Yesterday was nuts. I took my photo of the day, but I wasn’t able to upload it as someone smashed my side mirror on my Civic and I had to call the cops, insurance company, etc Expect it later today!

I’m making really great progress on Raul Domingo. As I mentioned yesterday, the fact that I’ve already used Blender before is really helping me understand what I’m doing instead of hunting down where things are. Today I not only finished putting bones into the legs and feet, but I’ve also done a wonderful walking and waving animation section of the tutorial. You get to see that probably tomorrow. It’s amazing to see what kinds of things are so easily neglected if you don’t know what you’re doing.

I forgot to add this to the end of the last post and I’m a bit of a stickler for editing posts once they’ve gone public. I am going to name him Raul Domingo after my late grandfather who I never got to meet, but feel that I know via all the stories I’ve heard of him. I know I would have loved to have met him and look forward to doing so in Heaven (after a long live on Earth - I hope!).

I stress the word humanoid because it would be quite a stretch to call it a human. It is roughly human, but the head is not quite as spherical as a human head. However, I think you will notice quite a few improvements over my previous render, the penguin.

Most notable should be that the skin looks a little more skin-like. This time instead of looking so plastic-like, the current set of tutorials I’m following has taught me about materials and textures. I really hope you can see the textures on your screen. This really looks like clay to me. I’m moving along a LOT faster than the penguin. I was really shooting blind with that one. I was in such a hurry to get my first ever computer animation out there that I learned as I went along. Not quite what you want to do with Blender. Now, I’m realizing how a lot of these things work. It also helps that this tutorial is not my first time using Blender. I have a better idea of where to find things and how to navigate around. Another improvement you may notice is that the eyes look a little more realistic. This has to do with the way I applied the materials and colors to it when compared to the penguin.

I was actually freaked out at first, until I read what it said.

This is from my brother, Dan, who went to Japan last summer.

Hey all,

I went walking with no apparent destination and, about 6-10 miles there and back later I found myself home and with impressions of Japan that I figured I’d share. Pretty much, I’m gonna take myths about Japan and debunk or support them. Here we go…

Myth: Everyone in Japan knows English.

False! Everyone in Japan knows English about as much as everyone in the States knows Spanish or French or Italian…they might be able to understand what you’re saying, but most can’t speak it to any degree of proficiency (at least in Okinawa). Luckily, with Okinawa’s large American base presence, road signs are in English and most restaurant menus in Japan have pictures on them, have English, or both English and pictures. Don’t expect the locals to understand too much of what you have to say though, especially if it isn’t rudimentary.