Orbital Camera Rig, Part 1

I have really enjoyed screencasting lately. I find that it is fantastic motivation to do my homework. However, there is a problem: not all of my homework can be done on my computer. Specifically, I am taking a structural steel class and an architectural drafting class which both require hand sketches. Last week, I played around with that a little bit by propping my laptop on an angle and using it's webcam which was okay, but it didn't give all that good of coverage and my drawings were a little difficult to see. So yesterday I decided to model a camera rig. First, I  measured my coffee table (as that's probably where the rig is going to be spending most of its working time).

Then, I downloaded a pile of PVC components from Google's 3D Warehouse and built the model. I used the model to calculate parts and quantities, then made a trip to Home Depot to acquire the parts. To mount the camera, I am using a tutorial I found on Instructables. Here's the model.

Early Morning Screencasting, Day 3 Recap

Yet more on the same building as yesterday. I decided to frame it a wall at a time and see where we go from there. Then I got a little bored, so I pulled the model over to Revit and did some renderings to mix things up. Fun!

Early Morning Screencasting, Day 2 Recap

Today's early morning screencasting started a little later than anticipated and ended with me forgetting my mouse on the table in the southwest corner of the Computer Science building (which I was fortunate enough to retrieve intact). More work on yesterday's house. I was going to extrude it and make a simple model, but then I got thinking about it and it rapidly became more complicated. Down to the individual brick complicated. I'm beginning to see a pattern in my drafting behavior.

Here are some screen captures from today's session. Watch me draft tomorrow morning between 7:00 AM and 10:00 AM on USTREAM.

 

Early Morning Screencasting, Day 1 Recap

This morning I started something new for me: live screencasting. And guess what? I really like it! I spent an hour or so this morning drawing the floor plan for a house I found online. I'll be working on it again tomorrow morning starting around 7:00 AM Mountain time. I am using USTREAM and my channel can be accessed here.

I tried doing this a little differently. Rather than drawing the walls and then extruding them, I decided to draw the rooms, then infer the walls around them. We'll see how it goes... I don't have an Architectural Modeling with SketchUp instructor telling me I'm doing it the wrong way, so I guess we're going by trial and error. I'll be picking up again first thing in the morning. Check out my channel when you've got a moment if you're up early and are interested!

The Tables, Finished

Yesterday, Matt and I finished the second table and put it up against the wall, after which we broke them in by playing League of Legends for several hours. I couldn't find the camera yesterday, so there aren't any pictures of the work in progress. However, there were some major improvements that should be noted.

First, we used sawhorses, rather than working on the piece directly on the ground. Words cannot completely express my appreciation for saw horses at this point. It's like going from rocks and sticks to gunpowder.

Second, we belt sanded the edges to flush them up a bit more once the top had been assembled. This made routing the front edge WORLDS easier, and the whole thing looks a little more put together.

Third, we didn't leave the stain on nearly as long. It looks really nice!

More pictures. Less words. This Saturday we're breaking it in with their inaugural LAN party.

Preliminary Renderings of Matt's House

Today I decided to do something a little different. I exported the Google SketchUp model of Matt's house and pulled it into Revit for a little rendering action. They are unlit and untextured, but the renders came out pretty nicely, even the fine details!

Matt's House, Lower Split Level

Just finished drawing rooms for the first finished level of Matt's house; it's always amazing how you get the right measurements by inference when you set up your drawing perfectly the first time. The biggest task by far was getting all the trim and door jambs in. Here they are.

This last one is our repository for the shapes we use. I think we got better as the night went on. We call it "the tool box."

YouTube Assets in the Works

A few months ago, I started working on a YouTube channel with some tutorials on technical software. Over the past day or two, I've been working on a set of assets for a screencast series about a piece of estimating software called Xactimate. The images are probably only going to be up for a matter of seconds, and this is probably a case of diminishing returns, but it's been a neat experience so far. Here's what I've got so far.

Why post office boxes, you ask? I guess you'll just have to subscribe and find out when I post the videos!

The First Table

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been working on a couple of tables with my friend Matt. We've got them all drafted up and are planning on building them this week. I'll keep you posted on how they come out.

Here are some pictures of the models.

Introduction to Matt's House

A week or so ago, Matt of Xactware Level 3 Technician fame and I started working on a pair of tables for LAN parties. We designed them, and I drafted them up in SketchUp (my new favorite). We wanted to build them to fit the room, so I drew up a quick floor plan of his basement, which got increasingly more complicated, until we had included all of the wood members, drywall, and stair construction. Now, it's spun off into a project of its own, and we're going to finish modeling the rest of the house.

Here's where we're at right now.

It was a bit of a toss-up between SketchUp and Revit. In the end, I went with SketchUp for two reasons. First, the project we were working on at the time was a table, and creating a family for the table in Revit would have been a little into overkill. Second, Matt doesn't have Revit, but he wanted to collaborate with me and keep a copy of the model (thank you, Dropbox). So, SketchUp it was. I'll keep you posted on my progress.