Brad's Creative Blog

New Animated Short Underway

Brad — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:19:33 +0000

Over the weekend, I began working on a new idea for a Flash animated short. Several years ago, I performed an original pantomime entitled “The Skydiver,” and over the holiday weekend I began turning my pantomime into an animated Flash cartoon. Here’s a screenshot of part of the cartoon:

I’m doing some experimenting with this cartoon, and I plan to do most of the actual animation using traditional frame-by-frame methods, so it could take me a little longer to finish than it would otherwise. Once it is finished, I’m going to build a new page into my Web site just for Flash cartoons, and it will also be posted on YouTube.

Flash Basics Tutorial #3: Creating 3d Text

Brad — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:33:17 +0000

How to create 3d looking text.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsIwH3LZiq4

In this tutorial, I demonstrate how to create text and make it look 3d.

Concepts learned:

Breaking Apart Objects
Changing Fill Colors
Copying and Pasting
Snapping
Using the Gradient Transform Tool
Using the Line Tool
Using the Text Tool
Using the Zoom Tool
Using Undo
Working with Text
Working with Gradients

Flash Basics Tutorial #2: Making the Ball Bounce Look Real

Brad — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:37:45 +0000

Part II of Creating a Bouncing Ball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmHNh8hVMyU

In this tutorial, I demonstrate how to make the bouncing ball more realistic looking.

Concepts learned:

Moving Through the Timeline
Entering Keyframes
Easing In/Out
Demonstrating Object Materials
Using the Free Transform Tool

To create the bouncing ball, please watch Part I of this tutorial: Flash Basics Tutorial #1: Creating a Bouncing Ball
Or download the finished Part I file here.

Flash Basics Tutorial #1: Creating a Bouncing Ball

Brad — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:27:43 +0000

The first in my new series of Flash tutorials is now live on YouTube. Just click the video or the link below the video to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S9BXYiP9Tc

In this tutorial, I demonstrate how to create a bouncing ball.

Concepts learned:

Using the Oval Tool and Line Tool
Using the Color Palette
Creating Symbols
Inserting Frames and Keyframes
Using Guide Layers
Creating Classic Tweens

Flash Basics Video Tutorials

Brad — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:07:07 +0000

I filmed a short tutorial earlier today about some of the basics of Flash. It’s the first in a planned series of Flash basics video tutorials. The videos will be all about really simple things that can be done in Flash, basically tailored to the absolute beginner. The first one is less than ten minutes long and goes over how to make a bouncing ball in Flash. It should be edited in the next few days, and then I will post it on here and on YouTube.

Behind the Scenes of Word 2010

Brad — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:55:16 +0000

LearnKey recently posted a short “Behind the Scenes” clip on YouTube of an interview with Mandi Bergenfeld, owner of Twin Computer Training, Inc. and the subject matter expert in LearnKey’s Word 2010 training. The clip is an excerpt of an interview with Mandi and includes a production photo. I can be seen pretending to eat a bagel at around 15 seconds in. Just me being my goofy self…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKy3mwmDAMw&playnext=1&videos=KxhQBsCs9ko

LearnKey Blog Guest Post: Woman Turns Alien via Photoshop

Brad — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:49:59 +0000

A little while ago, I had the opportunity to write a guest post for LearnKey’s blog, and my post went online today. The post is about a picture I made a while back in Photoshop of an alien while following a tutorial online. We’re going to be filming the Adobe CS5 Suite, starting with Photoshop next week, so I was asked to write a little something showing an interesting way to use Photoshop. Check out my post at blog.learnkey.com/?p=789.

Keying in Adobe After Effects

Brad — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:28:56 +0000

My coworker Steve has been in the Yucatan filming a documentary for the last week and a half, so I’ve been filling in for him at work. While he’s been gone I’ve been running the video camera and editing all the video files. This mainly entails keying out the blue screen and adding a background in it’s place. I was able to do a little of this while Steve was here, but with him gone it’s been solely my responsibility. Here are some samples of keying I have done with LearnKey:

The 10 Commandments of the PC Tech

Brad — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:19:00 +0000

LearnKey recently posted a video on YouTube and their blog called “The 10 Commandments of a PC Tech”. The video is an unused segment we shot during the filming of the A+ Certification training with Mike Meyers back in September 2009. It was decided that the segment needed finished and released as a promotional item, so my coworker Steve has been working on it tirelessly for the last little while. When I moved to the Salt Lake office I was conscripted for the video, so viewers playing close attention (and not so close attention) can see my mug sprinkled throughout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBI7srCSpd0&playnext=1&videos=TXUhWTniwmQ

All Settled In

Brad — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:28:28 +0000

Well, we finally got all settled into our new apartment on Saturday. I guess I shouldn’t say we’re all settled in as we are just living out of boxes right now and can’t even find our food, but everything is in our new apartment. Now comes the long task of figuring out where everything is and where everything goes…

My new job is going great! We had Tom Carpenter in town a couple of weeks ago to film a CWSP training and an update to a CWNA training we built a year or so ago. I designed the CWNA headshot background to mimic the original headshot background, and I also got to do all the keying in AfterEffects. We’ve also been working on an A+ promo (I get to be the model), and we’re beginning filming on Office 2010 this week. Steve said he’ll teach me how to run the camera this week, so that will be cool.