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Flash Assignment - Theme and Progress

My Flash site is based on an anime/manga series called Naruto. The series has a very striking and bold logo and I felt it appropriate that links and headers should be in this style on my site. Fortunately to make the whole process a lot easier, I found NaruTexGen, an online tool that produces the logo-like text for you.

After I generated the text I wanted, I simply imported the images into Photoshop and removed the coloured background, replacing it with transparency. I then imported the images into my Flash scene and began work from there.

After a couple of re-attempts, I have the site structured in a much more effective way. The pre-loader also works more efficiently now and displays the percentage of the total bytes loaded (basically an indication of the loading progress).

I have been working with simple motion tweens to add life to the site, overall I'm pleased with the progress after the initial setbacks I experienced.

Flash Assignment - Preloader Problems

The idea of ActionScript interested me quite alot because I generally like to code and script things. It's not quite as intuitive as I feel it should be, but the functionality is there, you just need to learn how to unlock it.

One of my main concerns was finding example code that was written for the current era of ActionScript. Whilst backwards-compatiblity is provided, I still found that some things weren't working as they should - or at all.

After I had the basic preloader sorted out, it soon occurred to me that it was pretty boring, ugly even. This isn't so much of a concern as hopefully people won't spent too much time looking at it, however I felt that I should try and work around the problem.

Throughout my website interface I've been using a JPEG background image, which in itself is not very large in terms of file-size. The problem is, Flash doesn't seem to deal well with non-vector graphics, despite the small file size.

To make the pre-loader fit in nicely with the rest of my website, I wanted to use the same background as the rest of the interface. After brief experimentation using the 'download simulator' feature of the Flash Player, I found that loading the JPEG in the pre-loader was taking time in itself.

Eventually I worked around this problem (to some degree) by using a copy of the background image that had a much higher compression rate than that of the main interface. This had 2 effects: Reducing the time taken to load the pre-loader, but also making the overall Flash file size slightly bigger. I have decided that the pay off was worth it, from a visual standpoint.

Flash Assignment - Introduction

Apologies for the late post!

I've been hard on working on the Flash assignment and it is slowly starting to come together. I'm finding it extremely hard to get to grips with the Flash software, most likely as a result of my genetic (..blame the parents) un-creativity. I can quite happily design, code and document an 'invisible' scripting framework for a game engine, but when it comes to visual flair - I'm incredibly lacking!

So far I have the website interface completed, complete with image loaders, an embedded movie and simple buttons. One particular area I had problems with was the pre-loader. I will detail the specific problems I had with the pre-loader in a seperate blog post.

My basic knowledge of the Flash terminology is increasing, and after a while of panicing, I realised that you can actually incude animation on a webpage that's based on a single keyframe by using 'Movie Clips'. Phew!

10SecFilm - Creative Commons

In the search for free resources that can be used in my film, I came across the wonderful little Creative Commons (CC) organization. By using their Search feature, I can scout the Internet for freely usable content, as the website states "Share, reuse, and remix - legally."

This should resolve any woes I previously had about Copyrighted content in regards to a successful submission to the competition website.

10SecFilm - Introduction

With the BigStockPhoto.com assignment completed and handed in, we only had to wait 24 hours before the details of the next Creative Technologies assignment began to emerge.

The goal of this assignment is to create a 10 second film worthy of entrance into the '10 sec film fest', which you can find here. To achieve this, we have been granted the use of Mini-DV camcorders and various professional movie editing software packages.

I find the idea of movie editing with the use of the professional software an interesting prospect. However I am a little concerned at the natural creative intellect required to film something interesting in the first place. A problem to tackle when the time arises...

With this assignment it is my aim to use all of the valuable lessons learned during the BigStockPhoto.com assignment and put them to good use here. In particular, my wishes include:

• Paying closer attention to the brief
• Considering original concepts
• Increased use of available software packages
• Working against a tighter plan and schedule

With the assignment deadline in sight, I have began my research into suitable film content and production techniques. Stay safe.

BigStockPhoto.com - Concluded

Overall I have been happy with the results I have produced for this assignment. Given that this is my first ever 'creative' assignment and first time using a camera 'constructively', I think that results could have been worse. However with this in mind, there are many things I would like to improve upon:

• Post-production techniques
• Shot composition
• Camera hardware
• Tagging and categories

I felt that our group's interpretation of the brief was useful and beneficial to us all, because it has allowed us to take a wide range of photographs, fitting in within the 'objects' theme. Due to this being such a loose theme, we have been able to take photographs of practically anything we wanted.

To better improve my results, I would in future opt for taking photographs of objects against a white background, and then lift them from this. This is the type of image that sells most efficiently because it has a wide range of uses.

The type of image that I created is fairly limited in their use, mostly by mistakes of my own in choosing too-specific shot composition, in particular the focal object of the scene. My photographs may have been approved by BigStockPhoto.com for sale, but their application in the real world is somewhat hindered by my approach to the assignment brief. However I feel that I can take away the skills and lessons that I have gained and put them to practice in a different context, perhaps for making some money outside of University projects on the BigStockPhoto.com website.

BigStockPhoto.com - 'Track'

Name: 'Track'
Place: Lincoln rail/road crossing
Original format: 2304x1728 JPEG

Alterations: Levels, Color Balance, Dust and Scratches Filter, Sharpening

BigStockPhoto.com tags: train, track, rail, train-track, train-line, train-station, travel, traveling, transport, transportation, pattern, contrast, contrasting, texture, concrete, metal, sun, flare, sun-flare, daylight, line, linear

BigStockPhoto.com categories:

• Abstract » Patterns
• Business » Services
• Transportation » Trains

Reason for tags: I chose these tags with the same reasoning in mind as all the other photographs that I submitted. In particular with this photograph, I tried extremely hard to think of every descriptive tag that I could, picking up on elements such as texture, contrast and lines. I'm fairly confident with my choice of tagging and categories for this image.

Other comments: This photograph was taken at the train crossing line outside the main drive to the University. This is another shot where I was trying to achieve contrasts and features of texture, whilst incorporating an object, the object being the train line itself. I was particularly pleased with the contrast in texture between the rough, grainy concrete and the smooth shiny metal train line with the sun flare.

BigStockPhoto.com - 'Boggle'

Name: 'Boggle'
Place: Flat 212 kitchen
Original format: 2304x1728 JPEG

Alterations: Levels, Color Balance, basic re-touching, Sharpened

BigStockPhoto.com tags: game, dice, die, white, black, cube, cubed, pattern, square, shadow, family, entertainment, fun, enjoy, enjoyment, macro, zoom, close-up, texture, black and white, white and black, bright, contrast, smooth

BigStockPhoto.com categories:

• Abstract » Patterns
• Conceptual » Miscellaneous
• Objects » Toys

Reason for tags: Describing the image in it's basic form is essential, and I believe I have achieved this withthe tags specified here. Hopefully with this large collection of tags, the exposure of my image in the market place will be optimum.

Other comments: I submitted this photo to BigStockPhoto.com with a different name than specified here. This was to prevent any possible copyright problems that I might have encountered with using a brand name as specified in the BigStockPhoto.com submission guidelines.

BigStockPhoto.com - 'Stones'

Name: Stones
Place: Opposite 'The Junxion'
Original format: 2304x1728 JPEG

Alterations: Levels, Color Balance, Dust and Scratches Filter, Sharpened

BigStockPhoto.com tags: stone, cobble, cobbled, shadow, texture, pattern, pavement, walk, walking, travel, traveling, rock, concrete, background, dark, contrast, grey, gray, round, rounded, smooth, grainy, path

BigStockPhoto.com categories:

• Abstract » Patterns
• Backgrounds » Textures
• Objects » Everyday

Reason for tags: I think the tags I used here are effective for the tasks required. As with any submission, the more tags the better. Admittedly on certain photographs I was unable to think of as many tags as I would have liked to, but despite this I think I reached a decent amount of tags per image as required.

Other comments: This image is possibly my favorite due to the textures present in the image. Whilst it may be considered 'grainy' by some standards, this is one of the best features of this photograph. I believe this image may be useful in conceptual art as a background, or simply to lift the texture or the stones from, particularly for use in digital wallpaper images constructed from stock photos.

BigStockPhoto.com - 'Leaf'

Name: 'Leaf'
Place: Brayford Pool
Original format: 2304x1728 JPEG

Alterations: Levels, Color Balance, Sharpened

BigStockPhoto.com tags: leaf, leaves, tree, nature, mother nature, autumn, seasons, seasonal, color, colour, contrast, texture, yellow, gray, grey, background, shadow, sun, withered, dead, dying

BigStockPhoto.com categories:

• Nature
• Nature » Tree
• Objects » Everyday

Reason for tags: My aim, as with all the tags, is to maximize the exposure of my photograph to it's prospective audience. With detailed tags, such as I have completed, people are more likely to see my photograph, and therefore more likely to purchase it. In particular with this photograph I tried hard to pick out every subtle feature including colouring and texture.

Other comments: I was particularly happy with this photograph, especially its focal point. I made very little post-production changes to this image as I decided that none was needed. This photograph has been approved by the BigStockPhoto.com approval team and its now available for purchase.

BigStockPhoto.com - Update

The final due date for the assignment is ever nearer (tomorrow), and so to wind down and conclude I will post various facts/specifications of each photo that I have submitted to BigStockPhoto.com. Note that at the time of writing this, there are various errors on the blog which I need to resolve.

Here is the format of the summaries:

Name:
Place:
Original format:

Alterations:
BigStockPhoto.com tags:
BigStockPhoto.com categories:
Reason for tags:

Other comments:

BigStockPhoto.com - Continued

image #1

This is just a quick update to keep you informed of my progress for this assignment. It has only recently come to my attention that I forgot to inform you of the chosen theme for our photographs, that we collectively decided within our groups. The overall theme that we decided on was 'objects'. We decided that this is a simple idea, but with potentially powerful results. The majority of photographs available on BigStockPhoto.com are objects, whether it be close-ups or further away. People like photographs of definitive objects, and so this seemed like an excellent choice for us to use, granting us the freedom of a wide scope of possibilities.

With regards to the photographs that I took whilst visiting my home town, after some basic post-production work I have decided that I'm probably not going to be submitting the berry/barbed wire photograph to BigStockPhoto. Whilst this is a decent photograph, I came to a decision that it lacks specific clarity and focus. However, the situation is not as conclusive as it seems because I also have a photograph of the barbed wire against the fence, isolated on its own away from the berries. I believe this will provide better clarity, and will be easy to separate the barbed wire from the background if I wish to do so. For the purposes of continuity I have uploaded the now redundant berry/wire photograph post-production. My main aim was to try and bring out the sharpness of the barbed wire (after all you wouldn't want to be touching that) and also enhance the redness and depth of the berries, I achieved this by altering the colour balance.

BigStockPhoto.com - Home

I'm currently visiting my home town Redditch with my girlfriend. Earlier in the day we took a trip into the local woods to see if I could get any decent/suitable photographs for the assignment. It was a little difficult to take some of the photgraphs due to the tree cannopy blocking out most of the sun's light, however I was particularly pleased with a photograph of some berries against a length of barbed wire. I have attatched the photo to this post, however it is in its original size and format due to writing this from my girlfriend's laptop, on which I am unable to access Photoshop.

BigStockPhoto.com - 'The First Adventure'

The weather was nice and crisp this morning, with not a cloud in the sky. I decided that this was a good opportunity to try and take some photos because the light clarity was excellent. I took a few practice shots, particularly trying to work out good angles to take the shots, and to hone my skills with the newly discovered macro feature on my digital camera.

I tried to take photos of various things. To begin with I tried a couple of stationary objects, cobbles, bins, signs and the like. This was relatively easy, however I did encounter some difficulties with the high sun casting thick, long black shadows in all of my images. It was hard to tell how my images would turn out, because the sun glare made the LCD display of my camera practically impossible to view.

Lincoln is home to a vast collection of bird life around the Brayford Pool, and various species of duck can regularly been seen partying it up or getting wildly drunk on algae beer. When presented with the opportunity to star in a world famous photograph, they infact turned out to be extremely pesky and most annoyingly, blindly ignoring my instructions to stand still. No matter how much bread you tempted them with, I was lucky to get them to stand still for more than a second, just enough time to get my camera focused. I eventually gave up this option, and returned to the more traditional static object photography.

Results this time proved a little more pleasing, and I was able to get a few satisfying images of the railway, the rail line itself and the rather battered looking signal box. Attached is one of the images that I was particularly pleased with after some post-processing. I resized the image down to 800x600 (click for full size), adjusted the colour levels and applied the obligatory sharpness filter. The overall result is crisp and pleasing, however lacks any interesting content. I've also added a few other images which I felt quite pleased with.

Most of the photos have misplaced focal points, poor shadowing and/or is wonky. This is something I need to work on by improving my photography skills.

BigStockPhoto.com - Thoughts and Planning

In preparation for the assignment ahead, I decided to dig out my digital camera and assess whether it was suitable for the type of photographs I require. I didn't really have any doubts in the camera's technical ability, more my own skills at producing a near-decent photograph. Past results have shown a positive correlation of out of focus shots, bad angles and sub-standard lighting. Let us ignore the fact that the majority of these photos originate from the drunken house party season of the summer of 2006.

The camera in question is a Fujifilm Finepix A345, and can be seen in the image attached to the article. The camera was bought for me as an 18th birthday present from my Dad, and so comes attached with significant sentimental value. The camera will shoot with a 4.1 megapixel resolution, which is more than enough for the assignment's required 3 megapixel specification. My only concern was that the camera didn't feature a 'macro' mode (for taking close-up images). After examining the manual I soon discovered that the camera did in fact have a perfectly suitable macro mode.

With the equipment ready, it occurred to me that I knew very little about taking a decent photograph. I consulted Google for a nudge in the right direction and soon found myself reading through a very useful page with a wealth of techniques and facts for taking quality photographs with a 'point and shoot' camera. Click here for said page. The page clearly highlights the downsides of using the camera's built-in flash unit, but this did not effect my plans much, as BigStockPhoto.com had specified that flash photographs are almost always rejected because of the hard shadows and lack of clarity that they contain.

Now, setting out with improved knowledge of basic camera techniques, I seek the 'perfect' photograph. I intend to get in some practice this week as I am visiting my home town over the weekend, with easy access to an extremely beautiful oak woodland. I hope that this will be good practice to hone my skills, especially with regards to those trick close-up macro shots.

The next stage of the assignment is to decide within my group the best theme to base our photographs on. We aim to have determined this within a few days. Some of the more obvious ideas of my own that I'm going to present to the group include (but are not limited to):

• Technology (macro shots of electrical devices)
• Architecture (the Universities wonderful buildings, also the Cathedral)
• Seasons (in-particular, Autumn, my favorite season, visually speaking)
• Wildlife (Lincoln is home to many birds around Brayford Pool)
• Railway (another obvious idea, wish not to be mistaken as a trainspotter!)
  

I am entirely open to other suggestions from the group, these are just my initial ideas, I haven't actually checked the popularity of these themes or 'tags' against the BigStockPhoto.com archive. To me these seem like relatively simple ideas, that reduce the complexity of taking photographs of live models.

So until next time...

BigStockPhoto.com - Introduction

A slightly late addition to the blog. We have recently received the details of our first official assignment for the CMP1014 unit, weighing in at 10% of the total marks for the unit. The task itself is relatively basic, but with a lot of scope for achievement.

The basic idea is to create a set of 4 stock images, which must be submitted to and approved by the royalty-free photograph site, BigStockPhoto. The themes for these images needs to be determined within groups of 3-4 that we founded during last week's workshop session, however the photographs submitted by each member of the group must be original to them, and every member must submit their own 4 images to pass the unit.

It was decided that the best method of determining the types of theme, or as the site refers, 'tag' for the photographs, is simply to browse the website, noting down popular catagories as we discover them.

The images themselves must be original and unique, and must follow the strict guidlines published by the website. For instance, it may not contain any copyrighted material, and this includes brandnames and logos. Also, if the image contains any human models, a permission form must be completed and signed by the participants of the photograph.

All photographs submitted to the site need to contain post-processing techniques, including adjusting of colour balance and levels, cropping, resizing and general touching up. The website also recommends that you apply some levels of sharpening to the photos to give them a 'crisp' appearance.

After successful submission to the website, if your photograph begins to sell, you will make some money from it! Depending on the success of this assignment, I may look to this website in future as a way of making some basic income.

Photoshop Workshop #2

I found this session to be quite interesting and informative, particularly the photo restoration and photo colouring techniques.

Attached is an example of a photograph that I attempted to restore using the various tools that we had at our disposal, including the scratch and dust filter, rotation, and particularly the clone tool.

This image is not complete, however I am satisfied with the results. Probably the hardest bit to complete was the left half of the mustache, which is partly fictional, since I had to assume that this is how it appeared in the original photograph, due to the actual mustache being obscured. (Click the image for the fullsize version)

CLICK HERE for the original image (pre-restoration).

Photoshop Workshop #1

After a few organisational difficulties, we eventually started messing around with Photoshop (albeit an older version 7). We are only doing basic tasks with the application, to demonstrate some of my knowledge of the different tools and filters you can use in the program, I edited an image of a car that I found on the Internet.

The reason I used a Gaussian Blur was to try and cover up the fairly low quality of the original image, but in retrospective it also had the added result of giving the car a Depth of Field effect. Click the image thumbnail for the actual size.

The original image can be viewed by clicking HERE.

Student Details

Here are my 'vital statistics' to those it concerns:

• Name: James Munro
• ID: MUN06038438
• Course: BSc (Hons) Games Computing
• Code: CMPCMGJ