810:023 Microcomputer Systems
Spring 2009 - 1 p.m. MWF

  1. FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS assignment.

  2. Wednesday evening, April 29th: After Effects assignments and final exam questions assignments. The final exam questions are due by 10 p.m. on Sunday evening so everyone has time to utilize them before Cinco de Mayo at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5th.

  3. Complete PDF of VERTIGO After Effects to Flash SWF export class from Monday, April 20th in Lang 213.

  4. Here is what the exported SWF file looks like, hosted by AE generated .html page" VERTIGO After Effects and Flash SWF export, to be later imported into Flash as a Movie Clip symbol.

  5. Here is the final product: Flash movie with the After Effects exported text animation imported into Flash as the new symbol for use in a new 3rd layer. The other two layers are the eye and the spiralAnimation layers. "The spiral animation is a movie clip that contains a spiral graphic symbol that rotates counter-clockwise creating a vortex tunnel effect."

USE THESE to practice AE and do the tutorial: After Effects Animating Text files. Please do NOT download the QuickTime Movie Aqua 3D Text_comp proxy.mov file. You ONLY will need two .psd files and one .aep file!

REVIEW THIS - VIP: After Effects assignment one reading, watching and writing activity.
Especially, watch and/or read the Text Effects tutorial. And DO IT, if you get the chance to go to Lang 213 or KAB lab where they have Adobe AE, or if you download the 30 day free trial version to your computer.

See the 023 Student Sound/Animation/Buttons assignments.

  • Let the Fireworks begin as the special effects popup into the sky for all to see. Popup menus with Fireworks.

    Friday, April 27th lab: Koala Bear puzzle.

    Sounds Good example for assignment on Flash and Audio.

    Sounds Good example for assignment on Flash and Audio.

    Flash Assignment: Flash Sounds (MP3 sounds) played along with animated movie clip symbols from Wednesday March 11th. We covered this example in class. It is due by the end of the first week after spring break.

    You can have until Wednesday, the 2nd Wednesday after spring break, if needed for the animated and audio assignment.

    • Sound One Who ya gonna call?
    Sound Two Ghostbusters!
    Sound Three Show the Channels

    Some MP3 files to practice Flash audio with.

    1. Adobe After Effects and the inertia stopping effect of a Motorcycle that is moving so fast, it is a blur.

      AE animation: Monday, March 2nd Lang 213 class. You have cycle1.jpg and cycle2.jpg and cycle3.jpg on your handout. You can watch Inertia_Stop-320.mov to see what the final animated result would look like. HD_V-Rod.psd is a Photoshop file that you import as footage into your After Effects project panel.

    2. Flash and sound with ActionScript 3.0.

      Flash CS3 Missing Manuals book CD files.

    3. Monday, February 23rd Lang 213 class: Arrow keys, boxSymbol, finishLineSymbol and a Dynamic textbox. ActionScript code we used is shown here. 
      keyCode_txt is a Textbox with Property Inspector type of Textbox set to:

                  Dynamic  (Static and Input are the other two choices)

                  The Text tool created keyCode_txt and it does NOT
                                have to be converted to a Movie Clip
                                symbol.  Its instance name is 
                                         keyCode_txt, so it does have
                                         a name.

box is a MovieClip type symbol.  The arrow keys move box around.
                                 box is the instance name and 
                                 boxSymbol is the Library Symbol name.


finish is a Movie Clip type symbol.  It is a very narrow and very tall
                                     rectangle Shape that got converted
                                     to a Movie Clip symbol, perhaps
                                     named boxSymbol.

      Box moved by arrow keys without any finish line and without any Textbox.

    4. The rolling of the dice example from 02/18/Wednesday class. This code was introduced on Monday, Feb 16th and covered in depth in Wednesday's class.

    5. VIP: Racing Rectangles Assignment and uploading to sunny.uni.edu email note (Wednesday, Feb 18th).

    6. Racing Rectangles Assignment: ActionScript 3.0 allows TWO DIFFERENT approaches to moving your FOUR rectangles from the starting line to the finish line. You can use either one. Both are illustrated here.

    7. See your handout from Wednesday Feb 11th (handed out again on Friday Feb 13th) and note the due date for the racing rectangles is FRIDAY, Feb 20th.

    8. Class in StudioIT 1 computer lab classroom on Friday will make sure you know how to upload files to sunny.uni.edu for your Flash racing rectangles assignment. You will get to walk through uploading using SSH Secure Shell and also using Dreamweaver.

    9. Friday, Feb 20th: Example Flash application that we will create and upload to your sunny.uni.edu account. Needs to have star1, star2, and circle as the 3 different objects on the stage. starSymbol and circleSymbol will be the two Symbols in the Library. Instance names will be circle, star1 and star2.

    After Effects Animating Text files. Please do NOT download the QuickTime Movie Aqua 3D Text_comp proxy.mov file. You ONLY will need two .psd files and one .aep file!

    VIP: After Effects assignment one reading, watching and writing activity.
    Due on Monday, 02/02/2009 at start of Lang 213 class.
    Updated with a new question on late Friday afternoon!
    It is a prelab assignment to prepare you for the lab.

    Special Effects with Flash using invisible buttons. You received this as a handout on Friday 01/30 in class #8.

    Review also 01/21/2009 Wednesday - CLASS #5 handouts and example: Special Effects with Flash symbols. MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER event is not as well known as MouseEvent.CLICK but it can be useful. Invisible buttons! Lots more to cover on this in StudioIT 3 ITT 138 lab on FRIDAY February 6th.

    VIP: After Effects assignment one reading, watching and writing activity.
    Due on Monday, 02/02/2009 at start of Lang 213 class. It is a prelab assignment to prepare you for the lab.

    Technical interlude: Slide show on IP numbers, subnet masks, octets and binary numbers to get a feel for computer networks and how the internet and TCP/IP protocol set works. This was introduced a bit on Wednesday, 01/28/2009 in class. tracert and traceroute and ping were demonstrated. hops and IP number addresses.

    Files for After Effects first class.

    Shape Tween StudioIT 3 lab material.

    Get your Flash is Shape with Shape Tweens - follow-up review of Friday lab class with published Flash movie and another new JPEG snapshot.

    Reminder: Lang 213 (02/13 = Valentine's Day eve) computer lab for the next 12 Monday classes. Adobe After Effects

    1. 01/21/2009 Wednesday - CLASS #5: Special Effects with Flash symbols. MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER event is not as well known as MouseEvent.CLICK but it can be useful. Invisible buttons! Lots more to cover on this in StudioIT 3 ITT 138 lab on FRIDAY January 30th.

    2. Email note: No textbook required and hands-on computer lab class schedule for Lang 213 and ITT 138 (Studio IT 3).

    3. Flash CS3 assignment due on Friday in StudioIT 3 (ITT 138) lab class.

    4. VIP: Week one readings and video tutorials required for doing assignment one.

    5. Schedule of Lang 213 and StudioIT 3 Monday and Friday lab classes and of the final exam period.

    6. Class SYLLABUS screen snapshot of the most relevant portions. You will get the entire syllabus as a handout during class.

    7. VIP: Flash CS3 and Flash CS4 email note. UNI will not get Flash CS4 installed until sometime this summer, so we will focus on Flash CS3 in our hands-on classes.

    Prerequisites: The prerequisite for taking 810:023 that is officially required is out of date and does not apply for the spring of 2009 offering of Microcomputer Systems.

    Any ONE of the following is enough to satisfy the prerequisite.

    You might also be interested in the Maya 3D Graphics and Animation class. 810:088 section 11 is a 9 MWF class.

    This class is part of the Certificate in Computer Applications - 4 classes, 12 credit hours, designed especially for non-CS majors.

    1. The class will have a heavy projects emphasis. The projects will have a focus on developing new software skill with graphics and animation and web presentation software and presenting information on your web page or in class exercises that helps you and the other students grasp different aspects of microcomputer systems (hardware and software) and computer networking. The planning for the course will be done over Christmas break.

    2. There will be no textbook for the class. There will be many handouts and web links to information and reviews/previews of each class and lab available from the class web page. There are lots of resources available with the software we will be learning. Many of the assignments will have products so that there will be 20 different practice quiz pages each created by yourself or your classmates which are questions about the material you have learned in class and think is important.

    3. It is expected that in every topic area covered in the class, there will be some portion of the class with no background in that specific area.
      1. In other words, there will be students who have no graphics software experience. No problem. This is a focus of the class, but we start with the basics.
      2. There will be students that have no web publishing software experience. Don't worry. You will learn step by step.
      3. There will be students that have no hardware concepts experience or background on how a computer operating system or network works. Smooth sailing here as we start with the basics.

    4. The class will be taught accordingly. With each topic area listed above, it will be covered as if you are a beginner in that topic area or skill set. Thus you need not worry about any specific deficiency. For areas you do have a background, you will find there will be some review.

    Outline of topics covered and estimated time for each area

    1. Adobe software (Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks): (15 class sessions) will be held in the Studio IT computer labs on the 2nd floor of the ITTC building. In this laptop lap the focus will be on developing skills with Dreamweaver and Flash and Fireworks that can be applied to web page projects. Projects will include at least one group project and presentation.
      1. Dreamweaver - 2 lab periods.
      2. Flash - 12 lab periods. Buttons, Animations, ActionScript basics, Masks, Guided path animations, special effects. Interactivity with Flash. Writing an interactive self-grading practice quiz using Flash over concepts related to the class.
      3. Fireworks/Photoshop - 1 or 2 class periods.

    2. Adobe After Effects: (12 class sessions) - we will use Lang 213 computer lab for Adobe After Effects focused classes. You will be able to use the 30 day free trial version of either Adobe After Effects CS3 or Adobe After Effects CS4. I will concentrate most of the assignments for After Effects within a 3 or 4 week long period.
      1. Creating and managing layers in Adobe After Effects. 6:27 minute video tutorial also web published.
      2. Applying Effects in After Effects. Brainstorming feature. 5:37 minute video with html published page.
      3. Animating Text. 3D text effects. Publishing the effect to your web page. 7:32 minute online Adobe video also published as html.
      4. Painting and masking using Adobe After Effects. 12:18 minute online video also html published.
      5. Working with keyframes in the timeline. 8:32 minute tutorial. No Adobe published text version.
      6. Using the Puppet Tool. Animating a character. 7:16 minute online video and html published tutorial.
      7. Handouts and other web resources and book excerpts.

    3. Using ethereal software to sniff network packets and learn how networks work. Computer Science department laptops in the 322 ITT classroom. How networks work from the local area networks and internet service providers to the internet and the world wide web. Network security. About 4 class sessions.

    4. Group presentations: (2 class sessions).

    5. Midterm exam: (1 class session). Extensive study guide provided.

    6. Troubleshooting basics (1 class session). Fixing your computer. How to most effectively call or email a help desk when you have a problem. Ghostbusters movie lessons and symbolism for computer troubleshooting and computer programming or effective applications software use for complex and challenging tasks.

    7. Scanners, digital cameras: (1 class session). How a scanner works.

    8. Vector graphics and raster graphics concepts and hardware. Color - RGB graphics. RGB triplets. Hexadecimal specification of colors. Phosphors, pixels, how computer monitors and displays work. Video adapters, LCD panels, 3D Graphics Accelerators, video hardware. (5 class sessions).

    9. Magnetic secondary storage basics. How a hard drive works. (1 class session).

    10. CPUs, Computer generations, Microprocessor history and directions, fetch/execute cycle, how a computer works using a very simple model of a computer. (2 class sessions).

    11. Memory. RAM, ROM, L1 cache memory, L2 cache memory. Transistors. (2 class sessions).

    12. Quizzes - two quizzes will be given and each will take about half of a class period. (1 class session total). May decide to have one or both of these be take home or be in-person grading by appointment.