One of the most important parts of design, particularly 3D modeling in my case, is how you think about a project. The way you develop and hold the information in your head will change your work flow.
What really got me into 3D modeling and animation was that it gave me to power to bring ideas to life. My overactive imagination would be responsible for conjuring up an idea and molding it into shape, while the computer software just does the job of bringing it into reality. Most of the planning and problem solving takes place in my head before I begin, leaving the act of creating it to a simple conversion from brain to computer screen.
I’ve attempted to describe this concept before, but was unable to find a suitable metaphor before stumbling upon the article below. Although it was written with a computer programmer in mind, the concept is exactly the same for a 3D artist or any graphic designer.
“A good programmer working intensively on his own code can hold it in his mind the way a mathematician holds a problem he’s working on. Mathematicians don’t answer questions by working them out on paper the way schoolchildren are taught to. They do more in their heads: they try to understand a problem space well enough that they can walk around it the way you can walk around the memory of the house you grew up in. At its best programming is the same. You hold the whole program in your head, and you can manipulate it at will.
That’s particularly valuable at the start of a project, because initially the most important thing is to be able to change what you’re doing. Not just to solve the problem in a different way, but to change the problem you’re solving.
Your code is your understanding of the problem you’re exploring. So it’s only when you have your code in your head that you really understand the problem.”
-Quoted from Holding a Program In One’s Head
Copyright infringement aside, if the word epic had a soundtrack, it might go something like this.
30 Pieces of Inspiring Words of Advice
I stumbled upon this yesterday and by the time I got finished reading it all, my mind and mood were in a new place. I love reading stuff like this, because it all just makes so much sense. It tells exactly the way life should be lived.
Over the last year or so I’ve been putting together a time-lapse of Greenview & Grace. Eventually it will be part of a larger ongoing time related project I have brewing. For this particular segment, the idea is to slowly transition through an entire year at this location, which would include animated details like rain, cloud movement, leaves falling/blowing, environmental sound effects, etc.
This is just a rough compilation of some photos I’m working with. I’ll definitely be taking a new Fall shot when the trees really turn, and hopefully I’ll be able to get a nice thick layer of snow later this year.
There’s a bunch of new stuff up. One day sooner or later I want to update the whole style of the site, but for now at least the newest content is up.
By the way, it only took like a month for the “new look” here to fully arrive, but is finally here to stay.
Also check out http://chicago.toddkumpf.com.
I was never fully satisfied with the design I had come up with for the previous installment of toddkumpf.com, and never even got around to finishing it. I didn’t like the dark colors and messy layout, so I finally decided to revamp it all. I think this is a lot friendlier, and it will be much easier to manage as it’s being fed straight out of tumblr.com (blogging service). EDIT: Well, eventually it will be switched over. The new DNS information has to filter through the whole internet which could take 72 hours
I had initially planned for a lot more to be happening here. I tend to over-plan websites, and end up not having the spare time I thought I would. But now that I’m unemployeed again, I should be able to get things around here into shape and maybe get back into the blogging habit.
