Code Learning Module

 CodeCademy

I am privileged enough to work in a restaurant where i meet all kinds of people every day. How you get into some of the conversations you do i couldn't tell you. Anyhow, i had a customer come in a couple of months ago and tell me i was wasting my time learning flash and so on. He told me JavaScript was soon to dominate. So i took the day or two of extra time i had and began completing the first chapter of JavaScript on this site. Hands down one of the best ways to learn code. You are given directions in each lesson and then you are instructed to do like a practice scenario duplicating what you just learned. If there is an error it tells you to try again. And to add to the fun of course there has to be prizes right? Oh yes, you earn metals for completion of different things.

http://www.scarygirl.com/
This is a website I found that uses flash. Their interface is all done in flash, they have some animation and a interactive game. the graphics I thought were very original and all went together well. The interactive game I only played for a little while, it uses simple controls and seems to work well, but I did come across a glitch where I jumped off the screen and my character disappeared off the screen. Other than that I thought it was a interesting site.

by Kyle Strehlow

http://www.intobrazil.net/
This is a cool flash based interactive travel site promoting Brazil. They have a very fluid and relaxed feel to their interface. I really like their custom animated loading bar. all their menus are animated.
This site allows you to explore, pick, and plan your own personal trip to Brazil. They use lots of photos and information and even a interactive map. I thought this was a very interesting way to promote tourism, and it looks very cool.

by Kyle Strehlow

Animation Domination High Definition

http://www.beta-adhd.com/#/shorts
the website that i am posting for my blog here is a beta website for fox's television late hour television shows and short animations.  you might consider ADHD equivalent to cartoon networks adult swim which is aired around 9 pm until morning showing they're more adult oriented cartoons, like family guy, ATHF, Robot Chicken etc.  the reason I am posting about ADHD is because of a upcoming new show that they will be airing in July the show is called Axe Cop.  the premise behind the show is to follow the comic Axe Cop which was created by Ethan Nicolle who drew the comic he was 29 at the time, and his younger brother Malachai who was 5 at the creation.  Up Till now i believe there has been up to 169 episodes written by a now nine year old and drawn by his older brother.
  the animated shorts ask Axe Cop and the newest trailer are absolutely hilarious, there is just something about the story telling of a young child his imagination is limitless, its violence is justified with good vs. evil and good always wins no matter how ridiculous the story gets but that is the genius behind axe cop.
  the only thing that i have to say about ADHD's website is that because it is owned by the fox television corporation it doesn't really label the artists who are animated not just axe cop but all the other animations and flash related content.  however i did find two names that were dragged into helping with the axe cop series, Arin Hanson (AKA Ego Raptor) and Marc Moceri.  If anyone else is interested in reading up on great webcomics here is the link
http://axecop.com/index.php/achome/index/

and a personal note i think all of the music that they use in most of their videos is composed by Garfunkel and Oats a comedic duo of folk song writers and actresses but i could be wrong, but it certainly sounds like them to me.

The Museum of Me!

The Museum of Me -
          
           I was just perusing through a few different styles of flash websites and designers when I came across this particular site called the "Museum of Me." It was developed by Fluid Inc. for Intel and their company. I actually found this site on the 2013 top ten flash websites from -
http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/best-flash-sites. I figured, "hey why not showcase one of the top ten best flash websites of year, I mean after all it number 2!" This site is truly amazing however it has a specific target audience and I wouldn't necessarily say a small one either. The targets are anyone who has a "facebook" account. Now, what this site does is it compiles all your photos, videos, friends photos, news feed information, location, and basically any information you have ever given "facebook." I know what your thinking a lot of people feel insecure with this idea of all their information going out to a random site just like that, but that fact is that the site is a one time use and non-storing site, however it is repeatable anytime but no information of you will be retained once you leave the site or browser. It has this awesome virtual modern style where the site puts you inside a museum and compiles your information into a lifelike feel of and exhibit in a museum. Fluid Inc. includes randomized people in a building as they are staring at the story of you while also using some amazing techniques of transition from room to room as if you were headed of to the next exhibit in the museum. I personally have never seen anything like this in flash, so I believe the people of Fluid Inc. are already separating themselves from the obvious works of flash such as cartoon style animation, to interfaces, and all the way to video games. This to me just seems so different innovative and quite interesting. The fact that the site had made a story about me and not someone or something else immediately grabbed my attention and made me want to know more, so I believe Intel got their as some would say "hook line and sinker."

Here is the link to the "Museum of Me"
http://www.intel.com/museumofme/en_US/r/index.htm

Here is also a link to Fluid Inc.
www.fluid.com

New Media - Aimee Robidoux

3D animation is used in both the gaming and filming industry; creating realism through animation has become the focus of today’s entertainment.  Such memorable characters like Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, or the gorgeous landscape and incredible creatures in John Cameron’s Avatar, were all created using 3D animation.

Avatar was possibly the greatest breakthrough for realistic animation; a whole new technology was developed for accurate depiction of muscle movement in the non-human Na’vi.

One of the more difficult aspects of 3D animation is the motion capture.  Currently, actors have to wear a skin-tight suits with infrared markers attached to them.  The sensors send out signals to a special camera system, which captures the human movement and can later be transferred to a virtual character.  The suits the actors must wear are uncomfortable and inhibit natural movement because the sensors get in the way.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken, Germany, have developed a technology that may be able to eliminate the uncomfortable suit altogether.  Because this is a new technology, and patented, not very many details are known about the science of how it works.  However, this new method will allow actors to be filmed in their normal clothes, and the software will analyze their movements and transfer the information onto a virtual character in the form of a skeleton.  The other benefit to this method, is that the need for special cameras is eliminated.

If this new technology were to be implemented on an international scale, costs that go into buying the special cameras and the suits would be eliminated.

Sources: sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130227101946.htm

    http://www.techradar.com/us/news/video/the-making-of-avatar-658031

And just because I love stick figure animation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnsfV5N2n8

Gene Blakefield and Darin Bendall

For my exploration I chose to do Gene Blakefield and Darin Bendall.  They are animators who animated a video for a musician I really like, M. Ward.  The video for the song "The First Time I ran away" is kind of cool because it actually tells a story.  One of my favorite parts of this animated video is the art style.  The art and animation aren't terribly animated but everything just has a great texture to it.  The video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBTIHh-cXj0

The other video I chose from these animators is called "Chinese Translation", also by M. Ward.  I thought this video was simple but interesting as well.  I love the Monk character and the cool textures.  The animations aren't terribly complicated in this video either, but they pull it off really well and it really adds to their style.  That video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUfIKX5ReKQ

Webcomics and Flash

I’d like to focus more on how flash can help tell stories by going over three webcomics and how they utilize flash. These are just the tip of the iceberg on how flash can be utilized in comics and storytelling and I will refrain from spoilers in case anyone wants to check out the following comics.

Now, the first comic I’d like to go over is called Ava’s Demon by Michelle Czajkowski. It is a one panel webcomic that has an easy navigation design and occasionally has some simple flash animations.  The comic is put into a framework like a book, and the first thing you see upon going on the site is the cover, which glows as if it were alive.

The next comic I’d like to go over is called Unsounded by Ashley Cope. Unlike Ava’s Demon, there aren’t flash animations and it has more traditional multi-panel comic framework, but where the flash is most utilized is by altering the very framework and even the website page depending on what is happening in the comic.

The last comic I’d like to briefly go over is Homestuck by Andrew Hussie (yes, that is his name). It is a one panel webcomic and it utilizes flash the most out of this trio. The panels themselves can either be typical art or they could be GIFs. Then there could be short interactive panel or even a flash animation thrown into the mix. The dialogue is held beneath the panels and is either all out in the open, or must be open through chat logs.

Flash gives an opportunity for artists to tell their story in a way that traditional media cannot. With flash, a comic can be given music, or a short animation, or even break the borders of it panels. It opens possibilities that many comic artists are taking advantage of.

Beware of the Chosen One!!!

I found this flash animation from newgrounds.com , so I'm sure this video could have been showcased before cause its definitely one of the more popular animations and I believe its the second of three clips to the quick animations that Karl showed us in the beginning of the semester where the dude was battling the the person controlling the pointer!! This particular Flash Animation   http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/368557 I think it is hilarious ,and if you have worked with flash and are familiar with the program you will really appreciate this short animation. The programmer who created this animation Charles Yeh (flame862) is looking for challenges, so if you feel you can beat the chosen one step up to Flash and show the Chosen One what you are made of!! Here is the link http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/316541 to the first one Charles Animated and Karl Showed us in the beginning of the semester. It was such a good idea that he has made a trilogy of animations and a game based on this theme and others have mimicked the idea. Its funny how the more simple animations can be the most popular.

I wouldn't even know where to begin creating a video like this, but I hope to someday have the skills and know how to make something that would be a comparable battle for the Chosen One!! I really like how Charles took something that looks so simple and made it something that is obviously a very complex flash animation!! I really thought that he was creative on how the programer is trying to save his computer from this little guy that he drew up and is now making the programer fight for his computers life.

Animator vs. Animation http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/316541

Animator vs. Animation II http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/368557

Animator vs. Animation III http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/576381

 

Explosm AKA Cyanide & Happiness.

For my first Blog Exploration, I chose to do: Explosm. The creator of Cyanide & Happiness comic strip. The creators are Rob Denbleyker, Dave McElfatrick, and Matt Melvin. All three combined with their staff created Explosm business. Their comic strips and animations are insanely hilarious and quite clever!

I love their animation shorts I found on youtube the most. They do in fact use Adobe Flash to create their animations. I would love to get on their level of animation by what I learn in our class!

Here is a link to all of their animations:

FUN!

Marvin Eason