i'm learnin...

or at least i'm trying. i've got about 3 to 4 feet of manuals to read. i stopped counting pages, chapters, and volumes and started thinking in terms of the trusty ole english measurement system... and that stack doesn't include the numerous PDFs, help files, online tutorials, and user forums. it's pretty daunting, but it's fun. i met a guy that knows this stuff in and out. talking with him, seeing the stuff that he'd done, and hearing about what his friends were doing, has got me pretty motivated to learn this junk. he came in to help troubleshoot our new-top-of-the-line-ultra-swank system this week. i also found out that he is a programmer and is responsible for writing the code for some of the stuff that we will be using soon.
anyway in addition to learning all this software (smoke, flame, maya) now i'm seeing that if i want to really be on top of things i'm going to need to learn 2 more operating systems, and even a little bit of programming. so as i'm learning software, i'm having to wade my way through all the ins and outs of networking and filestructures of linux (not to mention making a linux box talk to the mac's and windows machines in the place) i really haven't had to deal with it much, my boss has though, and from seeing what he's gone through it don't look easy.
anyway all in all i'm having fun and am excited about being here. i actually got a call from my old art professor yesterday asking me to consider going to grad school at Penn State. honestly the prospect doesn't sound as appealing as what i'm doing now. i'm going to talk to him a little more about it though. i also don't think that i would cut the mustard in grad school. anyway here is some more cool stuff for anyone who would like to check out.

Shilo Design... these guys rule (check out the Huff show open)
Autodesk... makers of all things that are myserious to me.



this is a screenshot from flame...look interesting to anyone?