Keyframer

A reporter for KPVI-TV, local NBC affiliate comments about RockFREE from the E3 conference (time-stamp 4:30):

Simple learning exercise using Toon Boom’s latest software program Animate - tutorial as to how I made this using Animate’s layer hierarchy in the works.
Animate can integrate with Flash due to its SWF output. Animate even has “Symbols”! But I have to say it only has 1 type of symbol - which is a good thing. They work very much like Graphic symbols in Flash. So, that said, Animate can be used alone or with Flash but it really depends on the type of project you are creating and the final output.
I would never say Animate will replace Flash or vice-versa - these are 2 different programs and they both represent the best of what the 2D vector animation world has to offer - the main difference is that Flash has deep roots with developing applications and it will continue to support that - as a result, it’s strength in one area can also be it’s weakness in another. Animate has more of a straight and narrow road - make that a 10-lane super highway - targeted directly to animators producing animation.

So there I was, starting up one of my computers first thing on monday morning, typical start of a long and busy work-week. This was my XP desktop and once windows was finally loaded, I double clicked the Flash CS4 icon on my desktop. Instead of the pretty red splash screen I immediately got the unexpected “License Expired” alert instead. The only option was to close it. I tried launching Flash again and again and got the same exact alert message. This was weird! I have a full licenced copy of the Adobe CS4 Master Collection - this shouldn’t be happening months after installation. What added to the weirdness was that I could launch any of the other programs that are a part of the Master Collection (Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, etc).

Being an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) member, I am lucky enough to have inside access to the ACE forums and posted my unfotunate and unexpected predicament to the powers that be and the Adobe community at large. I was quickly contacted by San Khong of Adobe support who helped me troubleshoot the issue through the use of some log files on my hard drive.

Here’s the fix:

What’s happening is that when the users uninstalled the CS4 pre-release, they did not Deactivate and Erase the serial number.  If they then bought a suite, it has a different LEID and does not over-write the beta serial.

The solution?

1)      Set clock back to May 31, 2009 (the last known working date)

2)      Launch affected product

3)      Help->Deactivate, Select ERASE THIS SERIAL NUMBER

4)      Quit product.

5)      Fix Date

6)      Launch

7)      Product will now pick up suite serialization and everything will be fine.

Thanks San!

It’s almost here! This Thursday I am excited to be teaching an all day Flash workshop at Flash on Tap in downtown Boston. We’re gonna have fun talkin about character design and animation techniques using Flash all day long

Thursday, May 28

8:00 am to 9:00 am– BREAKFAST St. James room on the 4th floor of the hotel

9:00-10:15 Workshop

10:15-10:30 Break

10:30-11:45 Workshop

11:45-1:15 LUNCH– St. James room

1:15-2:30 Workshop

2:30-2:45 Break

2:45-4:00 Workshop

4:00-4:15 Break

4:15-5:30 Workshop

Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the actual conference which is Friday through the weekend as I have to go out of town early Friday morning - so you will all have to have beer and Flash without me

I’ll be monitoring the usual social networks to get up-to-the-minute news on all the fun I’ll be missing out on.

For more info go to the Flash on Tap website.

See you there on Thursday!

As some of you may know if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I recently bought a MacBook Pro. Not a big deal right? Well for me it was because this is my first Apple computer ever! I have been using the Windows platform since my first animation job at Soup2Nuts back in 1996 where we ran a Dos program called Animator Pro (Autodesk). Eventually we upgraded to Windows 95, then 98, then XP and during those years it was a well known fact that Macromedia Flash ran smoother and faster on Windows than it did on Apple computers. Flash being primarily my software focus, I simply never considered a Macintosh for my animation needs.

Last year I needed a new and reliable desktop to run the Adobe Master Collection and games and all other necessary graphics applications, so I stuck with a Windows machine but this time built my own through parts ordered from NewEgg. That machine has been running flawlessly since day 1.

2 weeks ago my 5 year old Dell Inspiron 9300 17″ laptop started making extremely loud “click” and “whirrrr” sounds from the hard drive and then BAM! - blue-screened at 2am. Tough to rest comfortably with that visual etched into my brain as my head hit the pillow. With mission-critical project files needed on my trip to San Francisco a few days later, it was time for a new laptop even though money isn’t exactly growing from trees these days.

I did what I usually do when shopping for a new computer by going to Dell’s website and looking at their XPS game systems. Then a perused Alienware’s site for what, if anything, I could realistically afford in a high performance gaming machine suitable for creating processor intensive animation and graphics.

Then Chris Rhodes, a friend and the client programmer on our RockFREE! team typed a 3-letter acronym into Skype and sent it to me: “MBP”.

Now I have to admit I didn’t understand what “MBP” meant at first, and reluctantly had to ask after about 1 minute of trying to figure it out on my own. It seems silly to me that it didn’t come naturally that “MBP” meant MacBook Pro!I have to give Chris Rhodes credit for providing the subtle push in the right direction at the right time.

I have seen far too many platform flame wars on various forums indicitive of the passion people have for their chosen platforms. Therefore I didn’t want to start soliciting the advice of anyone on this blog, Twitter or Facebook as to what platform I should choose. I knew I had to decide for myself either to remain with what was familiar to me for all these years or freely hurl my carcass into the abyss that is Apple and let the vast unknown shower over me.

The nearest Apple store is 5 minutes away from my house. I decided to go there first thing the morning after the “blue screen of death” incident and look at these MBP’s in person. Moment of clarity: Knowing my own consumer habits, it was clear that if I did go to the Apple store and if my credit card was with me for the ride, then a purchase of some kind was imminent.

I felt like a big shot as I walked into the store’s entrance and looked the first employee between the eyes and told him I was there to buy…err…look at a MacBook Pro because I was seriously “considering” them. In my own mind I was already sold, but I had to play a little hard to get.

The salesman (Genius?) that was assigned to handle my inquiries was helpful indeed. He answered my questions and touted the MBP as the most capable machine I could buy. This came of no surprise because he works for Apple and likely has been using macintosh computers since he was born. Besides, what negatives could he possibly reveal about something so infinitely perfect in its most basic form? It’s like walking into a Ferrari dealership and looking for flaws in the craftsmanship to help you decide it’s not for you. It ain’t gonna happen!

The only decision to make was if I should go with the 15.4 or the 17″ screen. I chose the 15.4″ because the dying Dell is a 17″ and it’s impossible to open on an airplane as its footprint is 30% larger than the fold-down trays and its weight was unbearable on long trips.

The next decision was to go with either the slower processor and smaller hard drive or the faster processor and larger hard drive.

Duh!

Throw in the extended 3-year warranty and before I knew it, I was signing along the dotted line and was walking out the door with my new MacBook Pro.

It felt good in my hand as I walked trough the parking lot to the car - even though it was still in the box - it felt good enough to nearly make me forget how much I just contributed to this country’s stimulus plan. The exchange was almost too easy. I started to feel that it should have been a little more painful to achieve such a socially iconic piece of hardware and software - then I remembered that I live in America and buying almost anything has always been a little too easy here for most of us.

I made it back home without being mugged or car-jacked (a natural fear reaction I usually have after purchasing something I can’t really afford). I opened the box, marveled at the way Apple packages their products and lifted the MBP out with both hands. Instantly something felt different. The MBP feels so solid! I mean really solid! Like a brick or something. A quickly learned after skimming the manual that the MBP’s body is machined from a single piece of solid aluminum! That’s crazy stuff! I have been so use to all the flimsy plastic components that comprise most windows machines, when held or carried they would always bend and make small cracking sounds. The MBP was like holding a single piece of granite at a fraction of the weight. I was seriously impressed and I hadn’t yet started it up.

Initial start-up was smooth and fast. Apple requests some personal info and after about a minute I was staring at a virgin OSX desktop. Now, the most amazing and unexpected thing happened. My MBP not only found my network without asking, but it also found every single computer connected to it without any manual input from me. WTF? If anyone has ever tried networking windows machines you must understand just how amazing this is! Let me be clear, the MBP connected all network machines without a single keystroke from me! Oh this is going to be a good.

To be cont…

Richard Galvan, Flash Product Manager has just announced on his blog that the long-awaited fix to Flash CS4’s performance issues is now available for download! Awesome news! I am downloading it as I type this and will let you know how things go. Thanks Richard, Jen and the rest of the Adobe team! Thanks for listening and being so responsive.

It was a hard decision to make but I was forced to cancel my appearance at FITC this week due to having the Flu. It’s been 6 days of being sick and in the first 4 days I lost 10lbs - not exactly the healthiest of diets. I was scheduled to travel to Toronto yesterday to speak at Flash in the Can but I don’t have the strength to make the 8 hour drive. I looked into flying but there are very few direct flights and in some cases i would need to connect twice to get there, bringing the total travel time by plane to 13 hours each way!

I will be sending a few CS4 source files to FITC for those who were planning on attending my session.

Well either way, I have been playing around with Twitter the past few weeks (who hasn’t been these days?) and I’m realizing what a great tool it is to keep up-to-date with other people in your industry, friends and family. Not only is it a great communication tool, it is also a great marketing tool if you have something to promote (like a book?) or some cool news about a geeky tech gadget or whatever floats your boat at any given moment. So if you tweet then feel free to follow me and I will likely do return the gesture.

This makes me want to borrow some of my kid’s toys and start doing stop-motion animation!

My advance copy just arrived (thanks Katy!) and just as i was told by my publisher (Focal Press), it looks awesome - great job on the printing! The colors are really vivid and rich. I’m really excited! I just checked amazon and noticed that the book is already ranked 22,000 out of 6 million books! That’s got to be a lot of pre-orders! I just hope that it lives up to everyone’s expectations!