The End...

Now that I've written the title of this post, it looks like I'm closing down my blog... but I'm NOT! =) I'm talking about the end of school. Half of the major stresses in my life have been resolved (2 out of 4) and I am feeling so much better about the end of the year. I've been keeping up with school pretty well these last few weeks and am confident that my grades will be acceptable at the end of the year. =) Blender's been updated to 2.63 and has a few new features and tools that I am intensely excited about, but unfortunately I don't have the time to actually use them quite yet. =P As soon as I knock another one of those stresses off the list, I'm going to start in on Blender again. =) I can't wait! The highschool went on another campout last weekend. We camped at the same place we did on my first campout. It was a little bit weird to be back there under such different circumstances. A lot of memories came back, but thankfully, none of them hurt. It was a happy campout. And I'm thankful for everything that has happened since then. Funny how God works things out. =)

Sick Day...

So I'm home from school today, cuz I'm sick. I feel like there are two golfballs in my throat... and my eyes are on fire... and a few dwarves set up their blacksmith shop in my skull... Anyhow, I intended on sleeping much of the day. I just got up to get some tea and check my email. I realized that I ought to make my time home as productive as I can, so I'm scheduling my sleeping time. =P I have until noon, then I have to get up and finish my DVD project, and do a lesson in my online class... then I can go back to bed. Now, let's see if my plan actually works... zzz

Momentum...

When I don't work on something for a long time, I lose my "productive inertia" and the project becomes painful to work on. When I don't learn anything about a particular subject for a long time, often it will become painful to learn. Yesterday I resumed my progress on the Yearbook DVD project I am supposed to be contributing to. And I don't mean I just worked on it a little yesterday. I spent most of the day working on it... and getting nowhere. Rather: I was getting a lot done, but none of it counted. I had to discard most of the work I completed. By the end, I was making a little progress, but the particular thing I had hoped to accomplish (it involves simulating a candle-flame) I was still stuck on. Still, I did complete the details in two camera shots and render out a nice little test animation. Starting the freight train is always the hardest. Today I happened across some videos showcasing a few functions of the software that I had never seen before. (learning a new function of Blender = extreme and uncharacteristic excitement) Getting excited about a job is, I think, the best production booster. Though I am not "cruising" through my work yet, I'm in second gear at least. =)

Thank You, Father...

I love Sabbath...

Satisfaction...

Ahh... it's nice to have accomplished something, even though few people around me have any appreciation for it. I finished this last night for an illustration for my science fair project (though the illustration is actually an interactive display of the model and doesn't look nearly as nice because of the lower quality of a real-time render). Sorry about the funky perspective, but I had to widen the camera's focal length because I wanted to show off my little rigging job there. x) I know NOTHING about rigging a ship or anything so it was completely guesswork. But, in my opinion, it looks reasonable enough to pass for plausible. =P I suppose I'm banking on the hope that nobody scrutinizing my project knows much about ships or else they'd know that the purpose of the bowsprit (the spire protruding off the bow) is to secure the jib sails, and in this picture (and my model) it isn't connected to anything, thus: it is pointless and only adds useless weight to the ship for small aesthetic gain.

Third...

I think the third quarter is my worst quarter every year. I'm not entirely sure why. It just always seems that this is the quarter that life is the worst. The craziest. However, I am almost through it, so I am glad. I simply need to complete two things: my science project and my yearbook assignment. Oh, and the soundtrack for the yearbook. And my bible project. And a little bit of late work. And I need to pack for the mission trip. Okay, so six things... ... ... see why I'm stressed? Every time I think about my list, it gets longer. =P
Anyhow! Let me talk about a few things that excite me so I can end happy here. First exciting thing: Blender updates. Now, I'm going to go into a short little thing here about the awesome new things going on with my favorite open-source software, so if you'd rather not read it, just skip over this next section...

So! The Blender team is back to working on their newest project, code-named "Project Mango." What excites me about this particular project is the main purpose: to develop the video-effects and editing tools in Blender. Video effects and video editing are two things that Blender was not exactly meant for previously, but it could be done with a lot of workarounds and fiddling. But not anymore! =D Wonderful (though very basic in the commercial industries) tools such as motion tracking and new compositing tools as well as new faster Boolean tools and UV mapping tools... If anyone has actually read through this and is interested in seeing any of these Blender Foundation projects (they are short films, if I haven't been clear), then take a look at the following sites:
Project Orange ("Elephant's Dream")
Project Peach ("Big Buck Bunny")
Project Durian ("Sintel")
Project Mango (still in production, thus no name yet)

Okay, so I'm done with my little spasm of excitement. =) And I still have a lot of work to do, so I suppose I'll go back to it now. I have a picture to show you all, but I'm at home and my internet is too slow to upload it because it is fairly large. (Don't get excited, it's just a rough model I made in Blender...) =P Goodnight!

PS - I realize that it was completely useless to tell you to skip over that section of nerd-raving because it made up the main body of my post, so you might as well go back and read it... unless you have something better to do. =)

Yup...

Quite contented indeed...