I noticed the intriguing configuration of utility poles around this street corner due to the down ramp on the other side.
September 30, 2020
September 28, 2020
Books-round-over-table-corner dream
Around 6 am September 26 I recalled this dream about a bunch of books circling over the edge of the kitchen table without falling over.
September 27, 2020
Feetcopter dream
I had this dream half a year ago on on March 27 2020.
Upside down helicopter man fly over a city.
Rotor stopped and dropped to the ground, captured by a GoPro camera.
Rescue workers brought a big net rushing towards the camera view, which I replaced by an ambulance view for easier drawing.
September 26, 2020
A day of several drawings
I remembered 3 weird dreams earlier at around 4:30 am and 6:00 am this morning, and decided to draw them out.
Before that, during an eye break, I spotted a rooftop worker.
This is the first dream, about an eel tank.
This painting is inspired by the name of a prior intern who is still collaborating with me.
September 24, 2020
OKR 2020
For OKR 2019, I rated myself 80 percent:
- Published 4 top papers with 4 student first authors.
- Transferred a research into a product for future release, and have 1 granted and 2 filed patents.
- Maintain regular drawing and animation exercises with steady progress.
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I read the Book of Change as part of my drawing exercises, and have resumed the Baroque Cycles.
By avoiding a brand of low-quality chocolate, I have restored my biometrics to the previous non-normal-human level.
I have learned all 3 basic forms of the physical art I have started learning for about 4 years ago.
The default period is from July 2020 to June 2021 unless stated otherwise.
Publish top papers
Publish at least 4 papers in top graphics/HCI/vision/ML venues, such as ToG (including SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia), CHI/UIST, NIPS/ICML, CVPR/ICCV.
Build top products
Ship at least one product as a manager/researcher and file at least two patents.
Develop top talents
Help at least 4 students publish in top graphics/HCI/vision/ML venues individually.
Recruit at least 2 top job candidates.
Lead top impacts
This year marked so many remarkable events, such as a global pandemic, environment degradation, and social injustice, which are more worthwhile to address than the above 3 categories, which I no longer feel the kind of urge to prove after SIGGRAPH 2011.
I (belatedly) created this new category for the coming years.
Have fun, be awesome
Practice sketching and animation to a professional level.
Continue learning a Middle Eastern language to elementary school level, complementing the one Asian and one European language I already know.
Practice meditation to the level that I can enter the God mode immediately, anywhere and anytime.
Finish the book of change, to renew my (now rusty) Chinese and crack the only Chinese classics that my grandfather did not during his life time.
Finish the baroque cycle, which I have resumed in the middle of the first volume (quicksilver).
Recover from an acute physical incidence that threw me off balance, and fix a chronical one.
September 21, 2020
Resting excavator
After focusing on the claws in the previous sketch, I felt more comfortable drawing the entire excavator.
I misplaced a rod in my first pencil-and-pen sketch, which I fixed, and then proceeded to produce a color version.
I ran out of patience after oil-painting the yellow components and thus water-colored the rest gray, and completed oil-painting the body two days later.
September 19, 2020
Excavator claws
Initially I was trying to draw the entire excavator but found particular interests in the two claws.
September 13, 2020
Quick morphing animation exercises
These two exercises for lesson 4 aim to create organic morphs between simple shapes, with focus on animation instead of drawing.
During the last exercise, I found out that drawing every frame from scratch can facilitate more lively motions while copying and editing frames can produce more rigid/static effects (like in stop motion).
In this example, the left side looks like a growing plant while the right side looks like a swimming worm.
September 12, 2020
Quick sketch of a cat on a fence
The cat allowed me only a quick glimpse before jumping away.