Internship Week 13

sand sculpture on wrightsville beach. they know what’s up ;)

Good morning!

Another week gone by, another late Friday night that didn’t need to be, and another Saturday morning I can’t sleep past 7:30. I don’t know what my problem is.

But this is some of what my week looked like.

Blog Posts

I was “commissioned” to write a couple of blog posts. One was a recap of our recent CCC Days, which I mentioned in a past post, and the other was a more in-depth analysis of one of the projects during CCC Days. The project was surrounding VR and AR, and it allowed our LightningCAD platform to be rendered in those environments. The result was an ultra-immersive experience that could be extra valuable to a potential client, letting them get up close and personal with a configuration or design. Sometimes, that next level encounter is needed for someone to believe in a product.

I finished my CCC Days post and got it up on the RoleModel Software blog (check it out here!), and Lord willing, I’ll get the other one finished up early next week.

Landing Page Redesign

NinjaMaster is adding some new features, and that means the current information needs to be updated. Ken and I sat down multiple times and went into the code that makes up the website to edit what was no longer accurate. We added a league subscription where an organizer can manage everything that goes into running their own league, such as division, sanctions, rules, etc.

We also added a Pay Per Event subscription that has been brewing for some time. This idea came from a lot of feedback and observation on which subscriptions were being used and why.

The key to implementing customer feedback into your work is understanding when it’s a trend and when it’s just a flash in the pan. We don’t want to waste time by adding every feature or change that every one person wants or thinks would be helpful.

Instead, we want to focus on the issues that the majority of users are running into because those are likely the most important.

Pay Per Event came along from hearing a lot of people say they only run a couple of events a year and thus didn't want to purchase a whole year subscriptions. Thus, a one-time event plan was a good option to add.

We also went about writing some documentation and help information for the new features and linked them to the main page. It was really interesting to watch the code get manipulated to create changes, and now that I have some experience with CSS and HTML, I at least half-understood what was going on.

Video Creation

Along with needing to update the website due to feature changes, the videos I’d created needed updating as well. So I spent some times working on that.

First, I write a script for all the points I want the video to hit.

Then, I use a screen recorder called Loom to record the video. I don’t record any audio at this point. I just follow the script in my head, making sure my mouse pointer is doing everything that the script shows. The reason I don’t record audio at this point is that when I’ve tried it in the past, it’s just another aspect of the recording to mess up. When you’re trying to read a script on one screen and then look where your mouse is going on another screen, all while trying to not sound like a robot, it can cause a lot of retakes that waste a lot of time. So that’s why I do it separately.

I use GarageBand to record the audio. Once I start the recording, I read my script, making sure it actually sounds lifelike. If I mess up on GarageBand, I can just move the playhead back to the last pause and record over my mistake. It works quite well.

Once I’m done with that, I export the video from Loom and the audio from GarageBand and use iMovie to put it all together, along with some nice quiet background music. I can just chop up my audio track and move it to the appropriate spot in the video.

This routine has worked quite well for me.

I hope you are doing well during this tumultuous time in our country. Remember, there is true peace in Jesus Christ, and nowhere else. There is no reason to worry when we are resting in Him.

I recorded a podcast this week with some of my thoughts on the state of our country and how in the midst of it, I can be assured that God is faithful and has not forgotten his precious children.

Listen here.

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

from “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us”