Eric's project #2

This is a plasma chamber where an RF generator creates a very high frequency electric field
that energizes electrons which collide with argon atoms ionizing them. The argon comes from a tank on the left and the pressure is kept low in the chamber by the pump on the right.

Grouped objects: the tank valve is a group of some primitive ovals and some drawing objects. By grouping I maintain the whole combination as an element I could easily use in other projects. It makes it easy to handle, copy and move around.

Curved object: the vanes in the pump started as ovals and were pushed and pulled to give them that dumb-bell shape, which is actually very critical to how that pump operates - both vanes have to spin in opposite directions while maintaining contact without impeding each others' rotation. I'm looking forward to animating it!

Stacking: I want the appearance of looking into an enclosed chamber, so the layer with the chamber is on top. This makes it so it looks like the gas valve and the pump plug in to the sides. They actually overlap, so this way I don't have to worry about getting that position exact. The sprayed/masked background is in the back (duh?) 'cause everything else should be in front of it, which leaves the atoms, ions and electrons bouncing around inside the chamber and flowing through the pump. Those layers are behind the chamber, but in front of everything else.

Pitfalls:

• One pitfall I hit with this was my Flash crashed an hour after I started and I forgot to save along the way. Fortunately most of that time was thinking so it only took 15 minutes to rebuild. But, now I save after just about every change - it is so easy: control-s

• It is somewhat challenging to plan out stacking and layer orders when constructing the various objects - now that I have made my pump I am thinking I might have some trouble showing the atoms flowing to appear in it and not in front of it. Not a huge pitfall - should be easy to work around by adding another layer and copying in place the necessary elements.

Some potential good things I am thinking:

• I masked the spraypainted background and when we get to animation I think I can suggest some interesting effects that happen inside the chamber by moving the spray object.

• Using the stacking, grouping and merging principles really helped in creating the gas valve and exhaust pump - two elements I could easily reuse in other projects.

Experiences:

I'm used to working with groups - it is absolutely necessary for me when drawing in MS programs. It just makes manipulating more complicated objects that much easier. Layers adds another *layer* of sophistication to that ease!

For the most part all the tools I used worked as I needed them to: merged, primitive and drawing objects, pen, transform. I did have to fight a little with merged objects disappearing behind drawing objects, but that helped me learn some advantages to using merged objects. Gotta pay attention to that button...

Nobody should be surprised: I did NOT use the pencil tool!

Eric K