Kachemacs Mac User Group » Announcements

What Tyra made for us

Ryan — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:01:02 +0000

Last month’s guest speaker, Tyra Robertson, sent me a few of the icons she demonstrated making during her presentation on Illustrator and Inkspace.

Thanks, Tyra!

Picnic: June 26

Ryan — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 06:45:18 +0000

Everyone is invited to the group picnic, happening Saturday, June 26th. The festivities start at noon at the shelter on Bishop’s Beach.

If you plan on attending, please RSVP using the contact form.

See you there!

June meeting: Illustration software and show & tell

Ryan — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:00:15 +0000

I’m pleased to announce that we have a guest speaker for the June meeting! My good friend Tyra Robertson is visiting from Chicago, and has agreed to give a demonstration of some illustration software for us.

Topic Synopsis
Overview of Adobe Illustrator CS4 and it’s (free) alternative, Inkscape. Illustrator can be considered a hybrid software because it includes features from both Photoshop and InDesign as well as having its own tool set. Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator and CorelDraw.

Speaker Bio
Tyra Robertson has been a multimedia technologist for 5 years. Her skill set encompasses all of the software and hardware needed for graphic and web design, still and video photography, and sound recording and editing.

She has been working with, and ripping the guts out of, Macs for 15 years. She has been lucky enough to work with Apple as a Campus Rep and at an Apple flagship store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Currently, Tyra works at Roosevelt University in Chicago. She manages 70 Macs spread across three labs, the student internet radio station, and the student newspaper. Tyra has been a graphic designer for 15 years and in her spare time runs a freelance design business, the design function.

After Tyra’s presentation, we will open up the floor for anyone who wants to share tips and tricks they have learned. Diane will do some upgrade and repair tips, and anyone else is welcome to bring something to share.

Affordable Image Editors

Ryan — Mon, 10 May 2010 00:47:34 +0000

If you missed the May meeting, or didn’t get a chance to write down the editors we looked at, here’s the list and links to their corresponding websites:

Pixelmator – $59 (this was the group favorite)
Acorn – $49.95
Graphic Converter – $34.95 (this one is like Paint Shop and MacPaint)
GIMP – Free

Congratulations to the members who took home copies of Graphic Converter and Pixelmator!

We also held our annual officer election, with the incumbents making a surprising sweep at the polls. Your officers for the next year are:

President: Diane Petersen
Vice President: Ole Anderson
Treasurer: Ginger Bryant
Secretary: Ryan Ridge

We all look forward to serving the club for another year.

May meeting

Ryan — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:46:18 +0000

I was unable to do this topic in March, so it has been moved to May.

Note: We will be holding our yearly officer elections at this meeting. If you’re interested in becoming an officer, please read the descriptions on the Elected Positions page and announce your candidacy at the May meeting.

The May meeting topic will be an overview of some inexpensive (relative to Photoshop, at least) image editors. iPhoto is great for managing your photos and making small adjustments, but it won’t let you do more important things like pasting your brother’s head onto Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body. Come to the meeting and see a handful of applications that can do that and more for a fraction of the cost of Photoshop.

Thursday, May 4
6:00pm
Homer Public Library

February Meeting

Ryan — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:24:57 +0000

When it comes to computers, there is always something new to learn. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned computer jockey, the learning process never stops. Come to February’s meeting where Diane will demo some of the excellent resources available for teaching yourself more on your own schedule. Both print and online resources will be covered, and we have some great prizes to give away as well.

February 4th, 6-8pm at the Homer Public Library!

December Meeting

Ryan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:18:53 +0000

We were originally going to cover virtualization (running Windows applications on your Mac) tonight, but we were unable to get some pertinent materials in time.

Instead, we’ll be briefly covering several topics: Preventing/treating repetitive stress injuries, keyboard shortcuts, and High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.

Tonight, Thursday Dec. 3
6-8pm Homer Library

Help session: Nov. 28

Ryan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:31:36 +0000

I’ll be at the Homer Library for anyone who wants to stop by and get help or chat about Macs. 11am to 1pm, and I’ll be in one of the side rooms. See you there!

Saturday help session – Oct. 17

Ryan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:05:22 +0000

I’ll be in the Library this Saturday from 11am-1pm for anyone who wants help with their Macs. See you there!

September meeting

Ryan — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:00:37 +0000

For our September meeting, we screened the documentary “Welcome to Macintosh,” about the history of Apple and the creation of the Macintosh computer. Diane provided drinks and movie candy for the complete experience.

Next month’s meeting is on the 2nd, though we don’t have a topic just yet.