Oiy - is been a loooong week.
If with a good weekend and half decent start to the new week.
Where to begin, where to begin.
Well, I suppose I should rant about work first; would be too much of a shock if I didn’t, I think. This week has been absolutely consumed by the Sheraton Hotel project [ http://vlosk.ninefires.com/sheraton/SherRender0000.jpg / http://vlosk.ninefires.com/sheraton/SherRender0005.jpg ] though better renders are coming]… an interesting project, but there’s nothing like trying to condense 50 - 60 hours into a single week, that week happening to coincide with the first week of class. Better the first week then say, midterm season, but still. Things basically came to a head on Friday, when I finally called it quits after about 36 hours worth of work, minus transportation time, food time, and 1 hour of sleep. Productive, sure, but my hair was about 45 kinds of dead [mostly due to the welding shop the day before]… which didn’t go over to well with me meeting the family at the German Club for dinner with Oma.
Which brings me to mini rant #2 - the German Club has got to be one of the biggest scams in the whole damn city. Interesting atmosphere, and the clientele are mostly elderly immigrants, but I overheard the bill for the meal being ~ $90 + tip for 5 people at the buffet. The buffet, inconsistent save during special functions, consisted that night of gelatinous ginger beef, the worlds saltiest buffalo wings, the worlds saltiest fried potatoes, [all of which are totally ethnic :P] and sour croute [I couldn’t spell that if I tried]. The Salad bar was iceberg lettuce, and the desert what looked like an IGA cherry pie and really dry strudels. Not my money, but I actually think Foody Goody [Now named Buffet King] is actually higher quality… and more than 60% cheaper. Which is sad, as normally you’d have to pay me to eat there. [Last time I got sick, and in general the food is pretty nasty / cleanliness suspect at best… though Oma LOVES the place]. Absolutely amazing that either establishment can get away with it, and yet have such a large and dedicated following.
Anyways, back on topic… I was going to rant on some of the issues getting this Sheraton project ready, but I’ll save you the long winded version and simply say that this already rushed project was mired with technical difficulties [bloody file corruption] and obsessive attention to detail on behalf of the contractors working on some of the detail pieces for me. The first is an unfortunate fact of life in this industry, but the latter is a pet peeve of mine; I can completely understand the need for detail, but half the battle is finding where to best apply it. Meh, perhaps I’m just bitter having to do 5 times the work in the same time period :P.
Still, despite the best efforts of… well, life in general, Sheraton finally came together. The real-time presentation is actually kind of neat; I found a rather nifty way to generate lighting, which really pushes this project above any of my other work. The renders are still a bit hacky [some high quality ones tanking away as I type this] but it’s in the real-time that this project really shines. Not that I’m a big fan of the Sheraton design identity [which I’d seriously describe as “wild west” meets “French imperial”], but technically, it’s a triumph. Armand and Don are quite happy, and I can only hope that Armand and Kelly are making as good an impression on Sheraton’s design lead down in New York. I’ll post more as I know more.
In other news, I got to be part of my first job interview! Well, on the interviewer side of things are least. My hair was a bit scary, but he did just walk into the office with our wanted ad in tow. Twas a rather nifty discussion; the fellow reminds me a lot of Czarik, though his experience is in industrial blueprints more so than rendering pretty pictures. Still, he seems to know his stuff and I sent him our now stock modeling test. I have to say, this test has yielded some… interesting results. One passed with beyond flying colors, the other who passed was less the test and more the project we based the test on as an example. The other three applications we’ve received have been Sad, Sadder, and just plain hilariously bad. Seriously; we bring it out every other week to laugh at it. Not that its absolute crap, but its _that bad_, AND that such an application is the same as the person coming up to us and saying, with a straight face, “I am an expert in this field”. To which they provide work that redefines the term of “n00b”.
I’ve been trying to explain to Armand that though they might know [and I use the term lightly] the interface of 3d Max, the fact that their THAT BAD and applied as an experience professional writes them off completely. I have no problem training someone who doesn’t know the software, especially someone with valuable experience in related areas, but there’s only one person I know who could hand in work like that in a professional setting. Suffice to say that this is NOT the type of employee we want to be cultivating.
That pretty much sums up work; now to be on hand in case of any emergency tweak spotted in New York, and to bite the bullet and write some tutorials that deal explicitly with our flavor of low poly modeling.
On the school front, things are going pretty well… Drawing is an absolute pain in the ass, but at least it seems to go by pretty quick. Design is going swimmingly, and I even have my area of research setup for this damn sustainability project… Micro Grid power production. True, it’s fairly well researched, but the application is highly abstract and there’s lots of room for specific interpretation. Also, Alberta’s new micro producer laws make things interesting. Personally I’d rather have focused on something like Smart Paper, but despite all the possible uses of the technology being done by classmates last year [and the year before that, and likely this year as well], any of these possible uses is also being thoroughly researched by companies like Xerox. Sure, you can turn a blind eye and basically re-invent the wheel for marks, but there’s something about presenting a concept done to death that makes me uncomfortable… perhaps in that it dangerously skirts the line of plagiarism.
Sculpture is going pretty good as well, though Peter caught me off guard this afternoon… See, I knew that Design and Sculpture would overlap back in September… and I made damn sure that this wouldn’t throw my degree out of alignment come January. Peter told me [back in September] that this sort of thing happens all the time, and that it was absolutely no problem.
Then this afternoon he first tells me that he doesn’t remember any such conversation [and that if I did talk to him, I probably “bamboozled him”], and that we have to work something out if I’m to continue on in his class. Thankfully [and this is kind of an honor, considering the source] he says my work is “quite good” [A-] and has agreed to let me work during the other time he’s at the University. Tuesdays / Thursdays 8:00-11:00. And knowing Peter, my NOT attending this time / perhaps attending 9:00-12:00 instead would be on par with slapping him square in the face. And thus I now have another set of 8:00 classes. Bloody fucking JOY. Though I guess I’ll adapt to a sane sleep schedule…
That pretty much sums up last week [save the Peter rant, which is _this_ week]… as for the weekend, well, that was pure R&R - with much thanks to Jen for the movie and joining me for dinner. Not much more to elaborate there, other than I hope we can turn such into our typical Saturday nights.
Anyways, I should probably run and get something to eat before class… Shreddies can only go so far with a morning of standing and maneuvering heavy weights…
Where to begin, where to begin.
Well, I suppose I should rant about work first; would be too much of a shock if I didn’t, I think. This week has been absolutely consumed by the Sheraton Hotel project [ http://vlosk.ninefires.com/sheraton/SherRender0000.jpg / http://vlosk.ninefires.com/sheraton/SherRender0005.jpg ] though better renders are coming]… an interesting project, but there’s nothing like trying to condense 50 - 60 hours into a single week, that week happening to coincide with the first week of class. Better the first week then say, midterm season, but still. Things basically came to a head on Friday, when I finally called it quits after about 36 hours worth of work, minus transportation time, food time, and 1 hour of sleep. Productive, sure, but my hair was about 45 kinds of dead [mostly due to the welding shop the day before]… which didn’t go over to well with me meeting the family at the German Club for dinner with Oma.
Which brings me to mini rant #2 - the German Club has got to be one of the biggest scams in the whole damn city. Interesting atmosphere, and the clientele are mostly elderly immigrants, but I overheard the bill for the meal being ~ $90 + tip for 5 people at the buffet. The buffet, inconsistent save during special functions, consisted that night of gelatinous ginger beef, the worlds saltiest buffalo wings, the worlds saltiest fried potatoes, [all of which are totally ethnic :P] and sour croute [I couldn’t spell that if I tried]. The Salad bar was iceberg lettuce, and the desert what looked like an IGA cherry pie and really dry strudels. Not my money, but I actually think Foody Goody [Now named Buffet King] is actually higher quality… and more than 60% cheaper. Which is sad, as normally you’d have to pay me to eat there. [Last time I got sick, and in general the food is pretty nasty / cleanliness suspect at best… though Oma LOVES the place]. Absolutely amazing that either establishment can get away with it, and yet have such a large and dedicated following.
Anyways, back on topic… I was going to rant on some of the issues getting this Sheraton project ready, but I’ll save you the long winded version and simply say that this already rushed project was mired with technical difficulties [bloody file corruption] and obsessive attention to detail on behalf of the contractors working on some of the detail pieces for me. The first is an unfortunate fact of life in this industry, but the latter is a pet peeve of mine; I can completely understand the need for detail, but half the battle is finding where to best apply it. Meh, perhaps I’m just bitter having to do 5 times the work in the same time period :P.
Still, despite the best efforts of… well, life in general, Sheraton finally came together. The real-time presentation is actually kind of neat; I found a rather nifty way to generate lighting, which really pushes this project above any of my other work. The renders are still a bit hacky [some high quality ones tanking away as I type this] but it’s in the real-time that this project really shines. Not that I’m a big fan of the Sheraton design identity [which I’d seriously describe as “wild west” meets “French imperial”], but technically, it’s a triumph. Armand and Don are quite happy, and I can only hope that Armand and Kelly are making as good an impression on Sheraton’s design lead down in New York. I’ll post more as I know more.
In other news, I got to be part of my first job interview! Well, on the interviewer side of things are least. My hair was a bit scary, but he did just walk into the office with our wanted ad in tow. Twas a rather nifty discussion; the fellow reminds me a lot of Czarik, though his experience is in industrial blueprints more so than rendering pretty pictures. Still, he seems to know his stuff and I sent him our now stock modeling test. I have to say, this test has yielded some… interesting results. One passed with beyond flying colors, the other who passed was less the test and more the project we based the test on as an example. The other three applications we’ve received have been Sad, Sadder, and just plain hilariously bad. Seriously; we bring it out every other week to laugh at it. Not that its absolute crap, but its _that bad_, AND that such an application is the same as the person coming up to us and saying, with a straight face, “I am an expert in this field”. To which they provide work that redefines the term of “n00b”.
I’ve been trying to explain to Armand that though they might know [and I use the term lightly] the interface of 3d Max, the fact that their THAT BAD and applied as an experience professional writes them off completely. I have no problem training someone who doesn’t know the software, especially someone with valuable experience in related areas, but there’s only one person I know who could hand in work like that in a professional setting. Suffice to say that this is NOT the type of employee we want to be cultivating.
That pretty much sums up work; now to be on hand in case of any emergency tweak spotted in New York, and to bite the bullet and write some tutorials that deal explicitly with our flavor of low poly modeling.
On the school front, things are going pretty well… Drawing is an absolute pain in the ass, but at least it seems to go by pretty quick. Design is going swimmingly, and I even have my area of research setup for this damn sustainability project… Micro Grid power production. True, it’s fairly well researched, but the application is highly abstract and there’s lots of room for specific interpretation. Also, Alberta’s new micro producer laws make things interesting. Personally I’d rather have focused on something like Smart Paper, but despite all the possible uses of the technology being done by classmates last year [and the year before that, and likely this year as well], any of these possible uses is also being thoroughly researched by companies like Xerox. Sure, you can turn a blind eye and basically re-invent the wheel for marks, but there’s something about presenting a concept done to death that makes me uncomfortable… perhaps in that it dangerously skirts the line of plagiarism.
Sculpture is going pretty good as well, though Peter caught me off guard this afternoon… See, I knew that Design and Sculpture would overlap back in September… and I made damn sure that this wouldn’t throw my degree out of alignment come January. Peter told me [back in September] that this sort of thing happens all the time, and that it was absolutely no problem.
Then this afternoon he first tells me that he doesn’t remember any such conversation [and that if I did talk to him, I probably “bamboozled him”], and that we have to work something out if I’m to continue on in his class. Thankfully [and this is kind of an honor, considering the source] he says my work is “quite good” [A-] and has agreed to let me work during the other time he’s at the University. Tuesdays / Thursdays 8:00-11:00. And knowing Peter, my NOT attending this time / perhaps attending 9:00-12:00 instead would be on par with slapping him square in the face. And thus I now have another set of 8:00 classes. Bloody fucking JOY. Though I guess I’ll adapt to a sane sleep schedule…
That pretty much sums up last week [save the Peter rant, which is _this_ week]… as for the weekend, well, that was pure R&R - with much thanks to Jen for the movie and joining me for dinner. Not much more to elaborate there, other than I hope we can turn such into our typical Saturday nights.
Anyways, I should probably run and get something to eat before class… Shreddies can only go so far with a morning of standing and maneuvering heavy weights…