week 11

week 11 and were almost at an end. I'm happy with my idea of the children's toys, today i made a bottle which is a pig and a little crayon character, still to come i think im going to try to make and ice cream toy, and a little clown thing. Im flowin with modeler now but im not stretching my limits, im trying to keep it simple so i don't stuff anything up. i have the program at home so i can work on my models at home aswell, so all will be good by week 12.

week10

Im still very confused as to what to make, deciding what to do in these situations is always the hardest. I got a new mac over the holidays and got lightwave today so i don't need to stress so much over the next 2 weeks as i can work on it at home, 2 weeks rather that 2 classes is heaps more time. Im pretty sure i want to make some sort of children's toy, as it was my nephews birthday over the holidays and he also has a new little sister. So with kids on the mind i've been looking at toys and stuff quite a bit recently. I want to have a bit of a street art or graffiti theme behind the toy, keep it simple so i may be able to make more than one, make it cartoonie, maybe pastley colours to appeal to little children, and a recognizable figure like a rabbit, dog or elephant. If i have time i could then maybe place them all in a little cartoon scene like a pleasant looking park.

week9

I dont know what happened this day i may have missed clarse.

week 8

I didn't really do much today i had a go at animating a camera through my kitchen scene dut the image was to big and it closed on me. I felt pretty sick today so other than just playing around on modeler and lightwave i just looked at 3d models on the internet, finding out that some of the things people make are hard to tell apart from the real thing. I had a little bit of a think about what im going to make for my final project, i have decide that i dont really want to make something really lifelike with lots of textures and that, but maybe design a simple yet fun looking character, which would look good as a 3d character, im thinking bright solid colours, maybe a real cartoony looking character which looks a bit street art.

Week7

Week 7 the due date wasn't to sure i would finish it but i did, but i had to get the jist of lightwave in like 10 mins. I think with just a little more playing around on lightwave i will get the hang of the idea of all the lights and where to place them all to create the day and night scenes. I am happy with my progress in this class and think i should be able to create something good for the next project. I still need to get more practice with lightwave, to get the hang of it better. I also think that by using lightwave it will help me understand the idea of lighting, for when i take photos and make movies.

I don't believe that my kitchen is all that surreal, but i think the textures make it a bit more surreal than it is. I'm pretty happy with the final product, all my hard work in class in class has paid off. Haven't really put much thought into what im going to make for my final project but im sure it will be fantastic whatever it is.

week6

Todays class was very productive, my kitchen is looking like a kitchen now, but alas it need to be a surreal kitchen. It looks too normal, some of the things in it my be a bit out of place but not surreal, i think i will have to rely on the lighting and textures to make it surreal.
Im feeling more confident with the program now and am experimenting with things to see what they do. sometimes i draw a blank as to how to make something but after looking a a few pictures i get a good idea on how to make something.
Today i made a fridge, oven, hoods, stove top and a tap. They all look pretty generic, i had an idea of making a cone fridge but there was to much thinking with how to put the door on so i scraped that idea. I think im most happy today with my stove top and there hoods. I have started to put my other objects in the kitchen, and arranging them into nice places, ive got my soda syphon on the table at the moment and the teapot in the corner. All i really have to do now is put a few more objects in then put it into lightwave. Im a bit iffy on lightwave and i hope i have enough time to finish it all.

week5

Todays class we just worked on our kitchens. I got my bench, walls, cupboards and draws done today, im happy with my progress today as the kitchen is starting to take shape. I also made a table and a chair, judging by the colours i have used the kitchen is going to look very colourful. The tools i used today were rather simple but im getting the hang of using them all. I used Buleen, bevel, magic bevel and i added colours and textures to some of my objects. I like using the bevel tool i think its real handy and makes creating objects easy to create.

week 4

Today not much talking and a fare bit of working. We looked at using the magic bevel tool today as well as addidng text to objects. Im quite happy now as im getting the hang of the program things make more sence and i even made 2 of my own objects, a soda syphon and a soda bulb, very easy objects i no but im happy with them. We also made a tea potwhich was real easy, im really liking this bevel tool. We used the magic bevel tool to make the handle and spout, it makes the art of bevel so much easier. We also looked at adding textures to our objects, i added a metalic texture to my syphon which i think made it look quite real.

For the next few weeks we are only going to be working on our sureal kitchion, hopefully i can make a few weird objects to put in there, to make it a bit funny.

week 3

In today's class we learnt about new tools in Modeler and made more utensils for our kitchen, the new tools we looked at were extrude, sketch, knife, lathe, band saw and drag. We used these tools to create a spoon, fork and a wine glass. After using these tools the whole idea of a lump of plasticine makes alot more sence. I liked using the sketch tool to make the wine glass it was nice and easy but very effective. There were a few problems with the band saw and getting the prongige of the fork done, but after looking at a tutorial i seemed to get the hang of it. Its these little problems that help with getting to know the program. Im liking the program more and more each week, and looking forward to seeing what my kitchen will turn out like. And i really think that i cannot afford to miss any classes this semester as each lesson we are learning something new and i really dont want to fall behind.








Ive made 2 attempts at spoons in which one of them seemed to have a cheese grater on it, which could be quite handy to a very rough mouthed individual. there is also 2 glasses and 2 forks, i think one of the forks can be more of an attachment to hair clippers.

week 2

Today's class we did more in modeler, we made a bowl, it took us a while to even figure out what the initial shape was to create the bowl, i think this will be a bit of a problem for me if I'm unable to figure what shapes to use to start an object off with. i think getting a copy of the programs at home will help a lot, get some practice in while at home. We also had a look at light wave which also seems quite hard, but i think having done a video production class will help me get my mind around the lighting and camera angles.

The first 2 images are of a bowl. If we were not told how to make the bowl hollow i dont think i would have ever figured it out, modeler is very hard to get my mind around. The second 2 images the first is of another bowl which i used the magnet tool to drag the sides out, and the second is of a cube with a hole drilled out of it using the boolien tool, this tool will probably come in quite handy if i remember how to do it. And the last image is in lightwave where there sre light and cameras to create the action..oh yerrr.

Week one

Week one of the new semester, after a long and unproductive holidays we are right back into it. First up we are introduced to a new program called Modeler, which seems like its going to take a lot to understand but at the moment i am enjoying the program. I have never done anything 3d on the computer before and am looking forward to making some good model things.

As an introduction we used plasticine to create 8 things, to get our minds around the idea of 3d modeling. These are the steps i used to create my 8 models.

The steps were to get us thinking about the process behind creating a 3d object, so that we include these steps when creating on the computer.

These are the plasticine things i made.

I no this semester will be challenging as there is a lot of work to do when making a 3d model, many hours trying to perfect it. I hope what i make in the end turns out alright.

Tomorrow

Everything is due in tomorrow and im pleased to say that i will have everything finished by the end of tomorrows class. The publication just need to be put in order and saved, i am unable to print it due to not working and having zero $$, but hopefully i will get it printed in the future. As for the website i am quite happy with how it looks, would of liked to have used CSS but it was to much to get my brain around at this time. All that is left for the website is to link all the thumbnails to the bigger images, which i will be doing tomorrow. Yay.

the end is near

coming towards the end of the semester, finally everything is underway. Ive got all my photos for my publication, they have been sorted into categories which are night, underground, ducks, car photos and other (i need to think of a good name for other). i still need to think of what text will go in the book, but it should be finished by next week.
As for the website i feel i will struggle, but although i say this i always manage to pull through. the layout is very simple, with a main header the the second header containing the different pages, and when you click on the page they will all appear in the white space below. cbf explaining in much detail. life does go on i will provail.

week 7 i think

i really gotta get on top of these blogs, i just keep forgeting. The publication has actually begun, sorting through all the photos which are gonna go in and figuring out a good order to put them in, the layout is going to be very simple with one photo per page, each lot of photos will be a series and at the start of each will be text describing the series or something relating to it.

now the website must be done, will struggle to get it all done in 4 or 5 weeks, but i will get it done. not too many ideas for it as yet but i think just like the book a simple but affective layout, perhaps only black white and a dash of one other colour. i think i want it to be a small square thing that everything appears in the middle ( really bad description).

i will upload some images which will appear in the site and book but not now cbf.

peas.

the damage

the damage from a simple sprain of the ancle.

progress report

The publication.
cant say ive done too much on the actual book. all ive been doing is finding the photos i want to put in it and taking a few more which will go in. i must really get a started on it coz once i start its all up hill from there. ive got all the ides for the layout down pat (i think) i have purchaced a few books over the weeks and been scoping the layout . the layout will be very minimal but affective.

Bad luck continues

Some of you no that every year of this course i have managed to break a bone or two and cripple myself, with breaking my hand in year one, then my leg in year two, well i thought i had done my one for this year with my wrist but that was only sprained. Well a few days ago i managed to actually break my other wrist at work and now its in plaster, now this may make me sound like an absolute cluts, but really im not, the day after i got my plaster i rolled my ancle so bad i thought it was broken too, i got x rays and luckily its not but still i cant walk and i cant use crutchers because of the cast, so i just hop along and use a cain. this really sucks..

pure anger

Today wednesday the 19 of March, some slimey sticky fingured, piece of shit stole my i-pod and headphones form my bag in our installation art class. Please inform me if anyone saw an intruder looking person in our class, as i do not believe anyone from our class would do this to a fellow class member.

Much Anger Travis Nicholson.

Week 4

After this weeks class i must say im quite keen to have a book published. I really like the idea of having my photos published in a hard cover book, so i think this will be my plan. Make a hard cover book with my photos in it, keep it very minimal with only al little bit of writing at the begining of each set of photos. I cant wait to see it finished.

Urban Exploration

Urban Exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of human civilization. For example Abandon buildings, drains, bridge rooms or caves. The way i got into it was through my sense of adventure and exploration of new places, and after doing it for a few years i got into taking photos of my adventures. A few of us made up a little crew, called the Pipewalkers and we went on adventures almost every weekend. we've died down a bit over the years but we still go every now and again. I dont no what it is i like about it so much, its probably the mystery, not knowing where your going or where youll end up and its just more peacefull away from everything above ground. I suggest give it a go one day and see how you like it, but always remember 'when it rains no drains'.

These are just a few fliks of some of one of my adventures.

About Myself.

A little bit about myself.
Well my name is Travis Nicholson, i am a student at Vic Uni currently in my 3rd year of a Computer Mediated Art course. I have an interest in art especially photography, which is why this course is good as i can explore a whole lot of different ways to experiment with my photography as well as other things. Urban exploration is also another thing i like to do, this takes me to all sorts of underground, hidden or abandon places, and these are the places which i like most to photograph.