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Hello, lynda.com newsletter subscriber! Welcome to the April 2012 newsletter.

Letter from Lynda

Photo by Gary Moss Photography

Welcome to our April 2012 newsletter. This month Adobe released a free beta version of its highly anticipated Photoshop CS6 software—and we have free new training to help you learn it. We’ve also got new releases in digital video, architecture software, and Photoshop Lightroom 4.

Watch our free course on Photoshop CS6 beta

Be among the first to test—and learn—Photoshop CS6 beta. Adobe released a free public beta version of its highly anticipated Photoshop CS6 software—and for the duration of the beta testing, lynda.com has free training to help you learn it. Download the Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta and watch the complete lynda.com course to learn about it. Taught by Deke McClelland, Photoshop CS6 Beta Preview introduces the software’s extensive upgrades, including its new dark interface, layer and text enhancements, Content-Aware Move tool, video editing, Adaptive Wide Angle filter, and more.

Join lynda.com today

Stay up to date with access to the Online Training Library®!

We are constantly adding new software training courses and inspirational documentaries to help you reach your creative and career goals.

Zoom in on the business of video

Media expert Rich Harrington shares some short project-based courses on both the creative and management sides of digital video production. Budgeting Video Projects demonstrates how to create professional budgets, proposals, and invoices. Cut costs by learning to distribute media content quickly and efficiently across various platforms with Maximizing Your Web Video and Podcast Audience with Hypersyndication . Discover how to “fix it in post” with the wide range of footage-editing tools explained in Fixing Video Exposure Problems in Premiere Pro. If you’re headed to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas this month, join Rich Harrington and several other lynda.com video authors at the Creative Pro User Group Network annual SuperMeet on April 17.

Build up your architecture skills

In the project-based course Designing a House in Revit Architecture, author Brian Myers walks step by step through the process of designing a house from scratch in Autodesk Revit Architecture. He covers the design of a multi-level home, as well as the documentation process to create multiple plans, sections, details, and schedules. Add more detail to Revit projects with the help of Advanced Modeling in Revit Architecture. Taught by architectural consultant Paul F. Aubin, this course shows how to create sophisticated and detailed models, and digs into specialized Revit features like in-place families, topography, and the massing environment.

Get up to speed with Lightroom 4

Adobe has released Photoshop Lightroom 4, and we’ve got a growing series of courses by photographer and author Chris Orwig. Photoshop Lightroom 4 New Features gives an overview of the software’s enhancements. To plumb the depths of its capabilities, explore the new Photoshop Lightroom 4 Essentials series: Learn how to manage, organize, and share photos with Photoshop Lightroom 4 Essentials: Organizing and Sharing with the Library Module, and make your photos look their best with Photoshop Lightroom 4 Essentials: Enhancing Photos with the Develop Module. Chris is hard at work recording more installments of this new series, so keep an eye on our photography course page for the latest releases.

Until next time, happy learning!

—Lynda

Latest releases

3D + animation
	Advanced Modeling in Revit Architecture author: Paul F. Aubin duration: 07h 17m
audio
	Sibelius 7 Essential Training author: Jenny Amaya duration: 06h 05m
business tools
	Achieving Your Goals author: Dave Crenshaw duration: 25m 25s
	Insights from a Business Coach author: Dave Crenshaw duration: 27m 06s
	Invaluable: Making Yourself Irreplaceable author: Dave Crenshaw duration: 47m 33s
design
	Photoshop CS6 Beta Preview author: Deke McClelland duration: 02h 29m
developer
	Silverlight 5 Essential Training author: Walt Ritscher duration: 08h 52m
photography
	Family and Group Portraiture author: Natalie Fobes duration: 01h 28m
	Foundations of Photography: Night and Low Light author: Ben Long duration: 04h 00m

photography (continued)
	Photoshop Lightroom 4 Essentials: Creating Prints and Books author: Chris Orwig duration: 04h 23m
	Scanning with SilverFast author: Taz Tally duration: 05h 15m
video
	After Effects: Rigging a Character Arm for Animation author: Chad Perkins duration: 27m 43s
	Budgeting Video Projects author: Rich Harrington duration: 02h 18m
	Creating a Mini Documentary with Premiere Elements author: Jason Osder duration: 01h 31m
	Creating a Sports Highlight Reel with iMovie author: Abba Shapiro duration: 01h 35m
	Creating a Vacation Video with iMovie author: Abba Shapiro duration: 02h 03m
	Editing with Composites and Effects in Avid Media Composer author: Ashley Kennedy duration: 02h 14m
web + interactive
	Create an Interactive Homepage Marquee with jQuery author: Chris Converse duration: 46m 49s

Keep an eye on the site for these and many other helpful new courses coming soon:

After Effects Apprentice 15: Final Project
AutoCAD Essentials 1: Interface and Drawing
AutoCAD Essentials 2: Drawing Fundamentals
Building Blocks and Macros in Word
Building Templates in Word
Character Animation Fundamentals in 3ds Max
Color Correction: Creating a Polished Look in Avid Media Composer
Create an Expandable FAQ Listing with jQuery
Create an Expandable FAQ Listing with jQuery and Dreamweaver
Gmail Essential Training [revised for 2012 Q2]
Invaluable: Building Professional Connections
Melodyne Essential Training
Mixing a Rock Song in Pro Tools
Nuke 6.3 New Features
Photoshop Lightroom 4 Catalogs in Depth
Photoshop Lightroom Workflow Strategies
Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter
Unit Testing iOS Applications with Xcode 4
Up and Running with Evernote
Windows 8 Consumer Preview First Look
Windows Phone SDK Essential Training
WordPress.com Essential Training [Fully revised for 2012]
WordPress.org Essential Training [Fully revised for 2012]

Testimonial of the month

Better than a gym
I often watch the lynda.com videos on my laptop while working out on a stationary bicycle. The short length of the video segments helps to keep me motivated: “I’ll quit at the end of this chapter.” So far I have lost 25 pounds! Because of the quality of the instruction on lynda.com, I always learn something and even look forward to my daily exercise. I’d rather invest in lynda.com than pay for a gym membership!
—Gail P.

Read more great feedback.

Tip of the month
Set up Photoshop specifically for a web site mockup.
Setting up Photoshop from Designing Web Sites from Photoshop to Dreamweaver Designing for the web is a bit different than designing for print, so it’s important that you set up your document correctly before you begin designing your web mockup. First, in Photoshop, go to File > New. This opens up the New document dialog box, where you can choose everything you need. Start with the Preset and choose Web. From here, you can choose the size of your document. If you want your site to appeal to the largest possible audience, don’t choose dimensions that are too wide or too narrow. A good starting place is 960 pixels wide and 690 pixels high. You can always adjust as you go, but this is a good starting size. Leave the Color Mode set to RGB Color and 8 bit. Background Contents is the background color for your document. Leave it set to White. Click OK. To help in your design layout, turn on your rulers by going to View > Rulers (or keyboard shortcut Ctrl+R in Windows, Cmd+R on a Mac). Since you’re in a web document, the rulers should display in pixels. Right-click on your ruler and select Pixels. You can also select View > Show > Grid if you want a grid to help you with your design layout, and you can drag out some guides to assist you in the placement of your design. To create a guide, click and drag from a ruler into your document. Turn on the Info panel (Window > Info or press F8) to give you the precise location of your guide. You can reposition your guide at any time with the Move tool, and if you want to remove a guide, simply drag it off the art board. Now that you’ve set the dimensions, color space, and resolution for your working file, you can easily move ahead with the creation of your web design mockup. If you’re interested in more tips for converting Photoshop files to Dreamweaver, check out Designing Web Sites from Photoshop to Dreamweaver.