FITC: Day Two

I've edited the formatting and some of the content. It was pretty ugly and I couldn't just leave it. So there.


Integrating Flash and HTML5
Yeah, so, I think I like last year's FITC venue more than this year's. I clearly went to the wrong presentation this morning because I didn't see the sign to walk up the stairs to the other room. I was looking for "Advanced Blitting" with Jesse Freeman, but I accidentally sat in on "Integrating Flash and HTML5" with Mike Chambers. I think a few others did the same thing because about 10 minutes into it a bunch of people got up and left. Why didn't I? ... No idea. Anyway, for anyone who's interested, Mike Chambers will be posting his entire presentation up on github.com/mikechambers.

Also, here are some reference sites he gave out at the end:

html5rocks.com

caniuse.com

diveintohtml5.org

Interactive on Readers and Tablets with Ted Patrick

Ted Patrick works for Barnes & Noble.

2 years ago, Barnes & Noble Digital was established to reinvent the book. They've created the nook color, which is a cross between a reader and a tablet. He emphasized, though, that it's a reader first, with tablet capabilities.

History of tablets:

The problem with Flash was that it made interactivity free. Previous to 2000, people paid for interactivity on CD ROMs. 

2008 - Anybody could create an app. There was a business model shift. 

2009 - nook came out.

2010 - iPad came out. It's a very fast optimized computer for looking at content.

2010 - nook color came out.

• In the end, content is king. Consumers will pay for good content.
• Now is a good time for us in the app industry because cost is low for creation and distribution.
• PPI basically, it means how clear the text is. 
• The iPad actually has the lowest PPI at 132 PPI. The nook color has a PPI of 160.
• The evolution of technology seems to be that devices keep getting more powerful, while their cost keeps getting lower.

Device Problems:

• 480x800 is now the industry standard for tablet screen, but you have to take into account the physical touch space in inches. A fingertip is about a half inch square.
• In the future, we'll be above 2000px wide or high and 200PPI.
• You have to produce buttons and content that are 4x bigger than before (than on the web). Therefore, you need to keep in mind the CPU usage and hardware acceleration.
• Design for today, but take tomorrow's abilities into consideration.
• "Write once, use many". Be able to generate pixel density between devices. Aim for the highest quality or pixel density on the first creation so all you're doing is scaling down for the other devices.
• They have nook kids tablet too. 
• Make sure you design and code for dynamic positioning and dynamic scaling. Some devices do this automatically, but not all.
• GPU Hardware Acceleration allows you to throw a ton of info at the tablet and keeps rendering.
• Use a Framework. Android JDK uses Java, Android NDK uses C/C++.
• nook color ships with Adobe AIR installed, so it runs your Flash creations.
• nook kids is written in AIR and allows you to create in Flash/Flex/Catalyst.
• Barnes and Noble only utilizes high quality apps. It's difficult to get a book into Barnes and Noble and it's the same for developers and their apps. However, there is a way: nookdeveloper.com

Cause and Effect with Robert L. Peters

Robert is the founder of Circle. His personal site is definitely worth checking out too.

Change threatens the status quo, that's why there are so many who protest it. 

Practice whole brain thinking: creative and strategic.

Plan ahead. "A stitch in time saves nine".

Act on your goals.

Listen. We express ourselves too much, we forget to listen. We're being bombarded with messages. I noticed Robert said this while half the audience was on its cell phones. 

Designers have become very powerful influencers. Keep that in mind.

A mime is a visual equivalent of a virus.

"Logos have become the closest thing to an international language." - Naomi Klein, Logos

Question everything, then question the answers.

Collaborate. We're all in this together.

Assume nothing.

Study the past. Don't reinvent the wheel. Concern yourself with the meaning of symbols. 

K.I.S.S. - Keep it simple stupid. Less is more.

Communicate. The 6 W's (Who, What, Where, When, Whom, Why) point to the How. Understand the culture of the viewer.

Draw a diagram. Always sketch first.

Never sell out. Keep the bar high.

Use a contract. Robert helped put together a contract template that is available at the Graphic Designers of Canada website. Check out no-spec.com! We finally have some backup. haha.

Say what you mean, mean what you say.

Be open. Let go of anal perfectionist traits and accept the flaws. (I need to work on this one.)

Dream. 

Welcome change. (I need to work on this one too... Working in the real world, to school, back to working in the real world in 2 years... Freakin' me out!)

Add value.

Aim higher. 

Foster intuition. Don't forget the feeling in things. Re-engage with nature.

Do more with less.

Laugh. (This one is super important.)  ;)

Innovate.

Think sideways. Be unconventional.

Focus.

Take it to the edge.

Relax. If you work hard, then play hard. Remember, in a rat race only the rats win.

Tron GFX with Bradley Munkowitz from GMUNK

GMUNK are the ones behind all the cool holographic-looking stuff in "Tron". Bradley Munkowitz went through some of the different elements of the movie that GMUNK created, from the opening title sequence to the scoreboard when Sam is fighting the other programs, to the holograms that are part of the discs and more. If you haven't seen Tron, you really should. The visuals are very well done. If you're not sure, here's the trailer:

Here are a few things I pulled away from the presentation:

• Do a ton of research before you begin and reference that research frequently during your creation process.
• They had their programmer create apps that generated cool geometric forms. They took PNG's of what the apps generated and used those in their comps.
• These apps allowed them to control what each app output.
• Their inspiration for scene where Clue defragments Flynn's disk were images of bars which represent how data is visualized.
• They found some open source code that they repurposed to look like explosions of particles to use when Clue is looking at Sam's disk to see what he's been up to.
• The Clue's globe was created using open Frameworks.
• All the open Frameworks they used had no motion blur or depth of field, so they had to import it into Houdini to add them.