Blog Entry 1

The Cheese Monkey

It took me a while to realize that the author is talking about some important design principles. I completely agree with him. People read from left to right, top to bottom, so generally the most important element should be placed on the top left part. About In Front Of and In Back Of, I think the element that is in focus will be what the viewers focus their attention upon.  If everything is in focus, then the one in front probably carries more weight.

There is just one small point that I don’t agree with. I think we are also in the fourth dimension, because we do measure time and feel it pass by. Though of course there may be somebody somewhere in the fifth dimension laughing at us for not knowing about it.

The Heresy of Zone Defense 

I think the author raised a very good point about rules. They should be not be used to govern, but to liberate. They should evolve, because a great many things change over time. Rules need to be changed to accommodate new developments, so that they are no longer limiting.

Though I think a lot of rules are extremely important, because they in some way limit. The U.S. Constitution, for example, is more than 200 years old, and it has only been changed twenty seven times. Its importance is that it limits what the government and other people can do to us. One may also argue that it liberates us from government oppression and the like, so I guess it is a fine line between liberation and governance.

Uncanny Valley

This was a very interesting article. It shows the difficulty and the progress of making a fully realistic digital character. The difficulties lie not only in rendering realistic skin and hair, and also in animating realistic facial expression. A lot of progress has been made, including new rendering techniques and facial capture technique, and yet we still have a long way to go before we are capable of creating a completely believable realistic human character.

The problem I see is that, at least in commercial projects, the artists must make sure that their characters do not fall into the Uncanny Valley. Yet the only way to a 100% human character is to cross the valley. So, in effect, the artists must pursue that difficult goal, and yet hold back at the same time.

Introduction

Hi! My name is Mark Nguyen. I am 18 years old and I am a first year Computer Science and Engineering student. I moved here from Vietnam almost five years ago, and now I'm currently living in and commute from Columbus. After I graduate, I would like to go to graduate school. I do enjoy computer graphics, which is part of the reason why I choose this class. Right now I think I prefer web development to software development, so learning about computer graphics would be a big help.

My favorite TV shows are the Colbert Report, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Mentalist, the Big Bang Theory, and the Office. I like the Colbert Report and the Daily Show because they use comedy to show us the problems of our political system without being boring. The Office used to be my favorite, but since Steve Carell left, it’s not as good anymore.

I am looking forward to learning a lot in this class.