Blender: 170 Final

For my 170 final, I modeled a spiral staircase and spiral building in Blender. I started out creating the shape for the staircase. Once I had created a step, I exported the shape into TopMod and played around with different modeling techniques, until I found one that I liked. Once I had created a step, I imported the image back into Blender, and began to build the staircase. I created an "empty" on the step, and from the "empty" I was able to make the empty a parent of the step. This means that the empty and the step were connected to each other, and would move in regards to the other. From here, I kept rotating the step until the stair case was built. I then created a Bezier Curve, which created the spiral building. By altering the vertices on the curve, I was able to create several different styles. After I built the building, I exported both the staircase and building into VIZ to render.

NURBS

Tonight, I learned how to use the NURBS option, in the 3D program VIZ. VIZ is a 3D modeling, rendering, and presentation software. The term NURBS stands for Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines. By using this option, I was able to create a 3D object using curves. After I first created a curve, I offset the curve, used the lathe option, and added a shell. This gave my object depth and made it completely round. After I completed this, I used two renderings. I applied an ambient occulsion render, which gave my object shadows, and I also applied a wire frame render. I put these two renders on top of each other, and there fore created the above object.

The Concept of Design

William McDonough is a world-renowned architect, designer, and winner of three U.S. presidential awards: the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development (1996), the National Design Award (2004); and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (2003). Mr. McDonough was the speaker at the 2000 Bioneers Conference. In this video, Bill McDonough talks about the concept of design.

Bill McDonough opened the conference up with two questions:

" How do we love all children of all species for all time?"
and
"When do we become native to this place?"

Mr. McDonough explained these questions by saying that the world is full of tragedies- such as global warming and plutonium. As designers, we have to take responsibility for such tragedies, and come up with strategies of change. McDonough used Thomas Jefferson as an example of a designer. Jefferson was a designer and an architect, as well as the President of the United States- although Jefferson will always be remembered as an architect and designer more than as the President of the United States. One of Jefferson's greatest accomplishments was designing the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson designed three major things in his lifetime- the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the federal government. Jefferson stressed three key ideas in the Declaration of Independence: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although Jefferson designed the federal government and America on these three principals, Jefferson did not anticipate that humans would later ruin his original design. Had Jefferson known what the world would be like several hundred years later, he might have designed a Bill of Responsibilities instead of the Bill of Rights.

Jane Jacobs has also come up with two syndromes for survival.

• The Guardian
  
• Commerce

The guardian is in charge- the knights of the round table. It is slow, serious, legal, and shuns commerce. Whereas commerce is business. Commerce is quick and honest. When you put the two of these syndromes together, you create a monstrous hybrid.

Emerson asked,

" If humans are natural, therefore are all things done by humans part of nature?"

Emerson then concluded that nature is all things that are immutable, such as the ocean.

Bill McDonough then began to talk about how all sustainability will eventually be local. Designers need to become leaders, and leaders need to become designers. We as humans, need to think about design as intention. Some design criteria that McDonough has come up with is:

• Cost
• Performance
• Aesthetics
• Ecological Intelligence
• Justice
• Fun

After looking over this list, Mr. McDonough came to the conclusion that design is connected to the founding of America because Ecological Intelligence is life, Justice is liberty, and Fun is the pursuit of happiness. Bill McDonough concluded that as humans, we need to be more conscience of our designs and the environment. We need to free ourselves from all of the "bad design."

Revit

Even though I did not finish the entire Revit tutorial, I really feel like I learned a lot through this program. Revit is a 3D architecture program that allows the user to create buildings in 3D. Throughout this tutorial, I learned the basic steps of how to create a building from scratch. I learned how to create the foundation of a building, put in floors, a roof, and much more. I really like using Revit, and I think it is an important program to know how to use.

Pimp My Prof...

Blender Tutorial: Making a Heart

For my tutorial, I chose to use the program Blender. Blender is a 3D program used for several different things, such as animations, rendering, modeling, and much more. I chose to follow a tutorial on how to make a heart. While it was a beginner tutorial, I am still pretty sketchy on how to use blender- so it took me a long time to follow. First, I started with a NURBS sphere. I deselected all the vertices on the sphere, until I was left with only three vertices. I then moved the three remaining vertices downward, creating a bump in the sphere. After this step, I just had to keep scaling my object until I was satisfied with the shape. I had to make sure to keep turning my object, to make sure that the parts I could not see, were still fitting along with my shape.

I am really starting to like blender, and I hope that I can keep improving. I just have to find the time to practice with it!

Final Project

I am really excited about being able to choose our final project. I love having creative freedom. For my final, I would like to make a short animation film in blender. Hopefully this will not be too complicated- because it seems really interesting. If the film does not work out, I would like to do create something 3D also using blender.

On Wednesday, March 28, 2007, I entered my black and white into the ArtFest show. This is my proof of submitting.

Grad School: Where Do I Go???

When thinking of where I would like to go to graduate school, I had no idea. I knew that I wanted to specialize in residential architecture, or possibly design hotels and spas. I have always wanted to live in California, so I immediately looked into University of California in Berkley. My family and I went last summer and toured the campus, and I feel in love with it. Berkley's architecture program is ranked number two in the nation.
The graduate professional program in architecture at Berkley is intended to develop our students' abilities to conceive and accurately describe appropriate built spaces at several scales, to help them to learn the processes that can be used to bring buildings into place, and to provide a basis for understanding the consequences that complexes of buildings and open spaces have for their inhabitants, for society, and for the environment. The Master of Architecture degree is awarded to students who successfully complete a one- to three-year program of studies. The length of the required residence period, the number of required semester units, and the specific list of required courses varies depending upon undergraduate major and previous graduate study, if any.

Degree Plan:

M.Arch Program Options

Undergraduate Degree	Program	Required Units	Maximum Elective Units
Bachelor of Architecture (five-year professional) degree	Option 1 (one-year program)	24	16
Four-year non-professional architecture degree (BA, BS, or BED degree in Architecture)	Option 2 (two-year program)	48	25
BA or BS degree in any non-architecture field	Option 3 (three-year program)	72	1

Thesis Requirement

A design thesis culminates the program for all Master of Architecture students. With the approval of the chair of graduate advisors, a research thesis option is available.

While Berkley is my number one option right now, I have also looked into the University of Chicago, Harvard, and UCLA. Looking at all of these graduate schools, has definitely inspired and encouraged me to stick with architecture.

ACADIA

"Recent developments in innovative technologies and smart materials have created new opportunities and are suggesting significant changes in the way we design and build architecture" (ACADIA). During my first year at Texas A&M, I have discovered that the technology gap between older professors opposed to younger professors and students is vast. As I continue my education in architecture, I want to make sure that I am aware of the latest technologies that pertain to my profession. After researching, I have found that ACADIA focuses on how new technologies can be integrated into architecture and how they relate to innovation and building industry. This will allow a connection between architecture and technology in general, and digital and building technologies in particular. By doing this, opportunities and challenges will be better met in the future. ACADIA seems like an interesting conference to look into, and will definitely be beneficial as I continue my education.

Associated Builders and Contractors

The Associated Builders and Contractors is an organization for undergraduates in the college of architecture, that gives students the opportunity to interact and get involved with fellow students and industry representatives. The purpose of the Texas A&M University Associated Builders and Contractors is to expose students to the wide variety of oppertunitites in the construction industry, and to promote and enhace the students construction education through industry related field trips, conventions, guest speakers and social activities. The Associated Builders and Contractors, or ABC, as it is most often called, is an academic organization here at the University of Texas A&M, but is also a chapter in the national ABC organization. I think that ABC would be a beneficial organization to join because it would give me knowledge of construction. I know that in the profession, most contractors get frustrated with architects because they do not know much about construction. This organization, along with my construction science classes, would greatly enhance my knowledge about the construction industry.

Course Spreadsheet

Here is my schedule for the next four years here at Texas A&M University. Although this schedule could very well change, I hope to follow it as closely as possible.

ArtFest Application

	Entry No.

ArtFest 2007 Entry Form

Contact Information
Name	Erin Callahan
Local Address	PMB G 205 Commons Lobby
City ST ZIP Code	College Station, TX 77840
Permanent Address	VZCR 2207
City ST ZIP Code	Canton, TX 75103
Local Phone	903-283-1196
Cell Phone	903-283-1196
E-Mail Address	Erinalysa06@neo.tamu.edu
Alternate E-Mail Address	erinalysa@gmail.com
Hometown	Canton
Major	Architecture
Classification	U2
Title of Work	Lively
Medium	Museum Board

Category
Select one of the following:
Computer Generated Images
Drawing
Film/Video/Animated Shorts
Painting
Photography
Mixed Media
Sculpture

Physical Description

*20 in. x 20 in. *Ink Drawing *Museum Board

Artist’s Statement

The ink drawing represents the word “Lively.” I used circles and squares to form patterns in order to convey the word.

Agreement and Signature
I certify that this artwork is my original creation and is ready for display. I have read and agree to the official rules of ArtFest 2007. I understand that artwork not picked up by April 5, 2007 is property of the MSC Visual Arts Committee.
Name (printed)	Erin Callahan
Signature
Date

For VAC TUse Only:

Paid:

Receipt Number:

Received By:

Entry Number:

Artwork has secure hanging device and is ready for display.

This is the application I used to apply for the 2007 artfest show. I am submitting my black and white ink drawing. My piece is called "Lively" and is drawn on museum board. I will submit my artwork on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.

Inside My Mind...

I used the program NovaMind to map my mind. This program was easy and fun to use. In the process, I learned how to create different categories, and then branch different ideas from them. All in all, I really liked this assignment and I enjoyed learning NovaMind.

Blender

Blender is an awesome program that allows you to model, shade, animate, render, and create in 3D. You can download blender at http://www.blender.org/. Blender is such a difficult program to learn because it has so many options and hidden layers. There are several different websites with tutorials on blender, such as http://www.blendernation.com and on wikibooks: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Blender_Interface. The tutorials were extremely helpful, especially the one on wikibooks, but took a lot of time, because you would have to read and then do it, in order to get hands on experience. Once I figured out how to maneuver my way around blender, I really enjoyed playing with it. I made a simple model and then put a render on it, but I was really proud of myself. Once I finish going through the entire tutorial, I hope to learn a lot more about blender.

Life in Canton, Texas

This is my house. We live on about 2 acres of land, which is considered small. There is a pasture behind our house that has cows. Occasionally, the cows get out , and come into our yard.

This is is view from the square- across from the court house. All of the buildings on the square have an "old-timey " appearance.

This is where the Dixie Hotel used to be located. The Dixie Hotel is famous because back in the early 1900's, Bonnie and Clyde stayed here.

Last summer, Canton got several new additions to the town. One of them was a brand new water park- Splash Kingdom.

Another addition was a brand new clinic.

This is the Van Zandt County Country Club- very prestigious...

This is the main shopping strip in Canton. Here we have Beall's, Tractor Supply, Movie Magic, Brookshire's, and several other stores.

This is where I go to church. It is the second largest baptist church in town.

Another view of the square.

The courthouse.

A mural that is painted on one of the buildings on the square.

The courthouse.

The main street- "The square."

This side of the street has several nicer buildings. We have a tea-room, lots of fancy antiques and furniture stores, and a brand new cafe.

My junior year, we got the privilege of having a brand new auditorium built at the high school, along with a new Jr. High, baseball fields, and tennis courts. This is a picture of the brand new auditorium.

This is the front of my high school.

We have had several outstanding accomplishments in Canton. Our high school band is the 2002, 2004, and 2006 state marching champions, while our cross country team also has a state championship. (WHOOP!)

The city lake.

The city park.

Post office.

(Picture above: Public Library... the text would not work right- sorry!)
For a long time, segregation was a huge problem in Canton, TX. Even though the problem is much better, the majority of the black community still lives in a separate part of town, called Wynne Community.

I have only been through Wynne a couple of times in my life, and as I was driving through the other day- I found it really strange that they had three churches so close together. The church below was right across the street from the other two.

One of the main entrances to First Monday.

The "original" pavilion.

The Arbors are the newer pavilions. They are very nice, and several vendors pay a lot of money to rent spots in the arbors. The arbors are pretty much in the center of everything.

The main gate to First Monday.

Across the street from First Monday is the Farmer's Market. It is huge, and very popular. I worked at a produce stand similar to this one over the summer.

Dairy Palace is the high school hangout in Canton. It is an old diner with the best ice cream and hamburgers around. It is open 24 hours, and you will always find people there, especially after games on Friday nights. Dairy Palace is even decorated like an old diner would be.

Me enjoying a DELICIOUS hamburger and tea!


This is a brief look into what Canton, TX is really like!