Chad Ritchie

Create a Growing Vine Using Flash

January 22, 2011 By Chad Ritchie

In this video tutorial, I would like to demonstrate how to take vector art from Adobe Illustrator, such as a vine symbol, and animate this vine growing using Flash. There are a few different methods to perform this technique, but I find this method to be the simplest.

Finished swf

http://www.chadritchie.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/GrowingVine.swf

video Tutorial

[button size=”medium” link=”http://www.chadritchie.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/GrowingVineFLA_AI-ChadRitchie.net_.zip” color=”blue”]Download Exercise Files[/button]
If you have any questions or comments post them below.

Zen-Coding – A faster way to write HTML

January 18, 2011 By Chad Ritchie

If you write HTML, do yourself a favor and check out Zen-Coding!

I was introduced to Zen-Coding over a year ago, but the idea at the time seemed like a gimmick—something else to learn and that I would probably not use.

However, this weekend after hearing about Zen-Coding again, I decided to give it a shot. WHOA, was I blown away at how quickly the syntax was to understand and especially how much time could be saved, especially for a basic HTML page set-up.
You can download Zen-Coding at code.google.com/p/zen-coding

In a nutshell, Zen-Coding is similar to TextExpander but for HTML & CSS.
Zen-Coding expands abbreviations into complete HTML structures.

Look at the abbreviation/code below:

Example #1

This abbreviation: body>div#page-wrap>div#header+div#navigation+div#content+div#sidebar+div#footer

Becomes this code when expanded using Zen-Coding:

Example #2

This abbreviation:
div#page>div.logo+ul#navigation>li*5>a

Becomes this code when expanded using Zen-Coding:

To better understand how Zen Coding works, watch this demo video.

I look forward to exploring more time saving possibilities and digging deeper into Zen-Coding. If you have any suggestions or other ideas how Zen-Coding could be implemented into a work-flow, post your comments below.

Happy Zen-Coding!

Timelapse Experiment Using Canon 7D

January 8, 2011 By Chad Ritchie

This was my first timelapse video experiment.

Equipment used:

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Canon 7D with the stock 18-55mm lens
Canon TC-80N3 Timer/Remote Controller
Tripod set very low to the ground to avoid blowing over from the wind

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Camera settings:

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Image recording quality: JPEG mode – Small/Fine
ISO 100
Aperture: f10
Shutter: 1/250 sec

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This experiment consisted of 421 still images, each shot at a 15 second interval over an estimated hour and 45 minute period. I used Quicktime 7 and imported the images in sequence, the first (video #1) at a frame rate of 10 frames per second, the second (video #2) at 15 frames per second and the third (video #3) at 30 frames per second.

Like I mentioned earlier, this was my first timelapse experiment and I learned quite a bit. On the next experiment I will change the camera settings. A much slower shutter speed might help smooth transitions between frames. The problem I foresee with that setting would be allowing to much light into the lens.