The last month for me has been defined by 3 things.

1. Wrapping up my first time teaching After Effects
2. Learning Substance Designer
3. Starting Crossfit.

I know the joke, “the first rule of Crossfit is that you have to talk about Crossfit… all the time.” So I’ll keep it brief. I suck at it but I’m getting better. I only started getting better when I started going four times a week. Immersion in anything gives quicker results than anything else.

Teaching After Effects was a blast. This semester reminded me more of the difference between the guy at the teacher’s station and the students. I eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff and for some reason I expect my students to have the same kind of devotion. Unfortunately the reality is teaching classes to adults means taking into account their jobs, families, and that they just aren’t that into it.

Which leads me to Substance Designer. I don’t know why I’m so fired up about this program. It’s potential is staggering. I feel like it allows a workflow that compliments the way I think. The only downside is the documentation. Allegorithmic seems to be putting too much emphasis on video tutorials and not enough written material. I just don’t have the patience to sit through twenty minutes to get to the point. My solution is small bites every night. This is counter to what I just mentioned with the immersion in Crossfit or the immersion in After Effects. I suppose the nightly practice is more productive than something more spread out, so I’ll give myself credit for that.