Multimedia

Lecture

This week we were covering different types of digital media. We started by discussing what multimedia is, "Multimedia is the media that uses multiple forms of information content and information processing (e.g. Text, Audio etc...) to inform or entertain the user." (WIkipedia, 2007). This was followed by an introduction to digital media, this is a media source that is digitally stored such as a text file. We were then shown a list of different media types that are all classes as digital media, these included text, clipart, graphics, animation, sound and video files. Linking these to websites, there used to me hypertext links linking to all media but now there are a lot of links that use hypermedia links which take the user straight to the file. This was followed by a look at e-books where there was a project to try and digitize all books, this was called "Project Guttenberg", "This is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works. Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library."(Wikipedia, 2007). We then started talking about types of graphics such as bitmap and vectors, bitmaps are now converted into most commonly JPEG's to reduce pixelation when they are adjusted, vector graphics use equations so this is not a problem. Moving onto digitised sound we were told about .wav files as well as MP3's, some digital video files are .mov, .avi, .mpeg and .wmv. After we had covered the lecture notes we were show several sites that were flash based, one of which was the stereophonics website. To end the lecture we were shown a flash animation called "Animation vs Animator".

This is the Animation vs Animator flash production.

Tutorial

In this weeks tutorial we were set a task of analyzing the university website. We were working in groups for this activity and to start we decided as a group whether we liked the website. This was then followed by what we thought were the strengths and weaknesses of the site. We then had a checklist where we had to look through the university website and answer questions asked, an example of a question was "Does the website have a glossary?". These were tick box with the choices Yes, No and N/A. The following questions were about the questions and how they assessed the website. Near the end of the tutorial we went through different answers that the class had come up with in their groups.

Reflection

I really enjoyed this weeks lecture on multimedia, i thought it covered all of the different types of digital media well as a good introduction to the topic, I knew a lot of the file types before so i found it quite easy as well. I'm interested in this topic so i searched for more information about digital media also i wasn't sure what Flash Paper files were so i searched for that too, links are given in external reading bellow. Near the end of the lecture we started listening/watching different types of media. First of all we started with the stereophonics website where we listened to a clip on their flash based website. We then went on to some flash videos, of which one was called "Why robots shouldn't walk dogs." i thought that this flash production was amazing, (the flash clips we watched are on http://www.henningb.com/ ) towards the end of the lecture we watched Animation vs Animator, which i loved, it was an amazingly done flash production. While searching around the web i found a sequel to the Animation vs Animator.

Animation vs Animator II

External Reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_media http://theopensourcery.com/osrevFlashPaper.htm

Dancey

HCI

Lecture

To start this weeks lecture we went through what was needed for the blog, as some people had forgotten and left out parts of it. We then went on to last weeks tutorial, which we were shown how to produce a motion tween. The main aspect of the lecture was HCI, "The user interface (or HCI) is the aggregate of means by which people (users) interact with a particular machine, device, computer program or other complex tools." (Wikipedia, 2007). To start covering this topic we were show a MS - Dos command line and shown some functions such as "dir". We then went on to GUI's that are used in opperating systems such as MacOS or Vista. "A graphical user interface is used to allow users to interact with the computer and computer controlled devices which employ graphical icons" (Wikipedia, 2007). As another type of HCI we covered speech recognition. Once we had covered these types of HCI we went on to website user interface. The first website we looked at was called "..radioqualia..", this was a simple website with a simple navigation system. The next website was for the composer Michael Kamen, this was a much more advanced website with more complex. We also looked at a website called "Accept Jesus, forever, forgiven" this was a very poor example of HCI.

Related Links

http://www.michaelkamen.com/
http://www.dokimos.org/ajff/
http://www.radioqualia.net/

External Reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-Computer_Interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface

Tutorial

In this weeks tutorial we were set the task of creating a shape tween. The initial steps were the same as normal, creating a new flash file. To create a motion tween we did not need to convert the text/image to a symbol. We were asked to create a shape tween of a word to another word. This involved spliting the word up using the break apart option in modify, we then had to insert a keyframe along the layer and replace the text with other text to allow it to tween. The instructions for these processes were very clear and concise. The instructions then went on showing us that you can make 1 shape tween into several and the other way around.

Reflection

This weeks lecture was interesting, covering the different types of HCI. We started with the MS Dos command line, which i don't know much about so it was helpful to see how a few commands work. We then went on comparing types of operating system GUI's, we went through MacOS, Vista and Linux. Following this we discussed Vista, and why Microsoft changed so much, In my opinion XP was perfectly fine and didn't need changing. We then went on to speech recognition which I'm quite interested in as i think its something that will become really useful and eventually come a part of everyday life. We then looked at the three websites as examples of user interfaces, the only one that impressed me was the Michael Kamen website, i thought the navigation, music and colour scheme really went well together. The radioqualia website was really boring with a plain black and white scheme throughout with simple buttons as navigation, the buttons weren't even labled so you couldn't navigate the site successfully unless you knew it already. The "Accept Jesus, forever, forgiven" was poorly designed and had very annoying music playing in the background, the background was multi-coloured and the text didn't stand out well which made it difficult to read. The work set in this weeks tutorial was fairly easy to do and the instructions were easy to follow, near the end of the tutorial i was trying to get a button working but was unsuccessful.

Dancey.

Introduction To Flash

Lecture

This weeks lecture was a simple introduction to flash and showing us what flash is capable of. We started by talking about RSS readers and we were shown examples of how they work. We were then talking about which flash version we will be using, the version we will be using is Flash CS3. We were then shown how to perform a motion tween, we were shown steps such as converting an image into a symbol and inserting key frames. The first animation we were shown was how to make a simple ball bounce across the screen. We then went on to creating a shape tween, which is making one shape transform into another. This involved inserting two key frames, drawing two different shapes in either key frame and then setting it to a shape tween. The first shape tween we saw was a rectangle transforming into a circle. We were then shown high quality examples of flash productions such as the Pixar website and a really good website by Dario Piana.

External links
http://www.pixar.com/index.html
http://www.dariopiana.com/home.html

Tutorial

The tutorial this week was a follow on from the lecture, allowing us to experiment with simple motion and shape tweens in flash. We were given step by step instructions on how to produce a symbol bouncing around the screen. The first of the steps was a detailed explanation on how to create a symbol, this involved inserting a symbol and then drawing or writing what was desired. This was then followed by the creation of key frames and setting up simple motions, to allow the symbol to move around the screen. As the instructions went on they showed us how to use the free transform tool to cause the symbol to change shape/size as it is moving around.

Reflection

I found this weeks lecture really interesting as i haven't used Flash before. The simple introduction was good, it broke down the initial steps to creating a flash production really well. The lecture also showed us complex flash productions such as the Dario Piana website, this really made me want to learn more about the software and try and get the most out of it. This weeks tutorial was great, a well explained step by step set of instructions allowed me to create a simple flash production easily. The first production i made was some text bouncing around the screen, i eventually made it change shape as it was bouncing off the sides giving the impression that it was squashing against the side of the screen. During the lecture this week we talked about ActionScript. I was interested with what it could do so i found a tutorial. I have found this week interesting, helpful with learning how to use Flash.

Actionscript Tutorial - http://www.adobe.com/support/flash/action_scripts/actionscript_tutorial/

Dancey.

Hello World - Blogging it up.

Welcome to my blog. This is the first post on my coursework blog, so far in university we have been through enrolment and our first teaching week.

The enrolment day was really busy and seemed unorganised at first, when we got split into our courses the process started to run a lot smoother and was good to start interacting with people who are on the same course.

The first teaching week was a great experience finally finding out detailed information about our courses and each module. Meeting new people was good and meeting the lecturers and finally getting into the timetable was a good experience.

Dancey.