Back in 1980 I got a job at Robert Abel & Associates.  It was an incredible gig.  I was paid to use computers to make 3D models for TV commercials (and movies).  The only problem was trying to explain to my mom what it was that I did.  After 6 years, I finally just said, “I make cartoons”; and THAT she understood.

So, if the next few paragraphs don’t make much sense, just go back to, “he’s making cartoons.”

In the old days when you wanted to shoot a movie about London, you had two choices.

1. Send a whole lot of people and machines, and stuff to London, then film your movie.  (and, while you were there, make sure nobody walks into the frame as you film.) $$$$$$
2. Go into a “Sound Stage” and make it look like Paris. $$

Number two is what most film-makers did. (And it is at the core of the “studio” system. Before 1966 hardly anybody could afford to do this.)  Imagine a 120’x120’x30’ tall room.  With heavy insulation on the walls & ceiling, and no windows. A totally controllable empty space, with NOTHING in it.  You want trees?  Build some (or put real ones in buckets and bring them inside). Grass on the ground?  Buy sod. Actors? Dress them, give them lines to speak, and bring’em inside.  Sunlight? Have the Grips hang a really big light up near the ceiling and aim it down. Smoke in the air, rent a fog machine and run it during the scene. Then place a camera somewhere.  If you created enough stuff, then it would look like London.   [Watch the first 3 minutes of “El Amor Brujo” (1986) for a beautiful display of this process. You start in the sound stage, and end in a small, dusty, rural village.]

The model is this: Nothing is visible in the camera frame unless you create it and place it there.

Computer animation is exactly like that.  When you watch Avatar (as a beautiful example); every single tree, bush, creature, raindrop, dirt clod, airplane, person, stick & stone was created by someone.  Those someone’s are called Modelers.  Just like in a sound stage, someone has to create everything you see.  (And yes, the next step is to animate those things; but that will be another article.)

Now, when we started building objects in the computer, you had two choices.

     1. Fast and sloppy.  From exactly the right angle, your object looks prefect.  And as soon as you try to look at it from another angle, you see errors. (real good for 30 sec. commercials.)

     2. Slower and accurate.  These looked good from any angle you could look at it from. (Better for movies when the director didn’t know where he would shoot from.)

Then people started thinking, “Could we take that computer model, and feed the data to a CNC milling machine; and build a physical version of that object?”  Well yeah, duh!

So now we have a third choice.

3. “Water-tight”. This means; not only does it look right to your eye, it is also mathematically correct (in terms of computer numbers, polygons, vertices, normals & [well, you get the picture]).

And that brings us up to today.  A 3D Printer will happily take that 3D Model, and (if the data is good) create a physical copy.  The implication of all this is that anything you can create in the computer, you can get a physical copy of it.  This has opened up a whole new world of fun.

I would LOVE to have a bunch of people, learning to model, here at Wowser.  Interested?? Ask. And you can join our 3D Modeling Workshop.

-Roger

Image Credit

Bring in the new year at Wowser!  We are starting at 7 pm, bring a snack and and instrument if you wish.  We will talk, jam, dance and play.  Bring a guest if you wish.  Bring in 2015 with Wowser.

When I was in Architecture school (many many many years ago), we had a Wednesday night lecture series.  We students never knew what it would be, but there was always something interesting on Wednesday nights.  (I remember those nights with great fondness. Bucky Fuller was there one night.)

While Wowser will never be a school; it IS a place where creative people seem to congregate.  And Wowser is definitely a place where you can have fun. Usually that means making something, or learning HOW to make something.

But that is not enough.  We aim higher than that.  We want Wowser to be a place where you can come in and hear new ideas, see cool stuff that other people have made (or done).  Or watch as they do it in front of you.

And that (in a nut shell) is what “Mondays at Wowser” is all about. Our plan is to offer a free evening of something interesting.  Come by at 5:30, find a seat, and watch what happens.

• A lecture from one of our teachers
• A slide show/video of a project as it is getting built.
• Someone from far away who can speak about something a few of you have asked about.
• Some nights it will be a “Salon”.  (That means a short presentation, and then an evening of spirited discussions among everyone there. )
• Perhaps a video to get you excited about a new project coming soon.
• Demonstrations of various skills (yes, maybe even fire-spinning).

Will it be the same every Monday? No, we certainly hope not.  WE want to be excited about what is shown also.

And, since things at Wowser are never quite as simple as they appear, there is another reason for “Mondays at Wowser”.  We hope it will become a place and time for you to meet other like-minded folks.  The official presentation runs from 6 pm to 8 pm; but Wowser can stay open later, if you find yourselves in the middle of intense discussions.  And showing up a little early is a way to chat with friends you make while looking for a seat.

If this sounds good to you, wonderful, come by Monday night.  We’ll be there.

– Roger

PS Make sure you check out our workshops for January HERE.

Hi folks,

Welcome to the Wowser website. We tried to make it simple, clear, and easy to navigate; but when you have lots of ideas, sometimes that isn’t so easy. And since you made it this far, perhaps it is time for the introduction.

We plan to present a lot of ideas here. Things that seem important to consider. (At least they seemed important when we wrote them).

In no particular order these blogs will be chatting (sometimes RANTING) about;

• Thoughts from the founders. (Roger, Dickey, Cyndee, Lila, & Mike)
• How to make things.
• And as our instructors wish to, we’ll have their ideas in here for you to think about.

I hope you’ll enjoy hearing ideas that are new to you.

Specifically, my posts will present my ideas about:

• Why Wowser exists.
• What things I did & learned (that influence how I do things now.)
• Why Wowser is setup the way it is.
• What things we plan to accomplish at Wowser.

Overall, Wowser is a place to make and think. We offer you members the opportunity to make anything YOU want to make (Safety being our only rigid constraint on what you can make here.). If you know how to make it, and you have all the parts; start making. Do you need special tools? Ask and we will try to make them or get them here, somehow (Got a friend with scrap Titanium? Ask if they want to donate some to us).

Do you need to learn how to run one of the machines at Wowser (to fabricate that part you need)? Ask someone to help you learn. Need more formal help? Sign up for one of the Basic workshops. We plan to have lots of these. Wood-working, metal-working, welding, sewing, electronics, electrics, and many many more. (Stay tuned to the workshop calendar as we will be adding more in the coming weeks and months.)

Maybe you already know how to operate the machines, and just need some other people to help you. Then teaching a workshop might be a way for you to collect people who now have the skills and interest to work with you on that big project.

I have found that Ideas become goals, which in turn become projects, and at some point can become real things. I think the process of designing is enormous fun. And possible for everyone. These days, few people have access to a large workshop, along with the help they need to make stuff. And THAT is the limitation which prevents most people from creating. So we built a place for YOU. Wowser is the place where YOU can explore the possibilities of what YOU can create.

Everyone asks “why are you doing this?” While there are a lot of answers to that, the main one (for me) is this. Willits is my home, and I enjoy being around people who are having fun creating stuff. There wasn’t a place like that anywhere around here, so I made it.

So, when you are in Wowser, drag me over to see what YOU are creating.

In the meantime, welcome to the blog. Please come back often and if you are so moved please share with a friend.

-Roger