Capstone Visit

I went to the capstones and interviewed Jake Richardson with a few questions.

What has this week been like for you?


This week has not really been stressful because I have been working on my capstone for so long that I had plenty of time to get the project ready for presentation.


If you could change anything in how you did your capstone, what would it be?


I wanted to have more buildings you could go in and explore, but with the time constraint and limited number of people helping me I wasn't able to do so.


How close is the final outcome to what you originally thought it would be?


The final outcome is almost exactly what I was hoping to have finished by the time I had to present.


If you had one more month to work on the project what would you do?


I would have liked to add in a couple more buildings that you would normally find in a western town like a jail or bank.


What advice do you have for me about working on my capstone?


Start on your project as early as you possibly can and don't linger because you think you have plenty of time to finish it. It will be here before you know it.








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I'm sort of going to address the first three questions of my thoughts of the class together. 


I do think this is a good class, however I already had my capstone planned out so the idea building and such didn't really pertain to me. The guests were nice to listen to because they can help give tips of what to do and what not to do from their experience. The structure is interesting but it was nice to cover most everything fairly fast rather then having it drawn out. This class I think can be a good help to lots of students but I think it needs to be taken in the sophomore or junior year not first semester senior. I think by the senior year the students should already know what they want to do for their capstone and should already be working on it.


The assignments were good to an extent, I already had a lot of it done but it did make me look into secondary mentors for my project a lot more then I thought of doing previously also think it is good to get people communicating with fellow students to help build their ideas and fix problems that one person may not notice but others can see. 


I will say a lot were not too useful to me because I already knew what I was going to do, I already knew who my mentor would be, I already had pretty much every assignment done so they weren't really useful to me.

How my capstone is moving along.

Since I submitted my timeline, I have composed the music for my animation. I have had it reviewed by a graduate music student at Ithaca College. He gave me feedback on what to change to make the music more appealing. I went back and edited my composition to add more appeal to the song itself, after all I want people to enjoy the music. I have now remade my timeline as well, I just want to have the models done and textured by the end of the year. I have delegated the Cello off to Xian and the Marimba off to Stacia as I will not be able to model all the high detail instruments and the environment.

I've been in contact with my mentor a few times, not sure exactly how many as I see him in other classes and can talk to him then as well. He has reviewed my music and likes it and knows who I've appointed tasks to, I still need to give him my new timeline, then it just comes to modeling instruments.

My timeline has changed a little bit, It is still basically on the same path except I just made it a very general models and textures done by the end of the year. This is because I haven't had a lot of time with all my other classes and my job to do a bunch of work on this project, however over some of these breaks I will be able to knock out a lot of work fairly quick. In addition to that change, I also have made my timeline more condensed in the Spring. I added a new goal to my project which is to get an actual guitar with robotic parts set up to plug into my computer and play itself through a USB output. I have a friend who works with a lot of robotics who is actually going to work for a robotic part manufacturing plant next month who is going to assist me in setting all of that up. I'd like to have my animation completely done about a month before capstone to be able to get this new addition built and working which I'm not sure how to do it so there will be a lot of research and experimentation involved.

As far as I know there aren't really any true key things I need to have done before the start of next semester. I have the goal of getting the models done but it isn't really a key thing, just a preferred thing. Everything that was a key thing is done. Idea building and concept drawings are all done as well as composition, so I am to the point of all 3D work and that is where I wanted to be before next year.

The only significant change would be I added an instrument that wasn't planned. I wasn't planning on having a Cello but when composing I thought it sounded nice.

If you are my friend on Facebook you can go to my videos and the first one should be the music for my animation. If you aren't and wanna hear it just let me know because that is the only location that it lives on the web at.

On a final note I'm really excited about getting this to move forward but it is at a standstill at the moment as this semester comes to a close and I have loads of final projects to get done.

Capstone Timeline

Currently my timeline is a very rough timeline. It's not very detailed beyond having bitter basics of what I want to get done.

By the end of the year I want everything modeled and I want my music composed. I am going to be meeting with someone later today to help design some unique instruments so I can get deep into the modeling over fall break.

Depending on how long modeling ends up taking me really depends on the rest of the timeline. Currently nothing other then modeling and music happens till next year.

In January I move to Unwrapping, Texturing, and Lighting
February is Rigging
March and April are Animating/Timing. I want to be sure I have plenty of time for this as this is the section that makes or breaks my piece, in fact I am really hoping everything else moves on faster so I can have even more time on the animating. In mid April I want to start User Viewing/Testing to be sure everything flows right to numerous eyes....

Potential Problems

Of course there is no way to know what problems will come up. But if I were to guess I would say that time will be an issue. I have a lot to do, some things like 3-D animation that I haven't even done before. I've modeled and textured but I've never rigged and animated. That kind of is time and skill that I need to develop.

I don't think any of the resources will be a problem other  then potentially having the program crash and having the files get corrupted.

Budget shouldn't be a problem, I will need a small amount to make some DVD's of my animation. I do want to try to get the guitar I design custom made but we will see based on the amount that may cost.

I don't really foresee any team problems but they could arise. Another problem could be my ambition to go too far and having to cut back. I want a really awesome project but I don't know if it is really in my ability to make it quite how I want it.

Secondary Mentor

I think a secondary mentor is a great idea. Especially for me who has numerous aspects to my project.

The role of the secondary mentor could very greatly. For instance, my mentor is Clint Koch, however, for more of the design of the instruments I could use someone who is more into design such as Steve Mannheimer. They could help me with the art before I 3-D model them.

In addition, I could use someone from the music department to help me with the composition where I may need feedback from someone directly related to music.

I am not sure who would not be good....

Sort of as I mentioned, Steve Mannheimer would be a good potential second mentor for me, his interview can  be found on my other post.  In addition I am thinking someone from the school of music, I may consider John Alvarado who is a guitarist. Or I may try to find someone who works with drums as I am not a drummer at ALL....and I'll have drums in my project, so I may want a drummer.

From what I can find on John,

John's area of expertise is in Classical Guitar.

He would probably expect a lot of communication and a lot of practice/experimenting to get what sort of music composition you like that is full and appropriately timed ect.

He would probably not be interested in working on a project outside of music at all.

I think he would like the idea of being a secondary mentor for my project.

Capstone Mentor Profile

My capstone idea is to create an animation of musical instruments that look like they play themselves. I will compose my own music for this piece and I will create 3-D models for all instruments, light the scene, texture the instruments, and animate the whole thing.

The key components I am searching for in a mentor are:
         Knowledge of programs I will be using so they can help me if I get stuck or screw something up.
         I want them to share an interest in my idea, to encourage me and motivate me.
         I want them to be strict with me, to critique me, as well as making sure I hit deadlines
         Finally, I want them to push my abilities and help me grow in my skills.

The three potential from the MAS faculty would be: Clint Koch, Albert Williams, and Steve Mannheimer.

I think Clint and Albert would both be able to help me with Maya and the 3-D modeling, lighting, texturing, and animating. I'm not sure what all Steve does but I think he might be able to help me design the instruments in a way that makes them stand out from instruments we are used to.   I'd be interested in working with Clint and Albert because I know I will need a lot of help with Maya especially with the animation as I have done hardly any.

Steve has an expertise in the area of "concept development" he is more on the side of developing ideas and getting them to expand in numerous ways and in more detail. He said he is not probably going to be very good with the actual creation of the project though.

He expects steady communication as well as a lot of independent work. And he wants you to have a willingness to evolve your ideas to the fullest potential.

He likes the idea of having a secondary adviser on board. a second mind so its not a one sided opinion.

Clint has an area of expertise in 3-D production.

From what I know of Clint he expects a good looking work be the time it is done. He is always willing to help if I have an issue and wants to see a good project in the end. He wants some good communication as well as a lot of pre-planning to be done.

Clint is my mentor for next semester already.

I think Clint would like the idea of a second adviser, someone who could help me with the music side where he won't be able to help me very much on.

I should hopefully be meeting with Albert tomorrow morning to get his interview.

Capstone Group

I am in the 3-D animation group.

The other members of my group are:
Saviss Mahmoudi
Alyse McMiller
Brandon Rash
Jacob (Chewie) Ritter
Gregory Stahlhut
Beth Tankersley
Samantha Tarkington

Class discussion.

I liked the class discussion although it didn't pertain to me too much. I have been thinking about capstones since I started my career at IUPUI and have gone from idea to idea to say, the Animusic is what I myself will enjoy most. (plus my other idea would have taken numerous years to complete by myself and if I had a team it would need to be a LARGE team)

I did figure out from the discussion that I would like to get more mentors working with me on my project. I could use a music mentor and possibly a video mentor.

Beyond that I more of listened to the discussion which I believed helped others more then me but was a good discussion to get a lot of questions and concerns out of the way.

Capstone a Definition by Philip

To me, a capstone is a way to show a small piece of work that you are capable of. I think a capstone should be the best work you have created throughout your college career. It is a time to show off what you've learned over the past 4 or so years.

I am taking a lot of pride in my capstone. Being a New Media major with a Music minor I wanted to encompass the music in my project. I fell in love with Animusic when I saw it and it is a corporation I would enjoy working for so I decided, why not aim to appeal to that corporation?

I do NOT see the capstone just as a hoop to jump through to graduate, that is what I'd call the math and English classes I had to take....I consider capstones to be a privilege, a chance to show off your work to mass numbers of people, to be proud of what you have accomplished. I also see it as a way to appeal to employers, not only does it give them a chance to see your work, but also get to talk to you and see how you interact with other people and how personable you are as well as how much knowledge you have on your project and software you used.

That is my view of capstones.

My Capstone Idea

I a few years back saw the very end of Animusic on PBS and fell in love with what I saw. I later looked up more videos and knew that that was something I wanted to do.

This being my capstone idea I have flushed it out a little bit.

1. I was thinking of a water theme, where water drops will fall off something and they will land on drums to play the drums. Also, I may use the same general idea on the xylophone. A guitar will be the center of the piece and will be placed atop a fountain.

2. A different idea along the Animusic line would be to take little chunks of their creations and recreate them, such as the ball animation where things to add would be stray balls on the floor to show that it isn't a perfect machine every time. The animation I love the most is the Resonant Chamber. I would love to create some sort  of crazy looking instrument that is a mix of a few but we'll see if it is in my limits later.

3. My third idea for this project was going to be a simple piano only piece. The piano would be a grand piano with the top up so you can see the inside. I would just have the keys be "ghost" played but it would be interesting to animate the string vibration and even get shots of the hammers.


My inspirations are three Animusic pieces.

1. First I ever saw, "Harmonic Voltage" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGCTLJDoMGw

2. My favorite animation "Resonant Chamber" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXNVbvFXyk&feature=relmfu

3. My favorite overall "Future Retro" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ahoqR6OGdM&feature=related