Down to the Wire!

It is a beautiful Thursday in Michigan! It is 57° instead of 97° this morning. What a difference a week can make!

What do you do when your assignment is due in six hours and you don’t understand a concept? This can even happen for seasoned students…like myself…so first thing, DON’T PANIC.

Last week I had an assignment that I totally thought I understood. I went out and shot my images for the assignment (it was creating a planar panorama in photoshop or like software), sat down to process it, and it didn’t work. There were several choices to make in the process and I tried them all, and nothing worked. Now what? Professors don’t really like calls at the last hour when assignments are due. They really do have a life outside our classrooms.

Here are some options:

·         Check Skype and see if the professor happens to be online. If so, ask your question.

·         The internet can often be a great place to find solutions. Google the exact info you need help with. Often you will find your answer or enough information to get you past the obstacle that has you stumped.

·         Call a friend. Develop relationships with other classmates so that you can call on each other in times of trouble. I have a couple fellow students that I’ve developed friendships with whom we’ve shared phone numbers, and feel comfortable enough to call at late night hours J. A lot of times two heads are better than one. You will find that your classmates track along the same class schedule as yourself, so you will be learning together for the next three or so years.

·         If you don’t get your answers through any of the previous suggestions, turn in everything you have tried with explanations of how you did things and ask what went wrong. At least you will get partial credit, AND the professor will know how to help you.

The last option is actually what I did on my planar panorama problem and I got a 90% on it. So it didn’t harm my overall grade, the professor was able to work me through the problem and now I know what to do to create planar panoramas. (By the way linear panoramas are a lot easier to create. Hmmm…I think I feel another blog coming on.)

Planar Panorama (It takes a flat surface to shoot against.)

 Linear Panorama

Do you have any other suggestions for those last-hours-before-an-assignment-is-due problems? Please share them with us.

Have a great day!

Your Thursday Student Ambassador

Auto Giga 6.2 Review. Northlight Images. 2013. 24 Jul 2013. http://www.northlight-

     images.co.uk/reviews/software/autopano-giga_2-6.html