Well this is cool ...

I just discovered a link on one of my pages for school that shows my past grades. I know that I have listed them all as I got them, but there is just something that feels good about seeing them all in one place. So far I have 21 As and 4 Bs. How cool is that?

Anyway, that class I am taking this term are going well. Meredith is helping me through my Humanities class as I think I would have had a hard time reading Persuasion by myself. It seems way too much like my Art History class (with maybe a twist of lemon), though, which really bums me out. My Intro to Psych is going really well also and got to interview my sister-in-law who is also an INtro to Psych professor, and ended up getting a 100% on that paper, which happens to be one of the two biggest point scoring pieces in the class! Thank you Suzanne! My Texture Mapping for Games is still at an A right now, but I have don't my character yet. Just like in modeling, I am very comfortable with objects, be it modeling or texturing. Now I hit a character, I feel nervous. So ... I will keep you all informed on that.

Well ... Meredith and I did something huge theother day and we went out and bought our first car together. Her 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer was getting on her nerves, and she was tired of driving a stick, so ... we headed out at noon and got home at 8:30 with a 2010 Hyundai Tuscon. The color is called Iris, and it changes colors in the light. Really wierd. It does not have cruise control, which is ok, or a sun roof, which is something Mere really wanted, but is ok with, but it does come with satelite radio which is something she really really loves. She keeps telling me that it will be OUR car, and I roll my eyes at her and say "Ok, Babe ... you get up and go to work before me. Which car are you gonan take? The new one our my Taurus?" She responds with an "Ok, but you will drive it sometimes right?" Yeah, sure thing, Babe. I wonder if I even get to select one of the presets on the XM Radio? :-P

Mind Boggling

So, I am finishing up week 2 of classes this term, and once again I am really enjoying my core class, but the other two are just mind boggling for me. My into to Psych feels like it is over my head (no pun intended), and for humanities, I am being forced to read "Persuasion" by Jane Austin. I cannot believe that people used to talk the way they did in this book. And the way that people behaved back then! ARRRGGGHHHHHH! I will also ahve to watcha movie called "Much Ado About Nothing," but thankfully Meredith loves this movie and said she will watch it with me. She is also reading "Persuasion" with me so that she can help me out. Aint she awesome?

For my core class, 3D Textures for games, I am being really challanged, and this is AWESOME! For my first week I had to take 2 pictures and recreate them using layers. The first layer would be the basic shape of the item, then shadows and highlighted areas, then color, then texture. I did ok on the firest picture, which was to be something weathered and beaten up, but did really well on something with a reflective surface. I feel that I did a really good job on that, and the professor even complimented me on taking on a tougher subject then most people chose. This week we had to take the picture supplied and replicate it to the best of our ability, mimicing the texture and the lighting/shadows. This was really tough. As I didn't have any Styrofoam to take a picture of and found nothing good on the web to use as a picture, I had to mimic it in Photoshop. I am anxious to see what kind of grade I get on that.

Anyway ...

Hope to see my brother and his family here in the next few weeks. Take care everyone!

I know, I know , I know ...

It's been a while. My last post was ... well ...a long time ago. Right before this last term started, I believe. Truth to tell, it was a really boring term. Although I had a core class called Game Design Process, I really wanted something with modeling. Hence I started teh gothic cathedral project, but that fell through. The project had been translated, and some of the instructions were unclear. It as a cut and dry process of "Do A, then B, then C" with no explainations of why to do it, and when the translations came through, certain things were lsot, and I had to figure out what exactly they meant. Sometimes that meant giong a day or two and getting to a point that something I had done day back was wrong and starting over at certain points (thankfully I had multiple backups). I finally just gave up because of frustration when I found out that I am getting a new modeling class this term. But more on that later.

This last term I had three classes, and these were my final grades:

Ethical and Critical Thinking: 930/930 (100%)
Game Design Process: 1994/2300 (86.7%)
Communication Skills: 1256/1360 (92.35%)

Not too shabby, I think. That B in Game Deisgn bothers me a little, but I can get over it, I think. My next term has classes in Humanities, Intro to Psych, and Texture Mapping for Games. I am very excited about that last one as I will be using the Unreal Engine, which is the first game engine I will get to use. Very excited indeed.

Anyway .... will post more later.

Love you all!

100th post

Who knew? This is actually my 100th post! I am half way through my schooling and I have made 100 notations about my journey. I am very pleased that no only have I stuck with it and have gotten good grades, but I have enjoyed it! I definately would like to thank all of my family and friends who have been very supportive this past year and a half, and know that you will be there for the next 18 months as well.

So ...

This term is already proving to be as slow as I feared it would be. To keep sharp on my modeling skills, I purchased a tutorial on building a gothic church. I am really enoying working with interiors. If I cannot get into a game company, then I would like to get into something that lets me model interiors. So anyway, this tutorial is very poorly written. It gives you step one, then goes to step 4 and you need to figure out steps 2 and 3. As my wife has pointed out, this is actually then a very good tutorial as it is making me look things up and try things out. I spent 12 hours getting up to one point only to have to start completely over.

Well ... here is what I have so far ...

And here is to the next 18 months!

Yah-HOO!

The end of the term has come and gone, and I got 3 A's! In Intro to Physical science I had been at a B for the entire term, but brought myself up to an A- by getting a high A on my final exam. I also received solid A's in both my Human Relations class as well as my Intermediate 3D class. For my 3D class, this is what my professor had to say:

Hello David, It was a pleasure to have you in class this term. You seem to have a real knack for texturing and lighting...this might be your strength. The character is a good piece but the anatomy is too stylized. You might consider modeling and more proportional character for advanced 3-D. This would make for a better portfolio piece. Do keep this one as part of your portfolio but it would be difficult to add and a rig until you gain enough skill.

And here is what my final looked like.

He said it was "stylized", but in the class he also said that he wanted soemthing "cartoony". I think I would have tried to go more realistic had he not said that. Anyway, for a first attempt at making a character, I am happy with it. But as he said, I am doing great with lighting and textures (see the video below), and I really enjoy that aspect - making the virtual seem real. I am enjoying this so much, that I really won'tcare if I get into the game industry ... just as long as I can get a job modeling.

Anyhoo ... I am off for a week and half, and then back to the grind. I will continue to model and will post new things as I ge tthem done.

On one final note, I would also like to thank Professor Clever for all of his assistance over the past few terms. There have been nights that he and I have been up until the wee hours chatting about this and that, and he has pointed me in the right direction when I was lost. I know that I have not been happy with him at times and that I have complained about things that he had said, but ... any teacher that will spend that much time with me at those hours is a saint in my book. I seriously wish I had more teachers like him.

For Mom and Mike ...

The way things ought to have been ...

Now that I have my new system, I went back and placed things back to the way they were before. Things are a bit sharper, the video is longer, and I now have my beautiful sunbeam back (woo-hoo!). Please note a few things with the sunbeam. First off, as we move through the beam, you can see different rays of light as it is being divided up by the breaks in the stained glass window. Also, a couple of times you will be able to see the different colors of light shining down on the pews below. One other thing to note is that when I do the fly-by on the pews near the end, you can see some of the detail of the oak leafs that I had beveled in the sides.

Much more gooder, I would say!

On a lesser note, I have received my class list for next term ...

Ethical and Critical Thinking (groan)
Communication Skills (yawn)
Game Design Process (WOOHOO!) -- this class will take me through game engines to show me how everything all comes together. This one shoud be exciting.

I do not have any modeling classes, but that will be something that I will be doing in my free time.

Tomorrow I have my Canada Licensing exam for work, and I am anxious to get that over and done with. We had 1 week of classes for it at work, and it is the second time I had to take the class because it has now been discovered that a few of us had been given the wrong exam. Although I do not really want to be placed in the Canada Queue as our rates in Canada are pretty high so our binds rates are really low there, I still want to pass to show that I can. The only thing that I can see that might be problematic is that I have a cold right now, so I need to have a good nights rest the night before.

Anyhoo ... let me all know what you think of the new video and effects.

Thanks again, Mom and Mike!

Yay for me!!!

I got my grade back for my Art Deco Church. I got a 95%! W00T!!! He loved it but he said that some of the camera movement was jerky (which it was because I used angles insted of curves) and he felt that I needed to use more complex models. I am ok with that ... I still got a whopping 95! WoW!

Anyhoo ...I am now working on my character, and boy is that different. I am afraid that I might get something a lot lower than a 95 on him. It is much more complex than an object as you have preconceptions on how a character should look. If I told 10 people to envision a car, you would get 10 different pictures. Now ask them to envision Sonic the hedgehog, well, there is only one Sonic the Hedgehog. Even though I am making a unique character it is still trying to conform to my own imagination. Not very easy.

Well ... back to the grind.

Take care all.