The Idea Man at Southwest : Weblog

OpenOffice for Mac OS X Alpha Released ::

This is big news if OpenOffice has a chance in education (from Slashdot).

Note on the start of the semester ::

I enjoy the first day or so of a semester for 2 reasons:

1. never do I feel more directly valuable than when I help a student find their class.
2. more importantly, seeing students, including Southwest's great number of night students, working to make their lives better is an  awesome sight.

A couple of weeks late, but still worth mentioning.  

Governor's Community College Tuition Plan ::

I haven't posted anything in a while, so this is in the category of delayed reaction:

Governor Bredesen wants to offer a stronger motivation to high school students to stay in school.  He's proposed that the state pay up to 90% of tuition costs for college-ready high school graduates.  It's estimated that the initiative would cost $20 million dollars annually.

Of course, working at at community college, I'm interested,  but it sounds like a good deal and great idea.

Blender Class: Landscape Tutorial ::

Zach Wilson will present on creating landscapes in Blender, including creating a landscape and grass, then getting the grass to blow in the wind using force fields.

Details:

Date:  Friday, September 29, 2006
Time:  12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.
Location:  Jennings 12a, Macon Cove Campus
Cost:  Free!

2 upcoming web development classes at Southwest ::

Prior art in online education ::

Regarding this story, Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the history of online education.  So does Moodle.  

YABC (Yet Another Blender Class): UV Mapping ::

Date:  Friday, July 28, 2006
Time:  12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.
Location:  Jennings 12a, Macon Cove Campus
Cost:  Free!
Materials:  bring a flash drive or floppy if you want to save your work.
Objective:  To give a basic introduction to to the powerful technique of UV Mapping in Blender.  UV Mapping "can be used to apply textures to arbitrary and complex shapes, like human heads or animals. Often these textures are painted images, created in applications like The Gimp, Photoshop, or your favorite painting application".

Is disruption really an eruption? ::

The problem I have with most criticisms of disruptive forces: 

they overrate the status quo.

Happy 4th of July! ::

Besides shooting fireworks and decorating wagons for parades, I spent today reading Frederick Douglass' astounding speech, " What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"  My favorite passage:

We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. But now is the time, the important time. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. You live and must die, and you must do your work.

Via this post from the Volokh Conspiracy.

Happy Bloomsday! ::

Bloomsday, June 16th, is the mythic day when Leopold Bloom wandered Dublin before reuniting with his wife Molly.

Idea: "Branding Yourself and Your Business using the Web" ::

Southwest (perhaps our Computer Resource Center) should teach a class called "Branding Yourself and Your business using the Web" where we teach

1. how to get a website with your own domain.
2. how to use tools like blogging software and podcasts to make it easy to keep your website content fresh and interesting.
3. how to customize pre-built templates to quickly personalize a professional look for your site.
4. how to promote your website with tools like RSS and good old-fashioned networking.
5. how to sustain the public's interest in the site and you.

Our target market would be small business people and artisans who can benefit from the reach of the web, but don't have the time, nor the money, to do a traditional website.

The difference between this class and a class we might have taught a few years ago is this:  we won't teach HTML coding; we won't teach anything that requires a special piece of software on the desktop, unless you want to consider a standards-compliant browser special.  This class will be about getting up and going with a quality website as quickly and inexpensively and beautifully as possible.

What got me thinking about this?  I've recently seen a number of good sites whose content has become stale because they're probably creating their content in static HTML pages.  They therefore can't benefit from dynamic and easily updateable content, not to mention RSS feeds and podcasting.

Why? ::

Once upon a time, everything had a reason.  A dietary restriction existed because that piece of meat could kill you, a policy existed because organizations ran more efficiently and fairly with it, schools took off in the summer because the kids had to help with the crops.  But time and the advances of civilization have slowly, and sometimes rapidly, dissolved a lot of these reasons.  Yet even when the original reason no longer applies, we still believe in the mandate; their mere existence (and the pure power behind them) has taken the place of the original rationale. 

Open systems, like the United States Constitution and the Internet, pull back the curtain on edicts, restrictions, prohibitions, traditions,  exposing them to the harsh but beneficent light of reason.    "Why can't I eat that pork chop, why does it take 2-5 weeks, why do schools close down in summer?"  More people every day are starting to ask, "why?"  And if you don't ask yourself why? about the things you do, and if you can't persuasively and honestly explain why? to those asking, they will figure it out themselves, often to your disadvantage.

This isn't a wholesale attack on traditions, policies, edicts or restrictions, just their unquestioned application in lieu of reason.  And I do believe that power can be a valid reason, especially in crisis situations, but understand this -- outsiders won't long accept internal power arrangements as reasons for unreasonable practices.  The classic "because I said so" works for you and the person who said so, but no one else cares.

Ask it!

Blender Toons Class Recap ::

Because I had trouble showing the HD version of "Elephants Dream" in class, I wanted to post this version (iPod compatible) for your viewing pleasure.  Remember, you can redistribute the file (under this license) and you can also download the work files and make your own mods -- heck, you can use it to make your own feature film.  Go to the Elephants Dream download page for other formats of the movie and the production files.

Regarding toons, here's a cheat sheet:

1. when creating materials for your images, toggle the Shadeless button, or use Toon shaders.  You can also try precreating the materials in a 2D program like Photoshop and mapping those images to your 3D image with UV Mapping. 
2. think about using straight-on camera angles and/or orthographic cameras to flatten the image.
3. Justin suggested precreating and mapping a static 2D background to help you visualize the layout as you create your 3D objects.
4. when rendering, toggle the Edge button in the Render window (F10) and use Edge Settings to create outlines for your images (if you want the outlines).  Also, use the Post process settings to create separate images for your line drawings and give you more post-processing control in a 2D program.
5. use a 2D program to do filter your images further, if you want.
6. if you need to composite your line drawings and color drawings, use the Multiply mode in your 2D program or Blender's sequencer.

 

Next Blender Class: Toons ::

Date:  Friday, June 2, 2006
Time:  12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.
Location:  Jennings 12a, Macon Cove Campus
Cost:  Free!
Materials:  bring a flash drive or floppy if you want to save your work.
Objective:  I will demonstrate several techniques for creating 2D animations (aka cartoons) using Blender.

For a future class, I've read that the motion tracker Voodoo has released a new version.  Motion tracking software provides the tool to integrate real camera footage with 3D effects.  That sounds like a fun presentation.  Anyone want to try it?

Voodoo is free, as in lunch, but not free as in speech, but that's still better than 0 out 2. 

Next Blender Class: Terrain ::

Date:  Friday, May 5, 2006
Time:  12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.
Location:  Jennings 12a, Macon Cove Campus
Cost:  Free!
Materials:  bring a flash drive or floppy if you want to save your work.
Objective:  Zach will definitely and demonstrably demonstrate some of the work he's been doing in Blender with terrain and objects like grass.

Regarding the last class, I got out the notice so late that Zach wasn't able to attend.  Luckily, I was able to do an impromptu tutorial on the powerful technique of UV mapping.  I hope to repeat it later for a larger audience (an audience > 1; 1 = Mike)