Monday 30 September 2013

Animation mask and pioneers of animation


 
Definition of animation
Animation is a series of still images that give the illusion that they are moving, for example Tom and Jerry.  Tom and Jerry is a very popular kids TV program which is animated. You can also get animation flash games too. Some big name film studio companies like Pixar and Warner Brothers make animated films. Toy Story was the first 3D cartoon made. Dragon Ball is another animated game, it was made in 1984. Animation has been along for hundreds of years, an example of this is a Victorian zoetrope.  Animation is made up of FPS (frames per second). These frames run and give the illusion that the images are moving.
The pioneers of animation 
There are 4 main pioneers of animation. Walt Disney, William Horner, Thomas Edisson and The Lumiere Brothers.
Walt Disney
Walt Disney is arguably the most famous pioneer of animation; he created Disney Studios which made animated films, some of which are world famous. Some old films he made are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi. He was born in 1901 and died in 1966. There’s a long-standing urban legend maintains that Disney was cryonically frozen, and his frozen corpse stored beneath the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.
William Horner
William George Horner was a British mathematician. The zoetrope was invented in 1834 and was originally called a Daedalum ("wheel of the Devil"). A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession. It was an improvement on the phenkitascope. People liked this more and found it easier too used. It made animation easier to be seen because it had small slits on the side where the person could look inside and it would give a better effect than a phenkikascope.
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor, who made the Phonograph. This was the gramophone record was one of the dominant audio recording formats throughout much of the 20th century. The phonograph at its peak was used massively but cost a lot to have. He also invented the Kinetoscope, which is an early motion picture exhibition device. It was originally made so it could be used for one person to watch a film through a peep hole. It was made around 1988.
The Lumiere Brothers
The Lumiere Brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean were the first filmmakers ever, They were born in France but moved to Lyon where they both attended ‘La Martiniere ‘, the largest technical school in Lyon. They worked for their dad for a bit at his photographic firm. Louis was a physicist and Auguste as was the manager. Once their farther retired they began to make ‘ moving pictures ‘.The Lumières held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895, then a public screening of films in December the same year. Their first film they made was ‘Sortie des Usines Lumiere a Lyon ‘, this was played at ‘ Salon Indien du Grand Café ‘ which is in Paris.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Flash
 
I got this to work by adding two key frames, one at number one, one at number 20, and inbertween those two numbers you add a shape tween. Once I did that, I clicked the text tool and wrote a number ‘1’ on the frame one. Then clicked frame twenty and put number 2. You then have to click on both numbers and press CTRL + B, this breaks the numbers down so they can morph. Now when I run the animation the number 1 changes to the number 2 as it moves across the timeline.
 


 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The animation is similar to the first one, I added two key frames, one at 1, one at 10, but instead I added a motion tween and not a shape tween, I then clicked on 1, drew a circle in the top left corner, right clicked and converted to a shape, then clicked on 10, moved the ball to the opposite corner and then ran the animation. The circle bounced from top right to bottom left to give the impression its bouncing.
 
 
 
 
This image below shows the animation timeline of my mask that I created. To make the mask I imported an image to the stage, then made a new layer. On the new layer I drew an oval in the middle of the stage. I then right clicked on the oval and pressed ‘mask’. Then the layers change and indicate which layer is masked. Then I created a frame at frame 20 on the masked layer. Then I added a Class Tween on the masking layer timeline. I then clicked on 1 and moved the oval to the left. Now the oval goes across the screen shower parts of the picture from the stage.
 



Tuesday 24 September 2013

Game idea and rough explanation.


This is an idea which kind of shows a rough story line. It will be set in the future.
The game is going to be based somewhere or around new york, and is roughly going to be about the government/army/police taking over the world and basically keeping civilians as slaves and keeping them underground etc and a group of rebels fight to get them out. I'm yet to decide weather the world or just new york has been taken over, but yeayh that's my rough idea but obviously in more detail with more to do etc.

Monday 23 September 2013

updated version, what do employers want?


 Unit 1 Communication and Employability Skills for IT



What do employers want?

When applying for a specific job, it helps if you have technical knowledge. For example if you’re applying for a job as a programmer for a company, you’ll almost definitely need to know how to programme, what it is and how to overcome problems you may encounter.  This technical knowledge is vital when you’re going for a specific job and can make you stand out against other candidates wanting the same job.  Technical knowledge can also be experience, if you’ve had a previous job doing what you want to do in your new one, it shows you have the technical knowledge.

Also you need to know some work procedures and systems. Health and safety is a key work procedure which is needed in basically every job role. For example if you was working on computers, you would have to know procedures like keep liquids away from the computer and make sure that all the wires are tucked away so they aren’t a tripping hazard. Another example is if you were working in a science lab, you would need to know all the safety procedures like you need to wear goggles, wear a lab coat etc. so you don’t get hurt. These procedures and systems are vital to know in a workplace because it shows that you know how to avoid injury or beware of dangerous activities.

When going for a job, any kind of job, you need to show that you have good time management. This is one of the most important aspects of working. If you have good time management you can get all your work out on time and you’ll know how long you have to complete it so you can produce it to a good standard. If you don’t have good time management it could mean you end up submitting work late or not completing it to the needed standard and in the worst case you could lose your job. In the interview it would be a good idea to let them know you have good time management skills so it makes you look more reliable and professional.

 

Another necessity is English. If you’re applying for a job, pretty much any job you do, you need to have good English skills. This can show various things to the employer, it can show that you’re well-spoken and have a good knowledge of the English language. Also being good at English will help you because it means you’ll be able to compose a good E-mail if that’s needed in your workplace, or if you need to write reports often it will be needed because you need good grammar so it makes sense to who its going to. If an employer gets an E-mail asking for a job from someone who has bad English, straight away they will think this person isn’t capable of writing or speaking properly and isn’t fit for the basic procedures  needed in the job.

Maths is not necessarily needed in all jobs but certainly is helpful. Having a decent knowledge of Maths can help in lots of circumstances. Jobs like programming, working with money or data, are jobs where Maths will come in handy.  Programmers will need basic Maths knowledge at least, because some of the code you’re writing will have Mathematics in it. Some jobs, like being a lolly pop man, you won’t really need to have knowledge of maths. Most big jobs these days require a decent knowledge of Maths which is why most College and University courses now ask for a Maths qualification. Maths is a hard subject so people who have studied it and have a decent grade often go on to study it further or get a good job which it is needed in.

 

Planning and organisation skills are important for various reasons.  Being organised with your work shows to your employer that you’re on top of your work and understand it. It’s also good because it means you yourself know what you’re doing and what you have to do. Planning your work out shows the employer that you know what you need to do and this can also link to time management because when planning you’ll have to know how long you have on each piece etc.  Organisation is a good skill to have because it makes you more confident that you can complete your  work as you know what’s left to do and what you have done.

 

Also being able to problem solve is something an employer is looking for. If you’re a programmer for a big company, spending hours a day programming, the company will want you to be able to fix problems you encounter. If you’re coding is wrong but you don’t know where, you need to be able to figure out what’s gone wrong and fix it without freaking out and not being able to do your work. This means the company will trust you and think of you as a good programmer.

 

 

Monday 16 September 2013

What do employers want?

Unit 1 Communication and Employability Skills for IT


What do employers want?
When applying for a specific job, it helps if you have technical knowledge. For example if you’re applying for a job as a programmer for a company, you’ll almost definitely need to know how to program, what it is and how to overcome problems you may encounter.  This technical knowledge is vital when you’re going for a specific job and can make you stand out against of people wanting the job.  Technical knowledge can also be experience, if you've had a previous job doing what you want to do in your new role; it shows you have the technical knowledge.
Also you need to know some work procedures and systems. Health and safety is a key work procedure which is needed in basically every job roll. For example if you was working on computers, you would have to know stuff like keep liquids away from the computer and make sure all the wires are tucked away so they aren’t a tripping hazard. Another example is if you were working in a science lab, you would need to know all the safety procedures like wear goggles, wear a lab coat etc, so you don’t get hurt. These procedures and systems are vital to know in a workplace because it shows that you know how to avoid injury or something going wrong.
When going for a job, any kind of job, you need to show that you have good time management. This is one of the most important aspects of working. If you have good time management you can get all your work out on time and you’ll know how long you have to complete it so you can get it to a good standard. If you don’t have good time management it could mean you end up submitting work late or not completing it to the needed standard and in the worst case you could lose your job. In the interview it would be a good idea to let them know you have good time management so it makes you look more reliable.

Another necessity is English. If you’re applying for a job, pretty much any job, you need to have good English skills. This can show various things to the employer, it can show that you’re well-spoken and have a good knowledge of the English language. Also being good at English will help you because it means you’ll be able to form a good E-mail if that’s needed in your workplace, or if you need to write reports often it will be needed because you need good grammar so it makes sense to who it’s going to. If an employer gets an E-mail asking for a job from someone who has bad English, straight away they will think this person isn't capable of writing or speaking properly and isn't fit for the basic stuff needed in the job.
Maths is not necessarily needed in all jobs but certainly is helpful. Having a decent knowledge of Maths can help in lots of circumstances. Jobs like programming, working with money or data, are jobs where Maths will come in handy.  Programmers will need basic Maths knowledge at least, because some of the code you’re writing will have Mathematics in it. Some jobs, like being a lolly pop man, you won’t really need to have knowledge of maths. Most big jobs these days require a decent knowledge of Maths which is why most College and University courses now ask for a Maths qualification. Maths is a hard subject so people who have studied it and have a decent grade often go on to study it further or get a good job which it is needed in.

Planning and organisation skills are important for various reasons.  To be organised with your work shows to your employer that you’re on top of it and understand it. It’s also good because it means you yourself know what you’re doing and what you have to do. Planning your work out shows the employer that you know what you need to do and this can also link to time management because when planning you’ll have to know how long you have on each piece etc.  Organisation is a good skill to have because it makes you more confident that you can complete your  work as you know what’s left to do and what you have done.

Also being able to problem solve is something an employer is looking for. If you’re a programmer for a big company, spending hours a day programming, the company will want you to be able to fix problems you encounter. If you’re coding is wrong but you don’t know where, you need to be able to figure out what’s gone wrong and fix it without freaking out and not being able to do your work. This means the company will trust you and think of you as a good programmer.

Being self-motivated is something that employers are looking for because it makes you stand out to the rest of the other workers.  It shows you that you’re self determination to do the task you’re set is massive and that you don’t need to keep being reminded about having to finish your work. Employers want this because not only does it make their job easy but you’re more than likely going to be very good at your job if you’re self-motivated.  Employers will recognise that you able to seek out a goal and achieve it without people having to prod you to do it; this will make you stand out and show that you’re a good worker.