David Barbarash

It is neither immature nor insecure. It’s a matter of semantics that as far as I can see, has no psychological reasoning at all regardless of how you’re trying to reduce the issue to a personal problem. Your example at the engineering office is not applicable as you were not trained nor schooled as an engineer ( I assume). Could it be the other w…[Read more]

Something I just noticed: take down the resume’s you’ve uploaded here so far (if you can) and re-post versions with your address and phone number blacked out or removed. You never know what kind of unsavory people are lurking the web. Also, I’d move your “experience” section to the end of your resume; after work experience and before honors and…[Read more]

Yep, just education, employment, & achievements. Add in a “Skills” section at the end to showcase your computer programs and report writing too.
 
To address the job specific points, use the cover letter to highlight your skills. To me a resume is little more than a declaration of eligibility (Are you educated? Have you worked? Etc.) The cover le…[Read more]

Tough one then. I understand your issues with HR departments and how clueless some can be. To settle some of the issues at hand here, think about the purpose of your resume. Is it a document that gets you past the HR level and on to the decision makers? If so, then clear and simple (and boring) information pertaining to your professional…[Read more]

It seems like you’re trying to fit too much into a resume and making it into a hybrid resume/cover letter/textual portfolio. Your work and project management experience should be strong selling points to separate you from others, but I don’t see much that emphasizes that skill set. It gets lost in the “Project Production” section. I’d take the h…[Read more]

Very few places have free stuff available, and those that do are usually low-res copies of their higher resolution products for sale. 
 
As a side note, be careful of stuff that people might give you or that were taken from a school or firm library. They often carry licensing agreements that can get you in trouble if someone who knows what th…[Read more]

I tend to cheat in these situations and make a block out of a single parking space line, then use the MEASURE or DIVIDE command, select the edge of pavement line, specify the block to use and the spacing being sure to align to the source object. Then just select the lines the command created and explode them to return them to the polylines they should be.

When it comes to vegetation, I can’t recommend ANY 3D program (except maybe the Vue xStream or Onyx plug-ins for 3D Studio Max) and would suggest handling your plants in Photoshop. Plants are so complex that they take forever to render. Just be sure to match your plant materials to the lighting scheme of the image and to vary the size and…[Read more]

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/f/elementscompare.htm
 
Here’s a link listing the differences between the two programs. It’s up to you to decide whether the missing features would affect your workflow. For me, the lack of quickmasks, adjustment layers, and recordable custom actions is a serious dealbreaker.

If you liked cgarchitect, and get interested in 3D, check out http://www.cgsociety.org and http://www.3dtotal.com. They’ll have tutorials and forums more focused on animation and character modeling, but many issues you’ll face in the 3D world are universal regardless of model.
 
If you’re like me and have trouble creating a final hand-rendered image that…[Read more]

I can not disagree more with the Sketchup to Max methodology, not if you want your renders to finish sometime this year. Sketchup is notorious for exporting messy and error ridden meshes that can cause havoc with rendering engines. The more complex the model, the worse it’s going to be as well. While Ma & Sketchup share some 3rd p…[Read more]

I agree with Jon here (though it pains me to do so). Stick with what you know and can produce with now; learn and expand your toolset along the way. Deadline time is no time to still be learning software.
 
Having said that, if you’d like to get into the 3D modeling side of things, I can’t recommend http://www.cgarchitect.com enough. Between the…[Read more]

I have an (unpublished) paper sitting around that measured how the general public (non-design educated) are able to react to and understand images produced from 3D models at different levels of detail. It also measured their acceptance/rejection of specific elements in the image.
 
Results showed that there was little to no advantage between…[Read more]

I should add that I realize that the printer doesn’t actually print transparency, but higher end printers (in most of the offices I’ve been in) which use paper profiles will adjust a print to allow for transparent effects for different paper types. Whew… that’s better…

I’d be careful about using the eraser tool to lighten an area. Technically you aren’t lightening it, but making it more transparent, and depending on the paper you’re printing on, it can have an unwanted effect on the color you’re looking for.

Otherwise, the dodge tool is the way to go there, or if you want a more linear look, you can create an…[Read more]

Don’t forget about using landscape to lessen impacts on public utilities, namely stormwater and sewage systems (if we can get past the greywater stigma). Landscape can reduce the total load of storm runoff caused by development while slowing it’s release into the sewer system, saving municipalities millions of dollars in treatment and maintenance…[Read more]