Day 18

Today we worked on shading our star, which was incredibly difficult because of the many different shaders that needed to be applied.

Day 17

Today we worked more on the star project that Sando has required us to do, except we basically calculated the different sizes that the star reaches as it goes throughout its life. After figuring this out, we also had to calculate how long each of its phases were and try to sync. this with our 3000 frame project within Maya 2011.

Day 16

Today Sando started us on a new project that involved the evolution of a star. We were instructed to create a simulation in which a star is birthed, goes throughout its life by expanding until it becomes a red giant, and finally collapses on itself and dies, in which it creates a black hole. So far Amy and I have created the expansion phase up until it becomes a red giant star. Also, earlier today (during our 8:45 am meeting) we were all instructed to sit in a room with the lights out for ten minutes, while Bob waited outside. After ten minutes of us sitting playing games, (which was pretty fun btw lol) Bob opened the door and we were instructed to cover one eye with our hand while we walked around in the lighted building. After we circled the building once, we came back to the dark room and opened both eyes again. Apparently when we did, one eye could see very well in the dark and the other could see nothing at all! The eye that was covered could see as if it hadn't been exposed to light (which, it hadn't so go figure) but it was really crazy. The feeling of being blind in one eye and able to see in the other! I think this has to do with the retina and the photo electric effect. Maybe the electrons on the retina take a while to come off once you go into a dark room, whereas the eye already used to the dark doesn't have any electrons on it.

Day 15

Today was spent working on more parts to the Mars Rover, mainly objects on the solar panels. Today I started and finished one major object on the panels (im not sure what the name of it is actually) and it feels great to look back and know that my time was well spent. I personally think it looks awesome and cant wait to have the whole project complete! I have been posting my progress on my facebook page under my 3D photo album, if anyone was at all interested.

Day 14

Today was spent working on the breast plate of the Mars Rover and the sides of its front area. I successfully modeled some parts that connected the wires to other areas of the Rover. Sando unfortunately wasnt here today, and i felt bad for amy because she wasnt sure what to work on after having completed her assigned task. My Mars Rover is coming along nicely, but its taking a long time and its almost disheartening. I dont want to get careless and stop adding detail, but I really just want to see it completed lol.

Day 13

Today was spent on finishing up the wheels for the Mars Rover as well as starting the new camera and camera arm for the front side of the rover. My old camera was disappointingly made from the original image and now must be re-made with much more detail. I am actually pretty much done with the camera, and will soon be working on the wiring that flows across mostly every area of the rover. (Actually I have a confession for all my fans out there. I havent been keeping up with my blog recently due to some forgetfulness of mine lol but I have gotten them up to date as of today! I will work on remembering to blog every day.)

Day 12

Today we went on the U of R field trip and visited the bio medical lab. It was very interesting to see first hand the experiments that they were conducting. Their main task is to successfully create a system of human cells that will hopefully someday be used to produce living tissue and organs such as a liver or heart. This was very exciting to hear and witness how advanced in technology we have become. For some reason an emergency alarm was set off and we had to temporarily leave the building. Unfortunately we actually didnt find out what the emergency was, but it must've been pretty important because the fire department arrived with their axes ablaze! Haha maybe it was just some secret plot to wake us up from the lectures. Honestly they were pretty interesting. Once I got back to the scube room at the RIT, I had just enough time to start the new wheels for the Mars Rover, which are much more intricate than the originals. I am actually doing some work at home in order to get ahead.