Members attending the Creativity SIG are interested in obtaining more joy from using apps on their Macs or iPad such as Pages, Numbers and Keynote. The emphasis is on using our devices in a creative way. The Creativity SIG currently meets at 10am during each Saturday Main Meeting. For further details see Events under Quick Links.
Shapes can be used to create drawings. The file below provides a few shapes that are the building blocks to produce images of animals.
Use this file to discover which shapes were used and try to create other animals using this system.
Download the numbers document
I have a suggestion for the AUSOM Community this Holiday Season. I have almost finished writing a series of articles for our Newsletter.
All of the articles are on the Mom and Pop developer team of Boy Howdy Technologies. They’re mind-stimulating and fun games for the young and young-at-heart, ranging from Card games, matching games and even crossword puzzles. They push you to think creatively to succeed, but have fun doing so.
Some of these items will be in AUSOM News, February 2023 but you can also look at all the games by searching Boy Howdy Technologies.
Why not Repurpose those old iPads or iPhones and load them up with these fun thinking games, plus Apple’s suite of school Apps?
What a treat that could be, keeping those youngsters and oldsters happy.
A gift like this for older people or those sick in Hospitals would help while away the hours.
—George Engel
Have you found the new Markup tools in the Notes app?
They are a little hard to find and at this stage, I cannot find them in any other iPad apps.
Let me know in the Comments if you find these posts useful.
We may look at these new tools in the Creativity SIG in February if there is any interest.
About 2 weeks ago Apple launched Freeform and described it as a powerful new app designed for creative brainstorming and collaboration.
Freeform is available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac and requires the latest versions of the operating systems.
If you have not yet had a look at it a good place to start would be with the many, many videos available on YouTube.
Please share your thoughts by adding comments below.
If there is sufficient interest this app could be discussed at the Creativity SIG in February 2023.
If you have time over the holidays to become familiar with Procreate for your iPad and Apple Pencil* a good place to start is with the Beginner Videos at https://education.procreate.com/beginners-series. The videos are available on YouTube however I suggest you follow the above link as it has the videos and PDF files that can be downloaded and followed at any time without an internet connection. This is part of ProcreateEducation and if you explore the Site you will see mention of the phrases such as ‘classroom’, ‘lessons’, and ’students’. Don’t worry the content is applicable to all of us.
If you want the Procreate Handbook it is available at: https://procreate.com/handbook/procreate.
* An Apple Pencil (or substitute) is not essential but does add to the Procreate experience. It gives access to brushes that respond to the pressure and tilt of the pencil. Having said that digital artists used Procreate for 3 or 4 years before the Apple Pencil was available. Procreate wasn’t born in the heart of Silicon Valley, but in Old Beach, Tasmania. The company remains in Tasmania and one of the brushes is named Old Beach.
To make a simple card for easy printing at home.
Open a document in Pages using the BLANK template. From Document set-up change to Page Layout and add your photograph or image to the foot of the A4 sheet.
Detailed instructions (including where to find Document Set-up in the latest version of Pages for iPadOS) can be downloaded.
At the November SIG meeting members shared things they have recently tried to improve their digital life.
One discovery was using quartz filters within the Preview app to reduce the file size of a PDF.
Further details are available via the internet. Search for ‘add quartz filters to Preview using ColorSync utility’. There was also an article on page 33 of AUSOM News, March 2022 (with a follow-up article in April). In addition, there is a MacMost video at https://macmost.com/compress-pdfs-on-your-mac-with-preview-or-an-automator-quick-action.html
Members then shared ideas about ways to manage Keynote on their Mac while viewing their presenter notes (using Zoom).
Other topics covered were removing the background from images in iOS16, and using and creating QR codes.
A video of the session is available at https://ausom.net.au/video/
For those who want to show their friends and family what they can do.
More details and a Keynote file with further images are available.
At the Creativity SIG in September 2022 discussion centred around CREATIVE ways of taking photos. See AUSOM News, Sept 2022, page 29
Members were encouraged to enter their Creative photos into the ASCCA Digital Photo competition — see details AUSOM News, Sept 2022, page 20.
Finally, we looked at creative ways photos might be displayed. There is a PDF available showing the many display examples.
At the Creativity SIG in August 2022, we will look at using the Pages app to create cards. Commencing with using the templates available with Pages.
If you would like the Pages document we created it is available here:
If you would like to experiment further with the topics covered during the SIG I have provided an archive of 5 Sample files.
Continue reading “Cards in Pages”
