It has been another full week. I have managed to fit in a lot of art, as well as some music, some injury recognition and treatment, a dental appointment, and a new computer arriving. I’m definitely ready for a weekend.
I’ll get the not as cool stuff out of the way first just because. While I have had luck and treatment for the elbow/arm injury, I haven’t gotten around to dealing with the leg/hip and have continued to do Taekwondo. I was under the impression that stretching and staying active would keep it from getting too stiff and losing strength. After a bit of a breakthrough in what the problem probably is I have finally come to understand that stretching is actually bad for this, and I need to rest it. I’m not happy about that. However, as I told my Master when I spoke with him, though I enjoy Taekwondo immensely, I can’t enjoy it nearly as much if I’m in pain. So, no class for a while. Which leaves me with even more time right now to work on other things.
I was moving right along with working on other things this week. Right up until the Dentist appointment. I’m one of those people that going to the Dentist is an exhausting experience. I like the people just fine, but the poking and scraping and drilling, and even the cleaning, leave me totally wiped out. And it’s even worse if they have to numb some portion of me. So if I ever tell you I would rather go to the Dentist instead of do something you’re suggesting, now you know just how much I do not want to do what you are suggesting.
The fun bit. The new computer arrived this week. It arrived about a week earlier than anticipated. That’s awesome in my books. I thought about waiting until the weekend to set it up but really, that wasn’t going to happen. It took hardly any time to disconnect the old one and connect the new one. And the introductory setup took less time and effort than I expected. I was able to get set up and functional that first day. I still have things I need and want to install to get everything available. For example, I don’t really have an office program yet. I have to figure that piece out. I will probably go with the Microsoft Office 365 thing. I just haven’t made the purchase and downloaded it yet. I can do Photoshop and Blender on the computer and I’m using Google Docs to put together this post so I can function. I’m quite pleased with it so far.
The other fun stuff. So before I got the new computer I was messing around in Blender. And decided to try to make a screw thread. This is something I have wanted to figure out how to do since I first started with Blender about 10 years ago. I wanted to make a salt shaker that had a screw cap on it that you could see the threading. I couldn’t figure out how to do it easily so I left it and hadn’t gone back to it. I saw Pablo Vasquez do something with it I think on one of his Blender Today shows and realized it should be really easy now. So I decided to try it. I looked up some videos on how to do it except they were either not very clear or they were using an older version of Blender and components that are not there anymore. But they did give me a big clue. There is a Spiral modifier. That’s the key. You also kind of need to get the shape right and a few other things. But the key is that modifier.
So first I made a cylinder with a screw thread. I was so excited by that. I felt so good. Then, I decided to try to create an object with the opposite threading, that it would thread into. That was the Boolean modifier. I had already figured out how to use that so I created a block and added the boolean modifier to remove the equivalent of the screw and it worked. That was so insanely satisfying that I can’t even tell you. And now I have what I need to move forward on yet another project, or two. Cool!
That wasn’t the only Blender fun I had this week. I pulled up my reference pictures and figured out how to model the stand for the aluminum Christmas tree. That was an interesting challenge. And another accomplishment that I felt really good about. It took me a few hours over a couple of evenings. I modeled the leg first and then had to make two more. Which is just a duplication function. But to get them in the right places required a little bit of math and some geometry. Yep. Who would have thought I’d be using my high school geometry to model a stand for a Christmas tree. Actually, I thought it was kind of cool. I used the same skills after I modeled the brace to go in between the legs to get the duplicates of that in place. That brace was a bit trickier to model to the right shape. And yet it was so cool for it all to come together.
The next step was to get the tree and the stand in the same scene. Which I did manage. It took a try or two. And it turned out that my stand was huge compared to the tree. Also, I needed to do something about locking in my transforms before I imported it, but I’ll just not animate it and I think it will be ok for now. I modeled the stand in a separate blend file that’s why I had to import it. Once I got things linked up right and then scaled correctly it was easier to move them into place with each other. And time to start decorating. I’ve got a hook and a little red Christmas ball modeled now. I just need to finish that part up. I’m getting close to having the whole tree part done. I haven’t quite decided how far I want to go with the scene. I don’t know if I want to keep it simple or if I want to go more elaborate. I’ll figure that out once I figure out the cloth.
I am working on a pastel piece of a Mantis Shrimp. I’m learning the advantages of pastel, and not really being able to do super fine detail. It keeps me from getting too caught up in the super super fine detail and getting bogged down in the technicality versus getting the essence of the subject matter. I’ve also figured out that, for this, if I’m careful, I can use the texture of the paper to help create the illusion of that detail. So I’m making progress. I’m excited about it.
It feels really good to have a bunch of projects that I’m excited about. The biggest challenge is getting to them all. I’m having that problem again where I will be working on something and look at the clock and realize that I have run out of day. The cool thing is, that even with all the art, I’m also working on some Christmas songs on the guitar. I started that Christmas Songs on Guitar course that I got and I like it. I’m past the lecture and up to the actual songs now. While he got a few things not quite right about the history of Christmas, I thought the part about how old some of the songs we sing and play are, was really cool.
In all that, I also did a few things for some learning I am working on for the day job. I’m busy and getting things done all over the place. I’ve even got pictures this week. Enjoy those. And check back again. We have a short work week next week and then I’ll be on vacation from the day job for a week so no telling what I’ll get up to in that time. Stay safe.
