SFX Student

I’ve got everything that needs to be handed in, handed in. But now that I haven’t really anything to do I’m becomming stressed thinking about if things are good enough. We went to Bolton last Wednesday to see how to access our webmail and to have a tour of the library. We also managed to get our student IDs sorted out. It was a good day; we got to see some of last years first year work. The models were really great. It would have been good to see some of this years first year students, but there were none around.

The meeting we attended was good because we got to see how the students, tutors and heads of schools sort things out. I was impressed at how the student representatives got their concerns over and were instantly presented with a solution, or how a solution would be reached.

I was less impressed with being stuck in traffic for over 6 hours on the way home though.

Just a few more pictures….

I’ve got to do my technical / Schematic drawing yet….

I decided that it would be a good idea for me to upload a few of my workbook pictures to share with you on here. Keep in mind that I’m no artist….. The workbook has a few pages of research material in it, but I’m not uploading those images, only images I’ve done.

So here goes…

My three objects assignment was handed in on Thursday (with my report on Friday) to be marked. Hopefully I’ve done enough to get a B grade (Internally I’m hoping for an A). I also got my Report back with a mark of 50% - Now, I’m not entirely happy with that mark as I’m aiming for A and B throughout. Got to push myself more.

50% is a C, and it was the first report I’d ever written. There was some good feedback from the tutor and I’ll take it on board when I write my future reports. We also had to do a presentation on Thursday, which was terrifying to start with, but then I relaxed a bit and it went well I think. Not too much writing on my slides - just bullet points and images. I did however read my presentation out… which is something I’m going to work on. My next presentation is for 3D and I’m going to do it scriptless…. which means getting the 2nd assignment done a few weeks before the deadline so that I can practice.

We’re going to Bolton on Wednesday for a look at what the other students are doing, and to get a tour of the Library and facilities. It will be good to see what the guys down there are doing and how we’re comparing.Plus we might get some pointers on how we should be doing things. Are we doing enough? Are we doing too much? We’ve already started experimenting with clay for Visual Studies, so it will be good to see how the progress is going in Bolton.

Talking of Visual Studies, our workbooks need to be handed by the 5th December. I’ve done quite a bit, but there’s definately more to do and I will be putting all my energy in to that this coming week. Things are definately going well on the course. I’m really enjoying what we’re doing at the moment.

I decided to upload some videos of me creating my Chess set to YouTube… I’ve added liks below for your convenience. The first video is from the Vimeo site and is about an hour long.

Chess Set from Gareth Jones on Vimeo.

These are the 3 objects that I will be submitting on Wednesday. I’m glad that I’ve got them finished as it gives me more time to concentrate on other work I need to get done. We have a presentation to make on Thursday and I could really use the time I’ve freed up to work on that. Fine tuning it and getting the timings right.

Then there’s the workbook for Visual studies to do….
Anyhow, here’s a picture of my objects: The AT-AT, Cornet, and Chess Set…

I decided that it would be a good idea to upload some more images of the AT-AT that I am creating for 3D Design. I’m really enjoying this module and am learning new things about Blender 3D all the time - It’s hard to believe this software is Open Source and FREE.

The AT-AT that I’m working on is coming along just nicely. I’m quite pleased with it. The image you see to the left is just a teaser of the completed machine. My deadline for handing in the work isn’t until next week, so I don’t want to give too much away.

I hadn’t used Blender 3D as much as I’d have liked to over the summer, partially because of time constraints and partially because of not having a computer. Getting back in to Blender was fairly straightforward, although I had forgotten quite a bit too. A quick refresher and a cheat sheet and all was well.

This is one of three objects that I’m creating and I’ll upload them all once I’m happy with them. So until then, you’ll have to wait. The other two objects are a cornet (no not an ice cream cone) and a chess set. Not too difficult and not too easy.

Until next time… keep on working hard…

Have been doing a lot of work in my Visual Studies workbook since I last blogged. Getting screengrabs of Gollum in various poses and getting detail shots. I was apprehensive about the workbook to start with and how I was going to get things done in it but now I’m getting in to the flow if it. So this weekend I’m planning on filling it with my own sketches… I’m also planning on a day finishing off my Blender 3D assignment.

Had to submit a report on the choice of my character for Core Studies. I’ve never written a report in my life before, and I think I may have messed it up big time. The cover looked good at least…. and hopefully I’ll get a few marks… not holding my breath though.Today we also got our 3rd assignment for Core Studies… but the deadline isn’t until January 22nd….

I think I’m beginning to find my feet again with the course having lost 2 weeks due to an operation. Yesterday and today have been totally productive and I think we’ve worked well as a team here at Harlech. Hands on problem solving.

Blender 3D never gets boring for me. I can sit at the computer for hours and hours just messing around with it. Obviously I don’t look upon it as messing around, more like learning through play. The next piece of software that I need to learn to use is Maya… I’m looking forward to this challenge a great deal. I’ve had a quick look at it, but not enough to give an opinion on it just yet.

Anyhow, Blender 3D… I’ve decided to do something different with my approach to presenting my work now. I’ll have a workbook like everyone else, but I’m also going to create a DVD of me actually making my objects and maybe, if I get the time, add some step by step pictures of the process as “extra” features… Will ne interesting to see if I can pull it off.

As always with any blog I start, they have a lot of posts at the beginning then simply fade away to nothing. I’m seriously getting into this blogging a lot more these days… To date I am involved with no less than 5 blogs… where do I find the time…