Projects -- Fall 97

Projects are due by the beginning of class on the due date. Always keep backup copies of submitted projects.

Project 1: Interactive Resume

Due September 16, 1997
10% of grade

Design an interactive multimedia resume. Users of your multimedia resume should be able to follow links to different kinds of information about you -- your experience, education, and so on. Give some thought to how you want your resume to look. This should not look like a paper resume transferred to a computer screen.

Project 2: Marketing
Due October 7, 1997
15% of grade

Design an interactive marketing application that presents a product to potential consumers. In selecting a product, consider its potential for multimedia presentation. Your project must contain:

• A form to collect user data (see forms.dir on the ftp server)

This form should collect and save a user's name, address, and phone number. Set it up so the user is forced to visit this screen before exiting the movie. Once the user is there, include an incentive for him/her to fill out the form.

• Innovative use of sound (such as combining sound with fields, as in Chapter 7)
• A movie in a window (see back of Photoshop handout for window types)
• Creative use of within or intersects or contraint
• Creative use of randomization of events (see Chapters 6 and 7)
• A Quit button

Each group must submit a one-page writeup that explains in detail what each person in the group contributed to the project. The work of the project should be distributed evenly among the group members, and the size and complexity of the project should reflect the size of the group. In other words, I expect a larger and more in-depth project from a group of four than from a person working alone.

Project 3: Shockwave
Due Thursday, October 30, 1997
15% of grade

Shockwave is a way to put Director movies on the web. You use the afterburner program to "shock" your Director movie (i.e., compress it into web-readable format) and you need the Shockwave plug-in for your browser in order to download and run Shockwave movies from the web.

This project is different from the previous ones in that efficiency of scripting is a prime consideration. Up till now, the size of your projects has been relatively unimportant. For this project, you will need to accomplish your goals while keeping your files small enough to be practical downloads from the web.

For this project, you will explain a process, that is, how to do something.

First, create a homepage for yourself. Create a directory called "public_html" in your rcs account. While in this directory, type "fs sa . system:anyuser rl" to set permissions so your web page will be accessible from a browser. Your homepage may either contain your project or contain a link to your project. The page where your project starts should contain a navigation movie and a small animated movie (like "new.dcr" or "jack.dcr" from your text -- do not use these actual animations -- create your own). Use the "gotoNetPage" Lingo command (demonstrated in ShockIt/preparelw.dir) to branch to THREE different web pages. Each of the three web pages should contain a movie that explains in detail one step of the process.

EACH of these three "step" web page should contain the following elements:

1. A text heading at the top of the page that tells what step the user is on.
2. An interactive shocked movie that explains this step of the process. Keep this movie under 100K (don't forget that shocking your movie will compress it). Use well-designed Lingo scripting to keep the size of your movie down without sacrificing content. To reduce the size of your graphics files, consider 1) using a smaller stage size, perhaps 320 x 240, and 2) using vectorized graphics instead of bitmapped graphics. Using puppetsprites rather than the score to control sprite behavior will contribute significantly to keeping the size of the movie down. There will be two parts to each shocked movie: an explanatory section and an evaluation section.
3. In the shocked movie: build interactivity into the learning process. The explanatory section shocked movie should give the user choices, rather than just being a linear animation.
4. In the shocked movie: one or more puppetsprites.
5. In the shocked movie: a section after the explanation to evaluate what the user has learned. Use one of the following methods to accept user input: 1) a "fill in the blank" type of question that accepts text input (see Lingo Workshop Chapter 7) OR 2) a multiple choice question that uses radio buttons and functions as we discussed in class (see checkrad.dir on the ftp server). The movie should give the user feedback on the answer. The movie should tell the user if the answer is right or wrong. If the answer is wrong, the movie should give the user a hint about the correct answer. There should be a button that allows the user to "retake the test" as many times as desired. This interactivity in the evaluation section is in addition to the interactivity in the explanatory section.
6. An HTML link back to the page with your navigation movie (see ShockIt/page1.html).

For examples, see the Shok1 Page and the My Nav Page. If you are unable to run the movies in these links, then your browser is not properly configured. Make sure that the plug-in is installed and that you have a "General Preferences/Helpers" option set up for Director/Shockwave applications. The MIME type should be application/x-director, and the file types or suffixes should be dir, dcr, dxr.

You may work in groups of up to four people. If you choose to work in a group, try to distribute talent equally; i.e., a group of three should contain a graphics person, a good coder, and a good interactive design/storyboarding person, rather than three programmers and no graphics people.

Each group must submit a one-page writeup that explains in detail what each person in the group contributed to the project. The work of the project should be distributed evenly among the group members, and the size and complexity of the project should reflect the size of the group. In other words, I expect a larger and more in-depth project from a group of four than from a person working alone.

TO SUBMIT your project, send me email by 10/30, 10AM, containing the full link to your web page (e.g., http://www.rpi.edu/~waisel/myproject.html).

Storyboard Assignment
Due November 13, 1997
10% of grade

Turn in a detailed flowchart and storyboard for your final project. You may use software or handdrawn sketches or a combination. The flowchart should show your complete content structure, with one box for each screen and information about access links between screens. The storyboard should show a sketch of each screen (remember: details matter, artwork doesn't), along with a narrative description of the picture (any animation, video, or details that aren't shown in your sketch), sound, and actions that the users can take. Remember to make a copy of your flowchart and storyboard before turning them in, since you will be using them as you work on your final project.

NOTE: While the storyboard is not set in stone, major departures from it should be reviewed with me.

Project 4: Problem Solving / Decision Making
Due December 4, 1997
25% of grade

Design an interactive application that helps the user solve a problem or make a decision. The specific technical requirements of this project will be minimal, in order to allow you a greater degree of freedom in designing your problem solving functions; however, the technical and creative scope of the application should be appropriate to a final project. A significant proportion of your grade will depend on the ingenuity and variety of your Lingo use. Your project must include lists and imported Matlab graphics. The Matlab graphics (e.g., 3D plot, 2D plot, etc) should have some relevance to your project and not just be "filler."

A description of your project is due on Tuesday, November 4. Please be specific about the problem-solving aspect of the program and how you intend to use lists and Matlab graphics.