My new banner for my Facebook studio page.Ay chihuahua. What a morning. You probably notice two new things in the layout of this blog. First, the nifty animated portfolio on the right and, second, the new Facebook button just below it.
Suffice to say, there's nothing that gets your brain into the red zone than attempting to tackle something (1) new and (2) technological. Especially when you aren't technologically minded. Like me. And especially when the necessary information needed to create such things is so cryptic that you have to scour the net trying to find tutorials and instructions on how to use the dang programs or services. Does it really need to be that difficult? No.
But so much about effective teaching is accounting for the most basic bits of information typically taken for granted, but when unknown, holds up the entire learning process. "OK -- I know I need to make a new frame layer, but how do I actually do that without simply duplicating the previous one?!" ARGH. And, yes, I have those "Dummies" books, but lemme tell ya -- they are useless when it comes to these esoteric features. After much soul-searching and pleading to the powers that be on this matter, I came across this YouTube tutorial. I swear, I heard the trumpeting of angels when he spoke -- he understood how to communicate the steps to a rank beginner. Thank you, dude!
So voila! Animated GIF done! I still have to learn how to use the "opacity stopwatch" so each frame can prettily fade into the next, but this'll do for now. However, it's all fine and dandy to make such a fancy thing, but now I need to actually use it. So in I go to Blogger and spend more time careening through the gadgets, trying to get my animation to work. Nada. ARGH. Then I came across this tutorial in my last desperate moments. The missing element was the simple fact that I needed to host my GIF elsewhere and get the HTML code to pop into the HTML gadget in Blogger. So thank you tons!
Now, as for Facebook, that was a hair less painful because I quickly ran across this tutorial. Phew. So click the new Facebook button on the sidebar, and it'll take you directly to my new Minkiewicz Studios Facebook page. Yay!
I swear -- there would have been no way for me to have accomplished any of this without the vast gestalt of the net. We are so fortunate in this day and age that just about anything we need to know is at our fingertips with just a few taps on the keyboard. Instant information, and with endless options. It's a global classroom right in your own home! It also highlights the happy fact of just how many people are so willing and eager to be teachers to others. This always puts a smile on my face, every day. Anyway, I cannot imagine a life without the net now!
But that's definitely enough technology for now. I need to get more kiln shelves so I can get into tile production in earnest, and then dive back into Ms. Haffie. So back into the clay, paint and epoxy!
"Technology: No Place for Wimps!" ~ Scott Adams
Suffice to say, there's nothing that gets your brain into the red zone than attempting to tackle something (1) new and (2) technological. Especially when you aren't technologically minded. Like me. And especially when the necessary information needed to create such things is so cryptic that you have to scour the net trying to find tutorials and instructions on how to use the dang programs or services. Does it really need to be that difficult? No.
But so much about effective teaching is accounting for the most basic bits of information typically taken for granted, but when unknown, holds up the entire learning process. "OK -- I know I need to make a new frame layer, but how do I actually do that without simply duplicating the previous one?!" ARGH. And, yes, I have those "Dummies" books, but lemme tell ya -- they are useless when it comes to these esoteric features. After much soul-searching and pleading to the powers that be on this matter, I came across this YouTube tutorial. I swear, I heard the trumpeting of angels when he spoke -- he understood how to communicate the steps to a rank beginner. Thank you, dude!
So voila! Animated GIF done! I still have to learn how to use the "opacity stopwatch" so each frame can prettily fade into the next, but this'll do for now. However, it's all fine and dandy to make such a fancy thing, but now I need to actually use it. So in I go to Blogger and spend more time careening through the gadgets, trying to get my animation to work. Nada. ARGH. Then I came across this tutorial in my last desperate moments. The missing element was the simple fact that I needed to host my GIF elsewhere and get the HTML code to pop into the HTML gadget in Blogger. So thank you tons!
Now, as for Facebook, that was a hair less painful because I quickly ran across this tutorial. Phew. So click the new Facebook button on the sidebar, and it'll take you directly to my new Minkiewicz Studios Facebook page. Yay!
I swear -- there would have been no way for me to have accomplished any of this without the vast gestalt of the net. We are so fortunate in this day and age that just about anything we need to know is at our fingertips with just a few taps on the keyboard. Instant information, and with endless options. It's a global classroom right in your own home! It also highlights the happy fact of just how many people are so willing and eager to be teachers to others. This always puts a smile on my face, every day. Anyway, I cannot imagine a life without the net now!
But that's definitely enough technology for now. I need to get more kiln shelves so I can get into tile production in earnest, and then dive back into Ms. Haffie. So back into the clay, paint and epoxy!
"Technology: No Place for Wimps!" ~ Scott Adams
