3rd Marking Period

Semester 1 Reflections: 

In this Semester in total I had used 5 Software and here are my experiences with them:

1. Adobe Photoshop: With this software I figured out that you can do so much with it, this software a large variety of elements which can be utilized to modify or edit a photo or a picture, in which which that is what this software is suppose to do, it is a graphics and image editing program. At first when use Photoshop for the first time it may look a bit complicated, but really its pretty simple to use. Once you start to play around with it in no time you will be a pro with it.

2. Adobe Illustrator: With this software you can do a lot just like with Photoshop, but the main purpose for this program would that it is used for making graphic designs and illustrations. Pictures created in this software can be made bigger or smaller, and look exactly the same at any size. And again like Photoshop a lot can done with this software with its components.

3. Google SketchUp: With this software I have encountered the most problems with, but this is probably my favorite of them all. I say this because this this program you can create almost any kind of 2D or 3D model of something. And since I enjoyed this one the most I had learned the most from it. SketchUp is a 3D Modeling program for applications such as architectural, interior design, civil and mechanical engineering film and video game design. So much can be done along with its tools and components as to create something magnificent. 

4. Microsoft Publisher: With this software I have the least experience with, since this program wasn't used as much as the rest were in my whole semester. But I can say that this software can be used to create professional and creative documents such as brochures, newsletters, cards and other printed materials. This program also contains a built-in word processor with a spelling checker, so you can create and design documents without using another program in which this program holds some components that most word software all contain.

5. Microsoft PowerPoint: With this software you can create presentations that are used to communicate effectively with the audience. I've used this program for a long time now even before I had started this Semester of Multimedia, this program is most likely the simplest of all the other software I had used to create effective presentations that looks phenomenal. Overall this program was the program I was most familiar with when I started the Semester and knew how to utilize it the best to effectively use it for my presentations.

Conclusion: What I will be taking with me as I prepare for my next elective course would be the knowledge of what I've learned throughout this course, such as what is Multimedia or the meaning of each kind of Format a file is encoded for storage. With all that and the creation of this blog in which ironically symbolizes the idea of Multimedia all together with me updating the kind of assignments I had underwent and completed all represent Multimedia. And surely I would cherish this knowledge and expand on it to share it on forward to others and when I do they will know the meaning of Multimedia.

 

Extra Credit: 20 Blocks

 In this assignment I used Google SketchUp and Adobe Photoshop to my Extra Credit Blocks. In Google SketchUp I made 20 3x3x3 blocks and with those blocks I've created the specific shape each block should look like from a perspective that shows the front and sides of the blocks, and then so after that adjusted the perspective to only show the top of the blocks an so which is what I need in order to figure out the exact letters for each block. And so which I used Adobe Photoshop to label each block and save it in the .JPEG format.

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27: Brochure

In this assignment I had completed a Brochure using Adobe Photoshop, and in the process of creating this Brochure I had to create a file in which its canvas and image size needed to be both in landscape form and as well have 3 columns, in which I drew 2 lines as the border for these columns, within each column would be information about my school life as a MCSM student, in which pictures are provided as well so that it seems that you are actually reading a brochure.

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26: Showcase Room

Creating a Showcase Room using Adobe Photoshop is what I have done in this assignment. In the process of creating this showcase I mainly used the Rectangular Marquee Tool, Rectangle Tool, Elliptical Marquee Tool, and other more tools that helped with creating the light effect in the showcase room. View > Rulers helped greatly with creating the dimensions of the showcase room, in which the guidelines helped me get the right measurements for the rectangles needed. Edit > Transform > Perspective helped me create 3D corner view within the the whole triangle, in which the perspective was adjust for the Floor and Ceiling Layers. Layer Styles were added all of the sides inside of the showcase room. With the layer styles applied to the showcase the showcase room doesn't look like a bunch of polygons together but look actually like the inside a rectangular prism. With the creation of the light effect, opacity was key importance, since it displays the brightness of the light, along with the brightness with the floor and the middle wall as we show reflective light from the walls. Finally, when it comes to adding your merchandise on the Showcase Room , I needed to find some kind of model that I can display on my showcase, so I found multiple views of a Figma (model kit) of Dragon Crown's Elf and I placed it inside the Showcase Room, but before placing it I had to erase the background of the Figma and just leave the model kit itself so I  can place it in my Showcase Room to be displayed as my merchandise. Now the Showcase Room is complete. Problems Iv'e encountered in the process of creating my Showcase Room was actually placing my merchandise onto the Showcase Room, in which I asked myself is how I was going to erase the background of my object so it stand alone by itself so it can be displayed. After numerous attempts on trying the Magic Wand Tool to select and delete the unnecessary background I ended up always cutting off a chunk or piece of my object, so my solution was to use the Magic Eraser Tool and have its tolerance toned down where in I can work around the background and erase the background while not erasing any part of the model, and i have to erase any tight spots between the model I just need to adjust the tolerance of the Magic Eraser Tool. The advantage of using the Magic Eraser Tool rather than the Magic Wand Tool was that it was quicker, in which I don't have to press the delete button such as with the Magic Wand Tool after selection, and with the Magic Eraser Tool the space I want to erase erases automatically after I click over it. Also I can switch to the Eraser Tool quickly and erase any parts of the picture that can be erased easier with this tool than the Magic Eraser Tool.

25: Animation Button

Creating an Animation Button using Adobe Photoshop is what I have done in this assignment. In the process of creating this animation button I mainly used shapes and Layers Styles, such as Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, and Gradient Overlay. With these Layer Styles applied I ended up with a "Glowing Effect" coming out within my button. In the process of making the animation of the Power Button I had to have two separated buttons, one with the Layer Styles that gives the button a "Glowing Effect" and another button that doesn't have those Layer Styles and is just the button without a "Glowing Effect". And so during the animation process there were different frames that displayed the Power Button either off or on, depending if that frame contained the button with the "Glowing Effect" or not, and so as the frames are played the button seems like it's turning on and off with its Glow.

Quiz Questions:

A) What is .GIF?

.GIF means Graphics. Interchange. Format, but better known by its acronym .GIF. .GIF is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServ in 1987 and so has since become a widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its support and portability. The format supports up to 8 bits per pixel for each image, in which allows for a single image to reference its own palette of up to 256 different colors chosen from the 24-bit RGB color space. It also supports animations and allows a separate palette of up to 256 colors for each frame. In which this information was stated by Wikipedia.

B) How does animation work?

Animation works by utilizing frames in a continuous sequence to create an illusion of movement and so by playing that sequence of frames you create what is called animation.

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24: 3D Viewing of Gingerbread House

Creating a 3D viewing of my Gingerbread House using Adobe Photoshop is what I have done in this assignment. The first thing I started with was to open Adobe Photoshop and then create a new file. And so create a new layer that would be the foreground along with the background layer. The foreground layer would be the layer that I will turn 3D, while the background in the 2D layer or "flat" image behind it to establish the illusion of depth. In my case I'm using a Christmas themed dinner table as my background and my Gingerbread House as Foreground. I would load the Christmas themed dinner table into the "Background" layer and place the my Gingerbread House in the "Foreground" layer in a location that would best suit it, in my case a plate, and so the Gingerbread House is the object I want to convert into 3D. Now, I would duplicate the foreground layer and  name the new layer "Red". Now I will nudge the "Red" layer to the right or to the left, but that depends on the depth I would want my Gingerbread House to appear, but I chose right, and so by pressing the particular arrow key (15-20 times) I would move it. Now, I would want to double click on the "Red" layer and uncheck the "G" and "B" channels. And so I would do the same to the "Foreground" layer, but this time I would only uncheck the "R" channel. Simply what I have done was separate the RGB channels, red and blue, to create the illusion of "3D". Now the 3D viewing of my Gingerbread House is done.

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23: Gingerbread House

Creating a Gingerbread House using Google Sketchup is what I have done in this assignment. In the process of creating this Gingerbread House I mostly used the Line, Circle,Push/Pull, and Free Hand Tools.The Paint Bucket was also a key Tool. There were certain measurements I had to use to create the foundation of the Gingerbread House and so after the foundation is complete I would add the essential decorations for my Gingerbread House using the Tools I have mentioned before. In the making of the stars in My Gingerbread House I've used the Line and Push/Pull tools, but for my hearts I've used those two tools including the Circle Tool. The cookies done in my Gingerbread House were made with the Circle Tool and Push/Pull Tool. The frosting of my Gingerbread House was made with the Free Hand Tool and Push/Pull Tool, and so the rest of the Gingerbread House was made with the Line Tool. I have obtained the Gum Drops for my Gingerbread House from the 3D Warehouse, in which I download the model directly into Google Sketchup. Problems I have encountered in the process of creating my Gingerbread House be of working on the 3D model in which when using the either the Line or Free Hand Tool, you may be not be exactly working on the slope you intend to work on so either you are working on mid-air or just not the correct surface you want to work on. Also another problem that i have encountered would be of placing the Gum Drop models onto the Gingerbread House since the house is a 3D model and when moving the Gum Drops it may seem like you've placed it on top of the house but actually you haven't, the reason for this would be of the perspective you are viewing the Gum Drops in which could deceive you when it comes to 3D models and so you must use the Orbit Tool to adjust the Gum Drops until you position them correctly on top the Gingerbread House. And so now it is done. 

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Quiz: Block #14 LxWxH of 12'x4'x6'

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 Quiz Block #4 LxWxH of 8'x5'x5'

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22: Block 12 LxWxH of 9'x4'x6'

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22: Block 11 LxWxH of 8'x5'x6'

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22: Block 10 LxWxH of 11'x3'x6'

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22: Block 9 LxWxH of 9'x4'x6'

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 22: Block 8 LxWxH of 9'x5'x6'

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22: Block 7 LxWxH of 8'x5'x6'

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 22: Block 6 LxWxH of 8'x5'x6'

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22: Block 5 LxWxH of 8'x5'x5'

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  22: Block 4 LxWxH of 7'x6'x4'

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22: Block 3 LxWxH of 9'x4'x6'

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22: Block 2 LxWxH of 8'x5'x5'

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 22: Block 1 LxWxH of 8'x5'x5'

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 21A:

                                                

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21B:

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21C:

2nd Marking Period

                       #11: Flyer redesigned by Cristianel Gil 

I opened Photoshop in the menu, then created a new file with the dimension of 5x7 inches and 200 resolution. Now that I had my canvas ready for use I opened a photo online that i will use for my Photo-filled title, in which the headline, Noche de Ciencias, will have a photo that you could see through the title. And now that I had my photo on the canvas I must clip it to the title "Noche de Ciencias" and then iv'e added the information about the event. With the making of the background I took the same photo that i clipped to the photo-filled title and opened it as back ground and then i adjusted the opacity of the background do the letters stand and also to make seem cool. Finally, i added the graphic clipart of STEM by opening them and then selecting the whole picture, then going to edit to copy and paste the pictures to the canvas of  Noche de Ciencias.

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12: Texture added via layers

The texture added via layers was done with Adobe Photoshop, what ive done here was open a picture in Photoshop of a man in a suit, and what i have done was use the Magic Wand Tool and select the jacket part of the suit, once that was done i would copy merge the jacket and paste the copy selection and sub-extract, i would open a texture file and use the Move Tool to place where the jacket meets up. Now i would clip the texture file to the sub-extract so it would seem the jacket has this texture pattern. Then finally i would change the Layer Mode of the texture file to "Color Dodge", and end it off with adjusting the opacity of the texture file to a lower percentage for a realistic effect.

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13:Change One Thing  Before and After poster

The Change One Thing poster I had created had been done on Adobe Photoshop, I started with creating new file with specific dimensions (5x7 inches) that would make it appropriate to be a poster, and so for the background I placed, it was a solid background made by the color bucket. To create the "new" food i was going to use for my poster I went out into the web found a couple of lollipops and also got four slices of fruit to use. Now that i had opened and used the Magnetic Lasso Tool to select the parts of the food I need to use I clipped the fruit slice layers to the lollipops to create a fruit on a stick slice. Now came the Food Bank Logo, both the Food Bank logo and the fruit lollipops had certain type of blending option added to them which would be "Outer Glow" and so what it does is it shows a glowing effect to the layer it has been added to. And so the rest would be white text which I moved around a bit to give it a good touch. The purpose for this new food was for to people to realize that to stop eating lollipops and junk food all the time and eat some fruits.The NYC FOOD BANK Logo was used solely for educational purpose. No Copy Right infringement was intended.


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                                                       14: Jack O' Lantern

The Jack O' Lantern I created for Halloween was made by using Adobe Photoshop. I started out with creating a new file with specific dimensions (size 1280px by 1024px (RGB color mode) at a resolution of 72 pixels/inch) for the canvas and so fill the background with a dark black color using the color bucket. Now i went into the web and got a pumpkin good enough to be the Jack O' Lantern i would work on. Once I open the pumpkin into Photoshop, I use the Magnetic Lasso Tool to select the needed parts of the pumpkin. And now for the Pumpkin layer that I have placed with the background I will select the Pumpkin layer and add a layer style to it, in which I would go to the blending options and choose "Inner Glow" as the layer style to make the pumpkin have a shine effect from the inside. Now I would be using the Pen Tool on drawing mode of shape layers, and so i would "cut out" the pumpkin using the Pen Tool leaving the black background behind. Once that's done I would place a series of layer styles in the blending option to the layers of the "cut out" shapes of the pumpkin in which are Inner Shadow, Outer Glow Inner Glow, Gradient Overlay, and Stroke. By this the pumpkin would have an effect like it's been carved and has candles in the inside of it. Now that we have that set we add text with color and also use the Brush Tool (Soft Round brush) to create lighting emitting from the pumpkin, though I needed to adjust the opacity to be lowered, and no I end it off with adding a bit more orange-like light glowing from the bottom of the pumpkin using the Brush Tool.

 

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              15A: Painted Effect Look with Displacement Map

The painted effect I created with displacement map would be of the Japanese Rising Sun Flag, the the military flag of Japan and so which it was placed on a brick wall as a paint effect.All done using Adobe Photoshop, and so I created a new file with specific dimensions (550x275 pixels, 72 resolution) and I would open up the picture of my Japanese flag file and also the brick wall file and have them both on the same canvas, and then I would drag the flag layer on top of the brick wall layer and change the flag layer's blending mode to "Hard Light", then select the Brick layer and hit CTRL+J to duplicate the layer, move the duplicated layer above the flag and press CTRL+SHIFT+U to desaturate it. With the copy layer still selected go to Filter-Blur-Gaussian Blur, in the blur dialog box I would enter 1px. Now I would select File Save As or hit SHIFT+CTRL+S to save the displacement I just created, then I would select the flag layer and go to Filter-Distort-Displace. In the displacement dialog box I would enter the Horizontal and Vertical scale (You would need to experiment with this until you get a paint-like effect on the brick wall layer). Now I selected the Displacement Map I saved earlier, then I chose the Brick layer copy and changed it's blending mode to Hard Light, and finally set the opacity to 80% to give the layer a more natural look to it.
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                           15B: Slefie "painted"

The Selfie "painted" effect would be of my selfie face "painted" over by a flag, the Japanese Rising Sun in my case, so to do this I would just need the .PSD of my last assignment 15A and I would only just need to do is substitute the Brick wall with my Selfie (headshot), and so to do this I would need to open my .PSD file for 15A and delete the Brick wall layers and add my Selfie picture file by opening it to the canvas. I would need to drag my Selfie layer on top of the flag layer and change my Selfie layer's blending mode to Hard Light, but also to duplicate your Selfie (CTRL+J) and have that copy of your Selfie to be dragged on the bottom of the flag layer to support the rest of the "paint" effect  and so then I would use the Eraser Tool to erase anything in the Selfie picture that is not part of my face and so I would erase my eyes out of the flag's "paint" and also my ears and lips, then I would adjust the opacity of the flag layer to make the flag look less opaque and not to thick as of trying to make it look more like paint. Now that im done with that i will use the Smudge Tool to smudge out anything in flag layer that is on my face, in which by smudging I would give the flag "paint" to my face an even more realistic effect, since I am creating a more messy look with the "paint" on my face with the smudging tool it would look more natural as of real paint would look like.
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                  16: Smart Filters with Photoshop Horse

Using Smart Filters with Photoshop helps to use dynamic adjusting to a photo without compromising any pixel data in the photo, and so which you can use it on a picture and add filters to it. All done with Adobe Photoshop I have taken a photo and created a new picture by using Smart Filters. And so I found a photo on the web and I opened it in Photoshop As a Smart Object in which I could add smart Filters to the image, in which by this I have more image-editing flexibility. And so after I would choose a Filter, in my case I use Blur, since I chose a photo of a speeding horse and I want the photo to have the effect of a high speed horse only to just leave a blur in the background as it takes flight. And so  Blur-Motion Blur, then I would adjust the filter setting with the angle and distance of the pixels for the motion blur. Now i would select the mask thumbnail, choose the Brush Tool (Soft Edge Brush) and choose whatever brush size I think would be effective. With the foreground color Black, I would paint over in the image where I don't want the filter applied, and so which it's the horse and a small piece of rock or dirt in my case. And so after that I would maybe do some adjusting to the angle in which the blur follows which is a 45° angle to make the horse look like it's going to fly out into the sky (Super Horse).

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                   17: Quick Masking an Area with Bruce Lee

 Using a Quick Mask to make a detailed selection with Photoshop is what I did in this assignment, In which I used a Quick mask and made a selection to a part in a Photo to edit the selection in any way I can. Now, what I started with was with opening a photo I found on the web on to Photoshop and using the Zoom Tool I close in on a certain part of my image, by it being a person I zoom on to their face where i'm going to select a certain part of it to make my edit. I click on the Quick Mask mode button to activate it, then choose the Brush Tool and select a type of brush round. But before I go on I will adjust the Master Diameter Slider to my specifications in order to paint over the parts where I want editing. And so as I paint over the image I mark where I want the editing to happen, since that's my selection. If I paint over something accidentally I would click the Switch Foreground and Background Colors icon where now I can paint over my mistakes to remove it's marking of the selection or even use this mode to make a more detailed selection. I would turn off the Quick mask mode and my selection would be ready, now I would click Select and then Inverse so that the selection only now includes only the area I painted with in the Quick Mask mode. So now I can edit that selection freely, in which I filled my selections and changed it's color while adjusting the color opacity for a more realistic effect, making my Bruce Lee into The Joker.
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                      18: Adding a Soft Effect On Skin Tone with Tom H.

Adding a Soft Focus Effect on Skin Tone is what I have done in Photoshop for this assignment. In which I would add this effect to a portrait of a person older than me and use this effect to minimize skin imperfections and gives of a beautiful glow. To start this off I would open a picture of my main subject, Tom Hiddleston, a portrait of him on to Photoshop and duplicate the layer of the original portrait, go to Filter and convert to Smart Filters. Filter-Blur-Gaussian Blur, I would then slide the Radius slider to blur the image to my specifications, change Layer mode to Screen. Now I would add a layer mask, open Brush Tool and choose a soft-edge brush along with the Airbrush thumbnail mode on, and also to drag the slider to the left until it's left with 40% in the opacity field. And now finally to show the effect more, I paint over the eyes and other more important features like the mouth to bring them out. I would drag the Layer Opacity Slider to the left to get the amount of glow that I want. The Soft Focus is applied to the overall portrait while keeping the main features of the subject in sharp focus.
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                                    19: Realistic USB Drive

 Creating a realistic USB drive is what I have done using Adobe Illustrator in this assignment. And in the process of creating this realistic USB drive I would only use shapes and gradients. Also there would be an observation to details light and shades which can really make a difference. For making the shapes I would have to use specific dimensions, since we want the USB drive to have a USB drive look to it. And now for the gradients I would use for the shapes I would have also use specific colors and shading. The Location and Opacity values are really a key thing because it gives the shapes a certain color position and also lighting (with white) to the shapes to give it a shiny glow to it as if light were to reflect off the USB drive. The angle of the gradients would also be an important factor because it can add certain effects, either if it is linear or radial. Lastly, a stroke would be another important part, since it would make a certain shape stand out and along with this Offset Path is also important to show a surface difference in the shapes. In the process of  creating this USB drive Ive used other things like Effects-Warp-Arc to distort a shape, Pen Tool, and Text Tool.
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                    20: Creating a Stylish Wireless Phone

Creating a Stylish Wireless Phone using Adobe Illustrator is what I have done in this assignment. In the process of creating this Phone I mostly used shapes and gradients, in which is what the phone is mostly made up of, such things like Effects, Strokes, Pen Tool, Text Tool, Offset Path were all used to create the structure and look of the phone.With the shapes I would have to use specific dimensions and also sometimes use Effect-Stylize-Round Corners in order to round the corners of a shape Ive created.When applying a gradient the Location and Opacity of the color are important, in which it would determine how the shapes color would appear, either if it is a linear or radial mode the gradient is in it would make the difference, also that applies to light reflection effects when using a gradient with white and shades on shapes along with the angle of the gradient that modifies the degrees the gradient is positioned. Inner Glow and Outer Glow was another Effect I had used to show a glow in the glass part of the phone and other parts. The Use of the Offset Path was many times, in which it gives the shapes a surface difference and also the use of Expand Appearance of a shape to make it stand out. For the button symbols and screen symbols of the phone I used icons that were of the windings font. The use Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform was of to create more buttons on the phone when selecting the grouped button I had created. The use of Object > Group is another key thing which groups layers of shapes together into one group that can be moved together. Also the use of Object > Create Gradient Mesh was of to create the phones speaker part with the object being an oval created with the Ellipse Tool, in which a a certain color was  used to give it a shiny look. Now that I have finished the Phone, I have went to the Phone's dock. And so which when using the Pen Tool I made the phone's dock have a shiny light reflection effect and also applying a Gaussian Blur to it. Now that I finished the phone's dock I can move on to using the Pen Tool to cover where the phone is supposed to be covered when the phone is placed inside it's dock, then I would select the phone group and the dock group and select Make Opacity Mask. This will make the entire phone disappear, but we need to hide only the bottom part, so with the Transparency panel open, I un-check Clip. So this way only the bottom part of the phone will be hidden. Finally, to finish things off I would apply a Gaussian Blur to the mask layer only when clicking on the mask window, and when applying this Gaussian Blur it gives the phone and the phone dock depth. Now it is done. 

1st Marking Period

Multimedia Presentation: