My Thoughts on our project.

Group projects, ah don’t you just love them, the more and more I participate in them the more the complexities unfold, and this was no exception. It was hard for me to connect with the whole group as I live outside Chelmsford and they live within walking distance from each other; they could meet up, discuss and flip ideas around and maybe work on the pump and then go home before my hour and a half bus service could get to Chelmsford, so some of the discussions I have missed out on, emails were sent and we saw each other a few times each week but some decisions were made without me, I have no complaints as I did not take a leadership role within the group, I participated in group discussions, was asked my opinion and views and then the group made a decision both fairly and productive. Deadlines were met and the whole process started to move forward, when the group discussed the modelling process and divided up the pump Aaron took the main section, Richard took the wheel and Tom took the gauge with pipes and I took the air cylinders, in a short amount of time the pump was complete, these students are fantastic modellers and grade A students and as a B student I found it hard to feel proud of my work. I think the other members of my group understood this and that is why they gave me tasks that I could do and suggested more creativity from me and congratulated me for my attempts and made me feel part of the group. Tom was a great motivator for me; he would make suggestions and keep me on track, and take an interest in my contribution to the group. I was taken back by Aaron creativity and Richards modelling expertise and everyone’s dedication to this project and although there was an ability barrier I would like to think my work contributed to this group project. It was decided very early on that Aaron and Richard would take the animation of the wheel and pistons, Tom would take on the textures and I would be modelling. I would have liked to have taken part in the animation because I am limited in these skills and am interested in the whole process but deadlines had to been set and as a client was involved the group decided that this would not be a good idea. Even though i was not part of the animation i have picked up some valuable skills and techniques that will be useful to me for future projects, I liked to watch what my group members were doing, and questioned their way of thought to gain some insight on the animation process.I was given the task of building my part of the steam pump, the environment and find a narrative to accompany the animation and I have done this to the best of my ability. I feel the group made the best choice because if I was to be animating we wouldn’t have got where we have today. We assessed each others strengths and weaknesses and found roles accordingly, which was spot on, we have an animated steam pump, beautifully textured with environment and a narrative and are finalising the product to hand to this ‘client’ in a presentation on Thursday. Print this post