รับทำ Caroon Flash,รับทำ Flash Animation

2010-08-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

รับทำ Flash|Cartoon|MV|CAI|รับทำการ์ตูน|Flash Animation
รับทำสื่อ | รับทำสื่อการสอน | รับทำสื่อการเรียนการสอน | รับทำสื่อ CAI | รับทำ animation
ออกแบบสื่อการสอน | จัดทำสื่อการสอน | ออกแบบระบบประกอบสื่อการสอน
ทำด้วย Flash(แฟลช) |รับทำสื่อการเรียนการสอน

***ถ้ารับงานแล้วเสร็จแน่นอนครับ ไม่เคยทิ้งงานครับผม***

Flash Cartoon,การ์ตูนแฟลช
Flash Animation ,การ์ตูนแอนนิเมชั่น,การ์ตูนอนิเมชั่น
Flash 2 D,แฟลช 2 มิติ
Flash CAI ,สื่อการเรียนการสอน,สื่อการสอน
Flash Presentation
Flash MV,มิวสิควิดีโอการ์ตูน
Flash Game แบบง่ายๆ เช่น แก้ตัวละคร ฉาก รูป text และรายละเอียดงานในไฟล์,เปลี่ยนรายละเอียดโดยการใช้ code สำเร็จรูปหรือการแก้โค๊ด(หาไฟล์ .swf มาก็สามารถปรับให้ได้ครับ)
Flash MV Cartoon มีงานเก่าปล่อยครับ สอบถามก่อนได้
ราคา ตาม scope ครับ ต่อรองกันได้ ราคากันเอง คุยแบบกันเองครับ คุยแบบพี่น้องครับ : ) รับงานได้ทั่วประเทศคับ ใช้ส่งงานทาง internet ได้คับ เคยรับมาแล้วเกือบทุกจังหวัด จากคนไทยในต่างประเทศก็เคยรับมาแล้วครับผม

5 sites that can help you watch anime online

2009-11-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

Here are 5 ways and 5 sites that can help you watch anime online try some of these tips and enjoy.Trust me the answers is not always going to on the bigger sites lke youtube but remmber you are still going to have to "google
it" if these 5 ways and 5 sites or tips dont work but i am going to try and not make that happen.Anyway, here we go.

Five ways

1.first, make sure that you know what anime your looking for,Some people want to jump right into it when they don`t even have a anime to start with.

2.Now, remember that its possible that all of the episodes
might not be on that one site,so you need to keep that in the back of your mind.

3 I would look for at least 4 of the episode before you start watching it , Trust me you do not want to watch the first five episodes and then you can not find the 6th episode so then you have to start googling it again that can take hours.

4.if you want the full effect of the anime feel try hooking your computer
or laptop to a tv with a cable and get the real feel of it.(works better for people with a laptop)

5.most important find a anime that you like, you would hate to watch a anime online but, you real hate it .need example on finding a good anime

Five sites.

1. I recommand a website is a website veoh.com these and other channels, we found that most animes enough to help me.

2.This site seed.com Anime has many tools that you can search and download it off.

3.The one more item to that of the thorught AZ animewoot.com.

4.Also Animecrazy.com. But the general store of good animes for new anime. It.

5.anivide.com. Site is best.
Is the most popular animes trial.

แอนิเมชัน

2009-11-02T20:47:00.001-08:00

แอนิเมชัน (อังกฤษ: animation) หมายถึง การสร้างภาพเคลื่อนไหวโดยการฉายภาพนิ่งหลายๆ ภาพต่อเนื่องกันด้วยความเร็วสูง

การใช้คอมพิวเตอร์กราฟิกส์ในการคำนวณสร้างภาพจะเรียกการสร้างภาพเคลื่อนไหวด้วยคอมพิวเตอร์หรือ คอมพิวเตอร์แอนิเมชัน
หากใช้เทคนิคการถ่ายภาพหรือวาดรูป หรือ หรือรูปถ่ายแต่ละขณะของหุ่นจำลองที่ค่อย ๆ ขยับ จะเรียกว่า ภาพเคลื่อนไหวแบบ
การเคลื่อนที่หยุด หรือ สตอปโมชัน (stop motion) โดยหลักการแล้ว ไม่ว่าจะสร้างภาพ หรือเฟรมด้วยวิธีใดก็ตาม เมื่อนำภาพดังกล่าว
มาฉายต่อกันด้วยความเร็ว ตั้งแต่ 16 เฟรมต่อวินาทีขึ้นไป เราจะเห็นเหมือนว่า ภาพดังกล่าวเคลื่อนไหวได้ต่อเนื่องกัน ทั้งนี้เนื่องจากการเห็นภาพติดตา

ในทางคอมพิวเตอร์ การจัดเก็บภาพแบบแอนิเมชันที่ใช้กันอย่างแพร่หลายในอินเทอร์เน็ต

มีหลายรูปแบบไฟล์เช่น GIF APNG MNG SVG แฟลช และไฟล์สำหรับเก็บวีดิทัศน์ประเภทอื่นๆ

Animation

2009-06-27T01:20:00.000-07:00

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although several other forms of presenting animation also exist.

Main article: History of animation

An Egyptian burial chamber mural, approximately 4000 years old, showing wrestlers in action. Even though this may appear similar to a series of animation drawings, there was no way of viewing the images in motion. It does, however, indicate the artist's intention of depicting motion.Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion drawing can be found in paleolithic cave paintings, where animals are depicted with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion.

A 5,200 year old earthen bowl found in Iran in Shahr-i Sokhta has five images of a goat painted along the sides. This has been claimed to be an example of early animation.[1][2][3] However, since no equipment existed to show the images in motion, such a series of images cannot be called animation in a true sense of the word.[4][5]

The phenakistoscope, praxinoscope, as well as the common flip book were early popular animation devices invented during the 1800s, while a Chinese zoetrope-type device was invented already in 180 AD.[6][7][8][9] These devices produced movement from sequential drawings using technological means, but animation did not really develop much further until the advent of cinematography.

There is no single person who can be considered the "creator" of the art of film animation, as there were several people doing several projects which could be considered various types of animation all around the same time.

Georges Méliès was a creator of special-effect films; he was generally one of the first people to use animation with his technique. He discovered a technique by accident which was to stop the camera rolling to change something in the scene, and then continue rolling the film. This idea was later known as stop-motion animation. Méliès discovered this technique accidentally when his camera broke down while shooting a bus driving by. When he had fixed the camera, a hearse happened to be passing by just as Méliès restarted rolling the film, his end result was that he had managed to make a bus transform into a hearse. This was just one of the great contributors to animation in the early years.

The earliest surviving stop-motion advertising film was an English short by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper called Matches: An Appeal (1899). Developed for the Bryant and May Matchsticks company, it involved stop-motion animation of wired-together matches writing a patriotic call to action on a blackboard.

J. Stuart Blackton was possibly the first American filmmaker to use the techniques of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation. Introduced to filmmaking by Edison, he pioneered these concepts at the turn of the 20th century, with his first copyrighted work dated 1900. Several of his films, among them The Enchanted Drawing (1900) and Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) were film versions of Blackton's "lightning artist" routine, and utilized modified versions of Méliès' early stop-motion techniques to make a series of blackboard drawings appear to move and reshape themselves. 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' is regularly cited as the first true animated film, and Blackton is considered the first true animator.

Fantasmagorie by Emile Cohl, 1908Another French artist, Émile Cohl, began drawing cartoon strips and created a film in 1908 called Fantasmagorie.[10] The film largely consisted of a stick figure moving about and encountering all manner of morphing objects, such as a wine bottle that transforms into a flower. There were also sections of live action where the animator’s hands would enter the scene. The film was created by drawing each frame on paper and then shooting each frame onto negative film, which gave the picture a blackboard look. This makes Fantasmagorie the first animated film created using what came to be known as traditional (hand-drawn) animation.

Following the successes of Blackton and Cohl, many other artists began experimenting with animation. One such artist was Winsor McCay, a successful newspaper cartoonist, who created detailed animations that required a team of artists and painstaking attention for detail. Each frame was drawn on paper; which invariably required backgrounds and characters to be redrawn and animated. Among McCay's most noted films are Little Nemo (1911), Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) and The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918).

The production of animated short films, typically referred to as "cartoons", became an industry of its own during the 1910s, and cartoon shorts were produced to be shown in movie theaters. The most successful early animation producer was John Randolph Bray, who, along with animator Earl Hurd, patented the cel animation process which dominated the animation industry for the rest of the decade.

Techniques

[edit] Traditional animation
Main article: Traditional animation

An example of traditional animation, a horse animated by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's 19th century photos.(Also called cel animation or hand-drawn animation) Traditional animation was the process used for most animated films of the 20th century. The individual frames of a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, which are first drawn on paper. To create the illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the one before it. The animators' drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called cels, which are filled in with paints in assigned colors or tones on the side opposite the line drawings. The completed character cels are photographed one-by-one onto motion picture film against a painted background by a rostrum camera.

The traditional cel animation process became obsolete by the beginning of the 21st century. Today, animators' drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned into or drawn directly into a computer system. Various software programs are used to color the drawings and simulate camera movement and effects. The final animated piece is output to one of several delivery mediums, including traditional 35 mm film and newer media such as digital video. The "look" of traditional cel animation is still preserved, and the character animators' work has remained essentially the same over the past 70 years. Some animation producers have used the term "tradigital" to describe cel animation which makes extensive use of computer technology.

Examples of traditionally animated feature films include Pinocchio (United States, 1940), Animal Farm (United Kingdom, 1954), and Akira (Japan, 1988). Traditional animated films which were produced with the aid of computer technology include The Lion King (US, 1994) Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) (Japan, 2001), and Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003).

Full animation refers to the process of producing high-quality traditionally animated films, which regularly use detailed drawings and plausible movement. Fully animated films can be done in a variety of styles, from realistically designed works such as those produced by the Walt Disney studio, to the more "cartoony" styles of those produced by the Warner Bros. animation studio. Many of the Disney animated features are examples of full animation, as are non-Disney works such as The Secret of NIMH (US, 1982) and The Iron Giant (US, 1999)
Limited animation involves the use of less detailed and/or more stylized drawings and methods of movement. Pioneered by the artists at the American studio United Productions of America, limited animation can be used as a method of stylized artistic expression, as in Gerald McBoing Boing (US, 1951), Yellow Submarine (UK, 1968), and much of the anime produced in Japan. Its primary use, however, has been in producing cost-effective animated content for media such as television (the work of Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, and other TV animation studios) and later the Internet (web cartoons).
Rotoscoping is a technique, patented by Max Fleischer in 1917, where animators trace live-action movement, frame by frame. The source film can be directly copied from actors' outlines into animated drawings, as in The Lord of the Rings (US, 1978), used as a basis and inspiration for character animation, as in most Disney films, or used in a stylized and expressive manner, as in Waking Life (US, 2001) and A Scanner Darkly (US, 2006).

[edit] Stop motion

A clay animation scene from a TV commercial.Stop-motion animation, used to describe animation created by physically manipulating real-world objects and photographing them one frame of film at a time to create the illusion of movement. There are many different types of stop-motion animation, usually named after the type of media used to create the animation. Computer software is widely available to create this type of animation.
Clay animation, or Plasticine animation often abbreviated as claymation, uses figures made of clay or a similar malleable material to create stop-motion animation. The figures may have an armature or wire frame inside of them, similar to the related puppet animation (below), that can be manipulated in order to pose the figures. Alternatively, the figures may be made entirely of clay, such as in the films of Bruce Bickford, where clay creatures morph into a variety of different shapes. Examples of clay-animated works include The Gumby Show (US, 1957–1967) Morph shorts (UK, 1977–2000), Wallace and Gromit shorts (UK, as of 1989), Jan Švankmajer's Dimensions of Dialogue (Czechoslovakia, 1982), The Amazing Mr. Bickford (US, 1987), The Trap Door (UK, 1984).
Cutout animation is a type of stop-motion animation produced by moving 2-dimensional pieces of material such as paper or cloth. Examples include Terry Gilliam's animated sequences from Monty Python's Flying Circus (UK, 1969-1974); Fantastic Planet (France/Czechoslovakia, 1973) ; Tale of Tales (Russia, 1979), The pilot episode of the TV series (and sometimes in episodes) of South Park (US, 1997).
Silhouette animation is a variant of cutout animation in which the characters are backlit and only visible as silhouettes. Examples include The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Weimar Republic, 1926) and Princes et princesses (France, 2000).
Graphic animation uses non-drawn flat visual graphic material (photographs, newspaper clippings, magazines, etc.) which are sometimes manipulated frame-by-frame to create movement. At other times, the graphics remain stationary, while the stop-motion camera is moved to create on-screen action.
Model animation refers to stop-motion animation created to interact with and exist as a part of a live-action world. Intercutting, matte effects, and split screens are often employed to blend stop-motion characters or objects with live actors and settings. Examples include the work of Ray Harryhausen, as seen in films such Jason and the Argonauts (1961), and the work of Willis O'Brien on films such as King Kong (1933 film).
Go motion is a variant of model animation which uses various techniques to create motion blur between frames of film, which is not present in traditional stop-motion. The technique was invented by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett to create special effects scenes for the film The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Object animation refers to the use of regular inanimate objects in stop-motion animation, as opposed to specially created items. One example of object animation is the brickfilm, which incorporates the use of plastic toy construction blocks such as LEGO.
Pixilation involves the use of live humans as stop motion characters. This allows for a number of surreal effects, including disappearances and reappearances, allowing people to appear to slide across the ground, and other such effects. Examples of pixilation include Norman McLaren's Neighbours (Canada, 1952), and a potion of the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song UHF
Puppet animation typically involves stop-motion puppet figures interacting with each other in a constructed environment, in contrast to the real-world interaction in model animation. The puppets generally have an armature inside of them to keep them still and steady as well as constraining them to move at particular joints. Examples include The Tale of the Fox (France, 1937), the films of Jiří Trnka, The Nightmare Before Christmas (US, 1993), and the TV series Robot Chicken (US, 2005–present).
Puppetoon, created using techniques developed by George Pál, are puppet-animated films which typically use a different version of a puppet for different frames, rather than simply manipulating one existing puppet.

Computer animation
Main article: Computer animation

A short gif animationLike stop motion, computer animation encompasses a variety of techniques, the unifying idea being that the animation is created digitally on a computer. You can use programs like Blender 3d, Autodesk Maya, 3d Max, and many others to create computer animations.

[edit] 2D animation
2D animation figures are created and/or edited on the computer using 2D bitmap graphics or created and edited using 2D vector graphics. This includes automated computerized versions of traditional animation techniques such as of tweening, morphing, onion skinning and interpolated rotoscoping.

Examples: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, SpongeBob SquarePants(certain sequences only), Danny Phantom, The Fairly OddParents, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera

Analog computer animation
Flash animation
PowerPoint animation

[edit] 3D animation
3D animation digital models manipulated by an animator. In order to manipulate a mesh, it is given a digital armature (sculpture). This process is called rigging. Various other techniques can be applied, such as mathematical functions (ex. gravity, particle simulations), simulated fur or hair, effects such as fire and water and the use of Motion capture to name but a few. Many 3D animations are very believable and are commonly used as special effects for recent movies.

Examples: Toy Story, Shrek, Pocoyo

[edit] Terms
Cel-shaded animation
Morph target animation
Non-photorealistic rendering
Skeletal animation
Motion capture
Crowd simulation
2D animation techniques tend to focus on image manipulation while 3D techniques usually build virtual worlds in which characters and objects move and interact. 3D animation can create images that seem real to the viewer.

[edit] Other animation techniques
Drawn on film animation: a technique where footage is produced by creating the images directly on film stock, for example by Norman McLaren, Len Lye and Stan Brakhage.
Paint-on-glass animation: a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow drying oil paints on sheets of glass.
Pinscreen animation: makes use of a screen filled with movable pins, which can be moved in or out by pressing an object onto the screen. The screen is lit from the side so that the pins cast shadows. The technique has been used to create animated films with a range of textural effects difficult to achieve with traditional cel animation.
Sand animation: sand is moved around on a backlighted or frontlighted piece of glass to create each frame for an animated film. This creates an interesting effect when animated because of the light contrast.
Flip book: A flip book (sometimes, especially in British English, flick book) is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of photographs rather than drawings. Flip books are not always separate books, but may appear as an added feature in ordinary books or magazines, often in the page corners. Software packages and websites are also available that convert digital video files into custom-made flip books.

Adobe Flash is

2009-05-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

Adobe Flash (previously called Macromedia Flash) is a multimedia platform originally acquired by Macromedia and currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications.

Flash can manipulate vector and raster graphics and supports bidirectional streaming of audio and video. It contains a scripting language called ActionScript. Several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash content, including Adobe Flash Player, which is available free for most common web browsers, some mobile phones and for other electronic devices (using Flash Lite). The Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program is used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform, such as web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.

Files in the SWF format, traditionally called "ShockWave Flash" movies, "Flash movies" or "Flash games", usually have a .swf file extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly "played" in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a self-executing Flash movie (with the .exe extension in Microsoft Windows or .hqx for Macintosh). Flash Video files[spec 1] have a .flv file extension and are either used from within .swf files or played through a flv aware player, such as (VLC), or QuickTime and Windows Media Player with external codecs added.

The program Flash was the brainchild of Jonathan Gay, who developed the idea while in college and extended it while working for Silicon Beach Software and its successors.[1][2]

In January 1993, Jonathan Gay, Charlie Jackson, and Michelle Welsh started a small software company called FutureWave Software and created their first product, SmartSketch. A drawing application for pen computers running the PenPoint OS, SmartSketch was designed to make creating computer graphics as simple as drawing on paper. When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. As the Internet began to thrive, however, FutureWave began to realize the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might easily challenge Macromedia's Shockwave technology. In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and re-released it as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC. By that time, the company had added a second programmer Robert Tatsumi, artist Adam Grofcsik, and PR specialist Ralph Mittman. Tatsumi focused on writing the authoring tool's user interface, while Gay wrote the graphics renderer, curve and shape math code and the browser plug-in.[3] The product was offered to Adobe and used by Microsoft in its early work with the Internet (MSN). In December 1996, Macromedia acquired the vector-based animation software and later released it as Flash, contracting "Future" and "Splash" of the FutureWave name.

FutureSplash Animator (April 10, 1996): initial version of Flash with basic editing tools and a timeline
Macromedia Flash 1 (November 1996): a Macromedia re-branded version of the FutureSplash Animator
Macromedia Flash 2 (June 1997): Released with Flash Player 2, new features included: the object library
Macromedia Flash 3 (May 31, 1998): Released with Flash Player 3, new features included: the movieclip element, JavaScript plug-in integration, transparency and an external stand alone player
Macromedia Flash 4 (June 15, 1999): Released with Flash Player 4, new features included: internal variables, an input field, advanced ActionScript, and streaming MP3
Macromedia Flash 5 (August 24, 2000): Released with Flash Player 5, new features included: ActionScript 1.0 (based on ECMAScript, making it very similar to JavaScript in syntax), XML support, Smartclips (the precursor to components in Flash), HTML text formatting added for dynamic text
Macromedia Flash MX (ver 6) (March 15, 2002): Released with Flash Player 6, new features included: a video codec (Sorenson Spark), Unicode, v1 UI Components, compression, ActionScript vector drawing API
Macromedia Flash MX 2004 (ver 7) (September 9, 2003): Released with Flash Player 7, new features included: Actionscript 2.0 (which enabled an object-oriented programming model for Flash)(although it lacked the Script assist function of other versions, meaning Actionscript could only be typed out manually), behaviors, extensibility layer (JSAPI), alias text support, timeline effects
Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 (ver 7) (September 9, 2003): Released with Flash Player 7, new features included all Flash MX 2004 features plus: Screens (forms for non-linear state-based development and slides for organizing content in a linear slide format like PowerPoint), web services integration, video import wizard, Media Playback components (which encapsulate a complete MP3 and/or FLV player in a component that may be placed in an SWF), Data components (DataSet, XMLConnector, WebServicesConnector, XUpdateResolver, etc) and data binding APIs, the Project Panel, v2 UI components, and Transition class libraries.
Macromedia Flash 8:
Macromedia Flash Basic 8 (released on September 13, 2005): A less feature-rich version of the Flash authoring tool targeted at new users who only want to do basic drawing, animation and interactivity. Released with Flash Player 8, this version of the product has limited support for video and advanced graphical and animation effects.
Macromedia Flash Professional 8 (released on September 13, 2005): Released with the Flash Player 8, Flash Professional 8 added features focused on expressiveness, quality, video, and mobile authoring. New features included Filters and blend modes, easing control for animation, enhanced stroke properties (caps and joins), object-based drawing mode, run-time bitmap caching, FlashType advanced anti-aliasing for text, On2 VP6 advanced video codec, support for alpha transparency in video, a stand-alone encoder and advanced video importer, cue point support in FLV files, an advanced video playback component, and an interactive mobile device emulator.
Adobe Flash CS3 Professional (as version 9, released on April 16, 2007): Flash CS3 is the first version of Flash released under the Adobe name. CS3 features full support for ActionScript 3.0, allows entire applications to be converted into ActionScript, adds better integration with other Adobe products such as Adobe Photoshop, and also provides better Vector drawing behavior, becoming more like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Fireworks.
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional (as version 10, released on October 15, 2008): Contains inverse kinematics (bones), basic 3D object manipulation, object-based animation, an enhanced text engine, and further expansions to ActionScript 3.0. CS4 allows the developer to more efficiently and quickly create animations with many improved features that were not included in previous versions.

Adobe Labs (previously called Macromedia Labs) is a source for news and pre-release versions of emerging products and technologies from Adobe. Most innovations, such as Flash 9, Flex 3, and ActionScript 3.0 have all been discussed and/or trialled on the site.

One area Adobe is focusing on (as of February 2009) is the deployment Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). To this end, they released Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), a cross-platform runtime environment which can be used to build, using Adobe Flash, rich Internet applications that can be deployed as a desktop application. It recently surpassed 100 million installations worldwide.[4]

Two additional components designed for large scale implementation have been proposed by Adobe for future releases of Flash. First the option to require an ad to be played in full before the main video piece is played. Secondly, Adobe has announced plans to add digital rights management (DRM) capabilities into the new version of Flash. This way Adobe can give companies the option to link an advertisement with content and make sure that both are played and that they not be changed.[5] The current status of these two projects is unclear.[dated info]

Flash Player for smart phones is expected to be available to handset manufacturers at the end of 2009.[6]

[edit] Open Screen Project
On May 1, 2008 Adobe announced Open Screen Project, which hopes to provide a consistent application interface across devices such as personal computers, mobile devices and consumer electronics.[7] When the project was announced, several goals were outlined: the abolition of licensing fees for Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Integrated Runtime, the removal of restrictions on the use of the Shockwave Flash (SWF) and Flash Video (FLV) file format, the publishing of application programming interfaces for porting Flash to new devices and the publishing of The Flash Cast protocol and Action Message Format (AMF), which let Flash applications receive information from remote databases.[7]

As of February 2009, the specifications which removing the restrictions on the use of SWF and FLV/F4V specs have been published.[8] The Flash Cast protocol - now known as the Mobile Content Delivery Protocol - and AMF protocols have also been made available,[8] with AMF available as an open source implementation, BlazeDS. Work on the device porting layers is in the early stages. Adobe intends to remove the licensing fees for Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices at their release for the Open Screen Project.

The list of mobile device providers who have joined the project includes Palm, Motorola and Nokia,[9] who, together with Adobe, have announced a $10 million Open Screen Project fund .[10]

Programming language

ActionScript
Initially focused on animation, early versions of Flash content offered few interactivity features and thus had very limited scripting capability.

More recent versions include ActionScript, an implementation of the ECMAScript standard which therefore has the same syntax as JavaScript, but in a different programming framework with a different associated set of class libraries. ActionScript is used to create almost all of the interactivity (buttons, text entry fields, drop down menus) seen in many Flash applications.

Flash MX 2004 introduced ActionScript 2.0, a scripting programming language more suited to the development of Flash applications. It is often possible to save time by scripting something rather than animating it, which usually also enables a higher level of editability.

Since the arrival of the Flash Player 9 alpha a newer version of ActionScript has been released, ActionScript 3.0. ActionScript 3.0 is an object oriented programming language allowing for more control and code reusability when building complex Flash applications. ActionScript 3.0 has also allowed for formal software engineering methods to be implemented when working with Flash, because of the object oriented programming approach.

Of late, the Flash libraries are being used with the XML capabilities of the browser to render rich content in the browser. This technology is known as Asynchronous Flash and XML, much like AJAX. This technology of Asynchronous Flash and XML has pushed for a more formal approach of this technology called Adobe Flex, which uses the Flash runtime to build Rich Internet Applications.

This technology can be used in players like those on MySpace and YouTube, to provide protection for the content that the Flash calls, like MP3s and videos. The content called is streamed - or passes - through the Flash files, making downloading for storage a difficult task for most people. Programs such as Real Player Downloader and browser extensions like Firebug can trace the XML files.

[edit] ActionScript Code Protection
Often, Flash developers will decide that while they desire the advantages that Flash affords them in the areas of animation and interactivity, they do not wish to expose their code to the world. However, as with all intermediate language compiled code, once an.swf file is saved locally, it can be decompiled into its source code and assets. Some decompilers are capable of nearly full reconstruction of the original source file, down to the actual code that was used during creation, even though the result varies on a case-by-case basis.[11][12][13]

In opposition to the decompilers, ActionScript obfuscators have been introduced to solve this problem. The higher-quality obfuscators implement lexical transformations, as in identifiers renaming, control flow transformation, and data abstraction transformation that makes decompilation virtually impossible to generate anything useful. The lower-quality obfuscators insert traps for the decompilers, making some fail.

[edit] Installed user base
Flash as a format has become very widespread on the desktop market and created a market dominance. Adobe claims that 98 percent of US Web users and 99.3 percent of all Internet desktop users have the Flash Player installed,[14][15] with 45%–56%[16] (depending on region) having the latest version. Numbers vary depending on the detection scheme and research demographics.

The Adobe Flash Player exists for a variety of systems and devices: Windows, Mac OS 9/X, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, Pocket PC, OS/2, QNX, Symbian, Palm OS, BeOS, and IRIX). Officially, Adobe Flash only supports 32-bit platforms, although experimental 64-bit support has been available for Linux since November 2008.[17] For compatibility with devices (embedded systems), see Macromedia Flash Lite.

[edit] Related file formats and extensions
Ext. Explanation
.swf .swf files are completed, compiled and published files that cannot be edited with Adobe Flash. However, many '.swf decompilers' do exist. Attempting to import .swf files using Flash allows it to retrieve some assets from the .swf, but not all.
.fla .fla files contain source material for the Flash application. Flash authoring software can edit FLA files and compile them into .swf files.
.xfl .xfl files are XML-based project files that are equivalent to the binary .fla format. Flash authoring software will use XFL as an exchange format in Flash CS4. It will import XFL files that are exported from InDesign and AfterEffects.
.as .as files contain ActionScript source code in simple source files. FLA files can also contain Actionscript code directly, but separate external .as files often emerge for structural reasons, or to expose the code to versioning applications. They sometimes use the extension .actionscript
.swd .swd files are temporary debugging files used during Flash development. Once finished developing a Flash project these files are not needed and can be removed.
.asc .asc files contain Server-Side ActionScript, which is used to develop efficient and flexible client-server Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX applications.
.abc .abc files contain actionscript bytecode used by the Actionscript Virtual Machine AVM (Flash 8 and prior), and AVM2 (Flash 9 or later).
.flv .flv files are Flash video files, as created by Adobe Flash, ffmpeg, Sorenson Squeeze, or On2 Flix.
.f4v .f4v files are standard mp4 files that can be played back by Flash Player 9 Update 3 and above.[30]
.f4p .f4p files are mp4 files with digital rights management.[30]
.f4a .f4a files are mp4 files that contain only audio streams.[30]
.f4b .f4b files are mp4 audio book files.[30]
.swc .swc files are used for distributing components; they contain a compiled clip, the component's ActionScript class file, and other files that describe the component.
.jsfl .jsfl files are used to add functionality in the Flash Authoring environment; they contain Javascript code and access the Flash Javascript API.
.swt .swt files are 'templatized' forms of .swf files, used by Macromedia Generator
.flp .flp files are XML files used to reference all the document files contained in a Flash Project. Flash Projects allow the user to group multiple, related files together to assist in Flash project organization, compilation and build.
.spl .spl files are FutureSplash documents.
.aso .aso files are cache files used during Flash development, containing compiled ActionScript byte code. An ASO file is recreated when a change in its corresponding class files is detected. Occasionally the Flash IDE does not recognize that a recompile is necessary, and these cache files must be deleted manually. They are located in %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash8\en\Configuration\Classes\aso on Win32 / Flash8.
.lmv These files are created by the freeware program called liveswif.They are used to save the animation in an editable file , but can also be converted into an .swf file to produce online content for the web. This file has nothing to do with adobe flash Fla file , with the only similarity being that they both hold editable data that can be converted into a swf file.
.sol .sol files are created by Adobe Flash Player to hold Local Shared Objects (data stored on the system running the Flash player).

Video in web pages
Flash can be used to embed video in web pages, a feature available since Flash Player version 6. The technique is to create a flash file (.swf) that acts as a player for the video file. This is the basis for many popular video sites, including YouTube and Google Video. The actual video file is either an FLV or H.264 file; both can easily be played by generic videoplayer software. However, getting browsers to display video is still a platform specific issue due to lack of a common video format, and the subject of a web standard for video is a heated debate (see HTML 5). Using Flash has the advantage of Flash Player's wide distribution, but as this is proprietary technology for which there is no real alternative, it also makes multimedia embedded in this way notoriously difficult to access for non-users of the Flash Player, particularly if the location of the multimedia file is moved out of the HTML.

Flash movies can run in browsers with the proper Flash player installed, although it is important to note that Flash movies cannot run within an e-mail client. Outlook, gmail, hotmail, etc., cannot run flash movies within an e-mail. Movies must be linked from the message so that a new browser window opens up. Flash has the ability from here to determine if the browser has the correct player installed and whether or not to display the movie, or an alternate message if the user does not have Flash.

[edit] Flash Video
Flash Video (.flv files) is a container format, meaning that it is not a video format in itself, but can contain other formats. The video in Flash is encoded in H.263, and starting with Flash player 8, it may alternatively be encoded in VP6. The audio is in MP3. The use of VP6 is common in many companies, because of the large adoption rates of Flash Player 8 and Flash Player 9.[16]

On August 20, 2007, Adobe announced on its blog that with Update 3 of Flash Player 9, Flash Video will also support the MPEG-4 international standard.[31] Specifically, Flash Player will have support for video compressed in H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10), audio compressed using AAC (MPEG-4 Part 3), the MP4, M4V, M4A, 3GP and MOV multimedia container formats (MPEG-4 Part 14), 3GPP Timed Text specification (MPEG-4 Part 17) which is a standardized subtitle format and partial parsing support for the 'ilst' atom which is the ID3 equivalent iTunes uses to store metadata. Adobe also announced that they will be gradually moving away from the proprietary FLV format to the standard MP4 format owing to functional limits with the FLV structure when streaming H.264. The final release of the Flash Player supporting MPEG-4 had become available in Fall 2007.

Adobe Flash,Flash คือ,แฟลชคือ

2009-05-12T03:22:00.000-07:00

อะโดบี แฟลช (อังกฤษ: Adobe Flash) (ในชื่อเดิม ช็อกเวฟแฟลช - Shockwave Flash และ แมโครมีเดียแฟลช - Macromedia Flash) เป็นโปรแกรมที่ใช้ในการเขียนสื่อมัลติมีเดียที่เอาไว้ใช้สร้างเนื้อหาเกี่ยวกับ Flash ซึ่งตัว Flash Player พัฒนาและเผยแพร่โดย อะโดบีซิสเต็มส์ (เริ่มต้นพัฒนาโดยบริษัท ฟิวเจอร์แวร์ ตอนหลังเปลี่ยนเป็น แมโครมีเดีย ซึ่งภายหลังถูกควบรวมกิจการเข้ากับ อะโดบี ) ซึ่งเป็นโปรแกรมที่ทำให้ เว็บเบราว์เซอร์ สามารถแสดงตัวมันได้ ซึ่งมันมีความสามารถในการรองรับ ภาพแบบเวกเตอร์ และ ภาพแบบแรสเตอร์ และมีภาษาสคริปต์ที่เอาไว้ใช้เขียนโดยเฉพาะเรียกว่า แอ็กชันสคริปต์ (ActionScript) และยังสามารถเล่นเสียงและวีดิโอ แบบสเตริโอได้

แต่ในความหมายจริงๆ แล้ว แฟลช คือโปรแกรมแบบ integrated development environment (IDE) และ Flash Player คือ virtual machine ที่ใช้ในการทำงานงานของไฟล์ แฟลชซึ่งในภาษาพูดเราจะเรียกทั้งสองคำนี้ในความหมายเดียวกัน: "แฟลช" ยังสามารถความความถึงโปรแกรมเครื่องมือต่างๆตัวแสดงไฟล์หรือ ไฟล์โปรแกรม

แฟลชเริ่มมีชื่อเสียงประมาณปี ค.ศ. 1996 หลังจากนั้น เทคโนโลยีแฟลชได้กลายมาเป็นที่นิยมในการเสนอ แอนิเมชัน และ อินเตอร์แอกทีฟ ในเว็บเพจ และในโปรแกรมหลายๆ โปรแกรมระบบ และ เครื่องมือต่างๆ ที่มีความสามารถในการแสดง แฟลชได้ และ แฟลชยังเป็นที่นิยมในการใช้สร้าง แคอมพิวเตอร์แอนิเมชันโฆษณาออกแบบส่วนต่างๆ ของเว็บเพจใส่วิดีโอบนเว็บ และอื่นๆ อีกมากมาย

ไฟล์ Flashในบางครั้งอาจเรียกว่า "flash movies"โดยทั่วไปกับไฟล์ที่มีนามสกุล .swf และ .flv

แฟลชเป็นโปรแกรมที่มีชื่อเสียงมากของทางบริษัทแมโครมีเดีย ซึ่งต่อมาได้ถูกซื้อโดยอะโดบี[

ประวัติ
ในเดือนธันวาคม ปี ค.ศ. 1996 แมโครมีเดียได้เปิดตัวโปรแกรม vector-based animation ชื่อว่า FutureSplash แล้วหลังจากนั้นได้เผยแพร่มันในฐานะ Flash 1.0.
Macromedia Flash 2 ได้ถูกวางจำหน่ายในปี ค.ศ. 1997 พร้อมเพิ่มความสามารถในการรองรับ เสียงสเตอริโอ และ การใส่ภาพแบบ bitmap.
ไม่นานนักปลักอิน Flash Player ถูกปล่อยให้ดาวน์โหลดผ่านหน้าเว็บของ แมโครมีเดีย แต่ในปี ค.ศ. 2000 Flash Player ได้ติดตั้งมาพร้อมกับโปรแกรมค้นดูเว็บ อย่าง Netscape และ Internet Explorer. สองปีถัดมา ได้ติดตั้งมาพร้อมกับ Windows และ Mac OS
ในเดือนกันยายน ค.ศ. 2001, ผลสำรวจเกี่ยวกับแมคโครมีเดียซึ่งสำรวจโดย Media Metrix แสดงให้เห็นว่าจาก 10 ในเว็บไซต์ยักษ์ใหญ่ในอเมริกา 7 เว็บไซต์มีการใช้เนื้อหาจากแฟลช
แมโครมีเดีย เจเนเรเตอร์ เป็นจุดเริ่มต้นจุดแรกจากแมโครมีเดียที่แบ่งการดีไซน์จากเนื้อหาในไฟล์แฟลช เจเนเรเตอร์ 2.0 ได้ออกวางจำหน่ายในเดือนเมษายน ค.ศ. 2000 และมีความสามารถในการเป็นตัวจำลองเซิร์ฟเวอร์แบบเรียลไทม์ในการสร้างเนื้อหาแฟลชใน รุ่น Enterprise. เจเนเรเตอร์ ถูกยกเลิกจากแผนงานในปี ค.ศ. 2002 โดยเข้าไปรวมเทคโนโลยีใหม่ เช่น Flash Remoting และ เซิร์ฟเวอร์ โคลด์ฟิวชัน

[แก้] รูปแบบไฟล์และนามสกุลไฟล์ที่เกี่ยวข้อง

[แก้] รูปแบบไฟล์ Flash
.swf ไฟล์ .swf เป็นไฟล์ที่สมบูรณ์, ถูก compiled และ published ไฟล์แล้ว ซึ่งไม่สามารถแก้ไขด้วย Macromedia Flash ได้อีกต่อไป. อย่างไรก็ตาม, ยังมีโปรแกรม '.swf decompilers' อยู่ด้วย.
.fla ไฟล์ .fla เป็นไฟล์ต้นฉบับของโปรแกรม Flash. โปรแกรมที่ใช้เขียน Flash สามารถแก้ไขไฟล์ FLA และ compile มันให้เป็นไฟล์ .swf ได้. อย่างไรก็ตาม รูปแบบไฟล์ FLA ยังคงไม่กำหนดเป็นแบบ "เปิด
.flv ไฟล์ .flv เป็นไฟล์วิดิโอ Flash, ซึ่งสร้างโดย Macromedia Flash, Sorenson Squeeze, หรือ On2 Flix.
.avi ไฟล์ AVI เป็นไฟล์วิดิโอ, เป็นคำย่อของ Audio Video Interleave. ซึ่ง Flash สามารถสร้างไฟล์ในรูปแบบนี้ได้.
.spa ไฟล์ .spa คือไฟล์เอกสารของ FutureSplash.
.xml ไฟล์ .xml คือไฟล์ configuration ของ flash ซึ่งใช้เก็บข้อมูลที่ไม่ต้องการคอมไพล์ใหม่ เช่น link เป็นต้น.

ไฟล์ Flash สามารถใช้ได้
.avi ไฟล์ AVI เป็นไฟล์วิดิโอ, เป็นคำย่อของ Audio Video Interleave.
.gif ภาพเคลื่อนไหว GIF
.png ไฟล์ .png คือ ไฟล์ PNG ซึ่งสามารถมาแก้ไขได้ภายหลัง (ซึ่งยังมีการแบ่งเลเยอร์ไว้) หลังจากที่บันทึกไว้
.ssk ไฟล์ .ssk คือไฟล์ SmartSketch.
.piv ไฟล์ .piv คือไฟล์แคอมพิวเตอร์แอนิเมชัน Pivot StickFigure.

คอมพิวเตอร์แอนิเมชัน

2009-04-22T01:11:00.001-07:00

คอมพิวเตอร์แอนิเมชัน (computer animation นิยมอ่านในภาษาไทยว่า คอม-พิ้ว-เต้อ-แอ-นิ-เม-ชั่น)

คือการสร้างภาพเคลื่อนไหวด้วยคอมพิวเตอร์โดยอาศัยเครื่องมือ ที่สร้างจากแนวคิดทางคอมพิวเตอร์กราฟิกส์ช่วยในการสร้าง
ดัดแปลง และให้แสงและเงาเฟรมตลอดจนการประมวลผลการเคลื่อนที่ต่าง ๆ เช่นการประมาณตำแหน่งในช่วงการเคลื่อนที่
การจับภาพการเคลื่อนที่ การตรวจแก้การเคลื่อนที่ การสร้างแบบจำลองการเคลื่อนที่เป็นต้น

ตั้งแต่ช่วงปีค.ศ. 1970 เป็นต้นมาถึงปัจจุบันมีการนำคอมพิวเตอร์กราฟิกส์เข้า มาช่วยในการสร้างภาพเคลื่อนไหว
เป็นวิธีที่สามารถสร้างภาพที่สมจริงขึ้น ซับซ้อนขึ้น หรือ ต้นทุนต่ำกว่าการสร้างภาพด้วยมือ เช่น ในภาพยนตร์การ์ตูน
หรือหนังภาพยนตร์อย่าง สตาร์วอร์ หรือจูราสติกพาร์ก มีการใช้คอมพิวเตอร์กราฟิกส์ช่วยสร้างภาพที่อยู่ในจินตการของคนเรานั้น
ออกมาให้เห็นได้อย่างสวยงามและสมจริง

นอกเหนือจากนั้นประโยชน์ของ การสร้างภาพเคลื่อนไหวด้วยคอมพิวเตอร์
มีทั้งใน การจำลองทางวิทยาศาสตร์ การแพทย์ การจราจรคมนาคมการบิน สถาปัตยกรรม การวิจัยดำเนินงาน เกมคอมพิวเตอร์ เป็นต้น

Adobe Cs4 Software

2009-01-21T05:52:00.000-08:00

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อะนิเมะ

2009-01-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

อะนิเมะ (ญี่ปุ่น: アニメ anime ?) เป็นคำภาษาญี่ปุ่นที่มาจากภาษาอังกฤษว่า แอนิเมชัน (animation) ซึ่งมาจากภาษาฝรั่งเศส อะนิเมะ (animé) และจากภาษาละติน อะนิมะ (anima) แปลว่าเคลื่อนไหว หรือภาพเคลื่อนไหว แต่ความหมายกลายจนเป็นคำเฉพาะของภาษาญี่ปุ่นแปลว่า ภาพยนตร์การ์ตูน ภายนอกประเทศญี่ปุ่น อะนิเมะหมายถึงภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนสัญชาติญี่ปุ่น ซึ่งส่วนใหญ่มีลักษณะทางศิลปะแตกต่างกับภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนจากแหล่งอื่น อะนิเมะส่วนใหญ่จะวาดขึ้นด้วยมือ แต่ปัจจุบันมีการนำคอมพิวเตอร์มาช่วยสร้างอะนิเมะอย่างแพร่หลาย อะนิเมะส่วนใหญ่สร้างขึ้นเพื่อให้ความบันเทิงเหมือนภาพยนตร์

โดยมีแนวเรื่องหลากหลายและครอบคลุมแนววรรณกรรมเกือบทุกแนว อะนิเมะส่วนใหญ่ถูกสร้างขึ้นเป็นตอนๆ เพื่อฉายทางโทรทัศน์ ส่วนหนึ่งถูกสร้างเป็นภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนเรื่องยาวเพื่อฉายในโรงภาพยนตร์ และอีกส่วนหนึ่งถูกสร้างเป็นตอนๆ เพื่อขายตรงในรูปแบบดีวีดี วีซีดี หรือวีดีโอเทป ดูมีการทำตอนเฉพาะที่เรียกว่า โอวีเอ อะนิเมะหลายเรื่องถูกดัดแปลงมาจากมังงะ นอกจากนี้ยังมีอะนิเมะที่ถูกนำไปดัดแปลงเป็นละครโทรทัศน์อีกด้วย

ประวัติ

เมื่อต้นคริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 20 นักสร้างภาพยนตร์ชาวญี่ปุ่นเริ่มทดลองใช้เทคนิคการสร้างภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนซึ่งกำลังถูกพัฒนาขึ้นในสหรัฐอเมริกาเพื่อ สร้างภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนของตนเอง ในทศวรรษที่ 1970 ภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนญี่ปุ่นได้พัฒนาลักษณะเฉพาะตัวขึ้นจนสามารถแบ่งแยกออกจาก ภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนของสหรัฐอเมริกาได้อย่างชัดเจน ยกตัวอย่างเช่นภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนหุ่นยนต์ยักษ์ซึ่งไม่สามารถหาได้ในสหรัฐ อเมริกาเลย ในทศวรรษที่ 1980 อะนิเมะได้รับความนิยมกว้างขวางในญี่ปุ่น ทำให้ธุรกิจการสร้างอะนิเมะเจริญเติบโตอย่างรวดเร็ว และในทศวรรษที่ 1990 และ 2000 ชื่อเสียงของอะนิเมะได้แพร่ขยายไปยังนอกประเทศญี่ปุ่น พร้อมๆ กับการขยายตัวของตลาดอะนิเมะนอกประเทศ

คำศัพท์

"อะนิเมะ" (アニメ, /ɑnim/) เป็นคำย่อของ アニメーション (คำอ่าน: อะนิเมะชอง, IPA: /ɑnimːn/) ซึ่งเป็นคำที่ยืมมาจากภาษาอังกฤษ (สังเกตได้ว่าเขียนเป็นคะตะคะนะ) "แอนิเมชัน" (animation) ซึ่งหมายความถึงภาพยนตร์การ์ตูน คำทั้งสองคำนี้สามารถใช้แทนกันได้ในภาษาญี่ปุ่น อย่างไรก็ดีรูปย่อเป็นที่นิยมใช้มากกว่า คำว่า "อะนิเมะ" มีขอบเขตกว้างครอบคลุมภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนทั้งหมด ไม่จำกัดอยู่ที่แนวหรือรูปแบบของภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนใดๆ

"เจแปนิเมชัน" (Japanimation) ซึ่งเกิดจากการผสมคำว่า "เจแปน" (Japan) กับ "แอนิเมชัน" เป็นคำอีกคำที่มีความหมายเหมือน "อะนิเมะ" คำนี้นิยมใช้กันมากในทศวรรษที่ 1970 และ 1980 แต่มีคนใช้น้อยลงตั้งแต่ปี 1990 และหมดความนิยมลงก่อนกลางทศวรรษที่ 1990 ในปัจจุบันคำนี้ถูกใช้อยู่แค่ในประเทศญี่ปุ่นเพื่อแบ่งแยกระหว่างภาพยนตร์ การ์ตูนทั่วๆ ไป (ซึ่งคนญี่ปุ่นเรียกรวมๆ ว่า "อะนิเมะ") และภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนที่ผลิตภายในประเทศ

ภาษาไทยในสมัยก่อนใช้คำว่า "ภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนญี่ปุ่น" แทนอะนิเมะ คำทับศัพท์ "อะนิเมะ" นั้นไม่ค่อยเป็นที่นิยมใช้ แต่ปัจุบันคำว่า "อะนิเมะ" หรือ "อะนิเมะ" นั้นกลับเป็นคำที่นิยมในหมู่เด็กวัยรุ่นไทยที่ชื่นชอบการ์ตูนญี่ปุ่น ใช้เรียกแทนคำว่า"ภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนญี่ปุ่น"ของสมัยอดีต

ลักษณะเฉพาะตัว
ตัวอย่างตัวละครอะนิเมะ "วิกิพีตัง"

ถึงแม้อะนิเมะแต่ละเรื่องจะมีลักษณะทางศิลปะเฉพาะตัวซึ่งขึ้นอยู่กับ ศิลปินแต่ละคน โดยรวมแล้วเราอาจกล่าวได้ว่าลักษณะเฉพาะตัวของอะนิเมะคือการใช้ลายเส้นที่คม และสีสันที่สดใส มาประกอบเป็นตัวละครที่มีรายละเอียดสูง ลักษณะเด่นอีกประการหนึ่งของอะนิเมะคือความหลากหลายของแนวเรื่องและกลุ่ม เป้าหมายตั้งแต่เด็กจนถึงผู้ใหญ่ ผิดกับภาพยนตร์การ์ตูนของฝั่งตะวันตกที่เกือบทั้งหมดมียุวชนเป็นกลุ่มเป้า หมาย
[แก้] แนว

อะนิเมะมีอยู่หลายแนวเช่นเดียวกับภาพยนตร์ ยกตัวอย่างเช่น แอคชัน, ผจญภัย, เรื่องสำหรับเด็ก, ตลก, โศกนาฏกรรม, อีโรติก (ดูเพิ่ม: เฮ็นไต) , แฟนตาซี, สยองขวัญ, ฮาเรม ,โรแมนติก, และนิยายวิทยาศาสตร์

อะนิเมะส่วนใหญ่จะมีเนื้อหาจากแนวอะนิเมะมากกว่าหนึ่งแนว และอาจมีสารัตถะมากกว่า หนึ่งสารัตถะ ทำให้การจัดแบ่งอะนิเมะเป็นไปได้ยาก เป็นเรื่องปกติที่อะนิเมะแนวแอคชันส่วนใหญ่จะสอดแทรกด้วยเนื้อหาแนวตลว รักโรแมนติก และอาจมีการวิพากษ์วิจารณ์สังคมปนอยู่ด้วย ในทำนองเดียวกันอะนิเมะแนวรักโรแมนติกหลายเรื่องก็มีฉากต่อสู้ที่ดุเดือดไม่ แพ้อะนิเมะแนวแอคชันเลย

แนวที่สามารถพบได้แค่ในอะนิเมะและมังงะได้แก่ (สำหรับแนวอื่นๆ ดูรายชื่อแนวภาพยนตร์)

* บิโชโจะ: (ภาษาญีปุ่นหมายความว่า "เด็กสาวหน้าตาดี") อะนิเมะที่มีตัวละครหลักเป็นเด็กสาวหน้าตาสวยงาม เช่น เมจิกไนท์เรย์เอิร์ท
* บิโชเน็น: (ภาษาญี่ปุ่นหมายความว่า "เด็กหนุ่มหน้าตาดี") อะนิเมะที่มีตัวละครหลักเป็นเด็กหนุ่มหน้าตาหล่อเหลาและท่าทางสง่างาม เช่น ฟูชิกิยูกิ
* เอดชิ: มีรากมาจากตัวอักษร "H" ในภาษาญี่ปุ่นหมายว่า "ทะลึ่ง" อะนิเมะในแนวนี้จะมีมุขตลกทะลึ่งแบบผู้ใหญ่ และมีภาพวาบหวามแต่ไม่เข้าข่ายอนาจารเป็นจุดขาย ตัวอย่างเช่น คาโนค่อน จิ้งจอกสาวสุดจี๊ด
* เฮ็นไต: (ภาษาญี่ปุ่นหมายความว่า "ไม่ปกติ ในแง่จิตใจ" หรือ "วิตถาร") เป็นคำที่ใช้นอกประเทศญี่ปุ่นสำหรับเรียกอะนิเมะที่จัดได้ว่าเป็นสื่อ ลามกอนาจาร ในประเทศญี่ปุ่นเรียกอะนิเมะประเภทนี้ว่า 18禁アニメ　(อ่านว่า "จูฮาจิคินอะนิเมะ"; อะนิเมะสำหรับผู้ใหญ่อายุมากกว่า 18 ปี) หรือ エロアニメ　(อ่านว่า "เอะโระอะนิเมะ"; มาจาก "erotic anime" แปลว่า "อะนิเมะที่กระตุ้นความรู้สึกทางเพศ) ตัวอย่างเช่น ลาบลูเกิร์ล)
* เมะกะ: อะนิเมะที่มีหุ่นยนต์ยักษ์ เช่น โมบิลสูทกันดั้ม
* อะนิเมะสำหรับเด็ก: มีกลุ่มเป้าหมายเป็นเด็กปฐมวัย ตัวอย่างเช่น โดราเอมอน
* โชเน็น: อะนิเมะที่มีกลุ้มเป้าหมายเป็นเด็กผู้ชาย เช่น ดราก้อนบอล
* โชโจะ: อะนิเมะที่มีกลุ่มเป้าหมายเป็นเด็กผู้หญิง เช่น เซเลอร์มูน
* เซเน็น: อะนิเมะที่มีกลุ่มเป้าหมายเป็นวัยรุ่นชายตอนปลายถึงผู้ชายอายุประมาณ 20 ปี เช่น โอ้! มายก็อดเดส
* โจะเซ: (ภาษาญี่ปุ่นหมายถึง "ผู้หญิงอายุน้อย") อะนิเมะที่มีกลุ่มเป้าหมายเป็นผู้หญิงอายุประมาณ 20 ปี ตัวอย่างเช่น นานะ
* มะโฮโชโจ: แนวย่อยหนึ่งของอะนิเมะแนวโชโจะ มีตัวละครหลักเป็นเด็กผู้หญิงที่มีพลังวิเศษอย่างไดอย่างหนึ่ง เช่น การ์ดแคปเตอร์ซากุระ
* มะโฮโชเน็น: เหมือนแนวสาวน้อยเวทมนตร์ แต่ตัวเอกเป็นผู้ชาย เช่น ดี.เอ็น.แองเจิล
* โชโจะไอ/ยุริ: อะนิเมะเน้นความรักร่วมเพศระหว่างผู้หญิง เช่น สตรอเบอรีพานิก
* โชเน็นไอ/ยะโอะอิ: อะนิเมะเน้นความรักร่วมเพศระหว่างผู้ชาย เช่น กราวิเทชัน

Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) Master Collection Wrap-Up

2009-01-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

It’s been several months since the CS4 Master Collection became available, and the focus of this follow-up review is to highlight the new features that have remained on my radar since first installing the programs. While every Adobe release features a slew of new features, I usually find that only some of those features remain completely indispensable as the novelty wears off.

Photoshop
Perhaps the biggest CS4 news from a technology standpoint was Adobe’s introduction of a 64-bit (Windows only) version of Photoshop. When this news was first announced, I was very excited, since my new system runs on Vista x64 (see my 8 cores on a budget feature). And yes, there is a performance difference, especially at very high resolutions. But there are several inherent problems in the way that Photoshop CS4 64-bit was implemented, and for me, those problems effectively cancel out any benefit that the 64-bit application currently provides.

For starters, both versions of Photoshop are installed on a 64-bit Windows system by default. So twice the amount of disk space is being devoted to Photoshop in order to use the 64-bit version. And while it’s possible to install only the 64-bit version, doing so would not exactly be wise for most users. One major limitation is the lack of support for 32-bit plug-ins within 64-bit Photoshop. This means that any plug-ins that work on 32-bit Photoshop CS4 (and therefore previous versions of Photoshop) do not work within the 64-bit version. 64-bit users will therefore have to wait for plug-in developers to completely re-engineer their code before those plug-ins will work. One day, that may happen, but at the moment it seems that the Windows-based 64-bit user base is so small that most plug-in developers are not rushing to redevelop their software. While I write this article, there is a small handful of 64-bit Photoshop plug-ins available, but there seems to be a genuine lack of interest on the part of many developers to hop on that bandwagon. It probably isn’t economically feasible. For me, this poses a significant dilemma. I’ve always found that third party plug-ins, more than most of Adobe’s native filters, tend to be RAM/CPU hungry beasts, especially when operating at higher resolutions. 64-bit versions would allow those operations to be performed at much higher resolutions without running out of accessible memory. But since those are not yet available, Photoshop CS4 64-bit seems like more of a proof of concept than a full replacement for 32-bit Photoshop.

Beyond the lack of third-party support, Photoshop CS4 64-bit has some native annoyances that also make me reluctant to ever run the executable. The application lives in a different “Program Files” folder than the rest of the Adobe CS4 applications, and inexplicably fails to share the same preferences and presets as the 32-bit version of Photoshop. Workspaces, brushes, actions, preferences, and other user interface options are stored in a completely separate compartment, and so the two applications have to be managed separately. This becomes especially annoying with CS4’s strange handling of fonts under Windows Vista x64. For some extremely weird reason, CS4 applications running on a 64-bit operating system are incapable of loading Type 1 fonts installed in Windows. TrueType and OpenType fonts have no issues at all, but the Adobe Type 1 format is ignored altogether. How strange is it that an Adobe application cannot play nice with an Adobe file format? There is, however, a workaround: Type 1 fonts need to be installed to the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts” folder to be read by CS4 applications. And fortunately, through experimentation, I found that shortcuts work just as well, so the original font files can be kept where they are. This hurdle completely nullifies the functionality of a font management tool like Extensis Suitcase when it involves Type 1 fonts. And, to make matters worse, the 64-bit version of Photoshop does not use the same Common Files directory, and Type 1 fonts need to be installed in yet another location to be recognized in 64-bit mode. For some, all of this might not get in the way, but for me, all of these difficulties end up adding back the time I’d save with Photoshop 64-bit’s enhanced processing performance.

On the plus side, however, Photoshop CS4’s use of OpenGL hardware acceleration helps significantly with application performance. Without hardware acceleration, previous versions of Photoshop would often choke up during the simplest of operations, such as while scrolling around a zoomed-in, high resolution file. This is because Photoshop had to use RAM and swap file space to store the parts of the image that were in view, and each time the view was altered, RAM and hard disk use would spike, reducing performance. Now that the GPU is involved, Photoshop can offload the display burden to the video card, saving the RAM and swap space for more intensive operations. It’s also clear that Photoshop CS4’s hardware acceleration makes use of low-resolution proxies when performing pans and zooms, helping the application to feel responsive even as it catches up to the user’s input in the background. While the blurry, low-resolution proxy is sometimes noticeable, it’s certainly preferable to a locked up screen or what have you.

Another gigantic leap forward is Photoshop CS4’s treatment of Adjustment Layers. Compared to earlier Photoshop versions, CS4’s Adjustment Layers feel far more refined, residing in their own Adjustments palette. Instead of editing Adjustment Layers’ settings with separate pop-up dialog boxes, each Adjustment Layer is edited through the same Adjustments palette. This keeps the workflow faster and simpler. Similarly, Layer masks have been given a new non-destructive dimension of editability which supersede the need to create backup channels before performing operations like blurring/feathering on a layer mask. The original layer mask’s integrity is maintained as long as the operations are performed through the sliders on the Masks palette.

Smart Objects have also been a useful way to circumvent the need for backup layers, especially when experimenting with filters or when downsampling. But until CS4, Smart Objects’ layer masks could not be linked to the Smart Object’s layer like a normal layer mask would be. This made many simple tasks (such as moving a masked Smart Object) into a needlessly complicated experience. Thankfully, this strange oversight has been corrected, and Smart Objects are closer to realizing their full potential.

Content Aware Scaling is another timesaver that will stand the test of time. Using a combination of detail recognition and user-created “protection” channels, the Content Aware Scaling transformation helps to shrink or expand images (photographs, especially) beyond their original aspect ratios without distorting obvious focal points, such as people. While it’s capable of some pretty sophisticated detection of focal objects, the tool works much better if you define a simple channel first, with white areas designating protected zones. It’s quite good at handling landscapes and other backgrounds that have a particular directional “grain.” While the results are never perfect, it’s highly unlikely that most viewers would perceive the end result as being artificial if they are not privy to the original. I find this technique to be especially useful when laying out images within a brochure or newsletter, since it allows for moving multiple individuals closer together within a scene. So if a group shot is too horizontally spread out, Content Aware Scaling prevents people on the periphery from being cropped out of the shot by necessity.

Illustrator
The most exceptional feature of Illustrator CS4 is without a doubt the inclusion of multiple artboards within a document. For the first time in Illustrator history, it is possible to manage a multi-page document in Illustrator alone. Unlike InDesign, Illustrator makes it quite easy to create artboards of various aspect ratios and dimensions, all within one document. And the artboards can be spread out and distributed in any arbitrary way without much trouble at all. Even multi-layer illustrations can be easily duplicated, along with their their respective artboards, simply by Alt-dragging while in artboard-editing mode. It’s become indispensable to me when designing alternate versions of a design. It allows me to compare alternatives side by side, and I can export each of the designs individually or as a group, as raster files or as a multi-page PDF. All in all, it’s the single feature that was always missing from Adobe Illustrator, and it’s so good to see it finally realized.

Another improvement, although unsung, proves to be incredibly helpful in Illustrator documents containing a lot of embedded images. Unlike InDesign, Illustrator requires that a clipping path be applied to a placed image in order to perform any cropping, clipping, or masking of a raster. InDesign has always handled this by creating a default “frame” with the image inside from the start. InDesign then defaults to manipulating the image by its frame, rather than by the image boundaries-this means that if you’ve clipped a 2% chunk out of a much larger image, you won’t have to be worried about the image borders when dragging to select, or performing align operations. Illustrator has always been crippled in this sense-but with CS4, a clipped image can be manipulated by only its clipping path. Creating precisely aligned grids of cropped images is no longer a difficult or time consuming task.

The new Blob Brush, when used with a tablet/stylus, proves to be a far better way to “vector paint” than previous generations of Illustrator allowed. In some ways, the Blob Brush is a shortcut to “Object > Expand” combined with the original Illustrator Brush tool. Rather than having to go through the intermediate step of converting strokes to outlined objects, the Blob Brush creates on-the-fly solid fills out of your brush strokes. For quick and artistic work, it’s a timesaver, but the original Brush is still available for precise creation of individual, easy-to-manipulate strokes.

InDesign
Like some of the other CS4 applications, InDesign has undergone some very behind-the-scenes changes that can have a huge impact on workflow. The Links palette and the process of placing files into an .INDD document have been improved in some very convenient ways. The Links palette itself is now a heck of a lot easier to relate to-previous InDesign versions only showed a simple list of linked files, with most detailed information accessible only after a right-click exploration. Now, the Links palette feels more like a file browser, with icons, instance grouping, and customizable column views for sorting links and viewing information much more conveniently. Additionally, placing multiple files at once used to require an inevitable post-placement sorting festival, since it was highly likely that the images would be placed with vastly different resolutions and without any discernible order. Now it’s possible to Ctrl-Shift+drag during the placement process to create a series of orderly linked-image contact sheets-very cool.

Also, InDesign can now export documents directly to Flash. This is actually incredibly cool—see the example, and be sure to click and drag from the page corners.

InDesign CS4 also includes Live Preflighting. Similar to Dreamweaver’s on-the-fly code validation, Live Preflighting allows the designer to see a production warning as soon as it becomes relevant. This streamlines the print production process and reduces the need for making a preflight check an entirely separate task.

Dreamweaver
Compared with CS3, Dreamweaver CS4 really has not morphed as drastically as some of the other applications-updates to code hinting and AJAX extensions are a big help to the more serious developer. The new “Live View” feature, although helpful, does not altogether replace the necessary process of proofing code in a real browser. In some circumstances, though, it can make troubleshooting quite a bit quicker. But when used together, Live View and Code Navigator serve to improve Dreamweaver’s functionality as a development tool. Through Code Navigator, it’s possible to explore code contextually. That is, if I want to make changes to an area of a page that is controlled by several separate files (HTML, CSS, Javascript), it’s always been a bit of a brain teaser to keep mental track of all of the relevant code at once. Code Navigator simplifies this task by helping to isolate relevant code across file boundaries. It serves as an excellent navigational portal for the “Related Files” feature in Dreamweaver CS4, which is practically indispensable compared with CS3. Related Files-files that are somehow linked to or referenced in the open document-are displayed as a set of “sub tabs” below the already-tabbed open file interface. This makes it absolutely brain dead to keep track of many related files at once, and saves a ton of time when switching from one development project to another. It’s no longer necessary to hunt for each necessary HTML or CSS or .js file before beginning work; opening the main HTML file does the trick. This feature alone can save enough time and head pain to be worth the upgrade for Dreamweaver users.

Fireworks
Fireworks, I must admit, is a tool I have not made much use of in my entire career as a designer. Despite the fact that I do quite a bit of web related design, it’s never been high on my radar compared to some of the other Adobe (and formerly Macromedia) tools that I’ve used on a regular basis. Recently however, I found myself with a task to complete that was best suited for Fireworks (creating a very detailed image-map), and I gave it a shot. Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised. Fireworks feels like Dreamweaver-meets-Illustrator-meets-Photoshop (with-some-of-the-old-ImageReady-in-there). There are certainly tasks that can be accomplished in Fireworks that cannot be accomplished as easily or as well in other applications. Still, it does not feel to me like a primary tool, but rather more like a secondary resource. But for those who prefer the feel of the software to the native Adobe tools, Fireworks may represent a smoother method of getting the job done. It also seems easier to learn for a newcomer, and more straightforward for accomplishing basic web design tasks. I can understand why they kept it around.

In the “old” days before the two companies merged, I generally preferred Adobe’s way of doing things to the Macromedia feel. This type of thing can probably spark as much debate amongst designers as the Mac vs. PC wars. And while the two giants have melded into one, there’s still a noticeable hangover of Macromedia-like feel present in the Adobe products that were acquired. Fireworks CS4 still feels very Macromedia, perhaps even more so than Flash. The differences are subtle, and for the most part, one has to use both types of programs to understand the nuances. My interpretation has always been that Adobe’s homegrown software feels exact, precise, and a bit slow. But slow in a steady, painstaking sort of way. On the other hand, software originally developed by Macromedia has a feeling of imprecision, but the advantage of feeling quicker, perhaps even twitchy. Depending on the intended application, either one has its advantages. My personality style is more in line with the way Adobe has always done things, but there are still plenty of others who prefer the informality of former Macromedia tools.

It seems that Adobe is still very much trying to please everybody. With CS4, they’ve continued their effort to merge the feel of their applications across the suite, but there’s still plenty of inconsistency; Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are very related to each other. After Effects and Premiere Pro share the “Adobe video feel.” Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks—listed in increasing order—still have Macromedia blood running through their veins. I imagine there must be incredible pressure from the programs’ user bases to change as little about the feel as possible, even if that means deviation within the suite. But considering how much overlap exists between Adobe software tools, it’s easy to get the job done in multiple ways. And there’s something to be said for that.

Flash CS4 Professional
Flash CS4 Professional introduces some pretty significant new features. An object-based animation model finally detaches Flash motion-tween animation from the inconvenient yoke of the timeline. Now, motion tweens are handled in a way which is very similar to 3D animation tools such as Autodesk 3ds max; each object can have its own animation properties set in the Motion Editor palette, which includes modifiable envelopes for factors such as scale, rotation, alpha, etc. Presets help to make mundane animation tasks painless. Users familiar with similar functionality in After Effects will hit the ground running.

Also included are envelopes for 3D transformations, because Flash CS4 can transform objects in true three-D. While simplistic, Flash’s treatment of 3D transformations is clean and intuitive. Frankly, I think it would be fantastic to see this level of 3D ease integrated into the Illustrator platform. Currently Illustrator only includes 3D transformation when applied as an effect, and it’s not possible to realistically position more than one object in 3D perspective at the same time. In other words, global 3D relationships in Illustrator have to be faked for the most part, but Flash now allows both global and local 3D transformations to occur with ease.

The Spray Brush tool allows for scattering symbols around the stage, onboard animations and all, to create dynamic procedural effects like twinkling stars in a very painless manner. The Deco tool also allows for more precise creation of dynamic arrays of symbols. Just like any tool, these have their time and place. I can see it being very tempting to use them incessantly, but if used in moderation for specific, hard-to-otherwise-achieve effects, these will become indispensable toolbox additions.

Flash CS4 also includes some forward-thinking extensions such as XFL support (a new file format that allows for cross-application preservation of Flash editability), and Adobe AIR authoring. XFL support makes it possible to actually use data exported from other applications, such as Illustrator and InDesign, for further development within Flash CS4. It used to be that only compiled SWF movies could make their way out of non-Flash applications, and without strenuous decompiling and essentially retracing one’s steps, it was downright impossible to get any editable Flash content into Flash itself. This is yet another sign that Adobe’s application suite is becoming more and more self-integrated. With regards to AIR, it’s still clear that the fledgling application environment needs time to percolate through the collective unconscious. But it presents some significant developer and user advantages that I’m sure will be taken advantage of more thoroughly over the course of the next few years.

Premiere Pro CS4
Premiere Pro CS4 introduces a metadata-based organization system that vastly simplifies the task of tagging and sorting footage and other assets. Perhaps the most efficiency-increasing new feature is the ability to search audio for key words using speech recognition. I can just imagine how much easier it would be to edit a Fox reality show with a feature like this-cutting-and-pasting together completely fraudulent dialogue can be done with ease!

It’s also possible now to export to SWF for a DVD-like web viewing experience. Among other uses, this can be an incredibly simple way of creating streaming previews and sharing them over the web. It’s also just as easy to export Blu-Ray files as it is to create SWFs or DVDs, as they’re all accessed through the same menu.

Adobe has also introduced Final Cut Pro project import, which seems like a cross-application dream for those working in environments with multiple editing setups. Although personally I think they could be trying to pull Final Cut users over to the Adobe side… hmmm. I wonder.

After Effects CS4
After Effects includes a Quick Search functionality designed to help find assets more easily (another CS4 theme). XFL support allows for native Flash file interchange—a boon to cross-application animation development. Like Flash, After Effects has 3D interface improvements for keyframing, transformation, and camera functionality. Integrated Mocha “2.5D” compositing can create some pretty hot motion tracking effects. And overall workflow efficiency and performance have been enhanced by some logical upgrades, like Auto-Resolution preview rendering (eliminating effectively invisible pixels from being previewed), and memory use tweaks.

The Cartoon effect, although much publicized, seems a bit gimmicky to me. I’m not sure it’ll be unique or attractive enough to find widespread use by anyone other than the creators of fake Charles Schwab commercials. It basically looks the same as the Poster Edges Photoshop filter, applied over time. The upside is that Cartoon is GPU accelerated, and quite speedy. It also can be quite extensively tweaked with the help of pre-processing using other effects. But hopefully more creative “live trace” style vector effects will be introduced in time, as GPU acceleration becomes capable of even more.

Soundbooth CS4
Soundbooth now includes multi-track editing, bringing it up to a level which is more comparable to Adobe’s Audition application. In basic ways, Soundbooth CS4 is capable now of replacing Audition for fundamental multi-track audio editing purposes, but Audition users will miss the suite of functions that are geared towards more professional audio production and engineering scenarios. For this reason, Adobe is positioning Soundbooth CS4 as a companion tool to Flash, After Effects, and Premiere Pro, rather than as a complete standalone audio production tool. Viewed in this light, it’s very functional, in the same way that Photoshop Elements has never had the same feel or capabilities as the original Photoshop. To that end, they’ve also created a new .ASND (Adobe Sound) file format to facilitate multi-track interchange between CS4 applications. Task-based enhancements such as automatic normalization, MP3 compression preview, volume enveloping, and Premiere-like speech-recognition text searching help enhance the CS4 collection’s ability to produce audio-rich video and animation.

Conclusions
It may not be perfect, but I’m sure glad it’s here. There are enough must-haves in this list to justify the purchase of the new version. At an entry price of around $2500, the Adobe CS4 Master Collection charges some hefty admission. Of course, if you already have a previous Master Collection, the upgrade will only set you back a paltry-by-comparison $900. However, unless you’re a jack-of-all-trades, one of the lesser-priced CS4 collections may provide better bang for your buck. And if you know enough to need the Master Collection, you should be able to make up for the price tag simply by doing a professional project or two.

thank Josh Korwin and www.geek.com

CAI คือ

2009-01-01T02:26:00.000-08:00

* คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน (Computer Assisted Instruction) หรือ CAI เป็นสื่อการเรียน การสอน

ที่กำลังเป็นที่นิยมอย่างแพร่หลายเพราะนอกจากสีสันที่สวยงามแล้วยังมีลักษณะการทำงานในรูปแบบของสื่อประสม

(Multimedia) คือใช้สื่อร่วมกันมากกว่า 1 ชนิด เช่น ตัวอักษร ภาพ เสียง ภาพเคลื่อนไหว ที่สำคัญคือสามารถ

โต้ตอบระหว่างผู้เรียนกับ คอมพิวเตอร์ มีการประเมินผลเพื่อสนองตอบให้กับผู้เรียนอย่างรวดเร็ว จึงไม่น่า

แปลกใจเลยว่า ทำไมคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนจึงเป็นที่นิยมอย่างรวดเร็วในยุคการศึกษาไร้พรหมแดน

1. คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน คืออะไร ?
“ หมายถึง การนำเสนอบทเรียนด้วยคอมพิวเตอร์ โดยนำเอาบทเรียนที่เตรียมไว้อย่างเป็นระบบ มานำเสนอตามลำดับ ขั้นตอนและมีการโต้ตอบชมเชย หรือมีการย้อนกลับไปทบทวนเพื่อกระตุ้นความสนใจ โดยคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน จะช่วยสอนเนื้อหาวิชา ซึ่งอาจเป็นตัวหนังสือ และกราฟิก ถามคำถาม รับคำตอบ ตรวจคำตอบ และแสดงผลการเรียน ให้ผู้เรียนได้อย่างถูกต้อง นอกจากนี้ยังสามารถใช้ร่วมกับอุปกรณ์อย่างอื่น เช่น เครื่องบันทึกเสียง วีดิทัศน์ เป็นต้น

2. ทำไมต้องใช้คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน
คงจะมีคำถามต่อไปอีก ว่า ทำไมต้องใช้คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน ในบทนี้จะได้กล่าวถึง ประโยชน์และคุณค่า
ของคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน ว่าคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนนั้นเหมาะสมที่จะนำมาใช้ประกอบการเรียนการสอนอย่างไร

2.1 ประโยชน์ของคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน
ได้มีผู้วิจัยหลายท่านสรุปผลการศึกษาค้นคว้า ในเรื่องบทเรียนคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน ซึ่งจากงานวิจัย

พบว่า คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนมีประโยชน์ ดังนี้

1. ช่วยให้ผู้เรียนได้เรียนตามความสามารถของตนเอง โดยคำนึงถึงความแตกต่างระหว่างบุคคล

2. นักเรียนได้เรียนเป็นขั้นตอนจากง่ายไปหายากอย่างเป็นระบบ

3. มีวามสะดวกในการทบทวนบทเรียน

4. ไม่มีข้อจำกัดในเรื่องของเวลาเรียน นักเรียนสามารถศึกษาจากบทเรียนคอมพิวเตอร์ ช่วยสอน ขณะที่อยู่ที่บ้านหรืออยู่ที่โรงเรียน

5. ลดเวลาในการเรียนการสอน เนื่องจากเป็นการเรียนการสอนแบบเอกัตบุคคล ซึ่งนักเรียนสามารถเรียนรู ้ได้ด้วยตนเอง มีการวัดผลและประเมินผลไปพร้อม ๆ กัน และยังช่วยนักเรียนที่มีปัญหาในการเรียน โดยการจัดโปรแกรมเสริมในส่วนที่เป็นปัญหาหรือใช้เสริมความรู้ให้กับนักเรียนที่เรียนรู้ได้เร็วโดย ไม่ต้องคอยเพื่อนในชั้นเรียน

6. สร้างทัศนคติที่ดีให้แก่นักเรียน โดยนักเรียนต้องฝึกความรับผิดชอบต่อตนเอง ในการเรียน
และสร้างทัศนคติที่ดีในการเรียนด้วย

7. ทำในสิ่งที่สื่ออื่น ๆ ทำไม่ได้ เช่น การตัดสินใจเสนอเนื้อหาใหม่ ๆ หรือการตัดสินใจ เรียนซ้ำใน
เนื้อหาเดิม

8. ลดเวลาในการสอนของครู ในการเรียนวิชาที่มีการฝึกทักษะ ครูจะเสียเวลาในช่วงนี้มาก เพราะแต่ละคน มีความสามารถแตกต่างกัน ครูสามารถให้นักเรียนแต่ละคนได้ฝึกทักษะจากคอมพิวเตอร์แทน

9. ทำให้ครูได้มีการพัฒนาความรู้ใหม่ ๆ อยู่เสมอ และมีการนำสร้างนวัตกรรมใหม่ ๆ ขึ้นมาใช้ ในการเรียน การสอนมากขึ้น

10. สามารถจัดกิจกรรมการเรียนการสอนได้เหมาะสม สะดวก รวดเร็วยิ่งขึ้น

* บทเรียนคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนแม้จะมีประโยชน์หลาย ๆ ด้านก็ตาม แต่ในการนำเอาบทเรียน

คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน มาใช้ในการ เรียนการสอนนั้น จะต้องคำนึงถึงปัญหาที่อาจเกิดขึ้นด้วย เพราะ

คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนไม่สามารถ ที่จะแก้ปัญหาต่าง ๆ ได้ เนื่อง จาก คอมพิวเตอร์เป็นเพียงอุปกรณ์ชนิดหนึ่ง

ที่ช่วยในการเรียนการสอนเท่านั้น การใช ้ คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนให้มีประสิทธิภาพสูงนั้นจะต้องอาศัย บุคลากร

ที่มีความรู้ความสามารถเฉพาะด้าน

2.2 คุณค่าของคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน

การนำคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนมาใช้ในการเรียนการสอนพบว่า คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนมีคุณค่าทางการสอน คือ

1. ให้ข้อมูลย้อนกลับอย่างรวดเร็ว เมื่อนักเรียนมีปัญหา หรือไม่เข้าใจในบทเรียนหรือเมื่อนักเรียนตอบคำถามได้ถูกต้องเครื่องจะรายงานผลให้ทราบทันที ซึ่งเป็นการกระตุ้น ให้ผู้เรียนมีความต้องการ ที่จะเรียนต่อไป

2. ลดปัญหาระหว่างครูกับนักเรียน และระหว่างนักเรียนกับนักเรียน เพราะเป็นการเรียน แบบเอกัตบุคคลผู้เรียนสามารถเรียนรู้ทันกันได้

3. ผู้เรียนที่เรียนดี จะเรียนได้เร็วกว่าการสอนปกติ และช่วยเหลือเด็กที่มีปัญหา โดยการจัด โปรแกรมเสริมในส่วนที่ยังไม่เข้าใจและยังเป็นอุปกรณ์เสริมสำหรับนักเรียนที่เรียนเก่งให้สามารถศึกษาได้ด้วยตนเอง

4. เป็นสื่อการสอนที่ดี เพราะสื่อการสอนชนิดอื่นไม่สามารถทำได้ เช่น การสร้างสถานการณ์จำลอง การเลียนแบบของจริง ตลอดจนการช่วยตัดสินใจการเสนอเนื้อหาใหม่ ๆ หรือจะให้ผู้เรียนศึกษาเนื้อหาเดิมอีกก็ได้

5. ประหยัดเวลาและค่าใช้จ่าย โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งในการปรับปรุงเนื้อหาบทเรียนสามารถทำได้รวดเร็ว

6. ความทันสมัยของคอมพิวเตอร์จะช่วยให้สื่อน่าสนใจยิ่งขึ้น

7. สามารถใช้สื่ออื่น ๆ ร่วมกันได้ เช่น เสียง ภาพเคลื่อนไหว เป็นต้น

8. สามารถสื่อสาร และถ่ายโอนข้อมูลในระบบสารสนเทศได้ดี

จากคุณลักษณะของคอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอนดังกล่าว ทำให้แตกต่างไปจากสื่อการสอนอื่น ๆ คือ สามารถ โต้ตอบ และแสดงผลลัพภ์ บางอย่างให้ผู้เรียนดูได้ทันที ทำให้น่าตื่นเต้น สนุกสนาน เร้าความสนใจให้อยากเรียน ด้วยเหตุนี้ จึงมีการศึกษาผลของการใช้คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน ซึ่งพอสรุปได้ว่า การใช้คอมพิวเตอร์ช่วยสอน มีส่วนเสริมให้มีการเรียนการสอนได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพ และประสิทธิผลดีกว่าการสอนแบบอื่น

2d Cartoon Animation

2008-11-25T22:18:00.004-08:00

Animation is the rapid succession of a series of images in order to create an illusion of a moving picture. In other words, it is an optical impression of motion resulting from the phenomenon of persistence of vision. The moving pictures are produced through a string of consecutive images that reproduce motion by each image showing the next in a gradual progression of steps. If a series of 24 or less cartoon images run per second, it will result in a cartoon animation. Although animation is commonly demonstrated in the form of a motion picture or video program, any other forms of presenting animation also exist, including computer animation like 2D and 3D animations which encompasses a variety of techniques where the animation is created digitally on a computer.

In case of 2D animation, pictures are created and/or edited on the paper or computer screen in a two-dimensional environment such as cel animation or in computerized animation software. The two dimensional (2D) animation software gives movement and action to static images. These figures are created and edited using 2D bitmap graphics or by using 2D vector graphics including automated computerized versions of conventional animation techniques like tweening, morphing, onion skinning, blurring, cell animation, path animation and interpolated rotoscoping. Three dimensional representations of geometric data is stored in the computer to enable calculations and deliver 2D images.

2D animations such as Analog Computer Animation, Macromedia Flash, PowerPoint etc. can be produced using software tools. To give an element of motion to the object, a digital framework process called rigging is applied. The process of 2D Animation involves complete story boarding including each shot of the animation, background design, character design, cell animation, perfect voice synching and flow of the animation including the background music. Every shot in a 2D animation involves multiple single drawings of characters.

Ensure Better Website Response With the Use of Flash Animation Services

2008-11-25T22:18:00.003-08:00

Eye-catching and innovative techniques are being utilized in websites to make their presence felt on the World Wide Web. Online competition is becoming fierce, making it important to come up with exclusive Internet promotional techniques. Flash animation designs is one such technique, which when used appropriately on websites, acts as an attention grabbing element for the viewers.

Basically flash is a multimedia tool and an aspect of Macromedia. It gives endless opportunities for creativity and helps in developing excellent interactive software. Good, experienced professional flash designers make use of flash services for developing innovative designs, interactive online movies, clippings, aesthetic images, etc. They combine flash designs with the content on the web page in a complimentary manner.

Flash animation services increases the visual impact of your website and gives an exclusive look to it. Flash uses astounding features that give a realistic online experience to users. Flash designs can be used in a website in different ways and formats. You can opt to display product information, company details, presentations, and more through the medium of flash animation in a website. Moreover, they are free of any compatibility issues with other web browsers, making it safe from any risk of being copied and played on different websites. So you can work with flash without worrying about it getting jumbled up in other programming languages. Flash gives wings to your imagination, making it possible to turn dreams into reality. Your designers can create mesmerizing online ads that can serve as a perfect attention grabbing device. As a promotional tool, many website owners install animated games on their sites.

The use of flash is not restricted to any specific industry or business size as it has been used by increasing numbers of companies all over the world. One can very well distinguish between websites with flash and without it. It has been seen that websites that use old and simple designs and do not use any innovative techniques score less on user’s likeability statistics.

Employing regular employees as flash website designers can prove to be costly and may not yield the expected results. Therefore now-a-days companies hire flash design services externally, giving them access to quality flash designs at affordable prices. These flash web design companies from Santa Barbara and LA have teams of talented flash designers with knowledge of the latest tools and techniques in web development.

Customer review and testimonial sections of a flash design company say a lot about their work and the level of satisfaction they can deliver to their clients.

What’s New in Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Products

2008-11-25T22:18:00.001-08:00

On September 23, 2008, Adobe announced the release of Adobe® Creative Suite® 4, which are expected to start shipping towards the end of October 2008. Billed as the largest product release in Adobe's history, the new Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 products are new, improved, and ready for pre-order. Adobe Creative Suite 4 software has been significantly improved for increasing efficiency and creativity.
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended is better than ever with features such as smoother panning and zooming, fluid canvas rotation, extended depth of field, improved raw image processing, and more. Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended software delivers all the features in Photoshop CS4, plus new features for working with 3D imagery, motion-based content, and advanced image analysis. Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended is the latest and greatest of Photoshop. The new Adobe Photoshop CS4 is better than ever, and is essential for those creating and editing images.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard is also new and improved. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard is the essential toolkit for print design and production. Use new tools and efficiencies for delivering your ideas in print with confidence. Users can easily express ideas using full new versions of their favorite tools in a comprehensive design environment. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard helps users deliver breathtaking images, sophisticated graphics, exquisite typography, and precise layouts that print reliably. The new Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard provides simpler ways of working to help users do more in less time, moving smoothly among design tools from concept to print. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard includes Adobe InDesign CS4, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Illustrator CS4, and Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection allows users to create visually rich, engaging content for virtually any media: print, web, interactive, video, audio, and mobile. Now you can design across media with ease, using these improved software tools. The Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection allows you to express yourself freely and stay in the creative flow, no matter what the medium for your design, with numerous new features and improvements. The Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection includes Adobe InDesign CS4, Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Adobe Illustrator CS4, Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro, Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, Adobe Fireworks CS4, Adobe Contribute CS4, Adobe After Effects CS4, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, Adobe Soundbooth CS4, Adobe OnLocation CS4, and Adobe Encore CS4. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection has virtually every software package one might need to create content for most any media.
Schools, Faculty, Students, and Staff of K-12 schools, colleges, or universities can receive significant discounts on Adobe CS4 software through Genesis Technologies.
Genesis Technologies offers academic discounts on software for students, faculty, and staff of K-12 schools, colleges, and universities. We also offer discounts on software for 501(c)3 non-profit organizations. To see if you qualify

Adobe Flash - Programming

2008-11-25T22:17:00.001-08:00

Quite often, clients will ask for some kind of animation incorporated into their design. Some common uses of animation in websites are banners, logos, and navigational buttons. One of the most popular authoring environments for creating these animations is Macromedia Flash. Not only can Flash be used to create the elements mentioned above, it can be used to create entire websites or applications which are much more interactive than traditional HTML sites. It can also be used to create animated cartoons, games, and for displaying video on websites – YouTube being a good example.Flash content can be viewed through any internet browser which supports the Adobe Flash Player. Flash content can also be viewed on selected mobile and non-PC devices that support a Flash Player plugin.The Flash authoring environment supports a wide range of file formats, covering images, audio, and video. Having the ability to display high quality raster - or bitmap - images allows the user to create slideshows or add interactivity to images that are otherwise static. However, Flash’s real power lies in its ability to create vector graphics; using this form of artwork helps to cut down on file sizes which helps to keep animations running smoothly, and games performing as the developer intended. This is particularly true for older or slower computers.Another powerful feature of Flash is its scripting language, ActionScript. Using programming allows the developer to create Flash ‘movies’ which are dynamic, can perform complex calculations, communicate with server side applications, and generally, allow a great deal more control over animations and user interactions.At T-Enterprise, we use the Flash Authoring environment to create custom games for our clients. These range from simple puzzles to more complex platform games. The client will usually give us a brief of what they are looking for; usually it will require a theme that corresponds to the product or service which they provide. ActionScript allows us to create game ‘engines’ that can simulate real world physics, such as gravity and collision detection. As a result, our games offer high levels of interactivity whilst retaining the initial idea that the client suggested.Use of, and support for Flash continues to grow, as does the number people who use the internet. Having a viral element – such as a game or video clip - on your website may help to increase traffic to your pages.

Adobe Flash is Open: the Beginning of SEO for Flash?

2008-11-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

The revolutionary software creator Adobe Systems Inc. has teased SEO consultants across the web by announcing the opening of Flash. But, it is simply another effort to popularize its Flash player through the Open Screen Project.The Open Screen Project will allow flash developers to publish content and applications on desktop and mobile gadgets.Adobe did not mention anything about including solutions to make web content available for search engines. This project will just give further support to Flash industry architects, open access to its licenses and related code details, as well as pulling out all restrictions related to the application’s use.Although I agree with a statement from Adobe's CEO, "Adobe Flash Player is the world’s most pervasive client runtime," because of its creative options, as an SEO consultant I have to say that Flash should only be used to enhance the user experience in very specific areas of a website.Flash-based websites are just invisible to search engines. From a usability standpoint, we always discourage our clients from even featuring a 15 second splash video on their websites; most of the time users do not watch them.Adobe Flash hides your rich content from search engines, and they usually have difficulties following links.Until Adobe announces an SEO-friendly Flash version, that is to say, a Flash model that allows search engines to read and follow links from content and menus --- making it organically crawl-able for search engines, I do not think that any search engine optimization consultant nor interactive marketing agency will recommend the use of Flash.For companies that "must" have Flash versions of their websites, they should be simply that; Flash versions. The main version and landing pages of their websites should always be HTML based. You can always provide users with a link to the Flash version. Just make sure you hide these from crawlers (define) in the robots file (define).And as we always put forward, try to measure this with web analytics to support your experiment. You will be amazed about your findings.

How to Build a Flash Game – Flash Beginners Guide 101

2008-07-31T18:07:00.001-07:00

Gaming is popular world wide and most people play games without knowing how a game is actually made. It takes inspiration, verve, technology, and more to create a game that captures the mind and heart of players all over the world.The first step to making a game is to have a story. The story or plot is thought about and developed by game designers or players. Once the game is conceptualized, writers and artists work together on the storyboard and create sketches of the sequence with instructions for the technology team. The sketches are then scanned on to a computer and the next step is to breathe life into the story and characters.Among the many ways to create a game a popular solution is Macromedia Flash MX. This allows the creation of rich, graphic and multimedia driven gaming. Flash has a player, authoring tool, and a file format. Flash allows game developers to use:• Rich graphics.• Create files that are user friendly and can be downloaded over the internet.• Allows the import of graphic formats. This means designers can use Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, or Fireworks to develop the game as long as the graphics are vector.• Flash lends itself to the creation of quality graphics that can be broadcast over the internet.Flash can be used to create action, adventure, educational, first-person shooter, puzzle, sports, or role playing games. The actual process of creating a game is complex but involves:• Creating the characters. Sketches are fine tuned until they are perfect. These are then transformed into 3D characters. The figures are scanned into a computer and a digital skeleton is created. This is what defines the size, shape, and movements of any figure in a game. • Next the programmers use Flash to bring movement and emotions into the figures of the game. • Movement and characterization of the figures is followed by special effects and creation of the environment. Skies, clouds, wind, reflections, shadows, and more add mystery and atmosphere to the game. Flash allows developers to produce realistic and complex environments. It is the environment that gives life and motion to a game. The 3D effects are created using polygons along with texture mapping. • This is followed by coding. Codes are instructions written by developers that lends intelligence to the game and drives a game forward. The more complex a code the more thrilling a game. Codes establish logic to a game and generate the excitement and uniqueness.• Once the coding is done the testing begins. The testing helps the developer fine tune the game before it is marketed. This is when the game is rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. The rating indicates the appropriateness of the game for different age groups. Flash is user friendly and therefore popular software with game developers. The World Wide Web offers Flash Tutorials for those interested in developing games. There are articles and tips and guidelines as well.

Using Flash in Good Web Design

2008-07-31T18:05:00.004-07:00

Using Flash in Good Web Design
There seems to be a constant back and forth between programmers,systems developers, and web designers, not to mention users andmerchants, about whether or not Flash is a good thing or a bad thing.You hear arguments on both sides, and they can both be convincing.If you know someone in I.T. in Denver,Flash design has probably come up in conversation before. The truthis that Flash design is a very individual decision.
So what is all the fuss about? Many moons ago when Flash technologyfirst came out and the Macromedia Flash Player arrived on the scene,there were very few machines that had the software or even the hardwareto play this stuff. Flash is basically the technology behind movingpictures on a website. It is responsible for the swirling graphics yousee when you open an architecture firm's splash page and the mini moviepreview or commercial you see on Yahoo! when you do a search formovies.
When it comes to Flash design, Denver has some great minds. You can find quality webdesign that includes Flash elements to suit your company's style,goals, and marketing scheme. A professional team is the best way to getthis done, as it takes a trained Flash designer to really give yousomething seamless and highly functional.
And here is where the con side of the argument comes in. Some peoplesay that Flash components on a website are just showy and take way toolong to download. Well, five years ago, this was an accurate argument.Actually, even a year ago there were still a relatively large number ofinternet users who were still using a dial-up connection.
If you think back to the early days of the internet and how long ittook you to watch those first Flash videos your friends sent you, orhow impatient you became waiting for a website to load that hadanimated graphics on its splash page, you know why this argument hassurvived. But today, it is increasingly obsolete.
The majority of internet users today have high speed internetconnections of some sort, as the affordability of this technology hasincreased. This means that the chances you will exclude a potentialcustomer with your animated intro are close to nil. So Denver Flashdesign is on the rise.
A professional web designer who has experience with Flash design canwrite a program that is customized to your needs. They can create athing of real beauty and excitement. Flash adds a touch of life to yourotherwise static website. Remember that you customers want to feel likethey are connected to you when they visit your website. By giving themanimated components to view, you create a richer user experience to aidin this feeling.
There are so many ways that Flash can be used today that it would be ashame for you not to investigate how it could help your site. Frominteractive virtual salespeople to virtual makeovers, the possibilitiesare becoming endless.
This article was written by Sytsma Morris-Reeves. Mr. Morris-Reevesruns NewMediaDenver,an Internet technology company located indowntown Denver, Colorado (http://www.NewMediaDenver.com).Mr.Morris-Reeves is a highly respected Denver SEO Expert since 10years, and he constantly develops and stays current with all the latestSEO and Link BuildingTechniques.

Flash 101 - The Basics

2008-07-31T18:05:00.003-07:00

Have you ever been to a web site that asks you to download Macromedia Flash? Have you ever seen a Flash button on a web site that had a lot of animation and seemed very hi-tech? If so, you may have wondered what exactly Flash is. Flash is not a new technology, but it is still used in many different ways on the Internet today.
Flash can refer to Macromedia Flash player, and to refer to the program used to create Flash content. Some may wonder what exactly Flash does. Flash is a program that is used to create games and movies that can be put on the Internet. Interactive web sites are also made with Flash. Most web browsers support Macromedia Flash. Flash supports vectors, raster graphics, and ActionScript, which is a scripting language. Finally, Flash can stream audio and video at the same time.
Flash was first introduced in 1996. At that time, most browsers did not have Flash capabilities. However, the amount of browsers with Flash compatibility rose dramatically in a very short amount of time. Businesses started to pay web designers to design sites utilizing Flash. Flash is frequently used with web pages to make them more interactive and even more professional in some cases. Some web pages have animated flash introductions. Advertisements have also been created using Flash. Flash files are generally given a .swf file extension and can appear either within a web page or can be played in Flash Player.
Many people prefer using Flash to other technologies when creating web sites. Some people use animated GIFs. GIF images are really just looped and so they do not take that much memory. However, many people prefer Flash because the user can control the animations. GIFs are limited to 256 colors, while Flash can have millions. Java Applets are other another medium for Flash-like animations. However, some find the programming language too difficult. Flash programming is very easy in comparison to other types of programming, so more inexperienced persons can make interesting animations with Flash.
Macromedia Flash has to be purchased. Once commonly heard complaint is that the software is very expensive. However, there are other programs besides Macromedia's that can create flash banners and animations. These are often less expensive and can be a good alternative for the budget-minded webmaster looking for a cheap and easy way to create a Flash banner or animation.

Using Flash Slideshow In Your Web Design

2008-07-31T18:05:00.001-07:00

If you looking for a flash slide show solution with thumbnail preview, it would be helpful to see lots of thumbnails and load dynamically, with advanced visual effects, the bigger image if the thumbnail is clicked.Now this is a lot of work with Macromedia Flash and you need a good Flash skill; the cost of this quality will be very expensive.The Flash software is quite complicated, but the results can be well worth the effort, .for many people it just seems too expensive and complicated option.However, there are many simple and cost-effective web design solutions available that will create a quality flash slideshow for as little as a few dollars.You can't afford to pay a web site designer to design a Flash slideshow for you.So how do you get around this problem? Actually it is very easy, and as always there are options!Do-It-YourselfThe solution is the stand alone program that allows you to construct a flash slideshow without knowing any Macromedia Flash. Among the better ones is A2 Flash slideshow Editor which comes in two softwares: BUILDER and COMPOSER.Think of these as personal and business.How it work:A2 Flash slideshow Editor is very easy to use, in 5 steps, with the A2 Flash BUILDER, you create, in minutes, your flash slideshow with thumbnails, transitions, zoom, interactive controls and advanced visual effects. Your clients will be absolutely jazzed by the flash slideshow You will produce for their websites.Step 1: Add Images, text and sound. Step 2 choose your flash slideshow templates from a great number of these. Step 3: Add effects, transition and much more. Step 4: Publish your flash slideshow. That's all.Customizing your A2 Flash slideshow Templates with A2 Flash COMPOSER is easy Step 1: From A2 Flash BUILDER select the Flash template to modify.Step 2: Launch the Composer Sw.Step 3: Change position, dimensions, animations, masks and much more like you want.Step 4: See preview. Step 5 Create in seconds your 100% customized Flash template.By purchasing a sw like A2 Flash slideshow Editor you will greatly reduce the cost of the design and as a bonus, you will know from the start what it will look like when it is finished.Okay, here's the way to do a perfect Flash slideshow.

Significance of Flash Designing and Macromedia Flash

2008-07-31T18:04:00.002-07:00

Making website design in flash is not a big deal today. Every second web development company offers flash animation services. Sometimes videos inserted in websites seem to be very irritating and tiring for the spectator. The solution to this problem is Macromedia Flash, which can produce flash videos with a higher quality and stability, and are much more enjoyable for a site visitor.
Macromedia flash application requires trained professional flash designers who are experienced in the field. It ensures a richer media experience, especially for video compression. Many websites rely on the flash videos for increased site traffic and greater net profits. They utilize them as important advertising tools. A good flash web design templates will be a strong backbone that can manage everything effectively.
Website design in flash can be conveyed in vector format, which indicates that image quality and file size are not dependant on each other. Increased numbers of professional flash designers are turning to vector designing for better flash results. When a flash video is formed, it undergoes various procedures like manipulation, scaling, and rotation, before it is finally made available to the customers.
Macromedia Flash gives the designers greater exposure and a chance to showcase their talent. It also gives designers better market opportunities. Macromedia flash has made possible the creation of websites with flexible format and content that have the capability to adjust to smaller screens.
Macromedia flash designs do not require the users to download or install player. Instead, a simple click would start playing the flash animations. This allows sites to reach a complete audience, including those with a slower Internet connection.
The usage of flash web design templates have many benefits for its users:
• Creation of animation through flash gives better results. It has been used originally as an animation tool. The designs created in flash can more easily be developed and viewed.
• Games designed through flash are devoid of the browser support issues of Ajax. Thus, there is no bandwidth limitation from the server side.
• Flash web design templates are supported by almost 95-98% of web browsers. Therefore a website built with flash applications can be easily viewed on computers with flash plug-in connections. It can be said that flash is browser independent.
• If the user has a vector-graphic tool installed in their hard drive, they can create better vector graphics through flash with high picture quality.
• A tool called Scalable Inman Flash Replacement can substitute text with design in flash. This is a specialized flash designing tool.
The above mentioned benefits of websites with flash usage clearly indicate why this tool is becoming increasingly popular.

Macromedia Flash For Newbies

2008-07-31T18:04:00.001-07:00

"Flashers" are not just strange men wearing their birthday suit under their long trench coat- it's now used when referring to a group of individuals that use Macromedia Flash software. 2 dimensional animations are ideal for website designers, while those who make presentations on their computer can create interactive and truly memorable productions for all to see and "wow!" at. The truth is, the world has become a much more active (in more ways than one), colorful (in a number of ways) since Macromedia Flash hit the market in 1997.
Basic HTML served it purpose nicely before Flash came along and made it look quite boring. Flashers often look at HTML as antiquated, as Flash produces such a higher quality result through any computer medium. Web surfers are definitely more enamored with the use of Flash on a website, as opposed to HTML for basically the same reasons as the flashers- but more for a personal visual preference than a technical one- it just plain looks better.
To coincide with the remarkable impact that Flash has made with computer animation and websites, over 90% of all desktop computers around the globe have the Flash Player installed, making it very easy for viewers to get the full flash effect and enjoy whatever it is they're watching. The audio impact of flash is just as much of a "wow" as the visual, for without it just wouldn't "POP!"- Coordinating the two together is just one of the many amazing attributes of Flash.
Flash creates its exciting websites and animation with the use of a program language called ActionScript, and has done so since the inception of Flash 2. Vectors and raster graphics add to the versatility of the program, helping to create a more interactive experience for those who choose to use it. Flash is saved under the filing extension of .swf (small web file)
Contrary to the popular belief of the Non- Flash savvy, flash is as simple to run as any other program, you just need to have the right teaching element to guide you through. Just as anything new can seem quite overwhelming, so can Flash and ActionScript. But just as anything worth knowing takes a bit of time, effort and determination, so does Flash and Actionscript. The results will certainly be worth the time and effort that you've put into it, as you will be able to create websites and presentations that will simply be the envy of all who see them.

Macromedia Flash 8 Course by Teachmeit

2008-07-31T18:02:00.000-07:00

TeachMeIT provides online training on Macromedia flash 8 to make your Web site dynamic and more interactive. To make your Web site attractive and appealing, you need to have the right quotient of designs, color combinations, and interactivity. Flash 8 enables you to infuse dynamism and interactivity into your Web site. You can also create small files that require less bandwidth and can be easily downloaded. Flash can also be used with other Web development tools.Flash is an authoring environment used to create high-impact, fully interactive, and animated Web sites. You can use Flash to create movies containing navigation controls, animated logos, and complex animations with synchronized sound. Flash supports a robust, fully featured object-oriented Action Script 2.0 similar to JavaScript. Action Script enables you to create highly interactive animations. Further, you can integrate Flash movies with other Web applications such as HTML and XML. Flash also supports Macromedia Generator, a server-based application that dynamically updates Flash graphics and animation using external data sources.Flash is available in two versions, Macromedia Flash Basic 8 and Macromedia Flash Professional 8. Flash Basic 8 provides all-important functionalities required for creating interactive movies and animations. Flash Professional 8 includes all features of Flash Basic 8. In addition, you can use Flash Professional 8 for authoring complex animations and content for mobile devices.In addition to the enhancements provided by both versions of the software, Flash Professional 8 provides certain additional features that enable you to create and manage complex animations.The most common method of viewing a movie is to use Internet browsers, such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, which are equipped with Flash player. You can also play the movie in Flash player installed with the Flash application. Further, you can create the movie as a Flash stand-alone projector that can be viewed with a self-contained Flash player included within the movie. You can also view the movie with the Flash ActiveX control in Microsoft Office. In addition, you can export the movie or a section of the movie in other file formats.Flash provides several improved learning aids that help new and advanced users learn to operate the program. Flash provides two kinds of help, online and offline. In online help, interactive lessons and samples appear in your Web browser. Flash also provides a variety of online resources such as a regularly updated Web site.To access the offline learning aids available in Flash, you need to display the Help panel. You do this by selecting the Help - Flash Help command or pressing .For more information please visit:http://www.teachmeit.com/MM/MMA/content.asp

Macromedia Flash 8 Course by Teachmeit

2008-05-16T02:29:00.000-07:00

How Flash Text Animation Can Help You

2008-05-15T23:36:00.001-07:00

What is Flash Text Animation?Flash text animation is exactly what it sounds like. On your web page, you turn plain text into text that is moving, full of colors and life. It looks even better than it sounds, trust me. Flash text animation is growing more and more popular, and graphic designers are finding that flash text animation gives web site a high-tech, glossy, more professional look.
Sure, you can have plain text on your site. But when your competition has flashing, animated, interesting text, viewers may like those sites better - which can be bad for business. In the world of the Internet, having page viewers is the key to success. You want people to come to your site, so you have to keep up with (and even outdo) the competition. Flash text animation is a great way to get your site looking professional, interesting, and lively.
How Flash Text Animation Can Help YouFlash text animation will make your site look more interesting graphically, giving it an overall well-done feel and professionalism. This will bring visitors back time and again, and help to draw in traffic for your site. The average Internet cruiser looks at twenty to forty different sites a day - having flash text animation on your site can help set you apart from the rest. You want visitors not only to come to your site, but also to remember your web site. This will bring in repeat visitors, which means more business for you and your site.
Flash text animation very simply looks good, and people want their web sites to look good. It makes your site a more lively and interesting piece of the Internet to visit, and will make you look like a professional web site designer. No one has to know how easy flash text animation can really be.
Flash Text Animation ProgramsTo be honest, designing your own flash text animation can be a very long and tedious process. You have to really know what you're doing and go through a series of careful steps before you get any hint of animation to your text at all. Even very clever web site designers have trouble designing flash text animation.
And because it's so hard, there are about a thousand programs you can get online to make the whole thing a lot easier. That's one of the reasons the Internet is so great - it's great for taking shortcuts. If carefully designing your text and spending hours and hours working with the bones of your web site doesn't sound appealing, don't worry - that doesn't sound appealing to many people.
There are many free flash text animation programs that you can find online, and download for your own personal use. Using flash text animation programs is usually as simple as clicking some buttons and working your way through some pull-down menus. In a matter of minutes, you can add flash text animation to your site without a lot of hassle or even web site design. A simple search on the Internet will yield many different programs that you can try for free to create your own flash text animation.
Flash Text AnimationIf it makes your site look better, if it's easy to do, and if it means more traffic to your site, there's no reason not to give it a try. Flash text animation will give your site a professional look that you and your visitors will enjoy.

Why Flash Website Design Can be More Appealing and Attractive

2008-05-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

Design is the most crucial thing in a website. Website designing is an important aspect in the web development process. This is because it is a website’s design which speaks to the customer and invites him to explore the site, buy a product or try a service. Only design allures users. Design is like a hook that can win customers for a Company. Hence, website designing has to be given due importance. In fact, great care has to be taken while designing a website. There are several elements that make a good website design. A major feature of your website design is navigation. A website is effective only if it is easy to read and navigate. The design should invite readers to explore the site and read its content. The colors must be used properly. If they are not attractive to the user, then they may leave from visiting your site again. Flash is a feature which can increase a site’s appealing nature. It can create a dynamic, fresh and young feel to a website. Flash website design has more advantages in than a normal website. It helps in creating a good-looking, interactive and vibrant website. It can also be used to make games and movies to be further displayed in a web site. The major factors of a website’s design are its color effects, lights, visual effects, positioning and size of its contents. It is very essential to prepare a website that is well designed and easy to navigate. It is crucial to attract visitors and retain them. Flash web design solutions can be much more than eye candy productions. This technology also allows designers to create and develop animations and interactive images that can be embedded into a single web page. Website designs can be easily developed on Flash. Flash websites are powerful and impressive. Flash can be a very effective tool when used properly. Nowadays, millions of websites use flash to display products, showcase services, and entertain web visitors. Flash is very efficient when used to market products among prospective customers. Since Flash is very colorful, flashy and dynamic, it appeals to the visitors in an interactive and appealing manner. The main advantage of using flash is that it allows animation in websites. The sites look professional with the help of flash animation on the pages. Flash animation is created using Adobe Flash animation software. They have become the best way to showcase the overview of an enterprise. Flash animations are very attractive and interactive and help a lot in website brand campaigning. When choosing a company to design a Flash presentation for your website, make sure that they follow best practices. There are few practices to be followed for a good Flash design. The images that you use for your presentation should be attractive in order to catch the eyes of all your visitors. Insert small animations to make the Flash more vivid-looking. Colors and the layout that you choose should fit with the overall look and feel of the site. The product images that you include should be as large as possible. It is better to make them bold and clear. Finally, Flash Website Design is the right choice if you are searching for the best design solution for your website.

Watch the End of the World - a Flash Animation

2008-05-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

According to astronomers, the Earth should last for at least five billion more years before the sun becomes a red giant. Due to the sun's loss of mass the Earth would escape to an orbit at a further distance than its current orbit.Have a look at this very funny, entertaining flash animation. It's another person's view about what the end of the world will be caused by.Make sure you bookmark the page so you can show someone in the future.The End of the WorldI did not create this animation myself. Jason Windor is the man responsible for creating this wonderful, entertaining flash animation. I have read he is from California and now works on stuff for companies like Nike and ESPN. How did I come across this flash animation? One day while browsing the net using search terms like "best flash animation" and "funny flash animation" this great comedy fell in front of me. To this day, everytime I watch this funny flash animation, I laugh pretty hard.

Become a Master of Graphic Design

2008-05-03T13:32:00.001-07:00

Graphic design is a creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas. It is the process of communicating visually using typography and images to present information, usually used whenever visual intricacy and creativity are needed to present text and imagery. It can also be applied to the layout and formatting of educational material to make the information more accessible and more easily understood.Designing a masterpiece graphically is the art of combining text and graphics to communicate an effective message. It is primarily used in the design of logos, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and other type of visual communication. Graphic design is the use of words and images to pass on information or to create a certain visual effect. This art form is sometimes referred to as commercial art because of its application to advertising and its vital contribution to business function.Graphic design practice embraces a range of cognitive skills, aesthetics and crafts, including typography, visual arts and page layout. Graphic designers have a unique ability to sell a product or idea through effective visual communications, and are asked to perform the difficult task of being creative every single day.Combining visual communication skills with the interactive communication skills of user interaction and online branding, graphic designers often work with web developers to create both the look and feel of a web site and enhance the online experience of web site visitors. Color is also another powerful way of helping users find their way around a site, and color coding sections of the site helps users identify where they are.Graphic design adds a visual and emotional context to the purely cognitive text on the site. The primary tool for this art form is, of necessity, the creative mind. With the advent of computers and software applications, the task of the designer has become a little easier, as these have provided more effective production tools than traditional methods. It is a creative profession and things that were once only conceived in the mind are brought to life through skills and imagination.There is a downside to the inclusion of graphic design on websites. Many designers have tried to force the Web to be what it is not, creating ineffective and sometimes unusable websites. There is a tendency to forget that words, and not images, are the building blocks for the vast majority of websites. People are strongly visually orientated, and their response to the website's aesthetics and visual structure plays a strong part in how they interact with it as a whole.The mid 1980s heralded the arrival of desktop publishing and the introduction of graphic art software applications. This introduced a generation of designers to computer image manipulation and 3D image creation that had previously been a tedious and intensive process. Today's graphic designers often use desktop publishing software and techniques to achieve their goals.Graphic design requires that the advocate must continually keep up to date with the development of new and updated software, usually either on their own or through software training programs. Contrary to popular belief, anybody with the right software can not necessarily do it, creativity is the biggest attribute that needs to be added.Graphic design is not just a case of being fluent in some type of software, but also about communication, solving visual problems, and imagination. The tools that are now available do not detract from the need for creative imagination, rather just make the performance of the task easier, and perhaps open the floodgates to applications that may have been out of reach previously.

Tips on Graphic Design

2008-05-03T13:31:00.001-07:00

Understanding Graphic Design: Graphic design is the art or profession of visual communication that combines images, words, and ideas to convey information to an audience.A graphic designer is responsible for arranging and using elements on different types of media (such as a poster, a package or a website), most likely with the use of a graphics software program such as Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop or InDesign. These elements include:• Photos • Illustrations • Type • Shapes • Color • Texture Forms of Graphic Design.The most common forms include:• Logos • Websites • Business Cards • Advertisements • Brochures • Billboards • Product Packaging • Posters • Book Design • Magazine Layout • Newspaper Layout • Greeting Cards Tool Kits for Graphic DesignThere are several tools that are essential to graphic design.A ComputerIn today's design world, a computer and graphics software are essential as your design tool and your business tool. Graphic Software:Graphics software programs are key to your success. The Adobe Creative Suite is extremely popular among designers. The Corel Graphics Suite and Quark are also popular for design work. Software includes:• Photoshop, for photo retouching and creating graphic elements • Illustrator, for creating illustrations such as logos • InDesign, for page and book layouts • Flash, for creating animated, interactive website • Dreamweaver, for website development Design BooksIt's very helpful to build up your own small library of graphic design books. For creative inspiration pick up some books featuring top work in different categories such as brochure, logo or album cover design that cover the business and technical side of design. A SketchpadIt's also important to always keep a small sketchpad or notepad handy, as you can forget a great idea as fast as you thought of it. You can sketch out ideas on sketchpad whenever you have new ideas.Steps for Design Project:I) Research: It is always necessary to know what your client needs first. You should have a meeting to discuss the scope of the work. It is important to research sufficiently the tropic 2) Create an Outline:You should develop an outline of the content and goal of the project, which you can present to your client for approval before proceeding. You should take into consideration, factors such as audience, message, and number of pages, dimensions, budget, deadline, existing corporate brand, and logo before finalizing your content. You also need to draw simple sketches and getting several rounds of approval on designs.For web design, wireframes are a great way to start with your page layouts.3) Revisions You should encourage "mixing and matching" the designs you provide. Clients may like the background color on one design and the font choices on another. Feel free to give your opinion on what looks best. It is not uncommon to have a couple more rounds of changes before reaching a final design.4) Final Design : You should discuss the design with group or team about all ideas. You can visit Museum for inspiration and read relevant books. You can put down ideas on pageAnd decide structured layout. You should use all your creativity to come up with something new and different.5) Proposal: After carefully following all steps, you can move to create actualDesign and submit the proposal to your client with logo, estimation of cost.

Computer Graphics

2008-05-03T13:30:00.001-07:00

Some still hold the opinion that graphics and art is a mind thing and one cannot become a graphics artist just by tweaking some shots in a computer. Creativity may still be elusive but there is little doubt that computer generated imagery and graphics have taken art to a new level. With the availability of new and better graphics tools an artist has more time to do things which he does best ......creating . It used to be domain of Mac's, high end graphics workstations with the whiz kids hunched on its big impressive screen. But soon a slew of PC based graphics suites hit the market, turning every kid into a master craftsman. Adobe Photoshop may be considered to be a pioneer in this field. Corel's Photopaint and Paint Shop Pro were and are being used widely even today. Windows based graphics software has made computer graphics accessible to the common man. With the advent of digital cameras, need for enhancing and improving family photos has lead to phenomenal growth of home grown studios. The pace has quickened with cameras mounted on mobile phones. The number of formats for graphics files has also increased with the times. Starting with the humble bit map file, bmp other popular formats are JPEG, TIFF, GIF and TARGA (.tga).Adobe PhotoshopThe field of computer graphics would not be complete without the mention of Adobe Photoshop. In fact, it can be considered as the Microsoft windows of the graphics world. The Photoshop tools make retouching, manipulation and color correction possible within a few minutes as compared to many days used by professional photographers using traditional tools. Photoshop uses its own native format .psd for storing files. The layer information can be preserved in this format, permitting the user to effect changes at a later date. However the native format .psd gives rise to large and heavy files which are rather difficult to transfer to other computers. Photoshop can also work with several other graphics file formats like BMP, JPEG, and Gif etc. It is also capable of importing vector graphics. In the latest version, it is also possible to work on several digital camera formats making it easy for home users to manipulate digital images.Along with several other Adobe software, Photoshop can be used to create images not only for the print media but also for the internet, animation and motion pictures.An important feature of Photoshop is the plug-ins. With plug-ins the capability of Photoshop is extended phenomenally. In fact, a sub culture or mini world has developed under the umbrella of plug-ins. Effects such as grain, lens flare, degauss etc. are quite popular. Color correction and manipulation is an important feature of Photoshop, lending magic to real world images.Adobe Photoshop software is a pioneer in the field of computer graphics. It is moderately priced and is suitable for manipulating high resolution graphics. It can convert into a variety of graphics formats which are suited both for the print as well as web-sites.

Graphic Design Software

2008-05-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

In this fast growing virtual world, the element of graphic designing cannot be denied. The concept of graphic designing is nothing but to present visual communication using topography and images to provide relevant and useful present information to attract people. With the graphic designing tools, you can create an interesting mix of presenting various kinds of information in attractive formats to increase the overall users’ base. The element of graphic design is always presents in our lives in many ways. Whether you read a book, you will come across many illustrations and designing, watching a movie will give you lots of animation and other interesting patterns to enjoy, which simply explains the usability of graphic designing.Having a command on graphic designing software can help you to create a good web design that will fulfill the needs of the business and the market as well. Graphics software programs are also a key to your success. In graphic design, many software are used to give an expression to the creativity. This modern software not only brings efficiency to the work but also give you many ways to play with graphics and create wonders. There are several tools that are essential to graphic design. Here is a list of what is absolutely necessary to work in graphic design, as well as some things that are recommended.While there are of course a lot to choose from, the Adobe Creative Suite is extremely popular among designers. This package includes an array of software which will help you to generate better graphics for your websites.Photoshop, for photo retouching and creating graphic elements Illustrator, for creating illustrations such as logos InDesign, for page and book layouts Flash, for creating animated, interactive websites Dreamweaver, for website development The Corel Graphics Suite and Quark are also popular for design work.Graphic design services are getting a bounce in this showcasing world, where making a good website is absolutely necessary. Fro a customized graphic designing, you can contact graphic design India services and get the best of creativity and fulfill your dreams. Indian professional are equipped with all the latest technology ad software and skilled in their work. You can get the bets quality work in comparatively less time and enjoy the flavor of the growing market place.

Graphics Software provides multiple ASCII Art resources

2008-05-03T13:22:00.002-07:00

Magic ASCII Studio v2.2 provides ASCII Art generation platform for creation of ASCII Art Words, Photos, and Animations. It can take image and process it into HTML, RTF, BMP, or TEXT file of color-coded text characters that, when combined, resemble image. Software also supports .JPG, .GIF, and .ICO files and includes built-in image editor. Users can also make individual ASCII Art Signatures for use in e-mails, documents, or Web-based forums.

Magic ASCII Studio is a powerful ASCII Art generation platform. You can make ASCII Art Words, ASCII Art Photos and even ASCII Art Animations easily by using Magic ASCII Studio. Magic ASCII Studio can take an image and process it to an HTML, RTF, BMP or TEXT file of color-coded text characters, that when combined, resemble an image. It is an ASCII Art Photo. And the files are very worthy of being published to the Web or in the document. Also, you can make your individual ASCII Art Signatures in Magic ASCII Studio. Use them in your e-mails, documents or even in the forums on the web will be a good idea. In Magic ASCII Studio, drawing your own ASCII Art Photos is like drawing a picture in the Paint application of Windows. All these are very easy, no experience need.
Magic ASCII Studio can support add-in(s) which can enhance the functions of Magic ASCII Studio easily. And we will develop different kinds of add-in(s) for Magic ASCII Studio in the future.
A lot of ASCII Art resources have been embedded in the software. You can use, modify and manage them in Magic ASCII Studio. It's convenient to use.

Very Easy and Very Wonderful!
Key features of Magic ASCII Studio:
- Make ASCII Art Word(s), Photos and Animations
- Visual ASCII Art making process
- .BMP, .JPG, .GIF, and .ICO files support
- Convert image to HTML, RTF, BMP and TEXT files
- A lot of output modes for ASCII Art Photos/Animations
- Many effects for the image you want to process
- Built-In Image Editor for processing the image quickly
- Add-in(s) support
- ASCII Art resource management support
- Windows XP appearance (in Win XP)
...
Create your own beautiful and wonderful ASCII Art Photos by Magic ASCII Studio!
COPYRIGHT 2005 ThomasNet, IncorporatedCOPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

Software offers control graphics for application developers

2008-05-03T13:22:00.001-07:00

VantagePoint WPF Controls is suite of user interface components aimed for software developers and designers using Microsoft .NET 3.0 and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) as the platform for their software products. It provides customizable buttons, tanks, pipes, sliders, radial and linear gauges, motors, and other controls that can be used in WPF Windows or Web applications. Each control has dozens of properties for configuring look and feel of component.

CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla., Sept. 25 / / -- MOBIFORM Software, Inc., a software development firm focused on emerging XML based graphic technologies has released a new suite of controls for use by Windows application developers creating software for Windows XP and Vista. VantagePoint WPF Controls was unveiled at the National Manufacturer's Week Assembly/ Electronics Conference in Rosemont, IL on September 25th.
VantagePoint WPF Controls is a suite of user interface components designed for use by software developers and designers using Microsoft .NET 3.0 and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) as the platform for their software products. The highly customizable Buttons, Tanks, Pipes, Sliders, Radial and Linear Gauges, Motors and other user interface controls can be used in WPF Windows or Web applications. Each control has dozens of properties for configuring the look and feel of the component.

VantagePoint WPF Controls is designed for use in highly graphical applications like those found in industrial control systems (SCADA and HMI), medical, financial and manufacturing software applications. Written entirely in WPF, VantagePoint WPF Controls can participate in data binding and styling and is compatible with MOBIFORM's Aurora XAML Designer product, as well as Visual Studio and Expression Blend by Microsoft.
Founded in 2003, MOBIFORM identified early the leading role that XML would play in graphics, multimedia, and interface design and development in the upcoming decade. XML based graphics are becoming significant not only for software development, but for the enrichment of the user experience on the Internet. MOBIFORM's focus is on WPF, XAML and Silverlight from Microsoft. MOBIFORM has been involved in these technologies since 2004 and provides products and expertise in software engineering, developer training, and consulting.
For more information on MOBIFORM and VantagePoint WPF Controls, please visit www.mobiform.com.
Names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Source: MOBIFORM Software, Inc.
CONTACT: Debra Gardner of MOBIFORM Software, Inc., +1-352-564-9610, dgardner@mobiform.com
Web site: http://www.mobiform.com/
COPYRIGHT 2007 ThomasNet, IncorporatedCOPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group

Multimedia Graphics Software aids ad agency personnel

2008-05-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

AdWonder 9.0 Flash Component enables creative agency personnel to create ads using Adobe[R] Flash[R] CS3 Professional and Flash Media server solutions. Software allows users to design, build, preview, test, and approve ads while in Adobe Flash environments. Features include work flow efficiencies, audience research, creative support, elimination of coding, MySpaceIM support, ActionScript compatibility, demo creation, BandwidthDetect, and hidden cross-platform background service.
ATLANTA, July 12 - EyeWonder, Inc., rich media and digital video's fastest-growing technology innovator, today announced the launch of its AdWonder 9.0 Flash Component, the latest version of its revolutionary video and rich media advertising authoring tool. With this launch, EyeWonder has become the first Adobe solutions partner to assist the advertising community using Adobe[R] Flash[R] CS3 Professional and Flash Media server solutions.
"The AdWonder 9.0 Component will streamline production and distribution of rich media and video advertisements created using Adobe Flash CS3 Professional," said John Vincent, CEO of EyeWonder. "It gives agencies and advertisers what they need to focus on what they do best: leverage their creative capabilities to produce increasingly compelling rich media and interactive video advertising that drive rich results for the industry as a whole."
AdWonder 9.0 gives agency creative personnel the power to design, build, preview, test and approve any EyeWonder rich media and video ad unit without ever leaving the Adobe Flash environment - drastically reducing the time needed to deliver traffic-ready video and rich media ads.
"The AdWonder 9.0 Flash Component is advanced, powerful and easy to use," said Christian Anthony, CEO of New York-based Special Ops Media. "It enables us to bring our full creative capabilities to bear through Adobe's latest version of Flash and harness the richness of today's Internet to create brand experiences that fulfill and exceed campaign objectives."
With the release of the AdWonder 9.0 Flash Component, EyeWonder also announced it has been named the first and only Premier Adobe Solutions Partner focused on rich media advertising.
"Improving customer experience and providing seamless workflows are at the core of our CS3 family of products, and the integration of the AdWonder Component furthers this direction for developers using Adobe Flash CS3 Professional," said Simon Hayhurst, director of product management, Adobe Dynamic Media. "By providing the advertising community additional functionality within Flash authoring and Flash Media server solutions, EyeWonder shares our goal of ensuring that they can rapidly develop and easily deliver rich interactive content to the widest possible audience."
AdWonder 9.0's upgraded feature set will include all the popular features and advantages of AdWonder 8.1 such as work flow efficiencies, greater audience reach, creative support and the elimination of coding. For those creative agencies who have not yet upgraded from Macromedia Flash 8 to Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, EyeWonder is still fully supporting its highly-acclaimed Component 8.1.
Creative directors, media planners, agencies and publishers using AdWonder 9.0 will additionally benefit from:
- An advanced, user-friendly interface which is clearer and easier to navigate
- A new format to provide MySpaceIM support, comparable to the current AIM offering
- Enhanced publishing for formats with daughter windows
- Compatibility with all versions of ActionScript
- Efficient demo creation which enables users to create and modify demos without affecting the published ads
- Revolutionary BandwidthDetect class which allows designers to detect bandwidth for any purpose
- A cross-platform background service that provides native features that starts up automatically and is hidden during development
The AdWonder Flash Component has quickly become a preferred rich media authoring tool of the majority of the top agencies. During the last AdWonder Component release, eight out of the top ten interactive shops in the United States had adopted it within three months of its launch.
"EyeWonder's technology is setting a new standard for worry-free deployment and execution of rich media and digital video campaigns," said Michael Griffin, EVP of Corporate Development of EyeWonder. "Our technology powers campaigns that can be deployed on any operating system or publisher's website. This, combined with Flash - the world's most pervasive software platform, reaching more than 98 percent of all connected desktops - will enable creative directors, media planners, agencies and publishers to get the most reach out of their rich media and video ad campaigns."
AdWonder 9.0 is available for immediate upgrade.
Four-City Tour to Highlight AdWonder 9.0 and Adobe Flash CS3 Professional
EyeWonder and Adobe will jointly tour to demonstrate the full capabilities of AdWonder 9.0 and Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. Featuring Adobe and EyeWonder technical experts, these workshops will outline the capabilities afforded to advertisers and agencies through these new technologies. Presentations will be followed by Q&A and a cocktail hour. Locations and dates are as follows:
- Chicago - Hotel 71 Monday, July 16 - San Francisco - The Palomar Hotel Tuesday, July 24 - Los Angeles - Shutters on the Beach (Santa Monica) Thursday, July 26 - New York - The Shoreham Hotel Tuesday, July 31
For more information on EyeWonder's release of its all-new AdWonder Flash Component, its accompanying certification program or the four-city tour, please contact your regional EyeWonder representative or visit http://eyewonder.com/flashAds/flashComponent.cfm for more details. Existing users can upgrade to AdWonder 9.0 on http://www.unleashthewonder.com/, where they also can check out FAQs on the AdWonder Component, Component Tips & Tricks, Wiki, Creative Showcase, and much more.
About EyeWonder, Inc.
EyeWonder, Inc., is rich media and digital video's fastest-growing innovator, empowering brands and advertisers to leverage the industry's most comprehensive creative capabilities for online campaigns that are proven to deliver richer results. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company's pioneering technology enables advertisers and agencies to focus their time and energy on producing the strongest interactive ad campaigns that reach across more of today's top browsers and operating systems while eliminating inefficiencies that limit creativity and slow workflow processes. Moreover, EyeWonder delivers. A 2006 Dynamic Logic study found that the EyeWonder-powered campaigns generate a 65% increase in aided brand awareness and a 34% increase in message association, and that it leads all other top rich media providers in three out of four core brand metrics.
EyeWonder services the world's top agencies and brands, and its rich media and video ad products are accepted by more than a thousand online publishers, including Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN. For more information on Richer Media and Richer Results, please visit http://www.eyewonder.com/.
Source: EyeWonder, Inc. CONTACT: Kathleen Zakrzewski, +1-610-934-7563, mobile, +1-215-939-5709, kathleen@0to5.com, or Scott Gleeson Blue, +1-610-934-7560, mobile,
+1-215-356-7423 scott@0to5.com, both of Zer0 to 5ive, for EyeWonder, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2007 ThomasNet, IncorporatedCOPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group

Graphics Software offers network rendering control solution

2008-05-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Designed for Lightwave, Maya, Messiah Studio, 3DSmax, and XSI, ButterflyNetRender v4.0 enables 3D graphic artists to set up render farm for managing frame creation in graphic animations. Software can execute post process commands and offers rendernode grouping, scene order priority, custom batch commands, and split frame support. BNR Controller manages and distributes scenes to be rendered, while BNR Client renders scenes as instructed by controller.
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A popular network rendering controller for Lightwave, Maya, Messiah Studio, 3DSmax, and XSI has been updated with over 15 new features and improvements.

Battle Ground, WA. July 3, 2007 -- Liquid Dream Solutions today announces ButterflyNetRender 4.0, the newest version of a popular network rendering controller for Lightwave, Maya, Messiah Studio, 3DSmax, and XSI. The controller provides 3D graphic artists with a pain-free way to set up a render farm for managing frame creation in graphic animations. The software is incredibly easy to configure and use.
ButterflyNetRender technology has been given credits by many industry experts, including those from CGFocus.com, Keyframe and 3D World Magazine. It is widely used throughout the computer graphics industry to create animations and television shows. Some of the recent ones include Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Jimmy Neutron, Spy Kids 3, and Battlestar Galactica.
Many companies use ButterflyNetRender - Including NASA! - A partial list of Animation Studios can be found at our website.

As opposed to other network rendering solutions, ButterflyNetRender has some specialties that make it stand out. For example, it can "read" the settings of Lightwave, Maya and Project:Messiah scenes, letting the artist change the render settings without the need to re-create the scene. Another specialty in ButterflyNetRender is a LightWave Setup Wizard that makes it very easy to set up LightWave rendering. The controller is backed up by a fast customer support provided by email with a response usually within 12 hours or less. There is also Phone Support available as a prepaid service.
Committed to software excellence, the development team keeps ButterflyNetRender current with technology changes by adding new features to meet the needs of the computer graphics industry. Below are the most important new features in ButterflyNetRender 4.0:
o Support for Internet Rendering (without a socket connection!);
o Graphics User Interface updated;
o Frame/Thumbnail viewer
o Frame Verification improved and faster
o Rendernode RAM usage information
o Wake on LAN - RenderNode - Power saver feature
o Split frame support for (BMP, JPG, PNG, TIF, TARGA)
o Split frame Vertical slicing
o New RenderNode Group - Collection system
o LightWave RenderType: LWSN -2 & LWSN -3 support
o Maya RenderMan support
o XSI, C4D, Kray, VRay Support and more
o bnr_submit.exe command line submit system
ButterflyNetRender consists of two modules: the BNR Controller and the BNR Client. The controller will manage and distribute the scenes to be rendered, whereas the client will render scenes as instructed by the controller. The key features of ButterflyNetRender include LightWave, Maya and Project:Messiah scene rendering with an ability to change scene settings prior to rendering, frame verification, arbitrary frame support, real-time rendernode feedback, email notification and HTML Viewer for viewing scene queue information from a browser. The software can execute post process commands and has rendernode grouping, scene order priority, custom batch commands and split frame support, letting the artist speed up rendering time for a frame by distributing it across more than one client.
ButterflyNetRender runs under Microsoft Windows Vista, XP, 2003, NT, 2000, 98, ME. BNR Client also runs on OSX and Linux. The detailed information about the types of licenses and prices can be found at www.liquiddreamsolutions.com. Registered customers are entitled to free updates and technical support by email. Phone support is also available. An evaluation version of ButterflyNetRender is available as a free download from the Liquid Dream Solutions website.
About Liquid Dream Solutions
Liquid Dream Solutions is a Pacific NW-based technology company founded by software engineer Paul Lord in 2001. Over 15 years, Paul Lord has been working as a software architect in the telecommunications industry designing mission critical applications. He has worked for Monolith Productions, a Seattle-based gaming company, on the A.I. development team for the game: Blood II. More information is available from www.liquiddreamsolutions.com.
Please, let us know if you have questions or would like any additional information on ButterflyNetRender 4.0.
Product page: http://www.liquiddreamsolutions.com
Download link: http://www.liquiddreamsolutions.com/trial_download.php
Company website: http://www.liquiddreamsolutions.com
Postal address: Liquid Dream Solutions, 2210 W Main St. Ste.107 #212, Battle Ground, WA 98604
Company Name: Liquid Dream solutions
Phone: 360-921-8975
COPYRIGHT 2007 ThomasNet, IncorporatedCOPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group

Graphical System Design Software is designed for students

2008-05-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

Available in multiple languages, LabVIEW v8.5 Student Edition facilitates project-based learning by giving students flexible, hands-on environment with which to design, prototype, and deploy engineering and science concepts. Solution leverages industry performance standards and offers capabilities for multicore processing as well as hybrid programming. With included tools and programming options, students can create applications and engineering algorithms for real-world applications.
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Graphical System Design Software Offers Students Hands-On Learning for Real-World Applications
NEWS RELEASE - Nov. 6, 2007 - National Instruments today announced the availability of the LabVIEW 8.5 Student Edition, the latest version of the graphical system design software that gives students a flexible, hands-on environment to design, prototype and deploy engineering and science concepts into real-world applications. The student edition offers all the features of the popular LabVIEW graphical development platform including multicore processing and hybrid programming, providing students with software that facilitates project-based learning, leverages the latest industry performance standards and gives more programming options for creating applications and engineering algorithms.
Multicore processing, the development of parallel applications running concurrently on two or more processor cores, is gaining popularity in industry because of the exponential performance improvements it provides. The LabVIEW 8.5 Student Edition teaches students to easily optimize and engineer algorithms for multiple cores as well as deploy threads for control, test and embedded system development.

"It is important that students have the opportunity to develop the skills that are marketable to employers," said Ray Almgren, vice president of academic marketing at NI.
"We are excited to expand our contribution to engineering education by equipping students with technologies that support the latest PC performance enhancements, such as multicore, and help them stay ahead of industry trends."
In addition to multicore processing, students can use hybrid programming with LabVIEW MathScript to combine multiple models of computation or methods of programming. LabVIEW MathScript adds math-oriented, textual programming to LabVIEW, making it possible for students to reuse their .m file scripts created using The MathWorks, Inc. MATLAB[R] software and other software so they can design and engineer algorithms with the programming approach that best suits their application needs.
The LabVIEW Student Edition also provides a student install option that gives universities the opportunity to easily distribute the graphical software to its student body. Currently, universities such as Virginia Tech, which has more than 1,600 freshman engineering students, use this feature to quickly get their students ready for instruction in a project-based learning environment.
Continuing its support of engineering education worldwide, National Instruments offers the LabVIEW 8.5 Student Edition in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese.
For more information on the LabVIEW 8.5 Student Edition, readers can visit www.ni.com/labviewse. For more information on NI in academia, readers can visit www.ni.com/academic.
National Instruments in Academia
National Instruments is committed to enhancing engineering and science education worldwide by providing educators and students with powerful graphical system design software and modular hardware to connect the curriculum with the real world. Professors and students benefit from powerful, professional tools such as NI LabVIEW graphical development software, which helps students visualize and implement engineering concepts. The integration of LabVIEW in the classroom creates an effective, dynamic learning environment - from LEGO[R] MINDSTORMS[R] NXT in primary schools to research laboratories in universities. For more information about NI academic products, curriculum resources and discounts, visit www.ni.com/academic.
About National Instruments
National Instruments (www.ni.com) is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 25,000 different companies worldwide, with no one customer representing more than 3 percent of revenue and no one industry representing more than 10 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 4,500 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. For the past eight years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.
Pricing and Contact Information
LabVIEW 8.5 Student Edition, Windows and Mac Contact Sales: www.ni.com/contact
Priced from $59 E-mail: info@ni.com
LabVIEW 8.5 Student Install Option Contact Sales: www.ni.com/contact
COPYRIGHT 2008 ThomasNet, IncorporatedCOPYRIGHT 2008 Gale Group

Graphics Design Software covers range of professional needs

2008-05-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Offered in 2 versions, Autodesk 3ds Max delivers tools for modeling, animation, and rendering. Autodesk 3ds Max 2009, suited for entertainment professionals, includes Reveal rendering toolset for streamlining iterative workflows. Along with UV editing tools, software supplies ProMaterials material library for simulating real-world surfaces. Tailored for architects, designers, and visualization specialists, 3ds Max Design 2009 adds lighting simulation and analysis technology.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12 -- At its annual World Press Days event, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) today announced two new versions of its Autodesk 3ds Max modeling, animation and rendering software -- the leading asset creation tool for game development. The company launched Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 software for entertainment professionals, and debuted 3ds Max Design 2009 software, a tailored 3D application for architects, designers and visualization specialists. Both versions of the software offer new rendering capabilities, improved interoperability with industry-standard products including Revit software, as well as additional time-saving animation and mapping workflow tools. 3ds Max Design 2009 further provides lighting simulation and analysis technology.
"Every design has a story to tell," explained Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "Entertainment technology enables design professionals to explore ideas, validate concepts and communicate design intent. It allows them to experience their designs before they are real."

"Autodesk 3ds Max now comes in two distinct flavors to better meet the specific needs of our entertainment and visualization customers," Petit added. "3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009 provide users with tailored online experiences, user interface and application defaults, tutorials, samples, and more. This simplifies the learning process and makes it easier for users to find the information that's most relevant to them."
New Feature Highlights
Key features in Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 include the new Reveal rendering toolset, which streamlines iterative workflows; and the ProMaterials material library for simulating real-world surfaces. The release also delivers numerous biped enhancements and new UV editing tools. Improved OBJ and Autodesk FBX file formats import and export vastly enhance interoperability with Autodesk Mudbox, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk MotionBuilder software programs and other third-party applications. In addition, Recognize, a new scene-loading technology, significantly improves the inter-application workflow with Revit Architecture 2009.
"Autodesk 3ds Max has never failed to deliver; now it's even stronger with specialized versions," said Technical Director Yunus "Light" Balcioglu. "3ds Max 2009 offers great new features that allow me to be more productive and creative. The new biped improvements make it easy to build quadrupeds, Reveal rendering lets me iterate faster, and reworked OBJ import makes it easier than ever to jump between 3ds Max and Mudbox".
3ds Max Design 2009 includes all features offered in Autodesk 3ds Max 2009, with the exception of the software development toolkit (SDK). The SDK is a set of development tools used in the entertainment markets to integrate software into a production pipeline and develop in-house tools to be used in conjunction with the application. 3ds Max Design also includes Exposure technology for simulating and analyzing sun, sky, and artificial lighting to assist with LEED 8.1 certification.
"At SHoP Architects we rely on computer-aided design technology not only to produce innovative architectural forms, but also to create new efficiencies and cost-savings in the design and construction process," said David Fano, designer at SHoP Architects. "Autodesk 3ds Max Design will help us further this pursuit. The newly enhanced daylight simulation tools and improvements to the rendering workflow will allow us to iterate more freely and create better quality work faster. Also, the FBX-based interoperability with Revit will give us a continuous digital workflow by leveraging our Building Information Model for advanced visualization in 3ds Max during all stages of design."
For more information about 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009, visit: www.worldpressdays08.com.
Pricing and Availability
Autodesk anticipates that 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009 will be available in English during spring 2008. The Autodesk suggested retail price for 3ds Max 2009 or 3ds Max Design 2009 software is US$3,495*. The Autodesk suggested retail price to upgrade from 3ds Max 2008 to either 3ds Max 2009 or 3ds Max Design 2009 is US$895*. Product availability will vary by country. Details and purchasing options are expected to be accessible starting March 25, 2008, at: www.autodesk.com/purchaseoptions. Information and selected content from Autodesk World Press Days may be found at www.worldpressdays08.com.

From March 31, 2008 to July 17, 2008, existing Autodesk VIZ 2008 software Subscription customers will be able to cross-grade to 3ds Max Design 2009 for US$249**. During this same timeframe, Autodesk VIZ 2006, 2007, and 2008 customers who are not on Autodesk Subscription will be able to cross-grade to 3ds Max Design 2009 for US$895**, if they purchase Autodesk Subscription for 3ds Max Design 2009.
Autodesk Subscription will be available for purchase simultaneously with the product purchase or upgrade. The Autodesk suggested retail price for Autodesk Subscription for 3ds Max or 3ds Max Design will be US $495* per year.
* International pricing may vary.
** International pricing may vary. This promotion only applies to Autodesk VIZ purchases made prior to February 12, 2008.
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Exposure, FBX, Maya, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, ProMaterials, Recognize, Reveal, Revit and 3ds Max are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.
CONTACT: Brittany Bonhomme of Autodesk, Inc., +1-514-954-7419, brittany.bonhomme@autodesk.com; or Karen Raz, +1-310-450-1482, karen@razpr.com, for Autodesk, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 ThomasNet, IncorporatedCOPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

2008-05-02T03:45:00.000-07:00

Council OKs software lease

2008-05-02T03:43:00.000-07:00

By Tim Hrenchir
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
The Topeka City Council late Tuesday approved a lease purchase agreement in the amount of $3,857,239 to acquire an enterprise resource planning software system from Lawson Software.
Council members voted 6-2 to make the move, with John Alcala and Sylvia Ortiz dissenting and Brett Blackburn being absent.
The vote came after city and Shawnee County staff members teamed up late last year to seek proposals from providers of ERP financial software but chose different vendors. County commissioners voted July 29 to buy an ERP system from SunGard Bi-Tech, LLC.
Commissioner Vic Miller suggested in early July that the city staff, by choosing Lawson, tried to short-circuit any possible merger of city and county information technology services. City staff members disputed that, saying they chose Lawson because its software best fit the city's needs. A city staff member told the council a merger remained possible if the city and county chose different companies.
The council on Aug. 28 voted to approve the purchase from Lawson and on Sept. 4 overrode Mayor Bill Bunten's veto of that move.
The measure the council approved Tuesday authorizes the city to spend $3,340,428 in principal and $516,811 in interest to buy an ERP system. The budget the council previously approved calls for an additional $400,000 for the project to come from the city's general fund.
Also on Tuesday, the council voted 8-0 in a work session preceding its regular meeting to take up a claim at its Oct. 2 meeting filed by Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church, 610 S.E. Lime. The church is asking the city to pay $62,938.72 for damages it sustained during flooding on May 7.
Three church members asked the council to approve the claim Tuesday after council members learned the city attorney's office recommends the city not pay the church's claim and 32 others linked to the flooding because they were caused by a natural disaster over which the city had no control and bears no legal responsibility. City attorney Brenden Long said the council could approve the claim if its members disagree.
Long said the city did pay damages for two claims linked to the May 7 flooding response. He said one was to a person whose boat went missing after rescue workers used it and the other to someone whose parked vehicle was struck by a city-operated high-loader.
In other business, the council on Tuesday:
n Voted 8-0 to approve a $500,000 project to build handicapped- accessible sidewalk ramps to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, focusing on a target area located between S.W. 6th and 17th streets, S.W. Washburn Avenue and S.W. Topeka Boulevard.
n Voted 8-0 to approve an ordinance changing zoning to enable Jackson Memorial Church of God in Christ to build a three-story, 60- unit apartment complex and 11 single-story duplexes for senior adults in combination with church, day care and community center uses at 2401 S.E. 11th.
n Voted 7-1, with Councilman Jack Woelfel dissenting, to defer action for one week on a proposed conditional-use permit that would allow Ellite Investments to replace a billboard sign posted on a 35- foot pole with a sign of the same size on a 50-foot pole. The sign is located on land just east of S.W. Interstate 470 and south of the Cracker Barrel restaurant, 1421 S.W. Ashworth Place.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached
at (785) 295-1184
or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.
Copyright 2007Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Council OKs software lease

2008-05-02T03:41:00.000-07:00

Technology Equipment and Software Financing

2008-05-02T03:39:00.000-07:00

Technology equipment and software are very important for a business in today’s world. Technological or software equipment includes new computer system, routing software, safety equipment and so on. These types of equipment are generally very expensive and so the need for technology equipment and software financing arises. However most of the traditional lenders may not be ready to finance technological equipment or software. This is due to their inability to understand the purpose and type of this equipment. Therefore an expertise approach is required to understand the need for technological and software equipment. There are some genuine financing companies that offer help to acquire these types of equipment.There are various categories of technology and software equipment. Therefore various options are allowed by financial institutions to get technology equipment and financing help. Audio visual equipment is one among them which includes cameras, sound equipment and so on. This equipment is really important for companies that specialize in audio video. Seeking the financial assistance of financing companies is required due to high price tags of this equipment.Safety and security equipment is essential for certain companies. These types of equipment include metal detector, alarm equipment, closed circuit TV, digital video recording, motion detector, security gate, fire suppression and so on. These types are vitally important for maintaining the personal safety and security. Due to its highest price ranges, most of the companies could not afford to buy it. But technology equipment and software financing makes it possible for almost all companies to acquire safety and security equipment.Telecommunication equipment helps in effective business communication. Thanks to these types of equipment, many companies are functioning properly without any communication gap. Latest telecommunication equipment is available now which helps in effective communication. Broadcasting equipment, multiplex equipment, telephone system, transmitting equipment etc are really important for a modern office. However their price ranges are extremely high making it impossible to afford for small and medium companies. Technology equipment and software financing is the only best option to meet all the essential requirements.Computer hardware is essential for most of the companies. Since their prices come down, most of the companies can get it easily. The data storage equipment, server, work station, network etc are vitally important for any business in today’s world. But the computer hardware has undergone constant changes. When the existing hardware becomes old, you need to buy a new one. This situation calls for the help of technology equipment and software financing.Software financing is required to acquire the latest software. The traditional lenders would not be willing to provide financial assistance to buy the software. However accounting software, ecommerce software, manufacturing software, CAD software etc are essential for the business operation of most of the companies. In fact, every company requires certain type of software. Some of the reliable financing companies recognize the need for software financing and they offer essential help. Since there are no embarrassing procedures for getting the technology equipment and software financing help, any company can apply for the financial assistance from the valid financing company.

Taking the Mystery Out of Software Financing and Software Leasing

2008-05-02T03:38:00.002-07:00

The very terms “software leasing” and “software financing” are confusing to many businesspeople. This is due to the fact that software is typically not seen as something that is purchased over time.This view is shared by both end-users, and the developers of software. Companies who think nothing of financing a vehicle or a new computer system will stress over how they will pay for expensive new business software. And the producers of software see no need for offering a software leasing or a software financing option.But times are changing.Third party equipment finance companies - companies who offer small and medium size businesses equipment financing and working capital – have responded to a need for software financing and software leasing. Thus, they are starting to include software amongst the equipment they finance or lease. There is one big overriding reason for this shift:The High Cost of Buying SoftwareThe simple fact is this: Software can be very, very expensive. Oftentimes more expensive than the hardware that runs it.Now, keep in mind that when we are talking about software in this way, we are generally talking about “vertical software”. Vertical software is software that is written for a specific, narrow industry (this can include industry-specific point-of-sale software, ERP systems, specialized databases, etc). It is not software that’s available on the shelf at your local office supply store (the software you see there, even the business programs and operating systems, are “horizontal software” – they can be used across a variety of industries, and are relatively affordable.)A good, clear example of vertical software is an auto parts store - they use software that’s specifically written for the auto parts industry. Another example is your local jewelry retailer – they likely use a point-of-sale system specifically made for the jewelry industry. To understand how software financing and software leasing can positively affect a business, it is important to understand the advantages of vertical software first. For most businesses, Vertical Software usually means far more efficient business processes. In the case of an auto parts store, for example, the software will already anticipate the thousands of automobile makes and models. And will almost certainly be updated every year. The jewelry store’s software will differentiate the subtle differences between two diamonds by any number of categories. And so on. In fact, these “vertical” software programs are so effective, and become so crucial to day-to-day operations, that businesses often need this type of software to remain competitive. In many cases, it’s not an option to do without.However, since the software is so narrowly focused, it usually comes with a hefty price tag. The developer will sell relatively few copies as opposed to a word processing program (which will sell in the millions), so they must get a premium for their work. Vertical software can sometimes reach five figures for a single license. This brings an obvious problem: “Businesses need the software, but it’s very costly to buy outright.”And that’s where software leasing and software financing come in – business don’t have to “buy” it upfront. The Advantage of Software Leasing and Software FinancingThe advantage of financing or leasing software is clear: Software leasing and software financing take the huge up-front cost of new software out of the equation. Like most other business equipment, software is now beginning to be seen as a tangible asset (this was not always the case.) This means software can largely be treated as any other equipment purchase in the case of financing or leasing. A business can finance that new ERP system instead of having to budget a huge cash outlay. This can be very beneficial to the bottom line, as software generally pays for itself over time. In fact, since “vertical” software almost always reduces the cost of doing day-to-day business, leasing or financing said software can actually create a positive cash flow right away.But Who Offers Software Financing or Software Leasing, and how does it Work?It’s true that software developers have been very slow to embrace the business model of software financing or software leasing. They would prefer to be paid up front for their software. Likewise, banks, being part of an “older” industry, are also largely reluctant to finance software. However, third party equipment finance companies who specialize in small and medium sized business equipment financing often offer attractive software lease and software financing packages. What happens is the equipment finance company pays the developer in full, and then provides the software to the end user under a finance or lease agreement, often at very attractive rates. In all actuality, it’s fundamentally the same as financing or leasing most other equipment.Of course, like any other financing, the agreements can (and will) vary from traditional fixed rate financing to a “software lease” with a buyout at the end, etc. And the rates and terms also vary – your individual equipment finance company will have more details.All in all, software financing and software leasing have definitely entered the business consciousness, and because it is so friendly to the bottom line, it is a business model that is here to stay. Software leasing and Software financing are only a few of the services provided by Crest Capital. Regardless of the size of your company, Crest Capital can provide you with the equipment financing and working capital you need to successfully grow your business. Learn about financing options that can increase your bottom line and reduce your 2007 tax bill with a free online quote today.

Taking the Mystery Out of Software Financing and Software Leasing

2008-05-02T03:38:00.001-07:00

The very terms "software leasing" and "software financing" are confusing to many businesspeople. This is due to the fact that software is typically not seen as something that is purchased over time.This view is shared by both end-users, and the developers of software. Companies who think nothing of financing a vehicle or a new computer system will stress over how they will pay for expensive new business software. And the producers of software see no need for offering a software leasing or a software financing option.But times are changing.Third party equipment finance companies - companies who offer small and medium size businesses equipment financing and working capital - have responded to a need for software financing and software leasing. Thus, they are starting to include software amongst the equipment they finance or lease. There is one big overriding reason for this shift:The High Cost of Buying SoftwareThe simple fact is this: Software can be very, very expensive. Oftentimes more expensive than the hardware that runs it.Now, keep in mind that when we are talking about software in this way, we are generally talking about "vertical software". Vertical software is software that is written for a specific, narrow industry (this can include industry-specific point-of-sale software, ERP systems, specialized databases, etc). It is not software that's available on the shelf at your local office supply store (the software you see there, even the business programs and operating systems, are "horizontal software" - they can be used across a variety of industries, and are relatively affordable.)A good, clear example of vertical software is an auto parts store - they use software that's specifically written for the auto parts industry. Another example is your local jewelry retailer - they likely use a point-of-sale system specifically made for the jewelry industry.To understand how software financing and software leasing can positively affect a business, it is important to understand the advantages of vertical software first.For most businesses, Vertical Software usually means far more efficient business processes. In the case of an auto parts store, for example, the software will already anticipate the thousands of automobile makes and models. And will almost certainly be updated every year. The jewelry store's software will differentiate the subtle differences between two diamonds by any number of categories. And so on.In fact, these "vertical" software programs are so effective, and become so crucial to day-to-day operations, that businesses often need this type of software to remain competitive. In many cases, it's not an option to do without.However, since the software is so narrowly focused, it usually comes with a hefty price tag. The developer will sell relatively few copies as opposed to a word processing program (which will sell in the millions), so they must get a premium for their work. Vertical software can sometimes reach five figures for a single license.This brings an obvious problem: "Businesses need the software, but it's very costly to buy outright."And that's where software leasing and software financing come in - business don't have to "buy" it upfront.The Advantage of Software Leasing and Software FinancingThe advantage of financing or leasing software is clear:Software leasing and software financing take the huge up-front cost of new software out of the equation. Like most other business equipment, software is now beginning to be seen as a tangible asset (this was not always the case.) This means software can largely be treated as any other equipment purchase in the case of financing or leasing. A business can finance that new ERP system instead of having to budget a huge cash outlay.This can be very beneficial to the bottom line, as software generally pays for itself over time. In fact, since "vertical" software almost always reduces the cost of doing day-to-day business, leasing or financing said software can actually create a positive cash flow right away.But Who Offers Software Financing or Software Leasing, and how does it Work?It's true that software developers have been very slow to embrace the business model of software financing or software leasing. They would prefer to be paid up front for their software.Likewise, banks, being part of an "older" industry, are also largely reluctant to finance software.However, third party equipment finance companies who specialize in small and medium sized business equipment financing often offer attractive software lease and software financing packages. What happens is the equipment finance company pays the developer in full, and then provides the software to the end user under a finance or lease agreement, often at very attractive rates. In all actuality, it's fundamentally the same as financing or leasing most other equipment.Of course, like any other financing, the agreements can (and will) vary from traditional fixed rate financing to a "software lease" with a buyout at the end, etc. And the rates and terms also vary - your individual equipment finance company will have more details.All in all, software financing and software leasing have definitely entered the business consciousness, and because it is so friendly to the bottom line, it is a business model that is here to stay.

Things to Consider When Negotiating Equipment Leasing

2008-05-02T03:37:00.000-07:00

Leasing contracts can be rather complicated but have turned to be an excellent tool for financing small businesses. If you decide to lease equipment you should take into consideration the following tips in order to avoid problems in the future. General Contract PrecautionsAs with any other contract, you should try to include in them all the necessary terms you and the other part can think of. Short contracts tend to be more likely to generate legal conflicts than long ones. Thinking ahead of what may happen and what problems may arise will let you think of a solution that can be applied thus avoiding legal confrontation. Seek legal advice and make sure the contract uses specific terms and that there are no ambiguous or unclear terms that may generate controversy over the contract’s conditions. Reviewing the contract terms with the other party can be very beneficial since you can agree on what certain terms mean for each of you and conciliate both positions prior to signing the contract. Otherwise, the solution to such controversies would have to be found in a court. Review the contract as many times as necessary in order to avoid future difficulties. If possible, let it be analyzed by a professional legal consultant and a professional accountant too. This way you will have both a legal view and an economic view of the contract’s effects. Specific Contract PrecautionsBe specially cautious when leasing software alone or along with hardware. Software as any other intellectual property has several legal protections that can cause you problems. Bear in mind that software is easy to copy and can be subject to piracy, so take the necessary precautions both in the contract and at your business so as to avoid problems with it. The use that you will give to the equipment you lease should be included in the contract along with any provisions as to what your needs may be in the future. The equipment provider must commit to deliver equipment suitable for the task and for the amount of work it will have to do. Otherwise, the equipment may not be useful or may not fulfill all your needs and you would still be stuck with it for the duration of the contract. Regarding repairing and support, the contract conditions that deal with these issues can be negotiated, but make sure it is clear in the contract who takes responsibilities when a technical problem arises and who do you need to contact in order for your problem to be solved. If technical support is handled by a third party, it needs to be individualized and it must also be clear how the third party and the provider are related both commercially and legally. Finally, you need to understand that the kind of relation that a leasing contract creates, has many consequences that can be categorized in the following fields: Commercial, Fiscal, Legal, Financial and Workforce. All this aspects should be analyzed prior to closing any deal. You should take all the time that you need. Do not let avid salesman push you towards a deal that might not help your business.

Cartoon Network's First Original Live-Action Movie Re-Animated Premiere Set For Friday, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m

2008-05-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

ATLANTA -- Re-Animated, Cartoon Network's first original movie, will premiere on Friday, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). The two-hour movie, which combines animation with live-action, tells the story of a 12-year-old boy whose life is turned upside-down after an accident at an amusement park. A three-minute special preview trailer of Re-animated can be viewed at www.cartoonnetwork.com/reanimated_preview.
When seventh-grader Jimmy Roberts (Dominic Janes, ER) requires an emergency brain transplant after a collision with a park trolley while visiting the famous Gollyworld theme park, his world is changed forever. Gollyworld doctors give him the frozen brain of the famous cartoonist Milt Appleday (comedy veteran Fred Willard). Now wherever Jimmy goes he sees all of Milt Appleday's cartoon characters in the real world. Golly Gopher, Dolly Gopher, Crocco the Alligator and the rest of the Appleday cartoon gang come to life, but only in Jimmy's (or Milt's) brain. While they can't change anything in the real world, they certainly make life crazy for Jimmy.
Re-Animated is set in a world where anything can happen. It's a world where brain transplants are not only possible, but considered outpatient surgery. It's a world where Jimmy has a sister who's an alien with green skin, a dad who acts like a toddler, a mom who is an astronaut, and a villain whose best friend is a bag of cash. It's a world that sometimes feels so cartoony that the cartoons in Jimmy's head are the only part that feel sane.
Also joining the cast are Micah Karns as Craig, Jimmy's best friend; Eunice Cho as Robin, Jimmy's crush; Matt Knudsen as Sonny, Milt Appleday's evil son who's trying to steal his father's brain back from Jimmy; Bil Dwyer as Jimmy's Dad; Rachel Quaintance as Jimmy's Mom; and Rhea Lando as Yancy, Jimmy's alien step-sister.
Actors Paul Reubens, Tom Kenny, Ellen Greene and Brian Posehn lend their voices to the Appleday cartoon characters that come to life only for Jimmy.
Re-Animated is created and written by Adam Pava and Tim McKeon, who were writers on Cartoon Network's hit series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Life & Times of Juniper Lee. The film is directed by New York-based filmmaker Bruce Hurwit.
Re-Animated is a Renegade Animation, Appleday Pictures, and Cartoon Network production.
Cartoon Network (CartoonNetwork.com), currently seen in nearly 91 million U.S. homes and 160 countries around the world, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.'s ad-supported cable service offering the best in original, acquired and classic animated entertainment for kids and families. Overnight from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. (ET, PT), Cartoon Network shares its channel space with Adult Swim, a late-night destination showcasing original and acquired animation for young adults 18-34.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and the leading provider of programming for the basic cable industry.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Business WireCOPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group

Moving Forward, the Force Is With Cartoon Network

2008-05-01T23:57:00.000-07:00

George Lucas Unveils Exclusive First Look at Star Wars: The Clone Wars
The Cartoonstitute Ushers in Unparalleled Pilot Development
Warner Bros. Animation's Batman: The Brave and the Bold Coming to Cartoon Network
Ben 10: Race Against Time Live-Action Sequel Planned
Hit Series Chowder Picked Up for Second Season
NEW YORK, April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Cartoon Network Upfront presentation held today in New York, the network announced its programming line-up for 2008. On the heels of February's announcement that Star Wars: The Clone Wars will come to Cartoon Network as a series in the fall, George Lucas, the creator and steward of the Star Wars brand, attended the Upfront event to provide additional details on this highly anticipated offering. Building on the unprecedented success of last fall's live-action movie Ben 10: Race Against Time-the highest-rated telecast in Cartoon Network history-and the standout new series Chowder, the network announced a two-pronged, 360 degree programming strategy that speaks to its success in developing and acquiring first-rate brands. This approach incorporates a Sunday night movie franchise, two new nights of original programming, the launch of The Cartoonstitute-an unprecedented, swift development program for animated pilots-and a continued commitment to healthy living through its GET ANIMATED initiative.
"Cartoon Network has proven with the success of great brands and series like Ben 10 and Chowder that we have what kids want," said Stuart Snyder, president and COO, Turner Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a game changer for us and continues our commitment to staying in the forefront of offering kids something completely different than what they are seeing anywhere else."
"The time being spent by kids across all of our platforms lets us know that they are deeply engaged in what is being offered by Cartoon and are experiencing the network in a variety of ways," said Beth Goss, executive vice president of Cartoon Network Ad Sales, Marketing and Enterprises. "Our portfolio is appealing to our audience and with marketers as well, thanks to strong branding, dynamic programming and innovative promotion."
Mirroring the network's effort to diversify its on-air offerings with live-action originals as well as more sophisticated dramatic and adventure programming, Cartoon Network will develop content in two primary tracks: fantasy/adventure and comedy. -- Star Wars: The Clone Wars will anchor this strategy with
fantasy/adventure on Friday nights, the network announced, along with
the new animated action series from Warner Bros. Animation, Batman: The
Brave and the Bold; Ben 10: Alien Force; and the previously announced
The Secret Saturdays, which will premiere with 26 episodes in the fall.
-- Cartoon Network announced today that it is also developing a sequel to
the record-breaking original live-action movie Ben 10: Race Against
Time.
-- Cartoon Network has designated Thursday nights as the new destination
for comedy. Anchored by its new animated hit Chowder, which the
network announced today has been picked up for a second season,
Thursdays will also feature existing laughers Foster's Home for
Imaginary Friends, Camp Lazlo and George of the Jungle and offer a
platform for new series launches including this summer's The Marvelous
Misadventures of Flapjack.
"These are just the first steps in the evolution of a programming strategy that will lay the groundwork for highlighting all of our strengths moving forward," said chief content officer, Rob Sorcher. "We now have great tentpoles to launch these new nights and a platform to showcase established and up-and-coming talent."
Sunday nights will be the destination for Cartoon Network's new movie franchise (as yet unnamed). Launching in June, the network will showcase a must-see movie each week, including the world television premieres of much- loved films such as Ant Bully, Hoodwinked, Monster House and Open Season, as well as Cartoon Network firsts like Kicking and Screaming and Cheaper by the Dozen.
The Cartoonstitute will continue Cartoon Network's long standing tradition of developing innovative and original animated content. The initiative will endeavor to create up to 150 pieces of programming over a period of 20 months. A veritable think tank for animators, the program will be artist-led and spearheaded by executive producer Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) and supervising producer Rob Renzetti (My Life as a Teenage Robot, Dexter's Laboratory). Furthermore, The Cartoonstitute will create an in-house, all-star team of artists, directors, storyboarders and writers to generate content across a number of platforms. The program will broaden Cartoon Network's proud tradition of shepherding successful animated programs from pilot to series.
Cartoon Network continues to prioritize its vision to help kids lead healthier lives through its comprehensive GET ANIMATED initiative. As part of this campaign, the Network announced this morning it will again be partnering with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take their public education campaign SPOT THE BLOCK to the next level. Introducing an all-new 2008 expanded edition of the online and on-air promotion to launch Monday, April 7, SPOT THE BLOCK stresses to kids the importance of regularly finding and reading the nutrition labels on packaged food and drinks and using them to make healthy choices.
Cartoon Network (CartoonNetwork.com), currently seen in more than 91 million U.S. homes and 160 countries around the world, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.'s ad-supported cable service offering the best in original, acquired and classic animated entertainment for kids and families. Overnight from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday (ET, PT), Cartoon Network shares its channel space with Adult Swim, a late- night destination showcasing original and acquired animation for young adults 18-34.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
CONTACT: Atlanta: James Anderson, +1-404-885-4205, james.anderson@turner.com, Tim DeClaire, +1-404-575-9283, tim.declaire@turner.com, Joe Swaney, +1-404-885-0657, joe.swaney@turner.com, New York: Adrienne D'amato, +1-212-275-8235, adrienne.d'amato@turner.com, Los Angeles: Courtenay Palaski, +1-310-788-6903, courtenay.palaski@turner.com, all for Cartoon Network
Web site: http://cartoonnetwork.com/
COPYRIGHT 2008 PR Newswire Association LLCCOPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

BYU Animation produces 3 cartoon shorts

2008-05-01T23:55:00.000-07:00

The BYU Animation program has produced three award-winning cartoon shorts thus far. They are:
-- "Lemmings," a six-minute story about a creature who wants to save his fellow species from a horrible fate. It was produced and directed by Craig Van Dyke.
-- "Faux Paw," a four-minute and 15-second film, created with input from the FBI Internet Safety Task Force, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, early childhood educators and childhood psychologists for a national campaign to teach children about Internet safety. The film was directed by J. Chad Erekson.
-- "Pet Shop," a cartoon directed by Trent Halvorsen, which tells the story of a chinchilla and a lizard that are desperate to attract the attention of a young customer. It was named the "Best Foreign Short Film" at the Kawasaki Japan Digital Film Festival.
The three shorts are being compiled onto a DVD, which will sell at the Brigham Young University Bookstore for $10.
For more information on the program, you can visit www.et.byu/ animation/
Copyright C 2005 Deseret News Publishing Co.Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

PREVIEW: Animation - Drawing people to cartoons

2008-05-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

After the success of last year's inaugural festival, the London International Animation Festival has expanded for its second outing to screen more than 200 films from 30 different countries. Short films from around the world are shown in seven competitive screenings, along with children's animation, UK efforts and student and computer-animated films.
What is it that makes this festival stand out? The director, Nag Vladermersky, believes it is 'the festival's vast amplitude "not only showing the most up-to-date films but also looking back into the past, giving you the history.'
The festival will showcase films from the likes of Latvia, Belarus, and Estonia. 'The eastern European section screens the cream of Estonia with the best Estonian directors working in collaboration, resulting in an amazing project of great directors working in unison,' says Vladermersky.
Much of the festival will be focused on the rich legacy of the National Film Board of Canada, concentrating on its many award- winning films from the 1930s to the present day. Vladermersky says that 'this is a long overdue tribute.' Jacques Drouin, the pin- screen animator, will be the guest of honour, presenting a masterclass.
Along with Drouin, there will also be a programme on Ryan Larkin, including a screening of the Oscar-winning Ryan, Chris Landreth's film about the brilliant young cartoonist and his torturous later years. The screening includes Alter Egos, a documentary on the shaping of Ryan, and four of Larkin's cartoons.
'Best of the Festival' completes the six days, with judges and the audience picking their animation favourites from the week. For Vladermersky, the objective is not just to present animation but to 'make people realise their rich heritage'.
23 to 28 August (020-7734 2255; www.curzon cinemas.com)
Copyright 2005 Independent Newspapers UK LimitedProvided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

The Colored Cartoon

2008-05-01T23:52:00.001-07:00

Written by Christopher P. Lehman (Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Saint Cloud State University), The Colored Cartoon: Black Representation in American Animated Short Films, 1907-1954 is a scholarly study of the depiction of African-Americans in early American cartoons--a representation that was overwhelmingly grounded in caricatures from the culture of southern slavery. During the 1920s, when sound-synchronized cartoons were the new wave, animators began to blend black stereotypes with the expressions of jazz musicians and Hollywood actors. In the 1930's, the film industry started to segregate African Americans from others, particularly from the white females. At the same time, animators would tap into African-American culture by creating animal characters like Bugs Bunny which had traits associated with African-Americans yet were not identifiably black. By the 1950's, the advent of civil rights started to erode the prevalence of African-American portrayals in the animated medium, though animated films continue with negative renditions to this day. The Colored Cartoon studies the history and legacy of African-American animated cinema imagery with an eye to what can be learned from the past and how these lessons shape the future. Enthusiastically recommended for scholars and students of animation, as well as animated cinema reading lists.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Midwest Book ReviewCOPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

Animated over cartoons

2008-05-01T23:33:00.000-07:00

For decades, the "Disney version" of the world has come under fire. Those "happy slaves" in "Song of the South" -- like the lazy crows in "Dumbo" -- brought out boycotts. The American Indians in "Peter Pan" and the chubby hippos in "Fantasia" prompted protests. Even the slippery thief in "Aladdin" raised a ruckus.
Now, another group wants a piece of The Magic Kingdom: old folks, or -- as old folks now say -- seniors.
According to a study by Brigham Young University published in the "Journal of Ageing Studies," nearly half of the older characters in some 34 Disney animated films are portrayed in a negative light.
Young wiseacres will say that number sounds a bit low. But many seniors aren't laughing.

Perhaps they should be.
First, anyone who has watched more than two movies knows that characters are painted to create maximum dramatic effect. And since children are often the heroes and heroines of animated films, crotchety authority figures play naturally into the sense of foreboding the plot demands. It's a story. Stories demand conflict. And conflict is heightened by making opposites more opposite.
It must also be said that Disney people have a history of insensitivity. Those who lament the fact "Song of the South" isn't available have likely never had their ancestors hauled away in chains by slave owners. To those who have such a history, the happy- go-lucky "zippity-do-dah" world of slavery in the film is truly an affront. Disney should have known better. The company should have been less clueless about other hurts as well.
But that said, the public should also lighten up. All those who wept and gnashed their teeth at the re-release of "Fantasia" because a hippo ballerina falls on the scrawny gator trying to lift her and flattens the poor guy need to develop tougher hides. They should find something more important to defend than their own bruised feelings.
And the same goes for any who find themselves in a tizzy because Cruella De Vil and Ursula the sea witch are eligible for Social Security.
These are cartoon characters -- caricatures.
Save the disdain for the flesh and blood villains, the ones who poison children with drugs and poison the Internet with their child pornography.
Copyright C 2007 Deseret News Publishing Co.Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Adobe CS3 - What's New?

2008-04-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

Adobe CS3 (Creative Suite 3) is a suite of products that combines traditional Adobe programs with programs that Adobe acquired and has since rebranded from Macromedia. The suite includes Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks, as well as Illustrator and Photoshop. All of the programs in Adobe CS3 that were formerly Macromedia have been streamlined and given Adobe-like functionality. The entire suite now works seamlessly as a complete family of programs for designers and developers.
Dreamweaver
Adobe CS3 includes an upgraded version of Dreamweaver, formerly a Macromedia program. Not only is Dreamweaver now more readily compatible with other Adobe programs, but it also has the addition of the Spry framework providing Ajax capability. This enables designers to incorporate sophisticated functionality without the need for complicated programming skills by simply taking advantage of the built-in features of Dreamweaver CS3. Dreamweaver CS3 also has new standards capability with cascading style sheets.
In addition, Dreamweaver CS3 now has Adobe Device Central incorporated within the program. This allows users to preview and test Web pages on multiple devices with ease. The program also has advanced integration with Photoshop CS3 and can support multiple layers. Finally, designers and developers using Dreamweaver CS3 can perform easy browser compatibility checks and can check for cross-browser cascading style sheet rendering issues.
Flash
Another one of the new programs acquired from Macromedia is Flash. Flash CS3 is now using Action Script 3.0, an update and modification of Action Script 2.0. While 3.0 is backwards compatible, this portion of the program is also 30 times faster and has more object-oriented capabilities than 2.0, which is of great benefit for developers.
For designers, Flash is now easier to work with and has more streamlined panels. The program incorporates new drawing tools, including a new and enhanced pen tool that is more like that used in Illustrator. Flash CS3 also allows more control with corners when creating rectangular objects and easier creation of pie and donut shapes. The program as a whole is more intuitive and is easier to control with new object primitives. Additionally, Flash CS3 works with other Adobe programs and allows designers to copy and paste filters and motion tweens from one object to another without the need to reapply them. Flash CS3 also offers nine-slice scaling, offering users the ability to scale objects more intuitively and without distortion.
Finally, Flash CS3 incorporates Adobe Device Central and allows users to check applications on different devices. And Flash now has import support for Adobe programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, which can lead to enhanced image fidelity and editability that designers may have wished for in the past.
Fireworks
Fireworks has also been given a makeover as one of the new Adobe programs. The new version makes it easier to control and share symbols, to give them more robust attributes with Javascript, and to swap them. Plus, scaling has been enhanced in Fireworks CS3 so that you can now intelligently scale symbols with a nine-point system.
Additionally, in Fireworks CS3, you can add multiple pages to a single document for ease in mocking up Web sites. You can also have hierarchical layers in much the same way as is allowed in Adobe programs such as Photoshop. And it is much easier to bring files between Fireworks and Flash or Illustrator and Fireworks than ever before.
Photoshop
Photoshop CS3 has also been given a makeover and upgrade. The new version of one of the best-known software programs now offers the ability to export an HTML file that the user can zoom in and out of (the "zoomify" feature). It also has new smart filters that can preserve data integrity and allow for nondestructive flexible modification of the images. Designers can also convert images to monochrome with more control than before.
Plus, Photoshop can now analyze images and make recommendations for settings. It also offers an enhanced version of cloning and healing and also has updated color correction options. And there are many new tools in the program that designers can use to more finely tune images, from photo merge with advanced alignment bleeding to a refined edge feature. Photoshop also now has DICOM support and allows users to open, edit, and annotate single frames of radiological images. Finally, as with other Adobe programs, Photoshop also incorporates Adobe Device Central for easy previewing and testing of images on other devices.
Illustrator
Last but not least, Adobe CS3 includes an upgrade of Illustrator that offers important new features for designers and developers as well. As previously mentioned, Illustrator CS3 now has seamless integration with Adobe programs such as Flash CS3 and includes Symbols for easy animation. The program also offers new, upgraded drawing tools and a new vector tool. Illustrator CS3 also features "Live Color," which allows the designer or developer to edit colors directly within the image.
Conclusion
Adobe CS3 is an important upgrade for designers and developers who were users of previous versions of Macromedia and Adobe programs. It brings all of these well-known programs together in a single package under a single brand. Users are likely to see immediate benefits, and the new features of the individual programs add even more functionality than existed in previous editions.
Ramon M.de la Paz is a full-time instructor of information technology training courses for WestLake Training and Development. In his 20-year career in the computer industry, in addition to delivering training, he has handled Web design and multimedia production for a number of government and non-government agencies. For more information, please visit http://www.westlaketraining.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ramon_De_La_Paz

Free Animation

2008-04-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

Scores of sites offer you thousands of free animations. You can use them on your web site or send them as digital postcards.
There are also many animation software packages available for download with no strings attached. Some of them are absolutely free, some are shareware and some are free with limited functions (with the option of more once you make the payment). There are some free trials that either expire after a certain period of time or are made available only with some critical options disabled.
Here is a list of some of them:
Adobe AfterEffects (Adobe). License: Free Trial. Motion graphics and visual effects for film and media.
Animator-9 3.6 (Key Technology). License: Free. Generate animated GIFs from your digital camera.
AniS 1.0 (Tom Whittaker). License: Free. Simple image manipulation for the web.
Jumpwel (Phildes0. License: Free. Basic object manipulator for use in HTML; uses Java applets.
Macromedia Flash (Macromedia). License: Free Trial. A leading player in 2D vector animation.
Macromedia Director (Macromedia). License: Free Trial. Create interactive ShockWave content.
Sqirlz Lite 1.1d (xiberpix0. License: Free. Animated image distorter that exports in AVI format.
Sqirlz Morph 1.2c (xiberpix). License: Free. Animated image morpher and blender.
3D Studio Max 7.0 (Discreet). License: Free Trial. Version 7.0 of the award-winning 3D modeling and animation software package. Also comes with trials of Character Studio and Mental Ray.
Cyberdelia (Askoh.com). License: Free. 3D Animation with support for exporting into Macromedia Shockwave.
FreeCAD 8.0 (Askoh.com). License: Free. A beginner’s 3D CAD and simulation program.
Gmax (Discreet). License: Free. A free 3D program that allows you to make your own modifications, customizations, and models required for Gmax-ready video games. Based on 3D Studio Max.
Maya 6.5 (Alias WaveFront). License: Free Trial. The latest version in 3D modeling and animation.
Serif 3D Plus (Serif). License: Free. Allows animated shapes and landscapes.
Special Effects 3.2 (Mathematically Beautiful ScreenSavers). License: Free. Limited range of pre-set animations based on user preferences.
Touch Art Sampler 017 (Derivative). License: Free. Allows you to play with animations, though more of a VJ/synthesizer studio than anything else.
TrueSpace 3.2 (Caligari). License: Free. Full 3D rendering and output. Apparently completely free. Still you need to register to get an unlock code on the website. Cross-compatible with many programs.
Animation provides detailed information on Animation, Free Animation, Flash Animation, 3D Animation and more. Animation is affiliated with Wholesale Art Supplies.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Gluckman

Upsurging Flash Animations

2008-04-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

Flash animations are protruding because of their myriad characteristics in this coeval age. Flash is splashing all around and the timeless saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” aptly describes how large amount of data can be absorbed quickly, imbibe our mind.
Flash animation is created using Adobe flash animation software and is distributed in .swf (Shockwave Flash) format, other formats are .as (ActionScript), .flv (Flash Video). Flash animations have nowadays become best way to showcase overview of an enterprise. Web flash animations are often created in series and well known by different names; bitmaps, raster-based art, vector based drawings, videos can be easily incorporated with these flash animations for more clear graphics. You can find numerous flash generator, image manipulator, menu creator on the web. You tube,
We find Macromedia Flash is a pioneering vector technology for designing high-end-high-impact, low-bandwidth websites that for enticing and retention of visitors; providing a richer, more compelling web experience. You don’t need to install or download player, just drag the file to your browser and it runs, these flash animations are very attractive and interactive and help a lot in website brand campaigning.
Adobe Flex, is the latest upsurging flash animation; it is an IDE and SDK that supports development and deployment of cross platform for technologies based on proprietary Macromedia Flash platform. Flex Data Services 2 provides Enterprise-oriented services through data synchronization, data push, publish-subscribe and automated testing. Adobe Flex 3 is the beta version that supports Adobe Application Runtime and includes Creative Suite products and Flex Builder IDE.
There is good news for SEO executives working over flash websites!! Previously it was almost impossible to get flash websites indexed in the search engines, but now as adobe as incorporated Adobe SDK capable of converting .swf to html making the site fully search engine friendly, it is helping SEO’s to gain rankings for the same with much more ease. Presently google has also deployed a new fix over its algorithm via which its crawler (googlebot) is capable of indexing partly content of flash driven websites.

flash templates

2008-04-30T05:31:00.000-07:00

Adobe Flash - previously called Shockwave Flash and Macromedia Flash - is a set of multimedia technologies developed and distributed by Adobe Systems and earlier by Macromedia. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages; Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications.
Flash can manipulate vector and raster graphics and supports bi-directional streaming of audio and video. It contains a scripting language called ActionScript. It is available in most common web browsers and some mobile phones and other electronic devices (using Flash Lite). Several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash, including the Adobe Flash Player. The Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform, such as web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.
Files in the SWF format, traditionally called "Flash movies" or "Flash games", usually have a .swf file extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly "played" in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a self-executing Flash movie (with the .exe extension in Microsoft Windows). Flash Video (FLV) files have a .flv file extension and are used from within .swf files.
The program Flash is the brainchild of Jonathon Gay, who developed the idea in college and later while working for Silicon Beach Software and its successors.

Macromedia Flash

2008-04-30T05:28:00.000-07:00

Adobe Flash has historically been called Shockwave Flash and more recently Macromedia Flash but has come to be simply Flash. Flash is a set of multimedia technologies developed and distributed by Adobe Systems, when Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia in 2006. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages; Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications.
Flash can manipulate vector and raster graphics and supports bi-directional streaming of audio and video. It contains a scripting language called ActionScript. It is available in most common web browsers and some mobile phones and other electronic devices (using Flash Lite). Several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash, including the Adobe Flash Player. The Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform, such as web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.
Files in the SWF format, traditionally called "Flash movies" or "Flash games", usually have a .swf file extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly "played" in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a self-executing Flash movie (with the .exe extension in Microsoft Windows). Flash Video (FLV) files have a .flv file extension and are utilized from within .swf files.
Flash grew out of a chain of thought that started in the 1980s with some ideas Jonathan Gay had at school, then at college and later while working for Silicon Beach Software and its successors.

Adobe Flash - Programming

2008-04-25T23:54:00.000-07:00

Being a web/software development company, we use a wide range of applications to create content/products for our clients. Quite often, clients will ask for some kind of animation incorporated into their design. Some common uses of animation in websites are banners, logos, and navigational buttons. One of the most popular authoring environments for creating these animations is Macromedia Flash. Not only can Flash be used to create the elements mentioned above, it can be used to create entire websites or applications which are much more interactive than traditional HTML sites. It can also be used to create animated cartoons, games, and for displaying video on websites – YouTube being a good example.Flash content can be viewed through any internet browser which supports the Adobe Flash Player. Flash content can also be viewed on selected mobile and non-PC devices that support a Flash Player plugin.The Flash authoring environment supports a wide range of file formats, covering images, audio, and video. Having the ability to display high quality raster - or bitmap - images allows the user to create slideshows or add interactivity to images that are otherwise static. However, Flash’s real power lies in its ability to create vector graphics; using this form of artwork helps to cut down on file sizes which helps to keep animations running smoothly, and games performing as the developer intended. This is particularly true for older or slower computers.Another powerful feature of Flash is its scripting language, ActionScript. Using programming allows the developer to create Flash ‘movies’ which are dynamic, can perform complex calculations, communicate with server side applications, and generally, allow a great deal more control over animations and user interactions.At T-Enterprise, we use the Flash Authoring environment to create custom games for our clients. These range from simple puzzles to more complex platform games. The client will usually give us a brief of what they are looking for; usually it will require a theme that corresponds to the product or service which they provide. ActionScript allows us to create game ‘engines’ that can simulate real world physics, such as gravity and collision detection. As a result, our games offer high levels of interactivity whilst retaining the initial idea that the client suggested.Use of, and support for Flash continues to grow, as does the number people who use the internet. Having a viral element – such as a game or video clip - on your website may help to increase traffic to your pages.

2d Cartoon Animation

2008-04-25T23:52:00.002-07:00

Animation is the rapid succession of a series of images in order to create an illusion of a moving picture. In other words, it is an optical impression of motion resulting from the phenomenon of persistence of vision. The moving pictures are produced through a string of consecutive images that reproduce motion by each image showing the next in a gradual progression of steps. If a series of 24 or less cartoon images run per second, it will result in a cartoon animation. Although animation is commonly demonstrated in the form of a motion picture or video program, any other forms of presenting animation also exist, including computer animation like 2D and 3D animations which encompasses a variety of techniques where the animation is created digitally on a computer.In case of 2D animation, pictures are created and/or edited on the paper or computer screen in a two-dimensional environment such as cel animation or in computerized animation software. The two dimensional (2D) animation software gives movement and action to static images. These figures are created and edited using 2D bitmap graphics or by using 2D vector graphics including automated computerized versions of conventional animation techniques like tweening, morphing, onion skinning, blurring, cell animation, path animation and interpolated rotoscoping. Three dimensional representations of geometric data is stored in the computer to enable calculations and deliver 2D images. 2D animations such as Analog Computer Animation, Macromedia Flash, PowerPoint etc. can be produced using software tools. To give an element of motion to the object, a digital framework process called rigging is applied. The process of 2D Animation involves complete story boarding including each shot of the animation, background design, character design, cell animation, perfect voice synching and flow of the animation including the background music. Every shot in a 2D animation involves multiple single drawings of characters.

Flash Design for a More Dynamic Web Presence

2008-04-25T23:52:00.001-07:00

If you have been running with a basic website since the inception of your online presence, you may want to look into developing something a bit more dynamic. Today's World Wide Web is full of competitors. Your competition is doing what you are doing on the web, but they may be doing it better. The key is to stay up on the latest technology and to not be afraid to try new things on your site. Obviously, you want to do a bit of market research before you plunge ahead with an entire new set up, but if you get together with any of the fine Denver flash development experts available, you can get some wonderful ideas for how to do a lot on your website with a few changes.
Flash design has been around for a while now, though most website owners who are not computer professionals do not really know what it is. You may have downloaded the Macromedia Flash Player for free in order to see movie previews, company presentations, or music videos, but you may not be familiar with flash technology beyond that daily use. Flash development, Denver web design, or systems development teams are all capable of telling you more about flash.
Basically, your website is probably written in HTML, a code that is used to tell the computer what to display on the screen. There are other codes gaining popularity now, but the older ones are still constructed with HTML. This code language allows the computer to display images and text in a static manner. In other words, you can display an article or a photograph, but not a cartoon or a moving title. HTML is limited to fixed positions.
If you want a more dynamic site, you need to move beyond this language and enter the world of flash. So many websites online include some form of flash today that it is unusual for a large company not to have something in motion somewhere in the site. You can make text, images, and animations move around on the screen. But this is just the beginning.
Before flash really took hold, programmers used GIF images or java applets to create movement on the screen. GIF images are simply loops of the same images played over and over, and they take forever to load. Java applets are very limited in how they can be used and tend to come with some inherent kinks, such as limited color variability.
But Denver flash development firms can now take you to the next level, by allowing you to play movies, virtual animation, and other dynamic elements on your site. That's because flash is interactive. Your client can point the mouse at flash animation and make it stop or start, can click and drag it somewhere, or even add to it if the program allows for that. In fact, flash movies are actually easier to create than java applets but allow for much more interactivity.
Flash movies also work with up to 256 colors, the standard for online full-color images. And although the original movies seemed to take forever to load, now that almost all internet users are online with a high speed connection, the flash movies load faster than the old GIF animations.
So talk to a professional flash developer today about how you can makeyour customers' online experience more dynamic.

Using Flash in Good Web Design

2008-04-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

Flash 101 - The Basics

2008-04-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

Promoting Your Site With Branded Flash Games

2008-04-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

Developing and distributing original branded flash games has proven itself to be an innovative way to drive countless new visitors to your website. Games display your brand name throughout play-time; the brand will usually appear as a link at the bottom of the game window, but it could show up as merely a logo. Some aspiring webmasters develop original, branded games for their own sites while other webmasters pay flash game developers to just customize whatever the webmaster likes out of their collection. The flash game developer might customize the same game for several websites, leading to a ubiquitous presence of the game online - each with a different brand on display. Webmasters pay for flash games because visitors remain on the site for longer periods of time and may be more likely to click text ads or generate impressions for CPM ads. If they really like the site, they may tell their friends or come back day after day. These are concepts known as viral marketing or stickiness. Additionally, webmasters may boost popularity to their website by distributing their branded flash games to other webmasters for free. The reason is that visitors to all these other websites that would never have seen the distributing company's brand now have it right before their eyes. Webmasters are eager for free content that will increase the user's enjoyment of, and time on, their sites. Therefore, they gladly accept the free branded flash games of larger sites. It's a win-win situation. Miniclip.com brought tens of thousands of visitors to their website through this method. Here, a webmaster recounts their experience: "One of the more successful viral marketing campaigns that i think has been overlooked in this thread is miniclip.com. Back in the early days of the website they made the smart decision to put up a selection of their flash games for download so that other webmasters could download the games and use them on their websites. The games were heavily miniclip.com branded with links back to miniclip all over the place. People then jumped on this and started making "online game websites" using games that were provided for free on miniclip (and other similar websites), the webmasters would then advertise their new websites and drive a lot of traffic to miniclip."In order to imitate the success of a Miniclip, you need to systematically produce games and submit them to the big gaming hubs, directories, and websites: It *will* bring you some traffic but don't expect to get thousand of visitors via this way (unless you really submit 10+ developed games per month to the big sites) Another webmaster confirms this and re-iterates the success of minicip: he is right ! you have to develop more and more games like miniclip.comthey are i think the best flash gamers over the internet ! and they lets you play online and download the trail version of the games !The cost of paying a flash game developer to create a completely original flash game from scratch ranges from $200 to $900. Of course, you'll want to mention that they can sell and customize the games for other webmasters too; do so only if price is a consideration. There are sometimes bulk discounts, and it's far cheaper to have a developer brand a game they've already developed. Freelancers (independent contractors that get paid on a job-by-job basis) can be found through guru.com , elance.com , rent-a-coder.com and on flash developer forums like flashkit.com. Interestingly enough, there are also pre-packaged flash quizzes and games that can be licensed and customized. This is the best option for an up-start with a small budget that wants to rapidly imbue his/her site with content. For instance, some businesses offers a yearly licensing model for branded flash games. The best bet is to work with a company that already has some momentum in the field. For example, Galaxy Graphics lets you choose, license, and personally brand flash games from their large portfolio.Recently, Orbitz and Lifesavers developed flash games on their websites that are showing to be successful in converting to more sales and greater brand awareness.Branded flash games are one valuable asset that your budding business should not neglect.

3d Animation Programming Services

2008-04-24T05:53:00.001-07:00

Add depth to your multimedia advertising with 3D graphic and text animations from RANOSOFT TECHNOLOGY (http://www.ranosofttechnologies.com)Strongly supported by a highly skilled team of animation experts,with Fine Arts background and years of exposure to various requirements and challenges in the animation space, has the creative edge to meet the challenges in the 3D animation world.We are among the Well-known service providers of 3d interactive animation designing. Ranosoft Technologies specialize in modifying thoughts into animations. Our skill and expertise in devising customized animations made us one of the paramount service provider dealing in all types of Graphical Animation programs like Web / Graphic Designing, 3D Architect, 3D Modeling Walk Through and Similar other projects.3D Animation Multimedia Services offer 3D Game Programming Services. 3D Animation Multimedia Services delivers 3D Flash Animation Services. 3D Animation Development provides multimedia animation services.Ranosoft Technologies team of 3D animation and 3D modeling services has talented 3D animation and modeling professionals to deliver outstanding and compelling 3D animation services and Modeling services to clients in India and abroad. Our team has years of experience in Flash development, 3D animation services and 3D modeling services.

Do's and Dont's Guide to Great Web Design

2008-04-24T05:50:00.001-07:00

When followed, this guide will prove to be quite a valuable web design resource. From the inexperienced to the experienced, this guide has something for everyone.The Process of Great Web Design Just to make sure we are all on the same page, lets begin with the basic definition for "web design". According to Wikipedia, web design is:"a process of conceptualization, planning, modeling, and execution of electronic media delivery via Internet in the form of Markup language suitable for interpretation by Web browser and display as Graphical user interface".The process of web design can be compared to the process of writing a research paper. In the conceptualization/planning stage, flowcharts (the outline) are created which illustrate the navigational structure of your website. In the modeling stage, static wireframes are created (the rough draft) which illustrate the skeletal layout for each section of your website. After the wire frames are created, graphics, colors and text are used to create the design of your web pages based on the layout of the wire frames. In the execution stage, your design is converted into a format supported by web browsers, text and content are added, and finally, your website is published live to the Internet for the world to see (final draft).All three stages of the design process are equally important. Many web designers skip a stage in order to save time or because they don't think that is is necessary. However, all three stages are necessary if your goal is to create a successful design and respectable website. Even if the three stages are used, there are many mistakes that web designers can make that will lead to poor-quality, non user-friendly websites. It's time to clean out the cabinet of bad web design practices and restock it with the good ones.Stage 1: Conceptualization and planningThis stage is skipped more often than the other two stages. Most writers don't enjoy creating outlines for research papers, and most web designers don't like creating flowcharts either. Don't be lazy. If you put forth the effort and plan out your website, then you will find the web design process to go smoothly with fewer mistakes made along the way.There are a few things that you will need in order to effectively conceptualize and plan your website:-a brain-a pen and paper-(optional) flowchart software-a general idea of the different sections of your websiteTo begin, grab your pen and paper or launch your favorite flowchart software. We use OmniGraffle Professiona for Mac OS X which costs $150 per license but is well worth it if you create websites on a regular basis. If you're on a PC, then SmartDraw is a great FREE piece of flowchart software that you can use. A pen and paper work just fine, though.There are many methods to creating flowcharts. We are going to show you the most basic way to do it for the sake of time and the length of this article. If you want to learn more about flowcharts search for flowcharts on Google or Yahoo.View the flowchart that we created when conceptualizing Chromatic Sites. (1) At the top of the flowchart we list the name of our website. (2) Next, we include each primary section of our website: Home, About, and Services. These sections are the main navigation for your website. What the names of each section will be is entirely dependent on the content of your website. Try to use as few sections as possible so that your visitors are not overwhelmed when navigating through your website.(3) Next, add all of the secondary pages (subsections) that will be listed on each of the primary pages. For Home, we have included Professional Web Design, Web Development, and Search Engine Optimization. The secondary navigation needs to be more descriptive than the primary navigation. The deeper your websites' navigational hierarchy goes, the more descriptive each label should be.The Dos-Less is more; keep the number of primary sections to a minimum. We use 6 sections on our website which is more than enough -Whether you use a pen and paper or flowchart software, keep things as clean and organized as possible. Although you (and anyone working with you) are the only ones that will be using the flowchart, it still needs to make sense -Your primary sections should use broader terms, while secondary and tertiary terms should be more descriptiveThe DontsCreating a flowchart is pretty straight forward; however, there are a few mistakes that can easily be made:-Don't use very descriptive terms in your primary navigation unless your entire website focuses on one narrow topic -Don't try and lump multiple topics on the same page. Create a general section for these topics and from that section create subsections. This will make the subsection (descriptive) web pages more likely to have better rankings in the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask) Once you have created a concise and descriptive flowchart, you're ready to move on to the second stage of the web design process: modeling.Stage 2: ModelingIn the modeling stage, static "wireframe" mockups are created. Each mockup illustrates a bare-bones skeleton of the layout for each of the web pages that will be included in your website. This stage is important because it gives us an idea of where different elements will be placed in our design. Some of these elements are:-logo-navigational menu-content-images, videosTo create these mockups, you can use a pen and paper or your preferred mockup software. In the past we have used Photoshop, but lately we have been using OmniGraffle Professional. OmniGraffle is not as resource intensive as Photoshop is and it allows us to assemble our wireframe mockups much quicker.In addition, make sure that you have the flowchart(s) that you created nearby as you will need to reference these from time to time to make sure that you are mocking up all of the pages that will appear on your website.Here is our example of how a wireframe mockup should look. As you can see, there are no colors or graphics included. This is exactly how a wireframe mockup should be - a skeletal layout of your design. The purpose is to be able to have a general idea of where each of the web page's elements will be placed.We usually begin from the top left and work our way down to the bottom. There is no specific way that a wireframe should look. Use your imagination. However, make sure that when creating your wireframes you don't forget to include the most important elements of a website (logo, navigational menu, content placement, images/video placement).If some of your pages will be using the same layout, then it is not necessary to mock all of those pages up (although you certainly can). Just be sure to mockup any unique layout that your website will have. You'll thank yourself later.The Dos-mockup all unique pages-include important elements (logo, navigation, content placement, images/video placement) -start from the top and work your way down -reference your flowchart created in stage 1 to make you don't forget to mockup any pages -save, save, save - like with anything on the computer, save your mockup(s) every 10 minutes or so-focus on clean, user friendly layouts -label your elements so you don't forget what they are when you reference them in stage 3, execution -use other web sites as inspiration; there is nothing wrong with taking elements from other sites and making them your own (see "donts")The Donts-don't include graphics or colors (that's for the next stage) -don't make your mockups too "busy"; focus on clean, well organized, user friendly layouts -don't skip this stage; it is just as important as the first and the last -if you take elements from other websites, make sure you don't plagiarize; there is a difference between being inspired by another website to create certain elements of your design and blatantly ripping off their layout and colorsStage 3: ExecutionIn the third and final stage, execution, the planning from stages 1 and 2 are combined to assist in creating a live, interactive website. The third stage is by far the most time intensive since you will be 1) creating the graphics 2) creating the content, and finally, 3) converting the web designs from images into code that web browsers use to present your website to the world.By the time you reach the third stage, you should have a clear idea of:-how your visitors will get from one place to another (stage 1, flowchart) -how your web pages will be laid out (stage 2, wireframe mockups)If you don't have a clear idea of these two things, go back to the first and second stagees and continue to develop them. You will find that the third stage is easiest when you have constructed a clear, concise battle plan for designing your website.Ditch the pen and paperIn stage 3, you need to be using Photoshop or another image editing program since you will be using colors and graphics to create the layout for your website.We usually begin creating the "home" page (index) first. Use your wireframes that you created in stage 2 as a template for each of the pages you create. However, instead of using solid boxes, use graphics, colors and text instead. Each page must look exactly how you want them to look on the Internet since this is the final stage of the design process.Be sure to include the background for your navigation (but don't actually add the text to your image). When converted using CSS (cascading style sheets), your navigation should be in the form of text and not images. Images are not crawl-able by the search engines (the keywords used in your navigation won't be indexed in the search engine results pages, meaning fewer people will be able to find your website).When you're happy with your designs and feel that they are ready to be put on the Internet, it's time to break apart the designs so that you can create a CSS based layout. For more information on converting your layouts to CSS or marking up your website in CSS, visit w3schools.com. After looking around the Internet, we couldn't find a decent image-to-CSS tutorial - so expect one from us in the coming weeks. Converting your designs into CSS is extremely important since table layouts are a thing of the past.Here is an example of a nearly-completed website of the layout we mocked up in stage 2. This was taken directly from our web browser and as you can see, there is now a logo, colors, a pretty navigation system, a footer, and a most importantly, a clean, organized layout. Thanks to the planning in stages 1 and 2, our layout is well-organized and easy to use.The Dos-reference your templates that were created in stage 2; though it is fine to deviate from your original layout, you shouldn't need to -do some research before creating your actual design; get ideas from other sites and make them your own (without plagiarizing) -include color and graphics to create the final look for your web pages -use CSS (cascading style sheets) to convert your designs from images into markup understandable by web browsers -reference your flowchart from stage 1 when coding your pages with hyperlinks; it is better to use a drop down menu that includes all (or the majority) of the links in your website on every page; this will allow for easier navigation and also make your pages easier to crawl when the search engine spiders stop by; a great place to get CSS drop down menus is at DynamicDrive.com -finalize your design while working in Photoshop or whatever image editing software you use; it can be a pain to make changes to your design once it is converted into markup (code)The Donts-don't include the text in your navigation menus when converting to CSS; instead of using image text, use regular text that is readable by search engine spiders -don't use tables when converting; even if you need to buy a book on CSS, it will be worth it; tables are dead -don't skip the first two stages just to save time; your website WILL be better if you start from the beginning of the web design process (instead of at the end) -don't forget to compress your images when they are cut apart for CSS; there is nothing worse than a slow loading website because of large image files; Photoshop has a "Save Optimized For Web" option (CS3 - "Save for Web and Devices")Process Makes PerfectBy following a web design process such as the one illustrated in this article, you increase the chances of creating a website that is well-organized, easily navigable, and very user-friendly. Lets face it - if visitors get lost or become confused while attempting to surf your website, they might hit the back button and look for a more user friendly website. People do not like to think when it comes to finding their way around websites. Don't make them think. You do the thinking by planning out your website from stage 1 to stage 3 and you will find that more people will enjoy visiting your website.

Working With Graphics – Popular Software Packages Vs. Freeware Alternatives

2008-04-24T05:49:00.002-07:00

The need for graphics software is something that has grown exponentially along with the development of modern day computers, the internet, and of course, the digital camera. The exact use for it varies not only among the different users, but from the different tasks one single user want to finish – it being photo retouching of the private family album, creating elements for your blog or website, or making a brochure for your private business. And we expect to finish up all these tasks in one program – two at tops. It goes without saying that we expect a lot from the graphics software we choose to utilize. Now, for many users, both professional and the semi-professional home users, Adobe Photoshop is the obvious choice. Some love and swear to Paint Shop Pro, the cheaper alternative from Corel, while millions of pc users are satisfied with what Microsoft and Apple ship with their operating systems. Now, those who fall into the last category, may not find this article as useful as those who belong in the first two, as the simple photo retouching tools they already have installed with their OS serves their needs. For the rest of you however, read on to see what other free software options you have, and why you should, or should not, choose to utilize them instead. I am going to split the article into categories, to help you draw your own conclusion as to what software will do the job, hopefully without costing you a buck.1 SupportMany users of commercial software find this point very important when they’re deciding which package to use. Will the software support my printer/wacom tablet/camera import/scanner/OS – and if it doesn’t, will they offer me help to solve the problem? The answer with commercial packages is – yes and no. All major software developers offer support, usually over email, phone or chat, and as long as they have the answer to your question in their database, they’ll give it to you. For more complex problems however, the poor, underpaid technician may not be able to help you – and this is, contrary to popular belief, one of the big advantages of Open Source Software (OSS). OSS has the advantage of being followed by a strong community – not only with graphics artists that take use of the software, but also the programmers that actually helped develop the code itself. In other words, you may be able to get your answer directly from the source, and even have someone help you create a patch especially for you. That’s something Adobe, Corel and Microsoft would never offer you. On the other hand, getting those answers may be a bit more complicated than picking up the phone. It may take some forum browsing, a few emails, and some waiting before the problem is solved. Now, the last kind of software release, which is also free, is from professional software developers that release their software for free. They may have different reasons for doing this. Some release their older versions for free while the newer versions cost money – like a demo solution, only better (remember, that version was the newest just a year ago). Some do it just for the advertising – perhaps they have some other software that they’re selling at a higher price, and just want to get your attention. The backside of downloading these alternatives is that most of them offer none or very limited support – in other words, if you’re having problems, you’re on your own.To sum it up, Open Source projects may actually offer the best support in the long run, even if it takes some research to find your answers, but professional software are tested for months before release, usually have support for most drivers and hardware built in, and may therefore remove the need for the support in the first place. If you need new software for a project quickly, to reach a deadline, you may be safer off going for a commercial package. If, on the other hand, you want to learn some graphics editing, perhaps do some retouching on your private photos, I would not let this stop me.2 What does the program actually offer?This is another important point for many – how far can you stretch the programs technical abilities before it snaps? This is actually kind of a tricky question, because most major software packages – both free and commercial – give you the option to install third party plug-ins. (for those who do not know what this is, it is a piece of code that is loaded along with the software to serve one particular need – in most cases to use a filter on an image that the application did not offer in the first place). The number of plug-ins available for OSS is big – the number for Photoshop is vast. However, more does not necessarily mean better, and you should not let the number of plug-ins available guide you when purchasing software. Also, again in the commercial vs free packages, it is a question of price; most major Photoshop plug-ins are not free – all OSS plug-ins are.Having mentioned the plug-ins, let’s see now what the programs offer themselves. Photoshop has set the standard for image manipulation software for 15 years, and it’s as far as the author can see, impossible to design a program in this genre without being inspired by it. That being said, it does not mean that freeware alternatives cannot stand up to its standards, but it does mean that you’ll rarely find something in a free package that Photoshop did not already offer. Having tested most of the major freeware pretty thoroughly, what I have discovered is that they offer pretty much the same abilities as Photoshop does – but with 85% the usability. In other words, it can get most of the work done, but not all, and what it can do, it won’t do as streamlined as Photoshop. It’s worth mentioning though, that I am talking about advanced editing here – not simple retouching and drawing. For the photo editor – the free ones will undoubtedly to the job for you. For the internet graphics editor - it will undoubtedly also get the job done. For the advanced graphics/photo editor, the last 15% can make you raise an eyebrow and wonder why you ever considered free software. The conclusion is that the major freeware packages will cover the needs for 90% of the users.3 Hardware IssuesWill the program work with my printer? How about my Wacom? My digital camera? Actually most of the hardware compability is dependent on your operating system. For example, some versions of Mac OSX did not support tablets, and a wacom would therefore be treated like a regular mouse – thus removing the pressure sensitivity. The same thing is true if you do not install the correct drivers in Windows. As for the printer – most software that includes support for printing, relies on the drivers you installed when you first connected the printer. In other words, if printing works in other programs, there’s no reason it won’t work when you’re working on the graphics. There are some other printing issues that are worth thinking about though, I will cover these in the next section.4 More printing issuesApart from driver support, there are some issues you should think about if you are going to print your artwork. Color management, for example, can be tricky, and not even Photoshop had a good enough printing dialogue until CS3 was released. Again, this depends on your use of the software – professional users may need total control of how their documents are rendered for print. If you’re using it to print your family photos on the other hand, you may not need these settings (and you probably won’t understand them either). Photoshop does give you better control over your printing profiles – but it’s only necessary for the advanced user.Having read this article, I hope you are able to reach a conclusion. There is no doubt that free open-source projects have reached a point where they are nearly as advanced as expensive, commercial software, and can cover most of your needs. As much as I love photoshop, I also love the open-source community, and nothing would make me happier than if I could save you a few hundred bucks! My website www.freegraphicstools.com contains some links and reviews if you are ready to try out some of the Photoshop alternatives. You may be surprised that even Illustrator, 3D studio, Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Microsoft Office all have freeware alternatives that are rich in functionality!

SEO Myths Dispelled: Flash

2008-04-24T05:49:00.001-07:00

By now, everyone has visited a website that utilizes Flash multimedia within its design. Since 1996, the use of Flash has grown in popularity thanks to its ability to add animation and interactivity to websites. More recently, Flash has become an essential component in the prolific distribution of intrusive "pop-ups," or web-based advertisements. Flash also grants designers the ability to integrate video into web pages, and this has led many within the Web 2.0 space to use Flash to develop rich Internet applications. Many companies, including my own, Denver based Fusionbox, offer streaming Flash Video Solutions to clients in need of online video.And while the inclusion of Flash into websites no doubt enriches the user experience rendering it that much "flashier," search engine optimizers (SEOs) have long been wary of the use of Flash due to the fact that it's supposedly un-indexable by the search engines. Key word here: supposedly.As we all know, the search engine game changes daily. If it stayed the same, it wouldn't be called a game. The inherent beauty of it is that no one knows everything. Instead, all just players who know something, and we're all practicing as we try to learn more to catch up with all the developments taking place. One such development is the evolution of Flash and the impact it has had on the science of search.Back in day, Flash files were not indexable by search engines because the content was hidden from the spider's digital eyes. The implications of this fact were dire from an SEO standpoint. It was no secret. Invisible content did not boost search engine rank or positioning. If anything, it held quality sites back because Google was blind to content found within Flash files, mistakenly convinced that there was no content at all. Still, many web designers stuck to Flash (despite our SEO driven pleas) after falling in love with the allure of its interactivity and the attractive design capabilities it offered.In those days, designers were confronted with a difficult choice. Give up on Flash in order to achieve better search engine rankings, or preserve the design and watch site rankings stagnate or plummet. Flash then, became a visually beautiful application that was literally empty beneath the surface, until now that is. Today, Flash has changed dramatically from what it once was. The choice that once plagued designers is now extinct. Macromedia, the company responsible for creating Flash, now offers a product known as the Flash Search Engine SDK (Software Development Kit) that includes an application known as "swf2html." This application extracts both links and text from Flash files (.swf), returning the data in HTML form. This allows Google and other search engines to "see" the Flash content that was formerly invisible. Even with this development, the extracted text is nothing that appeals to the artistic sensibility. Yet despite its uninviting and often disfigured appearance, this text represents valuable content that facilitates search engine optimization.I came across a great comparison of a Flash file and its extracted HTML text when researching this article, and I've included links below so you can see for yourself how this works.Example of Flash file Example of extracted textHaving seen this example, you're probably wondering, "How do I know if my Flash content is visible to search engines?" Luckily for you, a simple test exists which can show you how much of the text in your Flash presentation is extractable by the Google bots.Begin by performing an "exact search" (bound within quotes) using the Flash filetype operator (.swf) on a piece of text at the top of the HTML output generated by Macromedia's tool. Then perform the same test against text in the middle and at the bottom, comparing results to see exactly how much of your content is visible to Google. Another way this problem has been alleviated is through the use of Flash CS3. Users can publish Flash CS3 with meta tags (meta descriptions, keywords, and more) that are then able to index individual Flash movie content. Links are also indexable, and from an SEO standpoint, that's great news.Furthermore, with the implementation of XML and other external scripting languages (PHP and others) Flash can now run web sites at even greater speeds than their graphic-laden counterparts.We've seen that although the popular misconception still exists that Flash content cannot be indexed properly by the search engines, the problem is not yet entirely solved. Rather, it's only been partially alleviated.You've still got to watch out for a problem that might be encountered by Flash presentations which use dynamic content pulled from a database, XML file, or other related source generated through user input. This type of content is not part of the XML file itself and thus is not indexable by Google and other search engines. Caution must also be exercised in the case of certain types of motion in which the Flash movie creates an extracted output that contains duplicated content. Another SEO issue to avoid.Armed with this knowledge, you can now begin to test your Flash presentations for search engine indexability and friendliness. Yet keep these unresolved issues in mind or you may hurt your website positioning more than you help it.In conclusion, many of you are probably wondering what the future of Flash has in store. We can anticipate Flash becoming the primary provider of the presentation interface in handheld devices. Numerous sources claim that Adobe (Macromedia's parent company) is aggressively chasing cellular phone and PDA vendors, hoping to create partnerships that will allow them to deploy "Flash Lite" as the user interface on those type of products.Interestingly, the next version of Flash will have two new features designed to ensure online advertising gets noticed.The first will require that users watch an ad (in full) prior to viewing the main video, which could make online video sites a lot less user-friendly if we're forced to watch an ad in its entirety. The second feature is the addition of DRM, which will give companies the option and ability to link an ad to content, essentially ensuring that both are played and not modified.As you can see, the evolution of Flash changed the online marketing space and will continue to do so. All indications seem to hint that Flash's major influence will transform the domain of search, facilitate the development of custom web-based software and rich applications, and create user-brand interaction on a level never before seen online. We as Internet marketers must always be "on," at the ready to connect with customers across multiple platforms on their terms, not ours. As video becomes more and more the preferred method and focal point of strategic web-based marketing message distribution, we need to continue to "play" the game and stay one step ahead of the trends. Give customers the opportunity to choose you by positioning yourself where potential consumers of online media (video especially) already spend their time online. The world becomes more and more a digital place everyday, and as the Internet evolves new opportunities to reach and influence consumers present themselves. Just make sure you're ready when such chances present themselves, or you've missed the boat entirely.

Computer Software- Incredible Applications

2008-04-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

Computers have become the most essential aspect of our lives these days. The advancement in the technology is attributed to the increased use of these amazing machines and their deep penetration in the lives of human beings. When everything in our lives is influenced by the computers, we simply cannot imagine living without them. From communication to computing, from education to entertainment, nothing in the present world can sustain without them. You cannot work on the piece of hardware that is simply a dormant structure of sophisticated electronic equipments. You need an application or software to work upon the system.Software is a collection of modules and programs that have been created to accomplish a particular task. The computer programs are created with the help of various programming languages that have distinctive syntax, concepts and complex structures. They can be classified into a variety of categories based on their use and purposes. These programs can be broadly classified into the two categories - system software and application software. While the system software like operating system etc are created for the system support and platforms, the application program is created to cater to various demands of the users. The vast computerization of various industries, work processes and increased use of Internet has created immense demand for a variety of applications. Software is being developed for the various domains like insurance, banking, health, airlines, railway, travel etc. No matter what profession we are talking about, one or the other application is being created for the professionals of every domain. No process can function without the support of efficient and relevant computer applications.When we talk about the photography and image printing then we need to have reliable and highly sophisticated tools with which the amazing effects can be added to images etc. With the highly advanced and efficient computer software one can easily add incredible finishing touches to photographs. The image editing & print media is an incredibly vast arena.Adobe is a leading company that has excelled in the domain of image editing and drawing tools. The Photoshop has been one of the most efficient and highly used applications across the world. This program is almost 20 years old. It is an image editing tool that adds graphical effects to the images. Recently the latest version of the application was launched by the Adobe systems. The Adobe Photoshop CS3 is the incredible application that has given the image editors and designers immense capability and now they can create wonderful images in a few moments. Giving more dimensions to the creativity of the artist, this application has a multitude of features that provide them amazing ease to create admirable photographs, animations and posters etc.The Photoshop CS 3 version was launched in 2007 on April 16th. The extension CS in the name shows the amalgamation of the various creative suite tools and products in the application while the 3 stands for the third version. The CS3 has additional features like the application of non- destructive filters and the highly efficient tools collection called Quick Selection and the advanced facility called the Refine Edge that gives more streamlined selection. This application has another version called CS3 extended which has more capabilities like the 3 dimensional drawing, scientific imaging etc.The Adobe Photoshop CS3 is being marketed and promoted with some major improvements over the earlier version. It gives the users ease to work more productively and give better results. It helps them to edit the images with great power and efficiency and it also gives them amazing breakthrough tools with which they can compose the images. The new features in the product were really beneficial in increasing the productivity of the users with better and streamlined interfaces, enhanced control over the printing options and better support for the PDF. The users get enhanced capabilities with the advanced management of their work with the help of the Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw functions. There are number of tools available in this version of Photoshop like Vanishing Point module, Clone Source Palette and smart filters. It is certainly an ideal software.

Laptops Vs Desktops

2008-04-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

Laptops have always seemed a very desirable item to have. Not only do you look pretty good but you have the ability to take your computing anywhere. Up until recently thought I would have always advised against these.Why would I do this? Well there were several factors – some are still applicable today. Laptops used to be very expensive. You would get much more power and reliability for spending half the money on a desktop PC than you would paying double the money for a laptop. What’s more, the laptops would often slow down dramatically when they heated up, not good considering that Laptops, with their minimal air circulation, heat up extremely quickly.Another thing to consider is what happens if these laptops go wrong? On a desktop PC if your RAM fails you go and buy RAM from any manufacturer at the going rate and hey presto – you are back. Same applies to the motherboard and many other parts. All parts in a desktop PC can be chopped and changed, relatively easily and at a reasonable price.Now if your RAM or motherboard fails in your laptop what happens here? Well basically the manufacturers have you by the short and curlies. You can generally only buy the parts from the manufacturer directly, they can charge what they like as there is minimal if not zero competition. Not only can they charge what they like, you can often wait weeks to get the necessary part.People also have this idea with laptops that they can take their computers anywhere and play their games or surf the Internet with total freedom – This is partly true of a new laptop with a new battery. After what I think is quite a short time your battery will no longer hold its charge for the 2 hours it did when it was new. It will now only last half an hour – and of course, if you are doing something demanding, like game play or similar, you can expect this time to reduce by at least half again.So your portable computer now has to be plugged into the mains – therefore not so portable after all!So far I have put the laptop down, it’s expensive if it work, it’s very expensive if it breaks. It’s not as potable as you think and it’s performance is not going to be as good as you hoped.This is all changing now as laptops have plummeted in cost. Whereas you used to have to pay a minimum of £600 ($1200 approx.) for a low spec machine, you can now pick up a decent make, decent specced machine for about half that price. Now if you weigh up the fact that a desktop PC is going to cost you around £200 for anything half usable, then you need a monitor – the laptop is already winning on cost. Also the technology regarding heat dissipation has improved dramatically so you can expect your laptop to stay cool for longer and perform better in the heat. Yes the battery life has somewhat improved but still a lot of work to be done here to make them ultimately portable. However the new light compact machines can easily be transported from home, to the office, to your mates etc etc with ease and all your data comes with it.You of course still have the issue if something goes wrong but there are now thousands of these machines being sold – this means, if you pick a decent brand, there are loads of spare parts around on Ebay or similar.I now do all my work on a laptop. I plug in an external keyboard, as typing on a laptop keyboard is not comfortable. If I did want to play any games then I think I would still side with the desktop – but for day to day use the laptop is the winner. Easy to put away, minimal wires, minimal mess and ultimately a portable office.

Adult Website Design in UK - Escort Website Design Services

2008-04-24T05:35:00.002-07:00

Adult Website Design UK offers a complete adult web design service from conceptual design to development, internet marketing, web promotion with search engine insertion and email marketing. The solutions based on visually simulating front-end designs, along with the latest technology separate this talented team from typical adult web design companies.Adult Website Design UK has built a reputation for creating a positive return on investment for the clients, by using some techniques such as incorporating sound design principles that focus on ease of navigation, website usability guidelines, smart and clean content layout. This experienced web designers’ team works together with the clients to enable them to gain an edge over their rivals in a highly competitive market.The manifold services include escort website design, so if you represent an escort agency, Adult Website Design UK has the solution for you as well. There are so many companies that offer escort website design services, and most of them really do not have a clue about creating an escort website that is search engine friendly. But Adult Website Design UK is capable of creating an escort website that performs competently within the search engines over the long-term.If you already have an adult website and you want to update the look and feel of your site, this professional and experienced redesign team has the creative talent to appeal to your sense of style and the ability to turn your ideas into reality. No matter how large or small is the website redesign project Adult Website Design UK is the best solution for you. The designers are able to work in any code format from html to ASP.If you are looking for escort website design or any other adult web design services, feel free to contact Adult Website Design UK by using the following means: phone on 0845 388 9465 during office hours (GMT) or email via sales@adultwebsitedesignuk.com and you will have the resource to create your dream website.Whoever might be interested in such services, and no matter how high their expectances might be, it is good to know that the professionally designed adult websites we offer please everyone. Even the most difficult and curious tastes will be delighted with the services we offer as well as the escort website design. When it comes to providing our customers with a high quality adult themed eCommerce website we have the resources to create the website you’ve been dreaming about and also the means and professionals you can turn any adult’s dream in reality.Meant for the adults and their friends, the Adult Web Design UK uses the newest features in creative technology. We are proud to have the professionals that can develop cutting-edge adult website projects for the adult industry offering a beautiful escort website design serving all purposes.

Using Flash Slideshow In Your Web Design

2008-04-24T05:35:00.001-07:00

Web Design - The Pros And Cons Of Flash

2008-04-24T05:34:00.001-07:00

Firstly what is flash? Well Flash refers to both the Macromedia Flash Player and to a multimedia authoring program used to create content it (such as games and movies). The Flash Player is a client application available in most web browsers. It features support for vector and raster graphics, a scripting language called ActionScript and bidirectional streaming of audio and video. Macromedia Flash is the integrated development environment (IDE) and Flash Player is the virtual machine used to run the Flash files, but nowadays these terms have become mixed: "Flash" can mean either the authoring environment, the player, or the application files. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash technology has become a very popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash can be used to create fantastic animations; to design web-page elements and also to add video to web sites. Websites made with flash can be much more interactive and flashier (pardon the pun) than site made with only html. The Flash files, or "flash movies", usually have a .swf file extension and may appear as an element of a web page or to be "played" in the standalone Flash Player. Due to wide usage of Flash in web advertisements and the extra time it takes to load these pages, tools have emerged for blocking Flash content in some or all web sites, or temporarily or permanently turning Flash Player off, such as FlashBlock and Adblock for the Mozilla Firefox browser. If Flash has been disabled in a web browser then users may be unable to access some Flash-dependent websites, or may experience a degraded user interface. Using Flash content stores the content of the web page in a binary file and since Flash uses animations, the design of the page is not static. These factors make Flash-based content unsuitable for indexing by search engines. 'Misuse' of Flash software has led to the creation of a new industry term "Flashterbation," where the technology is used in a way that lacks customer focus.

Offshore Software Development Company

2008-04-24T05:33:00.003-07:00

IP & Data Security - Companies considering outsourcing their software development need to know and protect themselves against the risks related to the Intellectual property violations as well as Data Security. In order to mitigate this risk, clients need to check with the vendors on steps that they will take to protect their IP and the sensitive data such as customer information, employee information, financial data and market research data. This should be done during the Vendor Selection process.Clients should ensure that selected vendor has the well documented Information Security Management (ISM) Policy. Vendors need to provide a dedicated project and data server to their clients with audit control access on all the servers. Client should check that the Vendor’s facility is secured with smart card control access and vendor’s development team members have signed the Confidentiality agreements. In addition, the development contract should include clauses for Non-compete, Non-disclosure and non-solicitation.

Best CRM Software

2008-04-24T05:33:00.001-07:00

Recently there have been many changes occurring within marketing organizations due to changing technology and the improvement of marketing strategies. CRM software is one of these changes that has helped to make marketing easier and finding the Best CRM Software is important. More quality in marketing leads and in customer management technologies demands the Best CRM Software. Finding the Best CRM Software can help your company meet the task that is at hand. There is much pressure to make marketing techniques more profitable and finding the Best CRM Software can help ease that pressure. It is important that each company understands how important having the Best CRM Software is as well as the benefits that purchasing the Best CRM Software can provide. It is also important that companies are aware of what to look for in CRM software so then can find the Best CRM Software.The Best CRM Software is valuable to your company and will increase sales.No matter what size your company may be you will find that finding the Best CRM Software will be invaluable to your company. When you find the Best CRM Software it will help your staff, no matter the size, to be able to more effectively build customer relationships as well as bring in more sales. The Best CRM Software will enable you to organize all of your customer information in one database. Using the Best CRM Software to organize your customer information will also result in the development of better leads as well, which will lead to more profit for your company.Implementing the Best CRM Software can provide your company with a variety of benefits.When you find the Best CRM Software and implement it into your company you will be provided with multiple benefits. You will be able to use the Best CRM Software to help keep organization, to help increase sales, and help you build a stable future for your company. You will be able to increase the amount of sales made using the Best CRM Software since all your customer information will be centrally located and organized and many will be able to access it at once. You will be able to keep you customer information organized with the Best CRM Software, which will enable you to encourage great customer relationships and will help you build up and encourage the loyalty of your current customers. Loyal customers will return to you over an over again resulting in more profit for your company.CRM software will help keep your sales process smooth and effective.You will also find that finding the Best CRM Software for your company will help keep the sales process rolling in a smooth and effective way. You will be able to keep track of not only your existing customers but also your existing leads with the Best CRM Software. The Best CRM Software will help your sales teams make sure that no customer or lead is forgotten. Many times you will also find that using the Best CRM Software to keep in touch with your clients will cause them to refer other customers to your company since they have experienced such great customer service.The Best CRM Software is valuable to your company and will increase sales.It is always a good idea to have long-term goals and to build your company looking towards the future and the Best CRM Software can help you accomplish those goals for your company. The Best CRM Software will be able to be customized to fit the particular needs of our company. Usually the Best CRM Software will also be able to be upgraded so you can expand it as your company grows. It is helpful to have the Best CRM Software, which can grow as your company grows.There are a few things you should know when you looking for the Best CRM Software.If you are going to purchase CRM software and want to ensure buying the Best CRM Software there are a few things you should be aware of when looking. It is very important that the Best CRM Software be cost effective for your company. The Best CRM Software can help to reduce other money spent in other areas but you want to be sure it is worth the money they are asking. You should only purchase what you need when you are purchasing the Best CRM Software. Be aware of your companies needs when you are looking for the Best CRM Software so you can be sure to buy only what is needed instead of spending more money on software capabilities you may not currently need. The Best CRM Software should be easy for you to implement into your company and should not be too complex. You want to ensure that everyone on your staff will feel comfortable using the Best CRM Software. Be sure that it is compatible with what you already have so you will not have any problems importing current information into the Best CRM Software that you purchase. When you are spending so much money on the Best CRM Software you want to be sure that tech support comes included with your software in case there are any problems.Avidian’s software, Prophet, is the Best CRM Software.A Company that can provide you with the Best CRM Software is Avidian. Avidian offers software that is called Prophet and runs on a Microsoft Outlook base. Prophet meets all the qualifications of being the Best CRM Software. It works wonderfully to help organize all or your customer information as the Best CRM Software should. It is also the Best CRM Software because it is very cost effective. Using the Best CRM Software, Prophet, can help your company become more profitable as well. Prophet, the Best CRM Software, is also very easy to use and comes with tech support. You can rest assured when buying the Best CRM Software, Prophet, that Avidian will stand behind the integrity of their software. When you purchase the Best CRM Software you can know that you have a 30-day guarantee that can make you feel more comfortable.Concluding that the Best CRM Software will lead to great success.If your company wants to be more productive in the future then finding the Best CRM Software is an important step. New technology has changed the way marketing works and this new technology including having the Best CRM Software can help your company move forward. You will find amazing benefits to using the Best CRM Software. The Best CRM Software will help you make as many sales as possible since the Best CRM Software helps keep your customer information organized. If improving your company and its’ profit is your goal then you should consider purchasing the Best CRM Software. Be sure before you purchase the Best CRM Software that you have taken the time to evaluate it thoroughly. The Best CRM Software should be cost effective and should help you to save a lot of money in future years. You will be able to find greater success and more profit for your company when you find and implement the Best CRM Software. Consider buying Prophet, the Best CRM Software today!

CRM Software System

2008-04-24T05:32:00.001-07:00

The definition of a CRM Software System.A CRM Software System is a software system that deals with customer relationship management. Any business that wants to market their products or their services will want to have a CRM Software System. A CRM Software System can maximize sales and a CRM Software System can also help to monitor customers and their information. A CRM Software System can be complicated and expensive, but you can find a CRM Software System that is not only cost effective, but also easy to use and implement into your company.What do you need in a CRM Software System?Before you go out to purchase a CRM Software System, you will want to be sure you know what exactly you need. You do not want to spend money on a CRM Software System that is more than you need. If you only have a few tasks you need taken care of, such as monitoring customer information you may be able to purchase a less expensive CRM Software System. If you need more than just customer management you may need to look at a CRM Software System that is more complex. One of the most important parts of a CRM Software System is the ability to keep customer information organized and the CRM Software System can also help you keep the accounts organized as well.Avidian offers the excellent Prophet CRM Software System.If your company is in need of a CRM Software System then Avidian is a company to consider. Avidian offers Prophet, which is a CRM Software System that is excellent. Many feel that the Prophet software is the best CRM Software System available today. You can use the Prophet CRM Software System to keep all of your customer information organized and the information is centralized so all of your employees can use the CRM Software System to access the information at any time. You can also use the Prophet CRM Software System to keep track of sales leads as well.The Prophet CRM Software System is easy to implement and use.The prophet CRM Software System is also easy to install and easy for your employees to use. When you use the Prophet CRM Software System you will find that all contacts in the system will be easily available to all your employees. A CRM Software System like Prophet can help to keep your sales team organized and synchronized. You will also find that the Prophet CRM Software System is cost effective as well. For a good price you will be able to have the Prophet CRM Software System and it can help you keep track of all your contact and sales information. You can keep track of leads with your CRM Software System as well as monitor what tasks are completed and what tasks still need work.The benefits of the Prophet CRM Software System.There are many benefits to be found when using the Prophet CRM Software System. You can actually send automated emails using the Prophet CRM Software System as well as take care of other customer follow-up activities. The CRM Software System will also help you create a calendar to keep track of any appointments you may have so you will never forget them. Communication with prospective customers is very important and using your CRM Software System can help make this easier for your sales team. Using your CRM Software System to keep in touch with prospective customers can help you generate more sales, which will result in more profit for your company. You can also use the Prophet CRM Software System to keep track of your sales and how much profit you have earned. Each aspect of every sale can be kept track of with the Prophet CRM Software System.Using the Prophet CRM Software System to help with company reports.You will also be able to use your Prophet CRM Software System to help you with reports that are needed. It is important that reports be done to keep track of how the sales team is doing and the Prophet CRM Software System makes it easy to make and access reports that are necessary. You can also use the CRM Software System to send out the reports as well. There are already reports that are in the Prophet CRM Software System and you can customize your reports using the Prophet CRM Software System as well. It is important that you keep on top of how your company is doing and how sales are going and using the Prophet CRM Software System can help you keep up with your sales team and their productivity.The Prophet CRM Software System is an award winning system that you can trust.If you are interested in knowing more about the Prophet CRM Software System you can go to their website at avidian.com and find out more about what their CRM Software System has to offer. While you are there you will find that the Prophet CRM Software System is made by an award winning company. Avidian received the Seattle Mayor’s Small Business award due to their excellent CRM Software System. The company has also been given a four star rating by PC World in regards to their Prophet CRM Software System. With such high recommendations and awards you can be sure that the Prophet CRM Software System is a great one. This CRM Software System can do great things for your company.The Prophet CRM Software System can help you build a superior business.If you want to develop a business that is superior, then you need an excellent CRM Software System. The Prophet CRM Software System can help your business achieve superiority. You will find that the Prophet CRM Software System will help to boost that amount of sales that are made and can help you organize your entire sales department. The Prophet CRM Software System can also be tailor made to fit the specific needs your company may have. This CRM Software System is cost effective and can help you save money in the long run. Take the time to do your research and check out the Prophet CRM Software System at avidian.com. You will find that there are many great features and benefits to the Prophet CRM Software System. The Prophet CRM Software System is an excellent CRM Software System that can help to lead your company to better profit and higher success.

CRM Software Solution

2008-04-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

Most people in business are familiar with the concept of a CRM software solution, but few know very much about it. The CRM software solution refers to Customer Relationship Management software. A good CRM software solution can be of great benefit to a company trying to increase sales of its products and services. However, while the right CRM software solution can be very beneficial, the wrong CRM software solution can be very expensive and lead to waste. The key for any company is to decide what it wants in a CRM software solution.Most companies need a CRM software solution to help manage contacts and sales.The most complex CRM software solution will provide a lot of tools to a company, but at great costs. Some of the tools contained in such a CRM software solution will be highly useful while others may never be used at all. This produces a situation where the CRM software solution may become the problem, more than the solution. Therefore it’s important to look at what most companies really need in a CRM software solution. The consensus is that most businesses need an affordable and reliable CRM software solution to manage their contacts and sales. If that’s what you’re looking for in a CRM software solution the go to http://avidian.com/ and check out the Prophet 3.0 system.The Prophet 3.0 CRM software system is award winning.Avidian is an award winning company that markets Prophet 3.0 for Outlook as the CRM software solution that is best suited to most businesses. Its CRM software solution has been recognized as the Best Outlook-Based CRM solution. This highly innovative CRM software solution has also received a four star rating from the highly respected PC World magazine. In addition the city of Seattle has recognized Avidian for its CRM software solution by giving the company the Seattle Mayor’s Small Business Award. The Prophet 3.0 CRM software solution has clearly set the standard of excellence for the industry.Track your sales opportunities with the Prophet 3.0 CRM software solution.With the Prophet 3.0 CRM software solution busy managers can organize and track all of the company’s sales opportunities. This CRM software solution allows the user to instantly access all of the pertinent information about a contact including e-mail addresses. The CRM software solution will also have all of the pertinent documents such as contracts and correspondence readily available. With this CRM software solution there is no need to go searching through endless files for one piece of information. The Prophet 3.0 CRM software solution makes it available with just a click of the mouse.This excellent CRM software solution tracks every aspect of a sales opportunity.The Prophet 3.0 CRM software solution is one that is easy to install and even easier to use. While often a so-called CRM software solution only offers basic contact management and calendar features the Prophet CRM software solution offers much more. Not only does this CRM software solution allow the user to make sure that all necessary appointments are made and kept, but the CRM software solution also allows ever aspect of a sales opportunity to be monitored and tracked. This means that with this outstanding CRM software solution everyone will know what tasks need to be performed for each opportunity. The CRM software solution not only lets everyone in the sales team keep up with what has been done, but this CRM software solution helps schedule the things that need to be done.Close more sales with the Prophet 3.0 software solution.A good CRM software solution will allow a company to close more sales. It doesn’t do much good to have contacts if you don’t have the ability to follow through and make the revenue. With the Prophet 3.0 CRM software solution you can not only track every aspect of the opportunity, but even provide for automatically sent e-mails to follow-up on initial contacts. The Avidian CRM software solution does much of the work for a busy sales manager by keeping every member of the sales team on the same page. Then with this CRM software solution you can even track the revenues from the sales. Only the best CRM software solution can provide the flexibility to accomplish all of this.Keep up with reporting duties with the Prophet CRM software solution.A good CRM software solution should also help with the often difficult task of reporting to everyone in the company that needs to be kept informed. The Avidian CRM software solution is one of the best at that task. The Prophet 3.0 provides a daily report on all sales opportunities that can be accessed by anyone who wants to look at it. In addition this CRM software solution also has 30 built in reports that are automatically prepared. If reports need to be customized the CRM software solution makes it easy and efficient to do so. No one needs to be left out of the loop with this comprehensive CRM software solution.Check out the Avidian 3.0 CRM software solution.If you are interested in a CRM software solution for you company first review your specific needs. Then go to the Avidian website at http://avidian.com/ and look at the Prophet 3.0 CRM software solution that is available. You’ll probably find that this CRM software solution meets your needs and is the CRM software solution that you can get at a competitive price. The right CRM software solution will help put you a step ahead of your competition.Don’t miss out on any more opportunities.More and more companies are finding that the right CRM software solution can be of great help to the bottom line of the business. You’re in business to make money, not waste it, so you want a CRM software solution that is tailored to the specific needs of your business. Some businesses will spend a fortune on a CRM software solution that may not even be necessary, but you can easily avoid that by getting your CRM software solution from Avidian. It’s is truly the CRM software solution that is the easiest to use and most flexible system on the market today.About Avidian Technologies:Avidian Technologies is a software company specializing in creating software solutions for users of Outlook and Exchange. Prophet, developed by Avidian Technologies on the .NET platform, is the leading contact management and sales CRM software built in Outlook. The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. For more information, please visit http://www.avidian.com

Taking the Mystery Out of Software Financing and Software Leasing

2008-04-24T05:29:00.000-07:00