| I love being harassed in class! |
[Jun. 20th, 2009|04:49 pm] |
Holy hell, so guess what happened?
I had this horribly crazy bitch for an animation teacher. Let's call her J. So, J's class consisted of three hours of critique, a crappy video for a demo, and then yelling at us the next week when we didn't do our assignment right because she hadn't taught us shit. I was putting up with it, fighting my way through 3D animation while having no idea what I was doing, when this happened:
After she had critiqued mine and a few other students' third assignment (first animation on a biped as well) we went on break. We came back in the room and one of the upper level 3D animation teachers was there. J says that she brought him in to help critique, and I'm thinking sweet, this guy actually knows what he's talking about, maybe I'll learn something today!
She then precedes to pull up my animation in front of myself, this other teacher, and the rest of the class, and discuss "how horrible this is" for a good five minutes. I defended myself by saying that it was the third assignment, I've never done 3D animation before because I'm a rigger, and I'm trying to learn. She basically responded with "whatever, it's horrible."
After her class, I went to talk to the 2D animation teacher, who is really super awesome, and he agreed to meet with me once a week and tutor me. That was the Wednesday before last. Over the weekend, I learned from other students that J had been going around telling the other faculty that I'm a "troublemaking rigger who refuses to learn animation and doesn't do any work." The rest of the school was pretty much like "Wtf?! That doesn't sound like Psy AT ALL" and they told me about it. So Monday, I went to the dean, and explained what happened and what was going on.
Basically, the same thing happened last semester when she taught anatomy, but because she's an industry animator and the other 3D animation teacher couldn't cover 3D I for the summer, they kept her on hoping things would be better. After telling my story, the dean immediately agreed to let me finish the class as an independent study with the 2D animation teacher I had talked to beforehand. He also said that if other students are being harassed, he wanted to know. According to my friends in the class, they're all being harassed and not learning anything. At all.
Best part? When she found out I dropped the class, her comment was "good, she wouldn't have passed anyway." I was doing work better than half the class (in a class of 6). And, when I went to my first independent study session, my 2D teacher was absolutely shocked at the amount of nothing she taught us.
I hope her ass gets canned, soon. |
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| Ahhhh |
[Jun. 14th, 2009|09:35 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94086 | ] |
I love the weather here lately - been cloudy and cool for the past two weeks, with a little rain here and there. I really want it to stay, but I know it won't...then it'll be like 85 again. Uhg.
Grabbed an old sketchbook when I was in Roseville for my little sister's graduation! I'll try to get to that today after homework/photoediting. It's always fun going back through old ass art.
Not much new other than that...had another surprise party for Josh since he wasn't able to make it last weekend. They're leaving tomorrow, which is sad, so I'm going to go over there and say goodbye tonight.
Also, I'm going to be selling all my Pokemon cards, amongst other things. I know there are some Pokemon fans on here, so if anyone is looking for something in particular, let me know! |
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| Reference? |
[Jun. 8th, 2009|01:45 pm] |
Any animators out there know of any good sites for animation reference videos?
I have to do a hand slapping a table. I have no videocamera to cap my own reference, sadly. |
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| DAMMIT |
[Jun. 6th, 2009|06:56 pm] |
I spent MONTHS tracking down an extremely rare book as a gift for my sister, and then FINALLY found it, ordered it, and...
Their server went down, they lost the orders, and sold it to someone else :[
Man, I've been scouring the net for months and I must have e-mailed every single rare book dealer in the US.
WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYY |
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| The Icebreaker no more! |
[Jun. 5th, 2009|10:23 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94089 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  surprised | ] |
Well, Stefen's car got totaled yesterday.
He's fine though - the passenger side got hit and he was the one driving, there was no one else in the car. Basically, what he's pretty sure happened is that the lady was drinking something (a smoothie of some sort, not alcohol...we're pretty sure) and tried to blow through a yellow. He saw her coming, but she appeared to be slowing, and then his light to turn left turned green. She kept going.
The interesting factors are that that intersection is visible from pretty damn far away, so had she been paying attention at all (even if she did turn out to have right of way) she would have seen him turning with PLENTY of time to brake, or at least swerve out of the way. Also, the speed limit there is 45, and she hit him with enough force to flip his car in another direction and then she ended up on top of a curb - seems to me like she had to be going MUCH faster than 45 to pull that off, and Stefen's van is (was) a tough, heavy car. Another factor - there are tracks for the lightrail that run between the left and right sides of the street, so that adds a bit to the amount that someone has to turn, and she hit Stefen's car pretty far after he started turning. I'm pretty sure she was pretty engrossed with whatever she was drinking to have not seen him begin to make that turn with that much distance to cover.
Unfortunately, there were no witnesses, so most likely it will go 50/50. The main thing is no one got hurt! The Icebreaker is totaled, but that car had a good run. And actually, if they find out Stefen did have the light to go, there's a good chance they'll repair that disaster and give it back to him.
FYI - The Icebreaker is a bright red minivan from the 90s (we're actually not sure if it's Mitsubishi or Plymouth) that in its heyday had about 500 stickers covering it, and a decal on the back screaming CHILDREN ON BOARD that took up about 1/4th of the rear window. We have pictures of the before and after, they'll get posted someday. |
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| Sheesh, still? |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|11:44 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94086 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
Another DA retarded front page conversation seems to have appeared on my...front page. Or at least a continuation of something.
Man, I am seriously going to scan all of my old sketchbooks when I next go home. I am really sick and tired of people accusing me of copying or ripping off other artists when I've been drawing the same thing since, well, forever. When I came to DA, I thought it was kinda cool that there were a lot of people also drawing similar creatures, then it turned into a huge dramafest, and honestly, had I known I would have not bothered at all.
I should just purge my gallery, but I don't want to be one of those.
Buh.
On a happier note, I'm finally getting some physical therapy for my carpal tunnel, so maybe my hand will finally stop constantly burning! Hooray!
Not to mention, it's cloudy. And may rain. Mmmmmm... |
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| FUCK YOU CALIFORNIA |
[May. 26th, 2009|03:56 pm] |
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
WHEN WILL PEOPLE FUCKING ACCEPT OTHERS FOR WHO THEY ARE |
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| Rare Book Help? |
[May. 25th, 2009|06:05 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94089 | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Buddy Holly - Weezer | ] |
Hey guys,
Anyone know of a site online where I can look up the value of old and rare books? I've tried everything from Alibirus (err whatever it's called) to Amazon to Powells to various random rare book stores and sites, and the only information I've been able to find has been about reprints, not originals.
Help? |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 21st, 2009|01:29 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94086 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  calm | ] |
Sorry for the lack of updates - went to Sacramento over the summer break, saw some good friends, came back and started classes. The past two weeks in a nutshell.
Storyboarding will be owning my soul this semester, but at the same time I'm fairly certain that this summer will be much less stressful than others. So far my classes seem alright, I get Thursdays off to take care of errands and such, and I'm done by either 1 or 4 everyday. My only worry right now is that all three of my jobs are on hiatus, and even though I have some funds stashed and Stefen can more than afford to support us for a while, it always bothers me.
Last dentist appointment today. I'm resistant to novacaine, so last time they had to actually go and pull out some sort of rarely used, super strong stuff. It did work, after about twenty shots.
Not much else going on. Stefen is home before going to work, we made Mexican Chocolate pudding of AWESOME, and I'm doing some computer maintenance before getting to storyboarding homework. Also, I now own a 42" plasma TV that I'm going to attempt to fix. Yay. |
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| Dentist Hell |
[May. 5th, 2009|05:55 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94086 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sore | ] |
So I just had what was probably the most painful experience of my life.
I went in for a cleaning at the dentist a few weeks ago, and they mentioned that the sealants I had gotten as a kid were leaking - they were actually really impressed that they were even still there, I guess they're supposed to wear off after a few years. So they made me an appointment to get the sealants removed and reapplied, etc.
I went in today for the first of three appointments to replace sealants on eight of my teeth. Going to the dentist is nothing new or scary for me - I had braces for eight years, had a retainer since first grade, had something like twelve teeth and my wisdom teeth pulled, so I'm pretty used to it. I should also mention that I have a very high pain tolerance. Anyway.
The dentist started removing the sealant on my upper left teeth. I was pretty souped up on novacaine, so I wasn't feeling anything, and then the back tooth started to slowly hurt the deeper she drilled. It got worse and worse, and then she looked at me and said I had a really horrible deep cavity on that tooth from the sealant, and asked how I hadn't felt anything before. My teeth hurt once in a while, if I eat something cold, but never any more than that, so I said I really didn't know. But then, she had to drill the rest of the sealant off, and the cavity ended up going to the nerve. Which wasn't even the worst.
The dentist told me that she was going to try to do some preventive work as so I wouldn't have to get a root canal, so she was going to put a few layers of some special dentist goop before she filled the cavity. She said that the goop itself wouldn't hurt, but drying it wasn't going to be fun.
And that's when she used one of the high pressure air blower things to blow air ONTO A NERVE. The entire left side of my face was numb, but I kid you not when I say that's the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. I had tears in my eyes from it. Oooohhhh man.
So long story short: childhood dentistry gave me the cavity from hell, and possibly a future root canal. Joys. |
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| Feedback, please |
[May. 3rd, 2009|02:59 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94086 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  productive | ] |
Alright, so an interesting issue has come up at my school:
About 2 months ago, people started riding around those Razor scooters that were popular years ago. There have been no accidents, no damages, and even teachers are riding them. However, they have been officially banned for scuffing the floor.
I wrote up a proposal and a set of rules, included liability forms, fees to cover the floors, a system of rules, adding mirrors to the hallways, needing to be approved, having it be a privilege to those students of good standing, etc. - the list goes on and on. I did this on behalf of the group of students who wants to keep scooters.
I have a feeling I am fighting a losing battle here. What do you guys think?
If you're really curious, I can post the write-up I did as well (be warned, it's loooooong). |
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| DONE |
[May. 2nd, 2009|07:22 pm] |
Finally, sleep.
This semester honestly kicked my ass.
Here's hoping I will NEVER have to go through that again. |
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| Final Checklist |
[Apr. 25th, 2009|01:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94086 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | busy | ] |
Okay, so-
Drawing for Animation 2: 2 rough body pose sheets, expression sheet, construction sheet, 5 point turnaround, final action shot (lineart done) - each for all six characters. One size comparison sheet. Due Friday.
2D Animation: Walk across the screen, 5 contacts total (ROUGH DONE). Fixed alternate walks. Due Friday.
Concept Design: Everything organized into folders and put on the server, everything printed and mounted on presentation boards. Due Tuesday. DONE
Advanced Rigging: Final script consolidation and hierarchy fix. Due Thursday. DONE
Econ: Final Essay with bibliography. Due Wednesday. DONE
Alright, I can do this. |
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| *sigh* |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|08:42 pm] |
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Mike, I miss you. |
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| Maybe it'll work this time |
[Apr. 23rd, 2009|04:47 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94089 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  chipper | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Skip Divided - Thom Yorke | ] |
Okay, so I rechanged the e-mail account tied to my Live Journal AGAIN, so that I can actually receive comments as opposed to trying to remember to check everything. I tried doing this before and it didn't work, so my apologies if I never responded to something :/
Fusion Awards tonight! I get to be the photographer and wear a slutty evening gown (not really) to walk people to get their awards. Heh, should be fun. I'm kinda bummed that we'll have to cut rigging short, but oh well. Maybe I'll get an award, wouldn't that be exciting!
Currently, I'm trying to finish up work for Drawing for Animation 2, because I am direly behind. My other classes (specifically rigging and animation) have been taking priority.
But right now, gotta help setup for tonight! |
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| No More Heat! |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|09:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94086 | ] |
Fortunately, this heat waves seems to be going away. 90 degrees in April? Uhhhg....then again, 90 degrees at all sucks. I still really want to buy a portable AC, but I'm the only one...Stefen doesn't mind the heat, and most people in the bay don't have ACs anyway. But seriously, it was 85 degrees in here, and last year it got up to 95 in our apartment. I can't do that again :[
The plants seem to enjoy it though - I got quite a few sprouts that have come up, and it looks like I'll have more tomato plants than I'll know what to do with. Also have some cherry tomatoes, peas, dill, Thai basil, and even a lemon tree (!!) that have sprouted. Along with my arsenal of other veggies and herbs, it looks to be a promising summer. I'm going to try to plant some apple seeds and redwood seeds as well, at some point.
And the ladybugs hatched! They're kind of cute...
Most of them don't have the orange yet, and they're tiny, but I guess there were a few more egg clusters that I didn't see, because I have some that are in different stages than others. Either way, they're decimating my aphids, so I'm happy. |
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| Constant Schoolin' |
[Apr. 21st, 2009|10:51 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94089 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
Man, I hate this heat. Portable ACs are something like $280 used, but it just might be worth it.
Still at school, gonna stay through most of the night to work on stuff and chill with people. We've got food and scooters, and coffee will be involved soonish as well, so all is good. Not to mention I found out that I can sub Horror Films for my Ethics class. That's right, HORROR for ETHICS. I love it.
Got the cooling pad I ordered for my drastically overheating laptop today, and it seems to be working quite nicely. I picked up an Antec cooling pad, with a HUGE fan...
FANTASTIC (get it - ha. Haha.)
We'll see how well it works when I'm running three instances of Maya.
Roight then, back to animating. |
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| Finalzzzz |
[Apr. 19th, 2009|05:14 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94086 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | grateful | ] |
I received a rather nice apology today, so all's well that ends well!
I'm having a really hard time concentrating on finals, either because I'm overwhelmed or burning out. I have a lot to do, and keep working on things, but I feel as though nothing is getting done and I'm getting further and further behind. Bleh.
But life is good! My parents surprised me by inviting some of my good friends from Cogswell to Benihana last night for a birthday dinner - it was AWESOME! ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) birdsong, Andrew and Josh all came (we're sad that you were across the country, Julia!!) and we all had great food, merriment, and wonderful company. My little sister got me a novel signed by the author (Tobias Wolfe, one of my favorites) and she also found one of Mike Sandborn's Spirit cards. I nearly cried at that.
And, I got a shiny new tablet. The old one (man I need to take pictures of that thing, it's hilarious) will be used for travel until it's made into a Cintiq. Let's just say Intuos 4 is all it's cracked up to be.
So I had an awesome night with family and friends, and then we went back to school and worked, gamed, and rode around on scooters.
Gooood times.
SOMEBODY MAKE ME WORK |
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| New Blog! |
[Apr. 14th, 2009|07:02 pm] |
I've started a new blog for all things rigging - resources, links, videos, etc. etc. Everything I can get my hands on!!
Rigging!!!!
I'm by no means stopping posts here, I'll just keep the rigging stuff over where the other TDs and I can geek out. |
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| LOG IN |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|11:43 am] |
There is a friend's only post that ALL ARTISTS AND 3D MODELERS WANT TO SEE
LOG IN |
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