dougwills
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Posts posted by dougwills
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OK, Looks like we are on for the 26th. I can't pop for lunch this time, so everyone bring a snack for themselves if you want it. I propose that we start at 11 AM and run until 3 this time. If you have other ideas about the schedule then let me know.
I have confirmed with Jason and Anthony, and we might have an additional member from our office too. Jason will hopefully have his copy of AM by then (at least that is his current intention.)
Eric, I love the idea of taking an idea and everyone working on it. It's just the thing I need to keep me working on AM and getting more experience. Would you like to take the reigns and lead this session? Maybe have an agenda, take us through a little tutorial or something and then issuing a challenge or working on a project as a group?
Anyway, let me know what you think about the time frame and I'll lock down the conference room again.
To any other HASHER's out there. This is an open meeting for all interested participants. We had a great time the first get-together and want to keep the momentum rolling. If you are interested in joining us, leave a note here or contact me through one of my various numbers or email addresses to get directions.
Hope to see you there.
-Doug
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Hey Shannon,
Yes, we do need to schedule another meeting. Thanks for keeping us on task. Jason and I just spoke and it looks like either 8/26 or 9/2 work best for us (I just can't make it the next two Saturdays.) Look at your schedule and tell us what works for you. Eric, check with your official schedule (Joanne) and tell us what is good for you. I will contact Anthony and the guys who didn't make the first one and see if they can make any of those dates. We could also try for a shorter meeting some evening, but that may not be as easy or productive. Just a thought.
We should all also think about what we want to accomplish this meeting. Now that we kinda know each other and where we are in the AM grand scheme of things, maybe we can be prepared to just jump into something this time.
Anybody else want to join us? We had a great time our first meeting. Just post a note letting us know and we will try to work with you too. All are welcome.
-Doug
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To all who attended, a great big thanks. I think between the dancing dog, colorful chameleon and hairy handled gun, we had a great time.
Shannon, can't wait to see the bull dog in all it's glory in your commercials. Eric, your chameleon/lizard guy is going to work great in that environment you showed (don't want to give it away for you.)
Jason and I are more then willing to provide the location for another meeting, or we can decide to meet elsewhere. Now that we have met and have an idea of our knowledge and skill level, we should try to come up with an agenda for the next meeting. Maybe some combination of training, work on an individuals project and brain storming ideas for a group project, but make sure we have fun no matter what.
I hope that the work that Anthony did on his hairy handled gun (lol) while we met will push him to AM and away from that expensive thing he uses now.
For those who couldn't make it, we will be meeting again soon. Put in your request for date and time and let's see what happens. We spent 4 hours getting to know each other, reviewing some work, fixing some problems, doing a little training and introducing two AM newbies to the software and its capabilities (Martin, I think this will result in at least one sale for you - we'll work on the second.) We have a great mix of artists and technicians so I think that bodes well for the future.
Let's try to keep the momentum going while the feeling is fresh. Check your schedules and let's talk about our next meeting. I will get everyone's contact info out off list (hopefully later today).
Thanks everyone, I had a blast and it was wonderful meeting all of you.
-Doug (who didn't bring any personal work but will next time) Wills
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OK,
So far I have the following:
On List
Doug Wills (me) - confirmed
Eric Warner (jobusfest) - confirmed
Shannon Maxey (shannon) - confirmed (will have to leave early)
GL1968 - email sent, but no confirmation
tadpole - email sent, but no confirmation
Jon - cannot make it
Joe Carney (jojolimited) - cannot make it, would like to do something in September
Off list
Jason Loeb - confirmed (will have to leave early)
Anthony Henderson - I haven't directly spoken to him but his girlfriend (my co-worker) insists he's confirmed and I believe her ;-) UPDATE: Anthony just called and is confirmed.
So it appears that we will have a group of 5 with a few more possibilities. I will update this message as things change.
3 laptops will be available (more if needed, let me know). Bring your A:M disk if you want to play around. I have pre-installed Sorserez ver 12.0v+ and Yeti ver 13.0e. We can change that if necessary.
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Hey all,
Sorry I haven't check in for a little while. Life - you know?
As far as I am concerned, August 5th is still on, unless the group decides otherwise.
My office has a meeting room with internet access and we have a projector and screen that can be used. We also have a tv with DVD player, but I am unsure as to the current working status of the DVD player. Plenty of parking, and as VP, I have the keys and fairly free run of the place. I can provide additional computers (laptops) for the day, but you need to provide the software. If you want to take advantage of this offer so you don't have to lug computer equipment around, you must make arrangements with me in advance.
I am thinking noon to 4 PM, but the group should decide that.
I can have a laptop (or pc if that is preferred) with version 11, 12 or 13 on it.
As far as agenda is concerned, without knowing the specific knowledge level of everyone, it might be hard to decide in advance but if any of you have any ideas - shoot! I expect that we will have experience levels ranging from "I haven't even seen the program" to "This is what I do to make a living" and everything in between, so we should be as flexible as we can, at least in this first (of what will hopefully be many) meeting.
As far as training material is concerned, I have the A:M Siggraph Pro Training CD's for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, Jeff Lews "Learning 3D Character Animation" cd and have downloaded all of the Tech Talk training videos. I also have A:M 2002 Guide by David Rogers, A:M Handbook by Jeff Paries (second edition), Animators Survival Kit by Richard Williams, Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair and a few others. I am sure some of you have stuff too so we should have more than enough to get us through our first meeting.
Since I am providing pizza and drinks, I would like to get a confirmed head count on who is attending, along with your pizza and soda/juice/tea preferences. You can bring beer if you like, but that's on you, and be reasonable.
From a previous message, here is my contact information:
dougwills at rtobestway dot com (no spaces and the normal fixes)
dougwills at mchsi dot com (same as above for my home address, checked less frequently)
or call at work 757-455-2800 x514 or 800-583-4616 x 514. If you don't reach me, please leave a voicemail with your contact number and a good time to reach you and I will return your call. I am in the office most days from 9:30 to 6 with a 1 hour lunch break around one o'clock (varies depending on my mood and degree of hunger.)
The address for those that wish to Mapquest it is:
160 - A Wellman Street
Norfolk, VA 23502
It is a small office building attached to some warehouse space in a combination residential/industrial area about 3 blocks off of the expressway. If you would like specific directions, contact me and I can email a little cheat sheet we have.
I for one am really looking forward to getting together with a group. I always seem to work better when I have a project so anything we do as a group will help me out. So - I am confirmed for Noon on Saturday August 5th. Anyone else, or are we making a change?
-Doug
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I too have had (currently have) this problem. In my case I am running a Radeon 9200SE card in dual screen configuration. If I turn off one of the screens (on the video card, not by using the monitor power button - lol) I can make the problem go away. This is with the newest drivers and in either OpenGL or DirectX. It's not the best solution because I lose all of that extra real estate, but it does work. If you are running dual monitors you may want to give this a try.
-Doug
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Sounds great. Since you started the thread, you should definitely be involved. Does August 5th in Norfolk look good for you? If not, fire back some options. Anybody interested can contact me at work at
doug wills at rtobestway dot com (no spaces and the normal fixes)
doug wills at mchsi dot com (same as above for my home address, checked less frequently)
or call at work 757-455-2800 x514 or 800-583-4616 x 514.
Even if we decide to do this somewhere else, I am happy to try to provide any help I can including being a point of contact.
So Let's go hashers in VA, MD, DC and NC. Anyone else want to join in?
-Doug
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Eric,
I'll check with the other guys I have lined up and see about a date change. Note that the three guys I have lined up are interested in, but have never used AM. One is a grpahics artist, does a lot of photoshop work and has done professional dvd cover design in the past. One is going to school for game developement. Knows about AM, but uses another product. I am trying to convince him to buy AM and get involved in the TWO game. The third guy is a general computer guy who thought it would be fun to join in. I am the only one (other than you of course) with AM experience and that will make you (or maybe Joe C.) the most experienced of the group.
Joe C., does August 5th work for you?
I have been contacted by 2 or 3 other AM'ers in the past about a meet, but haven't heard from them lately. Guess we'll have to start it and try to convince others to join. I'll let you know Monday or Tuesday about the availability of the date change. I'm good for it, but I have to check witht he other guys.
-Doug
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Although I am more than willing to invite anyone who wishes to come, I think the MAAM group is already planning an August cookout by the looks of things. Any users in the area who wish to join in, just give us a shout. The more the merrier.
How does Saturday, July 29th at my corporate office in Norfolk look for everyone? If your response is "doesn't work for me", please include a few dates that do.
I'll spring for pizza and soda. We seem to have enough training material so that looks set. If anyone has any particular ideas for what we should do or cover then talk it up. Otherwise we'll all show up, see what we have and dive right in.
My hope is that we can get this going on a regular basis with as many people as we can.
As Larry the Cable Guy says, Let's "get 'er done!"
Doug
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Eric and Joe,
Sorry I didn't post earlier. I've been out of town a little lately.
If every one is interested, we can have the meeting in my office. We have a conference room that comfortably seats 10 or 15. We have internet access, a tv with dvd player and a projector and screen. I have a graphic artist on staff who doesn't have AM experience but is interested in joining us and another staffer has a boyfriend who is currently in school studying game design who would like to join us.
My office is in Norfolk and located just off the expressway and easy to get to.
If we can set a date then I'll spring for soda and pizza and we'll get together and see what happens. Saturdays seem to be the best bet for me, but I will try to be flexible enough for everyone.
If Norfolk doesn't work for everyone then we will need to discuss alternatives.
What do you guys think?
-Doug
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Tadpole and Doug Wills,
I haven't checked this thread in awhile and I was happy to see your messages. It would be awesome to get together with fellow A:M users. Just holler and I'll be watching this thread a lot more closely this time.
jobusfest,
I'm still a novice, but I am also still interested. I too have training cd's/dvd's. I may also have access to my company's conference room with internet access and a projector and screen (in Norfolk near Military Circle Mall). I'll check today. Might be interesting to get together and see what, if anything, we can start. Let me know.
Doug
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What if the building and display of the map were part of the game play? As Woot completes tasks, the map is inscribed on the back of his shovel (or something similar). Maybe these random graphics appear on various items and only when the Scarecrow thinks to put them together do they reveal the map. Maybe Woot gets a message to start the whole game that is the basic map, and he improves it as he travels and sees the sights of Oz. I love the idea of the 3d map displayed as a significant part of the game. It would really bring the world of Oz to life.
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Important character info should be placed either in the corner (since that follows most common games) or across the bottom of the screen. Readability is the most important factor in determining this, and that depends on how much info is actually being reported at any given time. Screen space can be at a premium at times.
If you are thinking that multiple characters are being displayed at one time, I agree with your colored circle under their feet idea. Works well, isn't distracting and draws the eye right to the character. If more than one character at a time is displayed and active it can get a bit "noisy" though.
Love the transformation idea. Easy to implement and functional across a range of transformations, although keeping the characters the same size in the 3d space may not work depending who transforms into what (I don't know the story line well enough to know.)
I assume you are thinking of using a 3d isometric tile system of some sort? Love that kind of look in games. Can't wait to see this one (yes I know it's one to three years off, but I can hope can't I?
The only thing I will ask is to watch your cinematics. The talking character thing synced with voice gets tiresome after the first run through or so. Playing a video is wonderful .... at first. Please, whatever you do, have an option that skips the video or can quickly step through the synced head/voice thing. After I know the script and have seen the cinematic, I just want to get on to playing the game as quickly as I can. Another option would be to have the cinematics unlocked after you have completed a section. Let me watch them from a different screen later on as I review the game with my grandkids.
One thing I was thinking of, is to have a journal or diary of your gameplay. Not to keep stats, but to keep a list of the morals/objectives/stories experienced or learned as you go on. Something that will enable you to review the game with your kids, but not necessarily have to complete it yourself. My grandkids love to play games. It would be great to be able to talk to them about what they are doing and learning as opposed to how many cars or motorcycles they have wrecked while racing. Just an idea.
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Actually, it some levels that is true, but in others, you could do whatever you wanted and still win the level. To explain, I enter a level that has an objective. I choose which character I want to play. I start the level. I run around doing nothing, but my compatriots will attempt to win the level. If they succeed, I win the level without actually doing anything. Note that this doesn't actually work in the higher levels. If I don't help, we don't win. And yes, the whole plot follows a carfully scripted path overall, but I can choose which characters I use to get there and some of the timing. Most of it is scripted. By the way, many of these game playing features left me wanting more, and I gave up on the game before finishing, so don't use this game as an example of fun gameplay.
Does it make sense to play the scarecrow? Or would it make more sense to play myself interecting with the scarecrow? As the "King" of puzzles, he could test me. Or I could help him solve his puzzle. Anyway, maybe playing myself gives more options in other areas of the game. Just a thought.
And by the way. My two sons are actually my step sons (25 and 15). They call me dad, but truthfully I married a slightly older woman and inherited them (thankfully) with her. I don't tell people that at first because I love the reaction of people when I tell them I am a grandfather.
It does keep life interesting. -
Hey Doug,
Yes, I said that. And MMO's came up once, then twice, then a lot. I think MMO's are pretty nifty. And you're right, there might be a way to take stuff from an MMO and apply it here. But then people started talking about how TWO can be an MMO. Well, the first problem with a TWO MMO is you can't build your own character from scratch (unless you plan on not being any of the main characters in the book). You could be a munchkin I guess, or inhabitant of the emerald city, since there probably a bunch of them. So, how would you as a munchkin, or even a winky, figure into the TWO story? Most MMO's really don't have a story per se. They are a huge, breathing, living environment. I know lots of people who play other games over and over because they're fun, somewhat random, and fun (I said that I know). And they're not MMO's. How many times did you play Myst?
Hey Greg,
I guess it's that huge, living, breathing environment that I love. I can frequently figure out the way an AI character behaves, but I can rarely do that with a live human. Anyway, enough MMO.
I love puzzle games. Your example of Myst is the classic example. But I played it once over a period of several days, solved the puzzles and then ... that's it. The story doesn't change. There is nothing left to accomplish, as wonderful as it was. The puzzles remain the same, even with some randomness thrown in, solving it becomes more of an effort in time then in thought process. Kind of like when you finally realized that you could always end in a draw in tic-tac-toe depending on your starting square, or realizing that the magic 15 square puzzles could alwys be solved with a simple pattern. Amusing for a short time, but not really interesting or fun.
You assume in your previous statements that you can't build your own character from scratch in the game. Why not? (Yes I realize you clarified that point) Why not be a human in the land of Oz that interacts with the characters instead of portraying one? Interact in a way that follows the story (or stories as the case actually is). Develope the character or develope the story, either way is fine. Or what about multiple character play as has been mentioned before? Some as a non-specific human, some as Woot, Tinman, Monkey etc. (or even other characters not in the movie but are in the book - like Lion). Each would have different things to do or accomplish. Maybe even work in the same areas or tasks but from different sides. First time in the castle as Woot, second time in as the witch. Same area, same story line, but different tasks based on the character being played. I have a game based on Lord of the Rings that follows this format.
Anyway, I am not the (Presumed) target audience (a 43 year old grandfather) but my youngest son and two grandkids are. I will run this by them and get their input. It will probably be worth a lot more then mine!
-Doug
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Greg,
Happy to comply and not talk about MMO, but in your original words
"So, here is where you can put in your own two cents as to what YOU feel makes a video game work or not. Things like multiplayer, on the fly character switching, non-linear play, and so on and so forth.
Dump your thoughts here!
Keep in mind this is not focused on the TWO story, but rather games in general. What you like and what you don't like.
Maybe name off the games you do like and why, and the games you can't stand and why as well."
You asked about what we liked and played. You said don't talk about the specific story. I (as were others I am sure) was just throwing in my two cents about what I enjoyed.
Maybe we could somehow take the things that make a MMO unique (especially the social aspects of the game) and intro them into some other type of game (although I am at a loss as to how you would do that in and RPG or FPS of some sort.) Building a character AND attaining goals is better then just attainiing goals. I know that every time I play, I have more to accomplish. This keeps me coming back for more.
In games that have a distinct beginning and end, with a driven path between, story line or not, get boring after you have "solved the riddle" or "killed the bad guy" or "rescued the princess" for the third or fourth time.
Now I know I don't speak for everyone. There are plenty of people who love the games that are built on repetition, trying to add to your score or complete the task two seconds faster. I'm just not one of them. Give me a game that's different every time I play, within the confines of the environment the game maker creates. If I like the environment, story and game play, I will be back for more. Maybe that's why I seem to fall for a game and play it long and hard before moving on to the next one.
-Doug
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My favorite game right now (and for the last year and a half) is a game called Runescape. It has many of the same features as WOW, but it is different. (They have both a free and pay version if you would like to try it out.)
What do I like about it? It has several forms of gameplay. You can do what I refer to as resource management. You can chop trees, mine ore, fish, farm, smith, fletch (make bows and arrows), craft (make all kinds of things like jewelry , pottery etc.) and cook. Building and owning your own house is in the works.
You can also develope the traditional fighting fields of Attack, strength, defense, range (archery), magic, hit points and slayer (handling specific monster assignments.)
For those who like the more intellectual efforts, there are quests, puzzles and clue scrolls that need to be solved, along with a few games rooms, a group war, gnomeball (soccer variant) and others.
It allows you to take whatever path suites you, although some paths require certain prerequisites (must complete quest "B" before being able to go into land "X".)
I could easily see this being adopted to the world of Oz. Different races to interact with, resources to deal with, fighting and magic. The quests idea is a perfect fit.
The really neat thing about Runescape is that it is a Massive Multi Player game. Each "World" (all exactly the same except some are for free players and most are for pay players. Pay players get access to more lands and features) holds a maximum of 2000 players, and we all get to interact with each other. We can add people to our friends list and do some quests together. In fact, several of the quests REQUIRE more than one person to solve it. This creates a sense of community in the game, so the game becomes very social for most players. We help our friends and attack our enemies. Lot's of fun. Since game play can be different every time you play, it doesn't become boring (at least not for me after 18 months.)
Try it out for free and you will see the way each of these ideas work together in the whole. Add me to your friends list (sorecsorec is my characters name) and you can PM me in game to discuss the various features.
-Doug
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Thanks for the opportunity Rodney. Free always fits my budget. One chance please.
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As someone who has yet to contribute anything of value, I would be hard pressed to put too much weight into my opinion. But... ;-)
I like the idea. One stop shopping for those who want contest specific info. Competition usually gets the blood flowing and anything that increases overall program awareness and use is a good thing.
As far as the WIP questions, what if a couple of volunteers (HASH Fellows or others) provided anonymous feedback to WIP's while the contest was rolling. No one else would see the results until voting time, but the person entering the contest would still be able to receive good advice before the contest deadline. This keeps the entries fresh for the common folk while allowing someone to get much needed feedback while creating their works of art.
As far as using "View New Posts" is concerned, I use that function every time I log on. However, there are times when I can't review all of the new entries before having to log off. When I come back and click "View New Posts" again, there are frequently many threads that I have missed and only find while crawling around the individual sub-forums.
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Name: Doug Wills
Exercise completed: FW-190
Date completed: 8/7
Instructor: Book and web tutorial
I enjoyed this one. Now I understand how a lot of detail can be added to a model or scene without a lot of modeling. Makes perfect sense now.
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Name: Doug Wills
Exercise completed: Flower Power
Date completed: 8/7
Instructor: Book and web video
Fun little ditty. Glad to do it because my wife is a daisy nut and has a lot of ideas she wants me to produce with talking and dancing daisy's. At least it will be good practice and it means that I can stay on the computer playing with A:M if I agree to do it. ;-)
By the way, I am noticing that on many of the videos, this one included, that the audio loses sync with the video about half way through (not on most stuff, just the tutorials.) It becomes a big pain trying to line the screen display up with the audio to catch things, especially the smaller details. Is it just me, or are others experiencing it too. If it's just me, anyone have any ideas on a solution?
Thanks
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Name: Doug Wills
Exercise completed: Customized car
Date completed: 8/6
Instructor: Book and web tutorial
Basic, but informative.
Anyone wanna race?
Didn't spend a lot of time on this but the concepts are good to understand. Used a little of the ",", "." and "/" keys which some hiding and unhiding. It really helps. Saw the use of distortion cages on one of the SIGGRAPH videos. Can't wait for your 8.5.
-Doug Wills
Where there's a Wills, there's a way!
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Name: Doug Wills
Exercise completed: Can you say that?
Date completed: 7/26 (but posted 8/6)
Instructor: Book and web tutorial
Comments: I have to say that when a computer decides to go belly up, it goes belly up. Took awhile to get the posted because of a catastrophic hard drive failure. Luckily, I have several hard drives in my system and the one that died was the boot drive. Didn't lose any data or A:M project info. Thank goodness, but it took me a little while to rebuild my system and reload my programs.
I spent the time reading Richard Williams "The Animator's Survival Kit" and watching the Jeff Lew dvd, along with the 2002, 2003 and 2004 SIGGRAPH cd's. Wow. A LOT of good info there. I can't say that I will worry about weighted cp's when face rigging, detailed analysis of anime rendering or putting feathers on a bird anytime soon, but the biggest things I got out of these tutorials was the way in which professional animators and modelers worked. To see the speed at which some of these people did their jobs, it started to give me hope that a larger project then these tut's can be done in a reasonable time frame. Just the study of the way these pro's setup their screens and what keyboard shortcuts they used was enough to get me excited about what the future holds. I now believe that with more experience, my animation ideas will become reality. Needless to say, it was a great feeling.
Back to the tutorials. I haven't posted number 6 yet. I will come back to that one later. After a dozen (failed) attempts, I have just decided that Shaggys hands don't want to play well. One time I got them constrained to the door knob correctly, but his elbows went crazy. Another time I got the elbows right, but when the knob was rotated the hands rotated on the same Z axis and simply mirrored the knob. I will worry about redoing that one later.
In can you say that I threw in a back ground and a light. I know I need to do a lot of studying about lighting (found a great web tut that I will do when done with these.) I just needed to try something to start to get a feel for it. I also noticed that many people in their examples did very little secondary animation. As a cat owner I can tell you that tails rarely stay still. Richards book opened my eyes to a lot of things that I probably would never have thought about. Running through an animation several time concentrating on different aspects each time makes so much sense, instead of getting overwhelmed trying to remember it all at one time.
Anyway, thanks for your encouragment Rodney. It really does help. File is too big to upload, so here's the link. Forgive the website. Spelling mistakes I didn't catch and basic text leave a lot to be desired. I'll worry about it later.
http://dougwills.home.mchsi.com
-Doug
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Gotta "Take a Walk" (in a hurry no less)
Completed 6/9/05
Book and video
Enjoyed this one because I immediately thought of several uses for it in projects I want to tackle after the classes.
User Groups in Virginia?
in A:M Users Groups
Posted
OK, you have sufficiently tickled my "interested" bone.
Can't wait to see what you have come up with. Sounds like it will be fun and educational.