May 25, 2011

Last day of class before Finals. We're getting our websites graded today (No uploads, though). I heard they're wiping our computers over the summer... :( Hope that doesn't include our H-Drives, 'cause my animation work would all be wiped out... Sadface:(.
Have a great summer, everyone~

May 23,2011

Absent for EOC testing. I'm almost done with my website anyway; hopefully I'll get a good grade on it so I can keep my A average. Wouldn't do to get blown out of the runnings for valedictorian already. I think I'll take the test as a final; I've had enough of working with posters this year unless I can think of a good idea..

May 17, 2011 and May 19, 2011

Still working on Dreamweaver. Tried to make a splash page out of a flash video with a hotspot, failed miserably. I might redesign my other pages if I have time; otherwise, I'll leave them as-is.

May 9 and May 11, 2011

I've been making my website in Dreamweaver using the 'table' technique. To be honest, I don't like the program. I mean, sure, it can help you learn HTML, but it's so basic... It seems rather limited. Blogs like this allow you to do pretty much the same thing with less work. I mean, sure, you can customize the dreamweaver site, but it's more work. Some of the stuff is hard to figure out, but most of it is alright.

Today's Work May 5, 2011

Today, we finished our flash animations and started looking into Dreamweaver. I've uploaded all of my images today (I was basically compiling information) into a Dreamweaver page, but we're learning how to make templates next time so I'll have to probably redo it. I love how Dreamweaver shows the code as you work, though. It helps you learn coding.

5 Questions for Final

1) Which of these is not an Adobe program?
A. Illustrator
B. Photoshop
C. Flash
D. Keynote

2) Which of these programs are included in iWork?
A. Microsoft Word
B. Pages
C. Illustrator
D. Flash

3) What program is free to download from the web permanently?
A. Microsoft Word
B. iWork
C. Flash
D. Project ROME

4) Which of these programs includes built-in animation capabilities?
A. Pages
B. GarageBand
C. Project ROME
D. Photoshop

5) How many projects did the Multimedia class do in Flash this year?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4

Ho hum.

We've gotten our final project today, which is to make a website in Adobe Dreamweaver. At least the name of the program is cool. Don't know how hard this program is, but it can't be any worse than Illustrator. That program will always be the bane of me.
On another note, finally finished my Keynote 5 minute Biology project. Jeez, that was horrible. We had to compile flash animations, keynote animations and a lot of information to get -just- 5 minutes with citation animations. Sorta cut it a bit close, really.

Flash Today

Today, I was working in class. It was a pretty lonely class, since our sophomores, juniors and seniors are testing today. Then again, that also meant peace and quiet to work.
I'm pretty much done, all told. This is the .mov of my flash movie, but the animations are a bit off- the shield is visible and the arrows don't hit where they're supposed to. Pretend everything is moved a bit to the left.

Blog Post for April 25 & April 27

I've been working in Flash this whole time, and it's not such a bad program once you get used to it. I'm actually using it in my biology project, with me and someone else I know making flash animations to illustrate a virus.
Like I said, fun program... For me, anyway. Looks like most other people in my class are raging. Or, y'know, playing games. *cough* Hopefully flash games, but still games all the same.

Flash

We've officially started work in Adobe Flash CS4, which is said to be cool yet utterly frustrating at the same time. I think it's both, because I have barely any idea what's going on, but I'm learning through trial and error. I was working on ... Various things today, and this is what I have:


Meh, it's a work in progress.

Finished Ronin

Katana brushes are cool. Amirite?

Today's Work

Since we're done with the movie, I was working on a Ronin logo today in Photoshop. Here's what I have, in a rough version.  I used a katana brush I found online, so.. No, I don't know how to make a katana well in Photoshop. Maybe if I had a tablet.

Today's Work

Today, our teacher came by and critiqued the work we've done so far. We have our video done and in iDvD right now, and we're just waiting to export it. We've filled out the Investigation, Plan, Create, and Evaluation parts of the design cycle journal pages. We're pretty much done, with a few minor changes made to audio and effects today.

Today's Work

Besides writing down the work for today in the Create handout, I thought I'd add a couple things here. Today, I figured out the whole Dynamic View thing for Blogger. It's pretty cool, but you can't see videos from it. http://schooledbypaulyd.blogspot.com/view/mosaic is an example, and you can see five different types of views from the drop-down menu.
Besides that, we're pretty much done with our iMovie thing, early. I've checked out iDVD, and it seems like an easy program to work with (Thankfully).

Animation 2

Latest Animation project here for my friends to view. Bag Fall 1.0

Recent Days (Past 4 or so periods)

For the past periods, my group has worked on filming and iMovie to produce our PSA. We used the daily sheet to record our actions, but skipped a day or two due to a lack of time to fill out the sheet.

Friday, March 25 2011

Today, we worked on the "Plan" part of the design cycle. We listed the materials, props and types of technology that we need, and the steps we would take to complete the project. We also wrote a script and drew a storyboard for the project.

Wednesday, March 23 2011

Today, we began working on the Investigation part of the design cycle. We figured out what resources we need to create the anti-drug PSA, which will be a notice to teenagers to prevent / deter people from using drugs. We also made a basic bibliography, writing down websites that we looked at today. We also made a list of things we need to know/find out about for the project.
-This was the Investigation phase in the design cycle. Next time, we'll start planning our project out.

PSA

Today, we made groups of 3 to create a PSA. My group decided that we're going to do one on teens' drug use, but we don't know what we're going to do specifically. A good PSA appeals to the viewers' emotion, so we might do a sad or funny PSA.

Notes

For after spring break, our teacher has assigned us thus:
"When we come back from Spring Break, we will play with a little bit of Video Production. You will be working in small groups. There will be two projects, one will be a short PSA (Public Service Announcement). The second will be a short dramatization, taking a play and putting a twist on it. More will be explained after spring break, but you are welcome to use the extra time to find a play or a topic for the PSA that you might be interested in." -http://sw-multimedia.blogspot.com/


So I'm taking this time to brainstorm a couple of ideas. I think my PSA will have something to do with aliens taking over the world; that's the first idea my brain really stuck on. For the play, I'm not quite sure what I'll do. Maybe a scene from the Phantom of the Opera or another famous play, like Romeo and Juliet. How can you make that more dramatic, though? :/

Reflection -

So it's the week before spring break, marking the first half of this semester over. That's 3/4 of the year of school! It certainly feels like longer than that for me, really. Lots of people say that it went by in a flash... No; for me, it dragged on and on and on and- (you get the point.) This semester in this class, I've learned how to make a good wiki article, animate text to reflect emotion on a Keynote, and worked in the all-powerful Project ROME. Learning how to create a wiki article could be helpful for compiling information with friends in the future, but I'm not quite sure how that could apply otherwise. Animating text on a Keynote could be a fun project to make reading more entertaining for a presentation for sure. Project ROME... That could be used to make anything from a poster to a flat presentation board, so I'm happy I learned it. I've worked harder on my projects this semester, especially since we're on a subject that I've enjoyed - animating the first chapter of the Art of War by Sun Tzu (One of my favorite works of literature) was fun, and working in Project ROME was especially nice since it comes with an option to animate your shapes, similar to the 3DS Max animation program we have in my Animation class. Overall, this has been a pretty good semester so far. I think that my work has turned out very well (Ignore the identical Earths thing! That's only noticeable because they're RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER!) this semester.
Have a great spring break!
PaulyD

Advertisements

I have here two advertisements. The first one is for a very fictional movie, and the second one is for an environmental poster. In other words, the first one is a joke and the second one is a *bit* more serious.

The earth is the same on both, but when (except here, of course) would an environmental poster and a movie poster be hung up right next to each other? (Shhhhhh.)

Project ROME

I have my posters done, but I'm out of time in class. Here's my bibliography for now.
Works Cited

Antkevyv. fall. N.d. Stock.xchng - the Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2010. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1320395 >.

Cardoso, Renato. recycle 2. N.d. Stock.xchng - The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 10 Mar. 2007. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/736426>.

Da Silva Parreira, Ariel. Blue Icebergs. N.d. Stock.xchng - The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 10 Jan. 2010. Web. 4 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1253865>.

Dudley, Richard. Bin Garbage Trash. N.d. Stock.xchng - The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 29 Mar. 2009. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1166890>.

Fabbri, Gabriella. playing with light 2. N.d. Stock.xchng - The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 26 May 2010. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1284216>.

Faiani, Karina. Clouds. N.d. Stock.xchng - The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 19 May 2010. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1282626>.

Gabink. Polar Bear 1. N.d. Stock.xchng- The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 26 Apr. 2008. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/994375>.

- - -. Polar Bear 3. N.d. Stock.xchng- The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 26 Apr. 2008. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/994377>.

Milev, Svilen. green house. N.d. Stock.xchng- The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 23 May 2010. Web. 4 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1283546>.

Retro Sparkle Drive. N.d. Stock.xchng- The Leading Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 1 Mar. 2010. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1264659>.

Richert, Christa. industrial workplace. N.d. Stock.xchng - The Leading Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 26 Feb. 2011. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1339596>.

Satria, Nino. The Planets 1. N.d. Stock.xchng - The Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 3 Mar. 2009. Web. 4 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1155281>.

PROJECT Rome

We're still working in Rome for another week. Today, I finished up my movie poster, completely changing my design theme. I'll post that poster along with the environmental one as soon as I finish it.

PROJECT Rome

We got a new project in PROJECT Rome, which is to make a poster for a fictional movie and a poster for an environmental group. I've started on my poster for the movie, which is going a bit well after I found out that I could use Photoshop for any manipulations I needed.

Feb. 25, 2011

Today, we continued work in Project ROME. We were supposed to do a tutorial on Layout and Formatting Text, but I just ended up messing around with it;

Our second assignment was to create an award for the first and second place winners of a competition. I'm working on that now, but I don't think I'll upload it here.

Edit; nevermind: Here you go!

Adobe ROME

I don't care what the others say; I love this program. We worked on a logo today, and I was able to complete it pretty easily.

Yeah, this program's pretty cool. This is what I worked on this class period, and I hope we keep using ROME.

Feb. 18, 2011

Today, we watched (finished?) presentations in class. Then, we went into Project ROME, an Adobe tool that is similar to ...Flash, photo editing, and other programs put into one. I like it. This is my Project Rome..Project!

Feb. 14, 2011

Sorry. Forgot to post for today; see below post for the Quicktime video. Other than that, we wrote a rough draft for our Wiki articles today, and that's pretty much it.
Here's my wiki.
Other than that, we just presented 6 projects about the Web 2.0 tools. Yeah, we still have those to do. >_>

Erm, Edit; this post was for Feb. 14, 2011 and Feb. 16, 2011.

Animated Text Keynote Cont.

Okay, funny thing. Turns out that our field trip was delayed for an hour because of the "cold weather" (Really? There's cold weather?) so I got to come here and make a few adjustments on my Keynote. Anyway, I could only get through one section of The Art of War, so... Here we go!
(Note: Also, if you scroll down and watch "The Story of Bob by Bob", it is another example of animated text- Just not in story format.)

Okay, I lied. I can't post it right now because I really need to go, and this keynote refuses to export correctly. Sorry!

This is an edit on Monday, February 14, 2011 (Happy Valentine's Day!) to post this video up.

Animated Text Keynote

Today, in class, we worked on making an animated text keynote. I used part of this book, the Art of War, by Sun Tzu, and started making my Keynote. I'm doing okay, but it's taking forever because of all the text boxes I have to make. Also, I'll be gone next class- I have to go to a Model UN Conference. Maybe I'll stop in during an open lab to finish this up, since I only have one slide done so far.

Cooliris

The first thing I thought of when I saw this was...Wow. That's expresses my feelings towards this exactly.
Cooliris is something to buff up search engines everywhere. I thought Google was great when they implemented the nearly-unlimited scroll thing on their image-search, but this takes that to a whole new level. This program allows you to search indefinitely on a sort of plane until you get the picture you want. It has a customizable background and works on nearly every famous browser. What's not to like? I'll try this on Firefox later since we can't actually download it in school, but it seems to be an awesome program.
I actually made a Cooliris wall, which you can see at the bottom of this page. This is a set by stuntbear on Flickr, which was actually featured in its own Yahoo! Article. It's called MicroWorld..Enjoy!

Web 2.0 Tools Write-Up

Stock.Xchng

This website is one of many free stock photography sites on the Internet. Using a search function, people can find and use free-stock photos for projects with citations.  Many companies and schools use stock photography sites for projects so they can add photos and make their projects better. Creating an account is optional but useful, because it lets you download photos at different sizes and allows you to post your own photos.

Tutorials

Multiple other resources are available at Stock.XCHNG that other free stock photography sites don't offer. Stock.XCHNG has other resources,such as blogs, tutorials, and other ways to help utilize the photos you find on the site. The site also offers multiple other options that makes it exceptional. You can search random photos by popularity and most commented stock photos for easy access to photos that you know will be good, for example. Stock.XCHNG has a large variety of photos, which come in decent sizes and with decent quality.

However, the site does have its limitations. The best-quality photos are watermarked and must be purchased with the site's "Credits", which may cost between $.24 to $.99 depending on the quantity you buy at once. Also, some of the photos you're looking for may not be on the site, or you may not be able to find it due to the search function going wrong. Stock.XCHNG can be fairly limiting in this aspect- if you are doing a project similar to other people, you may find one of the pictures you used repeated in another person's project. 

As stated before, this website could easily be used in school to find photos to use on a project that will be posted online with citations. Students can also learn how to use the photos with the site's many blogs and tutorials. This helps you develop your skills in programs such as Photoshop, iPhoto, etc. 

Stock.XCHNG

Stock.xchng - the Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 14 Jan.
     2011. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/>.

Today's Post

Okay, I was out last time to go to the summit. So, I can't make any posts about the presentations of other students. :/ And I was hoping to see them, darn.

To sum up what I missed last class and need to know for this class:
Input devices are things that put information into a computer, such as a keyboard or mouse.
Output devices are things that display the information, such as a monitor.

So for this illustration...
1) Monitor; Output
2) Keyboard; Input
3) Mouse; Input
4) CD/DVD Drive; Input/Output? If I had to pick, it would be Input, but the actual CDs are input/output.
5) Headphones; Output
6) USB Flash-Drive/ Jump Drive; Input/Output (Stores information that is transferred to a computer)
7) Projector; Output
8) Printer; Output
9) Wireless Internet & Hub; Input & Output
10) ActiVote; Input
11) ActivBoard Pen; Input

*ActivBoard; Output

3DS Max

So I decided to share a part of my animation work here.

Quicktime

Well, I converted my Keynote about Stock.XCHNG into a Quicktime. The video is below. Enjoy!

I won't be here next class; going to a summit!

Rehearsal Presentation

Today, I presented my Keynote project to a friend. On my first presentation, my friend said it was rather dull. Based on his feedback, I've added slide transition and cleaned up my animation a bit to make it more smooth. I've also added another slide or two to add the extra minute I need to fulfill my time requirement. There were no errors in grammar (At least in what I wrote- The blog posts might have some grammar errors.) I've followed all of the feedback given and have nearly perfected this project; on Tuesday, I might present to a few more people to get feedback. I probably have to work on my speech a little more as well.

Survey for Presentation (Ignore unless you've seen it!)

Keynote Project Progress

I'm almost done with this Keynote presentation. I'm just adding some final touches and notes. Next class, I'll be presenting to a friend and figuring out how to make one slide come right after another one without having to click to transition between slides.

Article- PowerPoint is NOT the Problem with Presentations Today

Today, my partner and I read an article about a few conference hosts banning the use of PowerPoint during presentations. The article mentioned the ineptness of the presenters and their lack of ability to present successfully- "If their presenters can't design an effective PowerPoint presentation, how are they going to use flipcharts and whiteboards effectively?" I must say, I like the guy who wrote this. He phrases it nearly perfectly- It's not the inability of PowerPoint to aid us in our presentations; rather, it's the ineptitude of the clumsy (For the inability to use a stronger word) presenter that is the fault here.

Hello- From Bob

So I decided to mess around with Keynote today. This is what I found while I was working, and he (it?) asked to be shown to the world.

Yeah...Bob.

Keynote

Keynote is Powerpoint's younger and cooler brother. Right? Anyway, this is one Apple application that I could get used to. After watching the tutorials on Keynote, I think the animations and transition options are a lot more diverse than the lousy animations that my Powerpoint '03 at home has. I could get used to this application pretty quickly, and the animations seem to allow for a wide variety of presentations.  I've actually started a little story; I'll post it later. Bai!

Death by Powerpoint

Okay...Today, we watched a slideshow called "Death by Powerpoint". Quite a famous topic, but one I disagree with immensely. The "Death by Powerpoint" slideshow also gave tips on how to make a good Powerpoint presentation. I could relate to a few of these tips, especially the one to keep the text short and simple. However, the overall "Death by Powerpoint" thing is something I disagree about. First off, I've never seen someone be bored to death (Though that would immensely interesting). Second, Powerpoints can be a great way to present as long as the presenter is prepared. Finally, some detailed Powerpoints I.E. ones with a lot of text can actually be useful depending on your audience- for example, a board of trustees would rather listen to you speak and read the more interesting points on your Powerpoint, but a classroom of kids would rather be amazed by transition animations and hear you speak the important points in quick sections.
I must agree that some Powerpoints can be utterly horrifying, though. Some Powerpoint presentations I've seen have had way too much text, or text you couldn't even read due to the scintillating or overly colorful backgrounds. Others have had too much text, too little information, or no visuals to back up the data when needed. One Powerpoint I've seen had rock music that drowned out the speaker and had absolutely nothing to help the presentation.
But, I like Powerpoint. I don't think it'll be the death of me at all. Keynote, on the other hand...

I'm Back!

What's up, folks! PaulyD is back from his (extended) vacation and has a whole new project to work on.
Our assignment is to pick a Web 2.0 tool (More on that in a moment) and to experiment with it, then assess its pros, cons, and usability for students and present that information. Web 2.0 tools are tools such as blogs, wikis, and social networks such as Facebook that allows people to share data. It is also referred to as the second generation of the World Wide Web, which some may consider as an "upgraded" version (I.E. mp3.com ---> Napster, Ofoto ----> Flickr, etc.). Most Web 2.0 sites allow users to post their own content next to the site's content - As a matter of fact, Blogger is a Web 2.0 tool!

My project will either be on Wikipedia or Stock.XCHNG as two famous Web 2.0 sites. I was considering using Youtube, but one of my friends grabbed that as his presentation. I chose Wikipedia and Stock XCHNG because I know a little about them already (I didn't really want to do a presentation on a website I knew absolutely nothing about =( ) Plus, they're both famous websites. I like that.