New character

Inspired by my enthusiasm for UW Badgers, I have decided to create a Wisconsin character. At first I was going to make the Badger mascot character, but for the sake of simplicity, I have decided on a bear. Which turned out cuter than I thought.

I'm still learning how to use Maya and this week, I will learn how to do Facial rigging,

which will be more geared towards the summer project.

Hot summer days in Daejeon continues and my time in VML is teaching me a lot!

DK

and the finished product is....

From July 15 ~ July 22, 2009.

My first assignment was to create a character using Maya.

After the hell week, I am proud of my product!

Work in progress

40 years ago today man first landed in the MOON.

I was reading the New York Times today and it featured many articles about Armstrong's journey in the moon and how it was a remarkable turning point of humankind's technology and achievement.

Looking over the pictures and reading some of the articles, I have felt how fast the world has been changing in the last century.

Then I stop and wonder... What would the world be like in next 50 years? 100 years?

All the talks about global warming and thining of ozone layer, poverty, nuclear threats... always concern me of the future of this beautiful planet. (Sorry if I sound like a hippie :P)

Anyway, one of the most interesting photos I've seen in NY Times is that the equipments and foot prints from 40 years ago is still present in the Moon. I've read it elsewhere in the past that they have found H20 like substances in the Moon. Does that mean life exist in other planets? Kinda sounds like a science fiction but it does interest me.

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On the other news, one of my favorite writer, Frank McCourt who wrote "Angela's Ashes" died today at the age of 78. I remember reading his book in high school and getting motivated to live the American dream. How Frank McCourt suffered during his childhood is truely inspirational. Coming from an Irish immigrant background with the typical Drunk father and scrapping for food daily. Surprisingly, one of my teachers was a former student of Frank McCourt in NYC. As I recall, my teacher told me great stories about him.

First day at the Visual Media Lab

After an email confirming the start of the summer graduate research volunteer in Visual Media Lab I've headed down to Daejeon this morning. There was a meeting with my professor and the PhD student in charge of the lab.

There is a good news! Up until today, I was told that housing will not be provided during the summer. However, we have learned that under professor's permission, students participating in the summer research are allowed to live in the dorms if there is space available. Fortunately, they have told us that there is space and we can move in starting tomorrow for 78000won until August 22nd. What a bargain! almost 2 months!

Today, there was another new student, her name is So Young Kim. We both helped set up our own desks at the lab and computers. In between, our Byoung Gook, the PhD. student in charge of lab gave us a detailed explanation of what are the expectations in the Visual Media Lab.

As he gave us the general outline, he emphasized on how important Math, Programming and 3D software Maya was. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with any of those things. Well, my math skills are College Calculus II but it's been ages since I took the class and I almost forgot it all.

So over the summer, our plan is to catch up on mathematics, and learn the programming language and some Maya before the semester kicks off. This will be a time well spent for sure.

Tomorrow morning, we have a meeting with our professors and will get placed in the dorms and hopefully I can go back to Seoul and pack my stuff and get some good night sleep!

till then.

DK

Is it the beginning of Monsoon season now?

I've woken up this morning by the sound of rain drops. In fact, it was pouring since early morning. According to Weather.com it is suppose to rain all day today.

After hearing that Korea entered Monsoon season but not having much rain, now it finally feels like we are officially in the season! But don't get too excited, it is suppose to be cloudy with partial sun tomorrow. yeah... I think the weather is very unpredictable these days.

So.. besides raining like cats and dogs, some interesting things are developing in my new life.

on July 6th, I headed down to Daejeon for KAIST Visual Media Lab pre-orientation. There were 6 freshman from all over Korea! We were greeted by current Masters, PhD students, researchers, and professors. The orientation gave us some general idea on what kind of projects and research does VML work on in the past, current and the future. Most of the projects are dealt with 3D computer graphics such as 3D Max, Maya and also programming language C++ which I am not familiar with it at all. :(

Fortunately, there have been some former students coming from Art background and managed to successfully learn how to use all the programming stuffs. So I am not gonna give up just yet!

I thought all the people at VML was very friendly and passionate individuals! I am honored to join their team and I hope to learn and grow as a successful filmmaker! hehe

Now I have to make a decision... The lab is offering an opportunity to jump right in this summer to participate in current ongoing research to get ahead start.

However, the dilemma is that they are not providing accommodation and since I live in Seoul, commuting to Daejeon everyday (2hrs each way) is impossible. I hope to find a way to work this out. Otherwise, I really want to focus on how to use my remaining time until school starts. I'll try to make a use of what Seoul has to offer... visit galleries, attend music events, travel around the country if I can hehe

Anyway, I have till tomorrow to make that decision. I just hope to see some sun tomorrow!

Abzal's farewell

Abzal's last night in Seoul

So, one by one, my new friends are leaving Seoul to return to their home country.

On Wednesday night, I met with my fellow Shinchon friends to say goodbye to Abzal. The night was young! We all went to the Chicken place in the alley and ordered beers, soju and Cajun Chicken salad! It was a night of feista!

Amongst all of us, I think Jana would be most upset that Abzal is leaving. They have been very close friends! But I'm jealous, they will all reunite in Praha in the winter. Maybe I should go to Europe this winter vacation as well!

I am so delighted to have met Abzal this summer. I hope he remembers good memories of Korea and come back in the near future.