Random Thought from my Video Game Courses

Thinking about 'video game' movies (films that are based on video games):
this reminds me of McCloud's book, 'Understanding Comics'. in it, he talks about why we possibly identify with more abstract-looking characters, rather than photorealistic ones. something about the lack of details allows us to make up our own stories, visually, and such i think we could safely surmise within a similar vein, here as well:it is easy for us to invest ourselves into video games, maybe not because of limited plot every time, but because we KNOW there are limitations. meaning, no matter how immersive, how realistic, how normal-mapped, we always know we only playing a game (most of us, anyways). thus, knowing the game's function is to simulate life (or distort it, conversely) for our entertainment, we always marvel at how 'close' it gets. thus, much of the enjoyment of pac-man is the tangible fear WE feel, displaced on the little semi-circle, because of the chase and threat of limited lives.movies can never live up to that, for the most part, as they are photoreal by nature (unless it's a 3D/2D animation on the screen). there's nothing left for us to 'make-up' in our heads...because it's all laid out for us, buffet-style, with no need for imagination (mostly...iron man, excluded).of course, i could be way wrong, and, as my wife would tell you, it wouldn't be the first time.
-M
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About MOCAP
i'm not a fan of mocap; sure, it can give you much relevant detail about muscle structure & movement - especially in the face, and especially for education/edification of how we move/physics - but, there is something empty, lost, and eerie about mocap that unnerves me (Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, anyone?).maybe it's just i feel like there is more room in mocap - more ARTISTIC and CREATIVE room - than studios are allows to display, perhaps because of time/budget contraints. 'need to get that hero's sword pulled from the anvil? well, we COULD spend some time, doing video capture, some storyboards, and some artistic stretches/blends...wait. it's due next MONDAY? oh man, let's just MOCAP it and call it even!'i could be out of line, here, tho.
-M

aNm is currently testing document file delivery using Scribd. Scribd is an online resource to house and deploy documents created in PDF, MS Word, and MS PowerPoint format. Scribd uses its iPaper technology to allow individuals to publish documents in an online viewer that uses Flash player to deliver the content.

"iPaper standardizes all document formats into one viewer that can be seamlessly integrated into webpages. Recognizing the value of this technology, Scribd released the Scribd Platform, which allows any website to use iPaper to display their documents." (Scribd website.)

Below is one of aNm's training documents, "Computer & Internet Basics Training."

Computer & Internet Basics Training - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Computer & Internet Basics Training

Charts and Graphs Training

aNm is currently testing document file deliver using Scribd. Scribd is an online resource to house and deploy documents created in PDF, MS Word, and MS PowerPoint format. Scribd uses its iPaper technology to allow individuals to publish documents in an online viewer that uses Flash player to deliver the content.
"iPaper standardizes all document formats into one viewer that can be seamlessly integrated into webpages. Recognizing the value of this technology, Scribd released the Scribd Platform, which allows any website to use iPaper to display their documents." (Scribd website.)
Below is one of aNm's training documents, "Charts & Graphs for Presentation."

Charts & Graphs for Presentation - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Charts & Graphs for Presentation

Digitization Training

Digitization Training

view presentation (tags: anm caddo sheyahshe alternative)

MS Publisher Training

MS Publisher Training

view presentation (tags: anm caddo sheyahshe alternative)

Randomizing Questions in an Existing MS Word File

NOTE: These instructions are for MS Word 2003; while the same process can be used for Word 2007, the menu choices are a little different. I can make a 2007 version, should you need such a creature.

1. Begin by highlighting the text needing randomized.NOTE: Text must be contiguous in order to be randomized later. Any additional text, such as manual page headers, will need to be removed temporarily.
2. Next click Table > Convert > Text to Table
3. A new window, “Convert Text to Table,” will appear.
4. Ensure that the following settings are set at their default:
   
   
   
   
1. Table size - “Number of columns” set to 1NOTE: While we will add another column later, it is important to maintain the information as-is; thus, we choose only one column for now.
2. AutoFit behavior - “Fixed column width” is checked
3. Table style: (none) - Choose Paragraph from the “Separate text at” section NOTE: This will allow MS Word to create an individual table cell for each question and individual answer. However, we will correct this in the next few steps.
5. A new table will be created containing the text.
   NOTE: Some cleanup may be necessary at this point; delete any empty rows created by this process.
6. Highlight the cells containing the questions and their respective answers only.
7. Right-click the highlighted area and select Merge Cells.
8. The questions and their subsequent answers will now be contained in one cell.
9. Repeat these steps until all sections are contained in their respective cells.
10. Highlight the entire column containing the questions and answers.
11. From the menu, choose Table > Insert > Columns to the Left.
12. Save the Word document as your original order (i.e., “original_file.doc”, etc.)
13. In this new column, we will insert a randomly generated list, starting from the number 1 to however many questions we have to randomize. Such a list can be produced at websites such as http://www.random.org/lists/.
14. Highlight the randomized list and COPY it to your Clipboard.
15. Once you have a randomly-generated numerical list, highlight the new column and Paste the number list to this column.
    NOTE: If the new column has two sets of numbers, as shown here, be sure to highlight the column and turn OFF the Numbering format.
16. Now, we use the numbered list to randomize all the questions.
17. Highlight the entire table and choose Table > Sort from the menu.
18. In the new menu, choose the following:
    
    1. Sort by: Column 1
    
    
    2. Type: Number
    
    
    3. Ascending (order)
    
    
19. Click OK.

The table will now be randomized, as its numerical order has been sorted, based on a randomized list. This left-handed column can now be used as the questions’ order. NOTE: Using this method will allow text to retain its ‘hidden text’ feature, which contains the correct answer key. Otherwise, this hidden text is lost.

The table/cell borders may now be hidden, pending overall design choice.

The questions can now be randomized over and over, simply by:

1. Opening the original file (with the blank column)
2. Pasting a randomly-generated numerical list in the left
3. Sorting the entire table by this new list

Overcoming SWF issues in Authorware 7

As many blogs and forum postings online have demonstrated, Authorware 7.02 does not play well with Adobe Macromedia Flash Player 8 and above. One potential fix for this is to adjust your ActiveX files in AW7; however this can be tedious, at best, and the end-users will need to have the latest version of Flash Player in order to help remedy this (though, not impossible, it’s not always feasible, depending on audience).

Another fix includes setting your Flash publishing presets down to Flash 7 or lower, yet this can create potential problems, especially if you plan to import any external video into Flash for playback.

The main reason for this is that the codec used by Flash 8 Video Encoder (the stand-alone client and the embedded codec used inside a Flash project to import the video on to the stage), On2 VP6, only works with Flash 8, in many cases – especially if you plan to use the FLV Playback utility. Thus, dialing Flash back to an earlier version does not work and will not function inside an Authorware project. While the SWF may play inside the Authorware preview mode, it will not work once the project is packaged and deployed to the clients.

There is however a simple and affordable (translation: free) solution to this problem is employing a third-party video encoder/converter to change the video file to a SWF file that Authorware will accept. Cinemaforge is freeware, available from C-Net’s download.com, which will convert video into SWF that can be used in AW7 deployments. Like many other media converters, Cinemaforge allows you to customize the video and audio settings, depending on the quality and filesize you wish AW7 to play.

While this may not be a perfect solution, it is an effective one…especially as a fix for a product that has a severely limited shelf-life (as Authorware is no newer versions will be released or supported by Adobe).