I was a non traditional student! Graduating with a masters at my age?

My daughter fits my cap for the ceremony for my undergraduate degree. She joins me again as I receive my masters.

I have been a nontraditional student for quite some time now. I went to Vermont College to finish an undergraduate degree when my own child was going to college.  I loved their form of progressive education. Then I went to Goddard College for my a Masters of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts degree. I’m graduating on Sunday!

 

This was not something I had to do, but something I wanted to do. It was a very fullfilling and wonderful journey.

Both of these schools are very different then your traditional education. Designing your own study was fascinating and a perfect fit for me.  I am thrilled to graduate with my Masters of Fine Arts with both a focus in sculpture, especially as it pertains to digital technology in the studio, and writing.

On superbowl Sunday I will be making a huge touchdown, but it won’t be in sports.

For those interested, I was interviewed on our podcast by my daughter concerning this entire process. Here is a link for the podcast. Just click and the podcast will come up in your browser.

For those of you considering such a challenge, I have documented my entire process from undergraduate school to graduate school on my Perpetual Learner blog. Read my process, struggles, concerns and achievements.  It seems strange to think, that way back when i was applying I was first figuring out how to find out what shots I had in high school.

January 28, 2012 | No Comments »

Remembering when…

Many years ago Houston PBS came to my studio and created this documentary on me and my artwork. It won an award.  I have always wanted to put these up on the web but never had time, slowly I will add more of the tv media coverage. Until then… here is

Making a living while living a dream.


 

January 22, 2012 | No Comments »

Exporting ZBrush file for milling

I have been on the phone with Synappsys Digital Services trying to figure out the best file, size and format  that my  digital sculpture of Evelyn needs to be in for them to work. tThis sculpture was created in the computer, will be milled out in foam and then created as a life size bronze.  Synappsys Digital Services will be milling this out for me, but first I need to get them the file.

I have already decimated the individual files, with Decimation Master in ZBrush and I talk about this in a previous post. An importnat thing to remember is that ZBrush can create some very large files.  Many companies that create output, for either milling or digital printing may not have the capability to handle such high resolution meshes.  I have spoken to Synappsys Digital Services and they can handle 5 million or less.

To upload the file I have called Synappsys Digital Services and rasked them to provide server information to upload my files. I must be able to upload them via Ftp. I use Fetch on my mac, which works just fine.  With my FTP information ready, now all I need is the proper type of files.

Synappsys Digital Services can work with many different types of files.  They can work with obj’s but their file of preference is STL Binary.

File formats for Zbrush

ZBrush can save in tools in several different formats.

Obtaining OBJ’s are simple.  While your Z tool or sub tool is selected go to Export and several file formats are available in the drop down menu. I need to export this sculpture in 4 pieces-both arms, the body , and the base.  I will also want to combine the pieces and send it as one file. This way Synappsys Digital Services can see how each piece goes toether.   The reason why I want to separate the pieces is that if I combined all of them I will lose part of her hand as I realize that as it is placed on the digital sculpture the thumb is inside her body.  I want to work with these hands more closely once I have them enlarged and sculpted.  I need them separate and I need a thumb. They may also be milled at a different percentage to the rest of the body.  They are more defined and so the hand/arm will probably only receive  a minimum of clay on top.

Making duplicates of all of my subtools I can merge them down to create one tool that has all of its parts.

Where as, the rest of the sculpture needs work.

To get an obj of all of my pieces I simply duplicated all of my subtools and then merged down these duplicated subtools together as one tool. Now I have both the subtools apart and one piece put together.

I have exported each an uploaded them up to Synappsys Digital Servicesbut let’s see how the 3d Print Exporter plugin works in ZBrush.

January 18, 2012 | No Comments »
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