Despite the fact that this isn’t a “failure” in the traditional sense, the issue of time management (or in this case the lack thereof) has been somewhat of a problem.  As you all know, this past week was filled to the brim with mid-terms and projects, marking the half-way point of the term.  As a result of the increased workload I had to put my project on the back burner, which resulted in two large delays which are detailed below.

Additional Material Purchases

I had already purchased most of the electronics required for my project by this point, excluding one key component which was previously out of stock, but I didn’t have many of the materials I would need to fully complete said project.  This includes but is not limited to a primer, a putty sealer spray to help remove the 3D print lines, 2 separate finishes, steel wire mesh, some opaque black fabric, etc.  Most of these materials are going to be used during the final stages of the project, so it’s not a huge deal that I don’t have them currently, but according to my personal timeline, I should have already purchased them.

ZBrush Skills

Due to the unfortunate fact that I haven’t used the program ZBrush in about a year before having to work on this project, my skills have slightly deteriorated more than I expected. Recently, as of this last weekend when the midterm rush died down, I tried to refocus my efforts on this project and start 3D modeling in earnest, however I made minimal progress due to the fact that every step of the way I had to do some research or look something up.  This combined with the fact that I was working on a faulty machine at the time (it wasn’t able to use the “select” feature for whatever reason), further decreased the amount of progress I made, setting me yet again, farther back on my personal timeline. 

So with that out of the way let’s talk about the most important part of failing in general, the learning through mistakes and the solution part.  This week I plan to solely focus on this project to catch up, as I still have a lot of work to do.  I have already scheduled a meeting with another professor to help with the 3D modeling problems, and have purchased most of the materials listed above.  My goal this week is to focus on finishing the overall model and get it printed ASAP, as that would be a massive step forward in this entire process. I am not particularly worried about my sound-light reactive elements as I have done some further research into them, however my secondary goal is to create a working display (if time permits). 

P.S. I apologize for no images, but again I am kind of behind right now.