Prior to this class I never actually thought about how maps are made and what software is used to help generate them. I have to admit at first I was quite hesitant towards the idea of having to produce a maps as a final project however I have to admit it was actually quite fun. We were all assigned the task of creating a map depicting the metro lines in Paris however each of us had to add some sort of additional information of choice so it was interesting to see how even though we all worked with the same subject we all took different approaches and produced completely different and unique maps. I probably won’t end up using QGIS ever again however it was definitely interesting to work with.
Learning how to use blender was definitely my favourite part of this class. I think I will for sure end up using it in the future especially when creating some sort of mockups or visualisations. I found it really helpful that all sessions were recorded and posted on canvas after class. Whenever I forgot how to do something or was struggling or encountering a problem I would go back to the recording and everything would be there. It was actually a pretty funny feeling when I visited the Romainville campus for the first time as I had this strong sensation that I already know this place after creating the building models in blender. So it was also definitely interesting to see how the models I ended up producing looked in comparison to the actual buildings. Additionally, I think it was great we had a guest speaker who thought us how to create textures and animations. Knowing how to add textures onto models really came in handy as it helped develop more visually complex images. The animation aspect was probably the hardest part of the production process however once I figured it out it was actually pretty amazing to see how in movement the buildings looked from all sorts of different sides and perspectives. I also really enjoyed using Metashape pro and I think I might end up using it in some of my future projects as it quite easy to use and very time efficient. Overall I really enjoyed this course, I feel like I have progressed a lot throughout the entire semester especially having in mind the fact that coming into this class I had absolutely zero knowledge about any of those softwares and now I actually know how to use them.
