Milestones, baby!

 Here we are at the end of the semester Winter 2021, considering our last class of OBDF 110a and our futures. We came together in this class for a multitude of reasons, and are leaving with an even greater number of skills and solutions. Let's look back over the semester as it pertained to me and my projects. 

1) The Objectified Response

I was aware that there was a large breadth of design processes, individualized to people and companies but I'm not sure I was ready to have so many downloaded into my brain at once. Regardless I sifted through the various approaches until I found one that gelled with me. Then I applied that to a problem in my own home to design a solution that I still think is very elegant for someone with no experience in CAD and very little experience in 3d design. 

The largest challenge here was getting TOO much help from my partner who was very interested in my homework and kept trying to solve the design problems for me. We solve things very differently and it was important to me that I solve this in *my way*. I wanted to solve this particular solution as I have chronic back pain that is inflamed by my work as an artist. 

This was a big skill builder for me, and I spent much longer than the suggested amount of time on this homework because I wanted to be sure I had a strong understanding moving forward. Sacrificing my entire Saturday and partial Sundays to this class would become a recurring theme. 

2) Mesh Mashup

As noted, I wanted to sink so much time into this computer-assisted world, gaining more power until I was a god amongst bytes. But my first mesh mashup concept rendition of Apex Predator looks kinda like a potato on a wonky ointment tube. 

I also put so many fingers on a brush, tinkercad basically ground to a halt. 

The problem with this project wasn't so much a lack of imagination but a lack of constraints upon my imagination. I would only accept strong juxtapositions but I had too many options to set against eachother. If I was to do this again, I would start with a word map and then start looking for objects - instead of looking for objects first, worried I wouldn't have enough choices.

I decided to move forward with Apex Predator as I felt there were several layers of juxtaposition in the design- visually and conceptually. 

Peer review helped this lil' guy become all that they could be. I really appreciated the input from the review group, who were willing to laugh at some of the odd objects we made. Meshmixer was a pretty simple step from Tinkercad, thankfully so no tripping there. 

Rhino rendering really helped Apex Predator take it to the next level. Texture and lighting made me feel like I was almost a professional. Did I minutely overmanage every step to hit as close to perfection as I could? Yes. Did I also get faster because that meant I learnt the process? That was a more important yes. 

3) Papercraft

I was almost sad to move into more tangible concerns (and I a little bit dreaded the idea-generation process). Even within the narrow scope given to us (an object of importance) there were so many approaches, so many ways to create and so many process choices. I felt like there were almost too many options - but maybe that's because I was hiding from the object I would eventually end up replicating in paper. This object was almost excessively meaningful, sliding into the realm of the sacrosanct and I felt as though it levelled it's gaze straight back at me, demanding to be considered, solved, laid to rest. 

Pretending during the practice week that I wasn't going to do my car. 

And of course, that object was my car. Destroyed in an 2018 accident, it became a pivotal moment in my life leaving me with permanent disability, causing me to leave my healthcare career and leading me back to school. Shortly before this project started my doctor changed the medication I take to control chronic pain from this accident - and the side effects were, and continue to be, intense. I struggled with focus, nausea and drowsiness. 

But I wasn't interesting in giving up or skimping on this project. It became consuming, as though somehow capturing the essence of the post-accident car would exorcise it from my life. It certainly helped that I had been very interested in Gabo and faktura during Sculpture class the preceding semester and felt strongly about the replication of a large metal object within the capability of paper whilst still honouring paper for it's self.

failed first model - didn't even make it to peer review

Beefier plans

Sturdier car. 

Rendered after review and snazzing up

Assembled in paper

Because Bryan ran this template through the laser cutter, he knows how many pages of card there were. Due to an error in the creation process, I had to re-create this vehicle from an earlier stage which meant essentially, I templated at least twice. The upside is that I am very fast at putting tabs on seventeen pages of template now. My partner barely saw me that weekend, so he deserves praise for his patience. 

4) Hybrid 3D Model

By this point I had come to realize that in my design process, if I am unfamiliar with the boundaries of the tech, I need to experiment. Instead of being concerned that I will sink all my time into a solution only to have it fail and trying to head that off by overplanning - I think a smarter solution would be to just set more time aside for myself (and maybe that means taking less than five courses a semester). Knowing I was going to make several models and then mash them up with someone else meant I didn't have to be perfect and print ready on a limited schedule and that made the vase project idea generation much lower stakes for me. 

I made so many vases yall. 

I would say at this point I am fairly adept at Rhino within the limited scope we have explored. This was a big benefit as I was able to keep my homework from going excessively long, unlike the rest of the semester. My vases were inspired by functionality.

Kyle and Phoebe were a great team, and it was fun to put the remix culture ethos into practice by colloborating fully instead of just using peer review notes. I was very happy with our final vase design as I think it does a good job of reflecting our designs equally.

At this time, I am unsure if I will be able to continue 3D object design classes. I had taken them to increase my spatial skills in a computer environment - mostly because I make comics and illustrate and being able to design interiors for shots or maquettes of beasts would be very handy. I had seen some zbrush work that was very cool but felt it was way too advanced. 

Given that I am attempting to get into the BDes program, and also pursue a comics minor, it doesn't seem likely that there will be an opportunity to continue these studies without committing to extra years at school. But the skills I have learned, and the things I have discovered about myself as a designer are invaluable and even if I cannot find a way to return to OBDF, I know I will be using the things I learnt here for a long long time.