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.