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Thread: How dark is too dark?

  1. #1
    Senior Member zoranvedek's Avatar
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    I was told to keep this dark ("midnight blue" dark), but is it too dark?

    http://207.150.192.12/temp/darksid0/

    Also, I'm a little concerned about the speed, it's running a bit slow on my side, if I switch it to low quality theres an obvious jump. Do you think it would be a real noticable quality loss set at medium?

    None of the links are functioning(including the email link), it's simply a place-holder till the site is ready.


    Brutal honesty expected...........

    -Jason





  2. #2
    Senior Member kusco's Avatar
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    brutality...

    Hi Jason,

    Personally, I think it looks fine. I've tested the page on a couple of different computers with very different specs. Both machines ran at the same pace. One of the machines is a PII running at about 400MHz and is also using a no-frills cheapy VGA card.

    If you were to reduce the quality then go Medium as Low is too chunky and the text doesn't look good.

    Overall, the page looks great! I love the effect of the wire fence - very nice.

    Cheers,
    Ed

  3. #3
    KoolMoves Moderator blanius's Avatar
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    Originally posted by zoranvedek
    I was told to keep this dark ("midnight blue" dark), but is it too dark?

    http://207.150.192.12/temp/darksid0/

    Brutal honesty expected...........

    -Jason
    Looks really nice.... Not too dark. You might want to think about making it more obvious that the text are links. I almost didn't notice.


  4. #4
    Senior Member zoranvedek's Avatar
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    Originally posted by blanius

    You might want to think about making it more obvious that the text are links. I almost didn't notice.

    I was thinking the same thing, but haven't gotten any complaints from my end. In all actuality turning the text into button's was an afterthought(not mine), and was done in like an hour yesterday. I may end up adding a highlight on mouseover, I've got to change the logo's fontface yet, so I may change the buttons up a bit then.


    -Jason

  5. #5
    Senior Member zoranvedek's Avatar
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    Re: brutality...

    Originally posted by kusco
    Hi Jason,

    Personally, I think it looks fine. I've tested the page on a couple of different computers with very different specs. Both machines ran at the same pace. One of the machines is a PII running at about 400MHz and is also using a no-frills cheapy VGA card.

    If you were to reduce the quality then go Medium as Low is too chunky and the text doesn't look good.

    Overall, the page looks great! I love the effect of the wire fence - very nice.

    Cheers,
    Ed


    Thanks,

    Thats what I wanted to hear. After a reboot it was running fine on my end too, so I probably won't reduce the quality any. The fence was another afterthought, originally there where skulls on the texture. I got the idea after watching 'The Practice' the other night, there's a brief stint on the intro to the show, where some chainlink flashes up in silhouette, so it's really not my idea.


    On a side note(if it's cool to ask), what would guys charge for something like this?

    -Jason

    [Edited by zoranvedek on 05-21-2002 at 05:33 AM]

  6. #6
    KoolMoves Moderator blanius's Avatar
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    Re: Re: brutality...

    Originally posted by zoranvedek
    Originally posted by kusco
    Hi Jason,

    Personally, I think it looks fine. I've tested the page on a couple of different computers with very different specs. Both machines ran at the same pace. One of the machines is a PII running at about 400MHz and is also using a no-frills cheapy VGA card.

    If you were to reduce the quality then go Medium as Low is too chunky and the text doesn't look good.

    Overall, the page looks great! I love the effect of the wire fence - very nice.

    Cheers,
    Ed


    Thanks,

    Thats what I wanted to hear. After a reboot it was running fine on my end too, so I probably won't reduce the quality any. The fence was another afterthought, originally there where skulls on the texture. I got the idea after watching 'The Practice' the other night, there's a brief stint on the intro to the show, where some chainlink flashes up in silhouette, so it's really not my idea.


    On a side note(if it's cool to ask), what would guys charge for something like this?

    -Jason

    [Edited by zoranvedek on 05-21-2002 at 05:33 AM]
    Well I usually quote $40/hr as an estimate. So figure how many hours it "should have" taken you.... and charge that.

  7. #7
    Senior Member kusco's Avatar
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    Rates, fees, charges .... sounds like my bank :)

    But seriously, I would agree with Bret OR charge a flat rate for each page / animation / effect.

    What you have to realise is that its your time / effort and (in some instances) money. Charging a flat rate can be very appealing for some people/companies while charging for different effects appeals more to others. An hourly rate is good too but this then has to cover both of the above.

    A friend of mine also quotes a flat rate for a project. The project is defined and a spec. put together. From this a cost can be determined along with a timeframe for completion. This works very well for her.

    But, if this is for a friend or associate then charge whatever feels comfortable.

    I'm a consultant and charge by the hour. This makes it easier for the client as they can then get me to do whatever they like and still pay the same rate no matter what.

    HTH,
    Ed

  8. #8
    Senior Member kusco's Avatar
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    BTW,

    I forgot to spec the second machine I ran it on which is a PIII 866MHz with a TNT2 graphics card.

    Ed.

  9. #9
    Senior Member zoranvedek's Avatar
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    Well as of this afternoon, I'm a 3rd partner on the project, and my fees will be coming out of sales(I tend to get roped into things like this), and yes it is for a friend.

    Bret I like the way you qualified the statement with "should have taken you". I have about 20 hours in on this but alot of that time was spent tweaking details, that probably no-one but me will ever notice.

    I generally charge in the area $150 for something like that, but it really all depends on who I'm doing it for. The main reason I asked is I've had alot of people telling me I work too cheap lately, but at the same time, I tend to get some strange looks from people when I quote a flat fee.

    Believe it or not, I charged $350 for this:

    http://www.harborsu-name-it.com/
    (the empty link is reserved for furniture
    as soon as I get pictures).

    But to be honest about it, I'm not really happy with the site, plus I haven't paid commission at his auction for the last 2 months(both buying and selling), which has saved me well over $500, so I guess it really all kind of works out.


    -Jason




  10. #10
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    The Harbor's Auction site is interesting, you may/may not notice it, but the all of loading movie's green squares have black boxes around them. These blend into the background, but are visible during the animations behind them. You may or may not want to change this, but I noticed it, and you expected brutal honesty...

    Hope it helps

  11. #11
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    Also, I just noticed this, Macromedia is not MacroMedia. (note the capitilization).

  12. #12
    Senior Member kusco's Avatar
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    Jason,

    Harbors Auctions is a pretty darn cool site. I think ajcompany might have something there with the little boxes but...

    I really like the artwork too. It all seems to blend in rather nicely.

    Just wondering if you would be interested in an effect I did for a friend of mine for his band. I used images there too. The link is http://www.ultrasuitemusic.com

    If you want the source I'll send it to you.

    Cheers,
    Ed

  13. #13
    KoolMoves Moderator blanius's Avatar
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    oooh me me

    Originally posted by kusco
    Jason,

    Harbors Auctions is a pretty darn cool site. I think ajcompany might have something there with the little boxes but...

    I really like the artwork too. It all seems to blend in rather nicely.

    Just wondering if you would be interested in an effect I did for a friend of mine for his band. I used images there too. The link is http://www.ultrasuitemusic.com

    If you want the source I'll send it to you.

    Cheers,
    Ed

    Me me!!!!!

  14. #14
    Senior Member kusco's Avatar
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    ok ok!!



    I'll document the code a little more and post it on my site. (Hopefully tonight).

    Ed.

  15. #15
    Senior Member zoranvedek's Avatar
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    Re: ok ok!!

    Originally posted by kusco


    I'll document the code a little more and post it on my site. (Hopefully tonight).

    Ed.
    Killer deal...........

    In the mean time, I may take a stab at reproducing the effect using actionscript only, might be over my head, but I have an idea or two.

    -Jason

  16. #16
    Senior Member zoranvedek's Avatar
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    Originally posted by ajcompany
    Also, I just noticed this, Macromedia is not MacroMedia. (note the capitilization).
    Good observation, have to change that when the furniture goes out next week. As for the boxes, they'll probably remain the same, not that I don't agree with, but........

    -Jason


  17. #17
    Senior Member kusco's Avatar
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    Action script

    Hi Jason,

    I didn't use Action script as it's too difficult to easily add another image to the animation.

    With the javascript script code I've made it as easy as possible. All that is required is the image, a reference to it in the image array and that's about it. The routine looks after the rest.

    I'd still be interested in how your efforts go using Action script.

    Cheers,
    Ed

  18. #18
    Senior Member zoranvedek's Avatar
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    Re: Action script

    Originally posted by kusco
    Hi Jason,

    I didn't use Action script as it's too difficult to easily add another image to the animation.

    With the javascript script code I've made it as easy as possible. All that is required is the image, a reference to it in the image array and that's about it. The routine looks after the rest.

    I'd still be interested in how your efforts go using Action script.

    Cheers,
    Ed
    It went about just like you said. I could get one going good, but as soon as I added another using the exact same code, they started overlapping with the scaling. I decided to give up on it, and instead wait to increase my knowledge of javascripting.


    -Jason

  19. #19
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    Looks great to us.

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