Wednesday, January 16, 2008
6:30 PM
Easel Training
23 Empire Drive
St. Paul, Minnesota 55103
Hi folks,
Come join us for the next Flashmn meeting. Yuichiro Tanabe from punygames.com is going to show us how to create game assets for Flash games.
Agenda:
Food at 6:30.
Presentation at 7:00.
Homepage
http://flashmn.com
Hi folks,
As I mentioned in the meeting last night for Dec 20th (We moved it from Dec 19th Wed to Dec 20th Thur due to room conflicts) we would like to do a Flash code/design jam. Here’s the plan and we need your ideas to make it work so please chime in.
Objective:
To spend 2 hours working on a non-profit website and do a Flash project for them. It could be a website face lift. An intro clip. A simple game. A cool menu or widget. other? As long as it involves Flash in some way. It could involve other things as well but it should involve Flash. We’ll have wireless and laptops and three projectors to make sure everyone can participate or observe what’s going on. The objective is to see how this could be done. And for more experienced folks to show off their tips and tricks to the rest of us.
What could you do now to help:
* Spread the word that we’re doing this and see if any non-profit organizations are interested. If you run a non-profit website please chime in with your own proposals. Please see the sample email at the end of this message as an example of what you could send out to possible non-profit websites or folks you know.(Toby wrote this initially and I edited it a little). If you find someone who is interested please ask them to send a proposal with the following information to me at csartang@hotmail.com:
1) organization’s name
2) organization’s mission (1 sentence)
3) Project that you would like FlashMN to complete
If we have multiple entries I’ll try to choose one that would fit our code/design-jam constraints best. No worries we may do this again so other non-profits may get their turn in the future.
* We also need volunteers to lead three groups. I’m guessing we’ll need a Design group, Flash Coder group and non-flash coder group (php, SQL etc.). If you are interested in leading one of these groups please send me your name with your preference. Also if you would like to be a member of one of these groups please send me your name so that we can organize these groups ahead of time. The groups are not set in stone and you can switch once you get here but I would like to have at least the leads for the three groups figured out before we begin on Dec 20th. Please email me if you have ideas on how to improve our chances of success and fun.
Here are the rules:
1. We need a representative from the selected non-profit group that should be available to answer questions via email before the event and be present during the code/design-jam.
2. We need to make sure that we know our goal for the evening before the event. So the non-profit needs to decide what they want before the meeting. If they need some help with that I’m sure some of us can help out via email before the event to pin it down or do some mock Photoshop’s of it so come Dec 20th we’ll know what needs to be done. Basically we need to have a spec before we begin.
3. Bring your laptops if you have it. Come anyway if you don’t. We’ll be group coding and we need ideas, coders and designers. If you are a beginner please show up and observe and learn the tricks of the trade from the more experienced folks. We’ll have three paths during the jam that we’ll show through three projectors that way everyone can see what’s happening.
Example request to other folks you know so that we can get some proposals in.
Good afternoon!
I am part of an organization (FlashMN) that is looking into the possibility of offering some free website help to a non-profit or other organization on Dec 20th. FlashMN’s members are some of the finest and well-respected website developers and designers in town, and the plan is to spend two hours developing either a website(s) or a website component(s) in Flash during the group’s next meeting. This is an excellent opportunity for any organization that is looking to enhance its web presence.
In case you are wondering, Flash is software that is installed in 99% of all web browsers and does all the cool stuff you see on the web - video, audio, animations, dynamic menus, games, e-learning, e-commerce, etc. In a nutshell, it can pretty much do anything you can imagine doing in a web browser. 
To submit a proposal, please submit the following information via email to Saviz Artang (csartang@hotmail.com):
1) Your organization’s name
2) Your organization’s mission (1 sentence)
3) Project that you would like FlashMN to complete for you
The deadline for entries is Friday Dec 10th at 5 p.m. Feel free to extend this invitation to any other organizations in town!
Have a great day!
Agenda for Wednesday, Nov 28th - Easel Training 23 Empire Dr. St. Paul, MN 55103
6:30 Pizza
7:00 Intros
7:10 Presentation
Next meeting is going to be on the 28th of Nov. This is due to the fact that the 3rd Wednesday of Nov falls too close to Thanks Giving so we’ll be holding the Nov meeting on the Wednesday after Thanks Giving. Please mark your calendars. This will allow us to keep Charlie Miller for a very exciting presentation. Here’s Charlie’s words on what he’ll be presenting:
I was planning to discuss the intertwined emotional and cognitive roles of aesthetic design (and the impact of Flash on these values), present a new framework of design mindsets entitled Role-Based Design, and showcase a series of four recent Flash/Flash Media Server projects. I also plan on infusing photography throughout my presentation as I believe it is the driving factor in my Flash design and development. - Charlie Miller(PhD, University of Minnesota, Learning Technologies).
Sponsorship We now have a sponsor to help out with pizza and drink costs. The Creative Group (http://www.creativegroup.com) has agreed to help us out. I want to thank Jason Ball for making this happen. Also I’d like to ask the members to check out the offerings and job postings at The Creative Group. For job or other business opportunities please contact Jason Ball (Account Manager The Creative Group www.CreativeGroup.com voice 612.333.7990 fax 612.333.7697). I would also like to extend my thanks to Dustin Tauer and Easel Training (http://www.easeltraining.com) for their continued support of the group by providing the facilities to hold our meetings.
Agenda for Wednesday, October 17th
6:30 - Food and drinks available
7:00 - Flash News Flash!
7:10 - Art for Coders!
8:10 - Wordpress CMS for Flash
“Art For Coders“ (~50min)
Jenny M from Visi will give us an entertaining overview of aesthetics, the principles that anyone can use to Make Anything (Web site, GUI, garden, Sistine Chapel Ceiling) Look Nice, regardless of artistic skill. Learn about how the Golden Mean makes even the simplest layout more attractive, how to use color and texture, and a few handy tips on using Photoshop to pretty up a graphic in a very short time.
“Wordpress as a CMS for Flash” (~10min)
Judah Frangipane will give us a presentation on how you can use Wordpress to pull dynamic data into your Flash site with only a few lines of code. Leave the content for your clients.
All FlashMN members are invited to attend (re)desine. This monthly event is scheduled for Monday, September 24, at 8:00pm sharp at The Steak Knife in Dinkytown. Here is a link to directions:
http://www.steakknife.us/directions.php
There will be an EXCITING double-header lined up with Pete McCauley and Jeff Abbuzahab (two exceptionally-talented video gurus from the University of Minnesota). With the recent corporate and instructional focus on streaming High-Definition video over the web, and Adobe’s confirmation that the new Flash plug-in will support full-screen H.264 video (see http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200708/082107FlashPlayer.html for more information), we will inevitably see an influx of poorly-designed video being “re-glitzed” for HD format, essentially littering the web with larger file-size versions of the same old junk.
Pete and Jeff will cover the process of capturing, editing, and optimizing high-quality (technical and content quality) video from start to finish (with some very cool videos playing throughout the night). For example, Jeff will demonstrate a few of the techniques behind mixing grass-roots videography with Photoshop and looping audio clips to create aesthetically brilliant pieces. For those of you who haven’t seen some of the recent Polar Husky videos, or Pete’s collection of sea-horse training documentaries, you will definitely be in for a treat! Even if you are not interested in web video, you will definitely enjoy the tone of the evening and the friendly company.
Remember, feel free to bring anyone and everyone (designers and non-designers alike). In the past we have had approximately 25-40 people in attendance, and we are hoping for more this time around. (re)desine is a very informal get-together that is more about having a relaxing night with friends than putting on our profound instructional designer hats. As always, we will have a few door prizes (including all-new (re)desine t-shirts that you won’t want to miss) and drink specials throughout the night. The event typically lasts about an hour - however, feel free to stay after and meet some new friends!
Hope to see everyone next Monday at The Steak Knife! Check out the newly re-designed www.redesine.com for more info (actually it’s less info, but now you have the link again!).
Agenda for Wednesday, September 19th
6:30 - Food and drinks available
7:00 - Announcements
7:10 - Flash News Flash!
7:30 - Flash with Paypal
7: 50 - SWX Presentation
“How to setup Flash with Paypal and IPN” (~20min)
Saviz Artang will give us a presentation on how you can setup your Flash site with Paypal and receive Instant Paypal Notifications (IPN).
“SWX Presentation - What it is and how it makes your life easier” (~20min)
With SWX, working with data in Flash isn’t rocket science. SWX RPC is a remote procedure call protocol encoded in SWF. It’s simple enough that you can get up and running with it in about five minutes. SWX RPC is perfect for building mashups (with easy-to-use APIs for Flickr, Twitter, and others), mobile applications (Flash Lite 2.0 and 2.1), and other data-driven Flash sites and applications.
Super Adobe Prize Contest!!! (worth $2100 in Adobe Software)
This month we will announce the winner of the Adobe software of your choice (value up to $2100). Second place is Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Flash CS3 Professional in 24 hours. Third place is Que Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 on Demand
Agenda for Wednesday, August 15th
6:30 - Food and drinks available
7:00 - Announcements
7:10 - Flash News Flash!
7:30 - Moving from AS 2.0 to AS 3.0
“Moving from AS 2.0 to AS 3.0″ (~45min including Q&A)
Dustin Tauer from Easel Training will be giving us an introduction of ActionScript 3.0 including some of the differences from AS 2.0 and what’s new. At the end of this presentation you will feel comfortable reading and writing basic ActionScript 3.0. Dustin guarantees it. 
Super Adobe Prize Contest!!! (worth $2100 in Adobe Software)
This month is the last month to enter the raffle to win Adobe software of your choice (value up to $2100). Each visit gets you an entry to win. Each friend you bring gives you an additional entry to win. In our September meeting we will announce the winner.
