Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Yearbook

Finished with all your finals?
Have nothing to do?

Try out this Google Earth Puzzle from the Atlantic's In Focus.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Multimedia

Check your grades! Check your blog! 
Check below and see what your missing!! 
Need help? Confused? Ask for help!


What should be on your Blog for this six weeks??


Self-Determined Project:
 - Identify your Problem
 - Design Brief
 - Design Spec
 - Plan
 - Evaluation
 - Citations
 - Completed Project (If its flash, you need to show it to me)


Portfolio
 - Citations
 - Evaluation
 - Completed Project (Can upload these to the blog, so you'll show this to me)


due first 3 weeks
due second 3 weeks


Many of you have not posted your citations or evaluations. This makes for some very sad grades!! Please fix this, so I can grade them!


ALSO!
Mrs. Lindig is collecting works of art to go on display over the summer. If you have a piece of digital work you've done that you think may qualify, let me know!





Yearbook Final

Final instructions are live during the yearbook class.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Yearbook


For the final, you will be creating a composite video in iMovie. You'll be making a video with someone talking to the camera with b-roll. What is b-roll? Basically, you've got someone talking to the camera, and while they are still talking you begin to see other footage or images. Here's an example with some b-roll from CBS news. In case YouTube is still blocked, here's an non-youtube example. Notice how the footage goes from people talking to images of what they are talking about. That's use of b-roll, and that's what we are looking for on the QR content.

iMovie is pretty simple, and apple has very short tutorials on it if you need. Most the tutorial videos are only a couple of minutes long. Start getting familiar with iMovie if you've never used it. A tutorial on how to create b-roll in iMovie will be provided by one of your peers in the near future.

For the yearbook final, you will be creating a video composite in iMovie for the QR codes. The QR codes will make use of b-roll.

Instructions
Example of three
These are examples of good quality videos. Creating two good quality videos of this caliber took the creators less than half the period.



first, download video and photos


Second: Use the student created tutorial below to create b-roll
Learn how to do this in iMovie



Not sure if its good? Ask!
Part of grade is based on quality.

Finish 1 video = D
Finish 2 videos = C - B-
Finish 3 videos = B
Quality can increase these
A- = Three total, two of good Quality
A+ = Three of good quality


Third: In iMovie, in the "Share" Menu at the top of the screen, choose "Export using Quicktime..."


Forth: Upload the finished file into google.docs, dropbox, or etc and share it with me


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Multimedia

You don't have to watch these, but for those of you wanting to expand your abilities in Dreamweaver, this may be of interest to you.


More Dreamweaver Help
Youtube Videos
- Use Dreamweaver to Create Simple Webpages google.doc link
How to use tables in Dreamweaver google.doc link
- Advanced Tables google.doc link
- Creating Table Based Layouts google.doc link

Sorry guys, apparently youtube has been blocked again. You'll have to download the file from google.docs for now. The files are big, they may take a little while to download.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Robotics Final Rubric

click to enlarge

The course won't be available until the day of,
however, you can use the rubric to see some of 
the skills you'll need for it.

Yearbook

For the yearbook final, as mentioned prior, you will be creating a video composite in iMovie for the QR codes. The QR codes will make use of b-roll.

Learn how to do this in iMovie:
link 1

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Multimedia

Using Flash?
Other students found this tutorial here pretty helpful.

Dreamweaver Users: Another example of how a website could be broken down into how it could be reconstructed via tables.

click to enlarge

I didn't label each and every row and column. Hopefully you're starting to catch on. You may notice in there, that sometimes there's just one column inside of a row. That's just how tables work. You cant just have a row- You have to have columns, even if that means you're only putting one column in. Of course, dreamweaver does all of that for you...

Oops! Some of the tables extend a bit further down in that picture. I didn't notice the scrollbar on the right side when drawing on the screenshot. Hopefully you get the idea though. If the image is confusing to you, let me know and I'll help you understand it better.


By the way, Dreamweaver can not make graphics or images for you. You will need to make whatever images you want for your layout in a different program and then save them in JPG(recommended) or GIF format, as these are the most widely readable formats across computer types, operating systems, and browsers. You may use whatever program you would like to create imagery for your layout. Remember, any borrowed imagery from the web must be royalty free.

examples of portfolio sites that could be built using tables: 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17

Dreamweaver Resources

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Multimedia

Most of you are now working on your website. If you hadn't already, make sure that you have everything on the previous project on your blog. I hadn't specifically mentioned it before, but make sure you have your evaluation of your work up as well.



We haven't really talked about product testing this year, ask me for feedback and for now we'll consider that product testing.

Creating a website
You guys should be currently working on creating a portfolio website of your work from through ought the year.

Something I wanted to mention is tables. If you are working on a website in dreamweaver, tables are a new or some-what experienced web designer's best friend. Tables are an easy way for new or moderately experienced web designers to build website layouts. There are a lot of other options now too, but tables were the standard with the web was first emerging, and is still a pretty widely used way of creating a layout. There are a lot of people who speak out against it now, and with some of the newer software, there are other options. I wouldn't recommend newer methods for new / amateur web designers (or students just starting to play with these ideas).

A table is composed of rows and columns. Rows go side to side (left to right), and columns are vertical (up to down). Basically, a table is a bunch of boxes. Tables don't have to look like boxes though, the boxes can be invisible. The shape a position of these boxes can be used to contain different things. Sort of like a giant book case, dresser, or entertainment system- a bunch of boxes to organize and contain your things.

To create a website layout with tables, you'll need to use the insert menu in dreamweaver to insert a table. If you highlight multiple cells with your cursor, you can merge cells. Just about any website layout can be create with a table.

Lets look at how my blog could be broken down into a simple table.
click image to enlarge

I'll show more examples later.

Yearbook

Having trouble in Yearbook? Need some extra credit? or just want to try for a higher grade?
Interview someone. Capture video of them talking about one of the events for the QR codes. We're wanting video of people talking or reminiscing positively about an event. Ask for more information.

Continue working on current assignments. For the final, you will be creating a composite video in iMovie. You'll be making a video with someone talking to the camera with b-roll. What is b-roll? Basically, you've got someone talking to the camera, and while they are still talking you begin to see other footage or images. Here's an example with some b-roll from CBS news from the tornados in Texas last month.

iMovie is pretty simple, and apple has very short tutorials on it if you need. Most the tutorial videos are only a couple of minutes long. Start getting familiar with iMovie if you've never used it. A tutorial on how to create b-roll in iMovie will be provided by one of your peers in the near future.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Yearbook


Your Final:
Help with QR Codes
-Create composite video in iMovie (more info to come)
-Or other projects (needs approval)

Assignments for remainder of six weeks:
  • 16 YB Specification Questions (see previous post)
  • OoC
  • 3 Week Report of event or happening
  • checkpoint grade end of next week


Assignments from last three weeks:
  • 10 examples of a photo-compositional technique
  • Commercial or music track for QR Codes
  • Self-determined Project that can help YB
  • OoC
  • 3 Week Report of event or happening
  • checkpoint grade friday

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Link for Nicole
Got information from this organization yesterday. All sorts of Journalism type work can be entered into them. Thinking of submitting some stuff for the individual awards... Check out the previous winners for photography, I'd like to submit a few of yours. Was thinking the leaping dancers from over the weekend for a sports photo (and maybe one of Austin's from Soccer), and some of your other ones for Feature Picture and Environmental Portrait (or any other ideas you have). In addition, they also have some other great examples of work and design you may find worth sharing with next year's staff.

Quiz Grade


I'm not here most of the day (wednesday- helping with field trip, thursday- helping with eoc's). That means today is a quiz grade. Forgot to do this last time we were testing as I didn't have an actual sub. Evidence that you show me (+ sub feed back) of what you got done today will count as a Quiz Grade!

Some of you are behind, and didn't turn stuff in last three weeks.You can still pass the six weeks, and you still hold around ~45% of your grade for the semester in your hands between the six weeks and the final. Be productive and you can succeed.

Quiz Grade

I'm not here most of the day (wednesday- helping with field trip, thursday- helping with eoc's). That means today is a quiz grade. Forgot to do this last time we were testing as I didn't have an actual sub. Evidence that you show me (+ sub feed back) of what you got done today will count as a Quiz Grade!

Some of you are behind, and didn't turn stuff in last three weeks.You can still pass the six weeks, and you still hold around ~45% of your grade for the semester in your hands between the six weeks and the final. Be productive and you can succeed.

If you've finished everything else you can work on in here, something to work on:


Put the following on your blog. Locked out of your blog, or some other excuse? Google doc, Drop Box, or find some other way to get the work to me instead. Work needs to be turned in during class on the day of the sub, otherwise I don't know that you actually produced the work in class.

Sub Day Task One
You should know the answers to these questions.
1. When can I submit my yearbook order?
2. How do I get an order form?
3. Where do I take my order?
4. How much does the book cost?
5. Isn't that expensive for a yearbook?
6. How do I get my book personalized, like my name, on the front cover?
7. How many pages is the book?
8. How much of it is in color?
9. What's a QR Code?
10. Why do I care about a QR code?
11. How many QR codes will there be?
12. What are the different categories of stuff for the QR codes?
13. How long will the QR codes last?
14. When will I get my yearbook?
15. How can I find out if I already bought one?
All of the above have correct and incorrect answers. Don't know the answers? Ask around.
Add a few ideas on how we could use the QR codes:


Sub Day Task Two
Research different famous photographers or photojournalists. Find one that you like or appreciate and tell me about them.

Provide at least two examples of work by them you like, and tell me why you think the photographs are good photographs.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Finish Line in Sight

The end is near and our work is almost complete. The last big thing to complete are the QR Codes to sell the books. We're trying to keep order forms available and ready for students and staff. If you notice an office is out, let us know so we can take some more down.

The QR Codes will be linking to videos. We have two people working on the Year at a Glance QR Code, and four+ people working on the others. We are using pictures from the event you take pictures of currently.

Some of you guys still owe assignments from before the progress report. Get them in if you're progress report grade isn't quite where you want it to be. You still have time to change things for the six weeks, but not enough time to be apathetic about it.

If you're planning on ordering, order soon. We ordered the same number of books as last year, and we sold out last year. This year's book is brighter, nicer, and in higher demand. You'll miss out if you wait too long.

All the Pisces are Set

Ignore the fish, this actually has nothing to do with them.


As stated, the final project is to create a portfolio of your work from the year. You may use Dreamweaver or Flash to do this. If you're thinking 'Hey, we haven't learned dreamweaver!' then you would be correct. Dreamweaver is used to create websites, so we don't really mess with it in Multimedia... until the end of the year.

Don't get too ahead of yourself though, we still need to finish the current project, but knowing about what's next may help you decide how to budget your time. Still to be graded for current project:
-Finished Product
-Evaluation
-Bibliography

Quite a few of you already know how to build a website from when we worked in Flash (assuming you chose that option). You are welcome to build another Flash Website, but there needs to be noticeable improvement, being that you've made one before. If you're thinking about flash, there's lots out there, and some of your peers may be great sources of information as well. If you like Flash, consider taking Digital Art & Animation in the future.

If you've decided you've had enough Flash, I'll help groups of students ready to learn DreamWeaver as you guys are ready. It's not terribly difficult, but can be tedious at times. If you decide you like DreamWeaver and want to learn more of it, take WebMastery, or take Digital Design if you just want a little more DreamWeaver but also want to learn other Adobe programs not in this class.

Whether Flash or DreamWeaver, you will need to gather up all your work from the year. This may be from your computer, or it may be from your blog. If you've kept your work up all year, gathering your work should be pretty easy.


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Multimedia

Progress Report Grades are due this Friday!

This Friday afternoon I'll be looking for your plan on your blog. That means... your plan is due Friday.

Your problems and design briefs have also been graded. Blogger's comment feature was working fine yesterday, but has broken again (or our servers aren't cooperating with them). So, 8th period has no comments for theirs currently. If you have a question about your's, let me know.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Yearbook

Blog Assignment:
We've talked about the compositional styles quite a lot this year. Aesthetics are always the first thing a person notices, and they are definitely important with our QR code content as well. Choose one compositional technique (we've talked about 11 of them), find and post ten strong photos that make use of that one technique. Great sites for high quality photography include Boston Globe's Big Picture and The Atlantic's In Focus.

Continue working on current assignments. Additional things due this three weeks:

  • Commercial or music track for QR Codes
  • Self-determined Project that can help YB
  • OoC
  • 3 Week Report of event or happening
  • checkpoint grade friday

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Design Specification

If you had your design brief posted, then I've most likely commented on it. If you don't have a comment, you might want to ask about it. There were a couple blogs that gave error codes when trying to comment. Blogger is having an error code for some of you. If so, I'll come see you. If you have any questions, come ask or speak up as I'm walked around.


As you continue your self determined project, and our more in-depth look at the IB design cycle. The next step is the design specification. 


A Design Specification should be based on information gained from the investigation. It is a list of requirements that your design ideas must meet plus a list of constraints, or limiters. It is a sort-of check list that you use when designing, planning, and creating.

After your research you can develop a Design Specification. It should tell the reader:

  1. Who are designing for (who will see/use/buy the product)
  2. Objective - What the successful design must do (could also indicate how well the solution is expected to work or under what conditions it will work)
  3. Production
    • What it should look like (Size/colours/etc)
    • What it should be made from
    • Tools needed to make the product
    • Time needed to complete the product
  4. How is it to be used



Two Decent Examples Follow
(notice they don't contain all required information, they'd be stronger if they did)
examples from myp-tech.wikispaces

Example 1
  • Must use the Quartz analogue clock movement provided.
  • The movement is 55mm x 55mm x 15mm, so it must be larger that 55mm x 55mm.
  • Should be smaller that 300mm x 300mm due to the size of the hands.
  • Cannot be thicker that 5mm due to the length of the movement shaft.
  • Should have a theme that reflects the results from my survey.
  • Must be original in its design.
  • Should be made from MDF, timber or acrylic as are the most suitable.
  • Must be able to be made in the TIS workshop.
  • Can not be too difficult to make.
  • Must be cost effective to make.
  • Should be easy to read.
  • Should be safe. (No sharps edges, non-toxic)
  • Must be able to hang on the wall securely
  • Must be able to be made in the time provided.
  • Must tell the time!

Test: I could test my clock by;

  1. Conducting a survey of my intended market
  2. Check that it can be read form various distances, angles and by various people.
  3. Ensure that it keeps accurate time by checking it against the clock on a computer.
  4. Check to see if the batteries can be replaced easily.
  5. Check that it hangs on the wall well and will not fall if bumped.



Example 2
General: - Will be 'hand' size. (120x120x20 approx)
- Will be made in the time given. (5-6 weeks)
- Will be made from the materials provided.
- (Softwood, acrylic, plywood, MDF)

Function (How it works)
- Must be either a maze or a 'ball in the hole' type of game.
- Must be an appropriate difficulty level for the age group.
- Must have at least one ball

Aesthetics: (the looks)
- Should be appealing for the target market.
- Should look 'well made'

Safety:
- Must have no splinters
- Must have not sharp edges or points
- Must be made from non-toxic materials

Quality:
- The ball should roll freely and not get caught.
- Needs to be well made and of good construction
- Needs to be durable, tough and hard wearing
- Should be smooth o the touch

Environmental:
- Should use the minimum amount of materials possible
- Waste kept to a minimum
- Use recycled materials wherever possible.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Final 6 Weeks

Things to do this 3 Weeks:
-OoC Photography
-3 Week Report
-QR Code music or Commercial (due this 3 weeks)
-Additional Yearbook Project (pitch an idea that would be beneficial to YB)

Final 6 Weeks

We've just about covered everything we need to this year, minus an end of the year project (which we don't do until... the end of the year). We've used quite a bit of different software, however, you may not of been able to explore it as much as you'd like.

For this project, you get to choose what to do, with my approval. Now before you get too far ahead of yourself, make sure you continue reading the whole post, and what is required of you. You'll need to decide what you want to make, and what software you'll need to use to do it (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, or a mix of these). We are also going to use this to look a bit more in depth at the Design Cycle.

(click to enlarge)

As we are newly moving into IB, we hadn't gone into everything with the Design Cycle yet, as many of you have never taken a Technology Class in IB. If we look at the two images above, screenshots from the IB MYP Technology Criteria, you can see where we need to start. You have two tasks due at the end of this week:
-Identify your Problem
Describe the problem and explain why it is important; how might it affect life, society, or the environment? How does the problem relate to you or your life? This should only be a few sentences.
-Develop a Design Brief
Do a bit more research before you continue to this step. Formulate and discuss questions (things you need to know) that will guide your investigation. Identify and acknowledge a range of appropriate sources of information. You will need to collect, organize, and evaluate your information, and evaluate the sources of your info as you continue your investigation.

However, the final text you submit for this is actually rather short. Write brief summary of the problem (main problem you've decided on to solve) and the appropriate response in one paragraph. The response should be a broad outline of how you intend to solve the problem, what you will create and what the design must achieve.

Good Example:
"Teenagers have very busy lives. School, family and social activities mean that being punctual is very important. I will design and make a wall clock that will be appealing for teenage girls. It will be a modern design and will be suitable for a teenage girl's bedroom. Because the design will appeal to teenage girls, them they will be more likely to look at it, read the time and therefore not be late."
Bad Example:
"I will make a football clock from plastic and print out pictures of players to use as the numbers."
examples from myp-tech.wikispaces




A Design Specification will be due next week, but your welcome to start on it earlier when you get to that point. We'll talk more about the Design Spec later, but you're welcome to research it earlier if you'd like.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Due Dates are Extremely Nigh!

This is your final week to work on your projects and assignments. Anything not turned in Friday won't be graded. Late isn't an option, as grades are due over the weekend. That's just how things fall this six weeks.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Multimedia

Just one more week to work on your Flash Projects.

Don't forget you need the written report to go with it. Written report should include your investigation, plan, about what you created, and the evaluation.


Having trouble with play and pause buttons?
Most people who've tried this one have gotten it to work:
How to script a button
from Easy Tutorials for Flash Actionscript 3
Need more info on buttons?

The link below doesn't walk you through it as well as some of you may like. However, if you can follow the terminology, this looks to be a very simple and elegant solution:
Flash Controls - Play/Pause Button

Yearbook

Things to work on Post Yearbook:
QR Codes Content:
 - advertisements for the yearbook (video that'll be linked up until book is released)
or - background music for QR code content

 - 3 weeks reports (8-10 good photos with description of who's in it and what happening)
 - OoC Photos

Examples of QR content
 - Intro
 - Cypress Falls QR Content

Monday, April 2, 2012

Examples of Lego Animatronics
They still need a bit of work, as obviously they still look like robots, but with feathers, but you can see the direction.



Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Flash Projects

If you haven't finished the ActionScript 3 tutorial on youtube, then get to it soon.

If you've already accomplished that, then its time to start thinking about your big project.

Choices for this Project:
-Animation (needs a play and pause button)
-Flash-based Website
-Flash Game
note: the video link above shows you how to make a play and pause button, a go to start and go to end button, and merge the play and pause button. The only part I'm requiring is the play and pause button. You can merge them if you want, you can add go to start and go to end if you want, but it isn't required. There are other videos and tutorials out there as well, you don't have to use this one, I just thought it was pretty good.

You may want to look into how to play sound/music, too. It'll definitely make things more impressive. Some tutorials online use Actionscript 3 and some use Actionscript 2, you can't mix and match. Make sure you're only using one or the other. There is preference for Actionscript 3.

As with every project, you need to use all four parts of the design cycle AND document them. Look at the IB Criteria by which you will be graded, and see how to get the most points for your work. Don't forget, there are already quite a few resources in my previous posts, but there's a lot more out there! Don't feel limited to just what I provided.

As always, while you may use copyrighted material for the small learning exercises, for your finished big projects whatever you make needs to be original. You may use free stock imagery and sounds/music from free sound libraries and free music libraries.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Example of a Report
Your report 8-10 photos with description of whats going on and who's in it is due March 23rd.

Needs to be of something happening around the school currently. 

Doodle 4 Google

Today, you may take a break from Flash


Instead, you may spend the period to creating a Doodle 4 Google. About Doodle4Google Video by the Google Doodle Artists. Google Doodle artists reminisce on their childhood paths to becoming an artist. Tuesday, March 20th is the deadline, so don't be too ambitious unless you plan on coming in during lunch, or afterschool.

The theme is "If I could travel in time, I'd visit..."

You may hand draw, use photoshop, or combine the two (requires scanning, please allot time for the slow scanner!). Click the photoshop link to find out what size to set the document at. Click here for the forms (including the template). I have paper copies if you'd like, just ask!

It is a competition, there are prizes that can be won! What if your parents don't want you to enter the competition? That's fine, you can still do the assignment if you'd like :) You can use the assignment to replace your lowest daily grade this six weeks, or in addition to your other grades, or just for fun.

To enter the competition, you will need your parent's to sign the official entry form (unless you're 18 already).




We'll continue Flash next class and discuss your project options for it at that point.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Continuing Basics of Flash

Some of you are ready to move on, and some of you are still working on the first four flash assignments (a drawing, two motion tweens, one shape tween). If you are ready to move on, then it's time to start learning a bit about ActionScript3, or how you can program things to happen in flash.

For starters, let look at something really basic.

ActionScript3 Basics Tutorial:01
I'd like to see you be able to follow along this tutorial and make a graphic behave in the ways shown in this file. He makes it really easy, follow along and you should have very little trouble.
Through this tutorial, you should be able to show me three things using actionscript,
-make an image move across the screen
-make an image jump to a specific point on the screen
-make an image follow your cursor

From here on, I'd like you to think about what you'd like to do with Flash. Possibilities include making an animation, or a website, or a game. You'll need to pick up more skills on the way to get a product you're happy with. Below are a few more tutorials that use ActionScipt3 that may aid you in this.

Cool Examples of Pro Work with Flash

More Flash ActionScript3 programming:
Create dancing letters
More Lessons in Actionscript3

Some other simple examples of ActionScript3

More Advanced
Simple Avoider Game
Create a Space Shooter
Create a Brick Breaker Game
You're welcome to look up other things that can be done with ActionScript3 as well!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Yearbook

Current Assignments:

Report on a Current Event (with a club, organization, or just campus event)
With photos (use good composition) and text
Due: March 23rd

OoC Photos
50 Mediocre photos or 20 good ones
Due: Progress Report Deadline

Choice:
Do a Report on a Photojournalist
or
Spend your time creating App Icons for Clubs/Organizations
Quality matters, (both for you grade and the book)
Only the best ones will be used. Remember, they have to be BIG for printing, around 2 by 2 inches at 300 resolution. Use the same background color as these. Don't try to match the background color, use the dropper tool to take the EXACT same color.
If you can't or wont make one of good quality,
do the report on a photojournalist instead.
Due: March 8th/9th

Why is can't crossed out? The staff icon in the examples below was created by a ninth grader who isn't in yearbook and had only used photoshop for limited photo tough-ups. The programming club was created by an eighth grader who had never used photoshop before.

We already have good icons for Talent Show, Life Skills, Robotics, Student Council, Programming Club, Environment Club, Anime Club, Collegiate Challenge, Comedy Sportz, Interact, Model UN, Newspaper, Choir, Art Club, International Festival, Knitting Club, National Junior Honor Society, Dance, and grade levels and staff.

Examples of Good Icons:

Monday, February 27, 2012

Writing Samples and Photojournalism

Photo Journalism and Reportage
Due to the nearing deadline of the yearbook, regular staff is no longer working on the yearbook. Editors may call on students they need to help them. So, is your job complete?


... Not really.
As you should be aware, this year's book will feature QR codes.

Why? As you know, there is still a lot of the year left, yet we have to send in the book quite a ways before the end of the year. This will allow us to add additional content after we have to send the final pages in. So, its time to begin gathering material for it.  As we already have most the regular aspects of the school and clubs, we'll need to focus on new things. If you get something really cool, before the books submitted, we can discuss squeezing it into the book.

You'll need to choose a club/organization/special event thats doing something new or different from normal (field trips, special events, whatever beyond just what they normally do). You'll need to create a report on what the club/organization/event is doing, photograph it (use compositional techniques!), and write captions for it. You'll use the apple program Pages for this.

What to do today? Start learning how Pages works. Look into Photojournalism and Reportage to see these sorts of works done by professionals (often done on current events, new around the world, life in other countries).


Writing Samples
It's that time of the year.

If you're in yearbook, you have the option including discussion over one of four photographs from the Boston Globe's Big Picture. The photos on paper are xeroxed in black and white, they've been posted here so you may see them in higher quality and color.

from BostonGlobe: Students of the Academy for Peace and Justice attend class in Port-au-Prince Jan. 9, 2012. (Swoan Parker/Reuters)

from BostonGlobe: A man dressed in a folk costume jumps during the traditional Czech Masopust Carnival on February 4, 2012, near the east Bohemian city of Pardubice. Every year in mid-winter, villages throughout the Czech Republic celebrate Masopust. The festival marks the beginning of Lent. (Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images)

from BostonGlobe: Makeup is applied backstage before the Rebecca Taylor Fall/Winter 2012 show during New York Fashion Week, Feb. 10, 2012. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)


from BostonGlobe: In this photo shot with a fisheye lens, the Pittsburgh Penguins' Matt Cooke celebrates his goal past Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas during Pittsburgh's 2-1 win in an NHL hockey game in Boston on February 4, 2012. (Winslow Townson/Associated Press)

Continuing Flash




Today during class, I'll come around and see what you have so far. It is OK if you don't have all of your tweens created yet. I will be grading what you have completed so far. If you've finished everything so far, I'd like you to choose something to experiment with next, and show me your results later on.


Last class, we talked for a few minutes about Flash and HTML5. Find three html5 websites that impress you and link them on your blog.

Continue working on your flash assignments. By now you should have a drawing done in flash on your blog. Next step, start working with those tweens. Check the previous post for resources if you need.

Even Taco Cabana's using HTML5. Looks nice!

Work in Flash
Create a file, or files showing:
drawing- example

motion tween- change in speed example
(notice the ball goes slower at its maximum height, and faster when its near the ground)

motion tween- curved trajectory example

shape tween- example

These are only examples; you don't have to create exactly what is shown, just create something that shows the same concept. I DON'T recommend trying to recreate these exact examples. Apply some of the instructions/concepts in the previously posted videos/links.

Got this done already?
Next step is to learn a bit about ActionScript 3. They've actually got a whole manual on it! Its 128 pages... I don't think we have time for that :((( However, there are a few website out there that will walk you through creating some stuff using ActionScript 3. You'll need to make something with Flash Actionscript 3, and it doesn't have to be that hard. I'll be posting up some later.



Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Go Go Flash

Impressive collections of work:
Cris & Peache's Geography Game: Investigate, Plan, Create, Evaluate
Madi's Bio Game: Investigate, Plan, PitchCreate 2, Evaluate
Adam's Chem Game: Investigate 2, Plan (on paper), Create, Eval. Write Up

New Six Weeks: Learning Flash CS4
Drawing in Adobe Flash works similar in some ways to Adobe Illustrator. If you remember how to use illustrator, drawing in Flash will be a bit easier. However, its a bit more complex, as it allows creating animations, interactivity, and can even be used to create games with the additions of scripting codes. All those online web based games you've seen, they're all flash based (well, the vast majority at least).

Can you find any really cool flash based websites? Be careful you don't get flash mixed up for HTML 5, it might be a good idea to search for Examples of Flash Websites to see some of the cool stuff pros can make it do. Post links to three cool flash websites on your blog.

If you were to get really good at flash, some of your game designs could actually become flash games. In the short period we have to work on it though, it'd be very challenging to learn action script 3 well enough.

I've collected quite a few sources for you, not that you need to watch them all.  Rather, since Flash is more complicated than most of what we used this year, I wanted to make sure you had plenty of resources in case some of them didn't make since to you, were too fast, too slow, etc. Alot of these are videos, as that's just what seems most common. However, there are non-video tutorials as well. Keep in mind, you're not limited to these resources, these are just the ones I collected.





First Three Assignments in Flash:
1. Draw something in Flash
2. Make a Classic Motion Tween of:
 2a - something that speeds up
 2b - something that bounces along gradual arcs
3. Make a Shape Tween of:
 - something transforming into something else


It's been a while since I've used flash, so I had to get reacquainted with the tools. Watching the Drawing Tutorial for Flash CS3 helped a bit, even if some of the things work a bit differently (as we're using CS4). I've created a cartoon-esque helmet. When played as a swf file (not the png screenshot I've taken of it on the left), the picture starts with just the background, then the helmet zooms into the frame. What can you make?



Friday, February 17, 2012

End of Six Weeks Reflection

Six weeks short reflection:
This semester is a third of the way through now. Post a bit about your thoughts on what you've done so far. Post the answers to these questions on your blog.

Do you feel this six weeks was successful for you? Why or why not? How did your work ethic affect this?



Of the two major projects we worked on this six weeks (typography & game design), which did you prefer? Tell me about your thoughts on why.



For both of these projects, you were able to choose which software you wanted to use. What did you work most in? Why did you choose this software? Was this choice based on what you preferred to use, or what you thought would work best on this project? After completing it, do you think you'd use the same software if you could go back and begin it again?



What is something you've done or learned this six weeks that you think you may be able to use beyond this class and how?


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Final Project

Your completed projects, along with design cycle documents are due at the end of this week.

Below I've are two links from some of the more completed write ups from the previous project. With how much planning, investigating, and creating you guys have done for this project, I figure the majority of you will have much longer posts for this project. Some of you already have.
X-Box Controller Typography Project
Alice-in-Wonderland-esque Typography Project

You're writeup doesn't have to be on your blog, it can also be on paper if your prefer. Either way, this should have ensure you understand what your writing should look like. If you go back far enough on the blog, you can also see some of the previous student work to more completed design cycle write-ups from prior projects.


Are you so amazing that you've finished everything and there's absolutely nothing that can be improved upon? I'm not sure if I'd agree that theres nothing that can be improved upon. However, if you're stuck on the idea that your absolutely finished with no room for improvement, then start looking into Adobe Flash.



Adobe Flash works similar in some ways to Adobe Illustrator. However, its a bit more complex, as it allows creating animations, interactivity, and can even be used to create games. All those online web based games you've seen, they're all flash based (well, the vast majority at least)

A few Videos from Lynda.com
-getting started
-essential training

Adobe.tv
Animation Learning Guide

Wednesday, February 8, 2012


Popsicle Stick Challenge 2

Sub Day = Quiz Grade
Whenever I am out, what you get done that day (judged by how much evidence your provide for me on your blog alongside feedback from today's guest teacher) counts as a Quiz Grade. Show me how productive you were and keep your teacher happy and you'll be fine. If you choose otherwise, then... not so happy :(

I won't be here today or next class. Each day counts as a separate quiz grade.



On your blog, tell me about what you got done today. Both days are quiz grades! 

For my newer students, write it up in a google doc and share it with me.


Todays groups:
You can work in your previous groups when I get back. Don't challenge the group, and don't give your teacher a hard time, get over it and complain when I get back if feel you need to.

1- Michael, Thuong thuong, Jeremy

2- Tyler, Deseri, Brent

3- Billy, Raul, Jonathan

4- Thuong Thuong, Erik, Joseph


You will need a fairly large amount of popsicle sticks. Your goal is to build a bridge, using just popsicle sticks. No glue, no tape, no string... just popsicle sticks. It CAN be done, but it can be challenging. We, myself and a group of teachers, were able to build these during the summer in about 30-60 minutes in groups of three.

an example of a bridge using only popsicle sticks

a bit more advanced
Can you make yours this tall? How tall can you make it?
(take pictures of what you have before getting too ambitious, in case it collapses)


Take pictures of your completed bridge and post them on your blog 
(or in your shared google doc)


Discussion/Reflection Questions:
How hard was this challenge? 
Did it get easier as you went?
Do you think that working as a group made this easier?
How do you think this would of gone if you had to do this independently?
Discuss your thoughts to these questions on your blog (or in your shared google doc).