I hope all goes well. Especially with making all my flights and staying healty the entire time. I leave in a couple days. It should be fun.
November 29, 2007
Finally using 3D studio to animate. I had wondered what that bar was for. I can’t believe the depth of this program. It can be a little overwhelming. I love animating though. It really appeals to my meticulous nature. I redesigned a machine from another students earlier work. I had to add important elements that show its functionality. The theme of this video is just to see the ‘water borer’ in action, and to capture a sense of the conditions on Mars.
November 21, 2007
This is what I’m thinking for my final project.
The storyline is that the camera has a 1st person perspective, and arrives on the site by aircraft. After landing the person surveys the scene. It watches a water borrer collecting ice and then follows it to the greenhouse where the person is exposed to a sudden change into a space full of life contrasting the martian terra and previous experience.
October 23, 2007
This project involved multiple drawing elements. The first focus was utilizing the scatter command to create vegetation. The second was to create and organic form by extruding and modifying edges, and the third was to cut out a 2D graphic on a plane to create a ‘bilboard’. The scatter command if a useful technique, but after many crashes trying to scatter a simple 3D image I found that it can only be used with the simplest of 2D graphics. I really enjoyed playing with the extrude and chamfer commands. There really are no limits to what you can create with some simple modifying commands. The bilboard was a good exercise to see how to get an idea down quickly and be able to render in without the system crashing. However it didn’t give me the freedom to create the martian vegetation exactly as I wanted.
October 11, 2007
The purpose of this assignment was to represent a Martian terrain using AutoCAD and 3DStudio Max. After experimenting with terrains in 3DS Max using soft selection I decided to try and create a rocky terrain with the remnants of natural water flows. Translating my idea into contour lines proved to be the tricky part. After importing my contour lines into 3D studio max I added a terrain and material/texture. I continued to go back to AutoCAD and adjust the contour lines as necessary. The final result was a terrain that reflects the barren cold of the ‘Red Planet’
September 24, 2007
This assignment was designed to help us learn the program 3d studio max. We were required to create a fictional element on the planet Mars. We read sections of the book Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson for inspiration. After playing around with different shapes I found I could easily visualize domes as Mars structures, and decided to use them as the base for my design. I wanted to make some sort of plant to harvest elements on Mars because that would be a major activity in order to make it habitable for humans.
September 12, 2007
The first project of the class was to model a block of downtown Baton Rouge using Sketchup. My group got the block surrounded by the streets St. Louis, St. Ferdinand, Louisiana, and North. My part in the project was to work on the Baton Rouge Courthouse and Constable’s building. It was a fairly semetrical building but had certain faces that were obscured by large oaks. I used photoshop to remove the unwanted information and tried to make the different sides seem as cohesive as possible. Here is the final product.
April 10, 2007
I am excited with how the design is coming together. As I visualize the proposed constructions on the site there are fewer and fewer ideas that I can find major flaws in and as I solve the minor ones I am becoming more confident in the design. I had trouble representing my ideas because they were changing so quickly, but as I finalize ideas of the design it has become easier and easier to represent.
March 27, 2007
After hours of reflection and model staring I have decided on the following strategy.
To spur economic growth in the area while maintaining its character of accretion, and identity as a historic business district.
Possible elements include:
*Improved pedestrian paths
*Opening views and pulling people through I-10 and creating gathering places by removing parking under the interstate
*Slowing traffic by better defining roads with curbs and markings
*Recognizing important historic and economic businesses and using infill business’ to increase commercial density while creating unity on the site.
In wanting to take this project seriously I decided to be much more judicious in deciding to alter any of the existing businesses and houses. The site has a unique character that comes from changes that cut into it. However the density is falling and in order to spur the economy of the area more businesses are required. Making the new buildings so they don’t damage the character is very important and I think that continuing the attitude of a site that has adjusted as a design element could be successful in solving the problem.
March 17, 2007
Had lots of ideas but no way to harness them, needed a reason for making changes. Desk crit helped a lot. Direction- Spuring econimic growth and development in the area.
