We had a good turnout of about 50 people. Most of the attendees were students at MIAD and MATC, not surprising since the event was part of the College Lecture Series, but there were also some professionals from the community there.

It was an interesting time as the four panelists had a great variety of experiences and focus that they brought to the discussion. The panelists were Micah Eberman of Fullhouse Interactive, Jason Evans of GS Design, Nick Waraska of Blend Studios, and me (Alexander Lucas of C2 Graphics and Stamm Media). The experiences touted included: high-end broadcast motion graphics, interactive websites, iPhone apps, trade show displays, and flash applications.

The panel agreed for the most part on the prepared questions concerning whether you need to continue to educate yourself, where to find the sites, and the importance of knowing broad skills but also specializing in a specific skill.

One topic brought up at the panel, of no great surprise, was the question of the future with the iPad and other tablet computers. There was again mostly consensus on this issue that while the iPad does not support Flash that it would not be an instant Flash killer and that it will take a long lumbering time for the internet to fully embrace HTML 5.

The two biggest questions which split the panel, however, concerned the role of social media and the future of the web/interactive/motion graphics space. Some of the panelists saw social media as being of the most importance and something that is the wave of future revenue and expression, while others admitting not really having a firm grip on where to proceed in this realm and what to do with it.

The only main consensus in the future debate: a sense of uncertainty of exactly what will happen. But that is what makes the future so interesting. We can still be surprised and be creative with emerging technologies.

The JavaScript family:

Interactivity for Designers 1 – No programming knowledge required. This class introduces designers with a knowledge of both CSS and HTML to several pre-build JavaScript projects that can be implemented with virtually no programming. Lightboxes, slideshows, tooltips, simple form validation are all covered in this 4-hour class. This class is an excellent introduction to interactive concepts for designers wary of programming.

Interactivity for Designers 2 – No programming knowledge required but Interactivity for Designers 1 is recommended. This 4-hour class shows designers with HTML & CSS knowledge how to configure and modify pre-built JavaScript projects without having to dive deep into JavaScript programming. This class is an excellent introduction to interactive concepts for designers wary of programming.

Introduction to jQuery – Most professional web developers don’t feel like re-inventing the wheel, so over the last 5 years the use of JavaScript libraries for web page interactivity has skyrocketed and jQuery is one of the most popular libraries available. This 6-hour class introduces the web developer with a solid understanding of HTML & CSS to the programming concept necessary to start building highly interactive web pages using jQuery.

The Flex/ActionScript family:

Introduction to Adobe Flex – This 6-hour class is an introduction to Adobe’s Flex framework for anyone interested in creating and deploying highly interactive web applications.

Creating Adobe AIR projects – Adobe’s AIR technology allows designers & developers to create multi-platform standalone applications using a variety of technologies underneath the skin.

Introduction to Adobe Catalyst – Adobe’s new development environment aimed at designers – use the tools you already know and love (Photoshop & Illustrator) to create functional, dynamic user interfaces that can stand alone or can be handed-off to a developer for advanced functionality.

Just a sampling of some of the things we’ll be unveiling soon. Let us know what you think!

Milwaukee Talent

Web Designer and developer all in one package

Adria is an experienced graphic and web designer with a diverse portfolio.  She designed multiple sites including small business, not-for-profit and exclusive corporate clients.  Adria tested solid in Flash and very good in Web Development.  She has Master of Arts with an emphasis in Visual Studies.  She understands and applies solid hand coding. Adria is available part-time or full-time on a project basis only.

Outstanding Creative Director with exceptional ideation skills

Brad is an accomplished, award-winning creative director with 25 years’ expertise developing and executing all aspects of integrated marketing communications campaigns designed to meet and exceed strategic marketing objectives. Very strong in concept development and art/photo direction. Experience in a broad range of B2B and B2C categories. Proven creative leadership talent with demonstrated strength in developing high performance and dedicated teams. Deep understanding of online, print, broadcast, experiential/event marketing. A persuasive presenter and a passionate listener who leverages relationship management talents to achieve consensus across all levels and organizational boundaries.

Quarkalicious Art Director with quintessential production skills

Dave C. tested at exceptional level in Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign/Quark, close to expert levels.  His portfolio reflected good art direction/design skills, and he clearly can take any project from concept to completion. Dave is just completing a long term assignment at Reader’s Digest.  He is available full or part-time, on temporary, temp to hire, or direct hire basis.

Word Up! on this Awesome Designer

Paul R tested solid+ in Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash and solid in InDesign.  He is a talented designer with strong production skills, and a great portfolio including packaging,  logos and branding, ad campaigns and several web site designs.  Paul performs with speed, accuracy and a delightful attitude.   He is available full or part time, for projects, temp to hire or on a direct hire basis. His portfolio may be viewed at http://prauwerda.com

Multi-faceted Multi-talented Art Director

Vanessa is a multi-talented art director/graphic designer who can lead a project from concept to completion. She tested very good in Illustrator, Photoshop and solid+ in InDesign. Her portfolio displayed samples of photo editing, branding and identity packages, electronic newsletters, as well as copy writing, PR, brochures, catalogs, books and PowerPoint presentations for mid-size and small businesses. She can also update and edit web pages and banner ads.

Madison Talent

Web savvy, smart and all that!

Andrew G is a talented problem solver with a passion for aesthetics, web standards and usability.  In his previous role he was at the forefront of user interaction for a Midwest technology company.  He has examples of strategy documents and usability reviews on his website.  Originally a design practitioner for print, he successfully evolved into the interactive space serving as both a web development manager and as a creative director in an interactive agency.  He tested at exceptional level in Illustrator and Photoshop and more than professional in Flash and InDesign. He tested at EXPERT levels in web development. He is available full or part-time on a project or interim basis, temp to hire, or direct hire.

Graphic Designer Ingenue

Ashley is an adept disciplined graphic designer with a clear, fresh eye and nicely executed portfolio.  She tested solidly in InDesign and solid+ in both Photoshop and Illustrator.  She presented samples of posters, illustrations, inventive packaging, campaigns, identity and exceptional attention to detail.  She likes clean, simple designs and works to not over design pieces.  Ashley is currently completing a digital editing project in After Effects but was not tested on it.  She works well with others, and is available full or part-time, for projects, temp to hire, or direct hire basis.

Creative, Versatile, Fun and Easy to Work With

Brian is a talented graphic designer/creative director for print, video, animation and multimedia.  He is an Expert at Illustrator, exceptional at Photoshop and professional+ with InDesign. He’s spent the majority of his career working on creative teams in agency settings. His portfolio reflected his strong creative/design and solid production capabilities. He is available full or part-time, for projects, temp to hire, or direct hire.

Mega-star Designer/Art Director

Meghan is a gem! A multi-talented art director/designer who also has extensive B2B experience in multimedia and web design.   She tested at professional level in Illustrator, Photoshop  and InDesign, exceptional in Dreamweaver and exceptional+ in Flash.  She can art direct a project from concept through creation-in Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, Golive and more.  Exceptional interpersonal communication skills, and still works well well with others. She is available full or part-time, on project, temp to hire or direct hire

In case you’ve missed it, the CS4 versions of Flash, Fireworks, and InDesign have received updates in the last couple of weeks.

• Flash PM Richard Galvan lists the issues addressed in the Flash release, including performance problems & crashes.
• InDesign’s 6.0.2 update (download for Mac, Win) includes the cumulative fixes from the 6.0.1 update (posted in February). For a list of fixes, check out its release notes (PDF), plus info on previous updates.
• Of the Fireworks update, newly minted Fireworks PM Bruce Bowman writes, “This updater fixes the most common bugs that we know about in Fireworks CS4, including numerous text shifting problems, stability issues on Mac and Windows, and bugs related to pasting text from Microsoft Office applications. The team would like to thank you for your patience as we developed this updater.” Here are the full release notes (PDF).

You want an object to finish its tween then stay in that state for an extended time? Shift-drag the last frame to the right (if you just drag, you extend the animation).

Be very careful with the scroll wheel on your mouse when you are over an editable field in the property or motion inspectors – most of the fields are active the moment your cursor is over them and scrolling the wheel changes values (handy if you’re aware it’s happening, annoying when you’re trying to navigate).

BONUS TIP: If you are using the scroll wheel to change values, adding the SHIFT key changes the values by 10, COMMAND-Mac/Control-windows changes values by .1

part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3-0AtqeSng

part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-MNlNqPMk

Here is my solution that I use for every Flash project I work on. A well managed library can save hours of frustration and speed up the development process. In team based development it’s practically required. Of course this is not the only way to work – treat this as a starting point for you to develop your own personal organization that works best for you and the type of projects you work on.

Here are the folders I create to manage my assets and some elements I start every project with

00 Code Snippets

My favorite trick. this one is so good it’s getting its own post and download next week. but the short answer is it’s a movie clip with hundreds of lines of sample actionscript code that I can refer to during any project. the clip itself is never used in a movie but it’s a fast, fast reference for quick copy and paste.

01 LTG

Stands for Layouts, Templates and Guides. Stuff that should not appear in final movie but is needed for placement purposes.

02 Imported Images

Imported JPG, PNG files.

03 Imported Vector

Vector art from other programs.

04 Imported Audio

Short audio pieces or sound effects less than about 2 seconds long. I always leave longer audio as an external file.

05 Basic Shapes

A simple square and circle that I use over and over in every movie. Why the awful lime green? It’s easy to tell if there is a stray, unmodified occurrence in my movie. I also add any artwork that is not animated (movieclips with just one frame of art) to this folder.

06 Buttons

Buttons go here, this folder always starts with an invisible square button (built from the square in folder 05 Basic Shapes – reuse your symbols!)

07 Text

Movieclips with text.

08 Components

If I use any prebuilt Flash components they would go here.

09 Reserved for future use

As the name implies I’m not using 09 for anything right now.

10 Temp

holds test movieclips and experimental work. When and if these become part of the movie they move to a more appropriate folder. If they don’t go into the final movie they go to folder 99 below (the trash). At the end of a project this folder is always empty.

11 Project Specific

folders 00 thru 10 are part of every project and they stay in that order for consistencies sake. Project specific folders holding complex parts of the movie always start at 11 and may have folders nested inside.

12 Project Specific

Just another example folder for this project.

99 Trash this

The 99 makes it sit at the bottom of the library panel. I consistently move unused elements to this folder as they are replaced by final or improved artwork. If it’s in this folder it’s not used in the movie. I delete this folder before handing the file off to the client. I do keep the folder in my master file.

]]> http://www.c2gps.com/blog/2008/01/09/flash-library-management/feed/ 0 http://www.c2gps.com/blog/2008/01/03/primitive-tools-in-flash-cs3/ http://www.c2gps.com/blog/2008/01/03/primitive-tools-in-flash-cs3/#comments Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:20:00 +0000 James Conway http://c2gps.marakana.com/blog/2008/01/03/primitive-tools-in-flash-cs3/

If you didn’t look close you may have missed two new tools in Adobe Flash CS3, the Rectangle Primitive tool and the Oval Primitive tool. They can be found in the toolbox under the Rectangle tool (press and hold on the icon to show the hidden tools). These new shape tools allow for very fast (and non-destructive) basic alterations to shapes that you draw. Imagine rounded corners that you can go back and tweak without remaking the shape or taking the center out of a circle without running a permanent Modify>Combine Objects>Punch

By booking your classes by the end of next week we’ll help you use up your budget before the end of the year and save money by honoring 2007 rates for all classes booked in the first quarter of 2008.

We’ll even come to you! Our instruction for up to 4 hours of on-site training for up to 6 people is only $850.00* and for up to 9 hours of instruction is only $1400.00*. What if you don’t have a training room? You can also rent machines from us and we’ll set them up for your staff’s use during the training! (*plus travel if you’re more than 30 minutes away).

And don’t forget, all of our instruction comes with a reference textbook & follow up support from our Certified Instructors.

We currently have the following days open for your on-site, custom training – just contact Tiffany (that would be me) to arrange your class!

Photoshop/Illustrator Instruction:
December 17 December 19 December 27 December 28
January 2 January 3 January 4 January 9
January 10 January 16 January 17 January 23
January 23 January 24 January 30 January 31

Quark/InDesign Instruction:
December 17 December 20 December 28 January 2
January 3 January 4 January 8 January 11
January 14 January 15

Flash/Dreamweaver Instruction (including Actionscripting 3.0!):
December 28 January 9 January 11 January 18
January 23 January 24 January 28 January 29
January 30 January 31

Video Instruction:
December 19 December 20 January 2 January 3
January 4 January 14 January 15 January 16
January 18

And don’t forget about $5.00 Fridays! January 18, in conjunction with Studio Two, we’ll go over tips & tricks in deciding whether or not to use stock photography vs. original and we’ll show you time-saving trips for color correction & retouching. Get more information.

Did you miss the How to WOW with Direct Mail $5.00 Friday in October? We’re having round two on February 22. We ran out of space last time, so get your seat early.