The Coolest Effect!

Snow globes are cool – especially when it’s a globe within a globe with a special alien visit. I found the images of the snow globe, earth and alien on Goggle images and brought them into Photoshop for tweaking.

Alien Visits Earth

Once the images were ready, I imported them into Aftereffects. Next, a snow composition was created and the Particle Playground effect was applied. Some of the properties of the Particle Playground were altered to give a full snowy effect. I made changes to the Barrel Radius, Particles per Second, Direction, Velocity and Colour.

Because the snow particles still appeared a bit square in shape, I applied the Fast Blur effect to smooth them out and appear more natural.

Once the snow composition was completed, I dropped it on the snow globe composition. Thing were starting to look pretty snowy/good but a mask still needed to be applied so that the snow would only be seen falling inside the globe.

Creating Snow

Once the mask was applied a few finishing touches where made to the snow. I played around with the Persistent Property Mapper, which makes the snow appear sticky and accumulate on the surface of the globe.

Though a globe in a globe is cool, I thought that an alien visit was necessary to finish things off. The alien appears out of thin air (as aliens often do) and then he orbits the earth until he decides to zoom in and check things out. This was all accomplished with transform property and changes made on the timeline to the opacity, scale and position. I’d love to play with the 3D camera a bit in the future and zoom in with the alien to see where he is going…

Finished Globe

Wayne MacPhail came to our IMM class today and presented a captivating lecture on the history of computers and where they are headed in the future.  He is an excellent speaker and has a direct and interesting way of using visuals to get his point across. Three things Wayne left imprinted on my brain were:

1. Computers double in power every 24 months
2. The computer used to take the first astronauts to the moon in Apollo 11 now fits in a Hallmark card
3. There is current research being done that will allow computers to be controlled by human thought

It is hard to look back and recall a world before the home computer. It truly is a vague memory for me as my mother was a computer programmer and we received our first home computer, the Apple II in 1982.  We still have that computer tucked away in the closet at our family cottage. I’m tempted to get it out this summer and reinforce Wayne’s statement about the exponential growth of computer power.

But is it really possible that one day what we think will be tracked and responded to by a computer?  It just seems like our thoughts will be, (or maybe are) our last form of human privacy.  That could make for a crazy world!

In the short term (next 4-5 years,) Wayne predicts that most computers will be touch screen – desktop, laptop, mobile etc… As well, flexible plastic paper thin computers in the form of a newspaper or book will follow close behind.

Wayne was very interesting and insightful. We’ll see what happens….

Adrian & Jam3media

Adrian was an excellent guest speaker. It’s fantastic to hear about the career of a former IMM grad. He related very well to the class – probably because there are so many designers in our class and he is also from a design background. I think everyone wanted to squeeze as much information out of him as possible. As well, he has been very successful post IMM; starting Jam3media with two other former grads.  His experience working with Flash animation and motion graphics was a highlight for me since I’m very interested in working in this area as well. Adrian was full of tips, do’s, and don’t for the professional world. He stressed using TweenLite, TweenMax and TweenFilterLite for better Flash animation. He discussed easing – what works and what’s cheesy.

It was great to see some of the projects Jam3media has been working on. Adrian showed us the work they did for CBC.ca to promote Little Mosque on the Prairie, the web ads they created for Chevy Spark and a website with short animation spots created for Fito-Lay called A Woman’s World. I really appreciated hearing about and seeing how creative/out-of-the-box the interactive industry can be. Many thanks for having Adrian speak to us!

A couple of  links Adrian provided:

www.soundrangers.com

www.ipf.ca/Bell/English/BellFund.html

James Hurley came to our Multimedia Pioneering class today to talk about Spatial View.  Spatial View is a leading developer of 3D image processing and display technologies. James covered a brief history of 3D technology and then described what the advantages are of the Spatial View autostereoscopy 3D technology. James defines autostereoscopy as moving the responsibility of watching 3D away from the user to the screen. Lenses are placed over the screen to manipulate the pixels and display a 3D image to the viewer. Part of what appeals to me about autostereoscopy technology is that it makes quality 3D technology available to the general public.

In March 2009, Spatial View is releasing its first skin for the iphone.  This skin is called the Wazabee™ 3DeeShell.  The Wazabee™ 3DeeShell will display content such as games, pictures and videos  in 3D on the iPhone.  As well, to compliment the Wazabee 3DeShell, there are also a series of Wazabee iPhone apps currently available for downloaded.

I wonder why the sudden resurgence of 3D video and film interest? Kids are especially flocking to movie theaters to check out  their latest crush or animated character in 3D.  Maybe the renewed 3D interest reflects the the advances in the technology or, maybe it provides the perfect cost effective form of escapism while our economy suffers it’s downturn. Regardless, it appears 3D is back, it’s cool, and it’s here to stay.

Visit to GestureTek

On February 6, 2009 our IMM class ventured to Toronto to visit GestureTek. Located amidst trendy downtown ad agencies and tech companies, GestureTek stands as a world leader in camera-enabled gesture-recognition technology.

Upon entrance through the office door, we had our first interaction with one of GestureTek’s ScreenXtreme installations. Everyone immediately took a turn at waving his or her hands in front of the camera. Our hand motions wiped away a filmy image onscreen revealing oneself underneath. This instant introduction to GestureTek technology was enticing. It set the stage for an interesting tour.

Shortly after arriving, we were greeted by Vincent (one of the company co-founders) and taken to a show room. Surrounded by wall and floor projections, projectors and lights, this room could best be compared to a mild sauna. If not for the amazing displays that kept my attention, I may have run for the cool outdoors. But not only were the displays captivating, so was Vincent’s presentation about the development of GestureTek over the past 20 years. It’s always great to hear about entrepreneurs and how they become successful.

During Vincent’s talk, I learned that GestureTek has a long-standing interest in using gesture-recognition technology to assist with  physical therapy and rehabilitation. I thought this was an amazing way to create, programme and contribute to society all in one. I’d love to do more research into this area.

Overall, the visit was inspiring. I enjoyed playing with the installations and learning more about the way technology can be experienced outside the confines of a computer screen.

Our tour of GestureTek

QR-Codes

James Eberhardt came to our IMM class today and spoke about QR-Codes and writing applications for the iPhone. QR-Codes are a new concept to me. I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about them; I wasn’t sure if they had a purpose beyond the world of advertising. However, once James described some of the other situations where they may be used, I began to think that they could be a fun and interesting way of learning and interacting with the world. I am definitely more excited to brainstorm about our QR-Code project now that I understand their versatility.  I look forward to a day in Canada where QR-Codes are more common and mobile phones are purchased with QR-Code readers installed.

It is interesting what James said about the iPhone. I’m not sure how Apple does it (well, except by having a great advertising campaign) but they really have the ‘cool’ factor wrapped up in their ‘I’ products. I’m embarrassed to say that I would likely buy one if I needed a new phone. eek. Well, maybe I’ll wait until the Flash player is supported by the iPhone before I invest. Come on Adobe/Apple it’s a win-win situation!!

I hope to see a reduction in the cost of using mobile phones in Canada in the near future. I think my interest in mobile possibilities will increase when the services are more affordable to the general public. I like James’ optimism that within the next five years we will see cost reductions.  Bring it on!

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