IDK

Man....I've really fallen out of the habbit of making somewhat-regular posts.....gotta break that.

Well there's been quite a bit going on since my last post (my last big post....the one below was just so my friend could see my torso rendering - i actually finished it.....so maybe i'll post that here too).

I went and had another outting with my friend McKay shooting his rifles (and i gotta say i'm developing a taste for it). There's a few videos of us shooting his cop killer an the german, trying to hit two frozen 2-liter bottles of water.







Um.......how about......Animation always has an appropriate place in my posts.


My current ANM project is dealing with character modeling (which includes modeling, riggind/binding to a skeleton, animating the skeleton, facial deformations - like make an "O" mouth - and creating a walk cycle).

First step was to pick a character and do a profile sketch in what's known as the 'Bind Pose'. The Bind Pose is the pose animators use to model characters before binding them to a skeleton (if you ever take a video game and make an 'image' of it on your computer and pull the 3D character models out of it, they'll ALL be in this pose by default).

So whether the character already existed or was one we created didn't matter, all that mattered was the pose and picture for reference.

So i chose Shadow the Hedgehog (basically the evil twin of Sonic).




So far, acording to my friend DJ, it's coming along nicely (and i agree despite how frustrating it is working with the type of 'geometry' we're using).

Here are some renders of what i've gotten done so far...the head won't need to be done until the middle of next week:








The Chaos Emeralds (glowing gems) i threw in there for fun because that's what all the games focus around and to give it a little something extra to make up for the fact that i think it's not as good as it could be (i might actually redo the model during the winter break).



Oh yeah - i was a Mormon Missionary for Halloween:

(which is funny because everyone...practically everyone, i work with is mormon and because everyone else i know knows where i work. (And the woman in the picture is one of the 'Ladies' at the justice court i help out at, Kimberley)

So here's me and McKay, both Mormon Missionaries (funnier still because he is Mormon):



My Grandma dressed up too, as a 50s cheerleader:

psst....don't tell her this is here....i don't think she'd like the fact that this is on the web when she's making that goofy face - i took the picture when she was saying 'shoe'.





I took the Arch of Constantine (the first Christian Emperor or Rome) and made a 3D model of something i want to put in my game (based off the design and concept of the Arch of Constatine:

Arch:



My Arch:



I guess that's it for now, i'll try and post something by friday, or on friday, to show you how everything else is coming along.

Late


Song of the Evening:
Monica - For You I Will

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*

Party Hardy

Yesterday was soooooo much freakin fun. Work and afterwards. We finished up the remainder of the attic truss job we did Thursday (though these weren't attic trusses). So we spent the whole day outside which wasn't all that bad...it's starting to cool off so outside is sometimes preferable.

It's too bad i didn't have my camera handy, i saw two things that were incredible. The first of which was a dust-devil that got pretty big, and after it's base met enough resistance it disipated - but continued to go on some hundred feet up in the air and pass over the table we were working on outside.

The other was a small cloud passing by and blocking out the sun. I looked up and the lining of the cloud was multi-colored (like when you make a bubble out of soap or some oily substance and you can see all the colors swirling around in it).

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On a funny note, i got another pepsi on break and burped when walking into to sit by my friends at work. This time i told McKay "That one was for you." At first he didn't know what i was talking about, but then he remembered and said, "Thank you, i'm honored."

There really isn't a sane person that works with me - take my friend Eric for instance. 5 of the 7 people who cut wood are Native. So for break they found a station that was being broadcast in Navajo. When Eric was coming back from the break room and entering the shed i usually take my break in, he started hopping around on one foot like he was trying to make it rain.

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I was invited by another coworker, Patrick, to go hang out after work with him and one of his best friends for his friend's birthday. So i decided to go. There isn't a moment of that evening i don't regret making the choice to go out - it was fuckin fun. I met them at my favorite resturant "The Native New Yorker". We talked about a bunch of stuff (work, games, movies, people, whatever happened to come up). After that we went across the street to anoter one of my fav palces "JB's" (not to be confused with BJs) and played some pool and talked some more.

I had to leave early cuz i bought a new 22" LCD HDTV with HMDI and STFU in the A while i ROFLMAO. It can be used as a computer monitor as well, so i figured i'd get it and just have everything on my computer desk (with the help of some cables and devices): Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, Computer, DVD, and TV (with the aid of a 12' cable reach around my room's wall).Can't do that yet tho, i need to get the right kind of cable to allow my computer to be displayed on it. So with that, i'm off to get dressed and go into town.

Song of the Day:

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours