Registration

Adobe MAX is heading back to Los Angeles! MAX will be October 15–17, 2018, at the L.A. Convention Center. Sign up now for $500 savings on the full conference pass price of $1,595. Offer ends April 30, 2018.

Project Puppetron Beta

One of the most exciting Sneaks at MAX 2017 was Project Puppetron. Well, we've come a long way in a few months. And now the Character Animator team (the same folks who let you bring a Photoshop or Illustrator file to life through performance-based and live animation) invite you to be a part of their latest experiment, joining the Project Puppetron beta test. Details are posted here.

Spark In The Classroom: Video Storytelling

This idea is perfect for younger students, and works particularly well when using Adobe Spark on the iPad. The idea is to encourage students to create their own storybook with not just their own story, but also their own pictures and their own voice telling the tale.First help the students talk through their story idea. Keep it short and simple at first.
Have the students create pictures for each step in the story. Use regular 8.5x11 or A4 paper, and have them draw, color, paint, use stickers, etc. Encourage them to fill the sheets completely, big pictures work better then small ones.

Then have students use their iPad to take a picture of each of their drawings saving them to the iPad Camera Roll.

Next, open Spark Video and click the + button to create a new story.

Have them type the story title and their name on the title screen, and then tap the Next button. The next screen offers story templates to help students get started. You'll not need them for this project, so tap the "Start from Scratch" button at the bottom of the screen to go to the Video editor.

Spark Video adds the first slide for you. Slides may contain text, photos, video, icons, and combinations of these. The first slide is the story title slide, so have students select Text and then help them type the title of their story and their name.

Then have them tap the + button at the bottom of the screen to add new slide. Tap Photo to add a photo, and then select "On my iPad" to locate the photos they just took of their drawings, and then add the first drawing. Repeat this step for the rest of their drawings, each drawing goes on its own slide.

Now it's time to tell the tale. Tap each slide, starting with the first, to record the voiceover for the title screen and then for each picture. Students simply press the red microphone button, talk, and release the button when done. They should click the play button to listen to their recording, and then can rerecord if needed.

Finally, students can select Themes and background Music for their story using the options at the top of the screen. Have them tap on various Themes while looking at the Title slide (as that is where they'll easily see how each Theme renders their creation).

When done, have students click the share button at the top right to publish or download their very own story.