Capstone Reflection

Seeing all the hard work at capstones really made me feel I need to work all the even more next year. I need more than jsut a simple weapons forge. I need to expand. I dn't want to be a joke between two wondeful capstones in the same room. Some people had measly works while others around them had amazing hard work done. I do not want to be that guy. I feel once again this has kicked me in the butt saying I am not doing enough. I need to work harder

Capstone Interviews

For my interviews, I talked to Nate moody, Kenneth Van Velzen, and Xian Guan.

Why did you choose this for your capstone project?

Nate decided he wanted to make his comic because he wanted to advance his skills in story telling and felt this was the best way he knew how. Kenneth on the other hand took a business plan idea and used it to combine several aspects from the media, art, and even the production because he felt it displayed his strengths. Xian always wanted to be a 3D character artist and her passion for this produced two wonderfull modeled characters.


What are some changes you had to make for your capstone from the origional idea and what you are presenting today.

Nate said he didn't really change anything at all, but Kenneth made sacrifices and decided to focus more on context above all else. Xian ran short on time and only modeled 2 of her planned 3 characters. She was also going to do some fan models but she felt they didn't capture their likeness well enough to present.

What is your opinion of the timeline for your capstone. Was it helpful or a watse of time? Why?

While Nate only used it to find where he was at, he did not really stick to it 100%. Kenneth did his in a single semester, but while very hard he said he had to do it every single week and follow the timeline to finish. In the end Xian altered her timeline when she felt she only achieved part of her goal, but after changing she achieved what she wanted after. Changing is necessary sometimes.

If you could change anything about your capstone, what would it be?

Nate simply wanted more physical material but financially could not do it. Kenneth simply wanted to go further with it as much as he could. He felt more could have been done with it. Xian felt there were some technical details with her capstone like how she did the hair and how she would have done the scene they were posed in.

What advice would you give me in planning my capstone?

Nate recommended doing something you are familiar with foremost but try to do some different things to stretch your abilities some. Kenneth felt we should stick to the timeline and keep meeting with our mentors and that we need our own will to finish it. Xian simply replied we should start ASAP, no excuses.

Timeline

In my timeline i have it separated  mostly to divide up the modeling and get a specific number done each week if possible. Some weeks have less or more depending on the amount of work the previous and following week so just in case i do not get it finished, i have a little bleeding room here and there. As for the latter part of the spring semester, I left a lot of open time for texturing and refining of my models and a few weeks to go back and work on anything I could be behind on or add a little more if necessary. There is plenty of room for work the second half of the spring semester to prepare for my capstone. At least I think there is

Peer Support Group

Hy, My name is Matt

Everyone Else: HIII MAAAAATT!

The Category my capstone fits into: 3d/Game

I plan on using Autodesk Maya, Photoshop, and After Affects for my capstone most definitely.

Class Discussion Thoughts

Hearing someone else talk about my capstone wasn't so bad, though the person quite broadened what I said. I know what I need to model, something of everything just not specifically what in each category. Quite frankly the only thing I got from it was to hear what others were doing. I do not really need to know too much about everyone else as I need to focus on getting my own capstone together and worry only about it and try not to intentionally surpass everyone as that would weaken the purpose of my capstone.

Capstone Ideas

For my capstone I want to 3D model some objects well to show I can do it to potential employers in the future. Now my ideas come in what way I can do that. My original idea was to make a 3D gallery using maya and having a run through like it was going through a museum. Another idea was for me to import my work into a UDK level so someone could explore the objects from all angels. However, my current idea is to use this new 3D extension to After Affects to present it in a way no one has since this is a new program and no one really knows about or how to use it. I still may do the UDK level though, it depends  on if I can figure out how to import things properly into it.

Capstone

I believe capstones are supposed to be a representation of everything you learned in your journey through school and show what you can and want to do with your future. It is hard to choose what to do for a capstone because personally, I don't know exactly what role I want to play. I know for sure I want to get into video games, but I am not sure which aspect I should really focus on. I personally feel while I know a bit of everything, I am not good enough in any of the fields to focus on for a capstone. I know 3D, but I am not sure I can do anything near good enough. This is what makes capstone the biggest test out here, and why it needs to be thought about heavily to best represent exactly what I can do.