Tuesday of next week, we’ll be discussing Copyright Law and Fair Use as this is an important part of creating a Multimedia project. Please review the following documents:

• Fort Lewis: Copyright and Fair Use
• Wikipedia: Copyright

We’ll also be discussing Project Presentations…how to plan, prepare, and present your project. Here’s the presentation order that I have scheduled:

May 9:

• 12:30-12:38: James Hodgman – ???
• 12:40-12:48: David O’Connell – ???
• 12:50-12:58: John Chirila – ???
• 1:00-1:08: Jonathan Bilodeau – Homestarrunner-esque Flash Site
• 1:10-1:18: Paul Auger – Multimedia Storage Site Revamp
• 1:20-1:28: Matt Baillargeon – Music Video & Documentation
• 1:30-1:38: Jamie Howard – Rugby Website in w/ Flash
• 1:40-1:48: Eric Croteau – Hockey Tutorial in Flash

May 11:

• 12:30-12:38: Ryan Morash – Flash/Video filled website
• 12:40-12:48: Tucker McGaw – A Flash Movie production
• 12:50-12:58: Felix Rosen – DJ Flash Webpage
• 1:00-1:08: Angela DiCicco – Cooking Lessons in Flash
• 1:10-1:18: Matthew Doenges – Pocket PC Back End Application (Visual Basic)
• 1:20-1:28: Erik Kowlachuk – NHL Promo Video

May 16:

• 11:00-11:08: Christopher Signor – Dungeons and Dragons Character Creation Tutorial in Flash
• 11:10-11:18: Jesse Patch – Company Webpage
• 11:20-11:28: Colby Schneider – Navigable Snowboarding DVD
• 11:30-11:38: Liam Jewell – PSU Help Tutorials in Flash
• 11:40-11:48: Brendan Emery – TikiWiki
• 11:50-1:30: Final Exam

As many of you may already know, myPlymouth and WebCT is down (and has been since 3am). This directly effects my duties in IT and will be needed in the office during official class time. However, here are the slides which we will go over next Tuesday (I’ll combine the two days into one). In the mean time, read this: Digital Video for Multimedia Basics.

And I suppose I’ll give you a Video Assignment. w00t! Have fun with this one.

Using the video application of your choice (Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Adobe Premiere, etc) create a music video for one of your favorite songs. You will need to find an mp3 of a song from somewhere you can do this a few ways:

• download it (legally) from iTunes, then download WavePad and open the song that you downloaded and save as .mp3.
• ‘borrow’ an mp3 from a friend
• rip one of your own cds

Next, using that song, find pictures and video from elsewhere to match your music, thus creating a sort of Music Video collage-type thing. If you’ve never used video editing software, Windows Movie Maker is super easy to learn. If you get stumped, do some google searches to find the answers you need. (Or e-mail me)

Once you are done…DO NOT turn in the Movie Maker project file…you need to save it as a Movie (.wmv). (obviously, if you are using iTunes, turn in a .mov)

Now…how should you turn it in? Well…Don’t upload it to WebCT. Save it to your M:Drive in your Home folder. (or burn it to a CD) and either send me the link to your video or get the CD to me by next Friday (4/21).

Description of 1st planning report:
Each of the following items should clearly labeled in the report:

1. A description of the topic of your project.
2. A description of the measurable objectives of your project. I will be using the objectives that you indicate that you have for your project as my evaluation tool for the project.
3. An indication of the authoring program you will use to put your project together (Flash, PHP, Powerpoint, some other tool like Java or Javascript).
4. An indication of the software applications that will be necessary for you to complete the project.
5. A beginning storyboard of your project. Note that this is the beginning of your project planning. The storyboard should lay out all the “pages” in your presentation, indicating what will be on each. This documentation must be reasonably complete. You can find more information on Storyboarding here.
6. A description of how you will be using each of the cells in the 2D multimedia taxonomy from the Project Planning slides and why it makes sense for you to be using the cell that way. For example, for sound abstraction, you might indicate that each time the user presses a button, the sound of a bomb going off is heard. You must then explain why that choice makes sense given the goals of your project. If there is a particular cell from the taxonomy that you will not be using at all, you must explain why you will not be using it. This part of your report should be clearly linked to your stated objectives.

Create a navigation page (similar to a DVD menu) that allows the user to choose from at least 5 buttons/icons/links. Four of these icons should send the user to 4 separate animations (complete with sound). The 5th icon, when clicked, should send the user to my blog BorkWeb.com. At the end of each animation, give the user a navigation menu allowing them to view the other animations or return to the first screen. The 4 animations should be more in-depth than what we did with the previous Flash lab and can include graphics from other sources (i.e. you don’t need to do all the image creation right in flash…you can get pictures or make your own in Photoshop). Here are some animation suggestions:

• Two balls that bounds around a room, bouncing off of each other.
• A presidential spoof
• A kid being attacked by a giant mosquito
• A monkey dancing across the screen
• ….be creative

You can add to the above requirements to suit your needs (but don’t detract from them). Have fun with this one. Here are some suggested sources for learning about more complex Flash animations:

• Here are some simple tutorials at W3 Schools
• Flash Kit has an awesome set of tutorials on a crap ton of topics

Now, in order to create the menus and navigation; stopping and starting movies and playing from various locations needs to be done with some ActionScripting. Here are a few resources to get you started:

• ActionScript.org has some great tutorials on ActionScripting
  • Here’s one for looping backgrounds
  • Here’s one on working with variables
  • Here’s one on drag n’ drop
• Here’s some documentation very similar to the Java API
• Check the help in Macromedia Flash (the application for simple start() stop() and loop() commands for controlling the movie)

And don’t forget about the quiz next Tuesday (4/11)

Before we get started, here are some terms you should know:

Tween: In animation, it is used to describe intermediate frames often added by an assistant animator or by computer. See tweening.

Motion Tween: In animation, refers to movement of an object along a path.

Shape Tween: In animation, refers to changing the shape of an object.

Export Movie: With Flash, when you save your movie, you are actually saving a file that allows you to open the movie again and edit it later on. If you want the flash movie to be viewable on the web, you must export the movie (which essentially saves it as a .swf file). To export a movie, simply click File > Export > Export Movie, select the folder you want to save the movie in, then click the Save button.

Lets get to it!
Lab (part 1): Working with Macromedia Flash (Do sections 1 and 2)
What to turn in for this tutorial:
You can place each of the following shapes/images on separate frames of the same movie…or create a separate movie file for each. It’s up to you ;)

• Your custom shape…found here
• Your layered shapes…found here
• Your masked image…found here
• Your symbolized image…found here

In this section, you will learn:
* Creating graphics in Flash
* Importing graphics
* Using color effectively
* Creating a color swatch
* Layering Flash elements
* Masking content
* Organizing content in Flash
* Reusing graphics as symbols

NOTE: This tutorial starts on page 1 of a whole series of tutorials and continues on to page to 26.

Lab (part 2): Moving Objects along a Path
What to turn in for this tutorial:

• You will have created a simple animation by the end of this tutorial…save and export it, then submit it to WebCT
• Note: Have a little fun with this if you want…customize it to your hearts content…remember, you are preparing yourself for more Flash next week, so everything you learn will help

In this tutorial you will learn how Flash allows us to to gain further control of the movement of an object by the use of guide layers. This method enables to you to draw a complex path or guide which the object will follow.

Note: if you get stumped with steps 11 & 12..This is the guide layer: …the steps should be combined into one.

Lab (part 3): Creating Animations with Shape Tween
What to turn in for this tutorial:

• You will have created a simple animation by the end of this tutorial…save and export it, then submit it to WebCT
• Note: Same as above…have a little fun with this if you want…

In this tutorial you will learn how Flash can also ‘tween’ the shape of an object. This allows the shape to change between keyframes.

What to turn in
Upload your 3 flash movies (don’t forget to export them first) to WebCT.

Why just Tutorials this week?
Well, the goal of these tutorials is simply to familiarize yourself with the application and terminology in preparation for the more in-depth lab (due on the 14th). Tonight I will be posting your assigned reading and Flash Lab 2

(Next week’s lab will be posted on Thursday of next week)

Top Ten Web Design Mistakes (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/designmistakes.html)
Jakob Nielson is a Web Usability guru (despite the fact that his site is so ugly). Check out the above linked article as well as the other Top Ten Lists at the bottom.

Web Design From Scratch (http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/basics.cfm)

• This site is great as it details the process of design and the differences between sites that have focused on art and those that have focused on providing tools. There are a lot of sections (see the links on the right hand side of the page) that are all interesting.
• Of particular not for this assignment:
  • “How people use web pages”
  • “Other online factors”
  • “The Design Spectrum”

Web Style Guide (http://www.webstyleguide.com/index.html?/pages/editorial_style.html)

• The whole thing is a good read, but if you don’t want to read everything, Read Chapters 2 and 4 (they are short)

Here is what you need to provide for each site you choose to critique:

• Provide the Web Address to the site.
• Answer these questions: Why did you select the site? What interested you about this particular site?
• Describe features of the site, including the following:
  • Overall theme or main subject for the website
  • Types of materials presented on the website (e.g. letters, diaries, photographs, illustrations, historical summaries, literature texts)
• Answer these questions:
  • Is the information source trustworthy? How do you know?
  • Who is the website designed for? For example, is it intended to reach the general public, medical professionals, kids, older people, etc.? How do you know?
  • Is the website well-designed to reach that group of people? Why do you think so? Give specific examples (ie., vocabulary, ease of finding information, working hyperlinks, low-tech vs. high-tech video presentation [which is important if you’re calling in on a slow modem!!], visual ‘style,’ etc.)
  • Is the website easy to navigate? Why or why not?
  • Does the site design used by the site match well with the theme/subject and topics covered? (For instance, are the main buttons set up to correspond to key topics? Do the main sections of the website, as organized and presented, work together logically? If there are photographs, illustrations or graphics, do they complement/reinforce the theme effectively?)
• Describe and critique other design elements of the website.
  • Is the visual display plan effective? (e.g., Is the site too cluttered/busy? Is there too much empty space?)
  • Are the font sizes and designs appropriate (e.g., attractive, easy to read)?
  • Does the website make effective use of color and spacing?
• What can be improved, if anything?

Score sheet

The important topics discussed are:

• Web as a Platform
• Harnessing Collective Intelligence
• Data is the Next Intel Inside
• End of the Software Release Cycle
• Lightweight Programming Models
• Software Above the Level of a Single Device
• Rich User Experiences

Of particular note is the comparison between a Web 1.0/Web 2.0 comparisons: