5/30 Blog Update

The presentation outline has been completed and handed in. Presentations will begin sometime next week.

Also, the exhibit night has been rescheduled for June 10th. My mentor has been informed accordingly.

5/27 Blog Post

The bulk of the work for the marking period has been completed. An outline for presentations is due tomorrow and will be handed in on time

5/23 Blog Update

It turns out that the exhibit night has been postponed due to a planned power outage at our location. It will be rescheduled for a future date.

5/20 Blog Update

Exhibit is due today. I will complete it by the end of class today, I just have a little bit of last minute gluing to complete.

Picture of completed exhibit will be posted when possible.

5/16 Blog Update

The self evaluation was handed in on time on Wednesday. I am currently planning what items I will need to construct my exhibit. Over the weekend I will purchase these items and write the words required in each section of the exhibit.

5/13 Blog Update

Self evaluation is due tomorrow. I started it this weekend and currently I am finishing up a few more sections of the report and will proof-read the final document.

Survey results have been posted.

Survey Results

5/9 Blog Update

Now that the survey has been given and the results have been recieved, I will compile the results into an excel document with proper statistical analysis computations done within the program (mean of scores, most likely).

5/6 Blog Update

I arranged with Mr. V, a junior physics teacher, for the class to watch my video and take my survey tomorrow.

5/2 Blog Update

The survey for distribution has been written. I have already given out this survey to my Systems classmates today and will give it to a junior physics class sometime next week.

Also, the survey has been posted.

Survey Questions

Grade: 11 12 Teacher

Please rate the animation presented on the following topics on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). Honest responses would be appreciated.


Animation Visual/Audio Quality 1 2 3 4 5
Ease of use (Did the animation work in a DVD Player?) 1 2 3 4 5
Aesthetics (both technical and artistic) 1 2 3 4 5
Educational Value (How much did you learn from the animation?) 1 2 3 4 5
Creativity (both of topic and educational methods) 1 2 3 4 5
Teaching Methods (was the lesson presented in an easy to learn manner?) 1 2 3 4 5
Appeal (Did the animation hold your interest throughout?) 1 2 3 4 5

After you watched this video, did you want to learn more about the topic discussed?




What would you change about this video?




Do you have any other comments about this video?

Blog update 4/29

The Calendar for the marking period was due yesterday. I will create my survey for the junior and senior classes starting today and finish creating the survey by the end of the week.

Marking Period 4 Calendar

Week 1: 4/27-5/3
• Calendar due 4/28
• Create survey sheet
• Contact Mentor
• Update web log

Week 2: 5/4-5/10
• Give out surveys and find audiences to view visual
• Compile testing survey scores
• Testing report due 5/8
• Update web log

Week 3: 5/11-5/17
• Work on and finish self evaluation
• Self evaluation due 5/14
• Send survey results to mentor
• Send evaluation to mentor
• Start exhibit plans and construction
• Update web log

Week 4: 5/18-5/24
• Invite mentor to exhibit
• Exhibit due 5/20
• Exhibit showcase 5/22
• Update web log

Week 5: 5/25-5/31
• Progress Update presentations 5/28
• Web log being checked 5/28
• Update web log

Week 6: 6/1-6/7
• Mentor contacts due 6/4
• Work on final exam
• Update web log
Week 7: 6/8-6/1
• Final exam due 6/10
• Update web log

Week 8: 6/15-6/17
• Update web log

4/4 Blog Update

The animation (and thus, my construction) is complete! The movie was successfully edited and rendered to DVD format via iDVD. I did run into a small problem using iMovie ’08, for this newer version has been focused on ease of use over features and therefore has removed audio-video synching capabilities. However, Apple offers a download of iMovie HD for those who own the iLife ’08 product suite. So, instead I used iMovie HD edit the animation. Today, I will present my construction process to the class.

Construction

4/1 Blog Update

Since I have returned from vacation (Saturday night) I have been working to get the rest of this animation done. By now, most of the animation process is complete for all of the storyboard frames (a lot has been created in the past 3 nights!). However, I still need to edit the video and mix it with the audio using iMovie in order to complete the animation (in addition to rendering it in iDVD, which seems to be a relatively simple process. It looks like I won’t have the animation ready for tomorrow, but Ms. X, the TSA adviser, says this is fine for she will be dropping off the items on Friday of this week.

Also, I have to create all the proper documentation for judging which acts as the project portfolio report.

Friday of this week I will present my web log and the construction process.

3/18 Blog Update

The press release is due tomorrow. So far most of the work is done. Tonight I will be adding a little bit more content as well as doing some final polishing work. Also, I need to add some screenshots of my construction progress to use in the press release. The school week ends on Thursday for spring break.

3/14 Blog Update

I have found out that my project for TSA will be due to the competition on April 2nd. This is two days after I return to school from spring break. By my progress to date, I know that working to finish up the animation in that first week of April will be a bit of a crunch time.

I have started to work on my press release (creating format mostly) which is due March 19th.

Meanwhile, I have been doing some work on creating frame 6 of the storyboard. Doing frame 7 may cause a little bit of trouble for the animation calls for more than simple motion tweening. However, the shape tweening techniques that are planned to be used seem to be working fine. There are a vast amount of online tutorials (in addition to the assistance of my mentor) which can help me with this animation process if I need to expand my knowledge about the Flash software.

3/11 Blog Update

Over the rest of the week I have been able to animate story frame 5 using the scrolling background created during school time.

Next week I will have to be working on my press release; however, I am confident that with the skills I have attained during my animation period in the past few weeks I will be able to put rest of the animation together in the week of construction remaining following my spring break in the last week of March.

3/7 Blog Update

I have begun work on the next Flash scene. Now that I have become more familiar with the software, animating has become much easier. Also, for the next scenes I am working on are a little less tough to animate than the previous scene work. And lastly, it is important that I mention that for these scenes I am working on a majority of the graphics used in the animation have been created during the developmental work and they are ready to be used as objects in the animation.

At home I am working on the animation for frames 3 and 4 of the storyboard.

At school I am working on the background scrolling star animation which will be used in storyboard frames 5-8. This background uses more advanced animating techniques.