WEEK 10

This week we did a tutorial in InDesign. I have worked with InDesign alot before in my typography classes at Umass Dartmouth so I understood everything that was going on. I like working with this appllication, I think its interesting to see everything you can do with type, changing the leading, tracking, kearning, etc.

Now all I have to worry about is getting my website finished . . .

WEEK 9 - websites

Today in class we worked in dreamweaver. The tutorial at the beginning was a little confusing, but once I was the one doing it (I understood it alot better. So far I have most of the main page set up in dreamweaver, now I just need to make the links to other pages and create the other pages. I do have an idea where Im going with all of this so I actually dont think it will be too confusing, now the only thing is finding the time to do everything!!!

WEEK 8

I know this is a little late but I completely forgot to make a post last week. In class last week we figured out that the school server didnt work, so we set up accounts in bravenet so we could have a host for our websites. The "worst" part of class was probably just trying things and keep having to see that ERROR message come up. That was definately frustrating. Everything still seems a little confusing but I'm sure after working more with everything I'll be fine.

WEEK 7 - motion guide and shape tween tutorial

We went over motion guide in flash today in class. We used a background image of a map of the United States and an airplane. The point of the tutorial was to learn how to make the plane fly across the page (or across the map). Here are the steps to the tutorial that we did . . .
• import images to the library
• drag your background image from library onto the screen (make sure you are on the first layer)
• make the background image fit in the window
- modify the cordinates in properties table
- main menu - view - magnification - fit in window
- use the free transform tool and make it fit manually
• make sure you lock the background layer so nothing unexpected can happen to it
• create another keyframe in frame 40 so you have the length of your movie
• create a new layer and re-name it so you know what it is
• drag other image into the first key frame
- use the free transform tool to resize
- to deselect image click on any white or gray area outside the image
• insert motion tween in keyframe 1
- click keyframe 40 and move the plane to the end of the path (around california)
- make sure the dotted line turns into a straight line with an arrow
- the movie will now be the plane flying in a straight line from Newfoundland to California
• to make the plane have a more fun flying path you can insert a motion guide
• in the motion guide layer select the pencil tool (have the color be white) and draw your own creative path from Newfoundland to Californian
• then make sure you are on the airplane layer and using the free transform tool make the plane fit with the beginning of the path
- make sure you click "orient to path" in keyframe 1
• moving to key frame 40, move the plane, use the free transform (if needed) and click "orient to path" again
• now when you play the movie (control - test movie) the plane will not be flying in a straight line, but it follows the path you drew (it wil loop and bump along with whatever you drew)


Now we are creating a shape tween
• we imported the U2 Vertigo image into library
• resized the image to fit the stage
• then we clicked on frame 40 and created a keyframe
• main menu - modify - break apart
• select a frame inbetween (frame 20) and insert - shape tween
• using free transform you can movie and manipulate the image to make it turn and twist in the movie, you can also add color and any other affects you want

This was a project I was working on for my color threory class and I finally finished it. It had to do with monochromatic and achromatic coloring. I am really pleased with how it turned out. I used the graphite pencils and prisma colored pencils.


Then, I scanned it into photoshop added a few filters, changed the hue/saturation, levels, overall Just tried to make it look more sketchy, less able to see exactly what It was at first glance . . . this is what I came up with

WEEK 6 - Flash Tutorial

We did a tutorial in Flash today. Some things we learned were . . .

• There are 2 ways to animate (1. motion guide 2. frames)
• Frame: "white pages" that are already there, defualted by flash
• Keyframe: you insert a key frame to set up parameters for an animation
• Blank Keyframe: a fram you can insert that has nothing in it
• Multiple Frames: allows you to see more than one frame at a time so you can edit them together
• Copy and Paste Frames: you right click the frame, and go down to copy frame, then right click again and paste
• Test Movie: You go to control, test movie (and you can see what you have so far)
• Add Sound by using a WAV file, Sounddog is a website where you can download sounds, or the MEDIA folder on school computers has already paid for sounds

I am a little intimidated by flash because I have never used it before, so Im not sure how my animation will actually turn out. I am looking forward to learning a new application.

WEEK 6 - Logo Design Homework

So at the beginning of class we did our powerpoint presentations on the logos we created for our websites. I really like the way my logo came out. The two figures are supposed to represent the two key words in the quote "classy" and "fabulous". I used my own images that I drew, then scanned them in and manipulated them a little (changing color, filters, adding text, etc.) In the end I had 2 logos, one is cleaner, more straight forward, the second I used a rough charcoal filter, it make is look like the figures are actually moving. The more I look at it the more I like the second one because I think it does have more of a design element to it.