Roger
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Posts posted by Roger
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I have 3 systems I would like to use AM on. My main laptop, my tower (would use mainly for rendering) and my junker laptop (which gets carried around more often because I don't need to worry about it breaking as much). $240 a year really isn't that bad, I currently only have the one license.
When was there going to be a $49 price, and how did that get hosed? If explaining that is going to cause a problem feel free to PM me.
Too bad, that would have been useful.
But as Largento pointed out, less than a quarter a day to use AM is a pretty good deal. Unless you are really destitute you could probably come up with the money.
I remember spending $500 (student version) on 3ds v3 waaayyyy back in the 90s. I never upgraded to Max because I think the upgrade was going to be something like $2000.
I hate to sound like an old man, but imagine having to pay the price of a used car to update AM. Heck, Alias used to be like $25000 or something with all the modules. And the computer to run it was another $10,000 or $25000.
I'm going to adjust the onion on my belt and go chase some kids off my lawn now.
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Well after spending a good hour trying to transplant the guts of my PC into a more svelte case, I think I'm going to leave everything in the tower. I'll just chuck it under the desk and get a really long cable for the optical drive and maybe wireless mouse and keyboard. Ugh.
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This is cool but I suspect might not be practical?
Poverty is a tough nut to crack. We can't seem to fully
employ everyone as it is. And the long-term trend is towards more
automation requiring less labor, not more. I really
don't know what the solution is.
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I have a hard time with managing my own project, I think I would be useless on a community project (at least until I'm done with mine).
I do think that another feature film is not necessarily the way to go, as others have mentioned a short is probably better.
Maybe with a maximum length of 20 minutes? It just seems like a short is more doable.
Anyway, that's my two cents.
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I'm trying to decide how I feel about using mo-cap on my movie. I am not sure if it falls under the category of legitimate shortcut or taking the easy way. It would definitely allow me to do more animation, but not sure if it would be better.
Xtaz, does the base version support all normal movements, or do you have to pop for the pro or advanced version? I think they have trial, basic, pro and elite with each one having a correspondingly higher price tag. I could swing the basic version but $500 or $600 (or even more) is more than I care to spend.
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One thing you could do, have the planet with its atmosphere in the initial shot, but don't pan as the sphere comes into frame.
Then, switch to a shot where you are riding down with it, sort of over the shoulder with the flames coming into the actual camera lens.
Then you're back down on the ground - no pans, but you are looking form a distance. Sphere strikes the earth.
You are then centered on the crater, but further away. You dolly or zoom in to the lip of the crater, but not so you can see into it.
Cut to the arms reaching up out of the crater. Next shot is the robot clambering out of the crater, what you already have is ok, probably don't need to change that. Next, when he is looking around, that is where you pan, but maybe slow it down a bit, like he is methodically scanning.
Definitely enlarge the font on the display so we can see what is there. Maybe instead of a pan down to the hands, cut to an external shot of his hands on fire, then back to his view with hands centered in frame and they are on fire (no pans).
That is probably how I would block this out.
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I like the idea. I'm not familiar with the character, but the spaceship crashing to earth and the robot crawling out of the crater is cool.
Lot of potential for story development. Why is he here? Is he friend or foe? You could do a lot of interesting things.
But yeah, that camera is way too busy. I think if you limit the actual pans to when he is looking around, it will work better. I really don't think there is a need for any pans in the rest of the shots. Or if you have to have one, make it simple.
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You can use any rig that you can attach the imported BVH data to. It's like constraining things to things.
Great mocap results will require great mocap acting to capture. Editing mocap is problematic and a skill in itself.
I was just thinking, not having any acting training, it might be easier to just animate instead of trying to clean up janky mo-cap data.
Oh well, was worth thinking about.
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I ran across this on the Steam store the other day:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/227740/
I thought it might be useful for blocking out animation quickly with my characters and then go back add fine details.
I see it supports .BVH, that is compatible with AM, right? If you were to use something like this are you limited to using a single rig?
I would be interested to know what you guys think.
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My problem is I can't play my horn after I've had spicy ramen noodles.
Ok, I'll bite. How would that cause a problem?
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Something tells me you would have serious health problems if you did this:
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/teen...-165713286.html
I believe I would die of hypertension if I tried eating that much Ramen.
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I am pretty sure if any of these machines were real, you would have to hire a lot of janitors to spread sawdust around.
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Well I checked their website but I only see a model for $2995. That's a bit rich for my blood. Is this not available yet?
Form factor is kinda funky, too. But, pretty nice features for the money.
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Is it possible to use one for a display and one for GPU computing? For instance, one does all your display stuff and you can use the other for Open CL/Cuda apps or SETI at home or whatever.
Curious as I have a faster graphics card as well as a not so fast one thta I would like to use, but if this makes no sense then I'll just get rid of the older one.
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I've been thinking about doing a short project, something like a goldfish in a bowl and I was thinking about using cloth to generate the fins.
Does anyone know of any good cloth tutorials?
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That is pretty amazing. Must have been a ton of work, even for that short clip.
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I went from a stock speed of 2.6ghz on my Core i7 920 to 3.6ghz, cpu is not even above 120 degrees F (according to the temp sensor).
I could probabably push it to 4 or even 4.2 but I don't know that I feel like messing around with the voltages or memory clocks.
I've heard of people hitting 5ghz with the newer i7s with water cooling but I'm not sure what speed memory they are using, or how aggressively they are tweaking the voltage. If you pushed the FSB, the voltage and had a cpu with an unlocked multiplier you could probably hit 5ghz. I'll stick with my 1ghz overclock for now, that is in the neighborhood of 40 to 50%.
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I've been thinking of applying for a network admin position at my current place of employment. They list a CS (computer science) degree as one of the requirements. Casually thumbing through a CS course catalog from the local extension campus, it seems like overkill for network admin stuff, more like it is geared toward software engineering/software development.
Anybody out there doing this for a living now, and have any recommendations? I think this path might fit my talents better, but not keen on going back to school or piling up a ton of debt right now. In addition to opening up more options at my current place of employment, it might ultimately be a useful skill to have if I was looking to become a TD at an animation studio.
Any recommendations for courses/independent study type stuff? Any sense in pursuing certifications?
Thanks in advance.
All you need is a cert I have one in that. Network+ had it since 2001 I believe.
I hardly think a single cert is enough unless you have significant experience in that role already.
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I thought about doing the $100 zombie likeness, but then I thought "how do I know my zombie doppelganger wouldn't go off having adventures?"
So, I think I'll stick with the $10 pledge
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Largento,
If I missed the Wobbling Dead kickstarter, can I still throw a sawbuck your way (through paypal or something)? I wanted to donate but lost track of the deadline and missed the window.
Roger
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I realize that even the most high level job is not going to be all interesting, all the time. There is always grunt work that needs to be done.
I just am not sure that my talents are being utlized to their utmost right now. I probably could have been a supervisor or team lead of my helpdesk team by now, but I didn't apply for the position because I've never been comfortable with managment roles. Although, in hindsight I probably should have because it might have opend up other avenues by now.
talk to your current employer. Let them know you are interested in moving up. Communication!
I have sort of an odd background, my degree is a BFA but I probably have enough engineering coursework to be most of the way to an Associates. I don't really want to do another 4 year degree, I was thinking of doing a Masters or backfilling my knowledge gaps with certifications.Not a bad plan..but understand that certifications won't replace a BS degree in the eyes of most HR departments. An MBA is not a bad way to go, but pricey.
A BFA huh? My daughter earned hers several years ago..she's running a day care program for the YMCA now...so much for the $80k+ I spent on that degree!
I've already let them know I would like to make a move to another team. Things are kind of rocky right now. We have had a mass exodus from our IT department, so I honestly don't know what is going to happen.
I am extraordinarily fortunate that I have my degree, I don't know that I would have gotten by the HR filter without it.
I think my job experience was what got me hired, the degree may have fulfilled their hiring requirements. I honestly don't know.
I think people with BA/BFA degrees can do well in a lot of positions. You sorta have to sneak in the back door, though
What is your daughter's degree in? Maybe there is something she could pursue that would leverage her childcare experience? Teaching maybe? (although that is not easy, but if she likes kids, it might be an option).
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How did college get so damn expensive? The college I went to has almost Harvard tuition now.
There are a couple reasons. College is seen as a ticket into a middle class life, more or less, so people will stretch their means to be able to afford it. It has become the de-facto standard that all HR departments go by. You could be the best engineer, programmer, architect, artist (well, a little less so in the art world) but if you don't have the sheepskin, a lot of places simply will not hire you.
So you have a huge demand for degrees, because without one, your employment options are pretty much limited to fast food, retail, or low or unskilled labor. These types of jobs barely support a single person, let alone a family.
The easy availability of federal loans also probably has something to do with the price going up. You have a large supply of money available for something that there is a very high demand for. If the money wasn't there and people suddenly couldn't afford to go, colleges would be dropping their prices.
We are probably going to see the student loan bubble pop at some point. I think there is something like $1 trillion in student loans floating around out there? You've got a ton of people out there that are barely getting by with $300, $400, $500 a month or more loan payments.
I have mixed feelings about my own education. I am glad I went and after a rocky start, started earning the kind of money that made it worth it (from a financial viewpoint). I think I would have benefitted from doing a 2-4 year military service or something ( do they even have 2 year tours of duty?) or maybe doing the first 2 years at a community college where it would have been an order of magnitude cheaper.
I had a lot of difficulties at that time in my life, though, that prevented me from getting as much out of it as I could have.
I think highschools don't seriously discuss options to the standard 4 year college program. No one ever told me about trade schools or that I could be earning college credit while in highschool by taking the right classes. I really would like to horsewhip my guidance counselor.
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so I'm going to address the initial question of what a BS in IT would prep you for...quite simply it only gets you past the first HR persons desk. What is taught in college very rarely satisfies the IT needs of most businesses. Sure, you get a smattering of the new fad software tools (python, html5 etc.), a little of analysis work, all of which you will use, but what you won't get is a good solid business knowledge, that most companies hunger for in their IT personnel. That being said, if you want a career in IT, earning the $80k+ salaries we all need to survive, then you need at least a BS in IT.
I've been a software engineer for 28+ years, doing everything from computer room operations in the 80s (oh the memories!) to owning my own software firm/ISP. I currently work for a state government consulting company here in Albany. For us, getting qualified developers is actually next to impossible. Java developers, database admins, etc. are surprisingly hard to come by. Check out this job list to give you an idea of what we look for. Now, if you're looking for a job where you don't feel like a "script monkey" all day, then IT, in all its aspects, can feel like that at one time or another.
I realize that even the most high level job is not going to be all interesting, all the time. There is always grunt work that needs to be done.
I just am not sure that my talents are being utlized to their utmost right now. I probably could have been a supervisor or team lead of my helpdesk team by now, but I didn't apply for the position because I've never been comfortable with managment roles. Although, in hindsight I probably should have because it might have opend up other avenues by now.
I have sort of an odd background, my degree is a BFA but I probably have enough engineering coursework to be most of the way to an Associates. I don't really want to do another 4 year degree, I was thinking of doing a Masters or backfilling my knowledge gaps with certifications.
While I might not need $80k to survive, I would certainly need that much to justify spending $10-$25k to go back to school. I don't think I could swing the loan payments, otherwise.
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Our economy doesn't seem to have the stability people need to make career plans. By the time you finish training for something , someone has figured out a way to outsource it. I'm lousy on career advice.
A long time ago i worked in a phone center taking repair parts orders for Sears. There were always two big bumps in the conversation: asking for their model number (they couldn't find it) and telling them that shipping and handling for the lock washer they ordered was going to be $19.95.
I did not know that I was a script monkey.
An even more script monkey job I had was in the 80's doing market research surveys. "New Coke" hit back then and we were spending 30-40 minutes with each person asking them questions like
"On a 1-10 scale, do you feel New Coke is... reliable?"
I was "good" at that job because people would believe me when I told them "There's just a few questions left, we're almost done..."
For most surveys the "respondents" had satisfy certain demographics before you could do the survey on them.
One night about 40 of us were all calling trying to complete a survey that needed just two more respondents, but they had to be female, over 40, living in Utah and admitted to drinking at least four beers a day.
That does seem to be the rub, doesn't it? It is a shame I didn't have $10000 and the foresight to invest it in Apple back in, oh, 1997.
Then I could just go be a gentleman farmer in Costa Rica or run a scuba diving shop. Right now the best case looks like a re-run of the 1970s with stagflation. I don't want to think about the worst case.
In any case, I meant no offense to any current or former customer service folk out there. Every customer service type job has a general pattern of interaction, info you have to get, etc. I can't imagine doing surveys on Coke, that must have been interesting. Especially with the requirements as granular as that. I can just imagine how that goes "ok, so you're female, and over 40, right? And you have at least 4 beers a day...are those before noon or after noon?" YIKES.
What I was thinking of was when you call, say, Dell for tech support and get "Bill" (you surely have talked to Bill at some point).
You say "hey Bill, my PC started with this error message on the screen "error: fan failure - system halt" and my computer won't boot."
Instead of saying "here is your RMA number, we'll get that fixed for you right away", Bill then makes you check the machine is plugged in, attempt to boot it, read you the error 2 or 3 times, hop on one foot, etc. And during the entire conversation, "Bill" sounds like he is reading out of a binder. You may or may not get an RMA number from Bill, if you don't you have to repeat the process all over again with a different "Bill", because the original has shuffled you back to the beginning of the phone queue.
But that would be a textbook example of (paticularly poor) low-level tech support. In fairness to the "Bills" out there, they have their calls monitored, can and will be reprimanded if they deviate from the script, and a lot of times they can't spend more than 5 to 10 minutes on a call (due to quotas from management). These sorts of restrictions are one thing when you are just logging complaints, an entirely different thing if you are attempting to fix someone's problem (which could take ten minutes or an hour). This is the main reason you get such crappy tech support from large companies.
So, when I said "script monkey" I was thinking of that type of experience, not customer service people in general.
*my apologies to any actual Bills, I just needed a random name*
Sometimes you are better off leaving your computer be
in Off Topic
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LOL. I don't have a cat, just a yorkie that barks every time he hears a noise. I almost acquired a cat a few years ago, though.
I came home late from work on a really cold night and a stray tried to follow me into my house. I had to chase it away. Sometimes I wish I had let it in, but you never know with stray cats how they are going to act.