Original Wonders by Gus Higuera » GusHiguera

Advanced Flash Tip & Tricks Class Outline: UPDATED

GusHiguera — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:42:52 +0000

Part One

How to leverage frameworks and third party libraries to speed up & enhance your development process

Gaia framework
- How to install
- Set up your project
- Importing assets
- Importig data
- Look at Ikayzo.com example
Greenshock Libraries
- Tweening
- Easing
- Plugin FX
- Timeline animations
- Simpsons Movie example

Part Two

Using Flash video to create engaging interactive experiences & visual landscapes

Flash Video
- Optimizing video for use in flash with After FX
- Alpha channels
- Video Mask example from
- Full Screen Video with aspect ratio constraints
- Ikayzo.com example

UPDATE

Thanks to all the students who attended my workshop. As promised, here are the class files for you to enjoy. Here are some of the URL that I mentioned during class that also prove helpful with your Flash projects. If you have any other questions or comments feel free to email me at gus@originalwonders.com

http://www.greensock.com/

http://www.gaiaflashframework.com/

http://videocopilot.net/

http://www.techhui.com

SurferBuddies Teaser Site

GusHiguera — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:19:58 +0000

SurferBuddies is a cool “check-in” based social mobil app specifically designed to help surfers find surf spots and get real-time surfing conditions from friends. For their teaser, I opted for a very basic layout with large call outs to some of the apps featured and button to sign up for a newsletter. It’s always fun to play with great looking assets, in this case I had some great surfing photos and used an extreme close up of a wave for the background. I was very happy with the way this site came out and can’t wait to work on the full-blown website.

Taekwondo Beach Class August 2010

GusHiguera — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:01:37 +0000

I love my Taekwondo beach classes in Waimanalo because they remind me of how beautiful and awesome it is to live in Hawaii. This past weekend I had the pleasure of taking my mom and my girlfriend Lorena for the first time to partake in the fun which made it even more enjoyable. Here’s the full set of photos on Flickr.

Re-Evolution & the Fantastic Fuerzas

GusHiguera — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:53:15 +0000

Here’s some great Re-Evolution news. Looks like Chehuahua and his Guerilla Wild will be the center of an art exhibit at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas this coming Fall 2010. This is a very exciting opportunity for Juan and myself who have both been invited to attend the opening of the show which will be on Thursday Sept. 16th. Additionally, Juan and I will be doing a lecture/talk on Saturday Sept. 18. Juan will be focusing on Latin American comics and I will talking about “Comics in the Digital Age. I can’t even begin to explain how exciting this is for us. First off for having the honor to have Re-Evolution be part of the exhibit and secondly because I’ll be able to re-unite with Juan Felipe who is going to come all the way from Colombia to attend the event and explore Texas with me. What an exciting time it will be!

The image below is a preview of some art Juan has created for the event. The Guadalupe Arts Center will be releasing all the official programs and images soon so stay tuned for information as we get closer to the event.

Viva La Re-evolution!

Teaching my first workshop…

GusHiguera — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:57:37 +0000

So this past Wed. on August 11th,2010 I taught my first workshop at Pacific New Media entitled “Web DIY: An Intro to Visual Web Design, Social Media and E-Commerce” in conjunction with Dan Leuck. We had a great turnout and people seemed to have a great time. Lots of people interested in setting up their own e-commerce sites to it seems I might try to do an entire course just on setting up your own store. Next up, I will be teaching a course on Advanced Flash Tips and Tricks all by myself. Ugh, that’s gonna be a tough one.

The future of Re-Evolution and cool new Chehuahua sketch

GusHiguera — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:02:50 +0000

So it’s been several weeks now that DC officially announced that it would be closing down it’s Zuda comics site and it’s monthly competition. Zuda will be moving to the digital realm now via the iPhone and iPad. I am glad to say that Re-Evolution looks to be on the list to make that transition. At first I thought all Zuda comics would be moving over but while talking with Daniel Govar from Azure I figured out that some creators got a different letter from DC basically telling them that their comics would not continue onto this new venture. Hopefully, we’ll be able to see Re-Evolution’s first issue out soon but until then here’s a sketch of Chehuahua from my friend Chris Zachrinsky.

Beautiful day in Manoa

GusHiguera — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:54:37 +0000

Korean Festival 2010

GusHiguera — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:26:39 +0000

This weekend my Taekwondo dojo participated in the Korean Festival at Kapiloani Park. I was a bit nervous since I was tasked with doing a spinning heel kick break but things went relatively smoothly and I broke my board in one try. Here’s the full set of photos from Flickr.

Mobile developers meeting July 7, 2010

GusHiguera — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 05:08:20 +0000

Ryan from Miso Media showing off his MiSonata iPhone/iPad app

Yummmmmmm….4th of July 2010

GusHiguera — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:46:07 +0000

This past 4th of July was full of memorable moments and I sust wanted to share on of them with you which was this amazing dish I discovered at Bogart’s called Migas. I loved it so much I had to make my own and I have to say that mine was much better. It even looks pretty too =) Enjoy!