"Copy to Grid" effect in Flash

I don't know whether people already know it or not. I wanna share this hint with you guys because I think it might be useful more or less.

Ok, when you have a project that requires a bunch of the same objects that are placed neatly in a grid. What do you do? Duplicate it and put them piece by piece, huh? Well, it's Ok, but it wastes a lot of time as well as all of the copies might not be placed exactly vertically or horizontally.

So there is a smart solution that Flash provides for us: the "Copy to Grid" effect.

STEP 1: Import to stage a small picture, then set it on the top left of the frame.

STEP 2: Keep selecting the image, choose Insert --> Timeline Effects --> Assistants --> Copy to Grid.

STEP 3: In Copy to Grid window, set the options due to what you need.


It is surely a simple tip that I show, but it's kind of useful, isn't it? ;)

"Motion Graphics: How did they do that?" by David Greene

I recommend you guys the book "Motion Graphics: How did they do that?" written by David Greene. I borrowed this yesterday and found there is something extremely useful for me.

Due to what I've been reading so far, this book is a huge collection of extremely great motion graphics, from broadcast to new media, in the world of advertising, film, Internet and so on. This also gives us a clear look at the visual communication techniques that designers use to create valuable messages underlying their pieces of work. In this book, the firms and projects will be presented and analysed in term of project overview, creative process, production, tools, and etc. These will really help understand the artworks these designers have done as well as the process they've experienced.

random pictures

These are some pictures that I took when I was going out with my friends in the countryside. All of image were taken by my cellphone so the quality is not so good. However, I used Photoshop to edit them a little bit, so they look brighter and clearer.

The 1st one is the sight of a garden overgrown with weeds in the afternoon. I don't know the name of the weeds, but I like this kind of weeds a lot. They looks distinct and somehow lonely in the picture.



I was lying on the grass when taking this picture. The angle of shooting might attract people's awareness firstly. Moreover, its lightning, contrast, color, rhythm and alignment might create a dreamlike mood for viewers. That's also the one I like most.



This one was taken randomly when I was moving my cellphone above my head, but the quality is very good. In my opinion, that is the un-centered arragement which may help catch the viewers' attention. Besides that, the main color, green, builds a fresh and comfortable feeling for audiences.



This one may catch people's attention due to its "sun spot". Actually there were a sun spot as well as several sun lights across the tress, which was extremely stunning. However, I think my cellphone was not good enough to take this kind of sight, so what we can see now is just a small spot of the sun.