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Hmm, rendering on my machine (which has only got one gig of ram, and is running vista) is fun. Ok, so I know some others have longer render times, but considering how basic my wheels are, with no effects on them… oh well, as long as they look how they should, that’ll be fine with me.

slight shift

The more I’ve been thinkning about it, the more it seems obvious that this wheel that I’m making is the utter example of the theme that I’m trying to get at in this piece. By creating a digital wheel, I’ve created the very essence of dependancy on the previous technology for the next generation to be possible. It’s somewhat of an irony that I’m deliberately trying to show the fundamental core of all modern technologies by making it virtual, and therefor utterly revoking its place as the most grounded technology, and making it the most fragile. I think I’ll put my wheel at the end of the piece, as opposed to dispersly fading it throughout the piece, as I had intended, and have it as the end result; something so utterly removed from practicality (what’s the practical reason of a 3d dimensional computer generated wheel?) that it confounds reason. 

I think I’ll call my piece Irony!

the portal

yes. once AGAIN the portal’s dowm. incredibly useful when you’re trying to get info about what it is you’re supposed to be doing. It wouldn’t be so bad if we got given lecture notes about things, but pretty much everything is paper less. Good for the environment, but bad when you can’t get access to what it is you’re trying to study.

supprised

although I enjoy programming, I’ve got to admit that it’s not my forte… which was why I was pleasantly surprised when I got the results through from the Java test we just did… over 70%!! I really do have to say a big thanks to Martin for the mock test he gave us. It made me realise where the holes in my revision were, and I was able to mend some of them accordingly. cheers.

essay part 1 done… kind of

ok, sol I’ve got my essay handed-in… though not as complete as I’d have liked. I was going from the hci assignment sheet given to us at the start of term, which stated that the essay had to be handed in at 2pm… turns out it was changed to 12. An e-mail was sent out, but it was corrected, and ammended, saying it for one group, then aother, then another… all a bit ambiguous. So, I found out the it was 12 and not 2 just in time… by someone who works at a shop near me, who although not on my course, or in my lecture group informed me that the deadline alteration was applicable to all groups. As a result, I rushed back, and printed-put what I had and didn’t have time to print out some of the diagrams I wanted, nor get all the supporting info done. So why didn’t I get ot printed out earlier? well because I had work the day before. I asked to get the shift off to get everytihng sorted, but, I was told to go in for a couple of hours, and they’d send me home as soon as possible… as it turns out however, the person who was supposed to be on the long shift (I was only supposed to be on a short supporting shift) was delyed by a bomb scare in London, and I had to stay on at work until he arrived. I there for got home at about half eleven at night… rather than about seven. I went to print out some of my images, only to find out that my colour cartridge had about enough ink to print out half a diagram. I spent the rest of the evening cutting my essay down to 3,700 words. It was on the morning the next day, when I went out to get  new cartridge, that I went into the shop, and ws informed about the deadline change… I was not ammused to say the least. Well it’s in now, so there’s not a lot I can so about it, other than wait to see what the outcome is…

waiting

well, we had our weekly meet where everyone decided what needed to be done, so I did some alterations to the lay-out of the site… minor details now, I’m pleased to say. Discussions were had about the url, as the one we want appears to be taken… though there’s nothing being done with it. Tut. Don’t know if that got resolved or not, nor do I know when some of the other members are gonna get some of the images together so we can finish this thing, but there’s not a lot to do now.

Don’t remember if I’ve posted this or not, but we’ve now got a Yahoo email set-up for the company, a facebook, and a myspace as well. it’s www.myspace.com/deadpixel_uk ! go look, and if you’ve got a myspace add us!

Hmm

ok, so I’ve realised that I’ve not posted anything about my development of the 3d piece up here in a while, as I’ve been doing most of the ideas and pregressions my workbooks, and anything digital, I’ve not uploaded!  I’ll have to get all the paper notes, sketches and diagrams scanned in, and formatted… and I think I’m out of space on this thing, so I’ll have to host them somewhere else, such as photo-bucket, and then try and link them onto here… Got a lot on atm though, so may be a couple of days yet.

gah

ok, so I’m on my third write-up so far, each one getting more and more academically worded… which is good, but omg, I’m going mad staring at the screen. Got to get some pictures and diagrams done for it as well… I have to admit, I kinda forgot to put that timescale into my planning. ah well, I’m sure I’ll get something done.

score!

A break through! www.keepvid.com, allows you to capture streaming video from the net… which means I’m able to get hold of the videos on youtube! Result! It saves them in a flv format, but I’m sure premiere will be able to import them for editing! I’ve had to download an flv player to view them, and the qualilty looks good enough to use the the specified resolution.

I want a video recorder… not a vhs!

Well the video search for suitable clips is proving difficult. Out of the ones I’ve got hold of, I think there’s only two that I plan to use. There’s some on youtube, but you’re not able to download from there. The search goes on!