Hour Of Code

The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. In my Contemporary Media class, I participated in the one-hour tutorials that were available on the code.org website. There were 191,035 Hour of Code events around the world and my school Edward Wenzlaf Education Center is listed on the hour of code website as one of the participating schools. 

Here is a link where you can find our school -https://hourofcode.com/us/events/all/us/ca.

I participated in the Hour of Code by using Java Script to program a game called Star Wars: Building a galaxy with code. In this tutorial, I learned how to make a game using code commands that I can either drag or type into the workspace. I learned how to use code to guide the robot with the arrow keys and include a different sound every time the player receives or loses points. Code is used to make any game you want. The image below is a screenshot of the game I made using Java Script. Every time you hit a storm trooper it makes an annoying scream and the storm troopers multiply. Even though there is no objective to my game, the purpose of the completing the levels was to introduce me to the subject of computer science and to learn a programing skill. Not to mention the game I programmed is entertaining and kicks butt to play.

I see the future of programming becoming more advanced with a world of options and different languages to chose from. It is amazing to see what you can come up with by using Java Script and I can see why people enjoy doing this for a living. Although this is fun and entertaining, I'm not sure how I will be involved with programing in the future, but I know for my 21st century generation, it is an extremely important skill to have. I feel like I am more of a designer creating digital images, but you never know. I received a certificate for completing 14 levels of the tutorial; so if I ever want to get into coding, I have evidence in this portfolio that I can do it.

Adobe Illustrator Progress

(I will make this up)

3rd Quarter - Illustration

We finally reached the third quarter in our temporary media class and are now learning how to use a program named Adobe Illustrator.

Adobe Illustrator is a vector based design tool where you can design different logos or make digital illustrations. The designs made in this program can be sold to companies or corporations for a lot of money.

Some of the tools that are available in this program are the same as the ones in Adobe Flash and Adobe Photoshop. These programs give you a variety of tools that allow you to be very creative in your designs. There is a tool called the blob brush tool which allows you to paint on the page with your mouse. When you click command+Y the lines of your painting show up when you don't want to see the color. When you click command+D you can draw behind the lines you already made. This helps when you need to fill in an image with another color.

I am excited to use this program because i like to illustrate things in my spare time and now I can do this on the computer. I can't wait to see how my designs come out.

Animated Text

These past few days in my contemporary media class, our class suggested some academic words and we were given the option to chose one of those words to animate in Adobe Flash. 

I chose the word knowledge and used the Matura MT Script Capitals font because it looks similar to how noble people would write in the old days. I animated it the way I did because everyone experiences knowledge differently.

Walk Cycle Project

During the last three weeks, I have been learning about this program called Adobe Flash. In Flash designers are able to create and draw 2-D images and then animate these images. The project I've been working on is a stick-man animation that includes four standard poses of the walk cycle. This project was interesting because i learned how to connect all of the joints in order to make the stick-man walk. The main tool we used to make these connections, was the bone tool. This bone tool connects the bones of joints which turns each separate joint into a armature layer.

In the process of making this animation, we were introduced how to import sound effects into the library.  Once the footstep sound effects were imported, finding the correct placement on the timeline became crucial. The footstep had to be placed right when each foot stuck the ground.  This step included me having to pace the sounds in relation to the walk cycle.  At first i put two keyframes where i thought the footsteps were on the timeline, however after testing the walk cycle I realized I only needed one keyframe.  The animation embedded in this post is a animated gif which does not include sounds.

Now that i know how to demonstrate the skills to animate a simple walk cycle using keyframes and motion tweens on the timeline I hope to take more advanced lesson on how to animate different characters with more detail and complex motions. This concludes my presentation on using Adobe Flash and learning basic tools on how to animate a basic walk cycle of a stick-man.

What is motion design?

During the second semester in my Contemporary Media class we will be learning about 2D animation by using an Adobe program known as Adobe Flash. Todays assignment includes researching and defining 2D motion design concepts. According to Wikipedia, the definition of motion design is a digital footage or animation technology to create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio to create a multimedia project that will be your animation.

Motion Graphics Trend: Liquid Motion from in60seconds on Vimeo.

Gifgifs.com

There are several different types of motion design examples. Here are a few.

• 2D Animated Short Films
• 2D Cartoon
• Game intro/ Trailer
• Apps 
• Movie Trailer
• Animated infographic
• Advertisements/ Promotional video
• Whiteboard animation

Now that i know what motion design is i am very excited to start my project and start using Adobe Flash to create some awesome clips and be creative with my designs.

Photoshop Business Card Project

For our final photoshop project in my contemporary design class, I had to design an original business card from scratch. The process started with a design document where I had to do research on font types color schemes and my original artwork design. After I picked my font and color scheme I used the fill tool to make the whole paper the background color. I used the brush tool and began to add my colors and design to it. Once I was happy with the card I added the text boxes with the title and all of my information.


The design document helped me to pre plan how my business card would look. This template included the color scheme and font I will be using for my project. I used several sources for this project to help with the design process.


References:
paletton.com
http://www.vistaprint.com/customer-care/artwork-specifications.aspx?pf_id=B73#details

What is Contemporary Media?

My first assignment in my Contemporary Media class is to define the word Contemporary Media.
Contemporary means modern and media means communication like technology, music, or the internet. In this class we design logos and websites on a computer to create designs by using photoshop, while gaining experience to become a graphic and web designer. You can create art and logos in this class helping us out by being creative, because the possibilities are endless.