2D Animation

For my Animation work for Julian I am in the stage of recreating Serene Bransons face in photoshop I have done pages of research and have a schedule which is going to plan, I hope to start animating this week, Last friday we pitched our ideas to Julian I did alright it wasnt the best pitch in the world but I got all my points over and what I'm going to do, I hopefully should have finished my Animation in a few weeks.

Client Work

For my Client work for Tim we have filmed Matt White at White Engineering using a machine that cuts Aluminium billets into a finished product.We have a ten minute video of the machine in action from the billet before and afterwards, unfortunately Matt didnt want his voice on the video so we have done a voiceover each me Adam and Zac have done a paragraph we are now editing the video and putting the voiceover with it, we should be finished.

Bone Tool AS3

Using the Bone Tool in flash AS3 you can animate movieclips together.

Worst Game Ever Review

In my opinion the worst game ever is Minecraft, not only is it boring and nothing happens in it, you spend hours making a village that you will never use or anybody will ever see, the whole game is made out of cubes the land is never ending and the game is a complete drag, people could argue that the game is for creative people but if it were why don't the people that play it just go and make a game or graphic or something that could make money or that people would want.

AS3 Game

We have been set by Julian to make a game in actionscript 3 in Flash it must be fully functioning and at the right audience, the Beta to the game will be uploaded as soon it as done, the deadline for this work is about 3 weeks from now.
Will keep updating as work progresses buts thats all for now.

Research

In the Media Industry there are many things that are needed to be taken into account:

• The average pay of a web designer hourly is £20-£50
• For a student it would be £5-£10
• Detailed research is needed into the target audience
• Ethical issues, a student taking work from a professional that may change the industry
• If you cant reach the deadline dont take the project, because you will have to pay compensation due to the companies loss because your work wasnt in on time
• Never turn down a job if you are finding it difficult to complete the work get some help in
• Negiotation a budget on work before work has even started

Reviews

Drag and Drop Games Reviews

The first game I played was a game that you had to navigate the mouse around a course in order to progress to the next level, it is pretty good has different levels and as each level goes on the game gets harder, it is quite an addictive game and it doesn’t go on for so long that the player gets bored of it, the audience of the game is probably for teenagers 15+ because it solves boredom and you can play it for as long as you like.

http://vectorgame.com/drag-drop

The second game I played was a lot worse than the first this game was boring and easy had no challenge factor at all, the only thing you had to do was drag the words onto the picture, the game was probably meant for younger players in order to teach them simple words, the game definitely isn’t for ages above 8-10.

http://www.prongo.com/drag/game.html

The third game I looked at was simple to the second but with a few more options this game had more pictures it was just a more advanced version than the word game, you had to match the colours with the pictures in order to progress through the game, the game once again is probably for the younger audience maybe being for up to 12 years old.

http://www.aberdeenquest.com/Play/DragandDrop/DragandDropColours.asp

Reviews

Drag and Drop Games Reviews

The first game I played was a game that you had to navigate the mouse around a course in order to progress to the next level, it is pretty good has different levels and as each level goes on the game gets harder, it is quite an addictive game and it doesn’t go on for so long that the player gets bored of it, the audience of the game is probably for teenagers 15+ because it solves boredom and you can play it for as long as you like.

http://vectorgame.com/drag-drop

The second game I played was a lot worse than the first this game was boring and easy had no challenge factor at all, the only thing you had to do was drag the words onto the picture, the game was probably meant for younger players in order to teach them simple words, the game definitely isn’t for ages above 8-10.

http://www.prongo.com/drag/game.html

The third game I looked at was simple to the second but with a few more options this game had more pictures it was just a more advanced version than the word game, you had to match the colours with the pictures in order to progress through the game, the game once again is probably for the younger audience maybe being for up to 12 years old.

http://www.aberdeenquest.com/Play/DragandDrop/DragandDropColours.asp

Brief

We are a major company based in the UK selling kitchen appliances; we are looking to promote our new electronic potato peeler which will be released onto the market sometime this year. We have plants all over the UK in most highly populated cities are main facility is in London, but we are in Bournemouth, Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield and Nottingham.

The product is a new potato peeler that is completely brilliant compared to any existing peelers, it will peel five times faster than any peeler on the market at the moment. It is an electronic kitchen appliance that you place a potato on and it will cut all of the skin of and or slice it if the owner of the appliance wishes.

The budget for this television advert will be £3000 we will pay for actors and expenses that you may require.

For this brief you will be asked to create a television advert to promote a new product and show how it is used correctly, the product is new electronic potato peeler, which is easy to use and will last a long time. The product is called PotatoPeelerPro, research is needed into the market to identify who would buy this product and why.

Things that should be included in the TV Advert:

·         The advert should be targeted at people in catering professions but could be for household use as well

·         It must promote the product to make it look unique

·         It should show the PotatoPeelerPro in being demonstrated, showing how it is used and why they should buy it

·         There could be multiple people demonstrating the peeler showing how anyone could use it

·         The demonstration video should be as simple and as short as possible and how useful it is

·         The name PotatoPeelerPro should be used throughout the advert.

·         It should be 30 seconds to a minute long

·         The price of the product and contact on how to buy it

The work should be completed in two months, the completed work must have a good quality TV advertisement which outlines everything in the brief, and the deadline for the work is 18/11/2011.

Finished for the Year

College is over, I am just in today to finish any work which is outstanding, Its been a good year.

Research Blog

Research

All companies research what they are going to sell so they can get information. research helps to gather information that can provide insights into consumer buying habits, needs, choices, opinions, and interests. It helps the organization to implement the most suitable marketing mix for the success. This gives the company the idea of what they should do with their product to make it more appealing to the general public. Currently the Pokémon is one of the most popular franchises in the world.

The creator of Pokémon was born in Japan, in his Pokémon games he used things that used to do as a child like bug collecting, a popular pastime which Pokémon executive director Satoshi Tajiri-Oniwa enjoyed as a child. The Pokémon product is appealing to many children, this is because they are simple things which children find amusing, the content is easy to understandable and is easy for the child’s mind to grasp, the level of sophistication of the product is very low, simple terms, colours and symbols are used to keep their attention. The Pokémon franchise targets the child audience and relies most on that audience. The Pokémon game touched children’s hearts. Its part of player’s curiosity and what they are interested in. It delivers a new world for them to explore.

The audiences that the Pokémon franchise targeted love most of the products the company produces, just recently Pokémon Black and White were released recently they were and still are really popular, every generation that has had Pokémon think its timeless and they will always buy the newest Pokémon game because they love the adventure it brings. There are a few different Pokémon audiences which of each respond differently, there are hardcore Pokémon lovers that love the franchise and they consider it to be there all-time favourite source of entertainment, then there are people that like Pokémon products but they don’t go crazy like the other hardcore fans and children, children love Pokémon for them it is like they are exploring a new world and they can do anything they want, meeting new people, making new things and catching new Pokémon. The Franchise has the power to influence children and adults, not just children this is because the game has different aspects for everyone, the Pokémon, the world, the things to do everything is possible in Pokémon and every generation recognizes this.

There has been a lot of controversies throughout Pokémon, it did get cancelled for causing many views to have an epileptic fit, Flashing lights and colours on screen caused the TV series to be cancelled for eleven months, There has been speculation that there is racism some of the episodes (All Things Bright and Beautifly!), A Team Rocket fantasy involves Jessie, James and Meowth, as well as many Team Rocket Grunts, raising their hands in a manner somewhat similar to the Hitler salute, the Pokémon called Jynx was claimed to look like a negative racial stereotype of African-Americans.

There has also been acclaimed Satanism in Pokémon, some people say Pokémon are like demons because they are captured and must be called upon to perform tasks, magical talismans (Gym Badges) are needed to control them, Pokémon evolve though this transformation is more akin to metamorphosis in most Pokémon, the theory of evolution is denied entirely by the most fundamentalist creationists and some people claim that if you play the Pokérap backwards you can hear I love Satan.

There has been many deleted scenes in Pokémon the famous "Bikini Pokémon Scene" that was deleted which wasn’t appropriate for children, it is easy to find on YouTube and was right to be kept from kids. My response to the Pokémon franchise is, I love Pokémon, It has been around since I was a child and my generation has grown up with it, The games are popular and the TV series was successful, Years ago everybody collected Pokémon trading cards because it was fun and interesting, everyone always wanted to have the all the cards and be the best.

The Media doesn’t tell us what to think but it does tell us what to think about, for example when you watch the news it is the companies decision of what they put on so they decide what the ‘News’ actually is and people discuss the news all the time so it could be said that the media make us talk about the ‘news’ which is broadcast by them.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory is believed to make audiences be directly affected by what they see and hear, buy what they are advertised, they will be more violent after seeing violence or they will be kinder after seeing your hero onscreen being kind Although it’s still just a theory, advertisers still spend billions on advertising and the repetition of a message starts to make it sound true but on the other hand we aren’t robots and we don’t take in everything we hear and we are not islands we discuss what we see and hear with each other and decide how to respond ourselves. In sum up this theory has a direct effect on the viewer. This would mean if a child we’re to watch Pokémon they may go out and maybe throw something that looks like a Poke ball at a cat or a different animal.

This is the Cultivation Theory, The media doesn’t literally control us or completely influence us to do things, but it does influence how we understand society. I mean watching TV doesn’t necessarily make you violent but it may make you think the world is a more violent place than it actually is. This is an indirect version of the Hypodermic Needle Theory. if you want to talk about messages that might cause an indirect effect on viewers this is Basically what the Cultivation Theory means .

In the Reception Theory the meaning of the text is constructed by the viewer different viewers,
with different life experiences will construct different meanings for themselves. There are 3 ways that audiences respond to a media message, Dominant, Negotiated and Oppositional. In the Dominant Response they fully accept the message in the text and reproduce it in themselves no resistance, completely influenced. In the Negotiated Response they accept some elements and modify others to fit in with their world view, some influence. In the oppositional response they reject the text entirely as false and read it in a different light, no influence, and complete rejection of the message.

In the Uses and Gratifications Theory people use the media to gratify their needs,Escape – Like in Grand Theft Auto, Can do anything free of consequence, unlike in real life.

Social Interaction – Pokémon Cards, Children have common interest with others or discussing a TV programme with others.

Identity – Simpsons, The use of role models.

Information – Channel 4 News.

Entertainment – All or none of the above, just for the fun of it.

Deadline for Julian - Interactive Game

We have been given 2 more days to finish this project, Julian took a look at our project today he said it was ok apart from the glitchy scenes and the copyright, they were the only things that we had to finish.

End of the Year Approaches..

As it is nearly the end of the year we have been told to re-do any work which hasn't received a pass, hopefully I will get a place in the second year of the course because I have enjoyed everything we have learnt and I would like to do something in the interactive industry. Overall the course has been one of the best learning experiences of my life and It was a brilliant year.

Deadline for GLBasic

The deadline for our GLBasic project is coming up, hasnt been the most successful project for me but I hope to a achieve a pass, overall It has been an enjoyable piece of work.

Interactive Media Jobs

There are many places to find jobs, Like job agencies, they help you find work but they take a cut of your salary, sometimes up to 1/3. Trade Fairs are another way to meet employees from companies and if you make friends with the right people you could get more work.http://www.cwjobs.com/ is a good place to search for work.

 

Flash/Interactive Designer

Location: London

Salary: £30000.00 - £35000.00

Date posted: 02/06/2011 14:08

Job type:Permanent

Company: Premier Group Recruitment

Contact: Holly

Ref: CWJobs/2-7144-CWJ

Job ID: 50746394

Essential Skills:
-Excellent with Flash (AS2/AS3)
- Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Dreamweaver.
- Skilled with Cinema 4D or Swift 3D
- Applicant must be comfortable taking on jobs large and small, from concept to execution.
- Comfortable talking to clients and participating in briefing meetings
- Ability to brainstorm ideas
Some jobs arent fussed if you havent been to university because if you have the essential skills they will give you work.

http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?JobId=50746394

Salary:
£40,000 above the average which is at £35,000
£25,000 - £34,000 + bonus + benefits
£25,000 - £35,000 per annum

Permanent and Contract work is different,
There are other ways to meet employers

 

Communications

Over MSN Messenger and Xbox Live we are able to communicate.

There are many ways to communicate with the internet today, SKYPE, MSN, E-Mail, 3G and everybody uses atleast one.

This is a screenshot of me sending Alex an Email saying what we need to to in order to finish the project.

Video Conferencing.



YouTube Interactive Games Project - Overall Update

In this point in our project we have recorded all of our work which is 17 minutes long, started to edit our video and we have just started to make designs for our YouTube account. We should have uploaded an edited video by next week with all the annotations finished. We think we will have completely finished this project by next wenesday.

YouTube Interactive Games Project - Filming Retake

For our YouTube games when we were recording the mic didnt work so we had to retake the whole gameshow again. This time we have good lighting conditions and good sounding audio this time round.

Interactive Ethics Assignment

Copyright means that it is yours and only yours from when you create it till 70 years after your dead, nobody may steal it and claim its theirs, All Rights Reserved.

There are three moral rights of copyright:

1) The Right of Attribution - The creator of the work has the right to be indentified.

2) The Right of Intergrity - The work cannot be altered or changed without consent from the creator of the work.

3)False Attribution - A work cannot be attributed to a creator falsely.

Creative Commons - A charitable organisation which allows copyright holders to allow anyone to use their work in ways that the author is ok with. If you go onto google and go to the google advanced image search, the bottom option says not filtered by license, if you change this to labelled for commercial reuse with modification you can do anything to the image as long as you have permission from the owner of the image.
This image below is on Flickr and is labelled for commercial reuse with modification uploaded by clevercupcakes.

In 2009, a file sharing website known as Pirate Bay were sent to jail for breaking copyright laws their defense against this court case was that they only directed users to where they actually could download the torrents not actually hosting the illegal content themselves, they lost the case and were sent to a year in jail.

Although Illegal downloading is popular and the user will get free stuff it may make the creator lose money or lose a job, there are both sides to this story, Creative Commons creates a line between them both and makes it so nobody will lose money or a job but the user will still get free stuff.

An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions. In some cases, breaches of injunctions are considered serious criminal offenses that merit arrest and possible prison sentences.

YouTube Interactive Games Project - Filming

Yesterday we hired out a camera for several hours and recorded all of our questions and the reward for completing the quiz, we may need to retake after looking at the footage because the audio wasnt the greatest, the mic did not work so we were unable to get another one.

Animated GIF

Animated Toolbar showing all of the tools.

Interactive YouTube Games

For our next assignment we are going to have to make an interactive youtube game, at this stage we are just researching to see what they are like and to gather ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7wdCf1BcmM
This link is to an interactive xylophone, when you click the notes the video skips to a certain part that plays the sound, the video is paused so it doesnt end and just keeps skipping to each note the viewer clicks.

Web Protocols

HTTP Stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, The HTTP protocol is the system that browsers use to talk to web servers. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. heres an example, when you enter a URL in your browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Website.

These are HTML code <html> </html><head></head> <title></title> <body></body> they are normally reffered to as tags, these tags are used to define certain areas of a webpage, tags are usually enclosed in less than < & > brackets. I have used these tags in a previous project, the tags I used were <title>The Mechanic</title> will cause the title ‘The Mechanic’ to be visible in the title bar of the user’s browser, the name in the title bar was 'The Mechanic'. <Font> Sets font style size and color. <Textarea> Creates a text box.

The TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) provides reliable, ordered delivery of a stream of bytes from a program on one computer to another program on another computer. TCP is the protocol that major Internet applications rely on, applications such as the World Wide Web, e mail, and file transfer. Other applications, which do not require reliable data stream service, may use the User Datagram Protocol, which provides a datagram service that emphasizes reduced latency over reliability. TCP provides a point to point channel for applications that require reliable communications.

When an application program desires to send a large chunk of data across the Internet using IP, instead of breaking the data into IP-sized pieces and issuing a series of IP requests, the software can issue a single request to TCP and let TCP handle the IP details. which is why the internet protocol suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP. The File Transfer Protocol and Telnet are all examples of applications that require a reliable communication channel. TCP provides a communication service at an intermediate level between an application program and the Internet Protocol.

File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP users may authenticate themselves using a clear text sign in protocol but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it.

Website Game

This is the game on my Mechanic website, It includes SoundFX, Flash Animation, Buttons inside Movieclips and the mouse is a sight for a gun which you use to shoot the game. It isnt that great and I've had feedback that its boring but I didnt have the knowledge of how what to add onto it at the time in order to make the game more interesting.

 


Start Page to my Game, Instructions and a Quit Button.

 



 


Game Features without the mouse scope.

  



Game with the scope as the mouse.

   

Winning game screen, options to play again or go back to the home page.



Website Mockups

I have been doing mock-ups of my website because my preproduction files werent up to scratch, I got my marks for my website today and recieved a Pass overall but Merits (and possibly a distinction) in each section of the grade criteria. Once I have completed the mockups It should bump my grade up to a Merit overall which I will be happy with.

My Feedback to the Website Comments

mathew said..
The mechanic website has loads of very good features, and lots of images and content from the film which is good. the game is good but needs a bit more work and it will be graet
also the problems with the pictures poping up over the text you fixed which was a massive improvement to the site and overall a very good site and a nice amount of infomation a techniques

I agree that my game needed more work and If I had more time on this assignment that is one of the things I would of focused on more than anything else. Thank you for commenting on my website in a positive way.

Tom Pettit said...
The page i thing is very good. the one problem with it was that the game, even though it was good, had a few problems, one which was that the people didn't move, and the fact that you didn't have any kind of challenge to it. The lay out to the page was good though especially when the mouse moved over the menu it came up with a different weapon used.

The game did need some more animation, all of the characters that you were ment to shoot didnt move they just died and dissapeared when killed, also there was no challenge to complete the game, I needed to add a score bar or time limit to make it more interesting and add different functions so that, maybe the player could change weapon. Thank you for commenting on my website.

Harley said...
i liked the creative ideas in your website as you tried quite a few different things like the smoking car and a game. its forfilled its purpose to be an interactive website as it had many buttons with creative and different hoverover buttons. i havnt seen this film but after viewing your website i would quite like too. only issue i encountered even though it was a good idea i didnt like the game.

The game did need some more work on it, This seems to be one of the main problems with my website, The game is boring and has no functions I think it could have been made more features for the game to have but the website itself functioned perfectly, Thank you for commenting on my website.

Adam Powell said...
I think that your website was creative, it included a game which we wasn't asked to do which i I thought was a great addition, I also loved the page where the car had the smoke coming out the engine, looked very professional. Very good site.

Thank you, the game was a nice little addition to the site but it needed to be slightly more advanced.

For my website as a whole I think the main problem was the game wasnt good enough, It needed some more effects or features to give the game a challenge, As it is now the game is simple and easy to complete, just a simple click and shoot game. Apart from the websites game I feel it is perfectly functioning and easy to navigate around, it has a good use of XML and Media and has checked off everything from the brief apart from the download so it definately worthy of a pass at least.

(See Actual comments in previous Blog Post.)

The Mechanic Website Responses

Burning Files to Disc

As the deadline is today for Julians website, the first lesson of the day we have been using Nero StartSmart to burn our website files onto a disc so we can give them to Julian. The first disc I had, had an unreadable format so I needed to buy another one. The second disc worked fine and now contains all of my files for my website.

Creating a Game in GLBasic

For our latest assignment from alex with have been tasked with making a game in GLBasic, I have decided to make a simple shooter game (click and point) Hope to create and finish making this in the next few weeks.

10 Reasons why Pokémon is Sucessful and Popular

1. Its addictive, Gotta catch em all.
2. New world concept, new things to explore.
3. Its portable, (Nintendo).
4. Some of the Pokémon are cool (for boys).
5. Some of the Pokémon are cute (for girls).
6. Its been around for more than a decade.
7. Each generation that was been born in the last 20 years know what Pokémon is.
8. Its simple.
9. TV Series, ongoing.
10. Merchandise (Trading Cards, etc).

Blog Banner!

I have just created an animated banner in flash, its very simple but I think it gives more of an effect than the previous one, I uploaded it to a Flash file hosting website and then copied the javascript into one of your own gadgets gadget, I think it now looks so much better than it did before.

My Blog.

Website Assignment - Week Six

As the deadline for Julian is next monday, we have been learning how to finish off and publish our websites. We learnt how to do so in Adobe Dreamweaver and the publish settings in Flash. We were also taught to make a image scroller using an Adobe extension called simple viewer, a helpful tool in which images are made into a viewer which called be used in Flash for our websites. Have added a certain amount of XML text to my website and I like to think it is quite good, functions perfectly has external sources and I've learnt so much about Flash and other Adobe programs from this assignment.

Market Trends

Market Trends

Market research helps to gather information that can provide insights into consumer buying habits, needs, choices, opinions, and interests. It helps the organization to implement the most suitable marketing mix for the success. This gives the company the idea of what they should do with there product to make it more appealing to the general public. Currently the Pokémon is one of he most popular franchises in the world.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research - is used to explore and understand people's beliefs, experiences, attitudes, behaviour and interactions. It generates non- numerical data, e.g. a patient's description of their pain rather than a measure of pain. In health care, qualitative techniques have been commonly used in research documenting the experience of chronic illness and in studies about the functioning of organisations; techniques such as focus groups and in depth interviews have been used in one-off projects commissioned by guideline development groups to find out more about the views and experiences of patients and carers.
Quantitative Research - generates numerical data or data that can be converted into numbers, for example clinical trials or the National Census, which counts people and households. 

Primary Research
Primary Research - This kind of research involves the collection of new information by conducting market surveys, telephonic interviews, questionnaires and focus group interviews. This information is gathered by directly contacting the customers. This research is customised according to the research requirements of the company. Firms can gain insights about the target markets by means of focus groups, surveys, interviews or observation. Primary research is generally based on sampling techniques and requires statistical methodologies. The sample size could be as small as 1 percent of the market and thus the information and results gathered are highly accurate.
Secondary Research
Secondary Research - Secondary research involves processing data that has already been collected by previous researchers. It refers to consultation of previous studies and findings such as reports, press articles and previous market research projects in order to come to a conclusion. This type of research is based on information gathered from studies previously performed by government agencies, trade associations, and other organizations. This type of research is less expensive as opposed to the primary research as it does not require new research methods. However, its main disadvantage is that the information gathered may be old and obsolete and therefore results of analysis may be inaccurate. Further, it is not necessary that the earlier studies were conducted with the same objectives as required in the current situation.

The creator of Pokémon was born in Japan, in his Pokémon games he used things that used to do as a child like bug collecting, a popular pastime which Pokémon executive director Satoshi Tajiri-Oniwa enjoyed as a child. The Pokémon product is appealing to many children, this is because they are simple things which children find amusing, the content is easy to understandable and is easy for the child’s mind to grasp, the level of sophistication of the product is very low, simple terms, colours and symbols are used to keep their attention. The Pokémon franchise targets the child audience and relies most on that audience. The Pokémon game touched children’s hearts. Its part of player’s curiosity and what they are interested in. It delivers a new world for them to explore.

The audiences that the Pokémon franchise targeted love most of the products the company produces, just recently Pokémon Black and White were released recently they were and still are really popular, every generation that has had Pokémon think its timeless and they will always buy the newest Pokémon game because they love the adventure it brings. There are a few different Pokémon audiences which of each respond differently, there are hardcore Pokémon lovers that love the franchise and they consider it to be there all-time favourite source of entertainment, then there are people that like Pokémon products but they don’t go crazy like the other hardcore fans and children, children love Pokémon for them it is like they are exploring a new world and they can do anything they want, meeting new people, making new things and catching new Pokémon.The Franchise has the power to influence children and adults, not just children this is because the game has different aspects for everyone, the Pokémon, the world, the things to do everything is possible in Pokémon and every generation recognizes this.

Website Assignment - Week Five

For the fith week of our assignments, I have added some XML text and it is working, I have re-made the title and buttons, added more effects to the car on the main screen and have nearly completed it, just need to add more code and information to some of the pages about the film.

Julians Deadline Approaches

As the website assignment approaches, he has allowed us to have another week and finish our websites, deadline is now 28/03/10.

XML Generated Text

XML Generated Text is text you create in a html format that is imported onto web pages and can be changed via the program you used to create the html format, the text can be created in notepad.

Self Assessed Assignment

For Ross's new project which he is going to set monday, he has given us the freedom to choose what we do for this next assignment, I am going to do something about Call of Duty, although I am unsure of what to do yet I am a great fan of the games and would have a lot of inspiration to do something with a Call of Duty theme.

GLBasic

Today we had 4 and a half hours work set in Alexs lessons programming on the program GLBasic, we learnt how to set a background image and how to make another image on top of that move, adding more code we could add sound, control the image and zoom in and out of the image, and it would move round on its own anyway.

Website Assignment - Week Four

For week four of my website project for Julian, I am currently just adding information onto the pages, trying to come up with new ideas for the homepage which is incomplete but the website functions perfectly and the game is almost complete, I have started to add XML generated text and will have completed it shortly.

Deadline for Rosses Project

Today we reached the deadline for Rosses project, we handed in our work on time but it wasnt to the best of our ability. all of the brief was completed and is definately worthy of a Pass grade.

Half Term

During half term I  did some work on my website for Julian, I also added some information to the project we had to do for Ross and it is now nearly complete, I just need to recieve work from my college acquantances. College work is going well nearly have completed all the assignments and none have been past a deadline.

Blog Assignment

We have been tasked with use Diigo, A website that allows us to highlight any text from any website and add sticky notes to it. We have

Website Assignment - Week Three

The Game on my site.

The third week of the website assignment, I now have 5 pages, all hyperlinks working properly just some of the pages have no information currently, I am going to add information to each of these pages soon, just finishing making the gun game, so far the game has a sniper sight, background buildings, characters to shoot and I am going to add a score bar, Play again button and a Congratulations screen for when you complete the game. The 'Enter Page' page has been nearly completely I would just like to add some effects to the button that links it to the main site. So far the assignment is going well.

Website Assignment - Week Two

First Page of my Website

Week Two of the website assignment, I have made the first page it has been called the 'Enter Page', Made the backgroud in photoshop, the page in itself  has been changed a lot, the page so far consists of a car that comes onto the stage and gets shot at, using tweening and bulletholes with SFX that are gunshots. The 'Enter Page' only has one button which will link to the Homepage. I hope to start on the other pages of the website soon but I keep changing my mind for the first page, for the other pages I am going to do, Information about the film, Clips and Pictures, A game this will be some sort of gun game, and The Trailer will have its own page. The Pre-Production files are nearly complete, planning has been done.

Website Assignment - Week One

The first week of the website has been fairly easy, so far only having ideas and chosing a film. I have decided to choose The Mechanic a film that was released recently and am now just deciding colours, features and general information and specifications for the website. I think this project will be fun and it is a solo project.

New Assignment - Website

We have been given another assignment, to create a website. The idea is to make a website based on a film released in the last year, I chose The Mechanic because it is a good film and should enjoy making the effects in flash.

Flash Games

In our lesson in the LG we had to review a game made in flash, the game i chose was heli attack 3, quite a complicated game to make in flash because there is a lot of code to it. The game is very good for a flash game, has a lot of different types of weapons, the idea is to defend yourself from the enemy helicopters and survive to the final level, good graphics, a lot to do in the game.
Rating: 4
Graphics: 4
Sound: 4.5
Gameplay: 4
Controls: 4.5

Pacman is a good classical game. Pacman is quite simple, but still has quite a bit of code but it is a good game, idea is to collect all the white and cherries and not get killed by the ghosts, getting all of the items will make you win the game, Pacman only has 1 level but if you win you just do it over and over to get a highscore.
Rating: 2.5
Graphics: 3
Sound: 2.5
Gameplay: 3
Controls: 3.5

Balloons Tower Defense is a simple but good game, there is a lot to do in this game and many rounds, the objective it to stop all the baloons which get harder to kill as the rounds progress, many different ways of playing, good graphics, really fun.
Rating: 4.5
Graphics: 4
Sound: 4
Gameplay: 5
Controls: 5

Digital Video Formats & Interactive Technology

Understanding principles of digital video technology in interactive media

In today’s modern world we are more prone to using interactivity than ever before. With all sorts of new technology, this late decade has been the start of a virtual revolution and the industry continues to expand. The designers of this technology are trying to enhance our interactive experience and make it more enjoyable for the user, as everything new realised today is some-what interactive as the demand from users is very high.

Video games are full of interactivity, with the releases of the new Xbox Kinect, Playstation move and the Wii console, everything is completely interactive. The Xbox Kinect has been designed with 3 cameras so that it can detect 3D scene information and follow the player’s movements making the player also the controller. Another interactive type of game is the wii, you need a controller but you also have the ability to interact with the game. With the wii there’s a sensor that sits on top of the TV that traces the movement of the remote. So instead of just having a remote and pressing buttons, this allowed gamers to play with motions and after the public loved it and millions were buying it more corporations started designing new ways to bring interactions into their consoles.

There is a wide range of video technology, Interactive TV is a prime example of this, the BBC red button is a good interactive feature which allows the user to change the channel and view the things they want to see via a menu that pops up when you press the red button on your remote giving a wider range of programs which will make the overall BBC channel ratings increase. Sky+ is another interactive technology this allows the user to pause, record and rewind live TV, this happens due to a hard drive in the set top box. In the UK sky’s main competitors are freeview+ because they offer a similar service and are another type of personal video recorder.

Mobile devices that are being released from 2009 onwards have touch sensitive screens, compared to phones from about 5 years ago when everything was button controlled. Let’s take the Iphone for example, the Iphone includes a virtual keyboard, a video camera, camera phone with text messaging and voicemail, a portable media player, and an Internet client with email and Wi-Fi connectivity. The user interface is built around the devices multi touch screen; the Iphone includes quite a few digital video format, H.264 video: up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile with AAC LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in M4V, MP3, MP4, and MOV file formats, these are Iphone video specifications from the apple website (see, http://www.any-video-converter.com/iphone-video-converter/iphone-video-format.php) which has hundreds more apps, features and digital video formats than phones 5-10 years ago.

Designers and producers are changing the way they deal with their consoles because the consumers are demanding more interactivity in their gaming experience. In this last decade the main gaming manufacturers have been releasing more interactive games than ever before. The first main release of more interactivity was 3D films in cinema; 3D films are a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception. 3D films have been around for decades, starting in the 1950s but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3D film, although 3D films were still shown in the 1950s. In the 1980s and 90s there was a worldwide resurgence in 3D driven by IMAX high end theaters. 3D films became more and more successful throughout the 2000s. Alice in wonderland, Toy Story, Avatar, Tron Legacy and How to Train Your Dragon have all been great 3D successes of the last year making millions and attracting more people into the 3D industry.

 Digital Video Discs (DVDs) and CDs are good ways for the user to get involved with the features on the disc and choose which features they want to view and skip the ones they don’t. For instance DVDs have a title menu, which could include start film, scene selection, behind the scenes and special features, the user has the freedom to view which feature he wants and isn’t forced to view every feature on the disc, this is the same with CDs although the CD may contain just files, the principle is the same, access which files you want and discard the other unwanted files.

Even though in the recent years CDs and DVDs are still being used users online would prefer to download files due to the fact that it’s free, this may be illegal but millions of people do it, one of the main ways of downloading films, music, games and generally anything is torrentz this site offers millions of files from millions of people that have uploaded, then using Bittorrent or Utorrent, these programs extract the content making it available to use. Another way to watch films and TV episodes is streaming media, streaming is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end user while being delivered by a streaming provider The distinction is usually applied to media that are distributed over telecommunications networks, as most other delivery systems are either inherently streaming like TV and radio or inherently non streaming like books, video cassettes and audio tapes.

YouTube is one of the most viewed websites in the world, the site offers thousands if not millions of viral videos that can range from anything stupid to something incredibly funny, for instance this clip BeenerKeeKee19952 has put on YouTube of himself miming a 50 cent song, towards the middle of the song 50 cent himself actually comes into his room and starts miming with him, his first productions were just himself miming to certain songs but he got very famous very fast, his views on YouTube went into the millions. Music artists are always looking for ways to get there songs out there this was a way to promote 50 cents new song ‘down on me’ and it is recognized due to BeenerKeeKee19952’s videos on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/BeenerKeeKee19952 .  although we think YouTube is free and technically it is it gets so much web traffic and businesses pay to advertise there product or website on YouTube, with the site getting millions of views a day this would mean the company with the advert on the page will likely get noticed and help the business make profit, this has changed the market so many companies will compete to get there adverts on major websites such as YouTube and Google and bid for the advertising space. Email attachments are helpful in sending important files very quickly, .wmv files are very compressed files so they are easy to send with an email as an attachment, sending files all over the globe.

E-Learning platforms comprise all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked or not, the main objective of these programs are to teach. E-learning is out of class learning but gives the same experience of actually being in a classroom, it is essentially computer transferred skills and knowledge. E-learning applications and processes include web based learning, computer based learning and virtual classroom opportunities. Content is delivered via the Internet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD ROM. It can be self paced or instructor led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and audio all helping to implement the learning process.

 The most used and known digital video file formats are .avi, .wmv, .mov and MP4. AVI files are what are known as a container format.  There are many formats in this category and each format varies, video formats come in parts, layers and types.  The container is part of the video file and it holds other parts.  Any video you watch is made up of a container and interior parts.  For example, the video and audio are actually separate but are bundled together within the container. .wmv stands for Windows Media Video, these files are highly compressed making them tiny, because these files are so compressed it lows the resolution the more you compress a video the more detail you take out, compression is always just a balance between image quality and file size. The .wmv files are good for sending low resolution viral videos around the world via email; attaching these small files and sending them to other online users make them very famous and sometimes extremely popular. .mov files are apple software it means QuickTime Movie files are very common. MOV functions frequently as both a sharing file but is quality enough to use as source video inside of an editing program. MP4 is a file sharing format that

Bitmap Vs Vector

Bitmaps and Vectors

Bitmap/Pixmap:

A Bitmap or AKA Pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term Bitmap comes from the programming terminology, literally meaning just a map of bits, a plotted array of bits. Along with Pixmap, it commonly refers to the similar concept of a plotted mapped array of pixels. Raster images in general may be referred to as Bitmaps or Pixmaps, whether synthetic or photographic, in files or memory. Bitmap images are made up of pixels in a grid. Pixels are picture elements; tiny dots of individual colour that make up what you see on your screen. All these tiny dots of colour come together to form the images you see. Most computer monitors display approximately 70 to 100 pixels per inch the actual number depends on your monitor and screen settings this is the main distinction between bitmaps and vectors.

Vector/Raster:

Vector graphics formats are corresponding to raster graphics, which is the representation of images as an array of pixels, as is typically used for the representation of photographic images. There are instances when working with Vector tools and formats is the best practice and instances when working with Raster tools and formats is the best practice. There are times when both formats come together. An understanding of the advantages and limitations of each technology and the relationship between them is most likely to result in efficient and effective use of tools.

Differences:

A vector image uses geometrical formulas to represent images. The other way of representing graphical images is through bitmaps in which the image is made up of a pattern of dots. Programs that allow you to create and manipulate vector graphics are called draw programs and programs that manipulate bitmap images are called paint programs. Vector graphics are more flexible than bitmaps because they can be easily resized. In addition, images stored as vectors look better when displayed on high resolution printers and monitors. Bitmap images look the same, regardless of the resolution of the display. Another advantage of a vector graphic is that they often require less memory than bitmaps do.

Animated GIFs:

I have created an animated GIF file in Photoshop, my GIF shows all of the tools in the toolbar in order using the animation tool in Photoshop, using a different layer to label each tool.

I drew the toolbar in Adobe Illustrator then exported it into Photoshop, from there I added all the labels and then saved for web devices and made it into a GIF file from there I uploaded it to my blog and the link to see the finished toolbar is below.

http://kylesblogzzz.blogspot.com/2011/05/animated-gif.html