STA Blog

RUS412 Project Update

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Another RUS412 Project Text Blurrrrrb

Things have been moving forward with the RUS412K Project. There are always so many different things I have to do for the Russian Online courses that when the project is in full swing I feel like I always have to be on my toes! We’ve been working on editing the previous semesters’ powerpoint videos, switching videos from different units, removing/adding audio and so forth and I found out last week that I’ll be taking on some of Samantha’s responsibilities for keeping the project on track while she is away for 3 weeks! So I’m working with multiple new google sheets and a more direct communication with the professor, as well as keeping the Box storage for the project organized. But I also have a video STA helping with some of these edits and he works really fast on Premiere so hopefully we’ll complete these edits soon! The preproduction for the RUS412K Animations is chugging along as well, and hopefully I’ll have some pictures to post on my blog by the next STA meeting! We already have a number of new characters and objects created and I’ve drawn 4 or 5 backgrounds!

 

ALSO!!! The Chinese powerpoint video project is officially complete! So nice to hear:^))))

Week of 7/2

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This week was more bearable after the hectic workload of last week finally wrapped up a little.

For the RGT, I made a simple campus map base for the main page:

I first took the colored map into Illustrator, then removed all the numbered labels and made all the objects a solid color. Then, I used Photoshop and changed the color of the objects to white, and just added a black choked outer glow and a drop shadow for the outlines. The style is supposed to be similar to the hand icon I did before, i.e. an engraving. I think the map will look a lot more complete after we add the etching marks on specific buildings and stops.

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I also continued my work on the Russian Animations object creations with my Awake Girl and a notification bell:

Awake Girl’s looking cute! Not much to say on her other than the fact that it definitely gets easier the more you do. The pigtails are always the hardest part since the Kyle Legacy brush has a hard time drawing curves that look aesthetically pleasing 🙁 Meanwhile, the bell was especially fun for me since I finally got to do a little animation. I had some experience with motion/classic tweens from before, but it was mostly for rotations and position. I’m glad I got the opacity part figured out without much hassle! I look forward to animating more!

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For Russian illustration, I did this work for Kathy. It felt kind of rushed because I was doing it at the end of my week (since I only work 3 days) so I was frantically picking colors the last part of my shift. I don’t usually cell-shade when I color, so it was a bit of a challenge to create interesting textures with a solid brush. I also didn’t know if we were allowed to add effects like sparkles and sun rays (though in truth I was also just running out of time, #procrastination). I liked how my piece turned out overall though, especially the birds!

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I was also asked to do more edits on my “This is Democracy” design and incorporate a more “historical” look and feel by adding things like the parchment texture, a quill, and the relief of a neoclassical building. I also touched up the wigs a little, but I’m not sure how much more “realistic” they can be if I want to maintain the simplistic and minimalistic look. One thing I’m struggling with by adding all those images in the background is making the two puppet characters stand out just as much as they did in the other drafts. Compared to the older version, the new one has a darker but more “historical” mood, which may or may not be a bad thing? Anyways, I’ll keep working on it!

     

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Finally, I also did more Cascade work. I added contact info, staff pages, the sidebar video, some external links, and the magic trick. Most of the Cascade site is done now, I just need to fix a few details:

Week of 6/25

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Last week and this week I’m super busy, I have like 5 projects going on at a time!

For the Racial Geography Tour, I went over my drafts with Jac and Suloni but it was decided later that they wouldn’t need them anymore :’) So all I’ve done for it so far this week is edit some hand symbols:

Later this week I will be working on a campus map for the site.

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I also went over my “This is Democracy” design with Suloni to revise it and potentially prep it for my portfolio. I’m still messing around with it, but I’m trying to make the font more legible for the quote and make the wigs look more like wigs.

     

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I worked on screen displays for the Texas Archaeology online course. I’ll probably think of something new to put on the vertical display so I didn’t include it here.

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Finally, I worked on the character creation portion of the animations for RUS412. My assignment was to make an “Awake Girl” character, this peppy college student who loves mornings (definitely not same). I referenced Penny Proud and Snow White, as shown in the pic below. Since I already had some prior experience with Animate, the hardest part for me was just figuring out the way Tate organizes things. I hope everyone else has an easy time figuring out symbols! They can get complicated for sure.

Progress Update on the CHI507 and the RUS412K Projects

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Progress Update on the CHI507 and the RUS412K Projects (as well as some other little tidbits)

The CHI507 Project is in its final stages! (Hallelujah). There are just 2 more videos to touch up before we wait for absolute final approval from the professor. Because of having to do videos over again, I was able to gain more experience in the leading projects and sending assignments/providing edit notes. However, I am elated this project will soon draw to a close, as it’s lasted about twice as long as originally planned. With the RUS412K Project, we’re picking up momentum with production! Character assignments have been given to every STA involved in the project and I have already received three in return! I also assigned Duo to update the ppt background for the new semester of Russian videos, and have sent her lovely first draft to the professor for critiques. I have established a worklfow with Samantha on how to handle the RUS406/RUS407 edits and will be beginning work on those this week! Finally, Rodrigo and I spent about 4 hours last week attempting to create an interactive last week in Adobe Animate utilizing Drag and Drop features. Unfortunately, we had little success:^( However, I plan to explore this some more! So much to do!! AHHH!!

Nation of Immigrants UI Design

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Wowee another UI design project! Keep ’em coming, Suloni. I’m having fun with these.

Nation of Immigrants is a WordPress site that Kathy and I will be designing the layout and feel of. The site houses an archive of info and documents about the immigration history of the United States. Once again, this is a really cool and important project because the design of the website is going to be able to make this information all the more accessible!

 

Here is the first round of mockups:

 

   

CHI 507 PPT Video Project Update

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CHI 507 PPT Video Project Update

The CHI507 Project has been moving along magnificently since the issues we had with the font. Before, syncing these videos took probably about a month and a half. Now, with the all-hands-on-deck approach for the resyncs, we’ve completed roughly the same amount of videos in about 2 weeks. Personally, I received experience quickly training STAs in workflow processes they have not done before, assigning todos/giving adequate feedback, as well as streamlining the video sync workflow process. Here’s to wrapping up this project by the end of this week! I’ve included a screenshot of the basecamp assignments for this project. The checked off ones are officially complete, the grey ones are the ones that have been assigned to an STA for syncing, most of which are done and are just awaiting edit notes and the yellow ones are remaining videos to be completed!