Photo of Amsterdam
November 17, 2007
November 14, 2007
In London, Amsterdam
Just thought I'd post a note to my family about my Amsterdam/London trips. I've been staying with Nadya Peek in Amsterdam and with Colin Hall in London. Both wonderful hosts! I'm in Amsterdam Sat/Sun-Tuesday, London Tues.-Thurs., and Amsterdam again Thurs.-Friday. Then Friday I return to the States and will drive immediately from the airport to Reedley with Justin and then see everyone at Grandma's bright and early on Saturday.
I slept for 20 hours upon my arrival in Amsterdam from San Francisco. I think that may be a lifetime record for me. For a few hours after I woke up (slept from 8pm to 4pm the next day) I wasn't sure I was awake. Justin got on video chat with me to help connect me to reality, then Nadya took me out with some friends and we had a great night. Oh also, before I slept for 20 hours I went to a sauna/spa called Deco Sauna on Herengracht. It was so warm! Great way to relax after a 10 hour flight. Most likely contributed to my following 20 hour sleep-fest.
On Tuesday morning I flew from Amsterdam to London, to meet our GameLayers CTO Duncan Gough in the flesh for the first time. I was heavily interrogated at immigration. Colin later said that Amsterdam is thought of as a shady place to have arrived from. The immigration official asked to see my return ticket. I welcomed him to the internet and had to pull up my email on my iPhone to show him that I did indeed plan to leave his country on Thursday morning. I told him I was there to meet some friends: my business partner, a friend who works at Channel 4, and my future brother-in-law. He asked me "How do you know these people?" Uh... through mutual friends, conferences, and my fiance, of course. I have never been asked that at any immigration stop before. Though judging by the horror stories of US Immigration I'm sure I got off lightly compared to the way our government treats people.
Being an American in Europe can be kind of humiliating. I listen while people switch fluidly between two or three languages and feel like such a country bumpkin. And the ever-weakening dollar makes everything much more expensive than even last summer. It's now $2.11 for one pound I was told.
I stayed at Colin's last night in Kensington, a very nice neighborhood in London. His building and his flat both smell really marvelous for some reason. This morning on the way to the Tube (the London underground public transport system, very thorough and easy to use) I passed a school just at arrival time. Little girls all dressed like Madeline! It was so so so cute.
Today Duncan and I are working out of a private club called Hospital. There's wifi, food, and comfortable seating. Tomorrow I fly back to Amsterdam and then back to the States from there.
See you all this weekend! Love, Merci :)
April 05, 2007
Mina Solaris character creation - Maya 8.5
March 25, 2007
What I spend my time doing
This is called UV mapping. It's a way to take still shots of a 3D object and stitch them together into a 2D, or flat, surface that you can then paint on. It's the grunt work of 3D art but it's necessary and it's very useful to be good at it.
What you're looking at is a screenshot of my computer screen. I imported this model after sculpting on it in ZBrush. The left window is the main work space - the right window is the UV Texture Editor window. I move around the model in the left window and select faces (like facets, small polygonal areas created by intersecting lines) on one axis or another (X,Y, or Z) and then take a snapshot of it. The flat shape created by the snapshot appears in the right window. I move it off the workspace and continue taking snapshot.
Once I have every available face grouped and translated into a 2D representation I can sew the pieces together. I had not done any sewing before I took this screenshot, so what you're looking at is a collection of pieces. The picture might be too small, but at the top you may be able to make out the pieces of my model's head. Her face is in the center, and her ears (not to scale) are on either side.
After I've sewn all the pieces together I moved and shrank them and put them in the top right hand box. Then they're ready to be exported and painted!
I love doing this.
February 08, 2007
Diploma arrival
January 23, 2007
Here are a Pointer's paws
Obsessing over my dog
Justin and I adopted Pixley Wigglebottom (dogs should not have dignified names) from the South LA Shelter - they said she was a beagle mix.
The picture to the side is a picture of a beagle puppy. Her paws are very different from Pixley's:
I think Pix might be a German Short-haired Pointer. Their paws look very much like Pix's.
So... my little dog might grow up to be about 40 pounds! Whoa!
The picture to the side is a picture of a beagle puppy. Her paws are very different from Pixley's:
I think Pix might be a German Short-haired Pointer. Their paws look very much like Pix's.
So... my little dog might grow up to be about 40 pounds! Whoa!
January 22, 2007
Better pictures of Pixley Wigglebottom
As per your many requests. ;)
January 15, 2007
Dog ownership so far
We decided on a name: Pixley. Yes, like the town in the Central Valley. Justin remarks on that name every time we drive up the 99. The name seems to fit her - small and sprite-esque. It's harder to settle on a cool "girl" name.
The first night we put her to crate around midnight and she only whined/barked/howled for about a half hour before giving up and going to sleep.
Last night we crated her around 11:30 (after a long, fast walk) and turned down the lights (thank goodness for dimmers). Then Justin and I talked in the kitchen, drank some water, walked around. By the time we were both actually sitting in bed she'd fallen fast asleep. No whining, howling or barking at all that night.
She was up around 5:30 this morning - we waited for her to stop moving around in her crate before coming out and walking her. She fell asleep in my lap after the walk and let me move her into her crate after ten minutes or so. I walked around the house a little and then went back to sleep. She barked at the dump truck this morning and was fully up by 8:30. Another walk and now she's tiring out again.
It seems that the key to getting her to peacefully sleep is really tiring her out. Looks like we'll do a lot of walking and eventually running. A dog is a great reason to get outside - we have a tendency to stay indoors all the time.
January 13, 2007
We got a beagle puppy
We got her at the South LA animal shelter on the 12th and picked her up today. We haven't named her yet. I suggested long Russian words: runny nose (naasmork), Ahkmatova (the last name of a Russian female poet). She is starting puppy training classes at a park near our house one week from today.
She is so cute! Her body is taller and thinner than pure bred beagles but she has a beagle face and coloring.
She feel asleep on Justin's lap while he was using his computer.
