Holy ***** *** ****** Batman!!!

Damn it's been a while since i've made a post - tho i've thought about it several times as i was falling asleep. When was the last time i made a post....*checks*............*whistles* - damn, almost a whole month ago. Well a lot has happened since then....lets get it started!

Well let's start with the most recent thing and work backwards then:

My ANM:105 project for 'photorealism'.

We were supposed to pick a building, whether one we pass all the time or one we found online didn't matter, and make a 3D replica of it - complete with lighting, textures; the whole shebang. So i picked this cool little family-owned/operated cafe near my work called He Brews Cafe.













The first step was to create some orthographic drawings (orthographic basically means without linear perspective.....like building blue-prints). I didn't actually do any of the building; what i did instead was the windows - just basic measurements/ratios, and walked around the building measuring certain things (how many verticals were in the metal railling, the dimensions of the lumber, things like that).

















Then you go into Maya (the software we use for the class) and use those drawings for reference (you can import them into Maya and make a 'to-scale' model fairly easily).

After a long-ass period of time getting used to Maya's crappy UI and Hotkeys, i finally got the model finished (it seriously took about two weeks, a little each day, to complete). Once you do a whole bunch of other crap (bookmarking camera angles, blacking out the original building in the photo, and things that make me cringe when i think about them) you end up with an image you can insert 'renders' into:













Here's the model composited into that image with a kind of universal texture and lighting:












After you get the lighting right (basically trial and error), then you go on to texturing the finer details of the building (shingles, wood, metal railling, conrete slabs, painted front/sides, painted window frames, etc.):













Below is the video of all of those elements, but layered so you can see how they really fit together.

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Before that, yesterday morning in fact (Saturday), one of my good friends McKay took me shooting because i wanted to do something since it's been a while since we hung out. This was the first time i had every shot an 'actual' gun (the only thing i had ever fired prior to that was a BB gun), and i have to say that i thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.

McKay's 'Pride & Joy' and the rounds that go with it:

There really isn't a picture of me fireing it, because i preferred to have video....it's just so much better - unfortunately McKay was being a goober and managed to get the moments 'in-between' the ones i wanted him to get....so my initial reaction to the kick-back of this high-powered rifle was sadly not recorded :(

Here's a video McKay got of me, my first reaction (mostly the laughter)

I did get a good shot of McKay holding it....the rifle i mean.....his rifle.....*blushes*













And a video of him shooting it so you can see how good the kick-back is:

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My latest art assignment: Drapery - you better B-leave it.

My last post had me in a pissy mood because my art instructor had given me a C for my work when i thought i should've gotten at least a B- (which of course is a little more that a C+....but still not a "C").

So i was pleased....to some degree....to find out that a much more complex assignment and subject landed me a B (which is what i wanted anyway).

So i bascially submitted each step i took to my instructor to make sure i was doing it right - but since i had obviouslyfinished each step before submitting, had she actually said there was something wrong with it...i probably wouldn't have done anything anyway because it's all in charcoal.....not so easy to undo as graphite.

So here are the steps I took:
- - Pencil Outline (supposed to be charcoal...who cares)

















- - Charcoal outline (fine line, medium tone)

















- - Dual Tone shading (light tone overall, medium tone for shadows)

















- - Final Rendering (of course i skipped the interum steps...but it was mostly *charcoal* *smudge* *smudge* *erase* *rinse* *repeate*)

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Umm.....OH YEAH!!!!!

Holy Christ! I was in JCPennys the other day (Thursday i think it was) and was talking to my grandma who works there. As i was walking away from her register, someone calls out (at the time i didn't know what they were saying...all i heard was my name at the end of it). So i turn around and lay eyes on the last person i had a crush on/asked out/hadn't seen in over two years: Aloina (pronounced Ah-lone-uh...somewhat like 'alone').

Man, you wouldn't believe the mad rush i made to land a hug on her to make sure she was actually there. We used to hang out all the time at work (Wal-Mart) and flirt in passing (well i was flirting anyway...she was just being playful).

Oh man - i honestly can't even try to explain how happy i was - my cheeks were sore from the constant smile i had on my face. *sigh* Ah, the good ol' days.

*will not open in new window because the dimensions are 1200x1600 pixels*

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And then.....

Well i guess i'll throw it in the mix. Because Maya always seems to piss me off when i use it, i started working in Blender (my 3D software of choice and upbringing) making a newer version of something in my story: the Curator's Study.

There isn't much detail in it yet, i only had about an hour or so to get to where i was, but there will be soon. I have a feeling about this version of it too - i think it'll stick if i get everything right as i go.











The layout/design of the rug (red) and the course it follows is based off a design i developed for a mechanized piece of....something - like a compass/altar (have yet to figure out how it's used in my story....all i know is it will be somehow):

*will not open in new window because the dimensions are 1683x1856 pixels*

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I think that's about it. There of course were a bunch of other things that happened...but some are kind of special moments and others were fleeting and can't be recalled at this moment.

So hopefully this will teach me to post more regularly.


Tomorrow's Agenda:
- Start New Art Assignment (same process/length as drapery, but with the human torso)

- Go through and give critiques on fellow students to kind of make up for the lack of it in the previous week.

- Heroes (this trumps everything else....all stops when this comes on)


That's about all - Later

Song of the....Week:
Anthony Hamilton & Miri Ben-Ari - Sunshine to the Rain
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-------> Speaking of Miri Ben-Ari, who is an extremely tallented violinist, I start my violin lessons this coming Wednesday (or will at least try to, tho there might be a potential scheduling conflict that may force us to use a different day of the week)



And here's a pic from a long time ago for you Brad:

*will not open in new window because it was made in Can-a-duh*

Wishing On A Star...

I'm heading off to bed early tonight cuz i really don't feel all that great. I could stay up for another hour or so and play some games, do school work (which a good student would do) or even do what i said i was going to do and try to re-enroll in TriCare (military medical coverage), but i'm not.

I was coming home just a while ago and had to get out my car to open the gate leading onto our property. When i was closing the gate and walking back to my car i looked up to see how dark the night sky was (and therefor how many stars were visible) and saw only one....

It was the star i gave to one of my best friends. It wasn't the same thing as where you call some 1-800 number and buy a star you can only see through the hubble telescope, this one had meaning. We had both known each other for several years because our relatives were practically neighbors (out in the boonies being even 1500 feet from each other makes you neighbors if nothings in between you two) and had spent several summers and winters visiting.

So during my second year of living out here, and his first after finishing high school, we spent as much time together as we could because we always considered each other brothers. So one evening, and i honestly completely forget the context of which this arose, i told him that particular star was his; that it's always there (because it always is) and if he ever felt lonely or sad or anything, to just look up at the sky and the star would remind him that he always had someone who cared for him.

Well after a whole bunch of crap i would really not like to recount, we were no longer friends (most of which was his fault - though some was mine) and i always get a little...well i guess depressed is too strong a word. I get down-spirited whenever i see that star (which is quite often in the late evening before the sky becomes sprinkled with stars) and i know if i'm ever in a relationship like that (either friendship or actual relationship) that i can't do that again because its been marred by that last experience.

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I think that might be a reason i like watching movies so much. it allows me to escape into a world where things may be predictable (especially if you've seen your fair share of movies), but if you can detach yourself from being in the theater and relate fully to the trials and experiences of the characters in the movie, you leave slightly elated with the hope that you might someday feel the way the movie portrayed.

It's a sad fact when you look at it...if your life were anything like what you saw in the movie...you wouldn't be in the theaters watching movies like that; you'd be out having the life you wanted (which is why people who have lives like those in Friends, Will and Grace, That 70's Show, and other shows don't sit around the tv watching it - they're out living it.

It's probably even worse that i'm sitting in front of this computer typing about it rather than having someone to talk to about it - but that's just my character: i give excellent advice to my best friends about relationship issues thy're having, but never seem to bother them with anything that's bothering me. Well you can thank that excellent advice to many movies watched and relationships observed rather than personal experience.

I guess i'll go to bed now; my pillow is lying there looking lonely.


Song of the Night:
Mariah Carey - My All