:: INVITATION #2 and another THANK YOU ::

[Thankful]

Hello my forum pals, just wanted to give some small update what I'm working on right now...

Everything is still under heavy construction, there will be 2 more collosal Flash parts (animations for some specific section of the website), but right now I'm still working on the main part. For now, Intro is completely finished, and main part is 99% done, except of those links inside the menus... I'm still waiting for link paths from my boss.

Bottom part is just a set of JPG slices (for now) and it's just a preview. Nothing is active, just because that's not a part of my job. Some other developers are working on HTML part, dynamic fields etc. I am just a stupid Flash designer, haha... and my job was to design how everything will look like once it's finished.

Ok, enough for now... Just thought some people may be interested on what am I working right now, since I've got so many PMs asking me is there anything new in my shop... well, here it is...

Also, don't want to forget to THANK to my wonderful friend Lexicon (Craig) from UK, and all his generous help with explaining to me how to make those elevators and red flashing lights running on action script and not by tweening... Thanks my friend, I appreciate your time spent and effort on this one.

Here is the link:

PROJECT WILL NEVER BE FINISHED , company "had to" cut on expenses, closed its offices in few other cities and laid off many people... I was one of them too

And this is much smaller project but I just finished it for my client... so if you are interested, you can take a look at it as well:

JUST FINISHED SITE

Kind Regards People !!!

[tongxn]

That was so COOL! how long did you spend on that homepage Flash itself?

It's perfect!

Except the intro, it sort of ruined the points:

the bit that says:

WE SPECIALISE IN:
-blahblahblah
-blah blah blah
....

and I think it will be good if you can change that to
WE SPECIALISE IN:
-blahblahblah-
-blah blah blah -

to add that "-" at the end so that it maintained the center position?

But that was only 0.3% of the Flash File though... Overall its great!

Regards,
Tongxn

[Thankful]

I can not change anything just because that's exactly how my boss wanted to see that... they need that intro and they requested it to be exactly as it is. At first it was different and the path of those "flying" words was completely different and IMHO looking much better, but they wanted it this way, so I had to change that. Did you see whole intro, completely ? The part when 3D logo kicks in and hits the spark above the Moon ? Well, all that is at their request... so that's actually the main part of the intro, not slying words. Those words are just something as add or something, I don't know...

...
...
...Except the intro, it sort of ruined the points:
...
...

Well, that's why I always put the SKIP INTRO button. You can't force people watching something over and over again if they don't want that.

Regarding those "-" signs in front of those points... It doesn't have to be centered, if something is 100% proportional, doesn't mean that it's "perfect" in that particular case... this is supposed to be a listing of their activities, not anything else, so I had to mark them with starting "-" sign only, without closing the line with same sign. We do that when quoting...

But thanks for the input. I just made everything exactly as they requested, so I had to listen to them...

Main Flash part - it took me around a week, full work hours... coming up with idea, doing all those details, preparing all graphics, animations, sounds etc.

[tongxn]

Ah well, Nice going anyway!

[blazes816]

I. love. you.

[tongxn]

blazes?

no offence thankful, he is quite dirty minded...

SEE HERE FOR THE PROOF

[blazes816]

I meant that I loved the site....

[Osteel]

Hey Thankful,

Great site, I really like the animations and the whole look of the site. But I guess I should say one little thing that I think should be rearranged.

The actual site, after the intro video, you should make the 'subscribe' area a bit more obvious. At first when I was viewing the little city picture with the animation, I didnt notice it went all the way down (didnt have max screen)

After realizing my stupidity and scrolling down, I concluded that the subscription tab along the right is not a major focal point. You might want to make it more attractive and eye grabbing , just so you can get more customers

Otherwise, amazing site!

[Thankful]

Thanks for the input my neighbour, I appreciate it...

However, they really didn't want me to change the order of those components from their current site too much... you can take a look at their current site if you go here:

:: LINK ::

The current site is pretty much ok, but they are kind of modern, new wave guys and they really like futuristic/techno style... so that's the main reason I had to go with site like the one I did.

On their current site, you'll notice that login section is also down there... quite low on the screen. Top header is a simple picture and i just had to make my Flash part to replace that old header with Flash and fill up that space... but later they wanted me to make that Flash header little bit bigger because of those buttons at the bottom of the Flash area.

I know, I would make few things different, and trust me I already did... but as always I just had to execute tasks given to me by my new boss

And many times, no matter what you think it would be the best solution for some problem, they simply won't accept your suggestions... pretty familiar stuff, right ? Haha... Well, that's the part of this life, so I think all we can do is listen and do what they say.

[Osteel]

Haha boss always knows whats best right?

Well good job either way , that really is a good looking site.

[wattsup]

Thankful - your sites always inspire us to do better!! Always love to see you work!!!

[Thankful]

Haha boss always knows whats best right?

Well good job either way , that really is a good looking site.

Yes haha, what can we do my friend... nothing, just shut up and do your part of the job

No really they are wonderful guys, great friends most important, and they know what they want... but as always, thousand people - thousand different tastes.

Cheers !

[Thankful]

Thankful - your sites always inspire us to do better!! Always love to see you work!!!

Thank you my friend, and you should all know by now... if there wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be here today. You all made me even more interested in Flash and all those possibilities it gives us. Work, work and work... but also, good friends around, wonderful advices you gave me and everything starts to look much more clear... my work is far from wonderful and perfect, but we really can see our progress if we play with those things long enough. Most important thing is not to give up regardless of how difficult some task may look like in the beginning...

Regards!

[Lexicon]

Nice work mate.

My only criticism is the similarity it has to a certain very famous website. I know nothing can ever be 100% original, it just doesn't work like that. But, over the years, that particular site has become infamous for the number of times it has been used as a source of inspiration, it has become very recognisable. So in that respect, it was not the best choice of style to emmulate without adding more of your own flavour to it.

Despite the criticism, I still love the site and am in awe at your design, composition and drawing skills and there are some great ideas of your own I can see in there.

Keep them coming, but lets see a little more Sasha in the next one. Thats what I liked most about your first site (apart from the fact that it looked and worked great), I had never seen anything quite like it before!

You are capabable of creating some fantastic stuff and will do very well in your new career. You have a real eye for detail in a design that I will never have. Luckily I'm a programmer so I don't need it, but I'm still secretly jealous of your talent

The criticism is not meant to offend, you already have my respect.

[Thankful]

No way, your comments guys are always comming as constructive ones... nothing else. I like to hear as many opinions as possible.

Yes, similarity to some other futuristic sites is obvious, but again... just because they specifically said: "...we want something like this..."

They showed me an example, I did million of things differently, let's say in my own specific ways... but of course, they weren't too happy... they said: "...you're going too much away from the original idea..."

So once again, I had to listen to them... remember, when you work as a freelance, you are 110% free to use your ideas and to apply them to your work... anyway, even then your clients will request some changes and your initial idea will wanish sooner or later... Just imagine how it is when you work for someone else, and after each and every one of your designs, they wants changes... even sometimes when it's unbelievable obvious they are not needed. I guess, that's beacuse boss always needs to feel like boss

The other thing... when youre doing some site with futuristic/modern/techno feeling, you can't run away from some guidelines...

First - in many cases those sites are "milky" white with wonderful 3D animation people use more and more... on the other hand, they can be very dark and subtle just like the one I did.

Biggest similarity to the one you had in mind is the background (central) color - dark red... but again. That's their registered trademark color, so I had to pick that one. Also, original site has water just like mine, but that's IMHO where all similarities stops. I have city with all those effects, and they don't have anything like that. I added some clouds... they never created anything like that light beam effect (I have to say I killed myself until I finished it).

The other big similarity among all those futuristic sites are sounds... simply, you can't use some Cheelos, Violins, piano sounds etc. They need to be some industrial, techno sounds... and that "helps" even more to put all those sites in one basket.

Bottom line, trust me, they don't let me be creative as much as I want... and that kills me. My soul will cry....

Cheers!

[tongxn]

I wish I could be as creative as I wanted, but whenever I get a superb idea i meet a crazy problem, not natural eh?

[Osteel]

Haha,

Like you tongxn, I dont have a creative bone in my body. I leave all the art work to my brother and I stick to the coding

[Thankful]

Well that is a perfect combination if you ask me my neighbour... you both can fill in where it's needed, and both of you can focus on your thing... you on coding, and your brother on designing part of the job.

Best of all, you guys are brothers, so I'm sure friendship and understanding is not missing at all. It is so much easier to work if you have someone close to give you some advice sometimes, maybe suggestion, even helping hand...

Regards

[Veggie1232]

OMG THAT WAS AMAZING the intro wasnt the greatest because it took to long but i dont think i would feel the same way if it wasnt star wars effect lol lol but the freaking part where the city pops up is SOOOO COOOL i swear ill never get that good but i really really love it alot omg the sky the city the WATER OMG Its amazing

[tongxn]

How did you create that hyperspace effect?