COM 332: Multimedia Design and Editing

Flash in the Library

2007-05-10T12:58:00.001-07:00

Flash will be installed on 2 computers in the library. Look for the Flash sticker on top of the Monitor.

Flash Final Project Guideline

2007-05-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

You will create a final interactive portfolio in Flash of your entire class assignments. In addition you will need to burn the CD with the assignment files organized in separate folders. For example the CD structure might look like this:

CD (name your cd with your first and last name)
- A1(Folder)
-- A1-1photorestoration (file)
- A2(Folder)
-- A2-1movieposter(file)
-- A2-2postcard(file)
...etc

For the Flash part Consider the following:

1. An opening page on the first frame with your name and a course number
2. Creative design of the interactive template using the programs you learned in class
3. Include extra assignments you've done

Please feel free to ask questions or stop by the Library.

Code

2007-04-25T06:45:00.001-07:00

Use this code to post your Flash, SWF Files on your blog.

<_embed src="http://www.PUT-YOUR-ADDRESS-HERE.com/YOURFLASH.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"><_/embed>

Please remove the underscore between " <_embed and <_/embed> "

Animation

2007-04-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

Middle East and America: Can't We Get Along?

2007-04-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

US and Lebanon and Syria hung out together in Geneva. Had some Italian ices, beers. Things were great.

(Source, AP)

Meet Leo - Marc's First Flash Project

2007-04-11T06:55:00.001-07:00

Self-portrait and/or Cartoon Project Due Date

2007-04-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

While we will begin Flash lessons in class next Wednesday, the Illustrator project, in which we are drawing a self-portrait and/or making a cartoon will be due posted up on the blog on Friday, April 13 at 5 p.m.

Adobe Illustrator - Palettes

2007-03-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Illustrator makes extensive use of floating palettes - there are 31 main palettes and several more containing libraries of brushes and styles. Thirty-one palettes would clog even the largest monitor, so understanding how to manipulate the palettes is essential to working smoothly in Illustrator.

If you loose your pallets accidently by closing them, you can always bring it back by going to “Window” menu and selecting the missing palette.

If you have to many paletts unordered all over the screen, you can always reset the default workspace by going to
“Window->Workspace->Default” menu.

Using Palettes

Adobe Illustrator - Tools

2007-03-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

The Illustrator Toolbox is similar to other Adobe software in that tools are organized into groups with fly-out menus. For example, all the basic shape tools that create rectangle, ellipses, plygons, an son on, all share one spot on the Toolbox. To see the fly-out menu with all the tools, click and hold on the small triangle tool icon located in the bottom right corner of the tool group.

Introduction to Adobe Illustrator

2007-03-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based drawing program developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. It provides sophisticated tracing and text manipulation capabilities as well as color separations. Adobe Illustrator is a powerful brand of software used to create vector graphics. It is the industry standard, and countless professional designers from around the world create and edit graphics using Adobe Illustrator. Originally made only for Macintosh, Illustrator is now available for both Windows and Macintosh computers. Solid knowledge of Adobe Illustrator is a must for serious graphics professionals, and is an outright requirement in many such positions.

What is Vector?
Vector graphics or geometric modeling is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and polygons to represent images in computer graphics. It is used by contrast to the term raster graphics, which is the representation of images as a collection of pixels (dots).

No class on Friday March 9th

2007-03-08T19:09:00.000-08:00

Enjoy your Spring Break.

Photoshop Painting

2007-03-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

Friday Class - Meet in the Library

2007-03-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

Friday class will meet in the Library First floor - Learning Commons Area. We will work further with development of your assignment due on Monday. We will use the library resources to print your work.

Assignment #3: Due Monday March 5th

2007-02-27T20:46:00.000-08:00

Based on the information your learned in class about the layer composition and masking create one of the following:

Movie Poster
- Dimensions must be 8.5" x 11" in 200 dpi resolution

Postcard
- Dimensions must be 4 1/4" x 6" in 200 dpi resolution
- (*remember there are 2 sides to a postcard)

Please upload your final rendering to your blog. In addition please have a print out of your work ready.
Consider using different types of print paper (glossy or coated)

No class on Monday, Feb. 26, due to icy morning commute.

2007-02-26T03:45:00.000-08:00

Let's play it safe, just in case. We don't want anyone hurt.

Introduction to Layers

2007-02-20T17:36:00.000-08:00

One of the most powerful features of Photoshop are layers. Think of a layer as a container for your objects/images. A layer can hold unlimited amount of objects. These objects can be directly edited within a layer or can be merged together to form a composition.

Adding Layer

To add a layer you will click on the Add Layer icon in Layers Palette. Each new layer will be added on top of the previous one. You can have unlimited amount of layers. A thumbnail preview will be generated each time you place an object on a layer.

Turning Layers off/on

Any layer can be turned off and turned back on allowing the layer that is below to show through. It is very common to turn layers of if you are working with many objects on a layer that cover the area from layers below.

Locking a layer

In addition to turning the layer visibility on or off, you can lock individual layers. Locking layers helps in preventing accidental changes or manipulations when you are working with many objects on different layers.

Assignment #2 - Due Monday 2/12/07 - Before Class

2007-02-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

Restore one of the sample or one of the personal photographs. Save your image in JPG format using the Save for Web option.
Upload the before and the after photograph to your blog.
Images must be submitted to your blog no later than 8:30 AM on Monday 2/12/07

To restore your photo successfully consider using the following tools:

- crop tool,
- healing brush,
- clone stamp tool,
- levels,
- curves,
- brightness and contrast

Image Adjustment Modes

2007-02-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

Levels

Levels are Photoshop's method for stretching the contrast of an image.The RGB levels are a measure of how light or dark a pixel is.

Curves

Curves are the most powerful way to alter the values of an image. Using the curve tones can be adjusted from dark, middle to bright values of an image.

Hue and Saturation

Hue is another name for color. When an image’s hue is adjusted, the base color of that image changes in correlation with the color wheel.

The image’s saturation refers to the intensity of its colors.

Desaturate

Desaturate converts the image into grayscale without changing the mode. This is done by assigning the equal Red, Green and Blue value to each pixel in the RGB image.

Color Information Channels

2007-02-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

There are eight color modes in Photoshop.

1. Bitmap
2. Grayscale
3. Duotone
4. Indexed Color
5. RGB Color
6. CMYK Color
7. Lab Color
8. Multichannel

Bitmap

Each pixel in a bitmap color mode image is either black or white. The level of gray in a bitmap image is measured by a percentage, such as 10% gray or 90% gray. This is simulated by creating little mosaics of black spots, known as halftone cells. The following figure shows an example of the Channels palette when working on a bitmap image.

Grayscale

Grayscale images, like bitmap images, have only one component channel. The gray value for each pixel is recorded as a percentage in this channel: 0% represents white and 100% represents black.

Duotone

The Duotone color mode (which includes Monotone, Tritone, and Quadtone) stores its color information in one channel. Colors for these types of images are controlled using duotone curves.

Indexed Color

Indexed color is a subset of RGB color and is primarily used for web graphics. These images are typically saved as GIF or PNG files. An indexed color image can look just like an RGB or CMYK image. But unlike RGB and CMYK images, Indexed Color mode has only one channel—as shown in the following figure—and is made up of only 256 colors.

RGB Color ( most popular )

The topmost channel is a composite channel, which holds color information for all the pixels (red, green, and blue) in the image. Below the composite channel are three additional channels. These are the component color channels: Red, Green, and Blue. Each pixel's color is determined by the amount of these three component color channels.

CMYK Color ( used for printing )

CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (K is used for black, to avoid confusing B for blue). These are the primary inks used in commercial printing. When working with CMYK images, the Channels palette displays a component channel for each of the four colors and a composite channel named CMYK, as shown in the following figure.

Lab Color

Lab channels are different from the other composite color channels. Instead of having component colors that are combined to create a pixel's color, Lab channels separate the color into two components and record the lightness of the pixels in a separate channel.

Here's a breakdown of what each channel represents:

L: Represents the lightness of the image
a: Represents the color value from red to green
b: Represents the color value from blue to yellow

Multichannel

Multichannel mode is primarily used in the print world, although not as often as CMYK. In Multichannel mode, the Channels palette has one channel for each color, but unlike CMYK or RGB, Multichannel mode does not include a composite channel (see the following figure).

Useful Shortcuts to Remember

2007-02-05T20:35:00.000-08:00

Shortcuts to Remember v1.

CTRL+Z -- Undo Last Step / Also toggles between last and recent step
SHIFT+CTRL+Z -- Step Back
V -- Selection Tool
[ ] -- increase / decrease the size of your brush/tool
CTRL +/- -- use to zoom in and zoom out
TAB -- Enable/Disable Tools/Windows View (Presentation Mode)

More Shortcuts to come.

Photograph Restoration

2007-02-05T05:24:00.000-08:00

Class on Friday February 2nd

2007-02-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

Class will meet in Bernardine Hall, Room 209

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop CS2

2007-01-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is the current market leader for commercial bitmap and image manipulation, and, in addition to Adobe Acrobat, is one of the best-known pieces of software produced by Adobe Systems. It is considered the industry standard in most jobs related to the use of visual elements.

Although primarily designed to edit images for paper-based printing, Photoshop is used increasingly to produce images for the World Wide Web. Recent versions bundle a related application, Adobe ImageReady, to provide a more specialized set of tools for this purpose.

Few Examples:
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorial/Performing-a-Photo-Makeover/1896
http://www.worth1000.com

Demo1

Demo2

Demo3

Demo4

Demo5

Adding Media Content to Your Blog

2007-01-27T06:02:00.000-08:00

Images
- images from your computer or located on the web can be directly uploaded / linked to your Blog using the "Add Image" icon. Videos below demonstrates how to add an image to your blog. Please have the sound on, as I am using the verbal directions as well.

- from your computer - currently this process is bugged but it will be resolved soon
- Using Google - Click here for the video.
- Using PhotoBucket - Click here for the video.

Videos
Video just like an image can also be added to your blog. However the process of adding the video is a little bit different. Video below demonstrates how to add video on your blog.

- Using Youtube - Click here for the video.
- Using PhotoBucket - in progress

More tutorials to come. Please comment if you have any questions.

Problems creating Blog?

2007-01-24T08:57:00.000-08:00

If you are not sure on how to set up your blog, please visit the video tutorial provided here.

Click here to see the video.

The format should be:

http://firstname-lastname.blogspot.com

Make sure to activate your account by checking the email address you supplied when you created your blog first time. You will have to click the activation link once. Failure in activating the blog will result in blog suspension or deletion.

If you have any questions please comment on this blog and I will try to respond as soon as I can.

Welcome to COM 332!

2007-01-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

Hello and Welcome to Multimedia Design and Editing Blog. In this blog you can find reference materials, notes, assignments used in this course.

Class Notes
- introduction to blogging, why to blog, searching for blogs
- most popular blog providers (Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal, TypePad)
- using blogs (News,Education,Marketing,Personal)
- popular free media file hosting services (Flickr,PhotoBucket,Youtube,Fileshare,Megaupload)

Student Blogs.
- On the right side you will see the links to student blogs in this course. You are encouraged to write at least one post a week and comment on the other students blogs. You can write anything you like, it can be class related or it can be from your own personal experience . Examples include (class notes, class reflections, my new hobby, things i learned today etc.)

Assignment #1 - Due Friday - January 26rd
- Create your own Blog using Google Gmail Account as shown in class.
- Click Here to See the Video Tutorial