Week 2 : Introduction to the module

Today’s session, I felt both excited and worried. I heard that ART105 and digital workshops are combined to allow students to choose which skills they want to learn for their major and also use the time more effectively. However, I am a lowtech person which makes me learn digital technologies slowly so I do not know that I can achieve what I want in this module. The goals I want to achieve in this module is I can use Autocad and 3D printing for my final outcome. I think the more I learn in foundation the more I make it easy in my first academic year.  Building a strong foundation is important for an art student. In the break, I have time to have a look into other architecture students’ portfolios in social media which makes me really jealous and worried that they have many skills in digital technologies which I do have.  So, I think I should start learning digital skills more seriously. 

Week 3: Photography Theory

This week, I learnt about how to use camera and information of camera’s function. This is an area where I have virtually no knowledge. I have tried to take notes to remember as much as possible, even though I am pretty bad at memorizing digital things. Although it’s quite new to me, I’m happy because I think I can apply this to myself. I am someone who prefers taking landscape and architecture photos when I travel rather than photos of myself. And, it can also help me take more professional-looking final products than before, in terms of lighting, angles, and background. This can also help me with my primary research when I have good photos of what I consulted from. But what worries me is that cameras are quite expensive, but maybe I can borrow one from my school or friends. I hope so.

Week 4: Maya

This week, we were introduced to Maya Autodesk which is a modeling software, allows us to do 3D modeling. I was really excited to learn Maya because I am going to use it for my project ( 3D modeling and 3D printing). After being introduced and practicing, I think Maya is a difficult software to use, I had tried Blender before. It was easier to do 3D modeling but Maya is more professional software and my tutor said that many companies required their employees to use Maya, so I think I will keep practicing on my Maya. In all of the shape and form I practiced I realise that Sphere is the most difficult polygon because it has many faces to manage. But I think I will get used to it when I have enough practice with it, I hope so. Moreover, I want to develop my digital skills because for my major ( landscape architecture) I know nothing (Maya, Autocad or many other digital software) so I will try to spend more time with it. 

Week 5&6:

We were introduced to Twinmotion which is also a 3D modeling software. After using Maya, I realised that there are some functions of these softwares. I had experiments with Maya so I found out that I can use Twinmotion easier. But the weakness of Twinmotion is it is a really heavy software which crashes my laptop so many times, I have to go to the library to use the university’s computer. I wished I had more laptops to do many things at the same time because when I opened Maya and Twinmotion, my laptop shut down. I think using Maya and Twinmotion can support my project pretty well because Maya allows me to do 3D printing and Twinmotion allows me to do visualization for my project. Besides, I need to do more research about 3D printing so I can know how it is going to work. Last semester, I saw my classmates using Maya so well, I thought that would be easy but when I used it, it was really hard. 

I think Sketchup is easier because I have some experiments in the break between 2 semesters but it is not free. I think I will buy it after getting into the BA course. Being an art student is really expensive. I spent too much money on software and stationery. 

The UK is getting hotter and I do not like it because it makes me sick and I cannot attend classes or do anything else. 

Week 7: Maya.

This week, I started doing my project by practicing directly on the design of the pavilion. It is really hard to use Maya. I watched tutorials on youtube and also asked chatgpt to give step by step tutorials but somehow I still cannot do it in the right way. I was so tired when I could not do things right. This makes me feel so stressed. I also combined using my sketches and inspiration I found on the internet for modeling. Even though it took so much time and was so difficult, I still enjoy the process of doing it.I am also struggling with my health this time, I do not know what is wrong with me. 

Week 8: 3D printing

I continue with Maya and book an appointment to the print workshop to know how to print which material I need to use and what type of file. I also asked for 3D cutting but I do not think that I have enough time to do autocad and laser cutting this semester. I also printed some of my models out to understand scale. Then, I realised that I set the scale wrong the whole process. But the tutor from the print workshop told me about the software so that I can check my model (real scale when printing). This helped me a lot when doing 3D printing. 

When I came to the print workshop, I was so surprised because many things and models from other students looked so professional and perfect. I hope when I come to the BA I can do models as they do. 

Week 9 & 10

These weeks, I changed my designs for the last period of the semester which made me not have much time left to do. The most difficult part was I had to separate my model into many parts to print because the 3D print machine can not print the whole models, it is too difficult for the machine. Then it took me more time to redo the 3D modelings. This makes me think that architects are kind of the problem in doing designs because we do not know about math and engineering stuff in a building so some of the ideas are impossible to do. When doing the truss structure, it makes me think that I am doing the engineering job, I think I should learn some simple stuff of maths and physics so when I do designs I can know if it is possible to do or not. Moreover, I really enjoyed the digital works this semester because after spending so much effort on modeling in Maya then printing models out it makes me feel so satisfied. I do my design sheets on a large scale, A0 which makes my laptop really lag when I edit things but I think it is necessary to practice with a large scale of design sheets because I saw that the architecture sheets are all big, I cannot wait for my BA to come. 

I also went out with my classmates to do the photograph for her dress. I was really fun. I had many experiences taking photos that all came from my high school experience.