This week I began work on the second scene that I will be helping with for Professor Duesing’s animation. In the scene, a rabbit-like character proclaims how beautiful he believes the world is while flowers and other “pretty” objects simultaneously swirl around his head. In continuation on my focus upon the special effects within this project, I will be working on the swirling portion of the scene. As a result I began doing research on the different methods that I could use to create the effect. Eventually I found that creating a particle flow of different instances of geometry that continued in a circular path was the best way to approach the problem. In addition to beginning tests on how to use the respective tools within Maya that would allow me to do this, I also made a few simple models of a flower and leaf that I will eventually use within the final result. We also held the first capture for the animation. One of the few scenes that was captured was the one in which will showcase the mask that I had been working on. After cleaning and processing the data, I will now be able to apply real motion to my work to see if the mask creates the desired effect. Besides aiding in the capture, which was on Thursday, I also helped out with a study that Bilge, a PhD student, was running. Last summer I also helped Bilge who is doing research with ASIMO, a humanoid robot. From my understanding, the hypothesis of this study is similar to that of last year’s, however the actual procedure of the experiment is quite different. This week I also made arrangements to attend SIGGRAPH, a graphics conference, in early August. Numerous papers and exhibits discussing different animation techniques and methods will be presented by some of the top names in the industry. Needless to say, I’m more than a little excited.