Make shift nav bar:
....working on it
Illustrator. I love Illustrator CS4. It tells you all about intersects on the fly and draws out lines for you...and it is awesome.
As I was writing that last post I just thought wow...thats kind of mean, but more importantly I really wanted to say something about one of my favorite things to do.
It makes me happy that I enjoy this, because I know design is what I wan to do.
Whenever I sit on the train the first thing I look at are all of the posters. If someone were to look at me, they would think I really wanted to learn one of 31 languages or get a Sam but, the truth is I don't even read the ads. I go straight past the message and break it down to how the artist made the poster. I literally see the tools in photoshop as I look at the posters. I see the level skill level of the designer,their regard for correct lighting, their knowledge of masks (or lack of), how they did their selections, everything right down to how the photographer lit and captured the shot.
Lately, as I learn more and more about after effects the same thing is happening. I notice more and more things, in terms of effects, I appreciate good videography as only someone who has grown up in poverty can appreciate wealth.
I do this so much that once I do find a piece of work that is either excellent or lands me in a position where I have no idea how the composition was made I stop in my tracks and stare until I get a full understanding...it also helps that I always have my camera in case I have places to be.
I love figuring things out. I love beautiful things. I Love design.
One thing as an art student, or just a student in general that upsets me is a lack of academic honesty.
In art there isn't very much cheating or copying, but the concealment of ideas, sources and the reluctance to give credit.
Some people will present a portfolio of images that they made and uploaded to a website that packages everything in a nice flash portfolio, or buy a template, or have some one else do it and then take credit for not just their work, but the presentation of it as well.
Sure they could make the excuse that they are designers and don't need to be responsible for that back end stuff. To some extent that yeah, but I don't agree with it, to me it seems like false packaging. As a designer you are responsible for the presentation of your work, and if you have to rely on other people it takes up time and costs. If you are printing you need to know the dpi should be at least 300 unless it is a large poster or billboard, on screen you know the dpi is 72, then why shouldn't you know that Nature.gotoAndPlay(2); says to play the second frame of the nature section of your portfolio?its all basic stuff.
Right now I've made everything on this site except for the blog*, because of my lack of php knowledge(which I am working on W00t php schools) and my flickr slide shows(per lack of time).
I use techniques I didn't come up with, just look at my shape video. That doesn't matter, what does is the application of them. If you can be original in your ideas, make a clean application of a mix of established techniques and your own, and be humble about it; I think that's start of a recipe for success.
Don't get me wrong, I love being original and when I can't do something I'll either learn how or find something that fits the means to the end, but I will always make it clear what I can and have done, and what I still need to learn how to do.
*I use blogger and feedburner for...Looking at the structure right now I think I'm just going to keep it all on one page and do the html so that it looks good and mirror all the posts so that I have a reference.
I finished one of my projects just a few hours ago.
Finally I get to rest. At least 9 hours of sleep is going to be amazing and it is only followed by 6.5 hours of classes, and almost 4 hours of homework!
Ok I don't have to do 4 hours of homework but there are two huge gaps in my day and I feel like it would be a waste to just sit around campus doing nothing and if I just go home and hang out I'll also feel like I'm wasting time.
I like to stay busy. I'm ALWAYS doing something.
and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I did it. Finished a project? No.
What then?
The math. I did the math. In the last 144 hours (6 days) I have spent about 103 working, studying, teaching, or working on this portfolio. That leaves 41 hours for eating, transit to and from work/school, and sleep.
Am I tired? Yeah a bit. Do I still care about my work? Yes. Is the quality suffering? No, I've been checking.
Why do you ask am I putting myself through this?
One might think I've been procrastinating. I have not. What I do have is a course load of 20 credits and a huge demand to get my portfolio in order.
My next big deadline Wednesday.
I was thinking about why it took so long for the footbag promo to render...Yeah Lensblur really eats stuff up but it shouldn't have taken like two hours to render. It hit me. After Effects does not love rendering high quality video with lots of motion. What I should have done, and will try in the future is to do my whole comp like normal and then either put a solid color background that I can key out or export to premiere video files and then render everything from there. This will only be good for stuff I want to upload onto the web...really avoids those huge file sizes and crazy amounts of time wasted. (the shape video was under 30MB when I uploaded it)
You can obviously Tell I made this website in less than a week, and it upsets me, especially since I do know how to make a browser to play videos as well as a photo slide show...yet nothing in flash is being represented...None of it is even hosted on this site!(LOL FRUGAL) So far the only thing I have on this site that represents what I can do digitally is...well the site itself and the motion section. Ironic since I am MUCH better at digital than craft. Photoshop - The program I am by far the best at Not represented at all...except for a mention from a tutorial that isn't even posted yet, my Shape video, and the background....Great +My trial for CS4 only has like 17 days left!...going back to CS3...no big deal I tried as hard as I could to leave linked files open but even as beastly as my laptop is...not totally practical (with something like Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects open)...The resize in photoshop is pretty cool but it isn't really something I feel like I would use all the time. All in all CS4 Cool + good ideas + Premiere got NIIIICcceeee...not really in a huge rush push CS3 away but am looking forward to using it. Found something Just to toss up...Turns out between all the formats* I forgot where I kept most of my files OH NOES!! Good thing I've learned my lesson and have 2 back ups of all my work now. *For a while I was trying to hack OSX to work on a pc just to get more familiar with it...now I just spend insane amounts of time in the mac lab...OSX/WINDOWS/Linux FTW! [Photo]
Something I just saw:
Bathtub II from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
It is actually really funny that I saw that because in my Quick mask tutorial I was getting ready to teach that...just on images and using Gaussian blur.
He filmed real boats and then applied a lensblur to the top and bottom to create the illusion of a small depth of field...
the effect looks especially good when you actually film or photograph objects from long distances. The objects that work the best are things like boats, trains, building, blimps...things that are typically made into models work best because the viewer's mind is most open to it.
People do not work well with this technique
Drop me a line if you want advice on how to make this...if there is enough interest I'll make tut "all nice nice"
I have family all over the world, from Africa to China, to Portugal. From my experience, everyone knows the leader of America, while most Americans don't even know if Canada has a President or Prime Minister or anything about the 5 party system of Australia (really though I'm not very political...I just listen). Anyways if the world could vote it would look something like this: If The World Could Vote ...Just thought it was interesting
It occurred to me that I REALLY need to get some kind of blogging framework in place, between my home page and the tutorials section it will make my life much easier....back to that php talk....
In order to post comments you still actually need to go all the way to blogger...and they don't show up on my site. Also, it takes forever for my site to be updated from feedburner....I really need my own solution.
Good news,I now have my blogger feed displaying on my web page. Thank you feedburner for my temporary solution!Unfortunately it still looks horrible.I need something pretty here:
Obama '08 - Vote For Hope
I just added the motion section....
Not much work there...but it is a start
I still haven't figured out how I am going to display the images for the Still section...
Maybe a random assortment of works on the main page and a menu on the side for
Photography
Design
Drawing?....don't know if I am going to put that up
or break it up into programs
Wow,
I got a full talking to today about PHP....
I heard about it before, I knew it had to do with log ins and operations serverside but now.
I want it. I need it. I am learning it.
As my friend Nick showed me the source code for his site and how it could deal with multidimensional arrays, user tables and call premade parts of his website....like the header and footer....I felt kind of smart making a template and going, all the while thinking there must be an easier way. Well now know I know the means...just have to work the how.
I'm really excited!
I was interviewed for the school newspaper about photography! Basically it was just some questions about techniques and some of my perspectives on panoramic photography. One of the questions was what I thought was the most difficult to capture in panoramic photography...I should have just stuck with motion but I feel like I got too technical for the reporter...siting Panoramic HDR shots in low light with motion as being the most difficult...All in all, I think I gave her the answers she wanted, and in the end asked me if I would be interested in shooting for the paper....one of the quickest Yeses of my life haha.
Html And CSS for the Win!
I am going to be posting tutorials and basically all the interesting things that I come
across...either on the internet or my life.
A friend and I back in highschool, he picked the music, I filmed and edited...oh man I
just remembered how bad it was when I just knew media 100 Version Like 5 and Windows movie
maker....Wow Dark Ages.
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