After getting an Associate’s Degree from Walla Walla Community College in Civil Engineering Technology and working for the US Army Corps of Engineers for 3 1/2 years, I have gone back to school to finish my Bachelor’s Degree. I am a student in the Digital Technology and Culture program at Washington State University-Vancouver. One of our first projects in one of my digital animation course was modeling a chair. Easy, right? Well, yes, if you get to use the software you’re proficient with. I am an avid Blender user, but have to learn Maya for my classes. This was an exercise in frustration as the learning curve on 3d software is so high. I am starting to get my feet underneath me, but it has been a struggle at times.

All the modeling was done in Maya, though the actual render was done in Cycles, which is Blender’s rendering engine. The chair is influenced by Michael Steffenhagen’s Reo lounge chair. While his is a very modern design in rattan and cloth, I have used carbon fiber and leather as my materials of choice.