This week we learned more about lighting and the differences between the spot,
ambient, area, point, and directional light. It's amazing how subtle the
differences can be by just tweaking the light one way or the other, changing the
colour or intensity, or adding barn doors. I got so engrossed in it this week that
the days just seemed to fly by. I was lucky enough to be able to spend as much
time as I wanted at the school this week. I've been averaging about 10 hours a
day up to this point and this week did about 15 hours a day. The work can
just suck you right in. I remember feeling like this when I was in my first year
of Animation at Nelvana. I'm sure I'm gonna pay for this eventually. I have
been getting more headaches recently but I think it has more to do with the
really hot weather and the barometric pressure we've been having the past couple
of weeks. My back has also been aching a bit more, so I've been making a point
of getting up every 30 - 45 minutes to walk around and stretch a bit. I used to
continually mention this to my students but forgot to take my own advice.

I finished the other two sets for the film; the spiral staicase and the roof top.
The spiral staircase took a lot less time than the lab even though it's much more
complex setup. I decided to have a lot more fun and really make it a neat location.
Back in 1996 for one of my layout classes, I gave them an assignment to draw a
spiral staircase because of the interesting perspective challenges it poses. For that
class, I built a 3D spiral staircase out of foam core about 1 foot high at about
1:20 scale to use for the demo in class. It was such a neat model that I've kept it
ever since. (It now has a nice layer of dust and cobwebs that really add to the
look of it.) Last week, I decided to take the old model out of mothballs and use
it as the basis for the spiral staicase set. I changed a few structural things here
and there but basically kept the spirit of it alive. I'm really happy with the new
set now and can't wait to get Igor into it and animate him running up the stairs.

The floorboards have all been redone but I'm still not happy with the texturing throughout all the sets.