My Bawls get me through the day.

Well I went to bed late again last night; imagine that! Last night was because I was having way to much fun though. I think the majority of it comes from the fact that I got to finally turn off the videos, crank up the music, and just be creative. Let me tell you there was nothing like the feeling I had when I hooked up the Clusters and watched my alien blink. That is why I love 3D so much (character animation to be exact) I love breathing life into my characters and that one moment made all the sleepless night worth every minute of this class.

While I am in the mood to praise I have to go off about this class. Buzz and Zak say that they have redefined the meaning of fundamentals and that there is not really any advanced material. And you know I have to agree. Out of everything that I have even done it is not really advanced stuff, yes some of it like the Hypershade makes my brain leap out of my skull and start beating me like a drunk redneck, but this is some difficult stuff. Looking at some of the shaders out there, I see what advanced would be. The Buzz Crew also have a very sneaky way of teaching. I have learned a lot more than I even knew until last night when I found myself flying through the interface without a thought. I have become quite comfortable with Maya in only two weeks and have not really thought of this as a class. Even in my ripping and clawing to try and grasp the concept of the Maya architecture, the videos are just entertaining enough to break the monotony of learning concept after concept, until before I know it, I.. well… know it :) Maybe it’s the lack of sleep, who knows, but this class is the best thing to happen to me, and will mean the difference between me sitting on the sideline and actually doing something in CG with my future.

Anyway, my lunch break is almost over, so back to work.. Think I’ll treat myself to a little extra sleep tonight, otherwise its time to go and buy some more Bawls.


Lessons learned.

Incremental saves are your friend. I forgot to mention in the last post that I ended up modeling the basic NURBS alien 3 time because I would convert it to poly and not save original, then I would save and have to remodel it again. If I would have had incremental saves enabled I could have just imported it back into my scene. But I am not going to enable it for one reason. If I screw up and have to model it again, then that is just more practice. And don’t worry, when it comes to the complex things like the Sub-D model I am saving backup copies. :)