Day 33

Sorry this Blog is a little late. Just got back from an amazing youth retreat. But thats another story! Friday went incredibly well, and any nervousness that I may have had immedietely left as soon as I opened my mouth. I really enjoyed working at the RIT this summer and saw this as a great way to try something new and use it in preparation for the future! Thank you so much for this great opportunity Joe Pow, Bob Callens, Jake Noel-Storr, the Insight Lab, Sando, and of course my intern buddies for such a great experience!

Day 32

The presentations went well! Now on for the big task tomorrow! Tali Ho! (Definitely need to remember a water bottle ha ha.)

Day 31

Today was spent mainly going over our presentations and proof reading them for tomorrow. The Hawaiian party was fun though! However I didnt have that much time to stay and party because I had to get back to my project.

Day 30

Sando was sick again today and didnt get a chance to look at the mars cloud system we had tampered with. Although we did get some more accomplished today. I texted Sando and he walked me through some steps on how to use "driven keys" in order to mark different changes in the star's life. For example: at this point of the star's life it will be this color and this size. That was definitely helpful and I was able to understand it. But I did run into a small problem: when I tried to key the star's color parameters, nothing happened. Sooo, i'm obviously doing something wrong there ha ha. I continued working on my space shuttle and gosh, it is lookin fine! (If I do say so myself lol.) Presentation is almost complete.

Day 29

Sando was sick today and we weren't able to get that much accomplished on our star simulation. Amy and I instead worked on creating earth and mars using the normal maps that Sando had left us with. Now we have a great looking copy of earth as well as a cloud system to enhance its looks. Mars is a work in progress, we were unable to get the cloud textures to come out as we intended. As the day progressed I began working on a space shuttle for our "Dynamic Universe" because I found that I was useless in trying to figure out what was wrong with mars. Sando is going to have to look at it when he gets back. I also continued working on my presentation, but for some reason its a lot easier to work on it at home. I get more accomplished at home anyway. Maybe because i'm less distracted by friends lol.

Day 28

Today I had the chance to watch some presentations of the undergraduates in their preparation for friday. Sando told Amy and I that we dont actually have to go up to present with him tomorrow. He said that we really wouldnt be doing any talking since its his project. Honestly I'm not really sure what he's going to be presenting because he hasnt even started his presentation! It worked out nicely because I have an appointment tomorrow and I wasnt sure how that would fit in with the time budget here, or if I would need to reschedule. It was nice to be able to watch the undergrads practice their presentations and take notes as 'what not to do' when I give mine next friday. Lol. It kind of alleviated some pressure as well, watching them made me realize I'm not the only one nervous about presenting. (Watching them stumble a couple times was nice to see, not to be mean or anything ha ha. But I didnt want to be the only one potentailly stumbling a couple times. Not to say I wont try to perfect it!)

Day 27

Today we headed off to our last field trip :'( Oh the joys of riding in a limo bus. Those days are all but gone now. But it was fun while it lasted! We visited the Eastman Kodak House and learned about the early methods of photography that incorporated the use of metals and glass to preserve an image. This kind of photography is called daguerreotype and over time, the daguerreotype can tarnish from exposure of the elements, therefore they are becoming all the more sparse and have accumulated much value. We had the chance to see the effects that a small bug had on a daguerreotype after it had died within its casing, and its body moisture caused a tarnishing around that area of the image. After that we freely explored a small room of early cameras, and we were even lucky enough to see the very camera that took the "Flag Raising at Iwa Jima" photograph! (I think I butchered that name ha ha.) Anyways, it was all very cool and definitely worth while to visit.

Day 26

After moving into our new computer lab, we were able to run Maya 2011 with more efficiency and get a lot more done today. The computers in this lab have quad processors, I think. Dont quote me on it ha ha. We noticed that as we expanded our red giant star, the shader that we applied for it completely went wack. It made our star look totally different and we then realized that we had to change our surface shader node to fit the size of the star. After some trial and error (actually we had to remake the shader quite a few times) we finally found an accurate star texture. I also worked more on my presentation, and to be honest I'm getting kind of nervous lol.. I hope it goes well.

Day 25

Well, my blog today isnt that interesting. I touched up my rover quite a bit today, and also continued working on my presentation.

Day 24

Today was a slower day than most. We continued working on the star's solar flares and flames, but much of it was out of our (me and amy's) league, so Sando took charge. Instead, I decided it would be a good idea to start working on my power point presentation, considering I have to have it ready in two weeks! The 20th is coming up way too fast! This internship has been a lot of fun and I'm going to miss it. Especially all the friends I made this summer. Hopefully we can plan things out and get together over the school year!

Day 23

Today we worked on transforming our star into its yellow and red stages, while still keeping the same level of quality and detail. We also explored ways to create the surface of our star so it looks as though it is actually burning by using particles. We also will use another set of particles to create the solar flares. We finally have a good idea as to how we will go about making these. I also (during some free time) started another project in Maya 2011 and began modeling some items from Halo 3 ha ha. It looks really cool and I'll have to post it to my facebook when its finished!

Day 22

Today we made so much progress! Well, Sando made a lot of progress while helping me. I watched, learned, and gave advice. We finally configured our star to look like the real thing in space! And from a distance it loses its detail and turns into a glow, which was perfect. We have a youtube video of it so others can actually see what I am talking about. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FC4RM05uZs

Day 21

Today Amy and I worked on our star project and focused primarily on shading the star's transitions between its phases. I know I have blogged about this like three times, but its a long process ha ha. There are many ideas being thrown around as to what features we should include in this star's simulation, including "should we include solar flares?", "should we use particle systems to envelop the star for a realistic look? (this would make the surface look as though it is moving and made from magma)", and many others. We have already put some good ideas into practice, but now we need to fine tune them.

Day 20

Today I worked more on shading my star project. Sando actually needed to help me a lot because there were some problems in figuring out how to give the star solar flares through shading techniques. Its going to take some time to figure out how to shade the star correctly, even he is having trouble figuring it out. I also went back to my Mars Rover and added some more gadgets here and there while I was waiting.

Day 19

Today I worked more on my star simulation and tried to create different realistic shading textures for when the star changes its color throughout its life. So far I have its blueish state, which represents its birth, and its yellow state, representing the middle of its life which resembles that of our sun.