WALKER

My latest project at school was to build a 3d model of the Imperial Walkers from the Empire Strikes Back. I still remember being a kid and seeing these giant metal monsters on the big screen. I thought they were the coolest thing ever, and to this day, I still think they are a beautiful design.

This project went a lot smoother than the last project. It seems like I rebuilt quite a few parts of my building before I got it right, but that wasn't the case with this model. I guess that must mean I'm learning.

I had four main sources of reference to build this walker (also known as an AT-AT). On each of the desks at school was a well detailed plastic model of the walker that was about 13 inches tall. We also had photographic reference of a highly detailed, officially licensed replica, along with blueprints and a bunch of screen shots from the movie.

Now, before any die-hard Star Wars fans decide to write to me and point out some details that are wrong, understand that all four of these sources of reference were similar, but none were the same. So, my walker is really a mesh of all four, with a few of my own little details thrown in. Enough said?

The two big points of this project were to create realistic texturing and to make lots of nurnies. Nurnies was a new term to me before this project. Basically, they're all the little surface details that don't do anything, but make the surface look more complex and real. The texturing (dirt, burn marks, etc.) are mostly hand painted in photoshop and applied to the surface as image maps.

We will be covering animation in class later in the year, and although we started rigging this beast for walking, head turning, and guns kicking, we aren't focusing on animating it right now, but we'll get to that later. I really can't wait to make this thing walk, run, and maybe even tap-dance.

At the very end of the project, we were given a quick, fun assignment. We were told to imagine that some company like Fed-Ex or U-Haul purchased one of these walkers and painted it up with their company colors. Everybody in the class decorated their walker in a different way. Imagine one of these things as a school bus or delivering pizza. They were hilarious! I went in a slightly different direction and made my walker into the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine.

And with that, we're almost at the end of the first quarter of school. The next quarter, starting in April, will cover character modeling and animation. I'm really looking forward to that!

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IT'S LIKE HALLOWEEN

Work, school, and some other projects (like taxes) have kept me really busy these past few weeks. It's all going well, but when I finally do get a chance to sleep late on a weekend, I crash pretty hard.

A couple of weeks ago, I went with some friends to a convention in Orlando called Megacon. I didn't really know what to expect. I knew the school had a booth there, and I knew it was a convention of gaming, comics, anime, sci-fi, etc. but I definitely did not expect to see so many costumes.

Even though I'm not a big gamer, and I'm not into comics or anime, this was a fun time. I had no idea who most of these characters were, but it really didn't matter. They were pretty entertaining and they didn't mind posing for pictures.

I had never been to the Orlando Convention Center before, and I had no idea just how huge it is. There were a number of events going on besides Megacon including a home and spa show, and a cheerleading competition. Walking in from the parking garage, I got a good laugh when I saw four stiffs in business suits closely following a couple dressed as a stormtrooper and Princess Leia.

It's no secret that I love Halloween, and even though dressing up in costumes is not my thing, I give these people a lot of credit. It would take no effort to make fun of them, but they put some serious work and creativity into their costumes, and it takes some balls to leave the house looking like this...

and this...

and this...

These guys were handing out flyers for their concert that evening. They're in a robot rock band.

Next time I promise to post some images from my latest school project. Until then, happy St. Patrick's Day, and Karen, hang in there. I hope you feel better soon.

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