Anyone here attending Photoshop World 08?

[synthetic]

Just curious if any members were heading to Florida first week of April for Photoshop World 2008? I just signed up last week. This will be my first time attending... kinda stoked about it. Plus this will be first year I am member of the NAPP as well.

Though I am still awaiting my credentials so I can access the the NAPP website which looks interesting.

[foggyrain]

Hi Dean,

I am not attending Photoshop World 08 because I can't take off from work for that long (bad timing). Please let me know how it goes and if it's worth it! And it's nice to meet a fellow NAPP member! Congrats on joining; I've learned a lot from their site and magazine.

[synthetic]

Yeah... the NAPP was one of those things I had meant to get into some years back but I think I kinda forgot about it when I started messing around with web development and 3D.

Understandable about the time off thing... I had vacation time to use and just happened to be offered a family vacation in Orlando the same week as expo so it just kinda all fell into place. Only wish my place of employment would offer up some help with finances but it seems paying for an artist to attend one of these events is not in the budgets for a dying media publication lol.

Will post up my account of the event upon returning though. My father has been four times previously and said he thought it was well worth the cost of admission considering the classes offered and the great bargains you find in the expo. I am just looking to get more up to speed on the CS3 stuff... haven't had time to fully explore the new features or options.

[synthetic]

I must say that the price of admission to this event is worth the cost. I got first hand instruction from pro's in the industry for many subjects... not just Photoshop either.

I learned how to best process my photos in RAW and how to "juice" them up using Kelby's 7-point system and Moose Peterson's approach which is going to do wonder's for my photo work.

I also learned how to turn a 2D photo into 3D using the vanishing point from PS CS3 and exporting to After Effects as well as creating a 3D look by layering foreground, midground and background info like you see in many biographies.

Seen how to create illusion of moving car with looping background in AE for web banners etc.

Got to preview a few new features coming in Photoshop CS4.

Got a free $100 plug-in from Nik software just for attending a certain class.

Took a few classes on integrating PS with Dreamweaver and Fireworks.

Took home a huge training manual with all the class lessons from expo in it... well 95% of the lessons at least (some didn't use the manual for info).

Grabbed a few books from PeachPit whom was giving a 25% discount on books for the expo.

Picked up a new Wacom Intous3 6x8 tablet for good price too since FL has no sales tax.

Basically... I came home fired up and ready to tackle any design project with my new knowledge. It was great stimulus for the mind. I highly recommend that if anyone gets a chance to attend... don't hesitate. I would have much rather attended this event than any of the outside training my employer had sent me too. Its cutting edge tips and tricks for those working with newest versions of the Adobe software.

Just adding my thoughts on the recent event