Ball bouncing down staircase!

Good Morning and Happy Friday!  I hope you have had a great morning so far.  We are about to add a whole new set of skills to our flash assignments but since I won't be here today I was going to give you a brief quiz - lucky for you, I changed my mind :) We are, however, going to work to recreate the video you see above!  This will require you to do the following today -

1.  Draw the ball and convert it to a symbol on 1 layer
2.  Draw the stairs on a separate layer.

In addition to this, I also need you to complete alledutyping lessons through 19.2 - I know some of you are already there but many of you are a bit behind!!  Don't let that drag your first progress grade down.  Also - if you want some extra credit, send a brief (3-4) sentence email to your mentor from this morning that includes the following: (1) Thanking them for taking their time to come this morning, (2) One thing that you really enjoyed about the morning and (3)  One goal you want to accomplish between now and May when you see eachother next.  Feel free to end the letter with "look forward to seeing you soon or Thank you Again." - don't forget to copy me at crubin@seq.org so I can give you credit :)

That's it for today!  Have a great Friday and a great Weekend!
Mr. Rubin

The Importance of a Resume!

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday -

Today we are going to start a project that will stick with you for the rest of your life!  That's right ... we are going to create a resume.  Regardless of whether you have started a resume, have a complete one or have never heard of one, today we are going to work together to build an outstanding resume!

For today's blog please respond to the following questions:

1. What is a resume? (feel free to do a quick online search)
2. Why is it important for everyone over the age of 15 to have a resume?
3. How can a resume help you both in school and beyond?

Thank you very much for your thoughtful responses ... now please open a blank Microsoft Word Document and/or the current resume you have started work on.

Thank you and we will get started shortly!

Sun Rising

 Our first complex assignment! I hope that you were both successful and proud of your first multi-step flash assignment. The keys to being successful with this assignment were as follows: 1. When drawing the various elements of your animation, you needed to draw them on different layers. In particular you needed the following layers:

1. Background layer (mine was a desert)
2. A road (on its own layer)
3. your car, motorcycle or other road worthy vehicle!
4. a separate layer for the wheels on your vehicle
5. A layer for your sun
6. A layer for your sky

Okay, now that you have all of those layers here are the magic instructions to make everything work:

• For the background layer, simply draw everything just the way you want it using the drawing tools.  Don't waste your time on the sky at this point
• The next best step would be to add your road (on its own layer)
• Next, on the side of the scene (or off stage) draw your car.  Remmeber your car and the wheels need to be on separate layers.
• For the wheels - Follow the same directions as the windmill assignment
• Draw your wheel
• Convert your wheel to a symbol (name it wheel)
• Double click on your wheel to open it in a new layer
• Now you will see  "wheel" next to "scene 1"
• Rotate your wheel 1/4 of a turn 4 times.  I would recommend keyframes 20,40,60,79.
• After you have completed 1 full rotation of your windmill (1 only), click back on scene 1.
• Go to "control," "test scene" and watch it move :)
• Now, put the wheels on your car highlight the whole thing using the selection tool and convert it to another symbol (call it car for example).  This will lock everything together.  Now you can simply insert keyframes and add a classic tween to make your car and wheels move together :)
• Next lets make the sky color change
• Add a layer called "sky"
• Using the rectangle tool, with dark blue for the fill color and no stroke color draw a box the size of your stage. (do not convert to a symbol)
• Insert a keyframe on your timeline (at 100 for example).  As soon as you insert the keyframe, change the color to a light blue to symbolize daylight!  Yay!  Your sky is done!
• THE SUN!
• The sun is easy ... draw your sun.  Position it where you want it to start.
• When done drawing, convert to a symbol.  
• Insert a keyframe where you want the sun to end and move the sun there.  That's it!

Remember ... you control the keyframes.  YOu can position them wherever you want!  That is part of your creative control.

Remember ... if your scene disappears when you add a keyframe, you simply need to insert a "frame" on the other layers and it will keep your drawing visible!

Posting Transformers

Good Morning.  For today's blog post I need you to post your Transformer assignment to your blog.

Be sure below your post to discuss what you enjoyed most about this project, what challenges you faced and most importantly what new tools you learned and/or used to create your final product!  Be thorough!  Thanks!

Below is a reminder on how to upload your transformers assignment so it will appear on your blog!

1. Ensure you animation is 100% complete and done to the best of your ability.
2. Go to File --> Export --> and select Export Movie
3. Save in your home drive with an appropriate file name and "Save as Type" - Quicktime (note: if a popup box appears, select export)
4. Go to your youtube account and login
5. Select upload and choose the appropriate file.  It should have a file extension .mov
6. Once uploaded, click the link where you can "view your video live"
7. View your video to make sure everything looks good.
8. Scroll down and click the tab "embed" (you may have to click on share for embed to appear)
9. Copy the embed code
10. Login to your blogger account
11. Begin a new post.  Before writing anything click in the top left where it says "HTML"
12. paste the embed code and then click back on compose.
13. Your video should be visible!!
14. Good Work!

WindMill Posted!

Good Morning and Happy Friday!  For today's blog post I need you to post your Windmill assignment to your blog.  For this to be successful, before submitting please insert a "FRAME" (not keyframe) at 240 on your timeline on each layer you drew on!  This is very important.  Steps for making your windmill rotate are below:

Step 1:  Draw your windmill (the spinning portion only)
Step 2: Convert your windmill to a symbol and name it windmill
Step 3: Double click on your windmill - you have to click on some piece of the object you drew!
Step 4: Now you should see "windmill" next to "scene 1"
Step 5: Rotate your windmill 1/4 of a turn 4 times.  I would recommend keyframes 20, 40, 60 and then 78
Step 6: After you have completed a full rotation of your windmill (1 only), click back on scene 1
Step 7: Go to "Control," "Test Scene" and watch it move
Step 8: Open a new layer (or multiple layers) and begin drawing your background!  Make it fun, creative, colorful ... well ... and FUN!
Step 9: When complete, insert a frame on your timeline at 240 for every layer.  Just a frame, not a keyframe!
Step 10:  Follow the directions on the previous blog for upload instruction to youtube and then to your blog!

Be sure below your post to discuss what you enjoyed most about this project, what challenges you faced and most importantly what new tools you learned and/or used to create your final product!  Be thorough!  Thanks!

Staying on Track!

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday.  For today's blog post I need you to post your newest Flash video to your blog.  In addition to having that completed you need to discuss in your post the newest tools that you learned and used to create the 3 bouncing balls that you have posted.  Discuss what was challenging and what you like about these new tools you have used.

After posting your blog, please complete edutyping lessons 19.1 & 19.2.

Below are instructions for how to post to your blog:

1. Ensure you animation is 100% complete and done to the best of your ability.
2. Go to File --> Export --> and select Export Movie
3. Save in your home drive with an appropriate file name and "Save as Type" - Quicktime (note: if a popup box appears, select export)
4. Go to your youtube account and login
5. Select upload and choose the appropriate file.  It should have a file extension .mov
6. Once uploaded, click the link where you can "view your video live"
7. View your video to make sure everything looks good.
8. Scroll down and click the tab "embed"
9. Copy the embed code
10. Login to your blogger account
11. Begin a new post.  Before writing anything click in the top left where it says "HTML"
12. paste the embed code and then click back on compose.
13. Your video should be visible!!
14. Good Work!

Good Morning and Happy Friday!  For today's blog post you need to complete the following:

Complete your 1st animation.  This animation must include:

• 1 smiley face, 1 rotating square, 1 growing and shrinking ball and 2 other objects that move around the screen.
• You must export and post the video to your blog.
• Beneath your video, you must
• discuss two things you enjoyed about this project
• discuss the two most important things you learned about using Flash (more if applicable)
• the two greatest challenges you faced in completing this project

Thank you and Happy Friday!

Beginning Flash!!

Good Morning!!

Today we are going to continue learning about the various tools in Adobe Flash.  What did you like most about creating the square yesterday in class and making it rotate?  What did you find most challenging about that exercise?  Finally, what are you most interested in learning as we explore all of the tools accessible to you in an animation program like Flash?

Thanks for your thoughtful response...in particular, your response to the last question will help me guide our study towards things you want to learn how to do :)

Before we continue with Flash, please complete lesson 18.2 in Edutyping.

Thank you!

Welcome Back!

Good Morning and Welcome Back!!

It is hard to believe that it has been over two weeks since we have been together!  I bet you missed me :)  In any case, I wanted to start off the morning with a quick recap of your break!  How was it?  What did you do?  What was the highlight?  What is one reason you are excited to be back at school?

As a second part to today's post, as you know around the world as the New Year kicks off, people take an opportunity to examine themselves, their lifestyle and goals and are able to focus on how they would like to make a difference starting with yourself in the new year!  Did you make a New Years Resolution?  What are you committed to doing in your life in 2014 and how will it help you be happier, more successful, a better person, etc.  On a secondary level perhaps, what are some goals that you have set for yourself for the second half of the 2014 school year?  Perhaps bad habits you want to break, things you want to do better, goals you want to achieve, etc!  It's a new year, be realistic but dream big :)

Lets kick off the year right with a thorough thoughtful response addressing all parts of the prompt!  Thank you and Happy New Year! :)