Page 235 - DCAP408_WEB_PROGRAMMING

Unit 14: Text and Graphics Output

Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop Notes

Many animators use image editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop or vector-based programs
such as Adobe Illustrator for drawing and coloring images for later use in animation software.
Oliver Simonson of What Comics Entertainment uses both Photoshop and Illustrator for art and
design work, then imports the images into Autodesk Maya for 3-D animation.

Careers in Animated Graphics

There are many specialized jobs in the animated graphics industry, such as modeler, animator,
programmer, character designer, character animator, storyboarder and technical director, to
name a few. While a general knowledge is useful, it is helpful to direct your training and
education toward a specific job in the animated graphics industry. Many colleges and universities
have created academic paths to study the field, but it is possible to self-train with animation
software and find employment in the field. There are jobs at big companies like Pixar and
Industrial Light and Magic, but the animated graphics industry is large and diversified into
many areas beyond feature film effects, including advertising and Web animation.

Notes Java, Flash, and other tools can be utilized to attain the similar effects as an animated
GIF. However, animated GIFs are usually simpler to create than comparable images with
Java or Flash and generally slighter in size and therefore faster to display.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blank:
13. An ......................... GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) file is defined as a graphic image on
a Web page that moves.

14.9 The Peek Message [] Loop

To understand peek message(), firstly we will discuss GetMessage().
14.9.1 The GetMessage()

We use GetMessage() to create a loop that handled all the Windows message sent. However,
there was a catch we didn’t talk about at the time. Once we create the window, we get into the
event loop, where we see the function GetMessage(). GetMessage() then waits for a message and,
upon receiving one, sends it to the next step, TranslateMessage(). This is perfectly logical for
Windows programming, because generally speaking Windows applications, Word for example,
tend to sit and do nothing until you make a move.

However, this doesn’t work well for us. While all this waiting is going on, we need to be
creating thirty to sixty fully-rendered 3D images per second and putting them on the screen
without any delay at all. And so we are presented with a rather interesting problem, because
Windows, if it sends any messages, will most definitely not be sending thirty of them per
second.

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