About

Hey everyone!

My name’s Heather, and I’m going to be your 3D Student today.   Since you’ve clicked on this page I think its fair to assume you want to know a little bit about me; I shall endeavour not to ramble too much.  Feel free to skip past the boring bits (if there are any!); I won’t tell anyone ^_~

A Brief History


I’ve been studying 3D Animation since 2007 (the last two and a half years now), and I’ve loved every second.  However, prior to discovering 3D, I was actually headed along a totally different path.  I was home educated from the end of second year in high school (I was 14 years old), until I turned 16 and started college; a general Higher Computing course.  At the time I wanted to apply to do an HNC (Higher National Certificate) of some description, but I was deemed unqualified as I hadn’t actually sat any exams.  That was my own fault and its a very long and boring story.

I spent a year doing NQ Computing at Higher level (equivalent of high school fifth year), and discovered that I liked programming.  At the end of that year there were two courses in programming that I could apply for; Computing (considered serious programming) and Computer Games Design (which was a new course and required you to also learn Higher Maths).  I also applied for Multimedia, but never took that seriously at the time.

Long story short, I elected Computer Games Design as being more useful to me due to its tougher difficulty level; during that year I was first introduced to 3D Studio Max.  Everything changed – I went from loving programming to being totally consumed by all things 3D and resenting the rest of the course (it was too late for me to switch to 3D by this point).  I signed up for 3D Animation the year after, and I’m in the second year of that course, and the third year of my experience.

Interests and Hobbies

Ok, so maybe you’re not too interested in what I like to do in my spare time; on the offchance you are, here’s a quick summary:

  • All things 3D, with particular emphasis on Texturing, Lighting, and Visual Effects
  • Fencing (though I’ve not been in a few years, I’m looking to return after the summer)
  • Guitar (just recently started playing again)
  • Drawing/Sketching/etc
  • Anime and Manga

Not necessarily in that order, of course.

Shades of a Dream logo

Aims of the Blog

With this blog I’m aiming to assist fellow students and freelancers in the field of 3D in their quest to become better or even among the top people in their field.  Due to my own preferences there will probably be a heavier focus on Lighting, Texturing and Visual Effects than Modelling and Animation itself, though there’ll be times where I’ll touch on those too.  The posting schedule looks something like this:

  • Tuesday: General articles on 3D Student life, Freelancing, and Interviews from other students, tutors and industry professionals.
  • Wednesday: Tips and Tricks day!  In here will be quick how to posts focusing on one specific tool to improve your workflow each time.
  • Friday: Reviews of relevant products/websites/etc.  I’ll be gaining a commission from these reviews, however I won’t review something that I don’t think will provide you with something useful and relevant.
  • Sunday: My Webcomic; No title yet though I’d say it’s worth looking into.  Just a bit of fun from me.