3D Vision

This is something that I should have wrote about when I got it, but I didn't. Not surprising considering my aversion to blogging. Yes yes Mr. Williams, I know, I must blog to be successful or nobody is going to take me seriously. I must use a Mac or nobody is going to take me seriously. I must not use the right click function on a mouse or nobody is going to take me seriously. I have to, I absolutely HAVE to subscribe to every piece of dogma associated with the religion of graphic design or else I will never ever ever be taken seriously. Maybe I just don't want to be taken seriously? Seriously though, whats so fun about being serious?  I prefer to enjoy what I do, so that's why I think my new Alienware 120hz 23 inch widescreen monitor and Nvidia 3D vision setup totally KICK ASS. One note though....don't try to force the system to run at 60 hz on a second monitor. That is unless you enjoy cleaning up your own puke, then have at it. Yes, it did happen...

Brain Strain

I would like to talk about something I call brain strain. It is the moment in time when you are working on something so hard, that you realize your going backwards and not making any real progress except to frustrate yourself more. That's when its a good time to unplug and do something you enjoy for a while that is inconsequential. For me, this isn't getting away from my PC, it is actually immersing myself into something else without even going anywhere. Either second life, or World of Warcraft, usually the latter. I guess my whole point is, if your frustrated, then switch off for a while. When you come back you will see your perspective has changed and your able to continue with a more positive attitude.

Animation

I really like animation and I learned a lot about it in class this go around. My particular forte' is not flash (see previous post) its more in the realm of programs like Poser and Daz 3D. These programs let me do things in 3d, which was my whole reason for enrolling in the graphic design program. Sadly, there is no more 3D class, and I shall have to make due, but I did find the content about animation useful and will apply it to future endeavors.

Flash

I have to admit, I was a bit intimidated by the course content in this class. Flash is a serious program, intricate and difficult to understand. It definitely proved this to me this go around. I hold the score at flash 1, Mica 0. As I told my teacher, I worked and reworked my project about 12 times in total, and when I went back through my notes and thumbnails it was actually 14 different concepts and ideas. Nothing worked the way I wanted it to. I was told by the teachers that nobody asked for help, and while I know I didn't, I also know that the things I wanted to do were probably out of the scope of their skills as well. At any rate, I think I pulled off a decent looking final project and it did fit my styling, which anybody who knows how I design, I prefer clean, simple meaningful pieces. Maybe that was my mistake, going for form instead of overall function. That brings to mind the old expression, "You'll get em next time".

Lions Tigers and Blogs...oh my : /

Well here I am, blogging once again. Thank you Mr. Williams for this wonderful opportunity to give my thoughts and opinions on various topics which we all know and love. So, this two months we have flash flash and more flash. Cranky flash, mean hateful, spiteful keyframes tweens and god knows what else I will have to force my brain to wrap itself around. Hah, I love being dramatic....to flash or not to flash, that is the question, and thats not a reference to dropping my pants. I think that is enough of a rant for right now, I hope all my loyal avid readers enjoy my blog much much more than I do. So until next time AMF!

Portfolio's

Having a portfolio online is a good thing for any designer or photographer. It lets people readily access your works and take a peek at your obviously massive creative genius and lets potential employers be wow'ed by your work. So with that in mind, I have ten places where you can host your portfolio for you to check out as follows.
1. Wix
This site offers a variety of simple templates and hosting services for free users, overall I think its pretty good, but you will notice there are really cool features you can't use unless you sign up for their premium services.
2. Behance
Very nice site. From what I saw while casually surfing, it looks like you could build yourself a nice portfolio here.
3. Carbonmade
This one I think is neat, I liked the layout on the home page, and they seem to be totally free and simple to use.
4. Portfolio's Friend
Bleh, this one seems to link to your work that you already have up somewhere else. It does showcase some nice wordpress themes though.
5. Deviant Art
I've known about this site for a long time. You can look at a lot of others artists work here, as well as post pics of your work too. Is it a real portfolio? I would'nt go that far, but you can get exposure with it. I've even downloaded photoshop brushes here.
6. Coroflot
Nice site, seems genuine, and its free, what more could you ask for?
7. Shown'd
This site promises a lot of  things, which if its all true, seems like a very good deal to me. Worth a look.

8. Professional on the web

This is another site that links to your already made portfolio, and not an online portfolio at all. Still I am listing it here because the more links and exposure you have, the better off you are. 

9.Design related

Nice site, I wasn't very impressed with the speed, but you can make an account and upload images and descriptions, so I suppose its technically a profile hosting site. Seems like there would be a lot to sift through if someone actually was looking for your work. 

10. Ahead
Wow. Free and paid portfolio hosting, and I am wondering if its worth it. Massively impressed with the home page interaction. If you didn't use your scroll wheel when you looked, go back and give it a try.

In all I would have to conclude that there are some decent sites out there where you can host your portfolio. Personally I plan on making my own domain and writing the code for my own site. But if there is one thing I have learned, nothing is really free, and also you get what you pay for, so even if its free, it probably wont do everything you want it to. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. 

Stock images, whats hot and whats not

Every graphic designer uses stock images at some point or another. Plain and simple, they are a necessity, there are so many times you will need images for things you are working on, it only makes sense to know where to get them. There are quite a few websites out there that have stock images, and I will go through ten of them, five free sites, and five pay sites, and I will order them according to my preference for each.
So lets start out with the easy category, since there's loads of pay sites out there for images.
1. Deposit Photos 
I absolutely love this site. Not only are their images very good, but their prices are too, and you can grab a free membership if your in a pinch and get 30 free high quality images or vector files over the course of the seven day membership.
2. Istock Photo
This is one of the big boys and their prices reflect it. Images can cost a lot, but if they don't have what you need then nobody does.
3. Shutterstock
Everybody knows shutterstock, they are about like Istock, with prices that will definitely leave a dent in your wallet. Membership to this site is 249.00 a month, and allow you to download 25 images a day.
4. Getty Images
I'm sure everybody knows about these folks too. Seen enough of their images in news stories on the web. They are famous and they know it. A single image from them can cost upwards of $555.00. Ouch
5. Big Stock
This one is a pay by image site. Personally I think subscription options are better, but I reckon if they have what you want then hey go for it. Large images on this site cost about 8 bucks.

Ok now that that's out of the way lets get on with the free stuff. I go to these sites first and foremost, then wind up at the guys who cost money if I can't find what I am looking for.

1.Stock Exchange
This is my first stop when I am looking for images, and always with the mentality "I might get lucky" This site is totally free with a registered account, and they have a lot of images. But like any free site, its hit or miss with finding what your looking for or something close.  Getty just bought them out, so I don't think this site is going to be free much longer, either that or they are going to pilfer the better images to their own collections and charge for them. I guess we will see.
2. Free Photos Bank
Nice site, decent photos, navigation is a bit odd with the search button at the bottom and pretty pictures at the top that link to pay sites. The images are decent size for web and standard print, but from what I saw they only offer the images in a medium sized format, so using them for large print would be out of the question .
3. Stock Vault
Ok, I think I love this site. Nice images, good categorization, large formats, and 100% free with no account needed. I grabbed this lovely while I was browsing.

4. Open Photo
Pretty basic site navigation and good quality images, just wish there was more of them.
5. Freestockphotos.biz
Decent site, find your category, click on an image you like, and download it. More medium sized images, I didn't see anything bigger than 1280, but also notice how your eyes are drawn to a great picture of just what your looking for, then feel the deflated disappointment when you read its a sponsored image from shutterstock.