Mid-Term 196

This quarter feels like its going by really fast! So far I have a love hate relationship with 3D. Mostly love. Only hate when it doesn’t do what I want it to. I originally felt more comfortable working in Photoshop for 3D than I did in the other suggested programs. I initially invested a lot of time in trying to make Photoshops 3D tools be my primary method for creating in this class. Things worked worked well but I really struggled with the view/camera in Photoshop and decided to give Blender a solid try again. Its amazing. I feel bad for originally doubting it. I love the ease of navigating my view in Blender as well as how easy it is to create and modify objects. I still have not figured out how to scale a texture in Blender though and thats bugging me. I dont want to be stuck with just RBG colors.

One of the first projects we created in Media 196 was choosing a key and then taking a png and making it 3D in Photoshop. I chose the “Pursue Your Passion” key because that is center to my entire journey.

My 3D Key:

Since the beginning of the quarter we have been making visual vocab textures. I miss Legos but I like that this is all digital creation and has given me an excuse to experiment a little with different features and filters in Photoshop.

Here are 5 of my textures, also emailed to Prof. Brock:

My first texture is Stone. When I picture stone I think about walking across an old footbridge made of stone walls and railings. Or castles. Stone castles are dope.

My second texture is wood. It reminds me of the laminate floor my children play on in my house.

My third texture is stucco. This was a challenging texture to create but I was very satisfied with the end result.

My fourth texture is plaid. This was also a hard texture to create and get the seamless repeating right on. I admittedly had to watch a tutorial for this one but made sure to make it my own and not follow the design, only the theory, of what the creator did.

My fifth texture is tie-dye. This was tricky also! I could do all kinds of cool things here that did not repeat. It took some playing around to come up with something that would. I think it looks less intentional than some tie-dye designs but still looks like tie-die and it is seamless.

Our blogs featuring our work for this class have been placed in a virtual gallery in Second Life. My area is spring. Our blogs have been placed on prims to look like stepping stones but they are interactive and very cool.

Here is my avatar near my blog in world: