Tony Tran
3/21/09
ITEC4110
Dr. Rowan
Service to ITEC2110:
The semester started off with me wanting to complete the Service to ITEC2110 before
starting on my major project for ITEC4110. I had originally wanted to create an online version of
the Digital Media book used in ITEC 2110. The purpose of this online book was to highlight the
key components of each chapter and help prepare students for quizzes and tests. The basis of
the online book was to be written completely in Java. I am concurrently taking ITEC 2120Introduction to Programming, so I had hoped that this would help me. As the semester
progressed, I found that I was learning Java at a very slow rate, too slow to help me with my
online book. This led me to shift gears.
For my major project in ITEC4110, I was already doing something in Gimp. I thought to
myself, “Why not write a tutorial for Gimp?” There it began, my transition from my online book
for the entire ITEC2110 class to a small and dedicated portion of it: Bitmap & Vector Imaging.
I began to review my notes of bitmap and vector imaging from my ITEC 2110 to pull out what I
wanted to use and not use for the teaching. As the weeks went by, I decided that the best way
to teach bitmap and vector imaging was to create some sort of project. The road was paved and
the rest of the semester would be dedicated to bitmap and vector projects.
Unfortunately, time was of the essence as I wanted to have something so that current
students enrolled in Spring 2009 Semester ITEC 2110 could work on. Dr. Rowan said that it
didn’t have to be for this semester but I wanted the instant gratification.
Major Project for ITEC 4110
As the weeks flew by, it was evident that the majority of my fellow classmates were
Blender fanatics. All of them proposed Blender designs near the beginning of the semester as
their major projects. I, on the other hand, was not as ecstatic about using Blender as it was my
least enjoyed piece of software of ITEC 2110. I always liked photography. Not so much the
expensive usage of high end digital SLR cameras and detachable lenses but rather the editing of
photography: Glamour shots, advertisements, commercials, that sort of thing. My goal was set;
create glamour quality imaging out of ordinary pictures using a piece of software that I barely
knew how to open.
My first goal for my major project was to master my software, Gimp. Alright, not master
it but learn enough so that I can do what I need to do with my glamour shots. Countless nights
of staying up pass midnight, I was consumed by the world of tutorials available on
Youtube.com. So many cool and neat tricks that people figured out and shared with the world. I
was so consumed that I had Gimp open and was playing around with it in every one of my
classes that had a computer. As suspected, I even went to the MAC lab in between classes to
play with Gimp.
With all my tinkering, I found that to take an ordinary picture and make it glamour
quality is practically impossible. My research concluded that glamour shot pictures are highly
staged regular pictures using excessive lighting, makeup, and clothing, all which make the
glamorization process a lot easier.
I decided to emulate this scenario at home but, unfortunately, regular Wal-Mart
purchased light stands and low wattage bulbs don’t cut it. In the trash that idea went.
Unexpected, the weeks rolled by and we were told of the SST event that we had to prepare for.
Here I sit, literally, with nothing more than maybe one or two worth worthy images that I was
going to use. I had to turn up the heat and expand my portfolio other than just portrait
pictures, all together with self-induced pressure to complete my service to 2110 projects.
The pace was sent, the goals were written, and the pressure was on. Will I complete on
time for the SST event? Will the 2110 projects be a success? Or in the poker world they call, a
flop? Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Did I prioritize my workload efficiently whiling
juggling the other 14-credit hour worth of classes I have? Only hard-work and enough
dedication will tell…