Last week I had the distinct pleasure of spending some time at Jefferson Memorial hospital in central Philadelphia. I had been talking with one of the nurses there when she asked me what I did for a living. I told her I was a digital animator, and that my company, DDA, has extensive experience in the field of medical animation and 3D medical simulations. After she mentioned that someone at the hospital was recently seeking talent in 3D animation for the medical field, I made sure to give her our card before leaving.

It is so important to have a web presence these days, and indeed DDA itself has staff devoted to search engine optimized marketing and developing new ways to get companies and medical organizations online exposure. But let’s try not to forget that there was a time before internet, a time when meeting face-to-face was one of the most effective ways to market both yourself and your company. We’re not always going to be interacting through the little glowy boxes on our desks; it is important to be able to get out there and communicate with people on a personal level. That’s why DDA also takes pride in its courteous, professional staff that adds a level of personal interaction you won’t get from any outsourced firm. We like meeting new people - so why not come and meet us!

I just recently heard about this cool program called JayCut. It is a set of video editing software that runs in your browser. It is Flash-based, super easy to use, and best of all? It’s free.

Well, I guess I should say it is free with some restrictions. You can only upload 2GB of video to use in your projects, and I believe it puts some sort of export cap on you per month as well. There are paid versions though too, with less limiting factors, but the very idea that this software exists that allows you to upload and edit video in the “cloud” is tantalizing. You can start work at one computer, and then without any sort of removable storage or spec-checking, you can continue your work on any other web-enabled computer, anywhere. It also easily exports to .avi, .mov, Youtube (yeah it can upload it for you too) and many other formats.

Imagine having access to other media editing software online in such a fashion! I’m picturing a robust 3D modeling and animation tool that lets me adjust a virtual medical simulation project that I had been working on at work, from home, without having had to upload it to my FTP first! How about streaming your audio editing, image editing and graphic design, or even 3d rendering using “cloud” computing power instead of a local render farm? Communal computing may very well be in the future!

Spring has indeed sprung, and I’m on a new kick to begin exercising regularly once again. Judy got me started over the weekend with a free day-pass to a local gym, and I’m all excited to lose this pizza-baby I got going on at my waist - and keep it lost. Going to the gym and running these past few days has renewed my vigor and shaken off the winter lethargy that every year tends to follow me well into the spring weather.

Spring is also the time to invest in new projects, it seems! At DDA, we’re fielding proposals daily, kicking off new medical websites and medical training simulation projects, organizing and running live webcast and streaming video events for clients, and continuing work on long-running medical projects such as advanced eLearning platforms for local computers, CD/DVD-ROM, and the web. And while we may be busy, we’re always interested in helping your corporate or medical organization come up with stellar new project ideas that push the limits of what you thought a digital project could be. So contact us and request a quote today!