Portland Macintosh Users Group

We had a great event and even tried something different this time. We had an iMovie cabin at MacCamp. This group was so focused on what they were doing, it amazed even me. This part of the event started out as a "what if" discussion at the PMUG picnic on the 4th of July. Two of our members (Terry Shellenberger and Steve Riggins) wanted to do an extended iMovie class. The problem is holding people's attention for two days on a weekend tends to overpower them. So how about a class at MacCamp that taught people not just iMovie but the whole filming process. They volunteered to pay their own way to Camp and to handle the whole class starting on Friday night and ending at noon on Sunday. It was pretty neat if I do say so. After general orientation for everyone, this group went back to their cabin to discuss class schedules and time frames. Then Saturday morning in their first and only real classroom time, they were learning how to film, then back to the cabin to learn how to edit in other cuts and sound clips. Two of the finished pieces will will presented at the December PMUG meeting with the two instructors presenting. Their motto is first you need a project then you create your movie. Pretty cool.

Also at MacCamp was John Mantzefield doing filming of all the classes and MacCamp in general for a PMUG advertising movie for computer shows and events we go to. This and all the other classes kind of tired me out, so sorry this "thank you "is coming so late.

Some of the other highlights were the Jaguar class given by Rick Hermanson from MacForce (local Apple store), Photoshop Elements Greg Twain(which turned into a high-end Photoshop class), and FileMakerPro -Jeff Yurka this class taught people not how to make a database but how to make it look good. All sorts of scripts and interface tips plus the second part of the class was using FileMaker Mobile. Last but not least was the AppleScript class Lucien Dupont where the goal was to create a step and repeat script to take home and try out.

Erick Laabs from the ComputerStore (he's the manager there) Did the network this time. Not only did we have hard wire in all the cabins but the Aiport network was set up in such away that you could carry your portable between cabins and never lose you connection.

Saturday night we had a "stump the guru" session, followed by a 45 minute jazz movie filmed and edited by Loren Leed using FinalCut Pro, followed by John Mantzefield showing an earlier version of the PMUG promo video also produced in FinalCut Pro. Prizes given out at the Saturday night meeting were provided by the Computer Store (refurbed Epson scanner and 250 MEG RAM) and Apple User Groups 4 Nice posters and iPod posters for all plus free Apple shirts for everyone. Some folks joke about making people happy campers, PMUG just does it.

Charles DeVore