Excalibur is such a good movie you need to watch it
Housekeeping

Roadmap

Attributions

Engineering

Holy Moly

Which is the Greatest Quality of Knighthood?

Courage? Compassion? Loyalty? Humility?

We can argue that they blend, like the metals we mix to make a good sword, but at the end of the day, it must be Truth above all. When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.
So says Merlin, and so says I. In our modern digital age, it's all to easy to get complacent with inflating your accomplishments or passing off someone (or something) else's words as your own, making a personality and presence that is like you... but isn't you. In some cases, like our current job market, this system of upscaling your accomplishments is even encouraged to get past the bot resume scanners! I think that's absurd and lame.
I believe in being unwaveringly truthful about who you are, and on top of that, I believe in being creative and having fun as much as possible. Sincerity stands out more than having more certifications than the next guy, and living your life, having fun, and being silly is about as sincere as it gets. Plus, normalcy is boring. Unless you're a woodworker or a farm animal, where's the fun in following the grain?
Am I going to be the most experienced person in the room? Almost never. Do I often have relevant skills for something I'm trying to do? Not yet! Does that matter? I don't think so! I believe chances should be given to those who are willing to learn and commit to the bit just as much as chances should be given to those most qualified. It adds more diverse perspectives, helps break up the convention and tension of the usual workplace, and makes for a way better story. I'd argue that last bit is the most important.
What does this all mean in practice? For starters, I really do commit to truth. If I say I'm interested in a project or want to help or would be excited working somewhere, you know that is real sentiment because lying isn't something I do. On top of that, I commit to the bit. I do my best to keep my word, even if I misspeak, because otherwise I'd be a liar. Regardless of how much or little I may be outwardly invested in a task, I will see it to completion because I told you I would. Finally for now, I am a very strong learner. My learning style is watching then replicating, I catch on extremely quickly, I know how to research and bridge knowledge gaps, and I'm always willing to learn new things. If I don't know something now, give me a week or so. I was largely a novice to 3D modeling and web development, but thanks to some tutorials and tools, I made the first draft of this website in under a week. I can and will bring that same energy anywhere else I'm interested in because that's just what I do.

Roadmap for Portfolio 1.0

Where do we go from here?

This portfolio v1.0 was made on fairly short notice to meet a personal goal. It's a good start and fairly polished for what it is, but it could be better. These are some things that I want to get done soon for this layout as-is:

  • -- Add a light/dark mode, which includes adding a blue sky, making a daytime nameplate, and fixing some materials that aren't properly emissive.
  • -- Have the About Me computer approachthe camera on click for the immersion.
  • -- Make the water cooler looking.
  • -- Add some animations, lights, and extra features to the landscape.
  • -- Add some of my past projects from undergrad and start on some real engineering projects.
  • -- Clean up the code as much as I can once I understand JS a bit better.


Beyond that, I want to keep adding new big things to push the bounds of creativity. This is a bit more nebulous since I'd imagine it'll take a lot longer to get to that point (and I haven't had a ton of those ideas yet), but here's what I've got so far:

  • -- I've seen a few instances of a koi/fish pond in JS. I want to make one, either 2D or 3D.
  • -- Making a Viva Pinata-esque journal to flip through for any 3D art character assets I happen to make.
  • -- Some sort of music/movie/media review catalog styled after physical media players.
Attributions

Inspiration, Attribution, and Tool Usage

I believe in citing your sources and being open about where you found things. Not only does it help quell plagiarism and ego, but it helps others who may want to try to make something similar.
This project was inspired by Andrew Woan's YouTube tutorial for Alpha Chad's Cozy Cafe, and I followed the tutorial extensively for this project. You can find their resources at https://github.com/andrewwoan/alpha-chads-cozy-cafes.
Blender was used for all 3D modeling. The mountains were made possible with the Terrain Mixer addon for Blender, found at https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/terrainmixer/. It seems a bit finnicky, but is a really cool tool.
The computer windows were made using XP.css styling, found at https://github.com/botoxparty/XP.css/. I adore XP.css, and it's the backbone of all two (2) websites that I've made or helped make.

Generative AI (ChatGPT) was used in the making of this project, but I did my best to use it responsibly. For most of my problems, I tried looking for a solution on the internet/Stack Overflow first before consulting Chat. When I did use Chat, it was mainly for debugging, and I always approached it knowing exactly what I wanted to solve. I did not let it replace my thinking, and I made sure I understood anything it returned before trying to use it myself. I do not necessarily enjoy how much I consulted Chat in order to get the first version of this website done in time, but I can take pride in knowing that all creative decisions were my own.

This window is currently under construction, even though we haven't done an environmental study yet

Engineerage

There isn't anything here. Yet. I'm just starting to transition into being more of an engineer than a scientist, and as such, I haven't really done a lot of making yet. Hopefully that will change soon!