10 Words Animation

Summary:

We already know the basics of Photoshop and how to create a frame animation, but this time we did something a little different. We chose a background picture that we liked, used the ten words we had chosen at the beginning of the year to describe ourselves and embedded them with special fonts and colors into Photoshop. Then we learned how to make a video animation. We added fade-ins and fade-outs and a title screen. 

What I Learned:

I learned how to make a video animation including fades, and how to animate a piece of text. Animating the text was fun, first you set what the word would look like after it is done moving, and then you would set another point. Inside this second point you can move the word the way you would like. When you play it, it is like a timeline and the word changes perfectly.

How Did it Go? What I Would Change:

I thought that making a video animation was easier than a frame animation because there was much less to work with as opposed to almost 100 frames. If I was to do this project again, I would try to learn how to add sound effects for each word or just some music in the background.

Bouncing Ball 2: Arcs

Summary:

     It is our second week of animation and we have already finished our second project. It is a bouncing ball animation, but this time, it is bouncing in arcs instead of in place. For this project we really focused on making the ball bounce realistically. It started off high in the air, and as it kept bouncing, we reduced the amount of squash and stretch and the arc sizes. Just like in the first animation, we started off making the main layers, sky, ground, and ball, but this time, we had a layer for the arcs. We copied, pasted, rotated, exaggerated and transformed, until we had made the ball bounce all the way across the screen. At the end we each thought of a creative way for the ball to disappear and prepare the animation to start over. We made the frame animation and added tweens and timing along with a title and end screen to make it more professional.

What I Learned:

     As I said above, in this animation we added tweens and timing. These are features in the frame animation that helped us with the title and end screen. Tweens made the screens fade in and fade back out beautifully. It was a bit hectic because of all the frames it added to create the fade but I eventually figured it out. We used the timing to pause slightly on certain frames and add suspense. This was also a bit tricky because I wanted to make sure that it didn't look like my animation was skipping. To solve this, I made the pause time shorter.

How Did it Go? What I Would Change:

     Using Photoshop to make this animation was easier this time because many of the steps were the same. Even with the parts that were new, I did not struggle. I really enjoyed this project. If I was to do it again, I would make the ball disappear in in different way at the end. (I was thinking something like getting struck by lightning.)

Bouncing Ball Animation

 Summary:    

     Now that we are back from Winter Break, we have started our animation section of the e9 course.  We began to familiarize ourselves with adobe Photoshop while creating an animation of a bouncing ball. On day one we set up the main shapes and colors of our animation, the sky, the ground and the ball itself. On day two we added gradients (shades and tints according to the light) to them so that they would look more realistic. On day three we made multiple copies of the ball and changed the shape so that it would squash and stretch. Finally today, day four, we animated it, making sure that we used ease-in and ease-out. We copied, pasted, deleted, and reversed frames so that it would bounce over and over again.

What I Learned:

     On the first day we started learning right away about squash and stretch and ease-in ease-out rules in animation. Squash and stretch is something you use when trying to show the mass of an object through movement. Imagine a bouncing ball, if it is lighter, it will have more of a stretch and more of a squash when you drop it. If it is heavier, like a bowling ball, it will have very little to no squash and stretch applied to it. Ease-in and ease-out is how speed is applied to an object in animation, getting faster and slower gradually.

How Did it Go? What I Would Change:

     I had a lot of fun making my very first animation, I always wondered what it would be like to animate, and now I get to do it! I struggled a bit while changing the ball's shape so that it would squash and stretch, but I am happy with the end product. If I was to do this project again I would animate the light on the ball so that it would look more realistic. I would also add something in the background like a bird or some clouds, just to make the landscape more diverse and visually appealing.

e9 Quarter 2 Reflection

     While taking graphic design, I noticed that my strength is using color. I enjoy using color to create eye-catching, visually appealing designs and logos. Color has always been something that I admire, it gives things life and energy, excitement. I noticed this while we were working on our color wheel projects and explaining why we liked our favorite colors. We learned that colors can trigger different memories and mean a variety of different things for everyone. For example, my favorite color is blue because it is very calming like the ocean.
     An area I need to improve on is simplicity. Sometimes I have so many ideas that it is hard for me to represent it all in one simplified version. Along with this comes timeless appeal. I would like to learn more on how this is accomplished and see some examples of logos and designs that have excelled in this.
     My favorite part of this quarter is learning how to use a familiar program to make basic designs and logos. I have seen and used programs like this before such as Paint and Photoshop, but this program brings it to a new level. We learned how Adobe Illustrator is the preferred program over Photoshop because it has better quality photos and photo enhancing tools. I liked seeing that this was true and it was very easy to operate.
     Later in my eCommunication career I plan to come back to my Adobe Illustrator projects from this quarter and improve them using my new skills. Since we only learned the basics of the program I think it will be interesting to see how my work can evolve. I can't wait to be able to see what this program and I are capable of and how I can create more clean, detailed, and inspiring work.
     This semester I learned how to channel my thoughts and opinions through colors and shapes. I really enjoyed the element of representation we learned to include in our work. I will continue to use these artistic skills in all of my work no matter what class I am in. I really feel that I am learning more about computers and how they can help us in our daily lives
     Next semester I hope to get into the depths of this program and how to use Adobe Illustrator to the best of my advantage. I can't wait to see what kind of work I can make with the help of my teachers, classmates, and computer.

e9 Semester 1 Final- Web Design Project

     For the past week we have been using Adobe Dreamweaver to make a two-page website that holds all of our projects. Since the program was new territory for all of us, we downloaded videos made by Mr. Olsen to teach us how to work inside the application. First we uploaded some files to the e9 server. We created a new folder for these to stay in that was for web design and then downloaded this new folder into Dreamweaver. These files helped create the basic layout of our website. Next, we used photo booth on our computer to take a professional photo of ourselves to apply to our website's home page. Also on the home page we had our elevator pitch from the beginning of this quarter. Before we started the second page, we made sure that our website had a proper title if you pulled it up on your browser. The second page of our website was for our projects. We learned how to embed YouTube videos into the page so that you wouldn't have to go to another window. Lastly, we finished it off with some color.
     We worked on this project all week long. If we used our class time wisely we should have been finished or very close. I tried to view at least one-and-a-half to two videos each day. There were six videos that were each around 15 minutes long. However, to understand the videos and provide the best work one may need to pause or rewind the video.
     The videos and the program were very easy to use and follow. I had very few problems, most of the ones I faced were during the YouTube video uploading section. I was confused at first as to why you couldn't drag-and-drop a file containing the video into the website. Once I figured out how easy it was to embed the video, I went to work adding all of them. When I had gotten halfway through adding them, I made a mistake and I tried to use the undo button. However, I didn't save my work and the button took me back to my last save, deleting all of the videos I had just added. This set me back about ten minutes.
     During this project I learned how to read and write some code for the website. I have very rarely worked with code so it was fun to see how it worked in the professional world. I also learned what a ZIP file is and how to use it. I liked learning how to use another Adobe program. I have never worked with professional computer project editing systems before and it is a great opportunity and experience.
     I really enjoyed this first taste of web design and I might consider taking the class sophomore year. Creating a whole website may be a lot of work, but once you see it finished, you are really proud of yourself. I think that it is the best thing for someone to learn and understand a human's power to create and that you can do absolutely anything, the possibilities are endless!
I cannot provide a screen capture of my website at this time.

Presentation Blog

This week we worked on presentation skills and how we can use them to present our personal logos in front of the class. We learned some key things that we need to remember while presenting such as: posture, facial expression, eye contact, loud voice and appearance. Your goal is for the audience to understand and like your presentation.
We watched some videos that showed examples of what to do and not to do. Then we watched TED presentations from Bill Gates, Bjorn Lomberg, and Jamie Oliver, and rated them based on what we saw in the first minute of their presentations. By watching these videos we saw that you don't always have to wear nice clothes, you should just watch your presentation. They also showed us how to engage with the audience.
The next day we presented our own logos, we explained the colors, the representation, and how the logo shows who we are. During my presentation I could have used a more happy facial expression and I could have acted more professional. Another thing I need to work on is ending a presentation, we should practice saying "Thank You" instead of "That's all".v I will keep these things in mind the next time I do a presentation

Personal Logo Project

Recently we have been working on logos. We learned what makes a great logo (consistency, simplicity, uniqueness, color, timeless appeal, and more), and how we can use these traits to make our own logo that represents us. First, we sketched out three ideas in our sketchbooks of what we might want our logos to look like. Next, we chose out favorite and redrew it to fit a full page. Lastly, we moved on to Adobe Illustrator to create our logo using the skills we have learned in the application and about logos themselves. My logo was my name in large, light blue block letters that were towards the middle/bottom half of the page and on the top was a music staff with notes that were colored green. The backdrop of the music staff was red. Using the traditional Christmas colors on my music staff represented my love for music and that my name means Christmas in French. This project was fun and I may come back to it later to improve.