Follow the yellow Vic road
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Follow the Yellow Vic Road
Follow the yellow Vic road
Friday, 26 October 2012
Progress
Over the last week I have been literally sitting on my couch with Sex in the City box set running in the background and editing, only getting off the couch to get coffee.
I have made a lot of progress, but I'm a bit disappointed with how my movie looks. I wish I was a bit better at editing - or had the time to be a perfectionist. My adding in the yellow road has taken a looonnngg time. And after I spent all day on just that, and realised at the end I had only done 6 seconds of 3 mins - I realised things might have to change a bit.
So instead of just running through the path from where my character is, to where shes going, now there is an effect of phasing in and out so that I was able to be able to finish the movie and get enough time to study for my exam which is due the next day. I tried to break yesterday into two and only do the movie for half the day, but my marketing side of the day did not work as I found myself not taking anything in and thinking about my clip!
So! I have tried to do the parts I know what I want to happen, and tried to get things looking good - its ok at the moment - I wish the layers didn't jut around do much in the video - but I have spent hours and hours trying to get it seamless and its not something I have the time to fix at the moment.
Starting before all my classmates and trying to get it out of the way early doesn't always pay off!
Anyway, so the parts I like about the clip at the music. Both are fun and this is a word I was trying to focus on. I hope I don't disappoint Shiping too much with my movie, I really worked hard, I just haven't had enough practise with programs yet (first time use of photoshop was this year!).
I also unfortunately can't make the party after we have handed in our clips because my marketing exam falls exactly the same time! I'm a bit disappointed I wont get to see other peoples clips. Although it might be a good idea too so I don't feel lame about mine!!
:)
urgh. Still need to figure out how to get my blog to have a different type for the body of the posts. I have changed it three times but it's not sticking! ek!
I have made a lot of progress, but I'm a bit disappointed with how my movie looks. I wish I was a bit better at editing - or had the time to be a perfectionist. My adding in the yellow road has taken a looonnngg time. And after I spent all day on just that, and realised at the end I had only done 6 seconds of 3 mins - I realised things might have to change a bit.
So instead of just running through the path from where my character is, to where shes going, now there is an effect of phasing in and out so that I was able to be able to finish the movie and get enough time to study for my exam which is due the next day. I tried to break yesterday into two and only do the movie for half the day, but my marketing side of the day did not work as I found myself not taking anything in and thinking about my clip!
So! I have tried to do the parts I know what I want to happen, and tried to get things looking good - its ok at the moment - I wish the layers didn't jut around do much in the video - but I have spent hours and hours trying to get it seamless and its not something I have the time to fix at the moment.
Starting before all my classmates and trying to get it out of the way early doesn't always pay off!
Anyway, so the parts I like about the clip at the music. Both are fun and this is a word I was trying to focus on. I hope I don't disappoint Shiping too much with my movie, I really worked hard, I just haven't had enough practise with programs yet (first time use of photoshop was this year!).
I also unfortunately can't make the party after we have handed in our clips because my marketing exam falls exactly the same time! I'm a bit disappointed I wont get to see other peoples clips. Although it might be a good idea too so I don't feel lame about mine!!
:)
urgh. Still need to figure out how to get my blog to have a different type for the body of the posts. I have changed it three times but it's not sticking! ek!
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Movie
So over the last week I have taken some photos with my model and started trying to work the programs so I can piece together what I have so far.
I have made a start in imovie, to see how it might flow. I have also spent mmaannyyy hours this weekend testing out the editing in photoshop (as I haven't figured out how to do it in another program yet) and it's actually not bad!
So far here is a test I have so far...If I can use this stuff I am up to the animation part, of which I am rethinking at the moment. I have realised I do not need to actually show the brick road on an overlay of the actual path, but I can play around with animation and then have the ending...but we'll see what happens there! I have an exam the same day this is due, so I am trying to get as far through as possible!
I have made a start in imovie, to see how it might flow. I have also spent mmaannyyy hours this weekend testing out the editing in photoshop (as I haven't figured out how to do it in another program yet) and it's actually not bad!
So far here is a test I have so far...If I can use this stuff I am up to the animation part, of which I am rethinking at the moment. I have realised I do not need to actually show the brick road on an overlay of the actual path, but I can play around with animation and then have the ending...but we'll see what happens there! I have an exam the same day this is due, so I am trying to get as far through as possible!
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Woohoo
Finally, changing around syntax and amounts that I think may alter the problem paid off!
The strings are now much more behaved:)
The strings are now much more behaved:)
I did it!
Colour array - boom!
So it now works - but it has a side effect of adding three balloons at once, and not one which isn't a huge issue as it just means there is more to play with, so that turned out pretty good!
Now I am focusing on the issue of the strings. They work ok, but the further right you go, the further left the bottom of the strings go when they are cut....below is me trying to sort it out, or play with the points, but I have figured out that the problem is because the x's etc are not connected to where they are, the if else statement used means that it isn't particular on where they sit on the x axis if that makes sense, so the first few balloons when cut look ok, but as your go progressively down the line, they start adding more and more to the else statement as numbers have been used, not variables. I'm unsure whether I can just assign variables in that area and fix the issue that way, or whether it is something to do with the code overall. EK.
BUT I did get the colour array to work after days of trying so I'm still stoked, now you can do this....
So it now works - but it has a side effect of adding three balloons at once, and not one which isn't a huge issue as it just means there is more to play with, so that turned out pretty good!
Now I am focusing on the issue of the strings. They work ok, but the further right you go, the further left the bottom of the strings go when they are cut....below is me trying to sort it out, or play with the points, but I have figured out that the problem is because the x's etc are not connected to where they are, the if else statement used means that it isn't particular on where they sit on the x axis if that makes sense, so the first few balloons when cut look ok, but as your go progressively down the line, they start adding more and more to the else statement as numbers have been used, not variables. I'm unsure whether I can just assign variables in that area and fix the issue that way, or whether it is something to do with the code overall. EK.
If the above didn't all go off to the left it might look better!
Issues
So, I have continued to try and fix my issues over the last couple days, but I still have a problem with the strings going off to the left as shown below.....
You can see form the one of the top left that the further down the chain I get with cutting balloon strings - the further left the strings go. The pic on the bottom right shows (kind of, it is hard to get a screenshot in time!) that the first couple are ok. Also another issue I can't get right is the balloon add colour thing - as you can see from the bottom left image, I can add as many balloons as I want, but they are all one colour at the moment.
If I could get these two issues sorted, I would be happy enough to present tomorrow. It's not looking good given that I have been trying to fix only these two issues for two days now!
In terms of the colour scheme I have decided to go for the smaller amount of colours as I think it looks better.
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
problems
Hmmmm so my optimistic view of getting my issues sorted in class today didn't really work out!
My backup option for Steven having too many people to get around was for Robbie to give me a hand again - but he wasn't next to me today and I feel weird asking him to help when he is busy with his own work, so I am just where I was this morning.
Its unfortunate because I know Steven tried really hard to get around everyone, but either classes need to be smaller, or there needs to be more tutors.
On a positive note I got a right mouse clicked function to add more balloons going today while I was waiting, and trying to fix the other issues,. The right click add more balloons which look awesome if I can get the balloons to be different colours, as heaps can appear at once which really adds to that balloon group/clump feature.
anyway. More stressing to come I imagine as it seems to be my middle name at the moment!
My backup option for Steven having too many people to get around was for Robbie to give me a hand again - but he wasn't next to me today and I feel weird asking him to help when he is busy with his own work, so I am just where I was this morning.
Its unfortunate because I know Steven tried really hard to get around everyone, but either classes need to be smaller, or there needs to be more tutors.
On a positive note I got a right mouse clicked function to add more balloons going today while I was waiting, and trying to fix the other issues,. The right click add more balloons which look awesome if I can get the balloons to be different colours, as heaps can appear at once which really adds to that balloon group/clump feature.
anyway. More stressing to come I imagine as it seems to be my middle name at the moment!
programs
So yesterday I took a test video, and some photos at uni, and I think I overestimated my talents!
I cannot figure out how to edit parts of the video, so I will need to ask this on Friday (LAST ONE!Ek! perhaps there should be another workshop a few days before hand-in for people having trouble?)
Anyway, I will try my best and may have to stop motion parts of it because I am unsure how it will work otherwise! I also tried both After Effects and Premier Pro yesterday and I get get the images/video in, but then I'm lost. I did a few beginner tutorials, but I need more to work with - If worst comes to worst I might need to work in imovie again as its so simple and will give me what I want without all the stress of trying to learn new programs without in person help - and also studying for my Marketing exam which is the same day as hand-in for the movie! ek!
Hopefully it works out! ek!
I cannot figure out how to edit parts of the video, so I will need to ask this on Friday (LAST ONE!Ek! perhaps there should be another workshop a few days before hand-in for people having trouble?)
Anyway, I will try my best and may have to stop motion parts of it because I am unsure how it will work otherwise! I also tried both After Effects and Premier Pro yesterday and I get get the images/video in, but then I'm lost. I did a few beginner tutorials, but I need more to work with - If worst comes to worst I might need to work in imovie again as its so simple and will give me what I want without all the stress of trying to learn new programs without in person help - and also studying for my Marketing exam which is the same day as hand-in for the movie! ek!
Hopefully it works out! ek!
Background
This morning I was trying to sort out the last few problems with my interaction. And also I thought about adding some clouds into my background to make it more interesting - but on my search for a perfect image, I realised that it doesn't make sense if the background is sky as the balloons pop of the top of the image, as if popping on a ceiling.
So I have decided not to go for a background with clouds, I do like the simplicity of my design at the moment, but will try and focus on the other issues before a background as I may run out of time!
So at the moment the issues are
1. Colour of the new balloons. (and perhaps a rapid click)..
2. strings going off to the left of the screen when cut (something to do with the control point I think!)
3. Perhaps making the pop a little better.
I'm happy with the range of interactions my sketch can do, with the moving and popping and blowing up and deflating etc, which it what I wanted to create, now it is the quality of each that I need to sort out as they don't look exactly how I want them too - although this might be something I can't pull off in the small time left. I'll try!!
Also, I am trying to decide if I should have the colour range be smaller eg....
I quite like he look of the smaller colour pallette, but I am torn between the realistic pastel balloon colour range you normally get, and what I think might look better...
Ek! Last class before presentation today! I hope I can get it all done!
So I have decided not to go for a background with clouds, I do like the simplicity of my design at the moment, but will try and focus on the other issues before a background as I may run out of time!
So at the moment the issues are
1. Colour of the new balloons. (and perhaps a rapid click)..
2. strings going off to the left of the screen when cut (something to do with the control point I think!)
3. Perhaps making the pop a little better.
I'm happy with the range of interactions my sketch can do, with the moving and popping and blowing up and deflating etc, which it what I wanted to create, now it is the quality of each that I need to sort out as they don't look exactly how I want them too - although this might be something I can't pull off in the small time left. I'll try!!
Also, I am trying to decide if I should have the colour range be smaller eg....
I quite like he look of the smaller colour pallette, but I am torn between the realistic pastel balloon colour range you normally get, and what I think might look better...
Ek! Last class before presentation today! I hope I can get it all done!
Monday, 15 October 2012
Final storyboard
SO I changed a few things! I have two options, I can't decide which option looks better, one is a little less opaque on the yellow Vic road bits.
When it's printed it look soooo different, so I have two. But I'll upload as soon as the slow uni internet allows me...:)
When it's printed it look soooo different, so I have two. But I'll upload as soon as the slow uni internet allows me...:)
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Storyboard
So, I have been thinking a lot about the movie and have chatted to Shiping and clarified the ideas a little bit. I think they may change as I get into the movie, but It will be interesting!
So I have found a camera that will record in 720p and that makes life a lot easier! I have taken a few photos and test videos on my phone this week to get a feel of how I want things to look. I feel like the movie is still missing something, but hopefully it sorts itself out in the process of making.
Below is my storyboard which just makes me really want to get stuck into the movie.
So I have found a camera that will record in 720p and that makes life a lot easier! I have taken a few photos and test videos on my phone this week to get a feel of how I want things to look. I feel like the movie is still missing something, but hopefully it sorts itself out in the process of making.
Below is my storyboard which just makes me really want to get stuck into the movie.
Friday, 12 October 2012
Ballooons
So! I have been a little slack in posting in the last week. Since my tutorial with Steven, which really helped me get my balloons working separately, and with mouse-clicked on the actual balloons to make them grow and deflate - I managed to convince Robbie to help me out (as he was already doing in class a lot anyway) But I booked out some time today with him for a few hours, and he helped me out with my code and taught me a few things and I brought him lunch! Good trade!
So now the balloons are working in a class Array list sketch, which I had already made up, but couldn't get to work, so Robbie helped me understand why it wasnt working, and a few new shorthand things!
So now the balloons can so a lot! They can inflate, deflate, follow the mouse (as if wind how I wanted), and also you can break the straights at the base so they float up. The popping is probably the only function which I hadn't really thought about how I was going to create, and currently instead of popping they dissappear (which is what most of the examples on openprocessing do because it must be a simple way to simulate popping). So they "pop" if they get too large, and also if they hit the top of the sketch. The strings then fall which is awesome.
We also played around with bumping the balloons, so they would bump off each other if they touched, but this was a bit crap as they bumped either too little or too much, if set to small amounts, it wasn't obvious enough and was a bit jittery, and if set larger it was just jittering all over the place because of the amount of balloons they are basically just touching all the time! So it took away that kind of beautiful fluidity that I wanted with the balloons, so I haven't used it.
Finally it can add balloons. I was going to have two different add balloon functions - one where if the mouse was unmoved for 10 seconds, more balloons appear, and if you rapid click in an area a new one appears - but currently I only have the mousemoved function working. Also I am having an issue getting the colour's to be random but a part of my scheme but that should be sorted next week.
Currently there are a few issues, I am having trouble with the cut function as the string starts disappearing left and I'm not sure why, initially it looks ok, but the more balloons you cut free, the worse the strings look. So thats an issue. And also I was thinking about adding some clouds to the background to make it a little more interesting. I don't want to detract from the balloons, but it was an idea that I thought might add to my sketch.
So a lot going on! I definitely have my pastel colour pallette sorted (I do hope I wasn't one of the people that the tutors said need to rethink the colour pallette, I was going off actual balloons pallettes I had at my neice's birthday which I think are beautiful together and bring a sense of that child innocence to my interaction.
Photos.....It's quite hard to capture some of the interactions like the mouse follow without the photos looking gross....
You can kind of see the string falling in the above shot - its also hard to capture!
I have stopped playing and left it at this above screen, and the below screen is what happens when you haven't interacted for 10 seconds, you can see a new balloon has been added...
Almost there!:)
So now the balloons are working in a class Array list sketch, which I had already made up, but couldn't get to work, so Robbie helped me understand why it wasnt working, and a few new shorthand things!
So now the balloons can so a lot! They can inflate, deflate, follow the mouse (as if wind how I wanted), and also you can break the straights at the base so they float up. The popping is probably the only function which I hadn't really thought about how I was going to create, and currently instead of popping they dissappear (which is what most of the examples on openprocessing do because it must be a simple way to simulate popping). So they "pop" if they get too large, and also if they hit the top of the sketch. The strings then fall which is awesome.
We also played around with bumping the balloons, so they would bump off each other if they touched, but this was a bit crap as they bumped either too little or too much, if set to small amounts, it wasn't obvious enough and was a bit jittery, and if set larger it was just jittering all over the place because of the amount of balloons they are basically just touching all the time! So it took away that kind of beautiful fluidity that I wanted with the balloons, so I haven't used it.
Finally it can add balloons. I was going to have two different add balloon functions - one where if the mouse was unmoved for 10 seconds, more balloons appear, and if you rapid click in an area a new one appears - but currently I only have the mousemoved function working. Also I am having an issue getting the colour's to be random but a part of my scheme but that should be sorted next week.
Currently there are a few issues, I am having trouble with the cut function as the string starts disappearing left and I'm not sure why, initially it looks ok, but the more balloons you cut free, the worse the strings look. So thats an issue. And also I was thinking about adding some clouds to the background to make it a little more interesting. I don't want to detract from the balloons, but it was an idea that I thought might add to my sketch.
So a lot going on! I definitely have my pastel colour pallette sorted (I do hope I wasn't one of the people that the tutors said need to rethink the colour pallette, I was going off actual balloons pallettes I had at my neice's birthday which I think are beautiful together and bring a sense of that child innocence to my interaction.
Photos.....It's quite hard to capture some of the interactions like the mouse follow without the photos looking gross....
Monday, 8 October 2012
Balloons that move on their own
So today Steven helped me with my coding for about an hour and and it was great, I definitely got a lot of out it.
My balloons now can be blown up individually which is great because I was having such trouble getting them to be seperate.
I am trying to focus only on very small parts of what I want at one time because I tend to try and do lots of things together and its apparently not the way.
I'm not sure if I am going to be able to do the cutting of the strings and have them float up and pop. It might just be a bit out of my league. Which is a bit disappointing, but I will still have that be an advanced option if I get everything else I want happening and have time to try and add things.
Right now I am trying to get the balloons to kind of sway / follow the mouse a little. It should be easy, but I can't get it right. Either they follow the mouse too much, too little, not at all, or they jump to places instead of kind of swaying with the mouse. So hopefully I can sort that out.
After that I want to see if I can figure out an array for colour, so the balloons are a mixture of say 5 very particular colours.
Ek!
My balloons now can be blown up individually which is great because I was having such trouble getting them to be seperate.
I am trying to focus only on very small parts of what I want at one time because I tend to try and do lots of things together and its apparently not the way.
I'm not sure if I am going to be able to do the cutting of the strings and have them float up and pop. It might just be a bit out of my league. Which is a bit disappointing, but I will still have that be an advanced option if I get everything else I want happening and have time to try and add things.
Right now I am trying to get the balloons to kind of sway / follow the mouse a little. It should be easy, but I can't get it right. Either they follow the mouse too much, too little, not at all, or they jump to places instead of kind of swaying with the mouse. So hopefully I can sort that out.
After that I want to see if I can figure out an array for colour, so the balloons are a mixture of say 5 very particular colours.
Ek!
Storyboards
Hello!
In studio today we talked about what our movies might be like. I wanted to think about getting my storyboards done early so I can focus on the movie part (and also on coding which has a lot of work due too).
True to theme my storyboard will I think be some kind of path (or yellow brick road) to follow. But the actual pics of how the movie will go still needs to be decided. I am obviously going to use the pathway that my flash shows already, which has a person starting from behind the library and going to old Kirk 501. I have a friend of mine who will do the acting for me, and I will just have her doing the pathway, and might overlay a yellow brick road as if looking through the phone for apart of it. But ultimately it will show her using the application to find the correct room.
Its coming along...
In studio today we talked about what our movies might be like. I wanted to think about getting my storyboards done early so I can focus on the movie part (and also on coding which has a lot of work due too).
True to theme my storyboard will I think be some kind of path (or yellow brick road) to follow. But the actual pics of how the movie will go still needs to be decided. I am obviously going to use the pathway that my flash shows already, which has a person starting from behind the library and going to old Kirk 501. I have a friend of mine who will do the acting for me, and I will just have her doing the pathway, and might overlay a yellow brick road as if looking through the phone for apart of it. But ultimately it will show her using the application to find the correct room.
Its coming along...
Friday, 5 October 2012
Coding coding coding
Soooo, as you well know, I have had the flash interface this week, and having got that out of the way I can now focus on coding - which I have two weeks for. It sounds like a long time, but I have so much to do and no idea how to get it working so I want to get onto it as soon as I can!
The good thing is besides some storyboards for Design112 - all my other papers internals are quiet until exams/final hand-in which are after coding. So I do have time for it.
Given that we did not have a lecture this week, that time was used to work on FLASH - but today in class I tried to have the balloons follow the X position of the mouse. So now all the balloons are coming from a fixed X position, because that is the only way I could get the bottom of the string stationery. I was also lucky enough to get some help off Robbie and we tried to figure out the balloon pressed function I want to have where if you press on a balloon it will grow - before today I had it so that when mouse was clicked anywhere the balloons grew - but we tried to get it so that only when the balloon was pressed it grew. It's hard because all the balloons are connected, and I only want the one to grow that I click.
We got it so that when you click within a certain point all the balloons grow (so better than anywhere in the sketch) but it's still not perfect obviously. I'm not sure if this is the best function to focus on first as the effect I want most is the "cutting" of the strings and having the balloons float up. And also the popping (which is a whole other can of worms).
...Possibly bitten off more than I can chew....sigh.
The good thing is besides some storyboards for Design112 - all my other papers internals are quiet until exams/final hand-in which are after coding. So I do have time for it.
Given that we did not have a lecture this week, that time was used to work on FLASH - but today in class I tried to have the balloons follow the X position of the mouse. So now all the balloons are coming from a fixed X position, because that is the only way I could get the bottom of the string stationery. I was also lucky enough to get some help off Robbie and we tried to figure out the balloon pressed function I want to have where if you press on a balloon it will grow - before today I had it so that when mouse was clicked anywhere the balloons grew - but we tried to get it so that only when the balloon was pressed it grew. It's hard because all the balloons are connected, and I only want the one to grow that I click.
We got it so that when you click within a certain point all the balloons grow (so better than anywhere in the sketch) but it's still not perfect obviously. I'm not sure if this is the best function to focus on first as the effect I want most is the "cutting" of the strings and having the balloons float up. And also the popping (which is a whole other can of worms).
...Possibly bitten off more than I can chew....sigh.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Final
So! here is it. I have tweaked a few things, but ultimately, even when I changed some stuff around on photoshop - the uglyness of Flash makes the graphics look crap anyway, so I have settled on continuing to try, but if nothing I do improves, the below is the final application. If I was to start this project again I would probably have figured out how to import lossless files into CS6 - as apparently this would have cleaned up my images a tiny bit.
Again, you are trying to find Old Kirk 501 (and looking at both the image and written options on the way)(This path is one I tried to find earlier this year and got lost!) (also I absolutely think someone should make something like this for Design School as I am forever wondering if I'm in the right place!) (That's enough brackets).
Again, you are trying to find Old Kirk 501 (and looking at both the image and written options on the way)(This path is one I tried to find earlier this year and got lost!) (also I absolutely think someone should make something like this for Design School as I am forever wondering if I'm in the right place!) (That's enough brackets).
Almost final
Today I spent all my time trying to finalise my flash app - and I am pretty happy with what I have achieved.
My "you" is animated as you the user was using the app, and the buttons play for certain times as if loading etc.
I am disappointed with how some of the graphics look in the swf/fla version, so this is what I will try and focus on until hand-in. A lot of them are ok when they are small and then when they are large, they look awful, so this is going to be an issue if I have to play the swf file on a huge screen in presentation!
I hope to get it working on my phone, but that is proved to be harder than I thought!
Here's what I have now....you are trying to find room 501 in Old Kirk building and along the way checking out the image and written special features.
My "you" is animated as you the user was using the app, and the buttons play for certain times as if loading etc.
I am disappointed with how some of the graphics look in the swf/fla version, so this is what I will try and focus on until hand-in. A lot of them are ok when they are small and then when they are large, they look awful, so this is going to be an issue if I have to play the swf file on a huge screen in presentation!
I hope to get it working on my phone, but that is proved to be harder than I thought!
Here's what I have now....you are trying to find room 501 in Old Kirk building and along the way checking out the image and written special features.
5 + Images
Ok so I know I'm only supposed to have five, but I have five, and then the title and finish. I just couldn't leave them out!:)
More Flash
During my flash adventure last night I figure out that even though the canvas size is set in flash, it will show things outside this area. ANNOYING! So that means that I basically had to start again because in my learning I was a bit messy around the outsides of the frames and things were just super painful!
So I started again. I re-did the imports and made sure the photoshop files were easier to use in flash, and started again. I am finished with that part of it now. But I want to make some of the images which look a bit crap look better. I also want to try and figure out whether I can make the "next" wait a bit if that makes sense. Some of my frames you have to click a button twice, but I really just wanted it to look like once you clicked it, it changed colour so the user knew it had been clicked, but then you have to click again to get to the next slide because otherwise the button wouldn't light up. I wondered if I could have the one click, a pause for a few seconds and then it moves on without having a click.
I am going to see about the workshop today and if I can get some help there.
Also I want to figure out how to get it working on my cell phone, but it's not working how I want. My phone (and apps I have) say it supports swf, and flash, but then I can't get it to open! So that's a bit annoying!
So anyway, I stayed up late making sure the photoshop files and coding in flash everything was in place, so at least my pathway works and shows the features of my app. I wish I knew more on flash so I could do really awesome things!
Presentation tomorrow - Ek! I'm definitely going to the tutorial shortly!
This is what I have so far - I am a little disappointed with how it looks in swf file, the quality has been taken down a notch which is lllaaaammmee, as I don't have time to re-do everything to get it to look better. :(
So I started again. I re-did the imports and made sure the photoshop files were easier to use in flash, and started again. I am finished with that part of it now. But I want to make some of the images which look a bit crap look better. I also want to try and figure out whether I can make the "next" wait a bit if that makes sense. Some of my frames you have to click a button twice, but I really just wanted it to look like once you clicked it, it changed colour so the user knew it had been clicked, but then you have to click again to get to the next slide because otherwise the button wouldn't light up. I wondered if I could have the one click, a pause for a few seconds and then it moves on without having a click.
I am going to see about the workshop today and if I can get some help there.
Also I want to figure out how to get it working on my cell phone, but it's not working how I want. My phone (and apps I have) say it supports swf, and flash, but then I can't get it to open! So that's a bit annoying!
So anyway, I stayed up late making sure the photoshop files and coding in flash everything was in place, so at least my pathway works and shows the features of my app. I wish I knew more on flash so I could do really awesome things!
Presentation tomorrow - Ek! I'm definitely going to the tutorial shortly!
This is what I have so far - I am a little disappointed with how it looks in swf file, the quality has been taken down a notch which is lllaaaammmee, as I don't have time to re-do everything to get it to look better. :(
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Follow the Yellow Vic Road
Follow the Yellow Vic Road was born while I was trying to think of something that would describe what the app is all about, and the Wizard of Oz, and the following the yellow brick road to the destination of Oz is exactly that. Not only does it describe a navigation of some sort, it is something that much of the population are familiar with. On top of those things, I then realised 'brick' rhymed with 'Vic', and it was all go!
The focus for my application was on ease of use. I wanted it to be self-explanatory in a way and I want my users to know what to do without too much strain. Ease of use, and navigation for all was my focus.
So the design I have created is very minimal. The colour pallette, directions and navigation are all simple to follow. To navigate through my application, you input the building you desire, which includes all buildings, cafes, street names, etc that can be found on Kelburn Campus. A map then shows the campus, where you are, and where you want to get to (via a yellow brick looking road). Additional features are that the user can have directions in written form, and can also choose to see an image of the building or door of the room of destination.
Options and special features are minimal, as I did not want to clutter the pages up, or have too many areas as to not confuse the user. Basically, I wanted something that my own mother could use without getting lost, and all you have to do, is Follow the Yellow Vic road.
The focus for my application was on ease of use. I wanted it to be self-explanatory in a way and I want my users to know what to do without too much strain. Ease of use, and navigation for all was my focus.
So the design I have created is very minimal. The colour pallette, directions and navigation are all simple to follow. To navigate through my application, you input the building you desire, which includes all buildings, cafes, street names, etc that can be found on Kelburn Campus. A map then shows the campus, where you are, and where you want to get to (via a yellow brick looking road). Additional features are that the user can have directions in written form, and can also choose to see an image of the building or door of the room of destination.
Options and special features are minimal, as I did not want to clutter the pages up, or have too many areas as to not confuse the user. Basically, I wanted something that my own mother could use without getting lost, and all you have to do, is Follow the Yellow Vic road.
Flash, Flash, Flash
So since the lecture, I have been working on 112 trying to make sure I'll have everything ready.
I had a test yesterday for another paper so things were left a bit over the weekend, but all I've been doing since yesterday afternoon and until Friday morning will be this!
I am having some issues with the boxes all moving around etc, and if I was to re-do this I would make sure the folders came into flash all ready, instead of doing reassembling them in flash cause it's just making it take forever, and I had wanted to include more pathways, but at this rate I just need to focus on one and make sure it looks ok!
I'm aiming to have the app on my phone, but given the things are all moving around, it might be hard to get it all ready before Friday! (tomorrow is my boyfriends birthday so I'll be at dinner the night before hand-in which makes me extremely nervous!!).
Anyway, I'll keep going! I have about 10 more screens to complete to get the path in order and working, but I can't figure out the animation on this stuff (it doesn't seem to want to work like I did for the 101, (perhaps because the things were imported?) so perhaps I will not have any movement. Which is fine because I designed the app to be extremely simple, and it doesn't actually require animation. There is only one part where I would have liked it.
So continuing! Am not sure what the "high -quality" images are going to look like because screenshots are always a bit crap! But will do my best and hope it all comes together!
:)
I had a test yesterday for another paper so things were left a bit over the weekend, but all I've been doing since yesterday afternoon and until Friday morning will be this!
I am having some issues with the boxes all moving around etc, and if I was to re-do this I would make sure the folders came into flash all ready, instead of doing reassembling them in flash cause it's just making it take forever, and I had wanted to include more pathways, but at this rate I just need to focus on one and make sure it looks ok!
I'm aiming to have the app on my phone, but given the things are all moving around, it might be hard to get it all ready before Friday! (tomorrow is my boyfriends birthday so I'll be at dinner the night before hand-in which makes me extremely nervous!!).
Anyway, I'll keep going! I have about 10 more screens to complete to get the path in order and working, but I can't figure out the animation on this stuff (it doesn't seem to want to work like I did for the 101, (perhaps because the things were imported?) so perhaps I will not have any movement. Which is fine because I designed the app to be extremely simple, and it doesn't actually require animation. There is only one part where I would have liked it.
So continuing! Am not sure what the "high -quality" images are going to look like because screenshots are always a bit crap! But will do my best and hope it all comes together!
:)
Monday, 1 October 2012
FLASH
Hello again! It has been awhile, as I have been stuck into a few of my other papers, but the process is still happening. I have been fighting with FLASH for awhile, trying to get it to work and not give me errors.
I am slowing learning what things mean and how to make it work, its not perfect - but at this point I want it to just have all the images and the pathway in flash and working, and then I can try and make it perfect or think about changing some things around!
Friday's presentation is going to come up very fast! I have a Psych test tomorrow also, so once that is over I can concentrate just on this till the deadline which will be nice.
I realised I didn't put any pictures up! Its mainly because all my files are either flash files or PSD files and it means I have to re-save them all. I'll put up a swf file shortly which will have what it looks like so far!
In class we have been getting stuck in more, and trying to get as much help as we can before Friday's hand-in. I hopefully will have my mobile app being able to be used on my cellphone so it will look awesome and just like an app. HOPE SO!!
:)
I am slowing learning what things mean and how to make it work, its not perfect - but at this point I want it to just have all the images and the pathway in flash and working, and then I can try and make it perfect or think about changing some things around!
Friday's presentation is going to come up very fast! I have a Psych test tomorrow also, so once that is over I can concentrate just on this till the deadline which will be nice.
I realised I didn't put any pictures up! Its mainly because all my files are either flash files or PSD files and it means I have to re-save them all. I'll put up a swf file shortly which will have what it looks like so far!
In class we have been getting stuck in more, and trying to get as much help as we can before Friday's hand-in. I hopefully will have my mobile app being able to be used on my cellphone so it will look awesome and just like an app. HOPE SO!!
:)
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