Miw-Sher's Graduation Battle

[Miw_Sher]

Inspired by my Tough Mudder training thread, I decided to do a similar thread for my school work and studies.

I'm a 3D and VFX student. My aim is to become a character TD, aka the person who draws all the strings that then allow characters to be animated. This is my last year, meaning I that aside my obligations, my priority is to crank out a decent Demo Reel. Even though this is top priority, I have been hitting snags. I don't know why, but whenever I decide to "fully concentrate on something", I end up dedicating more time to it than when I have several things going on. It's a time management thing, I have oddly enough the same issue with finances - the more money I have at hand, the shittier I am at keeping track of it.

 

Furthermore, my efforts are limited by the need to keep my mental health in check. I am very resistant to fatigue, so in the past I'd just work through the night, but my mental health has been increasingly deteriorating to the point where I can't afford to push myself anymore.

 

Much like with the Tough Mudder training, I realised that this is not something I can structure around challenges. It's a year-long effort and the two don't sync up. I also need clear and concrete deadlines for this rather than a daily amount of hours I work on something... overall, it is a very different approach.

 

This is where I will be writing about my progress on my demo-reel. I have a timeline set up from now until June, now I just need to follow it.

 

****

The Masterplan

to

Work as a Character TD at a large VFX company

1. Create a Kickass Demo-Reel
   1. Develop Three Rig example in 3dsMax by the end of February
   2. Develop Four Rig examples in Maya by mid-April
   3. Create one Toolset in each Program by the end of May
   4. Put it all together by mid-June
2. Apply to a bunch of Places
   1. Make a list of at least 5 companies you’d like to work with by end of February
   2. Find a contact/person Alumni for each by the end of March
   3. Prepare a personalised CV for each by the end of May
3. If everything else fails, work your way up
   1. Have a list of 10 backup companies ready by the end of May
   2. Have a personal website ready by the end of April
   3. Have 3-5 side projects on said website by the end of June

[Miw_Sher]

February Timeline:

 

Develop Three Rig example in 3dsMax by the end of February:

• February 12th: Finish main Character Rig (without final Rig Deformations)
• February 19th: Wing Rig ready for validation
• February 26th: Tentacle Rig Ready for Deformation

 

Make a list of at least 5 companies you’d like to work with by end of February

• Spend half an hour on this every Saturday

 

Have 3-5 side projects on said website by the end of June

• Spend one hour daily on said side-projects
• Finish lighting drills by February 28th

 

[Miw_Sher]

Day 1:

I got through the explanatory videos and tutorials I wanted to for the day. Tomorrow the plan is to experiment a bit and have a look at some other tutorials.

[Miw_Sher]

Day 2: Fate doesn't like me.

 

I made the effort to go to school so I'd be more productive. Once I get there, I discover that Internet is not working. Also, nobody had told me but apparently today was the day we were doing the rest of the film shooting, so I there is no point in me going back home to work.

 

Anyhow, I managed to experiment but was very limited due to not being able to look up the issues I was having. I only got home at around 6pm, exercised, had dinner, then proceeded to at least skim through the tutorials I wanted to.

Tomorrow: actually get that spine rig done. At this point, it does not matter if it's much simpler than what I initially planned. As long as it's functional, it'll do.

 

No time to work on those side projects, I'm exhausted.

[Miw_Sher]

Eh, doesn't look like that Spine Rig is getting done after all. Mist.

Not given up yet though!

[Miw_Sher]

I just did it...

 

I'm so in shock I actually don't know what to do next.

 

 

[Severine]

18 minutes ago, Miw_Sher said:

I just did it...

 

I'm so in shock I actually don't know what to do next.

 

Oh yeah!!!

 

Isn't that the weirdest feeling when you finish something and you feel accomplished but then there's an odd sense of "Wait what now???" 

 

I think it's because the adrenaline or focus or whatever has us so keyed up...

 

Anyway just celebrate and enjoy the afterglow of accomplishment

 

[Miw_Sher]

Day 3: Ok Then...

 

Getting Spine Rig Done: ok, so it's not quite done yet. Since rigging is essentially programming there are obviously a few bugs that need to be ironed out. However, I just managed a far more complex rig than I was expecting, so it won't be done just yet.

Tomorrow: wrap this up and hopefully get legs done. These I should already know how to do, so it should not take as much time.

[Miw_Sher]

The only issue is that now I'm charged on coffee, medjool dates and almonds. X) Meaninf I am powered up for at least the next two hours.

[Miw_Sher]

1 minute ago, Severine said:

 

Oh yeah!!!

 

Isn't that the weirdest feeling when you finish something and you feel accomplished but then there's an odd sense of "Wait what now???" 

 

I think it's because the adrenaline or focus or whatever has us so keyed up...

 

Anyway just celebrate and enjoy the afterglow of accomplishment

 

The coffee and dates seem to request a dance-off indeed.

[Goldfish]

2 hours ago, Miw_Sher said:

I just did it...

 

I'm so in shock I actually don't know what to do next.

 

 

 

what do you mean you don't know what to do next?! The answer is obviously PARTAAY, since you're still full of caffeine and all. Have a rave in your room!

 

 

 

[Miw_Sher]

Day 4: You THOUGHT you had done it....

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

Don't you love that feelign when you have your thing set up and you thought it works fine but then you find out it actually doesn't and your life is pointless???

Ugh. That just made my mood drop so lighting fast I had to spend one hour doing other stuff because even though I could have taken a break from the spine and worked on the legs, I was just so frustrated at everything.

[Severine]

12 hours ago, Miw_Sher said:

Day 4: You THOUGHT you had done it....

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

Don't you love that feelign when you have your thing set up and you thought it works fine but then you find out it actually doesn't and your life is pointless???

Ugh. That just made my mood drop so lighting fast I had to spend one hour doing other stuff because even though I could have taken a break from the spine and worked on the legs, I was just so frustrated at everything.

 

 

But there's always some wacky inspiration in some corner of the world...

 

Hope tomorrow is better!

[Miw_Sher]

Day 5: That went way better than expected...

 

So, I went way overtime, did waay too much snacking, but for the first time this week I can confidently call it a day. I solved most of the major issues, which means that from now on it's just a straight line of applying the same principles over and over again until it's finished. Sooooo i could actually be done tomorrow and with two days to spare!!!

Except for the Spine setup. But we don't talk about the spine setup.

[Miw_Sher]

Day 6: And then things happened again...

 

I overslept and spent the rest of the day rushing from one place to the other, so barley any advancement here. I did some quick (but important) cleaning up work just to feel like I had done something, but otherwise I'm still pretty much at the same point as yesterday. :/

[Severine]

6 minutes ago, Miw_Sher said:

Day 6: And then things happened again...

 

I overslept and spent the rest of the day rushing from one place to the other, so barley any advancement here. I did some quick (but important) cleaning up work just to feel like I had done something, but otherwise I'm still pretty much at the same point as yesterday. :/

 

Obviously when you have a list of things to do, holding your ground doesn't feel like enough. But still...sometimes on a day when everything seems going wrong, it's worth celebrating that you did manage to keep things stable and nothing really disastrous happened. Better to stay still than stumble back!

[Miw_Sher]

9 minutes ago, Severine said:

 

Obviously when you have a list of things to do, holding your ground doesn't feel like enough. But still...sometimes on a day when everything seems going wrong, it's worth celebrating that you did manage to keep things stable and nothing really disastrous happened. Better to stay still than stumble back!

 

I did manage to keep things stable, though I have no clue how I did it. I feel like I spent the day on autopilot.

[Miw_Sher]

Day 7 & 8: Nothing to See here

 

Nothing much to report here. Saturday was frantic and while I advanced, it was minimal. Sunday I was out all day hiking, a story for a different thread..

[Severine]

Going to find hiking story....

[Miw_Sher]

 

 

Day 9: Moving on!

 

 

 

 

 

Whoops. Forgot to post here on Monday, though it was a very productive day overall. I got quite a bit done in the morning, and in the afternoon I started doing research for my  next project, which is going to be tentaclez...

 

Day 10: Motivation, I have missed thee.

 

 

So, today wasn't the most focused day, but it definitely was the first time in a while where I did not have to force myself to do things and was actually looking forward to it.

 

Spent the morning doing sketches and low-poly modeling for mechanical tentacles. Going to start the rig tomorrow.

 

 

As for the character rig.. I got most of it down. No really, all I need are the hands and head and then all I need to do is fix the spine and I am done.

 

 

But! There are bugs.

 

 

And I have a horrible feeling they have to do with the way 3ds Max handles data flow. If that is the case, I'm absolutely screwed and get to do a whole lot of things all over again. Cherry on the cake though: I can't actually tackle them until I am done with all the rest.

 

 

Screw computer programs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the meanwhile, have some sketches.

 

 

[Severine]

23 minutes ago, Miw_Sher said:

Spent the morning doing sketches and low-poly modeling for mechanical tentacles.

 

I do not, by any means, understand your work well enough to have intelligent input. I just wanted to say that this sounds like a great way to spend a morning

 

[Miw_Sher]

3 minutes ago, Severine said:

 

I do not, by any means, understand your work well enough to have intelligent input. I just wanted to say that this sounds like a great way to spend a morning

 

 

Hah, yeah, I realise this entire thread must be a bit cryptic to people who aren't familiar with 3D jargon. I can include some more detailed explanations of there is a wish for it, but for the most part, it is for me to keep myself accountable. I will definitely be posting results when they are presentable.

[Miw_Sher]

Day 11: Anxiety attacks

I'm not going to mince words here, today was shit.

 

It started out very well, I worked an hour on my side-projects, did decent progress, showing that the time is more than enough, and that made me happy.

But then from there on it just got worse and worse. I made the mistake to get a second cup of coffee because I was absolutely exhausted. The problem is - too much coffe makes ma anxious, jittery, and unable to concentrate. In addition, the cleaner was around which made me more anxious. Long story short, I spent most of the day unable to focus and being distracted by social media.

I still forced myself to plough through, which I am proud of, but it did not really accomplish anything. Which is frustrating.

Anyhow, I need to fix this. So, tomorrow, I'm going to shut down social media and put away my phone, set defined focus periods and take short, but scheduled breaks in between. 

 

[Severine]

I took a half hour to sit down and change my notification settings for a bunch of things. Basically I pared it down to just the essentials actually making a beep or popup or other intrusive sound. The other things no longer make sounds or give popups and I just check them when I actually consciously want a break. I'm still getting used to it - I notice myself feeling the urge to check instagram, for example, even when I just checked it 10 minutes ago. It's almost like a nervous tick - I don't actually care about what's new, it's just habit, like an addiction.

 

Anyway silencing most of the notifications has helped a lot. And I just check a couple times a day on purpose, which is honestly more than enough to stay up to date with most things.

 

Also I already responded about the bad day on your otherthread but nevertheless, many hugs. Feel proud of yourself for pushing through it, please!

[Miw_Sher]

Day 13: Getting back on the horse

 

I'm not going to go into yesterday since the whole knee pain sheananigans made it impossible for me to work properly. Today was not too productive due to getting to work only in the afternoon, but I FINALLY wrapped up the main rig on my character and al not going to try and do some work on the tentacle.