DIG 2030c - MeStory Project HIGHER QUALITY

I'm finally doing something I promised to do two years ago, which is to post a higher-quality upload of my (now old) MeStory Project.

Spring and Summer

I realize that I have been really bad about updating my projects, but I have been plenty busy this year. There isn't really much I can post here anyway. However, all of my Spring 2012 Introduction to Animation videos are on my YouTube channel. It was my first experience with animation, something I've wanted to try my whole life. My method is a hybrid of hand-drawn and Flash animation. My videos went over well in class, and I'm pretty proud of them, especially considering they were my first attempts at animating.

My YouTube Channel with My Animation Projects

The only real "projects" I did over the summer were two songs. The first is a vocal cover of "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith. I didn't have the time or resources to try to make the song from scratch, so I just grabbed a karaoke track and did the best Steven Tyler impression I could. I would expect mixed reactions to this one, but I'm pretty satisfied with how I did, just as a vocal exercise. Scream-singing is fun.

The other project, which I did create from scratch in Garage Band, is a cover of "Dear Boy" by Paul McCartney. I was inspired to make this one after listening to the remaster of his Ram album. The backing vocals were pretty complex and difficult to figure out in places, so I simplified them in a few places. The vocals aren't perfect, but still pretty trippy sounding, which I think keeps pretty faithful to the original.

Christmas Catch-Up

Because of being so busy during this past semester, I didn't keep up-to-date with posting some of my projects. I wanted to at least post all of my projects for DIG 3134 (Media Software Design). Here is the hub page where all the projects can be accessed: DIG 3134 Projects

Project 1: "Acey Ducey" – A low and high card are drawn from the deck, and players take turns betting on whether the third card will have a value between those of the other two cards.

Project 2: "Wheel of Fortune" – More like a game of Hangman, but with a Wheel of Fortune layout. Players take turns guessing the letters of a hidden phrase.

Project 3: "Battleship" – A simplified version of the board game by the same name.

Project 4: "Cowpies" – A projectile game. Players take turns entering an initial angle and velocity in attempt to hit one of two targets.

Finally, a Christmas greeting.I decided to do a quick Christmas cover for fun. I didn't have enough time to try to perfect much about it, but I haven't recorded anything in a while, so it was nice to get back to using Garage Band. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Wonderful Christmastime - Cover by Sweet Banana

RAFFLE!

Okay, so I've got some updating to do with my school projects from this past semester, but in the meantime... RAFFLE!

A deviantART user is raffling off a shiny Mew plushie, and I want it to be mine! More information below:

http://thegreenmooseofdoom.deviantart.com/journal/FREE-Plush-Raffle-Drawing-on-Dec-25th-272719747

DIG 3134 Project 1

I have my first project for my Media Software Design class due tomorrow. For this class we are working with PHP and HTML. Project 1 was to program a game called "Acey-Ducey". Each round a high card and a low card are drawn at random, and the player may place a bet that the third card drawn will have a value between the high and low card, or they may pass. In my version, there are two teams, each beginning with $1000, and betting $100 each into the pot by default. Then, on each turn, one team may bet any amount, or pass. Players cannot bet more than they currently have, and they may not bet more than the current pot, but they may bet nothing (which is for all intents and purposes the same as passing). When one team runs out of money, the other team is declared the winner. My game does not play through a whole deck, but all the cards are of one suit, Hearts.

Acey-Ducey

Some Catching Up and Updates

I seem to have forgotten about this blog for a stretch of time, but I'm back and bringing everything up to date. First, I updated the SoundCloud link in my previous post, so the player is linked to my current version of the song. Also, here are some other things I've done to keep myself busy over the summer, both for school and for fun:

Summer B 2011 Class Projects:
DIG 3480C Project 1
This assignment was a "pig language converter" created in JavaScript. The basic idea is the user enters an English sentence, and the converter adds "-a" or "-oink" to the end of each word, depending on the word length. It then outputs the converted sentence. However, as per the specifications of the project, the converted sentence is printed to the console, rather than a pop-up window, so if you know how to open the debugging console in your browser, do that before launching the program.

Pig Language Converter

DIG 3480C Project 2 (Final Project)

This was a fun but annoying project. The assignment was to create a game using the Processing programming language. There were certain features that needed to be included, but we basically could create anything we wanted. I chose to create a game called "ParticleMan", inspired by the song by They Might Be Giants. All the player must do is navigate little ParticleMan with the arrow keys to get to the green powerup, while avoiding his arch-nemesis, TriangleMan. One note when launching the game is I've found that sometimes the controls freeze the first time, so the page needs to be refreshed. I have been told this is an issue with the browser running my script, rather than an actual bug in my code. It's a really simple game, but enjoy!

ParticleMan Game

DIG 4780C Final Project

For this intro 3D modeling class, we basically had one model that we worked on for the entire semester, submitting our progress at certain benchmarks. The assignment was to model any household object as close to reality as possible, at the end adding some "damage" to the model to make it even more believable. At first I had a nightmare of a time getting started, because the models I chose were far too complex for my level. Finally I decided to model a wooden skate statue that was in my house. It may have been a little too simple, even for my level, but I decided it was better to let it be a little too simple and make a quality model rather than choose something too challenging and have an awful or unfinished product. I was right, and my model came out quite nicely, and my attempts at texturing were successful with barely any setbacks. It was hard to take my "perfect" model and make it look old and moldy, but in the end, I still think it looks very nice.

Other Personal Projects:

Invader Zim Model

Being initially discouraged at my first 3D modeling attempts, I decided to get some practice by creating a model that I would be more interested in. Thus my Zim model was born. I took a few shortcuts on the trickier sections of the model, and I doubt it's properly made enough to be rigged for animation, but at least it looks nice.

"Maybe I'm Amazed" Covers Competition

Paul McCartney held another covers competition this summer, this time with the song "Maybe I'm Amazed". The team running the contest also got it better organized, with a more concrete voting system (which actually worked against me because part of the reason I co-won the previous competition was due to a discrepancy in the voting system). But regardless, I was very pleased with how this song came out, and I know it's a vast improvement over my previous entry, so it's nice to see how my skills have grown.

SoundCloud Projects
I added more songs to SoundCloud, including the audio for my "Maybe I'm Amazed" cover. I also uploaded two different versions of my "Calico Skies" cover, one "acoustic", and one with a full band.

Maybe I'm Amazed - Cover by Sweet Banana


Calico Skies - Cover by Sweet Banana



Calico Skies (Full Band Version) - Cover by Sweet Banana

SoundCloud

So I have discovered the awesome SoundCloud and created an account. I uploaded my latest project there, and it comes in the convenient little widget below. Also you can go to my account page by clicking on my account name, "Sweet Banana", below the widget.

It Won't Be Long - Cover by Sweet Banana

Song Info:
Cover of "It Won't Be Long" by The Beatles

Performed by Sweet Banana:
Lead Guitar
Rhythm Guitar
Bass Guitar
Drums (software)
Vocals (lead & backing)

Mixed in Garage Band