Locate It!

I am close to finishing my Drupal website! I have many, many more things that I want to do with it in the future but for the time being, it's close to looking pretty darn good! I just finished using the module 'Location Map' and found this one to be my favorite out of the seven modules I have on my website. 'Location Map' let me have a map on my home page showing the exact location of Fort Ross, California. The module is a newer one to Drupal 7 and only allowed me to show one location on the map but no one ever said it was the final product for Drupal 7! Hopefully they are building upon it and developing it so I can go closer into the map and show the different locations within Fort Ross. I'll be keeping my eye on this module; I would love to be able to show where the exact locations of the Fort, the church in the Fort, the Call House and the 'Coastline Cove' located nearby. That would be a great ability to have since I am making a website about a historical attraction that is about 3,000 miles away. Having a map on the home page with the locations of the buildings I am talking about, instead of just the area itself, would be fabulous! Keep working on it Drupal guys!!

Photo used with a Creative Commons license.

Adobe After Effects: The Aftermath

This semester I had the challenging task of learning a new program by myself and then putting it to good use by creating my very own graphic with the program. I used the program Adobe After Effects and I must say, it was very hard beginning a new program with no guidance except for the book I had purchased. After the first lesson, confidence began to come into my mind and I could see hope ahead of me. The lessons I did in the book helped with the animation and showed me how to use the program but the hardest part of beginning my own project was actually beginning it. With the book, they gave me all of the information I needed but never really told me what it all did. The book also have a cd with it that had everything to input onto my computer to animate and edit but once I began my project, I was lost on how exactly to begin. I ended up having to play with things a bit to get everything going the way I wanted it to.

Once I was knees deep in the project though, I was good to go. It was challenging having to remember all of the little tricks they tell you in the book but that was a good reason to keep the book right beside me. I definitely used the book a lot while making my graphic and it was extremely useful. That is one book I think I just might be keeping for future use. The quote that I animated is a quote by Marilyn Monroe; I really enjoyed putting animation and effects to this quote because it is one of my favorites. I chose the color purple for the background because purple, to me, is a beautiful color that makes me feel calm and optimistic, which are the same feelings I wanted to portray in my animation. Overall, I recommend Adobe After Effects to everyone; there really is a lot you can do with the program and every time I use it I discover something new. Today I finished my motion graphic so I have attached it to this post for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!