Songs without Words

Here are some of the main monsters’ names in Rorrim.  I guess you’ll meet them all in due time :).

Lungceirn [loong – sayr – n‘]  (the lantern with 6 arms), Apsbrille [aps –breel‘] (the urn), Gammtoiy [gum – toi‘] (the upside-down human with lion’s head on feet), Galvgrazjilnstasr [Gahlv”-gra-jj(strong, full sound)eeln-sta’-ser] (the blind squid with 28 tentacles), and Magintha [Mah-geen‘-thah] (the rat-serpent), with Magintheia [Mah-geen’-thay-a‘], her finger, and Magintheiluenia [Mah-geen‘-thay-loo-e-nya‘], her synovial sac.

The main villain is named Virdazelle [Veer-dah-zel-l], Queen of Mirrors, and she’s … strange?

Anyway, heehee.  Now you appreciate Sonya, Patrick, and Beyadana’s names, right?

~Dedicated to my one and only Love~

A disclaimer: even though this tutorial is designed to be accessible without any use of software. it is impossible to truly learn 3D animation without actually tinkering with the programs themselves (note: you can get the “Maya Personal Learning Edition” free … as long as you don’t have Windows Vista!!! Just look for Maya PLE on Google or follow my link). I use the software “Swift 3D” (which is, as far as I can tell “Swif” (the pronunciation of .swf) + the completer .t3D, which is used for all the file extensions).

Lesson 1

In any case, today’s lesson is simple: to get you started on thinking about how to create models from mundane shapes.

Today’s allowable options:

1. THE BOX.

Mr. Box is simple. He is a single rectangular prism, subdivided *on his surface* (not internally) into various faces. The primary subdivision of a box is into squares, but 3D programs allow only ONE type of polygon on a face, and that is the TRIANGLE. Every face is a triangle. Just accept that right now. A square is two triangles; a pentagon is three; a hexagon is four.

2. THE SPHERE.

Ms. Sphere is by default perfectly round, but can be deformed if necessary. Pop quiz: what are the polygons that make up Ms. Sphere’s surface? You got it, TRIANGLES! A sphere is approximated as a massive collection of triangles, composing squares whose edges are latitude and longitude lines.

3. THE CYLINDER.

Mr. Cylinder is defined as having an upper radius and a lower radius, plus a particular length. If the upper and lower radii are equal, then he looks perfectly normal, like a bar. If one radius is set to 0, he becomes a cone. He is in DIRECT COMPETITION with the mystical LATHE, who shall be introduced next.

SPECIAL TECHNIQUES.

1. THE LATHE.

The lathe is one of the coolest tools in the world. It takes whatever you draw in 2D and spins it around an axis, with you specifying how many cross-sections of your object it takes and the number of angles that your shape goes through. Although you might think of it as a “vase” tool, it can make much more than vases.
Suppose you draw a right-angle triangle with one edge on the axis of rotation. You take 4 cross-sections and rotate 360 degrees, what do you get? A pyramid!

How about if you draw a circle a ways away from the axis of rotation? Yes, a torus!

Now, what happens if you rotate your above circle only 180 degrees to get a half-doughnut, then start tilting these guys 10 degrees on their side, copying and pasting as necessary and rotating them so that their cut-off circular ends join together? Helical spring!

2. EXTRUSIONS.

Draw any 2D object, then give it a fixed depth. That’s all (or is it?). Well, you can also chisel off the edges, if you wanted.
AND FINALLY, ALLOWABLE DEFORMATIONS.

1. VERTEX MOVING.

You can shift around any vertices you want, in any direction.

2. WELDING.

You can merge vertices together, and their edges will be connected to your merged vertex.

3. EXTRUDING.

You can “pop out” a face. The effect is like adding a Lego piece on top of your model.

Questions

Okay, now for today’s quiz. Look at the following objects I have modeled, and tell me which of the five basic shapes or techniques I probably used to make them. Answers are after the cut, and there is more than one answer for each. Let’s begin!

1. Teardrop.

2. Octogonal Ring.

3. Skewed Rod.

4. Bu-A (vegetable gourd).

5. This fence.

Continue reading ‘[535] 3D Animation Tutorial I.’ »

Ooh ooh, this is a really nifty linguistic concept, and the Wikipedia article is short and succinct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junctural_metanalysis.

One of the strangest ways a language evolves is through the “telephone” effect (if you’ve ever played that game), in which letters get mis-segmented into words due to alternate hearings. For instance, it is said that the word “newt” used to be “ewt,” but people repeatedly saying “an ewt” started saying “a newt” instead. The jumping of n’s as a result of English’s funny (but absolutely necessary -trust me; I tried using only “a” in Cat language, and it was extremely hard to pronounce) indefinite pronoun fix seems to be the most common, although the directionality of the n is not fixed. For instance, the word “orange” used to be “norange,” but the n got pushed into the “a.” Not kidding, seriously!  The Persian language still retains the word “narang.”
I think the example at the very bottom of “helicopter” is rather interesting. Here, it is a misdivision of roots, not a misdivision of separate words. I think Wikipedia, in typing only the Greek, makes it more difficult to figure out what the point is, so I’ll briefly explain here: the word “helix” becomes a root in words such as helicobacter (helico (spiral) + bacter (bacterium)). The root of “pter” is seen in Pteradactyl (Ptera (flying) + dactyl (digit, finger)), a type of dinosaur-like flying lizard.

Hence, it is natural that a vehicle that flies by spiralling would be called a HELICO-PTER. But I challenge you to pronounce it that way — Heh’-lee-kou-ptehr”. See? So now it’s Heli-cop-ter and you get things like helipad (landing pad for helicopters).

Ah, is this too much word-nerdiness for you guys? ~_^

I decided to clarify a few points on the story before continuing writing.

1.  What year is it in the story?

It’s 7297.  This is 103 years prior to the current time of writing, which is 7400.  This is why some of the technology is out of date, and why the cities are not yet enclosed and tiered as they are in “This Song Is My Love,” which takes place around 7395.

2.  If there is so much high technology, why are the characters still cooking by hand?

There are indeed methods of automatic food production / cooking that are in development.  However, the culture places great emphasis on home-cooked food.  Think of it as a counter-technological revolution, just as how some people insist on reading paper newspapers or walking from place to place.

3.  Why does the royal family not have any maids/butlers/servants?
When I created the constitutional monarchies in the first place, as a child, I decided that the hereditary system could only be justifiable if the royalty were held to a higher moral law, which was formalized as the system of gods and demons.  As such, only a humble royalty deserves to rule, and I absolutely refused to permit the existence of subserviency in the royal palace, a rule that persists beyond my own death.

4.  Is everyone a vegetarian in this world?

I have not yet decided this, and thus there may be inconsistencies.  I am trying to blot out references to meat as much as possible.  It seems that eggs are still eaten, though.

The reason for vegetarianism isn’t because I particularly champion the lifestyle (although I admire those who can do it .. I definitely can’t); it’s just because most of the animals are sentient in this world!  Haha.  It’d be kind of wrong to eat things that chat with you … .

I did it!  I did it!  Oh thank God, thank God ……

Defending my GPA is somewhat like standing in the middle of a field and fending off a circle of wolves …….. oh beautiful, wondrous Fortune ………

I just received a really kind e-mail of congratulations from one of my professors for 20.330 … the last time I remember this happening was freshman year with 5.111 … it’s really such wonderful gesture, for teachers to take the time to write these sorts of messages.  It really brightens my day!  Thanks =)

Okay, story has been updated; you can read the whole thing at the same URL. It has approximately doubled in length, although those missing plot will have to miss it some more (except the last page).

* * I also updated AS.net so that you can read this story there.  The narrower column might be more convenient.  I classified it under F/S/A because I never made a comedy category, haha.  StoryID is 173.

* * As an added bonus, I have also added story ID 0!!  Justin’s first short story ever!!  You can find it near the bottom (look for the last one with a date on it).
Enjoy!

Oh, and I read a really cool short story today by my Eternal Poet (? — perhaps a new nickname is in order :) ). Lovely imagery, amusing plot. Your characters always have an edge of cool personality.

Across from me on the red line, there was a man sitting there, facing to his left. He wore a green Boston Globe hat, and a blue North Face bookbag sat perched on the seat adjacent to him. He was mumbling to himself constantly, looking distant and crestfallen.  He seemed fairly young, actually, but the look on his face was distinctly old and weary. I felt an impulse to give him a hug, but I didn’t.

We all have days when we suddenly start talking to ourselves. Those are the days when, overwhelmed, our minds fracture and we descend into a world where we can control all the voices, keep ourselves company. For people like him, that is a constant reality, and there are few things in this world sadder than a life where the illusion persists every day.

The title of the new story is “Rorrim,” and its official spot in the Catleyan Saga is as Episode 13b (I prefer this over 13-2, which is how Final Fantasy handled its sequel of FFX). After 10 pages, I think I’m starting to get a hang of the characters and their complexities (or simplicities).

You can read what I have here.

Patrick (17). Patrick is a rational, well-meaning but simple guy. This means that he often ends up exasperated when dealing with the highly irrational and sometimes off-the-wall weird characters, such as his mobile box with a gambling addiction. He is talented, especially with technical and technological areas. He is emotionally less mature and less complex than Beya, partially because he was hardened by having to take a leadership role at an early age (once their father died, Jessica had to take care of running the country single-handedly, leaving her little time to watch over her children) which overdeveloped his logical side and weakened his ability to understand emotions. Beya is trying to teach him otherwise.

Beya (16). Beya is a confused character. She has grown to be exceptionally beautiful at the age of sixteen, as her name foretold, but she has a love-hate relationship with it. Taught for years to shun beauty because of her former religion, she still tends to want to deny it. At the same time, she wants to be seen for her natural beauty and to show it off a little. This leads her to sometimes repel Patrick’s advances while sometimes making a few pushes on her own. Another one of her major conflicts is between her simple upbringing and being thrust into city life three thousand years more modern. Kindness and love, which are central to her heart, seem to need to be expressed in different ways, and she is also trying to come to terms with that.

Sonya (14). Sonya is a sports-loving, energetic girl who is spunky but mature. Especially at school, people look up to her because of her hard work and her dedication to helping others in need. Even though she is a princess, the knowledge that her brother will become the crown ruler has instilled in her a constant drive to find out what her own path in life will be. She dabbles in many clubs and plays for the school basketball team. Her dream is to start for the Coast City Typhoons.

Box. Patrick’s box has a bit of an attitude. And apparently earns money on the side from delivery tips and by beating other boxes at box-poker (he has a mean poker face). He spends this money treating lady-boxes at box bars. Or so he claims.

I was watching a Nakagawa Shoko comedy video and I stumbled across a video on crunchyroll.com that featured a group called “Vanilla Mood.” If you like instrumental music but need a bit of a break from classical, this mixed quartet (piano, flute, violin, cello) plays some fun pieces that are somewhat theatrical in sound. They mix many different styles.
For starters, if you’re interested, perhaps check out Haku: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIhamJQpYqU.

And one of my favorite Disney songs of all time:

How come Disney doesn’t have songs like this any more???