If you are aware of my post from earlier in the semester, I wrote a rather lengthy piece on my experiences in treating project management and learning objectives far more professionally. Rather than bore you with another essay, I feel I should again condense my experiences in workshopping.
After establishing a team who would be supportive but indeed openly critical, Jess, Dan, Scott and I (as friends) felt more confident in feeding of each other with our own knowledge while also being able to expand to other individuals in the class who provided more informed in certain aspects of design. My initial feelings were more relaxed as I was able to transition smoothly into considering where I was indeed interested in modelling and animation, areas which I can now confirm I enjoy considering my doubts earlier in the year. My workflow significantly changed as I began to understand the value of playing of team strengths as I was able to have the team help visualise models instead of it turning into a guessing game.
There was a lesson learnt about knowing what the next stage of production was because of the issues with UV unwrapping that saw complexities in the edge loops cause unnecessary frustration. There is something to be said about perseverance because on numerous occasions I was at breaking point but as I slowing went back to basics to grasp the technicalities requires, I grew from the experience I found myself working harder without the added stress. This is demonstrated in my early UV blogs were I felt I was going to give up on basic cubes, but when I got to texturing my workflow was enhanced and my quality and speed were more efficient to the demand of the task. I felt far more aware of each stage of the process and know now going into future productions that I must take precautions to avoid obstacles that don’t need to exist.
There is one major taking from this task that I feel I need to concentrate on: the management of files. This was the first time I actually ensured the continuity of the project files and that everything was in their respective locations. But I need to really focus on my labelling and naming conventions rather than assume I can come back to it later. The last thing I need is to work with nodes and geometry that I don’t remember what it does.
Ryan Hollinger 