Friday 9 December 2011

Movie Website Progress

I am very close to completing my moie website on "Scream 4" I only need to add more characters to the character bio page and then I would of finshed every page on the site, Once it is complete I will look at each page look at ways in which I can improve it. I will then finalize my documentation.

Sunday 4 December 2011

Movie Website Progress

This weekend I have been making progress on my movie website. I've implemented my own mouse cursor aswell as a dynamic background. I now have to add content to the "download" page and the "character bio" page. I believe I have managed my time well and would submit it by the deadline.

Thursday 24 November 2011

Creating a Roll in & Roll out movie clip

Today I learnt how to make a smooth roll in and roll out movie clip which i'm sure to implement on 
my movie website assignment. I also researched other common attributes that are in typical movie websites which I will also implement on my website. I also added pages to my site map aswell as suggestions of content to put in them.

Thursday 17 November 2011

Digital Communication Techniques

Digital Communication Techniques


Introduction

There are a very large quantity of different communication techniques which have been developed thanks to the various communication technologies available today such as Wi-Fi, blue-tooth, 3G and 4G. The introduction of instant messaging enables you to have conversations in real-time which are a much broader form of social-messaging than basically using email. Many mobile manufactures identified how popular instant messaging services such as MSN were and implemented their own instant messaging service in their new models. The introduction of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook serve as a platform for people to communicate with people as well as place where you can upload content such photos and videos for your “Friends” to view. Social networking sites such as Facebook does have an instant messaging service available so that you can communicate with your friends if they are currently online.

Video Conferencing

Digital video conferencing is a very useful service which enables people to conduct an interactive video conference where all the users are in different locations. An example of when this communication technique would be used would be if a large business wanted to have a board meeting and the board members are located all around the world then video conferencing would likely be used. Software such as GoToMeeting enables users to view the desktop of any computer in the conference and designate who you want to gain control of the mouse & keyboard. This software also has HD video conferencing which means it’s compatible with high-quality webcams.

Once a video conference has been completed you can then review the meeting and document the attendance. It’s likely that some form of digital conferencing will be implemented in most businesses and could be used in the future as a form of “Home Tutoring”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NcCEo3KIwY

Instant Messaging

As I stated in the introduction instant messaging is a digital communication technique which enables people to communicate digitally in real-time by sending text messages aswell as media files through a network. Popular instant messaging services include AOL Messenger and MSN messenger. There are many benefits of instant messaging although there are also some disadvantages as it can be used as a platform to send malicious software such as trojans and viruses to other people’s computers.

Windows Live Messenger has a very user-friendly interface which ultimately enables it to be used very easily by novice users. Step by step tutorial below:



1: Open Windows Live Messenger



2: Type in your E-mail Address & password in the required fields.


3: Messenger will then display “Signing in”
(The speed of this process is dependent on your network speed)


4: The interface will then display all of your friends & contacts in a list as seen below. Online contacts are identified by the green box found next to them while offline contacts are identified by having a grey box found next to them.


5: The way in which you initialize a conversation with a client is by double clicking on their display name.

In pretty much 5 easy steps users are able to communicate with their friends thanks to the design of the user friendly interface. The risks of making a program with such as user-friendly interface is that it sometimes hinders the implementation of new features but the way Live Messenger has maximized features is by linking itself to Facebook for example right clicking on someone’s display name on the Contact listings will display various options such as “View Photos” & “View Profile” which basically opens an external link to Facebook.

Web 2.0 Communities

Communication techniques such as blogs, wikis and forums enable users to write large articles on any topic they choose. The creation of a personal blog is mostly free so it enables users to create a personal blog which you can pretty much fully customize. Users can import media such as video and photos and integrate them into their articles. Some of the uses of a blog would be to use it to produce a digital portfolio. In my own experience creating a blog is very easy but maintaining a blog with regular content is quite hard. Sites such as “Blogger” enable you to create a blog for free and only require the user to sign in with their “Google ID”. Blogs also enable a user to import or create HTML into their pages which enables the implementation of gadgets, external links and integration of third-party software.

Blogger Video Tutorial

Social Networking

Probably the most popular social networking site on the web is “Facebook”. As I stated in the tutorial it acts as a platform for people to communicate. Facebook has about 800 million active users and each user has an average of 130 friends. Facebook also has an integrated
instant-messenger which enables users to communicate with online friends in real-time.


Tutorial of how to use Facebook

Step 1: Once you have opened Facebook.com into your internet browser you will need to type in your email address and password into the required fields.



Step 2: You will then be redirected to the facebook homepage which displays your “Friends” status



Step 3: There is an input box located at the top of the page which enables you to update your current status which your “Friends” can then view.



Twitter

Twitter is also a very popular social networking site which is highly available on portable devices and is widely used by celebrities as it enables the user to publish short text messages to the site which is typically messages describing what the user is doing at that current time. It has many external components such as place where you can upload photos and video.

Video Demo:


Playstation Portable

The Playstation portable is a device which has various services in which users can communicate with people for example Skype and Live messenger. The user would only require a Wifi connection to enable you to use it but the Playstation Vita has a 3G model available which enables you to be constantly connected.

(Demo Unavailable due to it not being released yet)


PSN Messaging

The PSN network available to the playstation 3 users enables you to send messages to your friends aswell as photo attachments. Theres also the ability to have a voice chat and video chat if you have a USB webcam such as the Playstation Eye.



Facetime

Facetime is a communication service available to iPhone 4 & iPod users which enables you to engage in a video call with your contacts as long as the contacts have got an active WiFi connection.
The i-phone has two cameras on the handset so when you start a Facetime conversation you are able to view yourself as well as what you’re looking at.




Second Life

Second life is a virtual world where users communicate to other users in the form of a custom built avatar. Avatars can be customized in great detail so users have the ability to replicate themselves in the form of an avatar and interact with the digital community. Second life was made to replicate real life as much as possible and therefore includes virtual money which is spent on items such as clothes and houses.



Hotmail

Hotmail is a free email serivce which enables you to create a free Email address and then send emails. The service has an easy to navigate interface which makes it a perfect platform to send emails if you’re a novice user.

Step 1: Open Hotmail in your internet browser & type in your email – address and password in the required fields.


Step 2: Once you have “Signed in” you will be redirected to a notification window which will display social feeds from Facebook as well as notifications on upcoming birthdays.



Step 3: To send an email you will need to click on the “New” button which can be found once you have clicked on the “Inbox” menu.




Step 4: You are now ready to produce an email
You input the email address of the recipent then the subject of the message then the message contents.




Meebo
The first one is meebo; meebo is a popular web IM, This online instant messaging service works with AIM, Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook, MSN, GTalk, ICQ, Jabber, and even Flixster.








Meebo offers group chat and also has a great mobile version (for iPhones). Meebo supports file-sharing, video chat, and much more. My experience with Meebo was that it works best with Facebook chat, and is definitely one of the simplest to use. It’s also incredibly well-funded, which means it’s likely to stick around for a while.


Nimbuzz





Nimbuzz is mostly making a name for itself as a client for your cell phone or iPhone but it offers a fabulous Web-based messaging client as well. You can make calls, group chats, send files, and do anything you’d want to do with an IM.
Instead of logging in each time to every one of your networks, you can put them all into an account with Nimbuzz instead. Then, every time you log in, just enter one username and password, and log in to all your IM networks.
Nimbuzz has a feature called Skype integration – nothing else has it, and Nimbuzz does it very well. It’s a great Voice over IP client, a great Instant Messenger, and good application

KoolIM



KoolIM is the niche-IMr’s tool of choice. In addition to the standards (Yahoo, MSN, AIM, GTalk), it supports ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Xfire, Jabber, and more. If you’re a user of a small network, KoolIM may be your best – or only – choice.
eBubby




eBuddy supports a huge number of IM services – MSN, Yahoo, GTalk, ICQ, MySpace, and promises Facebook is coming soon.
When you load eBuddy, it opens a new window for you to chat in. Your chats and contacts are tabbed, and there’s even a chat history for your recent conversations.
eBuddy offers a bunch of client versions, including great ones for your cell phone. Much like Meebo, you can also embed eBuddy directly into your own website.

Thoughts.com





Thoughts.com is a free community that encourages its members to share what's on their minds and make connections with others through blog posts, uploading photos and videos, reading and commenting on what other embers write, instant messaging and discussions in forums and groups.

Omegle



Omegle is an online chat website that allows users to communicate with strangers without registering. The service randomly pairs users up into one-on-one chat sessions where they chat anonymously using the handles "You" and "Stranger".

YouTube

YouTube is a web-service that allows anybody to post their video files and share them with other people. People can also comment on your video and post other videos to reply. People can also like or dislike your video and post it on twitter or Facebook. You get your own page where you can publish your own videos and people can subscribe to it.
Xbox live



Xbox Live is Microsoft's online service for gaming and content distribution for the Xbox and Xbox 360 videogame systems. Xbox Live allows you to play games against other people online as well as download demos, trailers, and even full games in the Xbox Live Arcade. You get to choose a nickname (called a Gamertag) which is how you will be known to other people in any games you play. You can keep friends lists in order to keep in touch with real life friends or new people you meet online you like to play with.

Wii speak


Wii Speak is a microphone accessory for Nintendo's Wii video game console. Connected to the console via USB, the device can be placed near the video display, allowing voice chat to be conducted with the entire room.

Flickr
Video Tour:










Thursday 10 November 2011

Easing Tutorial Link

http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/flash/tweenclasseasing/

Flash Preloader

Today we created a preloader in flash which enables you to load content which is on the various pages before the webpage initially starts up. Implementing a preloader into your website enables you to have a visual guide on the loading progress of the website while if you didn't have preloader you have to guess when the webpage has fully loaded.


Here is the code which did this

onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
loading = _parent.getBytesLoaded();
total = _parent.getBytesTotal();
if (percent == undefined) percent = 0;
percent -= (percent-((loading/total)*100))*.25;
 per = int(percent);
 percentage = per+"%";
 loadBar._width = per;
 if (percent>99) {
  _parent.gotoAndPlay(3);        }}

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Flash Work

Today we learn how to import external files into a single FLV file which would be very useful skill when creating future websites. Here is a piece of code which links buttons to external files.

oval1.onPress = function () {
loadMovieNum("page1.swf",1)
}
oval2.onPress = function () {
loadMovieNum("page2.swf",1)
}
oval3.onPress = function () {
loadMovieNum("page3.swf",1)
}
oval4.onPress = function () {
loadMovieNum("page4.swf",1)




}

Sunday 6 November 2011

Website Project Review

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000168 EndHTML:0000003916 StartFragment:0000000468 EndFragment:0000003899
Project Review

In the production of our website for the business department we set each member of the group their own roles within the group such as “Team Leader”, “Implementer “and “designer”. Each member of the group was given tasks which would link to the website. For example the designer produced the PNG Banner & Buttons which were given to me to implement on the site. This process worked very well in the initial stages of the site but as the deadline draw closer I created the buttons myself in order to speed up the development of the site.

Our team leader did manage our time really well in the initial stages of production but a sudden drop in attendance reduced the work output significantly which caused us to become behind on our milestone schedule. I thought the way in which we produced he project scope was really well done as each of us had to complete 4 of the numbered tasked on the project scope which wasn't that difficult for me as all the section I wrote about were relevant to my role in the group.

When the documentation was complete I then worked on three initial templates which all had relevant features which we implemented into our final design. The group tested out each of my templates and extracted elements which they thought were good and what were bad. These templates were also relevant to the specification of the client and enabled me to see what elements of her specification were feasible or not.

I produced a site map on the project scope which I kept refereeing to when creating the final website design. The group compiled our thoughts and ideas for what we thought would look good for our main theme and our main theme was a black metallic theme which we thought looked professional.

Over the half term break it was my job to make sure the site had all of the pages working correctly and implement all of the external hyper-links which were stated on the “Site Map” I completed this task to the est of my ability and when we resumed lessons when we came back we only had a couple of days to gather some photos and video for the website which sadly we weren’t able to complete in time which resulted in us not keeping to our deadline. The additional week to complete the assignment enabled use the gather some photos and videos and implement them on the site.

When making the video for our website we initialy created a storyboard which we would go by hen shotting out video content. The idea was to shoot various parts of the college using various shots in an attempt to promote the college in a positive way. We compiled the video in "Priemere Pro" and published the video in .FLV format so that it can be easily implemented on the site.
So overall I think the project went well but the lack of communications outside of lessons resulted in us not keeping to deadlines and significantly hindered the final result.

E-Zine Article

E-Zine Article

Introduction

In this article I will be writing about how interactive media has changed the society we live in today. From the introduction of the World wide web which is one of greatest inventions of the 20th century it acts as one the best platforms of communication in the world. There a loads of ways in which the media industry uses the world wide web for example commercial advertising is greatly used on the world wide web as 30% of the world population is online so for that reason alone it acts as a perfect platform to advertise products.



Internet World Stats. (2011). INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS. Available: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. Last accessed 5th Nov 2011.

Some of the most used sites on the web have some form of advertising for example a video on youtube which has large quantity of views would likely include a commercial ad before your chosen video plays. This technique of advertising had only been implemented recently as people in the media industry are looking for different ways in which to target younger people as more and more young people are not watching tv or newspapers which in previous generations were the main medium for advertising.

One of main factors which have caused younger people not to watch TV as much as previous generations is the introduction of user created content on the web. As nearly every new gadget such as phones and portable devices on the market now include cameras and mobile connection to social networking sites it is very easy to produce video content and put it on the web in seconds. A popular user generated site called “Youtube” enables anyone to upload any video they want free of charge and today Youtube contains millions of user generated videos. With the shear choice of videos on Youtube the current generation are going on sites like youtube and watching videos they want instead of watching network TV on their televisions.

Online Shopping

In the current generation more and more people are doing their every day shopping online from buying your weekly groceries to doing your Xmas shopping. The reasons why people shop online is because in many ways it's more convenient for example if your do your online shopping you can choose what time you want it to be delivered which would be convenient for people who may work throughout the day and want their shopping delivered in the evening this service has been introduced to pretty much all the major supermarkets. Popular online shopping sites such as Ebay and Amazon offer the customer a far larger range of products that if a customer went to a shop. Ebay is the world‟s largest online marketplace, accounting for $60bn sales worldwide in 2008, while Amazon also offers small businesses an opportunity to use its platform to generate sales.
This has a serious affect on small businesses on the high-street because people are holding onto their cash more than ever which is a result of the global recession so people are comparing prices and searching for the best deal. In many cases these online small businesses have the best prices resulting in the high-street businesses losing significant sales. A good example of businesses which have become bankrupt as a result of online shopping is “Travel Agents” it is common practice these days to book a holiday online as it's a lot easier and offers a great deal more customization to your holiday and also in most cases is a lot cheaper. Many businesses which offer a service similar to travel agents are likely to become obsolete in the the recent future.




Graham Charlton. (2010). Selling on eBay and Amazon: pros and cons for SMEs. Available: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/5918-selling-on-ebay-pros-and-cons-for-smes. Last accessed 5th Nov 2011.
Something which falls into a similar category is downloading and streaming content.
Movie rental companies such a “”LoveFilm” have introduced a service which enables customers to download or stream movies straight to their PCs which for the company saves significant postal costs and in some ways can be considered more “Green” because you are not mass producing the DVDs or physically transporting them. The only disadvantage I can think of from streaming media content would be if the customer has a slow broadband speed then video quality will suffer significantly. A downside to media content such music and movies on the web is that it can be easily copied and illegally distributed around the web and is almost impossible to avoid. The illegal distribution of music and films has had affect on the industries which for the music industry has resulted in music artists needing to do tours to sell their music.



BBC Author. (2010). Illegal music downloads are 'on the rise'. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12003499. Last accessed 5th November 2011.
Digital Video on the Web

The web is filled with video content as a result of sites like youtube which enable users so upload videos quickly and pretty much anonymously. With the almost constant introduction of new portable devices with the capacity to shoot video and still images. They also include very easy to use interfaces which pretty much enable you to upload content from your portable device to sites like Youtube in a couple of clicks. There is restrictions when it comes to file formats with youtube though for example it's able to play
  • WebM files
  • .MPEG4,3GPP MOV files
  • .AVI
  • .MPEGPS
  • .WMV
  • .FLV
but isn't able to play some common formats such as mp3. Many manufactures would very much consider these file formats when they design a something like a new phone so that phone's camera shoots media content in one of the file formats supported by Youtube which wouldn't require the user to convert the file manually. File formats shouldn't be much of problem when it comes to uploading to youtube because all of the main formats are compatible for example .AVI is very widely used when filming from a camera and MOV is used for the very popular portable device the iPhone.



Google. (2011). Supported Youtube Formats. Available: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=55744. Last accessed 5th Nov 2011.

The web acts as a democratic platform in which almost every in the world can express their opinion but in some countries such as china the web is widely monitored and the Chinese people are filtered from content which way question their current government in a negative way. Here is a few of the popular sites which have been filtered Facebook, Twitter , Youtube and Wikileaks. The filtering of sites such as those is one of many techniques used by the Chinese government to prevent the exposure of content which they want to hide from their people.

There are ways in which you can bypass the filters which have been put in place by the government. The way in which this can be done is to connect to a external proxy server then browse the web once you have connected to that proxy.

Copying Prevention

One of the ways in which the music industries try and prevent the illegal copying of their content is to implement copy protection onto the CDs you buy in the shops. In the manufacturing process of making music CDs the distinctive feature they must include is that the Disk must be distinguishable from normal (unprotected CDs) and it's very important that the CD cannot be copied or relocated using typical hardware or software.
Some of the techniques they used to begin with was to on purpose build the CD so it had loads of bad sectors on the disk. Having bad sectors on the disk resulted in a typical Cd drive to skip the contents of that sector so that it cannot be copied. Other methods include encrypting the data using codes which cannot be bypassed using typical software. The same copy protection techniques can be found on DVDs and Blu-rays for video. 

Saturday 29 October 2011

Half Term Website Progress

Throughout the half term I've been working on the creating the website for my client. I have ensured that all pages correctly navigate to the required pages aswell as implementing external links to pages such as moodle & facebook. The tasks I still need to do obtain some video to put on the site aswell as a few more photos.

Thursday 13 October 2011

Project Scope 4: Flash Website Details

4: Flash Website Details


One of the key factors which the client stated during the initial interview was that the site must be completely unique so with this in mind, the design of the website would need to have it's own unique interface but still be able to have maximum functionality. Most of the pages in the website will include a number of images which have been collected for the website and have them smoothly transition to other images in regular intervals.



The initial home page will include buttons which link to the following pages; Course Information, Media Gallery, The Wall & useful sites. All of the transitions to the pages will look as professional as we can make it.



One of the initial ideas we had for the homepage was to have a scrolling website made up of a 360 degree image. Buttons to the other pages can be found in various objects in the image. The buttons will be easily detectable as they will either flash constantly or perform some dynamic movement to enable it to stand out. 



The course information page is the place where general course information can be found for the business students it will include information such as a news bulletin as well as external links to college resources such as the college website and Moodle.  News bulletins on course information page will have as minimal text as possible and once clicked on will open an additional page displaying the whole bulletin.



The Media Gallery page is the place for all of the media content for the site and will include links to a photo gallery and video gallery and recent and updated albums will be displayed on the page accompanied by a title and description. The video gallery will include videos such as interviews with students and the photo gallery will include photos relevant to the business department.  



The page titled “The Wall” is the page where students can communicate with each other. A student blog and links to the college's Business Department Facebook page can be found on this page. The link to the Facebook page will be in the form of a custom button which we have created.



The “Useful Sites” page is where links to external sites such popular websites & financial News can be found on this page as well as anything else which is deemed useful for the department.



The general navigation between different pages of the site will be done by single buttons or in the form of a drop down menu. The interface will look professional but also make the site look attractive for its target audience. The interface will remain similar throughout the various pages to prevent confusion. 





Responsibilities:



Louis & Co. are responsible for the following elements of completing the flash site pages



ñ  Ensure that all pages provide a suitable amount of content before site launch

ñ  Collect all of the media content.

ñ  Completed  all of the feasible requirements specified by the client

ñ  Design the site according to the department & target age group

ñ  Make the site as interactive as possible without hindering overall functionality



The Client is responsible for the following elements of completing the flash site pages.


  • Ensure that Louis & Co. are contacted if requirements are changed.

Monday 10 October 2011

Metal Gear Solid 4 Review

Game Description:
Metal Gear is the 4th instalment in the Metal gear series after it's initial release on the PlayStation. The Metal gear series is iconic for is cinematic sequences and redefining the stealth action genre. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of the Patriots is set 6 years after the events in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty and you discover the world has become consumed by war as war has become an industry in which governments now follow to sustain their countries. The Private Military Companies benefit massively from the constant battle and rival PMCs engage in spontaneous battles which leave the world in ruins. The Villain in the series is "Ocelot" who has become the leader of 5 largest PMCs in the world and it's the job of your character "Solid Snake" to assassinate him.
Gameplay
The gameplay in MGS4 has remained very much the same as it has in the previous instalments in the series but has implemented some new features such as the introduction of a stress bar which is located beneath you characters health. The stress bar has various effects on your character such as if the stress bar is full you character becomes a lot more accurate when aiming in first person view and your health will restore a lot faster. The bar also has an influence on how concealed you are when trying to remain hidden from enemies. The stress bar will rapidly increase when in fire fights and will decrease when out of combat or listening to the in game “”I-Pod”. In MGS4 there are various ways in which you can play the game for example although the game is primarily a stealth action game you very easily play the game in constant fire fights. You also have the choice to play the whole game in 1st person view while previously you were restricted to 3rd person. The boss battles are fun and dynamic and require their own unique strategy to beat them. Players are rewarded for not killing bosses which can be done by using tranquilizer ammunition rather than live ammo. The rewards include camouflage and weapons and you will be rewarded a better rank when completing the game.  
9/10
Graphics
The visuals in MGS4 are unmatched in quality as the in game locations and characters are textured in great detail. The in game cinematic sequences are visually stunning and the action sequences are better than most movies. The game does suffer from random drops in the frame rate but only for a very short duration but personally I believe it holds up pretty well considering the scale of some scenarios and the graphics still look amazing considering it was released back in 2008. The interface you use is unique to the Metal gear series such as the use of holding down the L2 and R2 buttons to activate a dropdown box which you use to equip items and weapons.   10/10
Story
The story in MGS4 doesn’t disappoint the previous instalments in the series and the story which is tied together by the amazing cinematic sequences which never become boring. You do sometimes feel the game is more like movie than a game as some cinematic sequences can be as long as 15 mins long. The games story smartly influences the increase in difficulty as you can dispatched to more dangerous location around the world. Every action in the game feels like is has a consequence on how the game will end and the cinematic sequences can vary depending on if you decided to play the game stealthy or “All Guns blazing “.
10/10
Lifespan
The introduction to a PVP multiplayer to the metal gear series substantially increases it’s lifespan as it implements a character progression system where you can improve various skills of you character as well as your characters appearance which causes players to play it again and again. The Campaign mode enables players who have completed the game to redo the campaign with special equipment which enable you to play the game differently then you initially did.
8/10
Overall
10/10

Friday 7 October 2011

Website Project Client Notes

The following requirements were set by out client:

The website would have links to all the major newspaper websites

The Website must include financial news

The website must have a unique appearance

Include a gadget which updates automatically to the current FTSE stats

"The News at 10" play as audio in the background

Implement a Student blog

No interactive tour

Must include lots oh photos

Simple to navigate the site

Client will provide quotes from past students and is able to contact a student for video interview

Scrolling Website is preffered

Monday 3 October 2011

Game Scripting

Today I learnt about the role of a game scripter. The role of a game scripter is to produce a script for the game which basically outlines what happens at different stages of the game. A programmer will initially create a program which has a easier interface in which the scripter can produce levels in the game. In the video which we watched an employee explained that you would likely start off creating basic levels for a game and once you have expressed your imagination & skills you will be promoted to having more critical roles in the design process.  One of the key attributes you require to be successful in this role is being able to communicate effectively to your team so that you can express your ideas effectively to your team so that they share your Enthusiasm. When creating my level for mario using the editor I learnt the importance of saving in certain formats and file sizes. I also learnt how to edit existing images so that I can edit them to what I want. I did encouter a number of errors which were caused by coding the level incorrectly. I was able to link levels together which progessively increased in difficulty. I did in a few cases need to edit my created level so that it can be completed as in a few cases my level was impossible to complete. Regular testing is an important process which needs to be conducted in regualr intervals to ensure it works correctly.

Friday 30 September 2011

New Techniques i've learnt in Photoshop

Today i've learnt several new skills and techniques in photoshop for example i've learnt how to create 3D text and create a realisic rain effect. I also learnt several useful shotcuts to enable me to work faster. All of the useful skills and techniques i've leant will aid me when I create future projects.

Monday 26 September 2011

Mobile Operating Systems

Today I have learnt about the various Mobile OS's and what features each one has and hasn't. The three OS's which stood out were the I-Phone OS , Blackberry OS and the android OS. In terms of being the most secure the IOS was the best because although it lacks customization and it's that restriction which maximizes the secruity.

The android OS was also very good because it's mostly Open-Sourced and enables users to customize applications as much as they want although this also means that the android OS is less secure as I also learnt that 1 in 5 of the apps has secruity holes.

The Blackberry OS had some useful features a few years ago but now those features have pretty much been perfected by apple.  One of strong features of the Blackberry OS was the instant messaging service which was a very popular service at one point.

The Windows Mobile OS is an emerging OS which has not yet become popular but does implement many of the features of the other OS's

The Symbian OS is very popular amongst cheaper phones and can be found on all Nokia phones. The Symbian OS has very limited features and would likely only include features such as Calender. Research have shown that most people dont know Symbian is even on their phone.



Thursday 22 September 2011

AS2 Flash Alien

Today I created an animated alien which performs multiple movements such as both of the eyes to move as well the arms and legs. All of these tweens were done in a single layer using a technique called "Nesting."

 I also enabled the alien to slowly fade away. This was done by implementing my own code into a frame, another piece of code which I learnt today was to ability to make the alien follow the mouse cursor.

This was very usful to learn as this piece of code can easily be implemented when creating games or  flash websites