Always - Banner Ads

This was a challenging banner and funny ad to work on. I'm a guy so it should come to no surprise it was hard to grasp the animation of feminine hygiene. The second challenge was the fact I'm dealing with a close up of the ad. You can't just blow up the image and shrink it down because you would have a really pixilated image in the initial frame of the banner ad. Optimization was the most important step before animating this banner ad.

Click here to see v2 of the Always banner ads.

Hormel - Banner Ads

I'll be posting a recent banner ad I'm working on every week.

Hormel was a build that was originally developed by Proximity Minnesota Division. They needed help over the weekend and I was called in to lend a hand.

The challenge here was getting the cape to behave realistically which required some bitmap displacement code. Everything had to be under 40kb so it took some rebuilding of the original banner ad to make sure it meets requirements.

The second ad was a jingle that needed a fun animation synced up to the bouncing pepperoni. I added some animation effects from my bag-of-tricks that I came up with working on a bunch of Scotia iTrade ads.

Allstate - Security Banner Ads Trash Version

This was a really big banner build with lots of different sizes including a French build. This was a project that was given to me by Leoburnett now known as Arc Worldwide.

The most challenging thing with this build was the optimization. Back then the file size restrictions were only 30kb for standard banner sizes and 60kb for expandables banner ads. As I think back the other challenging animation was the paper cut outs falling down and trying to make the fall + pan as real as possible without driving up file size on the banner ads.

Altoids - Banner Ads

This was another rush project.

The challenging part was animating a realistic scroll in 30kb. Needless to say I had to do a lot of photoshopping of the original design to make it work.

My favorite artist J. Scott Campbell draws live

I remember when I was in junior high and he came out with GEN 13. I was blown away with his style and even now I still love his work. I went to go see him one Comic convention long ago but it turned out he couldn't make it. How I wished I could see this man draw and now I can!

I haven't practiced drawing in a while and a lot of my style back in art school was based on dissecting his style from the various comic books I had of his.

Alpine EN - Interactive CD

This was a rush project that was given to me by Leoburnett now known as Arc Worldwide. Give it a min it is a big download and was never ment to run on the web.

The idea was to create a flash projector file that would auto run on CDs inside of specially marked cases of Alpine Beer. That's how far back this project goes. Who uses CDs anymore?

Home Photo Studio

Not too fond of how he's plugging his guide but it's a nice behind the scenes video of how you can set up a home photo studio. Something I've been thinking about for quite a while.

Ring Flash/Ring Light/Beauty Dish

http://www.noestudios.com/photo/ringlight/



Interesting how they built a ring light with individual bulbs. Interesting look because it's normally a circular halo like the example builds below.









This design made more sense where you keep the flash on the shoe instead of making a custom bracket.



LED Ring Lights



Good even ring light but complicated execution. I don't think the average person would be able to make this. You can see that in the comments where people are asking for explanations or step by step instructions. A lot of dislikes because people can't figure out what he was doing.



Another LED ring light mod with battery pack.



Another DIY LED ring light mod with AC adapter.



Another example using similar LEDs.



A really nice LED ring light. More advanced than previous builds.



Massive LED ring light.



More on the benefits of these LED lights. Price tag is massive when I checked vistek.ca.



Rotolight LED ring light. What I like about it is it's portability. No external housing battery and everything is self contained.



Halogen Ring light. 3 sizes not bad results.



Created a ring light modifier for halogen work lamps.

An example of Peter Thompson's ring light build. Here's another example of great glamour photography with a ring light in some cases.

DIY Soft Box Examples

Here's a couple of videos I wanted to share that shows how people are over coming the cost of owning an expensive soft box. Most of these are teasers but has really sparked a fire in me to come up with a better way of making affordable and effective soft boxes.











Exactly what I was thinking but not at the same level as what I'm thinking.

How Soft Boxes Work To Soften Hard Light

Here's a great example of how soft boxes work to light your subject in a DIY type studio.

I like how he used 1x2 sticks with empty paint cans and concrete to create inexpensive stands. It's really got me thinking of other ways you can create a home studio environment comparable to professional photographers.

PVC Lighting System

Damn! Someone has thought along the same lines as myself and created a PVC based lighting system.

Creating A 12v Battery Pack

Just curious how you can power devices without an AC adapter.

Example of how to build your own 12v battery pack.

Best explanation I've been able to find so far on how to build your own 12v battery pack.

Here are some examples of prebuilt battery packs.

10 AA Battery pack in one row.

Build your own 10 AA battery pack without soldering each head together in unison.  I like this because it gives you the option to drop in fresh batteries if you are on location.  If you bought heat shrink wrapped battery versions you won't have that same freedom as the batteries are always enclosed.  Even if you broke them out you'd have to solder all the batteries together.

Once you've built your battery pack you'll want to charge them all in unison.  Otherwise, you'll have to take each one out and charge them in a 4xAA charger.  With 10 batteries that's not economical but I was able to find a device that can do just that at batteryjunction.com. 

Charge all the batteries in unison simply buy this MULTI-CURRENT UNIVERSAL SMART CHARGER FOR 12V- 16.8V CHUN-168 from batteryjunction.com.

Gator Board vs Foam Core vs Card Board

Gator Board - Is a type of board that is comprised of a wood veneer surface with an inner polystyrene core.

• Expensive
• Very Sturdy
• Heaviest
• Available in select stores

Foam Core - Is a type of board that is comprised of a solid paper surface with an inner polystyrene core.

• Cheap
• Sturdy
• Lightest
• Available in majority of stores

Card Board - Is a type of board that is comprised of paper surface reinforced with a meshed paper design.

• Free
• Weak/Sturdy
• Light
• Available on recycling day

I've stated weak or sturdy for cardboard because the majority of cardboard that is used to package items will collapse along it's grain.  There are some cardboards that are really rigid but are only seen on large items and products of great value.

Differences Between Ring Flash vs Beauty Dish

Some interesting insight into the distinctions between ring/circular highlights.

Ring Light

• Continuos light source
• Donut catchlight

Ring Flash

• Flash based light source
• Halo effect
• Donut catchlight
• Flattens out shadows

Beauty Dish

• Modify's the light source which is the flash
• Loses more light
• Circular catchlight sometimes with a dark center

Source:
Ring flash vs beauty dish?

Double Your Lumens Without Doubling Your Costs

Leviton has come out with a way you can double your lighting output without having to buy another lamp.  Just buy one of their Twinlite Lamp holder Adapter and add another bulb to your lighting system.

At $4.00 that's an amazing deal.

Slidecam

http://diyphotography.net/a-timelapse-rail-from-bbq-rotisserie-motor

BP Tradeshow Promo

This was an interesting project. It was a rush project where I needed to convert a power point presentation into something interesting for a trade show BP was attending.

This was another rush project that I took on and completed.

Zacuto Digital Camera Shootout

Interesting documentary on the quality of film as a result of the latest DSLR cameras. Watch the 3 part series that won an Emmy at zacuto.com.

User Friendly Dimmer Switches

The challenges of coming up with a dimmer switch design:

• Simplicity - Easy to build for novice hobbyist
• Compact - Small enough a child can transport
• Scalable - Must be able to be add on to and grow the system
• Compatibility - Must work with existing systems out there
• Usability - Must work in the dark and provide accurate readings
• Safety - Must be safe to use

Creating Your Own Lighting Control System

Just purchase a Lutron Plug-in Dimmer and connect it to your light source and you too can enjoy the flexibility of adjustable light levels.

Sword Swinging From Camera Perspective

Budwiser - Youtube Ad & Voken Banner Ad

Budwiser was a complicated build requiring video editing, flash, photoshop. I had to use after effects to create the pulling whip lash effect of the paper.

Boston University - Learning Module

Boston University wanted something better than the usual plain learning modules. So we came up with a unique take on combining flash with 3D rendered stills from Maya. My friend Jimmy gave me a hand in creating this and did an awesome job on the 3D work.

DIY Backdrop stand

Click here for the full instructions on how to build your own backdrop stand.

I like the concept but the execution is undesirable.

- PVC is very weak in comparison to ABS
- Stand requires too many parts to keep it up
- Not as stable with weak stand
- PVC bows more in long lengths
- Background does not allow for quick changing
- Lights are fixed distance
- Electrical box is not easily built
- Electrical box is not modular

www.who.is DNS lookup

A free and clean DNS lookup. No pop ups, complete info and no BS. Can't ask for more than that.

http://www.who.is/

LED Research

I was doing some research into LED lighting and came across the TRI-CHIP 5050 LED Strips.  Amazing technology it can provide up to 13 lumens per LED.  Get a high density LED strip and you'll have twice as many lumens.

You will need to be careful when planning out your power consumption needs.  Here's a guide to help you figure out how much power you will need to power your LEDs.

If you plan on adjusting the light you can attach a dimmer knob to the LED strip to control the voltage.

Nelly - Just A Dream

Time your websites load time

Great concept where it allows you to time your websites load time to the 10th of a millisecond.  Only down side is that its got an outdated look to it.

http://www.numion.com/Stopwatch/index.html

Globe Ad Network Specs

Now and then I get a link to some ad specs for a particular network.  I figure I'd start tracking these spec sheets on my blog for quick reference.

http://www.globelink.ca/digital/adformats/specs/

AMP Sports - Banner Ads

AMP banner ads were designed to look and feel like high impact sports. So a lot of the shaking and jarring animations you find when watching sports were incorporated into the ad.

World Vision

These are some flash pieces I designed & developed for World Vision. Another rush project for a Tim Emery from Visible Media. We parted ways on one project as he tried to go over scope and I couldn't do the work that was not signed off on.