Michele's MT35101 Blog

Roll Call 1 for 3D Graphics Class 11

2008-08-05T18:57:00.006-04:00

that IS me with the feathered headdress. I forgot to turn HUD on.

Final #5

2008-08-03T12:01:00.024-04:00

Final #5

The Future of Immersive Education – 10 years down the road

I envision that Virtual Reality (VR) technology will be platform independent and web-based. Applications such as SecondLife will no longer use a “fat” client in order for users to experience VR, but will be more in line with Project Wonderland, which is a web-based VR application. Projects such as the Cobalt Platform open up a new world for learning.

SecondLife

Project Wonderland

Cobalt Project

As 3-D graphics are crucial for VR, the sophistication and speed of which improvements are made will be important. Looking at 3-D graphics from the mid-1990's to just 10 years later, we can see that this technology will continue to grow and expand to meet the needs and demands for future applications.

Web-based VR applications will become more sophisticated and the 3-D graphics and tools used will be more in line with the quality that SecondLife produces, as well as being faster and much easier to “build” within VR.

1990's early 3-D

Doom circa 1994

Doom-3, circa 2004

VR will be instrumental in global education. Populations where schools and universities are limited or too expensive to build, such as third-world countries or rural areas, can now participate within a classroom environment, just by using their computer. Global initiatives to provide a common area, such as a library or some common gathering place, with computers and fiber optic networks will allow all pockets of the world to connect with one another.

VR will enable people of all ages to learn at their own pace and speed. It will also expand our knowledge of places around the world, as SecondLife has demonstrated with its SURLs of London, New York City, Greece, the Forbidden City in China and ancient ruins of Rome, Chichen Itza and Stonehenge.

The Forbidden City, China

People can recreate ancient civilizations and how people interacted and lived to teach us history and culture. Future theories about life on our planet and beyond can be created and how to expand our technology to met those goals.

Ancient Rome

Searching the galaxy

Science can also be used in VR. What we learn about the human body, physics, chemistry and our environment can be updated faster as theories, concepts and facts are discovered. Simulations will be a key tool in learning about cause and effect.

How this will effect the traditional model of education? I don't believe it will change that much as far as having actual institutions and classrooms. It will be an addition to the current model of teaching. Even today, educational facilities use eLearning tools, such as Blackboard and WebCT, to manage their courses and teach both "live" and online. Virtual Reality will just enhance that learning experience and enable students and faculty to reach out to other students and faculty that are across the globe in a fast and simple manner.

Learning

These applications also allow the ordinary user to experience places and events that they most likely would never experience in real-life, due to various reasons - you cannot transport yourself back to an ancient civilization nor travel to the future (not yet, at least!) Most people will never perform open heart surgery or work with subatomic particles. However, with VR, the sky is the limit. I do not believe this will take the place of traveling and working in other countries or even stop space exploration; however, it gives the ordinary people the ability to learn and immerse themselves in that world, and perhaps experience a bit of whimsy as well.

Hanging out

Traveling in style

Finals Index

Final #3 World Tours in Second Life

2008-08-02T12:16:00.020-04:00

Final #3 - SecondLife Globe Trotting

I met up with Jacqui and Marcy in Second Life.

And then took them on a tour of the places I landmarked - Stonehenge and Chichen Itza.

Stonehenge MeetUp:

We walked into the middle of Stonehenge and looked around - some some folks having a picnic there.

Group Photo on the Altar. No one was sacrificed or harmed.

Jacqui getting "energized":

Flying next to Stonehenge, I had discovered a place called River Waves. Chilling at the beach:

Now, onto Chichen Itza, which is a famous pre-Columbian Mayan ruin in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico

Arriving at the Temple of Kukulkan (El Castillo):

Group Shot on the ledge:

Looking over the jungle from the top of the temple, we decide to fly over by the river:

By the river, there was another ruin. It is the Great Ball Court, where the Mayans used to play something similar to racquetball or volleyball. This is the largest court of its kind

Leaving the court and going to rest by the fire

This site has amazing detail and the sound effects - hawks and frogs, river sounds. Stonehenge had great sound effects as well, especially by the River Waves.

Next, Marcy took us to her places, Munich and the Balsa Airport

Munich shots - the Main Plaza

Inspecting an Event board in Munich. Looks like some type of music events at this site:

Balsa Airport - a place where there are famous airplanes and aviators

Meet & Greet by the Robot there:

Jacqui strikes a pose:

Hanging out in the pilot's lounge:

Jacqui took us to Macedonia in Greece and Rio.

Arriving at Macedonia:

Ordering a Blue Hawaii cocktail at the bar:

You can get massages at Macedonia - I didn't realize it would be Marcy who would give me one!! Not for the timid

Waiting for Jacqui, as SL crashed on her. Chilling with my drink and chatting with Marcy

Jacqui's back and we are off to Rio.

Walked down to the beach- see a common theme here? We seem to LOVE beaches and fires!

You can surf the waves! I have never surfed before in RL, so this was fun. And in heels, no less... I didn't run into the dophin - he & I are both ok ;)

Well, that concludes the world tours. Marcy, Jacqui and I had a lot of fun. We spent over 2 hours in SL touring. Makes me want to go travel more in RL.

Finals Index

Final #2 Step 1b

2008-08-01T19:21:00.013-04:00

Final 2 Step 1b

Actually building something. After reading the Mermaid Diaries site, I decided to try my hand at building a candle, per the Mermaid's instructions.

Started out fine - selected the cylinder shape and set the dimensions to X=.030, Y=.030, Z=.30

Wow - ok, small but I can handle it. Named the object "candle". Set the texture to blank and left the color white.

Now, for the wick. In edit mode, I held down the shift key and dragged the blue arrow upwards. This produces a copy of my candle object. I then clicked on the general tab and renamed this to "wick". Dimensions X=.010, Y=.010, Z=.030. Selected a light grey for the color of the wick

OMG. I can't find my wick!! Oh, there it is.

Now onto linking - well, I was supposed to position the wick so it sinks slightly into the candle. Can't find my wick anymore.

let's try making my candle bigger. Scrapped the first part.

Repeated my steps, only THIS time, candle dimensions are X=.30, Y=.30, Z=3.0 - YEAH!!!!

now I repeated the wick steps, only making my wick dimensions X=.10, Y=.10, Z=.30

nice fat candle & wick and now I can actually see what I am doing. Onto linking the two prims together.

Right-clicked wick and selected edit. Pressed shift and clicked on the candle object to select it as well. Click on the Tools (top of screen) and selected Link.

The candle is outlined in yellow, the wick blue.

Now for something fancy. I copied a particle script from "Sirena Hair & Fashion" (The SLURL is West Sunset (160,50,22)) in SecondLife, which will produce a candle flame. I edited my wick, making sure that the "Edit linked parts" box was checked off, and selected the contents tab. Dragged the candle flame particle script into that tab.

saved. Nothing. Looked at the script and realized it was based on the original measurements of the wick. Edited wick, changed the dimensions back to X=.010, Y=.010, Z=.030, as I already linked my candle & wick together.

Left the candle size alone, as it makes for a better pic. Now I have flame!!

I didn't like the color of the candle, so I went back to edit my candle. Selected the texture tab and clicked on the color box and changed it to a teal color. Too dark. I added transparency to the candle and now I like it.

Final Result:

I NEVER want to do this again. I guess in SL I am NOT a material girl and I can live with my box and not create anything else - ever. Not only that, but I had someone come up to me and ask me if I was REAL....I could have used a snappy comeback at that time, but of course, I can never think of one when I need one.

Finals Index

Where I went in Second Life

2008-08-01T17:32:00.013-04:00

I went to Stonehenge, which I have never visited in RL and Chichen Itza, which I have.

I love the antiquity of these places.

Stonehenge:

On a raft....

Flying above the ruins...

I touched an "energy" ball and I got caught in the light...

Sat on the altar and it kinda ate me!!

Chichen Itza:

On top of the Temple of Kukulkan (El Castillo) . I've actually gone up those stairs, but you can't get to the very top of the pyramid. I was able to in SL!

I believe I am on top of the Great Ball Court here. They don't play soccer like they used to - the Mayans would behead the losers. That would give you an incentive to win...

Looking at El Castillo....

Back again on El Castillo, but on one of the ledges...

so, this should be fun to share with my classmates when I teleport them there. Let's see if they enjoy it as much as I did.

Final

2008-08-01T10:16:00.008-04:00

Links to my Finals

Final #1 PowerBullet

Final #2 Step 1a Learning about building in SecondLife

Final #2 Step 1b Actually building a candle in SecondLife

Final #3 Globe Trotting in SecondLife

Final #4 Gizmoz

Final #5 The Future of Immersive Education

Roll Call 3 for class 10

2008-07-31T21:50:00.002-04:00

Went off to a few places in Second Life and saved them as a landmark.

Final #4: Gizmoz

2008-07-31T21:37:00.008-04:00

Express Yourself with Gizmoz Video Clips

Custom Gizmoz video clip.

Not sure if this is what you were looking for. I am assuming it is!

I first uploaded my pic on Gizmoz and then starting playing with the accessories. Really LOVE my new hair!! Then I selected "Clips" from the "Create" menu and began making my video - I just followed the steps - it was easy, all I had to do was pick my options. Once I selected all of my options, which included my Gizmoz "head", the background and voice message, I was done.

Finals Index

Roll Call 2 for class 10

2008-07-31T20:27:00.003-04:00

Roll Call 2 for Class 10.

kinda pissed off here. I forgot how to fly up (page up) and so everyone was above me and no one could get my text messages. I could hear just fine & dandy, however.

To prove I WAS there - here we all are after we landed.

We read about 3D graphics; talked about how Virtual Reality, such as SL, is similar to the web back in 1995 (very new, very buggy).

Roll Call 1 for class 10

2008-07-31T18:32:00.003-04:00

Not too much at first roll call - this area in second life really messes up my graphics!!!

sigh...

Final #2 Step 1a

2008-07-31T18:12:00.013-04:00

Final 2 - Step 1a

"Discovery" experience on building.
Logged into SecondLife and searched for sandbox.

Went into the Public Sandbox and wandered around. No one really to talk to....But I found an object that told me that Ivory Towers in the place to go to learn how to build!!

So, I went there.

Read up on the notecards.....still confused. I guess I didn't look confused because someone asked me how to build a car!! A car - I am just trying learn how to put circles and squares together.

hmmmm....trying my hand out at "building". Do I know what I am doing? Nope....

So, here I found info on how to "link" my prims together. Not sure if I understand it or not. However, I know how to save my objects and attach them to me!! But I don't think that is what you meant by learning to build...

All in all, this discovery business was not fun at all. At least in SecondLife. I think I will go google about learning to build in SecondLife, because everyone else seemed to be as lost as me.

Update: I found a really good site about building from Mermaid Diaries. I believe I will try my hand at the candle and if I am feeling brave enough, try the particle effect.

Finals Index

Roll Call 2 Vector Graphics Class 9

2008-07-29T20:41:00.010-04:00

Did a little gaming on shockwave.com with Cubis!

Visited Project Wonderland at TheEducation Grid

Had a sex change operation at Project Wonderland and got new glasses

ShockWave 3D Game

2008-07-29T20:16:00.007-04:00

I picked Cubis because it was the only one in which I could actually win at!! Searched shockwave.com for 3D games and came up with a list. This seemed to be right up to my level of gaming skills.

Final #1

2008-07-29T19:48:00.008-04:00

Final #1: Using PowerBullet

First exercise Name

Second exercise Object

Third exercise Image

Final Result All together using pages to combine all the images

Finals Index

Soaking in the hot tub...

2008-07-29T19:38:00.002-04:00

Roll Call 1 Vector Graphics Class 9

2008-07-29T19:23:00.006-04:00

learning about 3D graphics on the Web. Taking Virtual Tours in panoramic 3D. Linking websites to images via blogger. Click on the image!

PowerBullet exercise

2008-07-25T12:50:00.002-04:00

very fun exercise....

Galaxy Birth

Roll Call 3 Vector Graphics Class 8

2008-07-24T20:29:00.000-04:00

Sitting at the table, waiting for dinner....

2008-07-24T20:20:00.001-04:00

Roll Call 2 Vector Graphics Class 8

2008-07-24T19:36:00.000-04:00

Sitting on a Cat head

2008-07-24T18:45:00.003-04:00

Roll Call 1 Vector Graphics Class 8

2008-07-24T18:38:00.003-04:00

Roll Call 3 for Vector Graphics Class 6

2008-07-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

Roll Call 2 for Vector Graphics Class 6

2008-07-17T20:27:00.001-04:00

Roll Call 1 for Vector Graphics Class 6

2008-07-17T18:39:00.002-04:00

Midterm #10

2008-07-16T23:26:00.008-04:00

I used various shapes, lines and clip art to produce this masterpiece of all masterpieces. I used different textures and colors, along with using multiple colors in the same shape. The cat is accurate. All cats sit with their behinds towards the camera. I then c&p into GimpShop and saved as a jpg file.

Link to actual Word.doc in myfiles:
Midterm 10 Word Doc

Midterm Index

Midterm #7

2008-07-16T21:43:00.006-04:00

This was the toughest one yet. I downloaded an image of Gerald Butler in .jpg format. I opened GimpShop and saved it .xcf format and then began to add the layers.

I had to create "eyeball" logo in a new .xcf format, used the ellipse tool to get make it a circle and pasted that into a new transparent image in .xcf. I then added 2 layers to the Gerald pic for the "eyeballs". I then used the rectangle tool to create the black border at the bottom on the image, again as a new layer. I added all three of my text lines as individual layers. I used the transform toolbox and moved my text to center.

Link to actual .xcf file in myfiles:
Midterm 7 original .xcf image

Midterm Index

Midterm #8

2008-07-16T17:57:00.006-04:00

blur@ Circle #3 - along the neckline

blur@ fuzzy circle #3 along the eyes
burned in midtones under the eyes
smudged in the midtones.

softened nose-to-mouth lines

smoothed out his forehead and used the blur to basically even out his skin-tone.

I am NOT happy about Al's left eye - it doesn't look very good and I did this several times. I left his hair alone - I have to say, after staring at 800% zoom for many minutes, it grew on me and I like it the way it is.

Original picture:

Gimpshopped picture:

Midterm Index

Midterm #9

2008-07-15T21:12:00.005-04:00

Link to actual Word.doc in myfiles:
Midterm 9 Word Doc

Midterm Index

YouTube Video

2008-07-15T20:30:00.005-04:00

Star Wars "Cops"

bad boys, bad boys, whacha gonna do...

Midterm

2008-07-15T19:53:00.009-04:00

Links to my midterm:
Midterm #1
Midterm #2
Midterm #3
Midterm #4
Midterm #5
Midterm #6
Midterm #7
Midterm #8
Midterm #9
Midterm #10

Roll Call 1 Vector Graphics Class 5

2008-07-15T18:56:00.003-04:00

Midterm #6

2008-07-14T18:01:00.011-04:00

I used the text circle in Gimpshop and added my name using the text box tool. I added several layers - using white as the background and c&p the original text into each new layer. I used the "rotate" tool and for the first layer, increased my rotation by 45 degrees. I anchored the image in the layers tool, and then continue to create additional layers, randomly increasing the degrees as I saved them and then anchored them. I then saved my work as an animated .gif image, setting it to loop forever with the "delay between frames" at 500 milliseconds.

Midterm Index

Midterm #5

2008-07-14T17:31:00.008-04:00

I downloaded the monster.jpg from course resources and added my name, using GimpShop and the text tool and saved it. I then saved it as midterm5A.jpg, leaving the compression quality to 100 and clicking on the "progressive" option.

Using the my original monster.jpg, I then saved it as midterm5B.pgn, making sure that the "interlacing" option was set and the compression was at 9.

I didn't have any issues with the images loading, as I am on a fast connection, not a dial-up.

jpg image

png image

Midterm Index

Midterm #3

2008-07-14T17:05:00.014-04:00

gif image

jpg image

png image

Using the ball.tiff as the original, I saved the image on my desktop and then edited it to add my name.

I then saved it in the following formats: .gif, .jpg and .png, using the .tiff image for each one. For the .gif, I set the interlace option on and also flattened the image as I exported it. With the .jpg, I set the compression quality to 100 and for the .png I also set the interlacing option on.

Midterm Index

Midterm #2

2008-07-14T16:52:00.003-04:00

Midterm assignment 2

I used the "Select Region" tool to create the white-space block below the cat. I then selected the Text tool and edited the font, font size and color. I added the text and then used the "Move" tool to adjust the text within the region of white space.

Midterm Index

Roll Call 3 for BitMap Graphics Class 4

2008-07-10T21:20:00.002-04:00

third time's a charm!

Midterm #1

2008-07-10T21:16:00.005-04:00

Red Eye Midterm #1

I dodged with a dark brown color and then I smudged the eye, using GimpShop

Midterm Index

Roll Call 2 for BitMap Graphics Class 4

2008-07-10T20:50:00.002-04:00

Here I am!!

Roll Call 1 for BitMap Graphics Class 4

2008-07-10T19:04:00.002-04:00

I am here!!

Midterm #4

2008-07-09T16:06:00.003-04:00

My Avatar in Second Life

After I entered SecondLife, I had to find a spot where it wasn't too dark - As I was in the British Literature Classroom, it was already evening when I arrived. I found a nice spot, sat down and did a snap-spot, using the Cntr-PrintScreen keys. Using GimpShop, I pasted it into a new file and then cropped it. Adding text was a little tricky, due to the background colors. White seemed to be the color that worked best, although it is not perfect. I also spent several minutes trying to go back and edit my text - Now I understand why there is a Layers panel!!

Click on the image to get the full view. The text looks much better.

Midterm Index

My Second Post

2008-07-08T20:27:00.001-04:00

Well, I know I'll be deleting these blog posts. Not much to say, except I am really tired....

I need some coffee....

My First Blog Post

2008-07-08T20:22:00.000-04:00

Hi there....my name is Michele

On the 4th of July, I went over to a friend's house and we had a cookout, played games, drank too much and talked way too much.

Slept in the next day.....