Mike's space: Personal

Private art

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:46:41 GMT

Every once in a great while I get to do my own art. Being a lead is sometimes frustrating because you spend more time critiquing and less time doing. I decided to learn ZBrush. I have always puttered around with sculpting, but I spend so much time at the computer I really didn't have the time or the space in my house to devote to sculpting. Zbrush is great because it allows you to sculpt digitally and takes up no more room than the computer you already have.

Here are a couple of celebs I decided to sculpt. See if you can guess who they are.

I had a great time doing these and I think I will be doing more really soon.. when I have spare time.

Thanks for looking

National Train Show

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:06:51 GMT

Hope everyone is doing well. It's been crazy here at work. I have been crunching to get as much done as possible for the show. If you are at the show in Anaheim be sure to stop by the Microsoft booth and say hi!

I found this link and wanted to share

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/05/extravagant-designs-by-luigi-colani.html

Take a look at the model of a futuristic coal dust powered steam locomotive. I wish that thing had been made. it's a great piece of art.

And the women...

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:05:45 GMT

For obvious reasons I couldn't show her face, but trust me, not only was she very pretty.. she was very nice to talk to. She happened to be at one of the stations that I was photographing, and I asked her about a nearby building. She gave me a little information, I thanked her and went about my business.

This wasn't a unique experience, everyone I talked to were very pleasant and helpful and made my time there so much more enjoyable.

When people hear that you are going to do research someplace, they automatically think "they are so lucky, they are going to have a great time" It's true, usually it is an awesome time, but the reality is that you are walking for 12 to 14 hours a day. You are also carrying around somewhere between 20 and 100lbs of gear and cases to make sure you have what you need.

Below is an image of part of the Horseshoe Curve route in Pennsylvania. Keep in mind that the team that goes to these things usually sits behind a computer for 12 hours a day. Rick and I are not what you would call petite. We started off in the parking lot there, then climbed all these stairs and then walked around a mile along the ballast to take a picture of a mechanism that slings grease up under the train to keep it running smoothly. Walking on ballast is like running on loose sand, except it bruises the bottoms of your feet. Oh, that greasing unit, yeah, we found another one on a flat piece of land, right next to a tower we had to photograph anyway.

Sure, that's not a huge hike, but for fat boys like us, it might as well have been Mt. Everest. Each time I do one of these things I lose about 10lbs, then swear to myself that I will go to the gym immediately in order to capitalize on the progress.. then I get back to work and sit my butt down for another 12 hours of talking to my square headed girlfriend. That's what my wife calls my computer.

There ya go, I have shown the good beer and the beautiful women ( at least one ) and now all you have to do is wait for the announcement to see the fast trains.

I was asked to post a picture from our European trip

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:55:43 GMT

Good Beer!!

Later, I will post the beautiful women!

Then eventually you will see the fast trains!

-Porter

A small update

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:06:29 GMT

Man have I been busy.

I knew that once I got back from the research trip I would have lots of work to do, but I didn't think it would be this much.

It appears that I am not going to get the space I need for the video tutorials, and I haven't been working on them past 3 or 4 I haven't released. I am formulating another plan, which I hope will be agreeable to everyone. It will probably take me a while to do what I am wanting to do, but you will be getting the information as soon as I can cement the idea and get the buy off from "upstairs".

In the mean time I am busy getting stuff ready for the sim and making sure everything looks great!

We should be putting more renders up soon, I hope anyway. I have a few more renders to do so that they have many images to pull from.

The other thing I have been doing is helping out with the scenery assets while my counterpart in the scenery area is out on vacation. I have to say, the scenery is going to be amazing. I am surprised by the detail that we are able to accomplish for the high detail routes.

Once we get this bad boy in the can, I plan on completing what I set out to accomplish, the 3 locs in 3 separate modeling packages.

I will have more updates soon.

Thanks for sticking with me!

-Porter

I swear I'm not slacking

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:22:53 GMT

Hey all,

I have been super busy with getting content into the simulation. Everything is looking really good and coming together nicely. Except for server space. Here is what I think is going on, but I am still in the dark about.

I think they are getting ready to do a be push on the TS Insider and want to make sure they all their attention is devoted to that. If that is the case, then my stuff can wait. We want to make sure you guys get the best information in the quickest time frame. That being said, I am frustrated, but I think now that I have figured out the problem, I am less frustrated than before.

I have several other tutorials that I could possibly add to the site. Currently they are in One Note which is a great Microsoft product by the way. It allows me to quickly put together visual documents, much easier than word. Think of it as a scratch pad with pictures.

Once I get these files converted over into a format that is web friendly I will put them here.

Again my apologies but now you know what I know.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Still no word

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:33:35 GMT

Hello all,

Still no word on when we are going to post the video. I am a little frustrated, I don't like leaving people hanging. The minute I can get this resolved I will make sure and post the videos.

My task list has grown quite a bit. Previously I had help working on the vehicle assets. There is so much stuff to check and look into and resolve, the vehicle lead position was being handled by two people. Well, my help has taken a different job within the Aces group, so I am going at it alone.

I am not going to complain, this gives me more control over what is released, and that's fine by me. Recently I have been creating more renders so that we will have more to post on the TSInsider soon. The work on the vehicles is just outstanding and I feel honored to be part of the process. I have no doubt that people will be amazed at the visuals we are creating for TS.

At home I have been playing around with the source engine quite a bit. I used to be a level designer at a previous company and I feel like I need to keep my hand in there for some reason. I would really like to spend some time with the Sandbox editor for Crysis. This would be loads of fun. They have done some amazing work in their tools department and I want to create some levels if I ever have time.

I just started trying to sculpt again. I haven't done this for a few years. Once I have something worth showing I will put a photo up here.

Well, I need to get back to work.. as I said I am doing renders and they allow me a little time to type some stuff up.

I have been trying to think of other small tips to write up. I either have medium or long tutorials to get out, but the little tricks seem to have dried up.. If anyone is having difficulty with something, send me a message and maybe I will answer it here. At the very least I will find the answer and point you in the right direction.

Have a good rest of the week.

Rolling Stock Renders

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:44:14 GMT

http://www.tsinsider.com/en-US/product/Pages/Renders.aspx

Here are some renders of a small sample of the rolling stock that we are working on.

Soon we will have some EU stuff to show and that will be posted at http://www.tsinsider.com as soon as we can get it in a presentable position.

We are SLOWLY working through the server issue. I will absolutely be hosted through TSInsider, but like any giant beast, it takes a while to turn it.. no matter how hard you pull on the reigns.

I hope everyone feels it was worth the wait once I am able to get this video series posted.

Thanks again for the patience.

-Porter

Sorry about lack of updates

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:43:22 GMT

Things have been pretty hectic here. Thanksgiving is coming up and many people are out of town or busy trying to get things done before taking a holiday.

Once I get back on Monday I am going to try and resolve the server issue. I hate leaving people hanging, however there are some things that have to be done that are beyond my control.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

-Porter

Working out the issues

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:53:01 GMT

Hello all,

Still trying to work out the issue of server space for hosting my video tutorials. I should be able to get my content hosted on TSInsider, just have to go through some setting up and permissions and things of that nature. Once that is done I will be able to update a little more regularly.

I went on a photoshoot yesterday gathering content for the game. I was lucky enough to actually get into an SW1500 and get some cab shots. This was the one area that I was lacking the most detail on.

I am excited!

The thing that really surprised me was how tiny those interiors are. I am a pretty big guy, but I really had to suck in the gut and squeeze past some of the levers to take my shots. I am hoping that I was able to get enough coverage to really do a good job on that interior.

I had some difficulty getting everything that I needed because of the space in the cab and the fact that I was using a point an shoot, I wasn't able to get a flat enough lens to get some information in the frame.

I have lots of little detail pieces which I think will add tons of character to this piece.

Here's one of the cab shots.

Working with MS Tech Support

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:57:47 GMT

Doing a test to see if my blogs are posting without images.

Still working on getting the SW1500 part 1 tutorial up.

Possibly no tip today

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:09:36 GMT

Hello All,

There probably won't be a tip today as we have a huge milestone coming up.

Hopefully you will get to see the fruits of this labor very soon. If I can, I will get a tip up later tonight.

Thanks for your patience.

-porter

Changing some categories

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 21:16:41 GMT

Sorry for changing the categories on the posts. I am trying to figure out the best approach.

I would be grateful also if anyone knows how to get rid of some of the categories. I can't seem to remove them.

That should be the last time I change any of the categories for the tutorials.

-Porter

Sunday Football fun and other stuff

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:20:52 GMT

Go Hawks!!

Great win from them today. I was concerned about Shawn Alexander being in there, hurt as he is. My biggest concern was that ego was getting in the way of good football. He should sit out when he is hurt, because he can't catch, block or even grab the ball effectively.

Enough of that, they won and that's what matters.

Random tasks today were getting my son a computer set up so he can learn to make games. He wants me to install MAAYA, or Maya to everyone else. He gives it the long A. I installed UT2004 so that should give him the Maya PLE to play around with. The other task today was looking into a shed, and various upgrades to the house. We are thinking that if we just do a little every month that by this time next year we should have everything we want to do complete.

Finally today, I have made the decision to lose about 80 pounds. What brought this on? Sure, the extra girth is attractive, and the breathing hard while climbing steps has everyones eyes on my, but I think two things really cemented the resolve today. Face recognition software and Mel Gibson.

I ran my photo through a program that is supposed to match you up with your celebrity look alike. I figured I would get John Goodman, Mike Holmgren, something like that. Who does it say I match at 67%?? Mel Gibson. Well, hell. If I can lose 80lbs and grow a mullet, maybe I can get a movie deal out of this. Proof is in the image. (Or not as the case may be)

Football frenzy

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 23:02:31 GMT

Just got back from watching my son's football team. They are doing great! They have won all three of their games in a dominating fashion.

31-0 @ Mount Si

32-6 @ Pop Kenny

32-0 @ Redmond

I got to give it to the coaches, they are really doing a great job with the kids. It's nice seeing the kids have fun, and because they are so far ahead, the coaches let them all rotate as running back this last time. I hope the trend continues.

Now if the Seahawks get busy tomorrow it will a great weekend for football.

First blog EVAR

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:29:22 GMT

Well, I am going to try and keep everyone up to date on what I am doing. I am currently working on Microsoft Train Simulator 2. It's strange coming from working on a game that is level based and stepping into a game that truely is the entire world. I am finding that it's more challeging than I had anticipated, but that's a great thing.

I have always been interested in research and trains, so when this position came open I knew I had to go for it. Another thing that really helped ease the process was that many of the people that I worked with at FASA are now working at ACeS.

Everyone here seems very passionate about their work and the quality of the product that they put out. I am glad I was lucky enough to get on board.