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Theobromine Molecule

Today's assignment is to draw this Theobromine (chocolate) molecule in SVG.

Draw the colored image on the left. The line diagrams on the right are just to help you understand what the atoms are. There is nothing here you don't know how to do yet.

I suggest doing it like this:

1. Create a new blank file in Brackets and name it "theobromine.svg" or "chocolate.svg".
• OR duplicate your existing benzene.svg file and rename it to theobromine.svg.
2. If starting with a new blank file, put in the SVG template, as described elsewhere on this blog. 
3. Change the width, height, and viewbox to a square of suitable size. I suggest at least 400 x 400. You could do 600 x 600, 800 x 800, or even 1000 x 1000 or 1024 x 1024.
4. Add the hexagon side first. Use the polygon vertex calculator. You'll need both spheres and lines. When the hexagon side is done, group the lines and spheres together.
5. Add the pentagon side next. Use the polygon vertex calculator. Again, you'll need to resize, rotate, and translate it until it maches up one edge of the hexagon. Put the hexagon in a group.
6. Add the extra line to make double bonds where required.
7. Add the extra atoms hanging off the hexagon and the pentagon. 
8. Make the circles blue or purple (nitrogen), red (oxygen), dark gray (carbon), and light gray (hydrogen). 
9. Note that the hydrogen circles are a little smaller. 
10. Put the entire molecule in a group so you can put another transformation on it.

Requirements:

1. The poster must have a caption that says Theobromine or Chocolate (or both). 
2. The whole molecule should be nicely centered on the poster, the caption centered, and the molecule sized to look nice with suitable margins around the edges.
3. All the spheres and lines must have the appropriate gradients.
4. Use a suitable background color if you like. 
5. The poster should be suitable for use as a scientific drawing in a textbook or on a web site. This means you should not really take artistic license such as weird backgrounds, movement, weird colors. Stick to the standard.
6. You should put your name in the poster. It should probably be in the lower left or right corner, and small. 
7. Also be sure to put a comment in the code that has your name and today's date.

Resubmit for Better Grade

Written Assignments

You can upgrade written assignments at any time by turning in a new printed copy with the old version (or versions) attached behind.

The reason for this is that we want you to have every opportunity to improve your English skills.

Web and Programming Assignments

Don't bother turning in a technical assignment if you got 80% (usually 8 points) or more on it. I can revise your grade upward, but then I'll have to assess a late penalty.

The lesson is: turn in all your technical assignments on time.

Advice for buying a Mac

(Originally posted Tuesday, August 22, 2017)

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You might be thinking about buying a Mac at home for doing work similar to what we do in class. I wrote this article a year ago with my general advice for buying a Mac:

http://hotfootspin.blogspot.com/2015/09/my-advice-for-buying-mac.html

For the purposes of this class, keep this additional advice in mind:

Get at least 8 GB of RAM.

The very small "Mac Book" from 2015 that has only one USB-C port is underpowered and  quite slow. The 2016 version is better. A Mac Book Air might be a better choice, especially if you can upgrade the RAM.

You'll need at least 256 GB of disk space if you want to install Xcode and possibly the Adobe suite (Photoshop and Illustrator). My laptop has 256 GB and it barely holds all my work. Adobe software is big.

Adobe software also costs a lot of money, but you can get a student discount of about $20 per month for a year, for a total of $240. If you're going to spend $1000 on a computer, you can afford to spend another $240 for Adobe if you really want to create some nice art.

You can get by with a refurbished Mac Mini in the $500 range if you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse you can attach to it.

Hungry

If you are hungry because you are not being fed at home or because there is no time for you to get lunch before you come here to SVCTE, please talk to me privately.

Goals of Graphic Design

Three goals of the graphic design process:

1. To communicate information effectively and efficiently.
• Examples: medical, scientific.
2. To persuade an audience to buy a product, use a serivce, believe a proposition, or feel a particular way.
• Examples: political, health, games.
3. To solve a problem.
• Examples: cloud storage, music streaming.

Palo Alto teen builds an app for finding odd jobs

A new iPhone app built by Gunn High School senior Anand Chandra banks on teens who want to do chores.

Chorely, which Chandra describes as a “community-based chore app,” connects residents who need chores done with youths looking for odd jobs.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/25/palo-alto-teens-app-takes-chore-out-of-finding-a-side-gig/