When we first encountered TeachUComp’s Mastering Photoshop Made Easy, we had a hard time believing the course could effectively incorporated Photoshop 7, CS, CS2, CS3, and CS4, all in one package.
We contacted TeachUComp and they were kind enough to grant us access to the online training course. We dug around and found a few tools and techniques that we know have changed from version to version and put them to the test. What we found was surprising.
Mastering Photoshop Made Easy uses Photoshop CS4 to demonstrate most lessons. If a tool or techniques was different in a previous version, the instructor takes time to explain the difference and how it may or may not affect usability. So what if the change can’t be explained using CS4? We are glad you asked.
Whenever there is a previous version topic or concept that can’t be explained in CS4, such as using the file browser (which does not exist in CS4), TeachUComp actually uses an older version of Photoshop to demonstrate the lesson; in this case they used Photoshop CS.
Considering the many differences between Photoshop 7 and CS4, we were surprised to find an all-in-one training program that covers everything. Mastering Photoshop Made Easy does it very well.
Each TeachUComp Photoshop Tutorial comes with practice exercises and 2 manuals; one Introductory, and one Advanced (in PDF). The manuals are very well written and most importantly, searchable, which makes them great tools for learning Photoshop.
The project exercises are not the same files used by the instructors in the lessons so you can’t really follow along, but they cover the same techniques demonstrated in the lessons. This is pretty cool because it gives you the chance to apply what you learned from the lesson on a different project.
TeachUComp also offers online Photoshop Tutorials. We found this particularly interesting because it is more than just a video player.
In most cases, when we say video interface we are referring to the video player that pops up and displays the lesson. In this case it isn’t just a video screen; it is a complete course interface that allows you to browse and watch lessons by chapter/topic, open the syllabus, and access course manuals.
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