My Unfinished Final for Flash...

Well here is my unfortunately unfinished final for Flash class...

So yeah...i think i tried to bite off more then i could chew with this project. I wanted to go with a nice stylistic approach with a clever interpretation of the poem. I just ended up spending to much time planning and not enough time actually working on the project. I wish i had more time to work on it but i did what i could.

Oh and that remind me. I never uploaded my third project here. I really didnt know how to do that because its supposed to be a interactive flash movie and i cant really upload those here. But whatever...im going to upload it on Youtube anyways...

Well, thats the end of this current semester. I wish i would have worked a little harder. I think i got really lazy and that greatly affected my grade in the class. I guess i just have to keep that in mind for next semester. So to everyone reading this...have a great summer and i hope to see you all next semester.

The final version of my first animation project...

Here it is. The final version of my flash animation. I think it turned out alright. I got a little lazy with it which is why its a little short. There was so much i could have done with it but the feeling of relaxing at the beach really came across. I wish i was there now. Hope you all enjoy!

Current progress of my animation project...

This is the current version of my animation for class. I really liked how the boy turned out. The animation could have been smoother but so far i like how nicely he is covered up by the fence. I have a flock of birds i need to plug into the back. Stay tunned for more animation...

Final version of my first projects picture...

Well this is the final iteration of the picture I'm using for my first project.

Final version

I've spent enough time on this picture. I kinda like how it came out but there are some serious differences between this one and the original. I'm not quite happy with the some of the colors. I need to darken the furniture inside the room...but it's not as easy as it would be if i were to be doing this in Photoshop. Oh well...i think i will keep it like this and then work on animating this puppy!

Steam Hardware & Software Survey...

I want to share a nice little piece of information that i think every web designer should keep in mind. It has to do with system requirements. I know when i create my websites i have to keep in mind the types of people who would be visiting and what type of equipment they are running. So here is a survey collected by Valve with the digital content platform Steam.

Steam's Hardware & Software Survery January 2011

Currently Steam has a total of 1,837,066 users that peaked at 3,488,537 users today. While the actual numbers of participants of the survey are unknown to me right now, i find this survey very useful into gaining a general insight to what kind of configurations people are running.

Notable statistics that we should consider is...

Primary display resolution

1680 x 1050 = 17.90% -0.44%
1920 x 1080 = 17.61% +1.28%
1280 x 1024 = 14.00% -0.60%

That right there tells us that at least 49.51% of users have a wide screen monitor that could display HD resolutions above 720p. On top of that it also shows the slight changed in the HD resolutions.

Connection speeds

2,048.0 Kbps = 37.87% +0.65%
10,000.0 Kbps = 16.29% +0.32%
768.0 Kbps = 10.53% +0.24%


64.69% of users have very fast broadband internet connections but, again, i have to stress that this is a survey taken from users of a digital delivery platform that more or less requires a broadband connection.

Web browser

Mozilla Firefox = 62.05%
Microsoft Internet Explorer = 19.82%
Google Chrome = 11.56%
Safari = 8.69%


Thats a very useful stat to know because not all browser are the same.

And now the last stat which is probably the most relevant to our class...

Software

Adobe Flash Player = 96.79%
Microsoft Silverlight = 56.13%
Adobe AIR = 40.60%


Just a quick breakdown of what kind of content people can receive from the web. I bet most of those people have Silverlight installed just so they can watch Netflix.

So that was a brief looking into Steam's Hardware & Software Survey : January 2011. Its a great look into what most modern computer are running. I hope the people who see this find it very informational. See you all in class!

Start of the first flash project...

Our first project in class is to take a photo you shot yourself and remake it in Flash. It like the same project one would usually do in Illustrator class. Here is the original picture i have chosen:

What a lovely Sunday in Long Beach!

Eventually I'm going to have to find a way to animate this picture. I don't think I'm going to have a hard time trying to find something to animate. I could always animate people walking the the background but we will see what i can come up with . Here is my progress on it so far:

It's coming alone pretty nicely.

I will post more when i have worked on it more. Any comments would be nice!

The quest for a good and bad flash website...

So here i am in another Flash class asking myself "Why do i continue to take these Flash classes if my background is in HTML"? I've been creating HTML sites since i was a kid and I've grown very comfortable with it. But here i am in my third flash class still asking myself the same question. I really don't have anything against flash sites. I guess I'm just trying to find some justification to learn the necessary skills to be able to incorporate it into my skill set. I have built flash sites in the past and it was more or less an adventure in frustration and accomplishment but, in the end, I couldn't help but wonder if all the trouble was worth the extra time i had to put into it. Maybe i can get some new perspective out of this class that will help me answer my original question.

Anyways...

The first assignment!

So i have to look for sites that i would consider "good" and "bad". This should be fun. I have done these kinds of assignments in the past and i enjoy them a lot. Depending on the site, i can say so much about them but i think the ones that stand out are the ones that leave me without anything to say. If it leaves me in awe or having me questioning humanity, it is all in good fun. So on to...

The good....

Machinarium

Machinarium is a puzzle based adventure game that is completely flash based. Since its a flash game, the demo of the full version of the game was integrated into the main website. Its pretty amazing. With a playable version of the game being offered right upfront it keeps users on the site for an extended period of time. The interface is clean and simplistic with nothing to distract the user from the game. The music is hauntingly charming and shares its artistic style with its hand drawn landscapes and characters. The whole site itself is a beautiful reminder that flash as a gaming platform can be taken seriously as its web based counterpart.

Now for the bad....

Evangel Cathedral

...

...

Seriously? I LAUGHED when i first loaded this site. I found this site on Blueglass.com with a hilarious description:

"This next one has been on Digg with the headline The Most Intense Web Site Intro Ever.It is intense — some would call it Flashturbation. It seems like lots of churches have heavy flash intro budgets. Is this Religion 3.0? If so, it seems to consist of lightning, woosh sounds and seizure-inducing effects:"

Now that is a perfect way of describing the overall style of this website. Ive never seen anything like this...i just wish i could have kept it that way.

So the first nitpick is that this site takes forever to load. This is someone who has a pretty good DSL connection and download gigabytes and gigabytes of data daily. The intro took about a good minute or two while the main page took about five minutes or more to load. I've made many HTML and flash sites and, i have to say, if they took THAT LONG to download then i would have been in trouble. There is no reason why a website with this kind of content should have to take that long to load. 

The "Flashturbation" of the intro is amazing. I compare it to some 10 year old who watched the whole Dragonball Z series and somehow managed to translate that into a church themed flash animation. Its tacky, lame, and just... amateurish. Within the first five seconds of watching the intro, I lost all respect i had for this site. Its just awful.

On to the main site...actually...i cant say anything about it. One look at the cramped main page i let out a hearty laugh and closed the window immediately! No way am i going to navigate this site. WHAT THE HELL is going on here? Seriously? This is not how to make a website. PERIOD! Technically the animations are...decent. The transitions are...decent but besides that everything is... amateurish. I'm really having a hard time coming up with nice things to say. There is just no artistic direction with this. It hurts my heart....and my laughing glads.

Oh and the music is freaking great! It just screams "COME TO OUR CHURCH!!!!!!"

I really hope we get more assignments like this in the future. It was a great remind that the internet is full of entertaining crap. I love you internet <3.