Technical Evolution

Technology not only continues to be a driving force in our everyday lives, but since we’ve become so dependent on it, we should be mindful of the trends that could directly impact how we live, attend classes and do business.

The following trends address the continuous evolution of digital technology and how you can adapt and benefit (by saving money!) from knowing what technology can help (or not help) you.

 Computing Horsepower

It’s safe to say that computers built in the last 5-6 years still have relatively enough horsepower to help people plow through everyday tasks like email, MS Word/Excel, Facebook and iTunes. However, one trend that could help consumers who are looking to buy a new rig is the advent of integrating the graphics card and the CPU into one single package. Intel already has this technology, called Sandy Bridge, in which the graphics card is inside their CPU. (Intel Core i3- i5-i7 processors)

Unfortunately, Intel’s flavor (HD 3000 series) leaves much to be desired. A cheaper alternative, AMD’s Fusion APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) has better built-in graphics (Radeon 6000 series). What this means for consumers is that if you’re looking to build a new system and your multimedia needs are moderate, opting for an Intel Sandy Bridge or AMD APU can save you from spending extra on a physical graphics card. It also provides a smaller computer chassis to save space.

The Future of Gaming

Two trends are currently changing the way people enjoy digital gaming. The first is Cloud computing in which cloud computing servers perform game management such as the gaming platform Steam. Functioning like iTunes for PC gamers, Steam manages game settings, installed game images and even allows the buying and downloading of games. OnLive provides a cloud gaming solution that enables people to sign up like a Netflix account and the gaming experience is handled by OnLive’s game servers which do the physical graphical crunchwork. In other words, the consumer can have a non-gaming computer but have a special window he/she plays on and doesn’t have to worry about upgrading or having the best hardware available to run the latest games.

The second trend that is gaining momentum is the proliferation of handheld device gaming. For example, Angry Birds has become a popular game due to its free price and easy-to-play setup. Many game developers on both iOS and Android continue to release games on mobile phones, iPads and Android tablets. In addition, these mobile gaming alternatives enable people to connect and play each other just like Xbox Live. As a consumer, you might not want to drop $260 on a new Playstation 3 if you’re a casual gamer and know that you would better enjoy simple, no-hassle gaming on a mobile device that can be played virtually anywhere. These two gaming trends might affect the overall long-term success of the upcoming Sony Playstation 4, Microsoft Xbox 720 and the Nintendo Wii U.

Digital Cameras and DVD Drives

The next wave of smartphones offer 5-8 megapixel resolution cameras built-in which means it’s one less accessory to bring to a family reunion or wedding. In addition, these smartphones enable the user to directly share/upload pictures and videos directly to other cell phones, Facebook and Kodak Gallery virtually eliminating the need for clunky USB cables and plugging SD memory cards into computers.

If you combine netbooks, cloud-computing, ubiquitous Wi-Fi networks, and continuouslyincreasing broadband Internet speeds, you have the approaching death of the DVD drive. While these gems were revolutionary back in 1997-98, most consumers don’t even use their DVD drives on their laptop and desktop computers these days. Solutions such as Netflix, Netflix streaming, iPod/MP3 players, flash drives and software imaging programs (e. g. Alcohol 120% and Magic ISO) reduce the dependency on having to use discs which could get lost, scratched or stuck inside the drive. Granted, Blu-ray discs continue to dominate the multimedia segment with movies and TV shows, the majority of consumers will most likely want material delivered to them on-demand such as a Netflix-type solution or a download via cloud computing management. (like Google Docs and Dropbox)

Desktop or Laptop Computer?

Let’s face it, just about everyone has a computer these days. Most consumers have more than one computer, at least one desktop and laptop.Consumers also have more disposable income which has contributed to Apple’s continued phenomenal success of their iPhone and iPad tablet computer. So the question is what’s right for you? If you want to jump onto the tech bandwagon to stay up-to-date and abandon desktop computers, you’re missing the other trend that desktop computers and computer parts continue to drop in price. For example, DDR3 RAM is dirtcheap for both laptops and desktop computers right now. Also dropping $499 for an Apple iPad or $99-$149 for an HP Touchpad (Fire sale!) should require you to ask yourself if this would help you do better in school or increase productivity at work and not just function as a fashion accessory. Another trend is that netbooks appear to be dying since their introduction/explosion back in 2007. If you’re looking for portability and don’t need that much computing horsepower, you might be able to snag a netbook for a good deal for back-to-school. (e. g. Gateway LT2802U for $199 at Best Buy) In addition, other computer parts like LCD monitors continue to grow in size and drop in price such as the Viewsonic VA2431WM which offers 24” of LCD-ness for $139.99 at Geeks.

Be mindful of your (technological) surroundings, Young Jedi

As rapid as technology continues to advance, consumers aren’t obligated to hop aboard quickly in fear of getting left in the dust and becoming obsolete. Rather it’s more important to determine which technological advance(s) could and would benefit your personal/academic/ business lifestyle so you don’t end up unnecessarily spending your hard-earned cash.

Stop Motion Video

Stop-motion animation is one of the simplest, most fun animation techniques. Mix equal parts digital camera, computer, and imagination (you’ve got all three), and you’re on your way. Although flashier computer-generated animation is in vogue, stop-motion has a rich heritage of its own.

And it’s not limited to claymation, either–Tim Burton used stop-motion and puppets to create The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Comedy Central’s Robot Chicken uses stop-motion with action figures and toy props.

You can use just about anything in your stop-motion animation, and thanks to digital cameras and computers, creating one is now super easy. There are many ways to go about shooting, editing and finalizing a stop-motion short; This guide will be covering the simplest. Don’t be discouraged by the number of steps! It’s much easier than it first appears.

Check List

You may wish to make an inanimate object appear as though it is alive; for example, a sock inching its way across the floor or a piece of paper that crumples itself up. While brainstorming, keep in mind that you can expect to shoot around 10 photos for every second of film.The first thing you need is, of course, an idea. Try to stick with something simple for your first one–any action that can be split up into smaller parts works well.

Second, you’ll need a digital camera. Since you won’t be printed these photos, you can set your camera to the lowest size image setting. This will let you fit more images on your memory card at a time. Depending on how long you’d like your movie to be, you may need to “fill and dump” your camera (copying the photos to your computer and erasing the memory card) multiple times before you are finished.

Finally, in order to turn your images into an animated video you will need video editing software like Apple’s iMovie or QuickTime Pro. There are also a number of free and shareware programs for Mac, Windows, and Linux, some of which are listed at the end of this tutorial. More information about these programs is available on their respective websites.

Step 1: Shoot Your Animation

Take as many images as you want, it will give depth to your video

Let’s say, for example, that you would like to make an action figure move itself across the floor. Start at the beginning: place the action figure somewhere and take your first photo. Remember, you want to use camera (still frame) mode, not movie mode.

Using a tripod and only moving your object will make it appear as though your object is moving through your frame. Keeping the object in the same general area in each frame by moving the camera along with it will make it appear as though you are traveling with the object. It’s up to you.

After you’ve taken your first photograph, move the action figure slightly in the direction you want it to travel and take another photo. Move it again by the same distance, and take one more. Continue this until the action figure reaches where you want it to stop. You can manipulate your object in creative ways to add visual interest to your film, just make sure that whatever movement your object makes is done slowly over several frames.

Finally, if you make a mistake while shooting, delete that picture on your camera and take another. This will save you from having to edit your film later.

Step 2: Download Your Photos

Now that you’ve captured your images, you’ll need to get them onto your computer. This process varies widely from camera to camera and computer to computer. Consult your camera guide and software “Help” if you are unfamiliar with this process.

First, import your image files to the camera, and give them their own album. Once your photos have been imported, open any movie authoring software, for eg. iMovie for Mac, JPGVideo for Windows.

Step 3: Animate Your Photos

In order for your animated short to play properly, you must tell the software you are using, how long you want each photo to appear before showing the next one. It’s kind of like creating a slideshow, except instead of giving each image a few seconds, you give it only a fraction of a second. The timing you choose will affect the overall tempo and length of your film.

For action figure example, a duration of 3 frames-per-photo was used. Normally movie authoring softwares play at 30 frames-per-second, a setting of 3 frames-per-photo means you’ll see 10 photos every second. Now you can see why you have to shoot so many photos!

If you use the 3 frames-per-photo setting, you can easily estimate how many photos you’ll need to create a movie of a given length. In our example we used around 100 photos, for 10 seconds of video. If we wanted to make an animation exactly 30 seconds long, we’d shoot 300 photos.

This next step is very important, so stay with us! If you are using iMovie, select all of the photographs in your stop-motion album (the quick way to do this is to click on the very first photo and then, holding down the shift key, scroll down and click on the last photo.) Now click “Show Photo Settings” and type in “0:03″ for your duration in the floating window that appears. Click the Apply button and your photos will start getting sucked into the timeline at the bottom of the window.

Once iMovie’s finished filling the timeline, hit play. You just created your first stop-motion animated video short!

Final Touches: Music and Sharing

To fine tune your animation, you can slow it down by choosing to use more than 3 frames-per-photo. You can also add music to your short by dragging MP3s or AIFF files to the timeline. To share your stop-motion video, you’ll want to convert it to avi or mp4 or any other popular format.

That’s it! Don’t forget to save your project often as you go along, and check out YouTube— a cool place to upload your finished videos!

An Example of a Stop Motion :