Hondo Air Show





June 2nd, 2007

I hadn't been to an air show in a long time, and this one was a lot of fun. Lots of light aircraft, experimental homebuilt planes, and vintage military prop-driven planes. Jets are cool, but at the same time it's a rare treat seeing historic planes up close and actually flying.

And Apollo and early shuttle-era NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz was there. That alone made the trip worth it!









Photo with Gene Kranz. What was really great was that he took a lot of extra time after his presentation to talk with everyone
who had gathered for a picture.

Short bio on

Wikipedia

And check out this sign along US 90 going through Hondo:




All in all, a fun Saturday.

Final 3D animation project.


This was done quickly as a final exam project. Another one I hope to develop further as I get more practice with Lightwave.

Final 2D animation project.



A quick and dirty Flash project, done in an hour or so as a final exam. Basic concept- illustrating an old joke.

Heroes of the Great Pawtriotic War

Canine victory parade!

A much-improved dog figure, watching 25 of his comrades on parade.

Final regular project for the 3D animation class. I'm really happy with the result- worth the work I put into it and waiting through the 20 hours for it to render.

Stills from the "Dog Parade" animation:

Character designs.

Two characters I designed for the final regular 3D animation project. Ultimately the spacegirl character proved to be too complex to model in Lightwave in the time given for the project, as well as being beyond my level of expertise to do it right for an animation project. However, the dog character made the cut, so to speak, and was successfully modeled and animated.

I look forward to devolping the dog character further, with better details and movements. I also will develop the spacegirl character when my skill at figure modeling in Lightwave gets better. Still, it was fun practicing drawing. I'm trying to improve my skill at drawing realistic people.

The original drawings:

Fourth project for the 2D animation course.


After I heard the word "sandman" mentioned in the song, I couldn't resist spoofing "Logan's Run". ;-)

Third Lightwave animation project


This clip shows how Lightwave can be used to animate objects colliding with each other, in this case, an object having a falling cloth draping over it, and the object falling into the cloth surface, showing the cloth rippling and stretching as the teapot lands on it.

The very first part shows how drops of falling liquid hitting a surface can be animated, although at that time I wasn't able to show the actual faling drops. The very last part shows how Lightwave can render animation to look like traditional 2D animation.

Third Spring '07 2D animation project.



This one was done with Adobe AfterEffects, which I actually found easier to use than Flash. An underwater journey!

Juno and Aurora

I've had my dog Juno since November of 2002- she's the dog you see at the end of the "Blue Shift" video. Earlier this year I adopted a cat and named her Aurora. Late last year she was a stray hanging around my apartment and I was initially just keeping her until I could find someone who wanted a cat. After a couple of months no one was interested in adopting a cat, and she had made herself at home on my back patio. I had to bring her inside in January when it got really cold (by South Texas standards), and she very quicky got used to Juno and I, and the two of them were getting along great almost from the start. So, I figured that Juno had herself a new friend.

Second Spring '07 project, using Lightwave



In this clip I show how I worked with Lightwave's morphing capabilities. Still rough but it shows Lightwave's potential if one has the patience and expertise to practice.

Second Spring '07 Flash animation.

A space-themed Valentine clip!

First Lightwave animation


Initial attempt at 3D animation for the 3D animation course I'm taking this spring ('07):

First attempt at Flash animation.


This was the first project in the 2D animation course I'm taking this spring ('07).

Twenty years of Tori Amos?


A digital video project I made in November '06, using clips of Tori Amos videos. The concept is that it would be a promotional video for a special DVD release commemorating the 20th anniversary of her 1992 debut album, "Little Earthquakes".

AT 29-49

The first part is a visual discography of album cover art, and the second part is a an interesting take on the song "Little Earthquakes"

Please note that this was made prior to "American Doll Posse"

Enjoy!

Stills from the final fall '06 Lightwave project:

Yeah I know the robot figure looks like one of the Cybermen from "Doctor Who".