26 April 2013

I'm done with my CNO model. Now it's onto the paper. This class I began on my outline, and gathering usable quotes for the paper. Good stuff.

24 April 2013 (late post)

Kept working on my model of the CNO cycle today. It's going way easier than the proton-proton chain model.

22 April 2013 (late post)

Today I started writing the second animation. I am modeling the Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen (CNO) Cycle. The end result is the same nucleus as the original one, so the inputs and products are the only real hard part. Hopefully now that I'm more familiar with the program and its techniques this one will go faster.

18 April 2013 (late post)

I've finished my first animation, and I need to start research for my second. Obviously I have the basic procedure down, but the specifics are still a little unclear. I'll start programming next class.

16 April 2013 (late post)

Kept working on my first animation. I'm basically done now, I just have some finishing touches to make. I have maybe another half-hour on this one. I think I can finish it tonight.

12 April 2013 (late post)

I put in some more work on my first presentable animation. It's coming along well, and all I have left is the final stages of the process and labeling all the nucleons. Crazy stuff. This one is the 'proton-proton chain.'

10 April 2013

I continued to work on my models today. The ones I am working on now are a lot more complex than my first one, so they're taking quite a bit more time. But at the current rate I'm going, I think I'll be done with plenty of time left.

8 April 2013

I gathered together all of the things I have right now for my final submission. It's not much, just emails, notes, etc. but I would rather start to get it all together now. I also began work on the more complex models that will comprise my final product.

4 April 2013 (late post)

I continued working on my 3D models today. I finished the first one, but depending on how much I get done I may not use it, since it's a pretty basic process. I also talked to Dr. J about a grad student she knows at UTD who may be able to judge my presentation.

2 April 2013

Since it seems unlikely that I will find any "professionals" in my field, I have had to start looking for other candidates. In that spirit, I sent Mr. Abraham a message today on LinkedIn to see if he would be willing to be a judge. While he isn't an astrophysicist or anything, he has an amateur interest in astronomy.

I also found some software to model nuclear processes. It's called Alice, and it's 3D modeling and animation software. It's primarily used to teach younger students programming techniques, but it will work for my purposes - it's just going to be somewhat tedious.