I am hesitant to put up specifics before the project is done, but I will instead chronicle the obstacles I encounter in its production. For example, I have never been a 3d guy. I have on occasion purchased software to fulfill a client’s needs for a specific project, but usually I only scratch the surface in terms of learn the software beyond what I need it to do.

In the case of my story, I need to design some spaceships and some body armor for a character. I’ve never done that, so I’m looking for software that will make that really easy. I noticed on 3d-Coat’s homepage that here is a video that shows rapid production of a space ship which is facilitated by a library of obj objects that the user can use like boolean Legos. Getting the hang of it is a little tricky, but the interface is simpler and more intuitive than Zbrush. There seems to be a little funkiness with my video card and 3D-Coat, but I’m hoping that won’t be a big deal. I do notice that when I start a new file my window of objects disappears. This I rectify by restarting the program. With these little glitches, I debate on buying the full version vs. the student edition. The seeming difference is the ability to use 4K texture maps and no limit on layers. But again, it’s $349 vs $99.

3D-Coat is a little crashy for my tastes but if I can get the work done quickly enough I’m willing to spend $99. I’ve already got it working with the SpacePilot Pro.   Getting that to work was crazy easy.  The reason I bought the SpacePilot is that I figured it would help me with flying the camera smoothly through the scene.

I will continue to play with 3D-Coat and SpacePilot until I get something usable I can turn into class.

I am at a point where I must decide the content of my thesis.  The teacher shot down my proposals as being too much.  So I scaled back my proposal with something smaller and hopefully more practical, in terms of acceptability.  The ideas that I had in my initial proposal are something I still intend to pursue, but not necessarily in the context of academia.

I’m not stressing about producing content for my MPR.  Whatever I choose I am confident that I can tackle it.  What concerns me is choosing something that I will be working on continuously for quite some time.  Fortunately, I have friends who have already completed their MFA’s so they can advise me.

I still need to get some of this stuff out of my system.  I just need a framework of how I can go about producing it.