How I Spent Spring Break . . . .

While my friends went to Italy or Disneyland for spring break, mine consisted of doing homework. It wasn't completely wasted though, because I did get some good portfolio material out of it.

A long time ago I had an idea for a novel, the main character of this novel was an Elf named Zanderia. For my most recent 3D project we were supposed to create a character in Maya using the mesh technique. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make Zanderia. While she doesn't look quite like I wanted her to, I don't think that this project was a disaster and considering that this was my first attempt at not only a mesh character but also a human, I think I did alright.

While she is missing some details like eyebrows, eyelashes, finger and toenails, and  teeth, I did get the majority of her done. It was the best I could do with the tight time frame that I was under.

Her armor was an experiment that I threw together at the last minute. It could be improved, but it didn't turn out horrible.

Her face. I spent a ton of time on her face but have really struggled to get it right. Her hair was also a  big challenge.

I'm very proud of her stomach. I spent a ton of time looking at muscles diagrams so I could get her abs right.

The shoes were an accident that kinda worked. They remind me strongly of Faith's shoes from Mirror's Edge.

I also spent quite a bit of time getting her back right, including shoulder blades. I really like the way her back turned out.

Her hands were challenging but worth it I think. It's an important part of the character to get right.

I am happy with her legs. Well worth the time I put in for them.

 That is how I spent my spring break. Do you think it was worth it? I know Zanderia thinks it was worth it!
^_^

More pictures here.

{Peace}

The Audio Odyssey . . . .

So, since I have an hour to waste, I will update my blog. Midterms are this week, and thankfully one of my midterms was cancelled and another was turned into a take home. This still leaves my other classes though, and I'm really not looking forward to my e-commerce midterm. That class should not be listed as an IT class, it should be a Business class. I hate corporation, stock percentage, and tax exemption crap (which is all we end up talking about). I would much rather work for someone else then try to make my own company. The less things I have to worry about, the happier I am.

Other than my business class woes, school is going fairly well. The upcoming assignment in 3D is designed a poligonal mesh character. This is the assignment that I have been excited for. The only problem is that I want to spend 200+ hours modeling my character, but I just can't afford the time. We will see how much time I can really afford on this project.

Yesterday I went to DI just to poke around and see what I could find. I ended up finding a Sony AV receiver from 1980ish for only $15! Needless to say, I was very excited when I found it, and it still sounds like a champ! The screen has some burnt out backlight so you can't tell what sound mode you are using, but for $15 it's hard complain.

On a similar note, I was looking around on KSL.com for AV receivers and I found one in St. George that comes with 3 speakers, a sub, and an Onkyo receiver for $50. If he hasn't sold it yet I might just go check it out tonight. Depending on brand of the speakers, that could be worth the $50 alone, not counting the receiver. In addition, Onkyo is a pretty good brand, not quite up there with Pioneer and Yamaha, but still probably the next best. I'm not going to relinquish my $50 though if any part of the receiver isn't working, because that's what I really want, the speakers are gravy. It's quite possible, however, that it will already be sold since the listing has been up for 20 some-odd days. There is another listing for a receiver and speakers in St. George but the receiver is a JVC (not as good as of brand as Onkyo) and the speakers are RCA and it's listed for $10 more than the other one. If the first one is sold though, I will check this other one out for sure.

On a sadder note, my new Beyerdynamic headphones that I mentioned in my last post were having problems so I had to send them to get repaired and the only repair center is in New York. The waiting is killing me. I want to get them fixed and back on my ears as soon as possible because they sound so great (when they aren't having problems). Hopefully the repairs will be covered under the warrantee. If they aren't, that's going to cut into my great savings that I got on them. They should be since it's a bad left driver that's the problem, but they might say since I got them from a online auction site that it isn't covered. Also, since they are a model that has since been replaced with a newer version (more than 7 years ago) even though I bought them new they might be mean and not give me the warrantee. I sure hope they do.

Well, my class will be starting soon, so I better go.

{Peace}