Outstanding Website
http://www.webaward.org/winner.asp?eid=13843
Best Fashion Website
http://www.webaward.org/winner.asp?eid=13866
It’s also an entry at Cannes!
Cosmetics, Beauty & Toiletries

It’s good to know 80+ hour work weeks can lead to really good things.  This was one of the most intense deadlines I have ever had to deal with.

I was one of four Flash developers at Organic Inc responsible for launching two out of the five flash modules. This was an epic project at Organic Inc, it was the first AS3 project for the company with deadlines that were considered next to impossible to meet.  For six weeks I worked 80+ hour work weeks to hit the deadlines and meet the very demanding visual standards required by the client, loving every minute of it.   I have to say I am a sucker for this kind of work, visually demanding to the extreme.

Another interesting side notes regarding this project was that all content including images, positions and typography are external via xml files allowing the project to be deployed in multiple languages. That feature was never used but it is interesting none the less. The xml used on the home page to allowed new adds to be built regularly with out touching the flash. This was a great project and I was awarded an Exceptional Employee award at Organic Inc in addition to winning industry awards.

Big thanks goes out to Hugh Elliot for being such a great project lead and Todd Fraser for being such a rock star Flash developer.   In the end this ended up being one my favorite projects I worked on while at Organic Inc and I am thankful for the opportunity.

Good news! “Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Terrain” has just been nominated for The 13th Annual Webby Awards in the Rich Media: B to C category! As one of only five nominees in its category, this project and the team (I was the developer) behind it are now eligible for two of the Internet industry’s most sought-after awards: The Webby Award and The Webby People’s Voice Award.

I NEED YOUR SUPPORT VOTE NOW! Voting starts today and runs through April 30th so please take the time now to cast your vote.  If anyone has time please vote for the “Webby Peoples Voice Award” its under the interactive section rich media B to C.  It’s a tight race so any votes would be greatly appreciated.  Voting ends April 30th so please vote today!

If you have not already voted, please go now to: : http://pv.webbyawards.com/

• Click on “Register now to vote”
• Fill out the form and click on Submit.
• Go to your email – click on the confirmation link (if you don’t get the confirmation email back…As I didn’t…just click on reset password and that seems to work fine).
• Once you’re back on the People’s Voice Webby Awards Site, on the home page, click on Interactive Advertising/vote now.
• Next, click on “Rich Media: B to C”
• Next, click the “vote” radio button next to “Chrysler LLC, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Terrain”!!!!!
• Then, click on “cast my vote”!

Thanks for your help getting this great work a People’s Voice award!  You can help even further by posting the link on your Facebook and suggesting that your friends vote for Jeep Terrain!

Applied Arts announced that the Chrysler LLC, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited “Terrain” I developed for Organic Inc won Applied Arts Interactive Media : W/15 Online Single award for 2008. Good to know that six weeks of developing one of the first papervison3D banners paid off. Applied Arts March edition has a nice write up talking about the ad. Also John Grden (core papervision3D creator) has blogged about my work.

View Banner View Award Page

From a technology perspective this project was a pure joy to work on. I developed a completely custom height map system that creates the effect of driving up and down the hills in the ad. I also built hit detection, interactive feature pop ups triggered by the jeep location and dynamic sound effects. The banner was built using AS3 but had the ability to load AS2 assets as required.  This was done to load 360’s of the vertical and a car colorizer from previous projects.

In addition to technological hurdles each content network had ancient rules surround rich media banner file size limitation.  You can typically load 10 megs of video but lesss then 100Kb of sfw’s/flash.  This is because they view flash as an animation medium only implying that video is just as good for animation.  I had to personally work with AOL, MSN and Yahoo to explain to them why 100kb would not cut it.  It took a while for them to really understand what we meant by 3D interactions.  Once they got it we simply had to let them know the ad would be built in a way that would have no impact on page loads.  With the final hurdle passed we were given the go ahead from each content network.

This project involved much more than just some of the most intense 3D programing in Flash ever seen in a banner. I hosted lunch and learns for the designers at Organic Inc. to promote designs that would utilize PaperVision3D in unique ways.  Building awareness with the designers was critical to getting PaperVision3D projects at Organic Inc Toronto office.

This was really a dream project for me, technically challenging and visually stunning.    I have been researching physics and multiple physics engines that could be integrated with PaperVision3D.  Hopefully I get more work that will utilize these skills and let me push the boundries of interactive 3D online!

Welcome to my blog, a collection of daily thoughts, news, and opinions concerning new media & technology such as Flash, ActionScript, PaperVison3D, Ajax, motion graphics & interactivity in online media! This site has been completely redesigned to serve as a blog and portfolio site so I can showcase recent work and new discoveries related to the industry.

Produced award winning (Applied Arts Interactive Award : Best Single Campaign) interactive 3D driving experience using papervision3D and Action Script 3.  Real-time graphics allow you to drive a 3D jeep up and down the hills of a topographical map while discovering unique features about the Jeep Wrangler.

View Sample View Applied Arts Award

Solution

• Developed actionscript 3 / papavervision3D application that allows you to drive a 3D model of a Jeep over height map to simulate terrain
• Implemented code based physics, collision detection , terrain based interactions and AI driving system that realistically drives the vehicle in 3D to the users mouse position

Developed three micro sites, one photo gallery, a top down parking game and an interactive hybrid demo in two weeks that play during ABC.com television episodes. This campaign achieved the highest interaction rate on ABC.com.

View Sample 1View Sample 2

Solution

• Three Micro sites that load video, games and interactive demos
• Dynamic photo gallery with links and custom transitions to each vehical
• Interactive technology demo for the Aspen Hybrid
• Top down parking game

Promoted the use of Papervision3D via lunch and learn for designers, shortly afterwards I developed Organic’s first Papervison3D project delighting Bank of America winning an exceptional employee award. Animated dynamic thumbnails as they flew and curled in the wind by animating each vertex via actionscript.

View Sample

Created ActionScript particle system with hundreds of randomized icons flying through 3D space with a depth of field effect based on distance from the camera for ChyrslerLLC.com redesign. I also designed static graphics for the environment section.

View Sample

Solution

• Developed actionscript based animation system for contact us section of Chrysler LLC
• Designed static graphics on 2007 environment page

Developed a baseball themed game for the 2007 world series, as part of a cross promotional marketing campaign between Bank of America and Major League Baseball.

Play Game

Solution

• Built “Rock The Park” game logic and animation
• Created actionscript transitions and effects
• Developed actionscript to SQL server communication allowing fans to compete for their favorite team
• Actionscript development on related mastheads and banner ads

Designed and build formaxproductions.com website conveying the quality & professionalism of their photography services. Using a combination of Flash and HTML images were constantly showcased while keeping page loads incredibly small.

View Website

Solution

• Designed & built new website
• Built Flash/XML slideshows
• Biyearly marketing campaigns
• Regular Search engine optimizations
• Updated logo for a more professional look