An Extra-dimensional Hourglass

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Time Created: October 2007

There was a bit there when I was trying to learn how to do 3D artwork. For a long time, for most of collage actually, I was aiming to become a video game designer/artist, and 3D art is important enough for that field that I wanted to give it a serious go.

This piece was made with an open source program called Art of Illusion. I have no idea if that program’s still available, though if it is I may want to check it out again. It has been 5 years since I last used it, which is plenty of time for the program to evolve – or to have become long abandoned. I did manage to learn how to do things in the program fairly easily – which is far more than I can say about any of the much more commonly used programs I tried in my classes.

There’s a few common ones, but the ones that are best known are Studio Max 3D, Maya, and Poser. Studio Max 3D is best for creating static pieces like buildings and landscape, Maya is best for animation and detail work, and Poser gives a set of premade pieces for arranging in whatever method needed. There’s also a range of a different type of 3D modeling pieces, using a sculpting method that allows for much more detailed work but doesn’t translate into animation too well, but these tend to be very expensive and none of their names stick in my head. Studio Max and Maya are commonly used for games, since they mesh together well and are good for producing animation and scenes that both look good and don’t take too much disk space, which is important for video games. Poser and the sculpting programs are best for single scenes, such as book covers and posters. Poser isn’t too detailed but is easy to use, while the sculpting programs are the opposite, a pain to learn but produce gorgeous pieces (that make very large files).

Mind you, all this information is a few years out of date. I haven’t paid attention to these programs since I abandoned the dream to become a video game designer about 3 years ago. It was a bit of a fabricated dream, really. I’d looked at all the things I like doing -video games and art, mainly – and said “well, what jobs combine these”. Alas, I never found any specific aspect of video game design that became a passion, even after taking a class that was designed to show off all the various jobs related to video games. And there’s a lot of them, all highly specialized. They all require a lot of passion to do well, too, what with the long hours and hard work. I’m lacking that level of passion, and I’m more of a generalist, jumping from one thing to another on a whim.

Though it didn’t help that the 3D teacher in my collage focused on Poser and the related, higher powered program (I think it’s called something like DAZ or the like.) It’s a good program for those who are solidly non-math, and just want something that lets them mess around without ever having to see a number. Which, alas, drove me crazy. I’ve got a strong math side and I kept twitching every time I had to click through three menus to get to where I could tell the program I wanted it to move this sphere 50 units to the left. Studio Max and Maya actually have the opposite problem for me, oddly enough. They’re all about numbers, and I frequently want to shove things around without having to tell the program that I want to select the face of the polygon rather than the point behind the face that it’s trying to get me to move since I’m still in the “points” section rather than the “faces”. Which made the later class I took at the local community collage just as irritating.

Maybe the programs have gotten closer to the happy middle I’d need. Art of Illusion actually was there, but had very few features. I’m focusing more on 2D art for now. Still, the 3D programs do have a lot of advantages that you can’t find in 2D.

  

Mushroom. Big, White, Mushroom.

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Location Taken: Savage, Maryland
Time Taken: August 2010

It’s a mushroom.

Yup.

Mushroom.

Pretty big one, too. Looks kinda like a button mushroom, at least in color.

I wouldn’t eat it though. We’ve got a lot of poisonous mushrooms in North America, including some that look a lot like perfectly edible mushrooms from other parts of the world. Apparently there’s a real problem with tourists from Asia seeing those mushrooms and eating them, thinking it’s a safe Cloud Ear or Shiitake, and getting poisoned. I was taught to never eat a mushroom without knowing exactly what it is, and so are most people on this continent.

I don’t know exactly what this mushroom is.

I do know it’s a mushroom, though.

Yup.

Mushroom.

  

Rocks and Swamps, Swamps and Rocks

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Location Taken: Ontario, Canada
Time Taken: June 2010

The hard rock of the Canadian Shield produces some odd terrain. For large stretches of Ontario the land alternates between tree covered rocks rising high over the road and water-filled swamps decending deep below. These are old rocks, and the small areas where the water gathered deepened over millions of years, carved into the rock until the land is grooved and varied.

The Canadian Shield is a craton, one of the ancient hearts of the continents. The rock here solidified from the magma a long time ago, some of it untouched for billions of years. All around these hearts, land formed and eroded, grew tall from mountain building events and cracked open when land rifted open and new oceans formed.

It’s a rough land to tame, as the rocks are hard and ice-scraped from the last ice age, with little dirt for farming. The swamps have more soil, but they’re a bit too wet. The area north of Lake Superior is especially rough, missing the smoothed out sections found further to the east near Ottawa. It’s a wild land, though, one ruled by nature. We humans may have roads through there, but only a few, and those hard-won. The roads, rails, and power lines all follow the same route. The settlements are few and small. It’s an area you can truly get lost in, and likely will stay this way for a good long time.

  

A Real Canadian Man

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Location Taken: Ontario, Canada
Time Taken: June 2010

I hadn’t heard of inuksuks before I visited Canada. It’s an aspect of the culture that hasn’t penetrated too far. In Ontario, though, they’re everywhere. Really, they are.

Inuksuks are a pile of flatish rocks arranged into a somewhat human shape. According to all the little history placards that accompanied the inuksuks you can buy in the tourist shops, they’re an Inuit tradition (or some other extreme-north nomadic tribe). They’d build them near where they were staying so that any other group passing by would realize there were other humans near and come to visit. It makes a lot of sense, actually. It’s not a shape that forms naturally, and the pile of rocks would fall down before too long in northern storms. If there was a fully intact one visible, that meant there was a good chance it was newly built.

The ones further south, though, were (most likely) not built by nomads desperate for company. We mainly found them built on top of the hard rock of the Canadian Shield that was cut through so the Trans-Canada Highway was at least somewhat flat. There’s a lot of these outcrops along the side of the road in Ontario, and at least half of them have an inuksuk on top. I’m under the impression that they were built by people walking or biking along the Trans-Canada that left them as a marker that other people have traveled this way before. I’m not sure where I got that idea, but it’s certainly a lot more appealing of a marker than the graffiti you find in the US.

My mom’s very fond of inuksuks, by the way. I got this photo because we stopped so I could take a photo of one for Mom, since it was the first time we’d spotted one before we’d passed it on the road. She’s built one for her garden. I doubt any of the neighbors have a clue of the history behind it. It’s fallen down a few times, but it’s fairly easy to reassemble.

And there’s a lot to be said for something that says “Hey, I’m a human, I’m out here, and so are you, care to visit?”

  

Pizza and Ice Cream for Dinner

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Location Taken: Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Saskatchewan, Canada
Time Taken: June 2010

There’s something both highly cheesy and really nostalgic about the small eating places you find next to mini golf places and other such types of entertainment, and I’m not talking about their pizza. They always seem to have pizza, though. That’s what we ate there the night I took this photo, actually. It wasn’t our meal of choice, but then, we had little choice. We’d gotten into the park rather late, and this tiny place was the only place still open. The light was strong, but still, it was 9 at night. Even the mini golf place was closed. Which was a bit sad, since I like mini golf. Even if I’m rather iffy on putting, which is most of what mini golf is about. I’m quite good at missing the hole, and experienced at having the ball skip right over the hole.

This place also served ice cream, which is also standard for such places. Pizza, ice cream, and french fries. We didn’t have the ice cream, though, nor the french fries.

Best ice cream place I’ve been to is in Frankfort, MI, not far from my grandparent’s place. The Dairy Maid, a small ice cream shack only open during the summer tourist season. It’s the only place I’ve been able to get Blue Moon softserve ice cream dipped in a cherry shell. It’s marvelous. I love local food. Though I do suspect you have to grow up with some local foods to like them. Pickled bologna is not for everyone, after all. Means more for me, though, so all is good.