Abyssal Refuge

HUGE GINORMOUS EXCESSIVELY LARGE POST AHEAD! Originally, I was gonna break these projects up by the class, but today's a blogging day according to my calendar. So I figured why not spend a bit more time with one big post today about all my animation projects instead of spreading them out... >.> I got time. ... I love saying that. Sooo, where to begin...?? We'll go with my 3D animation projects. ^^ And, no, we're not talkin' Pixar status here. I swear, I will never view those movies the same ever again. The amount of time and effort that goes into this kind of work is EXCRUCIATINGLY wearisome. And the big Mac computers (lol bigmac) could barely handle the short animations we were putting together. I can't even imagine what kind of system is needed to produce a professional movie of Pixar's caliber. 3D modeling and 3D animation were two different classes I took as we saw in earlier entries. Had to take the modeling first, 'cause of course anima...

Just want to ramble for a moment to get away from work. Poor Facebook is feeling the effects of my uneasiness; I really do feel bad. It's Dead Week. That oh-so-ugly week before finals. There will be no sleeping. Not even my Dad is trying to get me to sleep this week. And he's always telling me to mind my health on every level. It's THAT serious. What I have left is to finish an Asian art research paper, a contemporary art quiz, final exam proposal, and BRUTAL final exam (prof's own words)...I have to finish my final 3D animation by Thursday this week, my final video documentary assignment by Wednesday, and my final senior video project by next week. My instructor also wants me to try and redo some audio on a project I just finished for reasons I'll mention at a later date. I plan to blog about everything that's been going on, but I don't even have time to do that right now. I actually need to go pull out my journal to record some more personal issues goi...

So, I'm sitting here in the computer lab at school during Spring "Break"...which really isn't a break at all as I'm spending it catching up with all the work I couldn't do regularly. x_X Figured I'd blog as I work. This week I'm making two trips to the hospital for a lengthy physical regarding the job I'm testing for. They're doing extensive testing on things like my sight, hearing, heart, breathing, blood, dental, body fluids, and women's health stuff. So far so good! My eyes are pretty damn good, but, unfortunately, they aren't perfect. SO...I will have to wear my glasses on the job. It's a field that requires perfect vision no matter what. Glad I already have them so I don't have to buy new ones, and also glad I'm not going to be a pilot - they HAVE to get corrective surgery if they're not perfect already. ...But the glasses are still not something I'm looking forward to. I also found out I'm blood type O+. F...

Alright, I don't plan on sleeping tonight either, so I'll just try to finish this up. SO...Digital 3D Animation... I hated 3D modeling. Now we have to animate this stuff. lol I'm sure if I had more time to learn and appreciate this kinda thing, it wouldn't be half as bad. But this class is just ugly. It's the only course I'm behind in so far. There are SO MANY things to learn about Autodesk Maya, and it's incredibly fast-paced. Learning takes a long time, modeling takes even longer, and figuring out how to smoothly animate takes even longer than that. I literally do not have the time of day for all the homework we're assigned in addition to everything else I have to do. I asked Ms. R (yes, she teaches 3 of my classes this semester) how much my grade would lower if the assignments are late. She told me she was willing to be lenient with me, and me only due to my workload. I'm so grateful for that, but I'm still afraid I'm going to get too ...

I am in desperate need of sleep, so I'll try my best to make this sound coherent and then crash for a bit... But gawd...am I worn the hell out. Just going to share a few renders of the digital 3D modeling I've been doing. Photorealistic still life and surreal pieces were two big projects we just finished. We'll be working on our final now, which, for me, will be another surreal piece. This stuff definitely ain't my forte...and I'm dreading 3D animation next semester like nothin' else. I modeled a goblet, champaign glass, and a knock off of Sailor Neptune's aqua mirror...and then the rest of the objects are modeled from my home. The sword (which I also made a glass copy of), the picture frame, the lantern (which has flower images on the glass in reality, not my photo manipulation), and the candle inside the lantern. They each took me a few hours to model, and then getting the lighting and texturing set up just right took me weeks...

I finished the giant Uni piece, but I'll save showing you the finished photo of it for when I turn it in with the other two giant ones on Oct 8. Here's to hoping I finish on time. x.x These things are brutal. Luckily I don't have to use charcoal for the other two. ^^ That ish drives me crazy... I don't like how drawing assignment 5 turned out. Okay maybe the lower right one, but we were experimenting with value, and again, I had to rush through it like a fool. People liked the upper left, though. Ew. I don't even wanna talk about it. xD Kay, moving on. Assignment 6. A bit more fun, I guess. We finally got to add a second medium. I chose watercolor to emphasis the connection between the soul and the eyes (windows to the soul, y'know). Fun stuff. Prof liked it. It could still use a bit of work...and re-work...but it's alright for the assignment. My second giant image will go along with kind of the same technique and idea.  Ms. S saw the...

Oy...I'm getting weary. Constant work. I go to school, I come home and do work, I sleep for maybe 4 hours, and then I do it all over again. Then there are the ROTC training requirements which are kicking my ass...I hardly have enough energy for the physical aspect of it. Luckily, I seem to possess an endless supply of cold, hard adrenaline. Otherwise, this would be impossible. ;P So, the charcoal drawing assignments are continuing, and we're expected to adhere to our theme. My prof wanted me to expand on the successful dark piece in the last assignment, so I delve into the head of the character and drew 4 more pieces to show what she was so afraid of. Bleeding guardian angels, her torn spirit, suffocating demons, and the endless struggle keeping her chained to her misery. All the things I don't miss from my past. Not very happy with these, though. The angel was alright, and I suppose I like what I did with the upper right piece (literally tore into it with a knife...