Category: dma201

Link to my video presented via Adobe Spark: https://spark.adobe.com/video/6NuPPFfQxfpDP

What did you learn? This project helped me learn how to shoot first-hand video and turn it into a movie with sound that everyone can enjoy. When I was done my project, I showed my family the final result and they were really happy with it. Throughout the week I was asking them to help me with taking photos around the house and the driveway to ensure my content was perfect. I learned that even though this COVID-19 virus has affected us, it still has not stopped the world from being close to their family and having a fun time outside the house,

What was easy? The hardest part of the project was just gathering all the video necessary. After that, putting everything into a video was very simple. The video walk through shown by professor Witkowski on Adobe Premiere Pro looked easy but since downloading was not possible on that program, I used Adobe Spark instead. This program was very easy to use and took most of the guess work with a movie program and handled it for me.

What was challenging? It was challenging trying to gather video since it all had to be done at home. I wanted to capture my entire family playing together ( I am one of 7 kids, so that wasn’t very difficult). Everyone in my family was happy to help me get photos while we were playing hockey and even outside riding our bikes.

How could your submission be improved? The submission could be improved by adding more video of us playing different sports or even away from the house. But as I’ve said before, the circumstances were not ideal with a “stay at home” order from government authorities except for essential travel. I did venture outside my house but my family is something that always brings me joy.

How could I improve the assignment for next class? I could improve my assignment by adding more assortment to my video, such as other areas playing outside. But I was happy with the clips that I included because it was over a 4 day period, even though it was just hockey.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios? I would apply the knowledge to other work scenarios by using Adobe Spark as my go to application for movies and videos. It was very easy to import videos/text/music to Adobe Spark and them implement them into my project.

How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you? There was nothing that I read or even a video that inspired me, but rather it was just seeing my family everyday. I’m not at home for a long time during the summers because of school at Canisius and I know I have to step into my role as big brother right away. I wanted to get my siblings outside and get them active. It was something they want to do and something that I love doing with them. Especially being in Canada, where everything has some affiliation to hockey, it was easy to make this video come true. It brought me back to being with my dad as a kid and having him shoot on me. He even went in net recently too, which just proves was someone will do to make their kids happy.

This blog post retains to “Project #3” which involved Unity and making our own First Person Shooter.

I learned how such a simple game can become very advanced very quickly in the world of gaming. When you want to edit something on the map including terrain, colors, and even your own person it may not be as simple as it looks. Unity can become confusing but offers the creator a tremendous amount of free space and freedom to create whatever they want. Which is what gaming is all about!

This project was not easy to say the least. It required me to do lots of checking on the game to ensure the player and terrain were behaving to my specific standards and doing what I wanted them to do. It was challenging to put something on the map that you thought of in your head into Unity. There was a good amount of playing with the program to know exactly what you should be doing, but it was something I enjoyed doing.

My submission could be improved by using more of the “extras” in my game to make the viewer experience and game play better such as audio and even an enemy. I could improve my assignment for next class by adding more paths and realistic terrain that I see now in online games. I could even add more objects that you would expect to see in first person shooter games like sandbags and bunkers for players.

I would apply these steps learned into making my video game into other areas of DMA. That would include adding as many features as possible onto an image or object to make it as close to reality as possible. The steps in Unity made me realize that anything is possible in the gaming world. With downloadable content on colors and object, the sky is the limit on what you can do with gaming.

A specific reading that I would like to reference would be our visit to the Buffalo Game Space. When listening to our speakers, they talked about having a team of many different kinds of people with various skills. My brother went to school in Vancouver for game design and it’s cool to discuss these ideas with him. My brother has made many games before and has experienced many “Game Jam” types of opportunities, but knows his role on a team. My brother is great at code and the behind the scenes work but is not a very good artist. In this case, he knows what he can add to a team and what his strengths are.

What did you learn?

I learned how to navigate through the “backdoor” of a webpage and control what the viewer sees and how they perceive it. This is a crucial step to involve the viewer to be interested in what they are reading without them actually reading the information just yet.

What was easy?

Some parts of the project were enjoyable and kind of fun like changing the font colors and how the information could be displayed. I found it easy to just change the code and the webpage would look completely different.

What was challenging?

One of the challenging parts was getting my logo on the webpage. One of the other students helped me with that step which I will remember in the future when he needs my help.

How could your submission be improved?

I believe my submission could be improved by just working with the webpage a little bit longer to make it look absolutely perfect. Just with all the colors and making sure that the lines correctly match up with each paragraph. I like everything to be in unison and symmetrical.

How could I improve my assignment for next class?

For next class my submission could be improved by adding more of my personal flare to the project. I like things to be unique and not too plain. But at the same time, I know that the information needs to be able to be seen easily.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

The skill of coding a webpage can be useful for many future assignments or even work related activities in the future. Learning about how webpages are put together and how small steps in the index can dramatically alter the webpage is something that I can see as being very useful.

How did a specific reading or video inspirit or help you?

A reading that inspired my the most was the many job titles in the Web Industry. My brother went to school for game design and would love to be in our class. Reading this article made me think that not all web related job titles are the same and that each job is unique to the person. My brother is strictly a game designer and that is what I believe he is best at. The job titles of Art and Design Director’s don’t sound like something he would want to do and neither would I.

This project helped me take images and transform them into background and foreground images for cards. This can be a really useful tool for making personalized cards for friends and even for businesses.

I learned to cut different parts of images and then mask the background so they can be placed on other images. In the process, I learned how to play with Photoshop, which took practice but so does everything in life.

This project was not easy for me. I had to ask for help on many steps as sometimes what the professor did on the screen didn’t work for me. But now I am happy that I completed making a card and can hopefully use this skill in the future to complete other projects in my own life. It was challenging for me to get most of the small details in photoshop like having my text wrap around my images as well as making images larger/smaller.

I believe my submission could be improved by adding more backgrounds to the inside of my card. But at the same time, I didn’t want too much going on and for my audience to be able to see what was written on the inside. I could improve the assignment for next class by adding cleaner images and maybe trying to find some better images online.

This knowledge could be used to decorate birthday cards or even for any special occasion. These steps learned for Project 1 would save someone a good amount of money from buying cards or even hiring someone to do the same job as what we did today. This is a skill that could be applied to so many aspects of life and really is a necessity in the world we live in today.

A specific reading that inspired me for this project would have to be “How 25 years of photoshop changed our perception of reality”. This reading and video included showed me how much our world that we view as reality is really fiction. Models and people who we idolize are really being photoshopped and changed into a perfect image that we view as being normal. I tried to keep my card simple and not try to hide any flaws when putting myself onto the front card.