stuff 2

Final (?!) color concept for a more unifying environment and flora/fungi.

And then now that's set, continue and finished texturing these:

cadence 2 lol

Heeeeeeey MADE!
Stuff breaking geekies!
Shake off your particles and follow me!
We are the MA3D!


Wake up! Wake up! Msc!
We've been up since half past three!
Texturing and animating all day long!
That's what make a movie strong!

5 Ways To Spark Your Creativity

5 Ways To Spark Your Creativity

by SARAH ZIELINSKI
June 21, 2012 1:08 PM


Ayodha Ouditt/NPR

Innovation is the name of the game these days — in business, in science and technology, even in art. We all want to get those big ideas, but most of us really have no idea what sets off those sparks of insight. Science can help! In the past few years, neuroscientists and psychologists have started to gain a better understanding of the creative process. Some triggers of innovation may be surprisingly simple. Here are five things that may well increase the odds of having an "Aha!" moment.

1. Take a shower.

A seemingly mindless task — showering, fishing or driving — might help spur creative thoughts, as the mind wanders from "lather-rinse-repeat" to a recent problem, and then back again. There's even history to back this up.

As the ancient Greek engineer Vetruvius told us, Archimedes was lounging in a public bath when he noticed the water level go up and down as people got in and out. He suddenly realized that water could help him calculate the density of gold. "This alteration [of thoughts] may be very useful for churning the creative process," says Jonathan Schooler, a psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Downtime also seems to reset the brain. In an upcoming study in Psychological Science, Schooler and his colleagues gave volunteers creativity problems followed by a period of rest. During that rest period, some were assigned a demanding task that kept the brain fully occupied, while a second group got a simpler task that allowed for mind wandering. A third group was given no task at all. Afterward, they all went back to try to complete the original problems. Those who could let their minds wander during the resting time were more likely to solve the creativity problems.

Researchers aren't quite sure why mindless tasks help the creative process, Schooler says, but it could be that such tasks allow two different brain networks that aren't usually turned on at the same time to be active. Schooler says: "It's possible that there's some opportunity for cross talk that's useful."

2. Work in a blue room.

As we grow up, colors take on specific associations — red means danger, and blue connotes peace and tranquility. Those associations affect how we think. In one experiment, people facing a red computer screen did better at detail-oriented tasks like proofreading. Volunteers who faced a blue screen did better at creative tasks. That study appeared in 2009 in the journal Science. Why the difference? Red makes us anxious, and "anxiety causes you to focus," says Mark Beeman, an associate professor of psychology at Northwestern University who studies the neuroscience of creativity. Blue, he says, tells us we can relax and let the imagination roam free.

3. Live abroad.

Want to discover a new planet? Live in a foreign land. That's what German-born astronomer William Herschel did while living in England in 1781 — he found the planet Uranus. He's just one of many great scientists, artists, writers and composers who spent significant time living far from their native turf. A week in Paris isn't enough to light the creative spark, delightful though that trip may be. The foreign sojourn has to be long enough to challenge your habitual ways of thinking and living.

People who had lived abroad performed better on creative problems and tasks, such as drawing alien creatures, according to a 2009 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. They bested people who had traveled for only a brief time, or who had never left home. The researchers think adapting to a new culture may spur some sort of psychological transformation that enhances creativity.

4. Watch a funny video.

Mood matters when it comes to creativity. Anxiety focuses a person, but good cheer and contentment liberate creativity. It "might not just relax your scope of interest, but actually broaden it further," allowing you to look at a problem in new ways and come up with a solution, says Beeman. It could be as simple as seeing a YouTube video of a laughing baby. That's one of the images that boosted the creativity in a 2010 study in Psychological Science. Mood-boosting music helped, too. Beeman's own research has indicated that a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex is activated. That brain region is linked to decision-making, empathy and emotion. Gearing it up may help the brain reach new insights by detecting ideas it may have otherwise ignored.

5. Sleep on it.

Sleep helps generate new ideas in several ways. During sleep, the brain consolidates memories. That act of consolidation actually reorganizes thoughts, much like organizing books on a shelf. The new arrangement can help extract knowledge and generate new associations. And that half-awake period right before you fall asleep or when you wake up may also help you focus on a problem.

Legend has it that Thomas Edison came up with an invention to harness the insights generated during those half-awake moments. When he catnapped, he would hold a handful of ball bearings above a pie plate. If he fell asleep, the ball bearings would fall, waking him up to write down his thoughts.

But you don't need noisy ball bearings to gain the benefit of sleep. Just waiting a day to tackle a problem again takes advantage of the consolidation process, increasing the odds that new solutions to the problem will emerge. But don't expect this to work every time. Beeman says the sleep-on-it solution works best when people feel that they are getting close to an answer that is most likely to be solved by waiting a day. In his own research, he found it's those "it's on the tip of my tongue" moments that are most likely solved with sleep.

"When you're stuck on a problem," Beeman says, "getting away from it for a while helps." Especially if you're in the tub. In a blue room. Watching the Marx brothers.

This article is part of Joe's Big Idea, an NPR project to explore how innovations come about.

——-

The question of what sparks innovation and creativity has been the source of fascination for centuries, and our era is no exception. Recent books on the subject include:

Aha! The New Neuroscience of Creative Insight, by John Kounios and Mark Beeman (Random House, 2011).

Imagine: How Creativity Works, by Jonah Lehrer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012).

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2011).

Where Good Ideas Come From: A Natural History of Innovation, by Steven Johnson (Riverhead, 2011).

military usage of games in none-American countries

China, Glorious Mission:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/gamers-target-u-s-troops-in-chinese-military-shooter/

NATO:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/boarding-a-pirate-ship-is-drudgery-in-nato-video-game/

Lebanon:

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/16/hezbollah.game.reut/

updates

Since I have absolutely no time to keep this blog whatsoever, I'm going to finish up the course, then go back in time and put in the entries with date and time of when they would've been written.  If that makes sense.

Cadence of MA 3D Computer Animation lol is a damn hard course dam u bu

I used to animate flat 2D
Then came a man from MA3D
He said to me!
He said to me!
UV!
UV!
 Good for you
 And good for me

Up in the morning to the risin' sun
 Gonna rig all day, til' the riggin's done
 Harvard reference is a son of a bitch
 Got the missing links and the pdf glitch

One, two, three, four, double that and got my map
One, two, three, four, I love hand-paint every map
Spec Maps!
Bump Maps!
Gloss Maps!
Normal Maps!

I dont know but I've been told
Softimage ICE is actually gold
Looks good
Feels good
Is good
Real good
Tastes good
Mighty good
Good for you
Good for me

I don't want no fancy plug-in
I just want my coffee machine
If I lose all my auto-save
This machine's going to the grave
Ain't no use in mop and moan
Grab another and movin' on

Made from this song:

Custom Shader in Mari + other Mari resources

Got this from a polycound discussion thread when I asked about popular usage of Mari to paint texture on 3D objects. I've just started to use Mari, but its ability to convey different material and paint on a 3D object interests me a lot. It's like how I used to try and paint feelings of different materials in 2D by using Overlays of photo and paint strokes in Photoshop. Need to re-watch a few times on HD and learn it: Mari - Physically Based Shader for Real-Time Games
ROD's Mari pipeline in the game The Order.
Mari 2.0's promo tour video.

Mari 1.5 features Youtube playlist.

The Foundry Youtube channel.

Reading list whenever possible

Reading list for near future, preferably before end of Master's

• The State of Rendering 1
• The State of Rendering 2
• painted game texture 1
• painted game texture 2
• Machinarium
• Color theme helper
• randomized 3D design boot camp game
• normal map making tool
• Cao Cao

stuff

more stuff

Final shoot model

unit 1 painted texture

The bad seams scared me a while, then I realized UDK wasn't using the right mesh file. Put in the painted texture and mostly look okay. Still quite a few seams visible again, not sure why. Maybe a simplified painting will help reduce the visibility of seams? Also really need to redo the gills in the normal map - some are too visible, and some are barely visible. And this is ALL I've been doing everyday for the past month... figuring out how to do things, watching tutorials, and trying to do the things while wondering why things aren't working. It, again, makes me look like I'm not doing anything, when all I do other than work is shower and sleep, and occasionally buying instant food or laundry. Either I have ZERO time management skill, or I'm actually what Uncle says I am - a retard. I really would like to prove that man wrong.

A bamboo shoot

Single mesh bamboo shoot with no overlapping poly. Pretty simple little thing that took a whole day a a night to figure out... . So haven't gotten around to texture anything yet. My laptop is bleeping dead(unable to boot) so had to find alternative to easy(-er) UV-ing option than UV-ing straight in SoftImage/Maya, because I'm told it's a royal pain. So far it seems that Roadkill will be my answer for now. Or classmate's laptop with Headus UV, which I was using, and is better than Roadkill.

Modelling.

Having no more than a sample .45 colt and a couple of windows under my modelling belt, I set out to conquest organic modelling of a fungi forest. It turned out to be a long, slow trip through mud, monsoon, and mosquito of Vietnam, crawling face-down. Just when I thought I finally got the base mesh right, I had to face down ZBrush with no prior training. Just when I thought I finally finished the normal map sculpt, I found out my second UV set (for light map) vanished from all my .obj's. Just when I thought I knew what to do with the phantom lightmap (re-make, period), I found a GAPING HOLE has somehow, at some point, opened up in the mesh. And I didn't notice until I have OVER-SAVED every obj and ztool there were. *face-twitch*

A Mushroom, is in UDK! And glowing!

So the low res, one and only done, lantern mushroom is successfully imported into UDK with 100 emission value of yellow constant. And it's just a glowing mushroom without any color or texture. BUT, it's visible progress. Makes everybody happy...er. At least I feel better seeing something happen.

Full Group Project with sound and credits

Now here's the full clip of Term 2's group project! It was the hardest, and best time of this whole program. I'll remember this fondly...

Tentacles of Terror from Anne Rufin on Vimeo.

Model 01

Remade this one model 2 times, but forgot special merge option and lost all copied UV. Now reUV-ing the entire mesh as single mesh. Learning experience, learning experience. LEVEL UP!!! ... I've lost it.

Note to self

It's too easy to panic and be taken over by fear that due to my lack of skills I will fall behind in production and not get things done on time. That panic sends me into pretending I'm making some work while in fact I'm just throwing myself into a quicksand of unfamiliar programs and tools while hoping for the best. That did not work in Term 1, nor Term 2, and certainly won't start working ever. It is like being in the water - panic, and drown. It's all wasting time. The only thing to do is ignore the fear, ignore what other, more skilled people are doing around you (for now), and calm down and do the right thing - dedicate time to get familiar and educated about the process and tools you need for this particular step in this particular project (via tutorial video or text), and THEN start trying things out. Yes, learning and innovating comes from just trying and failing, but it doesn't hurt to charge into the jungle with a compass or a map. It only increase survival rate. In this world, nobody has unlimited HP for unlimited damage-taking from failing all the time at trying to do things. And I'm not even a tank!

In other, normal day, words, finish watching a tutorial, follow the exercise, and stop making shit base mesh.

Finally starting production stage

Finally not researching and Harvard referencing, or drawing concept art anymore.  Just started doing a couple of ground texture tile, and now just starting trying to model one of the fungi unit that will populate the environment.  Trying to do things modularly, but I don't really know what that means, so I'm going to pause modeling now and try to read up at polycount and watch some tutorial vids.  Don't have enough energy or time to type details here.  I've already gave up on recapping Personal inquiry.  And CAPT is just all the research and concept art designing for this project.

Hand-painted game texture tile

I'm going to ignore the vaccum of record regarding Personal Inquiry and hope to fill them in later. Time is scarce now. This entry is just to note that I just realized I should paint the texture FIRST, then offset and make it tile-able LATER. Not the other way around. *sweatdrop* Also, painting stylized game texture that looks nice is hard.

My first ever texture tile! And it's rather crappy! Woo!

TT_TT

I've had enough researching stuff, documenting my researched stuff, watching tutorials, documenting the tutorials I watched. Any further requirement of any kind of research is going to get a flat NO from me. I'm starting modeling and texturing. I don't care.

Group Project up

Group project from Yen S. Liao on Vimeo.

This is actually the soundless version with tags of my parts in this project. The credit list at the end was also cut out. This is meant to be used for portfolio.

.....

<p>"...used only online resource..." There are ONLY online resources for game environment lighting that doesn't cost even more money and time to order you phantom tutors!  There are no practicals because 1.) was told this unit doesn't require practicals, and 2.) school studio computers managing ITs are SLOTH at getting UDK installed, and there were only 3 weeks for this unit AS WELL AS the other one.  All in all, thanks for nothing, incomprehensible, useless tutor.  If masters degree means doing everything on my own only to get judged and marked by so called 'tutor' who's only job seems to pass down final judgement and not guide or teach, it's the same as a job.  BUT jobs pay, Masters cost.</p>

Masters Project

<p>Technically the Masters Project started with CAPT as its pre-production, and PI as its supplement, as we have been "strongly recommended" to do by our tutors once upon a time (March). <br><br>
Anyway this is just a quick log of what I need to add to the Production Diary hand-in:<ul>
<li>continued concept art for fungi units
<li>read article and tutorial on modular modeling
<li>bought udk modular modeling dvd, damn expensive
<li>laptop's C:\ died, rendering it un-bootable, fucking sad-face.  Lost all programs and games along with hard drive, spend £149 for repair, new hard drive, and some data recovery.
</ul></p>

...

...I got no time what-so-ever to write here right now. Not with research this, research that, production diary this, self reflect that, slides this, slides that, and a TED-length talk looming over my head like an axe. I don't know why I thought challenging my weakness will be fun. I hate public speaking more than I hate dentist visits. And I really hate dentist visits.

CAPT individual production journal 4

After deciding that Earth went to waste due to warming and water pollution. I followed up on tutors' suggestions from presentation 1 & 2.

Spent half a day looking up environment artists from various PC game developers whose game I either have played or at least seen being played. Not all of them have individual contact information available. In the end I emailed to 12 artists whose emails worked. So far 4 replied with helpful suggestions and further resources to investigate.

Following up on their suggestions, Dev and I quickly established sets of color themes for the landscape, sky, and structures. Types of plants most likely to be there.

Spent a few days looking through books and online resources on soil types. What general types are there, what are their nutrient attributes, etc. But they all relate to gardening pretty flowers in a healthy world. They don't provide basis for the kind of land and flora design I have in mind for this environment.

Meanwhile also looked at many documentaries on plants and films that had themes of garden or environmentalism. While their ideas and styles are not directly contributing to my design direction, they sort of showed me what I don't want this project to look like.

During this search I came across a book on plant conservation. One of the articles talked about how experimental garden should be designed, and, more importantly, gave a case study on the recovery of alkaline soil through plants. However I did not pursuit that lead further for another day or two.

Also briefly looked at suggestions such as Laputa, BioShock Infinite, etc, but those floating cities are Utopian, pretty, and civilized. At least in appearance and construction. Mine is just a DIY lab of plant conservation and engineering.

Classmates I spoke to about the stuck research suggested looking into desert reclamation, and reclamation of polluted lands. Now I can't remember who suggested them, but Jack suggested one of them. It seemed so obvious and straightforward now, but at the time, for some reason, I did not think of looking straight to pollution and recovery. I blame panic.

Meanwhile I've been gathering reference images for soil types as well as rock formations. Still they don't look to fit together well.

From desert reclamation and pollution restore I came across the phrase "environmental remediation", "soil remediation", and "bioremediation". It turned out there's a whole science field, and a whole bookshelf at the library, on that topic. If only I knew.

I looked up remediation of soil contaminated with heavy metal and oil. Took down species names to look up and base concept art designs off of. Meanwhile, I revisited what kind of pollution the soil might have. Since heavy metal contamination is not visible on surface, I decided to push the oil leak part, and try to incorporate tar. I also looked up documentary photographs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after they were nuked for landscape design of a polluted, war-torn land that came to be abandoned.

Meanwhile, I compiled a color board for a polluted atmosphere, as well as some island shapes that incorporate more of the tar and destroyed building. Further research into bioremediation revealed that many types of plants are used, and not just microscopic fungi, bacteria, and algae. Unfortunately, all those savior plants' appearance are modest with similar looking blossoms. Design-wise that isn't good news, even with mutation and distortion from environmental radiation. I will have to return to the microscopic ones to find better basis for design.

CAPT individual production journal 3

Continuing doing research on soil type, and land restoration. First concept.

It's almost 9pm and haven't gone far in reading. Tried to watch documentary with one eye and read with another. Big mistake. Got a whole of 10 usable lines of data from both. Tears. Have 2 more hours then go home. Must do most concept by this weekend. PI. Rivers of tears.

CAPT individual production journal 2

Concept art stage. Not only just what the plants, lab, land looks like in detail and color, but also how the actual game are we're making will be laid out. How the path of the audience's eye will be guided by what is in the layout. What exactly will this area look like.

Dev and I both agreed warm-color, barren landscape provides a very nice contrast against vegetation. That is, if the vegetation will be mostly green. The thing is neither of us developed and researched a back story before presenting. Now the more I think and read about what this future Earth might be like, the less I'm certain the "plants" we'll be planting will all be green.

I hope Dev won't be upset if I propose too much of a change to the concept art. I'm currently trying to compact-research what this new, barren Earth could look like while still being grounded (pun intended) in some kind of current science knowledge. I definitely want the environmentalism mood to be felt, even if only as an under current.

Just now I've been reminded of possible reference material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Gods be with Japan and all the folks affected by those disaster. I don't know how I could've forgotten about the nuclear plant's demise while remaining aware of the earthquake and flood. But now I definitely should look more into what has happened to local flora and fauna other than mutated butterflies that were first reported. This can be done later tonight on computer, however. Right now I need to continue make use of Talbot campus library whilst it's open.

I should probably also say hi to new flat mate when they all hang out in the kitchen again, but... ... damn this social phobia to Hell and back. And to some other places too.

Oh and I have to do PI research at the same time somehow. ... Man this gonna hurt just as bad as Term 2

Current quest: Determine dead Earth climate. Confirmed traits = radiation, worn ozone layer, lack of oxygen, polluted water,

CAPT individual production journal 1

Viewed documentaries on plants, space colonization, and possible ways Earth goes to waste for concept. Did not have concept art prepared for presentation. Presentation was told need to clarify goal, and give tutors sometime definite (and visual) to look at in order for them to give feedback.

Tired of catching up because time spent on this assignment cuts off time for that assignment. Determined to stop situation from repeating. Need to make short term plans. To do that need to understand game pipeline better, as well as game engine Unity (which is needed for PI anyway).

Current "quest": install Unity, run one tutorial on Unity. Create rough concept art and color boards to pitch.

http://www.thiagoklafke.com/modularenvironments.html

search udk and modular modeling keyword.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

I got that game right when it came out, along with Mass Effect 3. Since then I've been playing (and replaying) the entire ME series, and never installed Amalur until last week. For the 1 week I have left until school start, I spent about 3 days playing Amalur with minimal sleep, when I should've been researching. I wouldn't call those days "wasted", though. Sadly I can't finish the game now, and have to put it away. The environment it has was unexpectedly breathtaking - especially the foresty areas that you start out in (after the initial short dungeon crawl). It's kind of what I want to do for the Master Project - lush, full of life, huge and explore-able. I wish I'd palyed this sooner. And luckily I have now. It would help the Master Project as, at least, inspiration.

I knew about Amalur when it was being developed, and I knew the studio was back in Baltimore area. But back then all I saw were combat footages, and while the fancy kill-moves intrigued me, it wasn't like "That's so cool I gotta play those awesome moves!". They didn't advertise the environment much. So I went back to look up the developer and the studio, and they're both gone. Makes me real sad.

It also makes me think about when developer and studios come and go like dust in the wind, where would I go, and what can I take with me from one studio to the next. That is, assuming I ever get hired by them. Is it really going to be concept art? The things I'll need to do to improve both speed and creativity to become a good concept artist seemed like an impossible and painful K2. And I've known that for many years. Being the coward that I am, I ran from the mountain instead of charging in. Mostly because it's K2. But I never managed to completely give up concept-arting all these years. The K2 won't leave the viewport, even after running away for so long.

No matter. Right now I have a presentation to prepare for, CAPT, and PI to worry about.

Easter break over!

Not really, 1 more week, but before this I went home to NYC and had a busy break catching up with, meeting, people. Didn't really spend thoughts on either Personal Inquiry or CAPT or Master. It was nice I went out almost everyday to see more sites/exhibitions than I would've if left on my own. Now I'm back, and it's grinding time...!

Jack helped me fix the garden :D now it spawns randomly if you choose H2O,

Grow Garden with Python in XSI

project pitched

Made and pitched my technical and master project all together (we all did) on time afterall. Figured this is a real chance to do something that I honestly want to see happen, or at least pitch it, instead of just working for other people as I've done constantly for the 6 years since graduating college, I did just that. I thought it was a silly idea, a silly dream of a naive soul that can't sober up. So I was so nervous on that stage, putting a piece of what I truly cared about out there, I couldn't speak fluidly, remember what was on the slide, or which slide I was on. It was a disaster.

Fortunately, tutors gave me practical feedback of what to research more on, what to take a look at, how much of this silly idea would possibly be doable by me. There is a LOT more research to be done, as soon as possible. But at least I wasn't shred to pieces and told go make a new idea.

More surprisingly, I got more suggestion of resources to look at, and voicing of encouragement from fellow classmates. I guess it's not as horrible an idea as I thought it is. Most surprising of all, someone else joined up to do my idea. It is a frightening concept to realize your idea is to be put into action, and you're the one making decisions on how it'll happen. Having never led before, I'm real nervous about screwing up and dragging someone else down with any mistake. Can't have any slacks now.

This program will soon come to an end, and I will face life full on once again. Before that happens I will take buffer provided by the protective school environment, and endure what may come with pursuing an ideal I truly care for.

......

Museum visualization, so far, seems like a lot of craft, and data representation - sometimes not even in detail - and no or scarce art or story. Game trailer and assets have stories, but the looks all feel similar to each other, like nobody wants to try and do something new (other than thatgamecompany). Heritage preservation is definitely government sponsored and not often. ...... Why can't I be content just doing simply game stuff? Stupid. Have to make a decision what I want to be doing 7 years from now.

Focusing down

I want to do something that can be in a game. But I really want to do something natural/botanical science related. But I can't figure out what that might be, for my master project. Perhaps game environment is a way to combine both? Been trying to finish both Scripting and Compositing early so I can focus on this pitch, but that didn't work. Now I have to come up with a pitch today and tomorrow. I was hoping to visit museums when I go back to NYC next week to see what kind of exhibitions they're putting up that involves 3D animation/modeling.

Some museums that might:

• Intrepid
• AMNH
• NYBG
• MoMA
• Bronx Zoo
• ...

Museum visualization <-- that's the key word. Have to put away Scripting and Compositing for now and get this researched.

Man I don't know... what if what I want to do is just a silly waste of time that'll never become anything anyway?

...

Doing research in the library all day. Noticed: 3D World magazine used to be feared as the art magazine of "foreign language" and kept at awed distance when I go pick up ImagineFX on the next shelf. Now I browse the contents and realize I know 80% of what the article is on, and the other 20% is just different program names.

How NCCA has speed-morphed my library....

Research for Master Project

Ideally both the work being done for Personal Inquiry and Technical Production will compliment and become elements in your final Master Project. The problem is I'm not sure exactly what I want to do for my Master Project. I have a lot of doubt and hesitation because I have very limited skills so a big learning project for me might be another classmate's weekend exercise. Talking with tutors, they recommended that I just pitch my dream castle, and they'll help me trim it down to something doable but pushing at the same time. In other words, I'll have to trust them, and jump over the side of Grand Canyon. Last time I trusted a mentor it wasn't a happy ending at all, but that was ancient history, I'm old enough to put that behind me.

That said, I always craved games, and felt sparked by the (sort of) wholesome beauty of environments like Fallout 3, Skyrim; and the unique attack animations in DA:O, so I thought I'd like to do game animations. But most importantly I wanted to go into games because I believe if you put the right information into games, they can be a much more powerful teaching tool. I remember learning English and Mediterranean geography from games (the latter probably landed me my first job, who knows). I'm also fascinated by the natural world and animal, and wondered if it was possible to combine the information behind a museum or a documentary into a game that is still interesting to play. Like a good movie that is based in history, it could spark interest and desire to learn in young people. It was said The Gladiator sparked a renewed interest in Roman history. And personally I became interested in a genre I was never interested enough to explore (sci-fi, space, shooter) from just 1 game (serie), Mass Effect. This idea feels like it's probably really unpopular, and nobody will want to play that kind of game without some good action woven into it.

If I'm supposed to do something I'm really interested in, how am I supposed to turn that crazy idea into a physical project? I'm stuck. I'm flipping through 3D magazines and random online journal in the library, hoping to come up with a direction in the next few days. Time is precious in this program. Actually, time is precious, period.

Compositing assignment. Doing exercise during class when the tutor is there to talk things over for you it's easy and actually fun. Doing assignment alone after the classes have been over for about 1 month is like lost at sea. I have a bit less than 5 months at this second chance of making something of myself. I gotta focus and do whatever it takes to learn what I can. In other words I probably will start staying real late in the lab everyday again. The bed is just too tempting back in the flat.



This tracking marker I heard is a bitch to remove cleanly. I haven't gotten to it. I haven't even gotten to comping the reflection or the shadow of the CG robot in yet.

ref and tut for group proj; some misc

katana designs
3D total texture dvds

http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=1128&autoplay=1

http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=107&autoplay=1

http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=479&autoplay=1

dust cloud effect in Softimage

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/19/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-in-black-and-white-the-way-steven-soderbergh-likes-it/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi

photo reference and analytic drawing tutorials.

End of Group Project et all.

The Group Project ended 11 days ago, and it felt like a month ago. I should've known better than to distrust the tutors' warning that Term 2 would have been the busiest of all terms. Instead, I took on a mural design volunteer project for a local school playground, another volunteer project to do 8 illustrations for a Director flatmate's short film. These are on top of the Moving Image Theory critical essay assignment, and the MA3D Group Project. I thought it would be all be fine if I can just get the drawing stuff out of the way in the beginning before the Group Project heats up. I was naive...

Group Project didn't heat up, it Big Banged in nanoseconds after our groups formed. Long (and tearful) story short, I ended up structuring and typing the entire 2500 word essay within 20 hours. I never knew I could write that much that fast... . Then the animal murals took me 4 nights of little sleep, over 2.5 weeks to finish. Then the 8 illustrations had to be done towards the end of the Group Project, resulting in 3 nights of zero sleep and not going back to the flat except for shower (or not even). Then 7 hours sleep, then again no sleep.

By the time the group project was finished, and I was typing up the Production Report, I would open my eyes realizing I had fallen asleep, but my hands were still typing nonsense on the screen... so the Individual Hand-in definitely suffered from lack of substance.

All that said, the Group Project experience had been stressful at time during the making, but after finishing and seeing the final product, I can't be happier to have been part of this team, this project, done what I did (wish I could've done faster, thus done more variety). The animators were amazing, they knew their stuff, and translated it into 3D wonderfully within just 3 days. The character modeler really turned that 2D cartoonish style into 3D well without losing the 2D cartoon characteristic. Without going into more details and write another essay, I basically learned a lot since everything I did was new, and I remembered the beauty of working in a group project such as At Freedom's Door and this one. There are power in number, in a group that's passionate about the project and working together to make it happen. Good stuff comes out of that. That said, since it was difficult for me to hide stress whenever I got it, I hope other team members don't think I hate them or something, hahaha... because it was usually from frustration with myself - my lack of speed and skills in each tasks I was given to do.

Still can't show the actual animated video because it's supposed to be entered for BFX.

Almost at the end

I'm squished and mushed so much right now I can't believe I haven't gone to bed 2 nights in a row. That hasn't happened since college... and that first weekend when the preordered Dragon Age Origins arrives. I'll properly update this blog after production diary and all the other volunteer is done... tonight.

Some screenshots of stuff that's since changed, but looks kind of cool back then:

And how they look like now:

There is a Fushia dinosaur in one of the boxes that no one will ever see, but I know it's there. It's stupid, but funny.

Group Project thought

Working in a group project is like being a piece of bacon that's being pulled towards different direction at the same time by several doggies, since I tend to bound back and forth between tasks of different, non-related, natures.

...

Stop taking things away from me.

Python

"...sometimes it's better to just RTFM..." python lecturer. Nobody RTFMs in this room... everyone knows we should.

Environment progress

Some seriously simple environment that took me 6 hours to make, just these. 6 hours. Fucking sad. It's midnight and I need to do an essay.

CAT Comparative essay and MIT Critical Essay

I got the marks for the CAT essay today, and it was surprisingly better than I expected. Guess all those weeks spent researching and writing during Christmas break actually returned some profit! Unfortunately for this MIT essay I cannot afford anything like that in terms of time, resource, and help.

Snuh. Balf. Born Shnutta. Hiyoni. Yuuki. Shu-e. Nieve.

......

I haven't been writing or updating screenshots because I've been so crushed with work there isn't even time for me to write here. I'm not exaggerating. I bought the lighting book, and the compositing book. Both are very useful from the few pages I managed to browse. I need to read and do tutorials, but I simply don't have time to do any of those. I'm constantly being moved from one task to another - bouncing between creating a lighting design, color script of the main character, coming up with an environment, light the environment, render out a presentable scene for presentation, model more environment for a 3D animatics. I can't just concentrate for 1 or 2 days on doing simply 1 task, and it's really taking an unexpected toll on my sleep as well as productivity. I didn't realize what kind of workload these will be since I never done any of them before. I thought at first this would be a great opportunity to learn lots of different things. But it's making me feel and probably look unproductive and a slacker instead. And I would hate to have my work ethics doubted.

Anyway, ranting aside, I have some time now, at 1am Saturday, Lunar New Year Eve, before going home to sleep, to post some screenshots of the second environment as well as some more color script. I don't expect to do anything for Lunar New Year this year. Should remember to call Mom.

Animation test

In-class animation exercise on the act of pushing:

Lighting test

Testing how to light stuff in Softimage; lighting and environment by me, animation and female, not by me:

Lighting test in XSI for group project

First time lighting stuff in 3D today, frustrating at first, but at the end this came out okay. Film is in black and white, film Noir style.

Links on lighting and pass rendering:

• http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/xsidocs/dir_lights_ApplyingaVolumicLightProperty.htm
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8QcdLmVKpI
• http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2013/en_us/userguide/index.html?url=files/passes_WhatIsaRenderPass.htm,topicNumber=d30e380622

I've been in this lab for ... 13 hours straight and counting, doing nothing but the group project. How. The. Hell. Am. I. Supposed. To. Do. ANYTHING(other assignments). Else. Like. This. And Saf said to go home at 7pm and take weekends off? What is he thinking?!

MIT Critical Essay

I'm doomed. The group project has snowballed into a giant work load. I just checked Paula's reading materials, and the list is long enough to weave a ladder to the moon. I promised Geoff to draw color stills for his short film and haven't started. There is a python and separate compositing assignment due in March. I need a new bottle, but I need Redbull more so I can stay awake and start reading. 16 days until first draft of MIT Critical Essay is due for review.

Deep breath, keep mouth shut, and keep marching.

color script

I'm quite out of practice and each fully shade frame of the animatic (to design the lighting of the scene) is taking me 1 hour to do. It's taking too much time, and it's not cool. In anything now a days speed is everything, except maybe in Science Illustration field. After 3 images I had a chance to talk to Juan, and he confirmed the idea that it's more effective and efficient to start lighting with basic geometry in Softimage, and take screenshots as the "color script". Later on I might be able to replace the cubes with final building models, and the lights and cameras could stay or keep being tweaked. But these are things I eventually have to do later anyway. Will try this and see how that flies.

Director and co-director wants drawn color script before starting to set up lighting test in 3D. It's an animation thing, but I've no idea, will just have to do and see. Just put out the first batch of color script. Need to do a swatch thing by tomorrow. Also need to start MIT essay at the same time. Already lost 1 week, only 3 left. Need to take care of shadow puppetry first draft as well. this same what's-left-of-the-week.

Group Project aka Team Squid 01

I can't really post much on the group project except bits of the parts I'm responsible for, which are:

• Environment concept art
• Environment modelling and texturing
• Color script - in this case more like light study since it's in B/W
• Lighting
• Compositing
• ...and probably not anymore, but possible matt painting if need.

It's both great and potentially disastrous in that I've never done any of these before in my life. Deliciously great learning opportunities here - practically a feast! On the other hand it's going to be a lot of self-learning and a K2 of workload to overcome. Mostly likely will need to purchase a lighting book once library loan expires. Already purchased compositing book, slow delivery. What I can post is a non-revealing color script page:

...

My old comrade for years, WACOM board, isn't doing so well... I learned everything I know digitally on it...

ICE

This shit is complicated. I got lost. I started messing with the dummy. This reflects my state of mind by end of class.

More scripting

If it's understood, it can do magic for animators, especially game animators. So far it's been foggy for me.

BIG List of Resources

Taking the list of resources off the myBU page for MA3D for later use when I no longer have student access. Also added to this list are some links given during lectures and from classmates.

I will be coming back occassionally to check for broken links and to add new links I've found. Last checked and updated on 7th, March 2014.

Some Useful Resources (click on Read More)

Anatomy lesson

We had human anatomy lesson today, with pretty cool 3D models. Me and my foxhole buddy played with posing them while half paying attention to the lecture...

MA3D MADE MSc Group Project

I was hoping to be in a group that has people from more than 1 disciplines, but I guess I didn't social enough so I didn't really know who to work with except just the people from my own disciplines. In the end I joined group with my own classmates, and then someone from MSc called to ask if I want to work on his game project, but I was already signed up with this group... . So far it looks like I'll be doing all sorts of stuff I've never done before (which is easy because I've never done any of this before): support concept art, environment modeling, lighting, camera movement, and compositing.