New Feature: weekly/ 2 weekly review

Because of various issues and some problems at home... (damn you £1000 PC for blowing up on me... again.. and again...) i will be using this blog each week or 2 weeks (depending on work load) to update my progress on how: my work is going, how much is still outstanding, how much i need to do within a certain time limit; basically like a diary/plan of sorts.
frist: Chris's Unit 66
To break it down:
 5 slides to start with:
 - CAD
 - Animation
 - Architectural walkthough
 - Games
 - Film
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 then breaking those down further on each slide:
- Talk about fundamentals of each
- Give Examples
- Advantages and Disadvantages
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Then i have a plan on when to do each slide, Chris mapped it out so i wouldnt have to do much/any at home if i get the work done:

This week: i can get the CAD slide done, 2 hours today and 1 hour tommorow (this timeframe keeps for Chris's lessons).
 1st december: Animation
 8th: Architectural walkthrough
 15th: Games + Film

---Mels Unit 78---
-Mels powerpoint: 8 images or so left: moblie application buttons and some genre related buttons.

Unit 2: games review
magazine: name, issue, date, publisher.
Outline/summarise, review

---Mark---
Up-to-date (i.e. just done the history of animation)

--- Rob ---
Up-to-date

So over the next month or so I will use this to keep on top of work.

3-D welding and a quick update

Ok first thing, today in 3-D max we learnt to "instance copy" (this involves copying an object; then any changes you make to the copy, affect the original model) and welding, this involves getting two objects close to each other, higlighting the vertexes along an area, then welding them together to make a single shape/model. Below is the ship i made doing this (so its perfectly symmetrical). Enjoy:

Also an update : i am working on three projects/powerpoints/essay type work, will take a while and im not sure how i can get powerpoints on this blog or if its easy to get a whole word doc on here. Ill try get some on here otherwise, keep you posted.

Desktop Project

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I thought it would be a good idea to link all my pages for the project on this one page so they would be easy to find:

Collage
http://wolfsaiyan.blogspot.com/2010/09/u19-desktop-genre-collage.html

Mindmap
http://wolfsaiyan.blogspot.com/2010/09/mels-work-desktop-project-mindmap.html

Desktop Designs
http://wolfsaiyan.blogspot.com/2010/10/uploads-finally-working-design-for.html

Exploring Fonts image:

Final Design
http://wolfsaiyan.blogspot.com/2010/10/desktop-final-image-and-review.html

Evaluation
http://wolfsaiyan.blogspot.com/2010/11/evaluation-of-final-desktop-design.html

Evaluation of Final Desktop design

Now I have uploaded my final desktop design and updated it with my own thoughts and some feedback from class mates, this blogspot is an evaluation of my work with several question I have to answer:

***All of my work for this project is accross my blog along with my own paragraphed evaluation*** 

*Does the end product match your original intentions?

    My final product looks very similar to my original design (See images below). It looks nearly exactly the same as my sketch with some minor changes to make it look better; i.e. proportions, shapes and fonts. 

  *Is the end product appropriate for your intended audience?

       Since I was going for such a large audience to begin with (this desktop could be viewed by a wide range of ages) it had to be clean, nothing explit; all appropriate content, which i achieved. There are Sci-Fi and fantasy elements nothing that could offend someone. However some "older" viewers may not appriciate some of the fonts or the Image of the "warrior" to the right.

*Discuss the technical aspects of your work and highlight the strengths / areas to develop

    I have not used photoshop often, I don't know much of the skills, however I think I have made very good use of layers (theres about 20 or so in there separating all my different objects and colours) Also on my character i think i have made basic use of shading, i have used the pen tool, magic wand tool and FX effects such as dropping shadows and beveling my image. The only equiptment i used was the camera to take the picture of my final sketch.

 

*Discuss the content / style of your work

    The overall style is mainly Sci-fi, although the warrior looks more fantasy than "spacey" but with the time limit it works well enough. I found a decent substitute for stars with a brush i found, giving an "aura" or lighting like effect, again could have done more with it. however the final design has stuck with the research and content. e.g. the 2 images below: one is an "aura"/shape and the other is off a character on the right, just some of my inspiration:

*Did you encounter any problems when creating the product? if so how were they resolved?

    One major problem i found was that because I hadnt outlined my final sketch photoshop was having trouble picking up the image; so Mel showed me a way to "push out" or "bolden" the lines in the picture using a setting in photoshop (that neither of us cannot remember, i will experiement to find it).

*What have you learnt from this experience?

    The main thing i have learnt is that photoshop has so much more to offer and it is going to take me a while to learn how to even find most of it; however this project feels like a start.

*What skills have been developed throughtout this process?

    Increased my photoshop skills slightly, and also it has made me take a more serious look on my sketching and concept, which i will now work on.

*Did you meet the deadline?

    Yes, however i think i could have spent longer on it now, rather than panicing. 

*Did you have any problems with time management?

    No i was ahead of the deadline most of the time, i should have left more time to work though.

*If you had the opportunity to make this product again would do anything different? And are you jappy with overall product?

   I would take more time to learn the tools and create a much less clattered concept. Look at more tutorials and examples to help me.