Blah
Oh, poor little live journal... how guilty I feel for neglecting you.
The craziness of my life should come as no surprise to any of you. This month is no different, though there were some interesting events / stories. Let me try to catch the most relevant, and condensed in such a way that this post doesn't get reclassified as a small novel...
Life:
Apartment: We have a new apartment. Great place, nice and bright. We move in today, but likely won't be fully setup until the weekend. Only issues I have with it is that its rather warm, but a bit loud if the windows open - I need to buy a fan. Great view though.
Furniture: We bought some interesting furniture - a nice coffee table and chair from IKEA. We'll probably go back their for some shelves / possibly a TV stand - we'll have to see. Tried to buy a couch from the brick, but despite it being an awesome couch, it was discontinued and they'd only sell it as part of a 3 piece set [$1606 vs. $580]. We did buy a mattress though - waiting for it to be delivered right now.
[Former] Roommate: I'm so glad to be done with Mark. We came to a bit of an arrangement these last few weeks - aka, ?I've barely stayed their. No respect, lots of loud drunken parties, and if I have to be up early, I do not appreciate music pumping through the house or the lingering smell of pot. That, and he ate my nachos! He just walked in and made himself a plate of our leftovers / my lunch, without even asking. The bastard.
Calgary: Just got back from Calgary this weekend. Kelly, one of the 3DI partners, was hosting / organizing a music festival - think miniature folk fest type format. Only a few thousand people, and the festival was a _community league event_, but that didn't stop it from being fully catered, having a massive tent [100 foot / 100 foot covered square of concrete], and a rather good sound system. Friday we got there just in time [had to LRT it as the taxies were jammed up] anyway, got there just in time for Tom Cochrane, whom we actually got to shake hands with after the show - twas neat, being a VIP! Met Kelly's family, got a good little ego boost talking about our work accomplishments, and overall made up for the rather disjointed and last minute change of plans that got us down to the city [free ride vs. bus]. Saturday saw an exploration of the Calgary downtown, the best Mexican food I've ever had + margarita I've ever had [Juan's - amazing and authentic little joint], a ton of walking, and then the continuation of the music festival: Tennessee Three and Johnny Winters. The Tennessee Three were nifty, but Johnny Winters stole the show. Frail old man - they helped him onto the stage, sat him down at the front, passed him his guitar... and then his fingers started moving. Just his fingers. This quickly produced some absolutely amazing sound. Interestingly enough, a bunch of rather drunk women about my Mom's age dragged Jen and ?I out to dance - odd, but still fun. The hotel was overly expensive for what we got, but was sufficient, and the bus ride home uneventful - all in all, great trip.
Parent's Vacation: My Parents are all freaking out over their impending trip to Germany. Should be exciting. They leave in about a week.
Sculpture: As much as I want to take the sculpture course this summer, I feel that the 6 weeks [8:00 - 2:00 in the steel shop, Mon - Fri] will likely derail all production over at 3DI. Things are moving good, and we almost have a sustainable production team, but not quite yet. I'm not sure what I'll do to get my remaining classes - possibly a 500 level sculpture course over the year, possibly furniture / product on Fridays, or possibly wait until next summer for something comparable. If only I could take a second round of practicum...
Work:
Laptop: I don't know how I ever got by without this thing. Amazing little machine, fast, with the best computer screen I've ever had the pleasure of using. Makes all other screens look blurry. The portability is great - all I need now is to make some time for entertainment. I'm amused by how much free Internet there is around the city - such as this connection right here, right now... which, no longer connects. I'm also amused by how transient some of these installed locations can be - such as the one by Jen's place, where free Internet is about 50/50. Makes you think about the shear volume of radio waves that surround us at ever turn...
Pure Light / Science Center: Our research, Dr. Jeff Mahovski, is producing a high end lighting tool for 3DI. As I represent the primary user / beta tester and client, this is a very nifty project to be part of. Jeff is great to work with, and Pure Light is one of the most intuitive and powerful lighting tools I've ever used - not to mention its custom made to our workflow. Just the use of this tool improves our visual quality significantly, while saving us about 40 - 60% of our production timeline. Pure Light debuted with the Science Center presentation - a new exhibit for children ages 0 - 6. The exhibit is so - so, but the lighting engine takes it to a whole new level of eyecandy, which all but blew minds at the presentation. Not that it was all Jeff's work either - the design team who created the exhibit made a cheesy, jerky, video without any lighting or effects... That was what they had, and the contrast to what we gave [full lighting, photographed background, interactive special effects
], running at high res with a smooth framerate, is what blew minds. Best presentation I've ever been part of. We'll definitely be doing more work with the Science Center, including visualizing the new theater expansion.
Museum: We had another presentation with the museum - one of the worst presentations I've ever been part of. Not that there was anything really bad with it, just that the client was overly negative. Likely because their super ambitious, $150 million dollar expansion may have lost the bulk of its funding. On the flipside, the scientist there LOVED the potential, and we'll be doing a complete and accurate water drop exhibit [no longer a mocked up prototype], before moving on to other exhibits and interactive displays.
Sheraton: On the architectural side, Sheraton is our new flagship. The demo turned out great, despite the client being absolutely frustrating - nothing like receiving the last of the resources midnight the day of the final deadline. Still, the demo looks great and we added a lot more detail work than usual - pies, beer, refreshment, etc. They were however afraid of this shiny new product they bought, and paid for Armand to come down and drive it during the presentation - best possible thing to happen. Without Armand there, it would have been a royal disaster - our contact is apathetic, and would never have managed to solve the technical issues in time. However, by having Armand down there, he drove the runtime for Hoyt Harper, vice president of Starwood [pardon, thought he was the full president at first], during a sales show that saw over $300 million dollars worth of sales for Sheraton 4 Points. [9 mill a hotel, + tycoons who want to be several at a time... doesn't take long]. Hoyt loves our product, has already bought a laptop to run it [we've since mailed out the final build on disc] and it looks like we have 6 more hotels to go, with a rather strong potential in that side of the industry. The success of this demo totally makes the all nighter worth it.
Hertz: Our heavy equipment simulation is moving along nicely - I have physics working well within the Runtime, though there are some limitations compared to modern game physics... namely that a tipped over virtual boom lift likes to fall through the world. Still, while its standing, the simulation is accurate and now includes a dynamic center of gravity - the core to the tipping of this virtual model, which is the core to the client's expectation. Now to integrate Cad's environment, a construction site model we bought, a construction worker with ragdoll, and a little bit of blood...
People: We now have people in our simulation! We bought some casual and business adults, whom we can modify to generate an impressive cast. We also have some children for the science center, which we shall have to integrate later tonight / tomorrow morning. No animation yet, but we'll be getting on that pretty soon.
New Office: 3DI has officially moved into its new office - a great space down on Whyte Ave, just across from the Save On Foods. this is the heart of Whyte, and within walking distance to a great number of interesting stores, shops, and places to eat. Its also way closer, and combined w ith this new apartment, a dream to get to.
Minions: Our interns are almost an autonomous production team. Sinan has blown us away with his texturing ability, and has been given work to suite. John and Dana are making great progress with their test condo suites, from raw construction to stocking, lighting, and rigging in Unreal. Chris is making good progress as well, but is taking the summer pretty easy. We've also hired on Chad, a buddy of mine down in Las Vegas, on full-time - he's an expert modeller, and we desperately need his shear modeling skill. That, and his previous employer was treating him like shit, and paying him no better. We'll see if we can get him up here next year.
Matthew: One minion which is no longer included is our illustrious fellow from U of L. He finished his internship, and we simply refused to hire him on. His work is crap - I understand the first time will take longer, but his work is crap. I've ranted about this before, but even on his 3rd FINAL review [with an illustrated list of issues that _need_ to be fix] the walls were crooked, there were major anomalies, distortions, and unsightly changes to the original blueprints. His shortcuts killed the product, he refused [or was incapable of listening], and he had a vein of arrogance to him. He even so much as came back and asked to be paid for the work he did on the next house [assuming his first was finished], when I blatantly said that contract had been 100% awarded to Chad. Bleh. I don't mind teaching the software, but I expect that you have enough of an eye for detail to make sure the walls are straight, intact, and the lighting half decent.
Anyway, I think that pretty much sums up the key points - The Brick just came and dropped off the new mattress of comfy [and a free TV!] - which is my signal that I need to sign off and go grab a bit to eat before getting back to my place to start packing... though in fairness, most of it was never unpacked in the first place.
The craziness of my life should come as no surprise to any of you. This month is no different, though there were some interesting events / stories. Let me try to catch the most relevant, and condensed in such a way that this post doesn't get reclassified as a small novel...
Life:
Apartment: We have a new apartment. Great place, nice and bright. We move in today, but likely won't be fully setup until the weekend. Only issues I have with it is that its rather warm, but a bit loud if the windows open - I need to buy a fan. Great view though.
Furniture: We bought some interesting furniture - a nice coffee table and chair from IKEA. We'll probably go back their for some shelves / possibly a TV stand - we'll have to see. Tried to buy a couch from the brick, but despite it being an awesome couch, it was discontinued and they'd only sell it as part of a 3 piece set [$1606 vs. $580]. We did buy a mattress though - waiting for it to be delivered right now.
[Former] Roommate: I'm so glad to be done with Mark. We came to a bit of an arrangement these last few weeks - aka, ?I've barely stayed their. No respect, lots of loud drunken parties, and if I have to be up early, I do not appreciate music pumping through the house or the lingering smell of pot. That, and he ate my nachos! He just walked in and made himself a plate of our leftovers / my lunch, without even asking. The bastard.
Calgary: Just got back from Calgary this weekend. Kelly, one of the 3DI partners, was hosting / organizing a music festival - think miniature folk fest type format. Only a few thousand people, and the festival was a _community league event_, but that didn't stop it from being fully catered, having a massive tent [100 foot / 100 foot covered square of concrete], and a rather good sound system. Friday we got there just in time [had to LRT it as the taxies were jammed up] anyway, got there just in time for Tom Cochrane, whom we actually got to shake hands with after the show - twas neat, being a VIP! Met Kelly's family, got a good little ego boost talking about our work accomplishments, and overall made up for the rather disjointed and last minute change of plans that got us down to the city [free ride vs. bus]. Saturday saw an exploration of the Calgary downtown, the best Mexican food I've ever had + margarita I've ever had [Juan's - amazing and authentic little joint], a ton of walking, and then the continuation of the music festival: Tennessee Three and Johnny Winters. The Tennessee Three were nifty, but Johnny Winters stole the show. Frail old man - they helped him onto the stage, sat him down at the front, passed him his guitar... and then his fingers started moving. Just his fingers. This quickly produced some absolutely amazing sound. Interestingly enough, a bunch of rather drunk women about my Mom's age dragged Jen and ?I out to dance - odd, but still fun. The hotel was overly expensive for what we got, but was sufficient, and the bus ride home uneventful - all in all, great trip.
Parent's Vacation: My Parents are all freaking out over their impending trip to Germany. Should be exciting. They leave in about a week.
Sculpture: As much as I want to take the sculpture course this summer, I feel that the 6 weeks [8:00 - 2:00 in the steel shop, Mon - Fri] will likely derail all production over at 3DI. Things are moving good, and we almost have a sustainable production team, but not quite yet. I'm not sure what I'll do to get my remaining classes - possibly a 500 level sculpture course over the year, possibly furniture / product on Fridays, or possibly wait until next summer for something comparable. If only I could take a second round of practicum...
Work:
Laptop: I don't know how I ever got by without this thing. Amazing little machine, fast, with the best computer screen I've ever had the pleasure of using. Makes all other screens look blurry. The portability is great - all I need now is to make some time for entertainment. I'm amused by how much free Internet there is around the city - such as this connection right here, right now... which, no longer connects. I'm also amused by how transient some of these installed locations can be - such as the one by Jen's place, where free Internet is about 50/50. Makes you think about the shear volume of radio waves that surround us at ever turn...
Pure Light / Science Center: Our research, Dr. Jeff Mahovski, is producing a high end lighting tool for 3DI. As I represent the primary user / beta tester and client, this is a very nifty project to be part of. Jeff is great to work with, and Pure Light is one of the most intuitive and powerful lighting tools I've ever used - not to mention its custom made to our workflow. Just the use of this tool improves our visual quality significantly, while saving us about 40 - 60% of our production timeline. Pure Light debuted with the Science Center presentation - a new exhibit for children ages 0 - 6. The exhibit is so - so, but the lighting engine takes it to a whole new level of eyecandy, which all but blew minds at the presentation. Not that it was all Jeff's work either - the design team who created the exhibit made a cheesy, jerky, video without any lighting or effects... That was what they had, and the contrast to what we gave [full lighting, photographed background, interactive special effects
], running at high res with a smooth framerate, is what blew minds. Best presentation I've ever been part of. We'll definitely be doing more work with the Science Center, including visualizing the new theater expansion.
Museum: We had another presentation with the museum - one of the worst presentations I've ever been part of. Not that there was anything really bad with it, just that the client was overly negative. Likely because their super ambitious, $150 million dollar expansion may have lost the bulk of its funding. On the flipside, the scientist there LOVED the potential, and we'll be doing a complete and accurate water drop exhibit [no longer a mocked up prototype], before moving on to other exhibits and interactive displays.
Sheraton: On the architectural side, Sheraton is our new flagship. The demo turned out great, despite the client being absolutely frustrating - nothing like receiving the last of the resources midnight the day of the final deadline. Still, the demo looks great and we added a lot more detail work than usual - pies, beer, refreshment, etc. They were however afraid of this shiny new product they bought, and paid for Armand to come down and drive it during the presentation - best possible thing to happen. Without Armand there, it would have been a royal disaster - our contact is apathetic, and would never have managed to solve the technical issues in time. However, by having Armand down there, he drove the runtime for Hoyt Harper, vice president of Starwood [pardon, thought he was the full president at first], during a sales show that saw over $300 million dollars worth of sales for Sheraton 4 Points. [9 mill a hotel, + tycoons who want to be several at a time... doesn't take long]. Hoyt loves our product, has already bought a laptop to run it [we've since mailed out the final build on disc] and it looks like we have 6 more hotels to go, with a rather strong potential in that side of the industry. The success of this demo totally makes the all nighter worth it.
Hertz: Our heavy equipment simulation is moving along nicely - I have physics working well within the Runtime, though there are some limitations compared to modern game physics... namely that a tipped over virtual boom lift likes to fall through the world. Still, while its standing, the simulation is accurate and now includes a dynamic center of gravity - the core to the tipping of this virtual model, which is the core to the client's expectation. Now to integrate Cad's environment, a construction site model we bought, a construction worker with ragdoll, and a little bit of blood...
People: We now have people in our simulation! We bought some casual and business adults, whom we can modify to generate an impressive cast. We also have some children for the science center, which we shall have to integrate later tonight / tomorrow morning. No animation yet, but we'll be getting on that pretty soon.
New Office: 3DI has officially moved into its new office - a great space down on Whyte Ave, just across from the Save On Foods. this is the heart of Whyte, and within walking distance to a great number of interesting stores, shops, and places to eat. Its also way closer, and combined w ith this new apartment, a dream to get to.
Minions: Our interns are almost an autonomous production team. Sinan has blown us away with his texturing ability, and has been given work to suite. John and Dana are making great progress with their test condo suites, from raw construction to stocking, lighting, and rigging in Unreal. Chris is making good progress as well, but is taking the summer pretty easy. We've also hired on Chad, a buddy of mine down in Las Vegas, on full-time - he's an expert modeller, and we desperately need his shear modeling skill. That, and his previous employer was treating him like shit, and paying him no better. We'll see if we can get him up here next year.
Matthew: One minion which is no longer included is our illustrious fellow from U of L. He finished his internship, and we simply refused to hire him on. His work is crap - I understand the first time will take longer, but his work is crap. I've ranted about this before, but even on his 3rd FINAL review [with an illustrated list of issues that _need_ to be fix] the walls were crooked, there were major anomalies, distortions, and unsightly changes to the original blueprints. His shortcuts killed the product, he refused [or was incapable of listening], and he had a vein of arrogance to him. He even so much as came back and asked to be paid for the work he did on the next house [assuming his first was finished], when I blatantly said that contract had been 100% awarded to Chad. Bleh. I don't mind teaching the software, but I expect that you have enough of an eye for detail to make sure the walls are straight, intact, and the lighting half decent.
Anyway, I think that pretty much sums up the key points - The Brick just came and dropped off the new mattress of comfy [and a free TV!] - which is my signal that I need to sign off and go grab a bit to eat before getting back to my place to start packing... though in fairness, most of it was never unpacked in the first place.