FYP is Submitted Finally

Well, this morning I went to submit my final year project with one of my course mate Hendra, To my surprise, we were the first on the lists. I was expecting everyone else to be there too. We only met Joko and Boitumelo just before we left Ms Jaya's office. It was such a huge relieved and I truly am grateful because my project turn out to be as good as expected. I guess, all the efforts, sweats and the endless sleepless nights are worth it after all. I bet everyone will be releived too when they have submitted their project.

This project has got to be one of the best on my list for job hunting I guess. I mean, there are many good projects or better known as assignments that we have collected throughout these three years, but FYP is something you applied your extra knowledge, extra research and of course, impressive skills into. I believe that other classmates are doing good job too, at least some of their projects that I have already seen as there are some that I have not really see or rather get a clear picture on how the project is suppose to be. But anyway, that's not my point here.

To conclude my last entry, I just want to wish everyone happy holiday. Have an exciting and fun-filling holiday so that you'll all be recharged during job hunting later. Thank's to the lecturers for thier help, assistnace, and feedback. Nonetheless, thank's to everyone for being my motivation to strive for the best in this FYP.

Yay! Project is on its way to Completion

I am glad that I am progressing pretty quick this week. I manage to complete my electronic brochures and I can say that I have my 99% of it completed in good and fully functional condition. It is definitely one of the project I am very proud of. Although it requires a lot of effort, I believe it is worth it after all. I'll be re-checking and do final testing this coming weekend as I'll need to have it submitted by Monday. Well, all I can say is everything seems to be so far so good at the moment, Thanked God.

I am also considering if I'll add another feature to my project since it is considered completed before submission. I'll see what I can do on weekend. Nevertheless, I believe that it is a good project as it is at the moment. As for now, I'm off to prepare myself for the SAD exam coming up on Friday. Alright then, I wish everyone else the best of luck in exam and their FYP.

It'll be over before you know it! Cheers =)

Week 15 - Getting Closer to the Finishing Line

Well, after showcasing my project during alpha test, my progress this week is basically getting all the unfinished part completed. I manage to complete all my "shopping" section with fully functioning "illustrated-interactive location map" as well as the brief details explaining about each hot spots location. It is a pretty hectic task for me as I need to make sure that the illustration make sense and the information is sufficient. In addition, the flash part is indeed a little confusing. I only manage to complete the main page of my shopping section with the illustrated Singapore map in it plus a set of shopping locations located at Orchard Road location map before the alpha test. I'm glad that I manage to finish the other parts of it this week.

I am also working on my electronic brochures and I manage to complete few sets of the electronic brochures. I must say this feature is one of the most tedious one. It is simply because I am doing a total of more than 10 e-brochures with different designs as well as coming up with different themes for each and a total of at least 8-10 pages in each brochures for different places and categories. I guess organizing the content is one of the major challenge in the entire e-brochures development. Besides coming up with the content, I have to wait for approval after proof-reading sessions by the clients.

I have improved quite a lot in graphic designing I must say. Thankfully I do enjoy working on it, or else it can really be a "killer". Making sure that it is up to the client's standard is pretty pressurizing too. Thanked God most of it are up to what is expected so far. I am pretty progressive I believe. I am almost done with the e-brochures since I am only left with the "Nightlife" section e-brochures.

I guess everyone must have been really busy enhancing and completing their project these two weeks. The submission is suppose to be on week 16, Friday to be exact, but it has somehow been extended again to the Monday on week 17. I'm sure by then we'll be done. Good luck again to all.

Week Fourteen - Alpha Test

Finally the alpha testing for the final year project is done. Despite the fact that my computer crashed just before the alpha test, I am glad that my presentation went on fine. The feedback and comments were very positive and that reassured me that I am in the right track. Although the alpha test is done, there are still uncompleted portion of my project that I need to work on.

Basically, I manage to present most of my main features and the components of my projects even though I did not really go through all the features one by one. It is due to the presentation time slots allocated. However, I am sure that everyone has a very clear picture of what exactly I am developing. One of the main components that involves a lot of scripting and errors debugging is the electronic flippable brochures. It is really hard to incorporate so many additional features for my e-brochures. I have used XML to make it dynamic. Here's one of the sample.

I also managed to debug some errors before the presentation. Loading several dynamic XML e-brochures from one flash application used to be a challenge. It seems that the first e-brochure that you select will display even when you clicked on other e-brochures after you close your first selection. However, I manged to get the code that help me solve this problem entirely. Loading different dynamic e-brochures from the same application is finally possible.

I have also started on my "shopping page" section with the interactive location maps. There are several more e-brochures to complete besides the interactive map for the shopping page. I'll see what else I can do to enhance my project if by any chance I manage to get all these done before submission. I'm sure by now, everyone has got even more ideas on what to include to make their project more attractive. Good luck to all then.

Week Thirteen - Computer Crash Experience..

Week thirteen is insane. I mean computer crash just when you needed it most? Doing your work and just when you are extremely busy debugging never ending errors. Oh God, I sound dramatic don't I? But this isn't a joke at all. My laptop is "terribly sick" this week. It crashes just when I was doing my work. Seriously frustrating..Well, I guess I am at fault too since I have been forcing it to work endlessly and haven't been taking good care of it. Considering the fact that I have been working with a lot of high definition graphics stuff and all, it contribute to the damage in my computer. I should be upgrading my RAM one of these days.

I was sad for the fact that I lost some of the really important stuff in there. It was infected by some virus that actually messed up your files location in your entire system and also corrupted your files. As a result, I have to reformat all my entire hard disk including my back up partition. This also means that I have lost everything in my laptop. Everything! I tried going for data recovery before reformating it as well, but there's no way they can save the data because they were all corrupted. It took me a few days to get over the incidents and start rushing on my project again. Well, guys, I guess everyone is well aware that you should back up your work, the truth is unexpected things happen at times. Anyway, I manage to get it fixed and replace some component from my laptop. Costly I must say, but the good news is my laptop is back to healthy again.

Well, I am entirely aware that alpha test is this Thursday! Thanked God that I started working on it progressively. And I am truly thankful that most of my FYP files are stored in different back-up storage, or else, I can't imagine the stress that I'll be going through. Although I do face some headache re-creating some lost files.

This week I managed to complete all my videos editting and embed it to my application. I have also been editting sounds, cutting and combining the different part of the sound clips to go along with my videos. It was challenging. Apart from that I am also working progressively on my different e-brochures. I've been debugging some really complicated scripts that I encounter too. Well, basically it is a busy and progressive week. That's all for now. Good luck for alpha test on Thursday everyone!

Week 12 - Information Overload

This week is rather tiring for me. One of the major portion I've been working on is getting the information for every section of the E-brochures and the Flash pages organized accordingly. I must say, it is really tiring. Since I don't have any soft copy of the information as they're all paper based or just a rough sketch of what the client expect me to put in there, I have a hard time, typing out and also transfering some of the paper-based information to the screen.

It may seems like the easiest job in the universe "typing and editting" but the truth is, it isn't that simple after all when you need to edit and type out so many information for different sections at a time. No wonder there are people who specialized just doing typing and editing documents. I mean it's like doing endless mini essays. There are points where my eyes were just sore and everything seems to be black and white for that split seconds. Thanked God, I am still progressing.

Unlike the times where I am working on my interface design and action script coding part where I actually get to see the end-result, typing out the information is just really concentration consuming and boring, not to forget very time consuming. However, when I organize it into my electronic brochures and flash pages, I am able to feel somewhat a sense of achievement. That's what keep me motivated throughout the entire FYP development. Nothing comes easy in life. Take a peep at some of the completed pages for the e-brochures. There are many of them in my flash application, but anyway..

Well, my progress this week is that I managed to edit most of my videos, put in the contents to my flash pages, debugging action scripts errors for some part of my project, as well as complete several e-brochures. A pretty progressive week I guess. It's just a week before alpha test, I hope I'll be done with at least 70-80% by then. There are still some feature that I havent't start working on at all, but at least I am progressing, so to me and everyone else, goodluck.

Week Eleven - Plenty of Works to be Completed

Week eleven is coming to an end. I can't seems to be putting my thoughts in words, but I guess most of us will be extremely busy these few weeks. Apart from the major FYP in hand to do, the other subject like SAD and Writing for the web is definitely an extra pain to bear with. I guess main reason is because all these subjects are not exactly interlinked with each other. I've got to crack my brain to adjust to the different subjects I am dealing with. But anyway, I think I got to strive hard to pass every single subject in order to graduate. Just a couple more weeks to go.

This week I managed to consult Ms Jaya for feedback on my current progression. It's relieving to know that she finds it good. I mean if I have to add this or change that, it'll definitely be troublesome. The more I modify and do changes even if it is tiny ones, the more coding complication and errors seems to be haunting. Few of my course mates do find this statement really true. I guess, I am lucky enough to have modify and do necessary changes when I approach STB for feedback sessions long before I start constructing the actual product. Since the feedback were mostly positive, I started working on my videos and contents for all the pages.

Last week, I have finished all my gallery pages. This week, I am working on all my videos, editing, mixing and combining different scenes to be included in every category. It is not so bad after all. However. I do spend a lot of time drawing and do simple illustrations in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop for title slides and designing for e-brochure pages. It seems like I have been whining quite a lot about my e-brochure. That's one of the major challenging part to complete I must say. In addition, the pictures that I used throughout the pages are not simply camera captured images, there are more to it. I dealt a lot with image masking and image manipulation to make it stands out from normal pictures. I guess it is more to graphic works. However, most pictures turn out to be very pretty. Thanks to the tips and inspiration from some graphic design books.

Basically, I've managed to sort out the major part of my project development properly. The only thing I need to do now is to constantly work on it and complete the unfinished portion of my projects. It's a hard work, time consuming and tedious job indeed.

Week Ten Progression

Time flies so quickly. It has been a rather progressive week I must say. I have been working on my gallery pages this week. I have completed all of my gallery pages for different categories. I love it I must say, especially with all the attractive pictures I have taken, editted, not to forget mentioning a huge thank you to STB for some of the pictures too. The action script part for my gallery pages was a challenging part of my project progression this week. Thankfully, after exploring and consulting a friend, he manage to debug the errors and I have my fully functional pages ready.

I guess this week I take a break from my e-brochure construction. I got so tired of working on the e-brochure because it may not look that difficult to develop, but try to come up with it and you will understand how complex it is for me. It is indeed tideous. The fact that I am not an action script expert doesn't help. I guess I need not stress myself up that much because I am progressing after all.

Ms. Megan also gave me the flexibility on developing only one fully functional e-brochure that I have already shown her when she was here. She thinks that the current e-brochure is able to eveluate my technical understanding for the concept of e-brochure. In addition, the fact that I have put in a lot of effort designing evey single pages of a "50-pages e-brochure" make her think that it is complex enough. We'll see how things progress from here. I guess I'll still come up with other e-brochures, perhaps a simpler version of my current master copy.

One good thing is I actually learn a lot from making the tiny bits and pieces for my final year project. I have improved my Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Flash skills. Since my project is not a database or website kind of project, I guess the extra effort for design will contribute a relatively big percentage for my promotional project. I better pray hard that I'll be able to finish my project on time. A strict time management plan is neccessary to prevent any procrastination at this stage I guess. Good luck to everyone then, have another busy week ahead.

Week Nine - No More Panic Attack

Pheeew...I'm so glad that final year project proposal are finally done. Thanked God! Another major assignment is done, at least we can concentarte more on the system. Although there are other assignments to be completed, I guess we are all releived for the fact that at least we can get this one done on time and making sure that it falls on the right track. As a matter of fact, Ms. Megan has really helped the class a lot by going through the guidelines and what is expected. In adition, she had also extended the due date for the submission and decided to increase the percentage for the documentation so that we can focus on developing our final year project. What more can we asked for?

Having a clearer mindset and requirement sorted out will surely decrease chances of panic attack at the later stage. I'm glad Ms. Megan came down. I managed to show her what I have at the moment earlier this week. She responded very positively and gave good feedback on what I have so far. There are still coding complication that I am yet to debug for my flash action script that I used for my electronic brochure. I have never worked on very complicated action script and I guess that's why I am slow when it comes to error debugging for complicated long scripting.

I am still working on my project as there are still other major construction to be completed. With the introduction page and homepage done with the standardized templates designed for every other pages, I hope that there won't be anymore major changes resulting in any panic attact and that everyone elses' project is going fine too. Have another busy week ahead.

Week Eight - Crystal Clear Direction

My coursemates including me are so releived that Ms.Megan finally visited us . She went through the guidelines of the project documentation and she also gave feedback on our documentation draft. I am glad that I'm almost done since the expected contents were already present in my curent documentation. I just need to take out some part and shorten some portion of it.

I've also explained my project to Ms.Megan in more detail and it's good that she has no opposition to any part of it . She offer suggestions and comments as well as re-defining my goal of project. I am thankful that we are so much clearer about the final year project which makes it easier to work on it. Direction wise, it has definately become crystal clear to me. I really hope that I'll be able to complete my project and debug the errors that will be my challenge along the way. Since everyone have different area of strengths and weaknesses, I think it is important to respect each other's effort.

I've managed to take videos and obatain the permission letters to use the intelectual properties for my project. In addition, photographs of different places I'll be showacasing in my project are also taken and editted during the short break. Thank's to STB for their kind assistance in providing some resources and cooperation. It is definately very motivating. I've been working on the contents of my project which is really tideous I must say. So much to work on. My current challenge is the electronic brochure part. I guess I never understand how time and effort consuming it is until I do it. I have wasted almost my entire weekend to do the e-brochure and I only manage to finish minor part of it.

The good thing this week is I am done with my introduction page which may or may not be enhanced further. Apart form that I've also ompleted my homepage. There are still many other major construction that I'll be working on. I guess everyone has equally as much work to do as I am. As for now, that's all for updates. Have another great busy week ahead. =)

The Seventh Week Progression

I come across a quote today which stuck me rather hard. It's a quote by Benjamin Franklin that say "You may delay, but time will not". It is so true. Week seven is gone just in a blink. Thankfully, I manage to get certain portion of the final year project sorted. I manage to come up with a prototype for a few of my project main screens. In addition, I will be heading over to Singapore to shoot videos, take pictures as well as obatining the neccessary resources like the letters of approval and other related documents from the STB. It is indeed a busy week ahead, in fact I've been so tensed up with the amount of works I have to complete lately. There hasn't been any major progression in my system this week because I certainly find it hard to manage so many task at a time. I have been pretty much working with the project docmunetation as well as working on another assignment due this week.

I have been exploring different design concepts to develop my project prototype to get the audience feedback. I believe that there are always rooms of improvements. I have shown my interface to few of my coursemates as well as getting feedback from the client and random friends around. The responses were ok, but I do feel that there are something lacking in my interface that I am yet to identify. Apart from that, I certainly hope that I can complete more portion of the project before VU lecturer's visit. That way, I stand a better chance clarifying my doubts.

Earlier this week, Ms Jeya discuss about "stress management" in class. I find it quite an interesting topic for discussion. I think different people handle stress diffeently. I do feel stressed up sometimes when I have so much in hand to do. It is simply inevitable, but thanked God it is manageable. There are more to life than just stressing over assignments and projects I believe. A day of worrying and stressing over things is definately more tiring and energy consuming than trying to complete targeted tasks in a day.

:: Running Out of Time - Week Six ::

What a week it has been. The clock seems to be ticking faster than ever for me. I must say that I am a little slower than my planning in the schedule for my project. It seems that something here and there always gets in the way. When I say I'm running out of time, it literally refer to my documentation. Although I have been working on it from time to time, it is also hard to follow the plan accordingly as I always have modification here and there. In addition, the story boards part is a major headache for me indeed. I manage to do a complete set of the story boarding for my application part, but my only concern is the story boards for my videos. There will be several videos I'll include in my project. Therefore, it's quite a bit of work portion I've got to work on.

I'll be going down to Singapore sometime next week to shoot videos, collect my required resources, snap pictures as well as collecting my permission letters and all the necessary documents to be included in my documentation. Communicating through the e-mails can be troublesome at times. Ideas may be interpreted differently under different circumstances. I've also come to a realization that coming up with something for a real company as my final year project is difficult. Although the experience will be valueable, but there are a lot of limitations that draws a line to your ideas. Comapny may want you to be creative and suggestive, but when it come to relating it back to school, there are still rules and guidelines you have to follow.

Truthfully, I find it really challenging for me to complete the documentation portion way earlier than my system especially when you are working on something for a real company. However, that's just a fact that I'll have to face and deal with. Hopefully, I'll be super productive when I'm in Singapore so that I will be back on track. In the meantime, I want to wish everyone the best of luck for their project. I know that most of us have work really hard for it. Let's pray that our effort will be rewarded with good grades.

:: My Week Five Progress ::

This week is indeed a busier and hectic week. There are so many things that I need to work on. Assignment loads are getting heavier, not forgetting that there is test coming up next week. Oh God, what a week. One of the good things when you are pushed to produce some progression is that you actually do move on. I did my concept demonstration explaining my detailed story boards to Ms. Jaya this week.

In addition, I've also been working on my interface design and a little modification for some of my story boards. Project documentation is also part of the final year project portion I've been working on. Afterall, it'll be due in week eight. There is no way I can work on the documentation without doing the system in one way or another. The next few weeks will definately become more hectic. I guess you just have to pull yourself together and look at the silver lining at the end of the race to make the current situation more bearable.

What more can I say? After the concept demonstration, I feel that everyone in the class are so good. Most of the presented concepts in presentations were awesome. I must say that I do feel the stress as everyone seems to put in all their best effort in incorporating advanced multimedia production techniques into their system. I was stunt at some point because some of the presented concept seems so complicated and alien to me. Nonetheless, I admire the effort that everyone is going to put in for the development of their final year project. All I can say is good luck and of course never give up!

I am so glad that weekend is here! yay!! Although I still have to work on many things, at least I've got a little room to catch my breath even if it mean just for a while. So glad that this week ended well as I manage to submit assignments on time and things go just as planned. Happy weekend =).

:: Busy Schedules - Week Four ::

Time travels really fast when you want it to slow down just a little bit. I can't believe week four is gone. It is good in a way that my final year project is progressing although it is going slow. I have to do a proper planning and time management because time can travel as fast as flash when you procrastinate.

Last week I've finally decided a finalized title to name my final year project that is” Experience Singapore: CD Package". It may sound a little normal, but it totally suits my entire project. I've been working on my project documentation and project planning throughout this week to make sure that everything moves in the right track. Ms. Jaya had requested the class to come out with a detail story boards for next week's concept demonstration. That's one of the homework that I'll be cracking my head on this weekend. The project documentation is going good as far as I am now. Ms Sara spent ample time for students who consulted her regarding the project. It's good as her questions made most of us think harder. I have to draft out my interface for the first round too this weekend. Nevertheless, ongoing research about action scripts and some other flash codes will be done from time to time.

Anyway, schedules from next week onwards will be very tight and busy. Tests are around the corner. Assignments are piling up as submission dates get closer. I will have to go to Singapore soon as well, so I think I better get things done fast and stop accumulating my work load. Good luck everybody!

:: Week Three - Proposal Approved ::

"No pain no gain" is how I am feeling currently. I should be jumping for joy at this point of time as I can proceed with my proposed title, but why am I feeling so overwhelmed? Though title is approved, there are a little modification here and there to my project. Don't get me wrong, I am not changing any topic, just need to find a catchy title to name it. My second feeback is rather pressurizing, but the good thing is, it triggers great ideas from my mind through all the feedbacks and suggestions on improvements. Afterall, you can never improve your skills if you are not open to critiques and comments from others isn't it? Nevertheless, thank's to Ms Sara who is extremely helpful when I consulted her, someone kind and definately very approachable. She had clarify my doubts as well as helping me to enhance my idea and putting them in words.

Progressing from where I have stoped at last week, I will start to do my documentation as I'll need to hand in on week eight. So I shall not procastinate in documenting every single processes involved. A lot of things need to be done even for documentation itself. In addition, I'll definately need to start on my story boarding which will be essential for my concept demonstration later on. Oh God! What a hectic semester this will be.

A follow up session with Singapore Tourism Board is a must at this stage. I'll have to make an appointment for me to meet up face to face with the person in charge who will be assisting me. I believe that busy weeks will be ahead of me and of course all my coursemates. "Press on and try to put in our best effort. We can do it!"

This week reading is definately very relevant for me. I have understood a more detailed perception on "Guidelines for Grant Application". The Singapore Tourism Board had mention a little bit on this area before. Due to my planning which is not solid enough at that point of time, I wasn't able to discuss more about this issue. Nonetheless, I will try to enquire more about the grant for me in developing this final year project in partnership with them. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some support in this area. Thank's to the article for allowing me to know more about the guidelines and some necessary procedures for this matter.

That's about it for this week and I'll be back with more updates next week.

:: Week Two Progress ::

This week is not too bad as I managed to get a few things planned and sorted out. I am refferening to my final year project of course. Although my refined proposal are still on hold for approval, I managed to get most of the approval forms from the Singapore Tourism Board as well as their corporate reply concerning the permission to shoot videos and snapping pictures for my final year project. They are even willing to provide assistance in information gathering if I ever needed it. So, that is a releived. At least I can proceed on getting those forms signed and obtain my letters to proceed with my project if my title is approved. At the meantime, I am still praying hard so that it will not be rejected.

Earlier in the class this week, Ms Jaya discussed about certain copyright issues which is quite interesting. To my surprise, there are alot of things which we have talked about in class that are still new to me. Thanked God, for the discussion session which has allowed me to gain more knowledge about copyright issues. This will be very helpful in assisting me when I work on my final year project. At least I've got more than just a vague ideas on what I can and can't do when it comes to obtaining what I need from other authors after the discussion.

Apart from that, I have been trying to draft out a rough plan on my timeline for the projects as well as trying to revised back on several software I'll be needing to develop my project later on this semester. Time really flies as second week will be over soon. This is going to be a really busy semester for everyone because we have a few more assignments to submit beside the final year project. Therefore, I've better do a proper time management if I want to do well. That's all for now, have a great weekend ahead.

:: First Week of Classes ::

Hello all, here I am starting another brand new blog for this semester as part of the final year project assesment criteria. Well, it's no longer "alien" to VU student to blog because we did just the same for another two subjects a few semesters back. This time round, we are expected to share our learning experience throughout this final semester while we are working on our individual final year project. It's only been the first week of school but Yes! I felt the tension already.

The proposed final year project titles were not 100% approved. As the matter of fact most of our proposals need to be improved and refined. That simply stressed me out. Though mine was ok for a starting point, but judging from what Ms Jaya brief us today in class, I was rather scared to proceed. At this point of time I really am thinking if I should just go ahead or change topic. If you are wondering, I've refined my proposal into producing an intercative multimedia production promoting Singapore as a tourism destination. So yeah, it'll be a hectic task as it'll cover audio production, video production, animation and all that.

As for the reading response for week one, I've read the given article and it's about "US Copyright Law". This article elaborate the copyright law that exist in the United Staes. It explain briefly about the period in which the the law is valid, what kind of materials are protected under this law, usage of the copyrighted material as well as the transfer of rights for the materials that are protected under the US copyright law.

I believe that different countries have different law to protect the authors' or the artists' rights in looking after their creation and artworks. Period in which the copyright protection on the artworks also varies in different countries depending on the agreement made. Though the copyright laws are there in most countries, it is still difficult to have a full control of everyone from using the copyrighted materials without permission. Normally, users of the copyright works will faced charges if the works they have taken without permission are used for commercial or profit gaining activities such as production. Eventhough, the permission will normally be granted for educational or non-profit usage, I believe it is still better to have the permission before using the materials. In all cases, it is fair for the authors of the work in wanting to protect their creation because it isn't always easy to produce quality work for the public to appreciate and to gain knowledge from. It is therefore important to respect their rights and take the copyright law seriously.

That's about all for this week. I really hope that everyone's refined proposal will be approved soon. Good luck to all and have a great week ahead.