Dry Run

       All I had today was to return my equipment, give the rest of my data to Emmett and to, primarily, do the dry run of my presentation.  While my was - excuse the pun, "dry", I felt I handled it well, added in some important and informative information, and overall made it work.  I did truly enjoy the work I did this summer, and I feel as though I learned a lot from it.  It's very nice being able to talk about my research topic and actually know just what I'm talking about.  Even outside of the presentation, which went well, I feel as though I'm qualified to field a wide range of questions, so I'm optimistic for tomorrow.  It will be a bit strange leaving this place, but it feels good to be leaving on a good note, with my work done (I feel) well and everything neatly tidied up.  So that about concludes it for my work here.  It was fun.

For Wednesday, August 21st - Data wrap up

       By tomorrow morning all the presentations have to be set and ready to go, so now that all my data is collected I just spent the day processing it a bit more and, primarily, working on my presentation.  It is all very data intensive, but as long as I throw in some interesting tidbits it should all work out nicely.  It's been a bit of a time crunch, but I'm glad at least all my data collection is done with.  From here on out, I just need to worry about presenting.  Hopefully it all goes well.

Nocturnal Excursions

       After some training with the radiometer yesterday, I had some homework to do, in order to collect spectra and the radiant and photometric output of the moon. So I did that and it was late, but I got some good irradiance data.  It wasn't bright enough to get decent spectral data but I did get good photometric outputs.  I also got some good photometric data of all my previous sources so, from here on out, all my source data is hereby concluded.

Data Wrap Up

       All my data is collected, for the most part.  It was always sort of "get this, then go get some more of whatever else if you can", so I finished my main stuff a while ago, but I still have a few extra scans which turned out well and should provide some good extra data if it's needed in the future.  I spent today mainly just cleaning up a few more scans (the SVC doesn't naturally handle taking source radiance measurements very well, and sadly the USB650 only really deals with absolute irradiance), but I feel like they're as good as I can get them, without more fancy equipment.  So today I processed my data, both for my material files (which I cataloged away on the DIRS laptop), and touched up my source files a bit.  By next monday, I'll finish my DIRSIG render and start on my way to making and practicing my presentation.

A Good Day to Data Collect

       With the cool air from yesterday still in effect, the entire morning was about perfect for collecting data.  Consequently, I got a lot of very good data today.  I finally managed to get some good samples of wood (in varying shades), I got a large variety of road markings based on color and weathering, and got some soil/dirt samples along with some more concrete samples.  It wound up working pretty well.
       Now all that's left is to process the data, add it into my DIRSIG scene, and, after cataloging my data, put it all into my presentation.  While I still have a few samples to take for Emmett's project, that shouldn't take long, and by early next week all my attention should be funneled into wrapping up all my work and presenting it.

Cross-Referencing Fun

       Another patchy, cloudy day outside so the few scans I need to take outdoors will have to be put off  a bit longer.  Instead I spent some time trying to find outside sources to cross-reference my source radiance scans to, but without too much success.  As one could imagine, while certain types of bulbs are very well documented, the varieties between specific brands and models vary, so finding a good, high quality, and preferably tab-delimited sample was very painful.  In the end, I did manage to get a few varying cfl samples, a tungsten-halogen sample, and an LED sample, but none quite line up to my data due to, obviously, difference in their make.  I also noticed that I still had clipping issues on a few of my own samples, so I figured that, after finding some outside sources today, tomorrow, if I can't go outside again, I'd head up to the lab and retake a few.  It's annoying, but it needs to be done.

Another Cloudy Day

       I really do wish it would clear up.  While most of my critical work is just about done, I still need to take a few more samples outdoors to get varied but accurate data for, right now, just wood.  Until it clears up, I'm limited in what I can work on.  As a result, I spent a lot of the day coding.

       In-doors there isn't much I can do except process some of my data and create a few scripts to help normalize radiance data for reference across a multitude of measurements.  I did a few test renders on the DIRSIG scene I was provided, now with the updated materials, and for the most part it looks good. I do still want to get samples of wood though, for siding in the model and such.  As for my source scans for Emmett, I have a bunch of sources, most still on the USB650 but a fair number of them confirmed and extended with the SVC scans, but I'm still looking for some good reference sources from them.  While a few will be easy to get, some of my sources may be a bit odd to find references for.  Hopefully I can get something for them.

       In any event, it's cloudy, so I hope it clears up.  Once I can get some more scans outside I can catalog them and hopefully start putting together my presentation.

Mees Observatory Visit - For Monday, August 12th

       Since I was down at the Outer Banks a few years ago, I had never really had the chance to stargaze in it's full glory, with a clear sky, good visibility, and that faint glow of the Milky Way.  Luckily, our Mees observatory visit remedied that.  Before we got to the observatory, we stopped by Mendon Ponds park and had a chance to eat dinner (some Sticky Lips BBQ, graciously provided by RIT), and just chill a bit.  At about 7-8 we headed off to the observatory down near Canandaigua Lake, and were given a nice, informative presentation about the history and components of astronomy and similar space-related fields.  Once it got dark, we headed up to the observatory and had the chance to see, close up, some cool astronomical oddities (my favorite was the globular cluster) through the telescope.  But just stargazing with the naked eye was equally impressive that night, as it was clear (clear enough to see the Milky Way dimly), and there was a meteor shower going on.  I find myself very lucky to have had the chance to see a few shooting stars and, if you want to see them, there should be more entering our atmosphere tonight.  All things included, it was a very enjoyable evening.

For Friday, August 9th

       I had a few tasks to accomplish today.  Alongside of Chris' and Emmett's measurements, I, as the temporary keeper of the SVC, had to take a few scans of painted wood for Victoria, and undergrad in the DIRS department.  So I worked hard, and had what I felt was a very productive day.  First I took more source measurements for Emmett, this time getting an LED flashlight, LED backlit screen and a CCFL backlit screen, with both the SVC and the USB650.  From there I moved on, after lunch, to take some indoor measurements of some plywood I found for Chris.  While I'm still not a fan of indoor measurements, It'll have to make do for the time being.  I got 50 scans of those (which I have yet to fully process), but then I moved on to take scans for another one of Emmett's projects, which involved determining the statistical variance between samples of the same material and determining the magnitude of the deviation as a function of wavelength.  That was another 50 scans, and from there I moved onto Victoria's project, taking a variety of scans of a variety of paints.  That was quick, and, once I processed the data, gave me a good place to finish my day.  Overall, I felt like I accomplished a lot.

For Thursday, August 8th

       Today I, once again inside due to the weather, took a few more source scans and measured the reflectance of some roofing shingles for Chris.  With the sources I noticed that the ones from yesterday had a few clipping issues, so I had to remeasure some of them (the cfl and blacklight), with adjusted integration times.  I also took a few more measurements of my sources with the USB650, so I would have a few more things to cross-reference.  Overall I feel like I got some fairly good scans (although taking samples of cfls is always annoying).  Also, I got in a bunch of scans with the roofing shingles Chris gave me (about 50), and while doing reflectance samples inside isn't the greatest, I felt like they wound up decent.  I do wish it would clear up outside though.

Back to the Lab

       The weather was subpar today, so instead I spent some time measuring sources in the optics lab and trying to figure out the best way to do that with the SVC.  Naturally, it doesn't support that normally, so I still have some things to mess around with to get what I want out of it (I can get the radiance data, but compiling and condensing multiple scans is a pain).  Other than that, it was a productive day, but less so than I had hoped.  Using the USB650 to get some good cross-check radiance references between itself and the SVC, I'm pretty sure the spectra was way off (mainly around the fringes), and I feel that I'll have to do that again.  Even with the SVC, it's hard converting multiple scans into one, clean file, and I was have a few cutoff issues at the detector bounds.  Hopefully I can go outside tomorrow.  Everything I need to do involving the outdoors is much more straightforward.

       Once again, there were a few good, clear patches of sky today so I had the chance to take more samples outside.  With the help of a few more interns I was able to collect more samples of brick and mulch (goody!), with hopes of getting up to around 100 samples, which although I'm not quite at, I'm fairly close to.  For that half of my project, I still have to get some more samples of sand, concrete, wood, and roofing shingles, but hopefully it stays clear so I can get a lot of data before my presentation.  While I still have to process it and update my scene to incorporate it, that at least isn't weather dependent.
       Meanwhile, now that I have the SVC in my possession, I've been similarly tasked with re-recording the spectral data of my sources with a larger span of wavelengths.  Because the SVC software isn't really completely finished, I'll have to write a quick parsing script for that, but that shouldn't take to long.  Mainly I just need to find some good scientific literature to cross-reference it all to!  In any case, I'll be keeping busy.

Data Collection - For Monday, August 6th

       Although the clouds were a bit patchy today, it wasn't hazy so I was able to get some good measurements before the clouds rolled in at about noon.  With John's help I got a fair number of both brick and mulch samples, although once the weather improves I'll probably still want some more of the same.  I still have more items to get through (like soil, wood, and roofing shingles), along with continuing to measure sources (hopefully now with the SVC, if I can figure out how to make it work) for Emmett.  Luckily, while one is weather dependent, I can do most of the other inside, so it should balance fairly well.

Field Trip!

       Today was the first real day I got any measurements done (for a brief window at least), seeing as it was the day that had been designated for the DIRS field collect of water samples and such down by the lake.  While the weather was still poor most of the time (which attributed to why most of the crew was called off for the day), the sky was sunny and consistent enough for at least an hour that I could get some measurements of sand and concrete with the help of Chris and Nina.  While going out on a boat would have been cool and it would of been nice to still get some more data, it was still better than it had been recently, and plus, Nina was generous enough to treat us to CheeburgerCheeburger afterwords.  It was nice.
       I still have a long way to go in terms of getting all the data I need, but as for the materials in my own DIRSIG scene, this was a good step forward.  Still a few issues importing them all, but by tomorrow I should have at least an image or two of comparison for both my presentation and this blog.  In my humble opinion, I found this to be a fairly productive day.

For the day of Thursday, August 1st

       Sadly yesterday was yet another poor capture day, and although it was bright and fairly sunny, the clouds were patchy and just weren't what we were looking for.  So while I waited and hoped for clear skies I did a bit more IDL programming and tweaked both the SVC file parser and created a script to extrapolate data for an aluminum processing plant scene.  Outside of that I didn't too much, as the previous two took up most of my time and, to meet my hourly requirements, I had to leave a bit early.  But I still got some decent work done.