Amba 604

Acme Home Improvement de Mexico, SA de CV Project Plan Team Four: Folasade Bamidele Alibaloye John C Caputo Garner Frederick Hixson Hector G Rosado AMBA 604, Section 9093 Professor Stewart February 6, 2004 Acme Project Plan Table of Contents Section I. II. III. Executive Summary Introduction Project Organization Organization Chart Project Responsibilities Staffing Plans IV. Management Process Management Objectives Priorities Monitoring/Controlling Mechanisms V.Technical Process Plan Computing System Project Plan Modification Process Computer Usage Policies Construction Guideline Support Project Acceptance Process Lessons Learned Documentation VI. Work Packages, Dependencies, Schedules & Budgets Work Packages Dependencies Project Budget Summary Tasks on the Critical Path Assignment Matrix 3 4 5 5 6 7 10 10 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 13 14 14 17 20 23 24 25 2 Page VII. Appendix A Appendix B Acme Project Plan I. Executive Summary Acme Home Improvements has determined it essential that expa nsion into international markets take place immediately.Acme Home Improvements has initiated a joint venture with local partners in Mexico City to form Acme Home Improvements SA de CV. The intent of this partnership is to open Acme's first ‘Do It Yourself’ – (DIY) home improvement store outside of the United States, to meet the competition head on and establish a foothold in international markets. This document spells out our plan for the project's success. The project's sponsor is the Acme CEO, Alex R. Fitzgerald. This project is the first step in his strategic initiative to expand Acme into international markets.Based on assessments, it is critical that Acme SA de CV complete the opening of this store in 12 months or less with a budget of up to $7. 5 million. A key risk is Acme's lack of experience in international markets. As a result, we will rely heavily on our partners to help us mitigate ‘soft' cultural issues and navigate local nuances of business. Because of the soft issues, remaining on schedule is a key driver of project success. To mitigate risks to the project's critical path, we have built feeding buffers into the schedule, and added a project buffer to the project end.Our plan outlines staff responsibilities and a staffing plan for project execution. This staff has strong support from corporate headquarters, a defined scope, budget, timeline, and 3 processes by which to execute the plan. Included in these processes is a structured change control process that ensures changes are relevant, followed through, and controlled. In addition, this document, and the accompanying project plan clearly identify dependencies that can impact project execution. We have separated these dependencies into mandatory, external, and discretionary dependencies (Schwalbe, 2004).Doing this has enabled us to maximize scheduling efficiency. Acme SA de CV has an established technology infrastructure to draw upon. Our plan will leverage this techno logy through wireless local area networks, corporate servers, and use of project management software. Finally, we will utilize a feedback process to capture lessons learned for our future expansion into international markets. Acme Project Plan II. Introduction Acme Home Improvements de Mexico, SA de CV intends to build a 100,000 sq ft retail 4 facility in Mexico Distrito Federal (DF).This effort is part of Acme's strategy to expand into the international home improvement markets. Our Mexico City store will be the initial push into Mexico to meet our competitors head-on outside the United States. This project is critical to Acme's long-term strategy to expand beyond the US borders. Headquarters has allocated $7. 5 million to complete this task. Strategic alignment with Acme's long-term goals, experience with similar projects, and an assessment of the competition dictates that we complete this project within 12 months. Our project is a joint venture with local interests.The project wi ll be challenging for Acme, with inherent risk laying in our inexperience in international joint ventures. ‘Soft' issues, cultural human resource issues will be as much of a driver of cost and schedule as the ‘hard' issues like planning and execution. It is critical to the success of this project, and perhaps the organization's international growth strategy, that this project be completed on time, and on budget. The organization anticipates possible schedule delays and cost overruns due to cultural assumptions and misunderstandings.Knowing that schedule delays will affect costs and international expansion strategy, we pay particular attention to the project's critical path (see Appendix A, and the accompanying MS Project file's network diagram view). To deal with these risks, the team has built several feeding time-buffers into the work breakdown schedule, at constraints along the critical path (Goldratt, 1998). A large project buffer has also been added to protect the e nd of the project. Attention to the safety buffers along the critical path will contribute to the team's successful execution of the project.This plan presents an overview of the project organization, including the team's organization chart, project responsibilities, and staffing plans. Next, the plan addresses the organization's management process related to this project. Management's objectives, priorities, Acme Project Plan and monitoring and control mechanisms are covered in this section. The project's technical process plan is covered next, reviewing such things as the IT support and guidelines for the project, processes for modification, and acceptance of the plan, and the process for documenting lessons learned on the project.Lastly, this plan discusses the work packages, dependencies, schedules and project budget. We begin with a look at the project organization plan. III. Project Organization Organizational Chart: 5 Acme Home Improvements de Mexico Site Construction & Openi ng Project Organization Chart Prepared by: John Tarea, Project Manager John Tarea Acme Projects Project Manager Sade Venda Acme Store Manager Anita Socio Acme Mexico HR Manager Donna Promueva Acme Mexico Marketing Fred Conde Acme Finance Joe Martillo Construction Manager Maria Diseno Architectural ContractorThis organizational chart shows the authority and communications organization for the project. Every one of the team members reports to the Project Manager. Team members are from different knowledge areas and each will contribute with their knowledge and skills to the project. Acme Project Plan Project Responsibilities: Project Sponsor, Alex R. Fitzgerald, CEO Acme Home Improvements. Mr. Fitzgerald 6 has been CEO of Acme Home Improvements for 10 years. He started with the company 25 years ago, working in one of the first Acme Stores. He started as a traditional department manager and worked his way up through Acme's chain.He attended business school at the University of Maryland University College. Mr. Fitzgerald has unsurpassed expertise in the DIY Home Improvement business and has lead Acme through an unprecedented period of growth. Mr. Fitzgerald has a strategic vision that mandates Acme's expansion into international markets. His high level of interest in this project cannot be overemphasized. His role as project sponsor is to take ultimate responsibility for the project. He must sign off on the project charter, confirm successful completion of project milestones, and provide leadership and support to the project manager.At a recent executive retreat, Mr. Fitzgerald commented, â€Å"With the growth of technology, and productivity, the world has never experienced the level of wealth and opportunity for homeownership that it is experiencing now. Our ability to remain competitive and grow is completely dependent on our ability to expand into international markets. † John Tarea, Project Manager: John is in charge of managing the whole project, and th e members that are in charge of the project activities. Also, he is in charge of working with the sponsor and any general people involved with the project.His role is important since he should be able to manage the problem in an effective manner for the project to meet its goal. Joe Martillo, Construction Manager: Joe is in charge of managing the construction activities of the project. As a heavily tasked team member, project planners will watch for constraints associated with this project resource. To enable Joe meet the construction project schedule, he has been allocated the necessary budget to contract various local trades-people and construction specialty firms. Acme Project PlanMaria Diseno, Architectural Contractor: Maria is the architect that researched 7 competitive stores in Mexico, became familiar with Acme store designs in the U. S. , and designed the store to be constructed in this project. Fred Conde, Acme Finance: Fred is in charge of financial oversight of the projec t. He will assist team members in analyzing bids, projecting costs, and controlling expenditures. Sade Venda, Acme Store Manager: Sade will be in charge of managing the store when it is operational. She will also collaborate with H. R. anager, Anita Socio, and Anita's staff in the recruitment, interviewing, and training of new employees. Anita Socio, Acme Mexico HR Manager: Anita will be in charge of the recruitment effort and training of the personnel hired to work in the store. She will work closely with the Store Manager. Donna Promueva, Acme Mexico Marketing: Donna will collaborate with Maria Diseno and Sade Venda on the design and layout of the store interior, displays, and inventory. She is to ensure the store reflects the marketing strategy for the Mexico City market.She is in charge of performing local market analyses, selecting products, and designing merchandising, advertising and promotional efforts for the store. An assignment matrix can be seen in appendix B. Staffing P lan The following charts illustrate the project's staffing and training plans from three perspectives. The first graph presents baseline staffing plans, not taking into consideration feeding buffers that will likely push the actual dates closer to the store-opening deadline of March 1, 2006. The second chart depicts preliminary training targets, and the third illustrates contractor staffing needs.Acme Project Plan 8 Acme Staffing Plan 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Jan Mar May Jul Sept Nov Project Managers Acme- Accts, IT, Supt Lead Contractor Sub-Contractors Sub-Contractor Laborers Training Team Functional Leads Department Heads Store Employees 1 Dec as opening goal Acme SA de CV Training 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Jan Mar May Jul Sept Nov Training Team Functional Leads Department Heads Store Employees Acme Project Plan 9 Acme SA de CV Construction Team 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Jan Mar May Jul Sept Nov Lead Contractor Sub-Contractors Sub-Contractor LaborersNow that we have discus sed the project staffing and responsibilities, we turn to the project management processes, including the objectives, priorities, and monitoring and controlling mechanisms of the project. Acme Project Plan IV. Managerial Processes This section of the project plan provides an overview of Acme's perspective of this 10 project from the point of view of the top managers. Included in this section will be a discussion of top management's objectives, priorities, Management Objectives The Acme de Mexico project has three primary objectives: 1) Complete the six site component preparation activities on time and at/below cost. ) Execute the Acme Mexico FD site opening with a staff fully trained and integrated into the company. 3) Leverage success in Mexico FD to expand and compete across the greater Mexico. Priorities The first priority is completing the construction site on schedule. Operations must quickly assess the impact of unknown and unexpected events as they occur. Delays to the schedu le drive up our costs. The second priority, which becomes the first priority as the site nears completion, is the hiring and training of a store staff. The staff must be fully knowledgeable and fluent in Acme's processes and procedures.Monitoring/ Controlling Mechanisms Acme is new to Mexico and thus requires some very specific tools and techniques to ensure that we remain in control of the project. Given the amount of variables that we may come up against in this project we will have a very strong change control process. This change control process will meet three main goals (Schwalbe, 2004): 1. Influence the factors that create change; ensure that the change is beneficial and impact to time, scope, and budget is understood. 2. Determine that the desired change has occurred.Acme Project Plan 3. Manage the changes as they occur; trying to minimize the number of changes the project is subjected to. (p. 122). 11 There are specific criteria that will drive changes. Specifically, we hav e a management reserve pot set aside. The reserve will be called upon if our SPI falls below 90%. The additional capital spent will be tightly focused upon the current problem and prevention of reoccurrence. Should both our SPI and CPI fall below 90% senior management will become involved to assess status and affect needed changes. V.Technical Process Plan Having now seen the project's organization plans and managerial process plans, we turn now to a few technical aspects of the project. This section describes the technical approaches to control and support this project. In it, we describe the technical processes and approaches relating to this project's computing system, computer usage policies, plan modification processes, construction guidelines, acceptance process, and documentation process of lessons learned. We begin with an overview of the computing system used to support the project.Computing System This project will utilize Acme's wide area network, via wireless access at t he construction site, temporary office locations, and residences. Utilizing portable personal computers, the project manager and team will access the various project tools using MS Project, synchronizing local copies with the master file on the company server. Acme will utilize MS Project Server and MS Project Web Access features to allow project team members to view, collaborate, and update project information from various remote locations and connections. All project plan outputs will be date and time stamped.Modifications to the plan will be tracked electronically, logging a record of who changed what, and when the changes were made. Acme Project Plan Project Plan Modification Process Only the Project Manager will be able to modify the schedule, budget, and the work 12 breakdown structure (WBS) portions of the work plan. Changes resulting in delays greater than five workdays or adding more than $5,000 to the budget estimate must be approved first by the project sponsor. All other changes may be made at the discretion of the project manager. Individual team members will be able to update task completion progress in the work plan.All changes must be requested on the following Change Request Form: Change Request Form Project Name: Date Request Submitted: Title of Change Request: Change Order Number: Submitted by: (name & contact information) Change Category: Scope Schedule Description of change requested: Events that made this change necessary or desirable. Justification for the change/why it is needed/desired to continue/complete the project: Impact of the proposed change on: Scope: Schedule: Cost: Staffing: Risk: Other: Suggested implementation if the change request is approved: Required approvals: Name/TitleCost Technology Other Date Approve/Reject (Schwalbe, 2004, p. 630) Computer Usage Computer use will comply with Acme Home Improvement, Inc. ‘s corporate computing policies, available online to employees on the company intranet. Employees can access the corporate intranet through the company server WAN, or over the Internet. Acme Project Plan Construction Guideline Support Standards for implementing the site construction will comply with Acme Home Improvement, Inc. ‘s Construction Guidelines. Since the guidelines were developed for use in U. S. onstruction projects, however, the project team will consult Mexico City based law firm, 13 Goodrich, Riquelme y Asociados (anonymous, n. d. ). The team will coordinate activities related to zoning, environmental practices, and compliance with other local and federal regulations with the law firm. Project Acceptance Process The project manager is responsible for obtaining sign-off from the project sponsor and project manager at each milestone, and at project completion. The following form will be used to document acceptance of the project:Client Acceptance/Project Completion Form Project Name: Project Manager: I (We), the undersigned, acknowledge and accept delivery of the work co mpleted for this project on behalf of our organization. My (Our) signature(s) attest to my (our) agreement that this project has been completed. No further work should be done on this project. Name Title Signature Date 1. Was this project completed to your satisfaction? Yes No 2. Please provide the main reason for your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with this project. 3. Please provide suggestion on how our organization could improve its project delivery capability in the future. Schwalbe, 2004, p. 633) Lessons Learned Documentation: Acme Project Plan The project manager is responsible for completing a summary of lessons learned throughout the project. The lessons will be documented on the form below, added to Acme Home Improvement's repository of project lessons learned, accessible through the company intranet. Lessons Learned Report Prepared by: Project Name: Project Sponsor: Project Manager: Project Dates: Final Budget: 1. Did the project meet scope, time, and cost goals? 2. Wha t was the success criteria listed in the project scope statement? . Reflect on whether or not you met the project success criteria. 4. In terms of managing the project, what were the main lessons your team learned? 5. Describe one example of what went right on this project. 6. Describe one example of what went wrong on this project. 14 7. What will you do differently on the next project, based on your experience working on this project? (Schwalbe, 2004, p. 624) VI. Work Packages, Dependencies, Schedules and Budgets Work Packages The seven major activities of which Acme’s construction project consists, involve various work packages.By definition, work packages are tasks at the lowest level of the work breakdown structure or WBS (Schwalbe, 2004). The preparation of the site and laying of the foundation is the first course in the construction process. The foundation is the most important part of construction and requires a substantial amount within the apportioned budget for bui lding materials, as well as time. This stage involves the preparation of the site, which may involve some weeding, smoothing and sectioning, before the laying of the sewer pipes, concrete slabs and the sectioning of drainageAcme Project Plan 15 gutters. These different tasks are altogether estimated to take a total of about 50 days, a little over 5 weeks or over a month. Factored into the time is the acquisition of the necessary materials and labor. The next step is the building of the walls, floor and roof of the structure. Once the foundation is underway, the next step is to start building the actual store structure. This involves several work packages including the framing of the floor and walls, and the construction of the roof of the building.The carving out of the different sections of the store, such as the offices, break rooms, greenhouse and bathrooms also occur here. The estimated time here is about 45 days. The dependency here is of the ‘Finish to Start’ type (Schwalbe, 2004), which necessitates that the construction of the walls, floors etc, will not take off before the completion of the foundation. Since these construction work packages are on the critical path, and the construction resources could become a constraint, we inserted a fifteen-day feeder buffer to ensure any delays in the critical path construction activities do not delay the rest of the project.Next is the installation of the electrical and plumbing fixtures. Pipes are run through the building at this point for water outlets at designated spots, including the break rooms and bathrooms. Plumbing fixtures such as water closets, toilets, sinks and drinking fountains are installed. Electrical work is being done at this point, with the installation of wiring, cabling, outlets, the installation of electrical generators, and subsequently the connection to service for both electricity and water. Work here is slated for a total of 45 days.Building construction wraps up with the finishing of the interior, and the stocking of inventory. Here, the necessary dry walling, painting and finishing is applied to the interior of the building, thereafter, the interior decorators take up the job of smoothing and designing to the specifications provided. Other work packages at this point are floor planning for product location and shelf arrangement. The last part of the interior is the stocking of the shelves with products; after all interior fixtures have been tested for safety and durability. Acme Project Plan 16The building of the garage is not directly dependent on most of the preceding processes up to this point, but does necessarily occur after the preparation for the site has taken place. So, this portion of the project starts after the foundation for the site has taken place and the adjacent wall has been erected. The construction of this, like the main building, will involve installation of the garage foundation and the framing of its walls, which are then pai nted, and ending with the marking of parking spaces. The schedule for finishing the store and the garage allows for 155 days, which includes another feeding buffer of twenty days.Acme's construction plan includes an outer garden, and landscaping for this is for 10,000 square feet. This activity will involve the landscaping of the already sectioned area, which entails the layering with soil, rock and concrete slab placing as designed; paving installation and finally, the planting of selected plants and flowers. This is scheduled for a total of 40 days. This time takes into consideration the various needs of the selected plants and the time needed to ready the soil for planting. Throughout these activates, the marketing and promotion planning proceeds.Scheduled to conclude as the store becomes ready for opening, the marketing work package begins with an analysis of the market, including a competitive analysis, a consumer analysis, and an analysis of Acme's strengths and opportunities in the market. Next, the project calls for the development of a product, pricing, and promotion plan. Last comes preparation of the merchandising, advertising, and grand opening promotion plan. These marketing activities are scheduled to take 180 days, but they do not fall on the critical path, nor do they require resources that appear at risk of being a project constraint.The last order of the project is to hire and train the employees for each of the departments. This process will involve the advertisement of vacancies. It will also involve a selection process of interviewing, checking of references and candidate consideration. The training may likely be done in groups and will entail customer service dynamics and necessary need-to-know information on products being sold. This takes time and has been scheduled to Acme Project Plan take 65 days, twenty of which are a feeding buffer at this potential constraint along the critical path for a timely store opening.Dependencies Work on the site is dependent upon several things and based on several assumptions. There is an assumption that we have a specific piece of commercially zoned real estate selected 17 and purchased. There is also the assumption that we have, in hand, the required permits to begin construction and open for business. Acme could not begin the joint venture with its local partners without these items in hand. We would rely heavily on our partners' knowledge of local and regional governmental processes and procedures. Our 12-month timeline could not start until this initial hurdle was cleared.With permits in hand, construction could begin. The mandatory dependencies are such that a natural progression of events must occur for the completion of the structure. Each event is a unique task, however, many are highly dependant on other activities. Certain tasks, like laying the foundation, have finish-to-start relationships with their predecessors. The foundation cannot be poured, obviously, until the site is cleared, leveled, and otherwise prepared. Other activities, like establishing a mobile construction site office, can start simultaneously with another activity, such as beginning to prepare the site, but no sooner.This would be an example of a start-to-start relationship. Of course, other dependencies are also possible. Some tasks must finish along with other activities, while others must finish before another can start. Following is a look at dependencies in the project. As already mentioned, the site must be prepared before the foundation can be laid. Similarly, construction of the walls and floors is dependant upon the foundation being established first. Another finish to start dependency involves building the roof. The walls must be finished before a roof can be constructed.Any delay in completing the wall will push back the start of constructing the roof. A feeding buffer is inserted at this point on the critical path to guard Acme Project Plan against slippage on the p roject schedule by the construction resource, which is used heavily at this point of the project. Likewise, the walls must also be constructed before wires and plumbing can be run 18 throughout the building. Wiring is designated as having a start to start dependency with installing the generator and electrical circuit boxes. Installing the electrical fixtures, however, is dependant on three predecessors being completed first.Wires must be run, walls must be dry-walled, and electrical service must be established with the utility provider. Much like the electrical fixtures, plumbing fixtures cannot begin to be installed until the pipes have been run, drywall installed, and water service established with the utility provider. Finishing the interior presents another series of finish to start dependencies. Walls and roof must be up before they can be dry-walled. The dry wall must also be installed before they can be painted. Painting is a necessary precedent to installing the shelves and display units.Since these activities fall on the critical path where resources are close to being overloaded, an additional feeding buffer is added here. If any of the string of finish to start dependant activities falls behind schedule, the feeding buffer will help maintain the project schedule. Stocking the inventory cannot begin until the interior is finished. We, therefore, have another finish to start dependency. The construction of the garage is a task that would drive how much inventory we can handle, assuming it is used partly to store inventory.With the interior complete we could stock a certain amount of inventory but the garage would have to be complete before we could finish taking receipt of our entire inventory. This would really be a both an external dependency and discretionary dependency. It is a discretionary dependency in that we could stagger our inventory ordering to take receipt based on how the store is completed. If for, example the lights take the longest t o receive, from an inventory perspective, we could stagger the completion of the Acme Project Plan 19 interior portion of the structure.We could order our lighting inventory while completing a different area's interior first and stock it, then come along and finish the interior of our lighting department in time to take receipt of the inventory. It is also an external dependency because we do not control the timetable that our suppliers deliver on. There is inherent risk in setting up a ‘just-in-time' approach to taking receipt of inventory. If, for example, our supply of wiring for electrical instillation is unstable or unpredictable, we may not be able to wire-up our lighting department in time to take receipt of our staggered inventory order.The extent of discretionary dependency that we establish is contingent on our tolerance for risk. Completion of paving and landscaping is purely discretionary. We could build the parking lot and landscaping almost entirely independent o f the rest of the project but it would not make much sense. This task must simple be finished prior to opening the business. Most of our vendors would need the paving completed for access to the property. It would be a start-start for our inventory.It seems sensible to pave the parking lot simultaneously with paving the garage, making this a start-to-start dependency with pouring the garage concrete. Hiring and training employees is both a discretionary and external dependency. At a macro-level it is externally dependent upon the retail and construction job market in Mexico City, it we hire, rather than contract for, construction workers. If the construction market is soft in Mexico City in the window where we are to hire employees, it is likely we will have many applicants with construction expertise applying for work, in an effort to supplement their incomes.If the construction market is brisk when we are to hire, we may have a harder time finding experienced construction labor. A cme Project Plan 20 As a discretionary dependency, we can begin hiring and training when we deem best. While it is optimal to train most of the floor employees in a fully stocked facility that is nearly operational, we could train the core of the store's management/ department heads at one of our American stores.It would be desirable for these new managers to see how a fully functional store runs and meet with US counterparts to gain lessons learned. Acme SA de CV will groom promising managers at its Mexico City site to open new stores across Mexico, so it is to our advantage to train new managers as early as possible. Having discussed the work packages, and task dependencies in the project, we turn now to a breakdown of the $7. 5 million project budget. Project Budget Acme Home Improvements de Mexico, SA de CV 12 Month Construction Budget DIRECT COST DESCRIPTION 1.Construction Materials Temporary Utilities/Rentals Excavation / Blasting Footings / Drainage Foundation/Waterproofing R etaining Walls Underground Utilities Trenching, Backfill, Rough Grading Concrete Slab City Water / Well & Pump City Sewer / Septic System Sewer/Septic/Underground Connections City Water/Underground Connections Gutters and Downspouts Interior Masonry Rough Framing Materials Structural Steel Trusses Lumber &Other wood types Plumbing fixtures Fire System HVAC Electrical – Lighting, Cabling, etc.Electrical Generators SUBTOTALED AMOUNT 1 Acme Project Plan Exterior Stairs Rough Framing Labor Roofing materials Windows & Exterior Doors Garage Framing Garage Doors Exterior Stucco Exterior Siding/Masonry Exterior Painting Insulation Sheetrock/Taping Vanities Cabinets Interior Trim Interior Doors Hardware – Bolts, screws, cords, etc. Carpentry Landscaping Soil Granite / Rocks Plants Walkway Slabs Interior Shelving units Equipment rental Safety Equipment Other Total Materials Cost 2.Overheads and Other Costs Personnel salaries – Direct Project Workers Consultants / Professi onals Administrative personnel Construction Laborers Accommodation Travel Utilities (Phone, electricity, water) Supplies (Stationery, postage, printing, etc. ) Insurance (Workers Compensation) Teachers / Trainers Other Total Overheads and Other Costs 3. Inventory & Labor Costs Shipping Products Truck rentals Loading & Off loading Other Labor Duties (Customs & Excise) Total Inventory Costs 40% or USD 3. 0 million 3 20% or USD 1. 5 million 2 40% or USD 3. 0 million 21 Acme Project Plan 2 Considerations: 1 The percentages and USD estimates are based on a USD 7. 5 million budget. Wages and Salaries may vary significantly, especially with the current exchange rate of 1USD = 11. 1345 MXN and the difference in the cost of living between both countries. This is cheaper in Mexico and since most labor used will be local, the cost of it may be lower than estimated. 2 3 It is possible that the cost of inventory may vary from the above stated due to considerations such as; delays and pressures o f delivery, but with more of a leaning towards an increase.Assumptions: The assumption of the total cost for construction materials is derived from the size of the facility to be built and all that will be required to build it, with a sizeable amount of the cost gong towards the materials for the foundation and walls. Mainly personnel wages and salaries rule the total budget amount for the overheads, with a majority of this going to the professionals or experts in charge of various sections of the project. The total number of people working on this project, aside from its management committee, is estimated to be in the neighborhood of 78.The division is as follows: Approximately 60 for all construction activity and interior work. Among these, professionals are estimated to be five, with a distribution of 1 garage expert, 2 interior designers and 2 building experts. Approximately eight for landscaping duties, with one professional among them. Approximately 10 company professionals fo r the initial hiring and training of employees. The products to be for inventory will likely cost about as many dollars as the construction effort, if not more, due to shipping, handling and the payment of duties on them. Acme Project Plan VII.Summary Acme Home improvement's international expansion strategy begins with this project. The 23 company's joint venture in Mexico City, will lead to the company's first store outside the United States. Within twelve months, and $7. 5 million, the project team is expected to plan, locate, construct, and open the company's first international home improvement store. This plan provided an overview of the project organization, management processes, technical processes, work packages, dependencies, schedules and project budget. Accompanying this document is a MS Project work plan, and Project Charter.We believe the information contained in these documents lay out a realistic plan to enable Acme Home Improvements to successfully open its first sto re outside the U. S. By executing the plan above, we believe Acme can complete this strategically critical project on time and on budget. Acme Project Plan Appendix A: 24 Tasks on the Critical Path Task Prepare site Lay foundation Site & Foundation Ready Build walls Construct roof Feeding Buffer Install floors Dry Wall Paint Feeding Buffer Stock Inventory Duration 40d 10d 0d 15d 5d 15d 10d 10d 10d 20d 10d Start Finish Dependncy 3 4 6 7 8 9 22 23 25 26 27FF 37 38 39 40 Resource Construction Concrete & Paving Joe Martillo Construction Construction John Tarea Concrete & Paving Drywall Painters John Tarea Stock Workers Joe Martillo Human Resources John Tarea Human Resources Anita Socio John Tarea Mon 2/28/05 Fri 4/22/05 Mon 4/25/05 Fri 5/6/05 Fri 5/6/05 Mon 5/9/05 Fri 5/6/05 Fri 5/27/05 Mon 5/30/05 Fri 6/3/05 Mon 6/6/05 Fri 6/24/05 Mon 6/27/05 Fri 7/8/05 Mon 7/11/05 Fri 7/22/05 Mon 7/25/05 Fri 8/5/05 Mon 8/8/05 Mon 9/5/05 Fri 9/16/05 Mon 8/8/05 Fri 9/2/05 Fri 9/16/05 Fri 9/16/05 Fri 9/1 6/05Interior Finished & Inventory Stocked 0d â€Å"Recruit, interview & hire employees† 30d Feeding Buffer Train employees Employees Hired & Trained Project Buffer 20d 15d 0d 82d Mon 9/19/05 Fri 10/14/05 Mon 10/17/05 Fri 11/4/05 Fri 11/4/05 Fri 11/4/05 Mon 11/7/05 Tue 2/28/06 Note: Feeding buffers have been inserted along the critical path where resource constraints exist, and a project buffer has been added to protect the end of the project. Acme Project Plan Appendix B: Responsibility Assignment Matrix: Responsibility Assignment Matrix for Acme Home Improvements de Mexico Site Construction and Opening Project 25Prepared by: John Tarea, Project Manager Date: 2/5/05 1. 1 Joe Martillo Donna Promueva Anita Socio Construction Concrete & Paving Electricians Plumbers Drywall Painters Stock Workers Landscapers Human Resources P R 1. 2 R 2. 1 R 2. 2 R 2. 3 R 3. 1 R 3. 2 R 3. 3 R 3. 4 R 3. 5 R 3. 6 R 3. 7 R 3. 8 R 4. 1 R 4. 2 R 4. 3 R 5. 1 6. 1 R 6. 2 R 6. 3 R 7. 1 R 7. 2 8. 1 8. 2 R R R P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P R P R = Responsible for task P = Performing task P Acme Project Plan Resources: Anonymous. (No Date). Mexico business opportunities and legal framework. Retrieved February 4, 2005 from http://www. exico-trade. com/firm. html#gra. Anonymous. (No Date). Mexico business opportunities and legal framework. Retrieved February 4, 2005 from http://www. mexico-trade. com/sense. html#zon. Goldratt, E. (1998). Critical chain. Great Barrington, MA: The North River Press. Hampton Group, The. (2001). PMTalk newsletter. The project management knowledgebase http://www4pm. com. Retrieved February 3, 2005 from http://www. 4pm. com/articles/PMTalk07-24-01. pdf. Rigby, Ken (2003). Technical Management – a pragmatic approach. 2nd Edition. Retrieved February 3, 2005 from http://home. btconnect. om/managingstandard/techman. htm. 26 Reed Construction Data. (2004). RSMeans ® preliminary cost estimate. Retrieved January 29, 2005 from http://www. firstso urceonl. com/Means/members/result. asp? prname=&project=300&gsf=100000&zip=&Calculate. x=24&Calculate. y=2&Calculate= submit. Schwalbe, K. (2004). Information technology project management (3rd ed. ). Boston: Course Technology. State of Texas, Department of Information Resources. (2003, April 17). Planning guideline: Template project development plan. Retrieved February 2, 2005 from http://www. dir. state. tx. us/eod/qa/planning/projplan. htm#techplan.

Essay Dichotomy in Seamus Heaney’s Poetry - 3663 Words

Dichotomy in Seamus Heaney’s Poetry How much does an artist’s life affect the art they produce? One’s art certainly can be an expression of one’s surroundings and in this manner the surroundings are woven like a thread into their body of work. Seamus Heaney, born and raised in Northern Ireland, has grown up with many strong influences in his life that are visible in his poetry. As Robert Buttel claims in his article on Seamus Heaney â€Å"the imprint of this poet’s origins is indelibly fixed in his work† (180). Living in the â€Å"bogland† as Heaney has described Northern Ireland left an imprint on his poems, as he often depicts the lush green countryside and pastoral scenes of his youth. However, he also acknowledges his modern society.†¦show more content†¦All of these dualities in his poetry, his art, can be linked to his biography. The tense social and political atmosphere he was raised in, the local verses and scholarly education he received, the emotional f luctuations caused by IRA bombings and peace protests all contribute to the â€Å"splitness† in his poetry. This poignant dichotomy is seen explicitly in two poems in Seamus Heaney’s Field Work. One poem, â€Å"The Strand at Lough Beg† is written for â€Å"Heaney’s cousin Colum McCartney (ambushed and shot in a sectarian killing)† and is rich with pastoral scenery, dark tones, and religious imagery (Vendler 60). Another poem, â€Å"A Postcard from North Antrim† is about â€Å"his friend the social worker Sean Armstrong (shot by a ‘pointblank teatime bullet’)† (Vendler 60). These two elegies, both with a strong presence of Heaney’s personal voice, are imbued with a sort of ambiguity as Heaney struggles with the death of two people who were both very close to him. In both poems, Heaney â€Å"tries to converse with and question the dead† in an attempt to rationalize, or at least display his sentiments on the untimely deaths (Parker 159). It is interesting to watch Heaney oscillate in imagery, tone and diction as he prog resses through both poems. This wavering can be seen as a result of Heaney’s background. Seamus Heaney was born in Mossbawn, 13 April 1939, the place of the family farm in County Derry, Northern Ireland, nearly 30 milesShow MoreRelatedEssay about Bone Dreams by Seamus Heaney1953 Words   |  8 PagesBone Dreams by Seamus Heaney – An Analysis Bone Dreams is an obscure and difficult poem to understand. In all my searching on the internet, I found very little to help me in my analysis of this poem and so the ideas are basically my own. I might be wide of the mark, but for anybody struggling to understand this poem, it might at least give you some ideas of your own. I make no apology for asking questions or for sounding vague or even muddled in places. I hope that this essay is of help

Romanticism Movement ( 1750-1870 ) - 1223 Words

Name: Dilli Kattel Professor: Donna Hermon English 231-02 11/18/2014 Romanticism Movement (1750-1870) Romanticism was a period time between 1750 to 1870 in Europe, Latin America and The United States. Imagination, Subjectivity of approach, freedom, Expression and the idealization of nature will be focused in movement of Romantic Literature. In this period of time industrial revolution with the social and political norms form as age of enlightenment and against of scientific rationalization of nature. Some Literature element of that period will be emotional, imagination and suspense. Romanticism movement brings some of different writes such as John Keats, Blake William, Wordsworth William and other. Romanticism is a phenomenon characterized by subjectivity of approach and reliance on the imagination, An Idealization of nature and freedom of though and expression. In 1830 some of poets define romanticism as â€Å"liberalism in literature but the end of 18th century it was made cracks to classicism by poet called William Blake. Blake was inspired to write about the ancient thing as l ike all religions are one, and there is no religion, all their religion was made by people to improve life style. As this period of time all other poet like Wordsworth were writing about the war between France and England and the French revolution. He love the natural beauty. Poet Wordsworth was influence with those things but poet William Blake was influence with the ancient religious and cultureShow MoreRelatedThere have been many movements in Romantic Literature, Romanticism being one. Despite the idea that600 Words   |  3 Pages There have been many movements in Romantic Literature, Romanticism being one. Despite the idea that romanticism is an outdated literary form, romantic literature is very important to English Literature; no other period in English Literature shows the type of style, theme, or contain information like how the Romantic movement was. Romanticism was virtually around in every country of the US, Europe, Latin America and it lasted from 1750-1870. Romanticis m gave a rise to a new type of literature itRead MoreLiterary Romanticism Essay608 Words   |  3 PagesLiterary Romanticism Literary Romanticism is a movement in literature present in the history of virtually every European country, the USA, and Latin America. It lasted from approximately 1750 to about 1870 and was characterized by reliance on the imagination and emotional subjectivity of approach, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealization of nature. The term romantic first appeared in 18th-century English and originally meant romancelike#8212;that is, resembling the fancifulRead MoreThe Romantic Period Of Edgar Allan Poe976 Words   |  4 Pageslife was. His work gives you an idea how the life and the circumstances of the time where during the 19th century. Poe used his own imagination, his life and the people around him as an inspiration for his work. The era between 1750 and 1870 is called Romanticism. This movement began in Germany and France and developed over England and whole Europe over to the United States. During the 19th century Europe’s economy changed. The Industrial Revolution changed the people’s life completely. Countries basedRead MoreRomanticism : Romanticism And Romanticism1444 Words   |  6 PagesRomanticism was a period time 1750 to 1870 in Europe, Latin America and The United States. Romantic Movement didn’t reach to France until the 1820’s. Romanticism main spirit was against of rule, law and formulas that classicism the different characterized of general in 18th century. Imagination, Subjectivity of approach, freedom, Expression and the idealization of nature will be focused in movement of Romantic Literature. In this period industrial revolution with the social and political norms formRead MoreRomanticism : Romanticism And Romanticism1141 Words   |  5 Pagesliterary movement s. Although Romanticism and Modernism differ in their styles, values, and ideology, they were both important periods in literature. Romanticism was a literary movement during the late 18th century until the early 19th century that had an emphasis on the imagination and emotions. The movement moved through every country in Europe, Latin America, and the United States from approximately 1750 to 1870. However, France did not see the movement until the 1820’s. Romanticism was basicallyRead MoreEdgar Allen Poe And Nathaniel Hawthorne1705 Words   |  7 PagesRomanticism was a literary movement that swept through virtually the country of Europe, the United States, and Latin America that lasted from 1750 to 1870. Romanticism praised imagination over reason, emotions over logic, and intuition over science-making ways for a vast body of literature. The Romantic style resembled a fanciful character of medieval romances. This Era stressed on self-expression and individual uniqueness that does not lend itself to precise definition. Among the characteristicsRead MoreAge of Enlightenment and Century5169 Words   |   21 Pagesbringing about religious change during the Reformation. COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION: EMERGENCE OF TERRITORIAL STATES 1. 78: Why were Europeans able to achieve economic and political control over many non-European peoples between 1450 and 1750? 2. 79: European monarchs of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries are often referred to as the New Monarchs. What was new about them? Do their actions warrant this label? 3. 80: How did the disintegrationRead MoreFrench Revolution Impact On Romantic Poetry1829 Words   |  8 Pagesall whom made an immense impact upon individuals. The French Revolution influenced Romantic Poetry through philosophical ideas. Historical Background The birth of Romanticism originated during the late eighteenth century (c. 1750-1870). This was around the same time during the French Revolution occurred (1789- late 1790s). Romanticism was alive in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. The Romantic spirit was a rebellion against unambiguous laws, rules, and structure. They â€Å"praised imaginationRead MoreThe History of American Literature3501 Words   |  15 Pagesestablished a mens reading club in Philadelphia called the Junto . Members shared printed works and discussed topics of the day. Such reading and discussion clubs became an important part of American culture. Women organized literary circles in the 1750s and 1760s. These groups, known as salons, resembled mens reading clubs. They also encouraged members to compose their own work, mainly poetry, but very few of these works were preserved. By the mid-1700s American writing was primarily politicalRead More A Comparison of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen Essay 2446 Words   |  10 Pagesidentify both authors literary development, we should perhaps first look at styles of writings that may have influenced them. During the early nineteenth century, Romanticism was found in the literature of virtually every country of Europe, the United States, and Latin America and it was a movement that lasted from around 1750 to about 1870. It was characterised by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity of approach, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealisation of nature. ‘The term

Essay about The Underlying Causes of Teen Pregnancy

Before successfully preventing teen pregnancies among teenage girls, there are many underlying causes and facts about the dilemma that must be first exposed. Children from homes run by teenage mothers have to face almost insurmountable obstacles in life. The incidents of depression and mental health problems, the lack of father figures, and the high rate of poverty often connected to children in homes run by teenage mothers put them at serious disadvantages when compared to children raised in nuclear families. Many people believe that the implementation of sex education in schools and the addition of more federal aid for single parents are major causes for the countrys high rate of teen pregnancies. The true purpose of sex education and†¦show more content†¦(Psychology Today, 2003) Girls who see their single mothers date many partners may become primed for early sexual exploration. Or, a father’s absence early in life may trigger doubts in girls about male reliability that hasten sexual activity and reproduction, as well as promote a preference for brief relationships. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Juvenile abuse of alcohol and other drugs is strongly associated with risk-taking behavior, including promiscuity. According to the 1999 National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) study quot;Dangerous Liaisons,quot; increased promiscuity leads to a greater risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned teenage pregnancy (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse 1999). Adolescents aged fourteen and younger who use alcohol are twice more likely to engage in sexual behaviors than non-drinkers; drug users are five times more likely to be sexually active than youth who are drug-free. Teens between the age of fifteen and nineteen who drink are seven times more likely to have sex and twice as likely to have four or more partners than those who refrain from alcohol. Furthermore, more than 50 percent of teenagers say that sex while drinking or on drugs often produces unplanned pregnancies. An Ohio study of high school girls who tried cocaine indicated that these adolescents were five times more likely to have experienced an unintended pregnancy than peers who avoidedShow MoreRelatedâ€Å"Among American adolescent girls who have ever had intercourse, approximately one in six becomes700 Words   |  3 Pagespregnant† (Ventura et al., 2008). Teen pregnancy is an ongoing dilemma that concerns the baby, parents, and other family members. Anyone under the age of eighteen years old is considered to be a child and every year approximately 750,000 women aged fifteen to eighteen become pregnant (Guttmacher Institute, 2006). Also, teen pregnancy represents eleven percent of all births in the United States (Guttmacher Institute, 2006). The underlying cause of teen pregnancy is mainly the lack of education onRead MoreEssay on Babies Having Babies1538 Words   |  7 Pagesthough the teen pregnancy and birth rates have dropped by one-third over the past decade, teen pregnancy in the United States is a growing problem. Accor ding to data by the National Center for Health Statistics and other official data, one in three girls still become pregnant by the age of twenty (Brown lines 1-3). In the United States one million adolescent girls become pregnant every year causing the U.S. to be the leader of the developed world in teen pregnancy. One in four of these teen girls willRead MoreEssay on Factors that Lead to Teen Pregnancy1363 Words   |  6 PagesFactors that Lead to Teen Pregnancy Although the overall rate of teen pregnancy has been declining, the rates have remained high for teens that are most vulnerable. The great majority of Americans believe that teen pregnancies are a serious national problem, indeed a problem that is the major component of what is thought to be national moral decline. However, what causes these teens to become pregnant at such a young age? A large body of research has identified a number of factoresRead MoreTeenage Pregnancy Is A Public Health Issue1637 Words   |  7 Pagesrates, defined as live births per one thousand 15-19-year-old US females, declined by 10% from 2012 to 2013 from 29.4 to 26.5. In fact, the birth rate has been on a steady decline over the past 20 years, from 61.8 in 1991 to 26.5 in 2013. Teenage pregnancy represents both a health and social inequality in our society. Specifically, teenage childbearing is a public health issue because teenage mothers are more likely to experience negative social outcomes such as dropping out of school. This is aRead More Teens Essay1527 Words   |  7 Pagesto preventing teenage pregnancy? Did you know that approximately every two minutes, a teenage girl in the United States gives birth (Guernsey 6)? While this fact may be sad and startling to most people, it is indeed the truth. Over the past few decades, the problem of teen pregnancy has grown considerab ly in this country. However, the most extensive dilemma regarding the issue of adolescent pregnancy is the incredibly important question of prevention. Preventing teen pregnancy includes such solutionsRead MoreEducational Issue Involving Adolescents . Many People Blame1695 Words   |  7 PagesInvolving Adolescents Many people blame the parents first thing if a child is having academic issues. However, although the parents do play a major part, they are not the only reason children may be struggling in school. There are many factors that cause educational issues with adolescents in addition to parental involvement. These factors include: peer relations/bullying, substance abuse, young parenthood, technology use, stereotyping, racial judgements, and socioeconomic status. According to a studyRead MoreDepression And Postpartum Depression1047 Words   |  5 Pagesthat the baby is born (Bolyn 2017). Some women experience postpartum depression during pregnancy (Bolyn 2017). A few symptoms of postpartum depression are excessive crying, loss of appetite, feelings of hopelessness, and difficulty concentrating (Bolyn 2017). Teen pregnancy contributes to a small percentage of women who are diagnosed with postpartum depression (Bolyn 2017). A pregnant woman is considered a teen mom if she is from the ages of 13-19. Teenage mothers often feel stressed or nervous beforeRead MoreSeveral Cases of Violence Against Children1030 Words   |  5 Pagesat one time being pregnant and an unwed mother was looked upon as shameful girls. I knew that becoming pregnant I was no longer able to attend school. In the 1950s and 1960s, the stigma of illegitimacy was such that many young women in their late teens and early 20s were more or less forced to give up their babies. They were expected to go away to mother and baby homes, and six weeks later, sign over their child to someone else. They were then expected to make a fresh start and forget the babiesRead MoreThe Epidemiology Triangle and Its Fundamentals in Examining Teenage Pregnancy2112 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction This work will use epidemiology triangle and its fundamentals in examining teenage pregnancy. This issue remains the only preventable problem in most countries because it is not a disease and none transmittable. However, it is a major problem affecting the younger generation. There is a major controversy in defining epidemiology, and most people misinterpret the definition. Research carried out indicates that most people have a negative perception on epidemiology. Some people considerRead MoreTypes Of Integrative Review784 Words   |  4 Pages(f) current practices. The search strategy was inclusive of a grey literature as well as a literature search related to specific databases, keywords, and years. The two databases used were Google Scholar and CINAHL; the keywords searched were â€Å"teen pregnancy† or â€Å"sex education† or â€Å"STI Prevention† and â€Å"digital† or â€Å"theory†; and, the years searched were inclusive of five years due to the limited research articles found otherwise. Using the guided questions as a foundation, the search strategy focused

Alias Tutorial Free Essays

string(118) " Try this You want information about installing AliasStudio Follow the on-screen instructions on the installation CD\." Learning Autodesk AliasStudio 2008 Level 1 A hands-on introduction to the key tools techniques of Autodesk AliasStudio 73415-050000-5001A Copyright and trademarks AliasStudio 2008 documentation by: Pat Anderson, Marie-France Roy, Kerry Kingston and Damien Fleury  © Copyright 2002-2007 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose. We will write a custom essay sample on Alias Tutorial or any similar topic only for you Order Now AUTODESK, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTY, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS, AND MAKES SUCH MATERIALS AVAILABLE SOLELY ON AN â€Å"AS-IS† BASIS. IN NO EVENT SHALL AUTODESK, INC. , BE LIABLE TO ANYONE FOR SPECIAL, COLLATERAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH OR ARISING OUT OF ACQUISITION OR USE OF THESE MATERIALS. THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE LIABILITY TO AUTODESK, INC. REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, SHALL NOT EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE, IF ANY, OF THE MATERIALS DESCRIBED HEREIN. Autodesk, Inc. , reserves the right to revise and improve its products as it sees fit. This publication describes the state of this product at the time of its publication, and may not reflect the product at all times in the future. Autodesk Trademarks The following are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. , in the USA and other countries: 3DEC (desig n/ logo), 3December, 3December. om, 3ds Max, ActiveShapes, Actrix, ADI, Alias, Alias (swirl design/logo), AliasStudio, Alias|Wavefront (design/logo), ATC, AUGI, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Learning Assistance, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Simulator, AutoCAD SQL Extension, AutoCAD SQL Interface, Autodesk, Autodesk Envision, Autodesk Insight, Autodesk Intent, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Map, Autodesk MapGuide, Autodesk Streamline, AutoLISP, AutoSnap, AutoSketch, AutoTrack, Backdraft, Built with ObjectARX (logo), Burn, Buzzsaw, CAiCE, Can You Imagine, Character Studio, Cinestream, Civil 3D, Cleaner, Cleaner Central, ClearScale, Colour Warper, Combustion, Communication Specification, Constructware, Content Explorer, Createwhat’s;Next; (design/logo), Dancing Baby (image), DesignCenter, Design Doctor, Designer’s Toolkit, DesignKids, DesignProf, DesignServer, DesignStudio, Design|Studio (design/logo), Design Your World, Design Your World (design/logo), DWF, DWG, DWG (logo), DWG TrueConvert, DWG TrueView, DXF, EditDV, Education by Design, Extending the Design Team, FBX, Filmbox, FMDesktop, GDX Driver, Gmax, Heads-up Design, Heidi, HOOPS, HumanIK, idrop, iMOUT, Incinerator, IntroDV, Kaydara, Kaydara (design/logo), LocationLogic, Lustre, Maya, Mechanical Desktop, MotionBuilder, ObjectARX, ObjectDBX, Open Reality, PolarSnap, PortfolioWall, Powered with Autodesk Technology, Productstream, ProjectPoint, Reactor, RealDWG, Real-time Roto, Render Queue, Revit, Showcase, SketchBook, StudioTools, Topobase, Toxik, Visual, Visual Bridge, Visual Construction, Visual Drainage, Visual Hydro, Visual Landscape, Visual Roads, Visual Survey, Visual Syllabus, Visual Toolbox, Visual Tugboat, Visual LISP, Voice Reality, Volo, and Wiretap. The foll owing are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk Canada Co. n the USA and/or Canada and other countries: Backburner, Discreet, Fire, Flame, Flint, Frost, Inferno, Multi-Master Editing, River, Smoke, Sparks, Stone, Wire. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Third-Party Copyright Notices This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation. Macromedia Shockwaveâ„ ¢ Player and Macromedia Flashâ„ ¢ Player software by Macromedia, Inc. , Copyright  © 1995-2000 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Portions relating to JPEG Copyright  © 1991-1998 Thomas G. Lane. All rights reserved. This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. Portions relating to TIFF Copyright  © 1997-1998 Sam Leffler. Copyright  © 1991-1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved. GOVERNMENT USE Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U. S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 12. 212 (Commercial Computer Software-Restricted Rights) and DFAR 227. 7202 (Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software), as applicable. Published By: Autodesk, Inc. 111 Mclnnis Parkway San Rafael, CA 94903, USA Documentation build date: April 3, 2007 iii GETTING HELP ON ALIASSTUDIO Welcome Autodesk provides you with a number of resources to aid you in becoming a proficient AliasStudio user. Finding help on AliasStudio features If: Try this You want information about installing AliasStudio Follow the on-screen instructions on the installation CD. You read "Alias Tutorial" in category "Papers" For more detailed instructions, see the install. pdf file on the top level of the CD. You are new to AliasStudio ? Read Getting Started, the booklet included in the kit. ? Browse through the information on t he main documentation page (index. html) ? Read the About†¦ section of the online documentation. If you prefer, you can print off the book full of this information, which is called AliasStudio Fundamentals. ? Work through these tutorials in Learning AliasStudio. These are basic lessons that will teach you about working in 3D in AliasStudio. They are also the prerequisite for more advanced AliasStudio courses. Use the How To†¦ section of the online documentation to learn how to perform specific operations within AliasStudio, like drawing curves, making four-sided surfaces, and using masks while painting. ? Visit www. autodesk. com/estore to find out about learning tools such as Learning Alias AliasStudio | Beginner’s Guide aimed at the novice user. You are upgrading from a previous version of StudioTools ? See the What’s New in AliasStudio document, available by selecting Help What’s New in AliasStudio, or on the documentation CD as a PDF file. ? Look at the What’s New tab in the default shelf provided with the application. iv You are looking for detailed nformation about a tool or feature ? Look in the â€Å"Tools and Menus† section of the online help ? Choose Help What’s this and then click on the tool or menu item ? Use the right mouse button on the background of any option window to see help for that tool or operation. You want to learn new techniques for using AliasStudio ? See Learning AliasStudio 2008 ? See Technical Surfacing ? Visit www. autodesk. com/estore to find learning tools aimed at intermediate and advanced users. You want a PDF version of one of the manuals ? All of the manuals are provided in PDF format in the PDF directory on the documentation CD. You want to know what the eyboard shortcuts are in AliasStudio ? Choose Help Keyboard shortcuts from within AliasStudio, or click Keyboard Shortcuts on the main online help page. You want a Quick Reference card ? Print the Quick Reference card file provided in the PDF directory on the documentation CD. v Finding AliasStudio training resources If†¦ Try this†¦ You want to obtain in-depth training ? See the learning materials and training courses available from www. autodesk. com/training You want to get tips and techniques from the experts at AliasStudio MasterClasses ? For events near you, see www. autodesk. com/training You want to create plug-ins for AliasStudio Use the AliasStudio Application Programmers’ Interface Manual to learn the object-oriented programming required to build plug-ins. You want information about becoming an Alias-certified instructor ? See the information at www. autodesk. com/training or contact us at learningtools@autodesk. com. vi Finding support for AliasStudio If†¦ Try this You are a Platinum member and want to access the Knowledgebase or Ask Autodesk ? Go to the AliasStudio support site at www. autodesk. com/ support You want to interat with other AliasStudio users ? Go t o the online User-to-User Discussion forum on the AliasStudio support site at www. autodesk. com/support You want answers to common roubleshooting questions ? See the FAQs (frequently asked questions) in the technical support section of the AliasStudio support website at www. autodesk. com/support. You want to license your software ? If you are a Platinum member and need a license, check the executable license file on the top of your installation CD. If your license isn’t there, go to www. autodesk. com/ spar and follow the instructions in the install. pdf file at the top of the AliasStudio CD. ? If you are a new customer, go to www. autodesk. com/opa to obtain a new license. You want customer or technical support ? Go to the webpage www. autodesk. com/support vii Working with AliasStudio If you create concept designs ? Read about our new concept design workflow ? Work through the modeling and rendering tutorials in Learning Studio If you build 3D models based on sketches ? Work through the modeling tutorials in Learning AliasStudio If you build 3D models for manufacture ? Read About Curves and About Modeling ? Work through the modeling tutorials in Learning Studio ? Check the community site for tips and tricks If you modify 3D models for manufacture ? Read AliasStudio Fundamentals ? Work through the Technical Surfacing tutorials. If you create rendered images ? Read About Rendering ? Work through the rendering tutorials in Learning Studio Check the community site for tips and tricks and downloadable shaders and backgrounds If you create animations ? Do the work in the â€Å"If you create rendered images† section ? Read About Animating ? Work through the animation tutorials in Learning Studio ? Check the community site for tips and tricks. viii ix CONTENTS Lear ning AliasStudio provides you with tutorials to learn the basics of modeling, rendering, and animating. All features are not available in all products or on all platforms; you may find your software does not support some of the capabilities described in this book to sketch, render, or animate. Getting help on AliasStudio iii Finding help on AliasStudio features iii Finding AliasStudio training resources v Finding support for AliasStudio vi Working with AliasStudio vii Contents ix Learning AliasStudio Tutorials 1 How to use this book 1 Interface Basics 5 Using Tools 11 Changing Your View of the Model 25 Understanding the object lister 33 Introduction to 3D 37 Part 1: Beginning a Model 38 Part 1: Creating 3D objects 41 Saving your work 45 Part 2: Building the lampstand 47 Part 3: Organizing the model 54 Part 4: Building the lampshade 58 Part 5: Assembling the desk lamp 65 Part 6: Posing the Lamp Model 68 Conclusion 70 Quiz 71 On your own 72 x Contents Quiz Answers 74 Modeling a Joystick 75 Introduction 75 Part 1: Creating the Joystick Handle 77 Part 2: Creating the Joystick Base 84 Part3: Creating the Flexible Sleeve 94 Part 4: Creating the connecting cable 99 Part 5: Assigning objects to layers 104 Part 6: Directly modifying surfaces 108 Part 7: Creating the button 120 Part 8: Visualizing the Model 123 Conclusion 126 Quiz 127 On Your Own 128 Quiz Answers 129 Modeling a Vacuum Cleaner 131 Part 1: Creating Primary Surfaces 133 Part 2: Intersecting and Trimming 139 Part 3: Surface Fillet 145 Part 4: Creating the Handle 152 Part 5: Air Vents 157 Part 6: Power Button 163 Part 7: Dust Bag and Cable Connector 171 Part 8: Completing the Model 180 Conclusion 183 Quiz 184 On Your Own 185 Quiz Answers 187 Modeling an MP3 Player 189 Introduction 191 Part 1: Creating the Casing Curves 192 Part 2: Creating the Side Surfaces 197 Part 3: Completing the Casing 202 Part 4: Creating the Screen Recess 209 Part 5: Centre Navigation Key 217 Part 6: Control Button 221 Part 7: Completing the Model 231 Quiz 236 On Your Own 237 Quiz Answers 239 Modeling a Sports Shower Gel Bottle 241 New Concepts 242 Part 1: Creating Primary Surfaces 243 Part 2: Creating the Finger Grip Contents xi 251 Part 3: Label Surface 256 Part 4: Adding Blend Details 261 Part 5: Embossed Logo Details 267 Part 6: Completing the Model 275 Quiz 280 On Your Own 281 Quiz Answers 283 An introduction to Rendering 285 Visualizing a PDA 289 Conclusion 296 Quiz 297 On Your Own 298 Quiz Answers 299 Shaders and Lights 301 Part 1: Creating Shaders 302 Part 2: Adding a Label 309 Part 3: Lighting the Scene 313 Part 4: Creating an Image 319 Quiz 322 On Your Own 323 Quiz Answers 325 More rendering 327 Part 1: Editing the Render Globals parameters 329 Part 2: Creating a background environment 333 Part 3: Creating a 3D solid texture 338 Part 4: Creating a 2D bump texture 341 Part 5: Raytracing 345 Conclusion 349 Quiz 350 On your own 351 Quiz Answers 352 Introduction to animating 353 Part 1: keyframing animation 355 Part 2: animating along a motion path 364 Part 3: editing a motion path 367 Part 4: animating the camera 369 Conclusion 372 Quiz 373 On Your Own 374 Quiz Answers 375 More animation techniques 377 Part 1: Creating an exploded view animation 379 Part 2: animating shaders 386 Conclusion 395 Quiz 396 On your own 397 Quiz Answers 398 xii Contents Index 399 1 LEARNING ALIASSTUDIO TUTORIALS Learning objectives This chapter shows how to use the tutorials, and presents the graphic and text conventions used in this manual. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK Introduction A general introduction and welcome to the AliasStudio tutorials. Welcome to AliasStudio and the world of three dimensional modeling, rendering, and animating. AliasStudio offers a complete solution for the creation of digital content in fields such as industrial design, automotive design, and consumer product design. About the Learning AliasStudio Tutorials A general overview of the tutorials. The tutorials in this book present examples of typical concept design workflows. The tutorials introduce the powerful tools and interactive features of AliasStudio, and demonstrate how to use them to accomplish your concept design tasks. The first six tutorials introduce modeling tools to build your experience level. We recommend that you start with the first tutorial and proceed sequentially through the modeling tutorials, because they build on each other. The next two tutorials introduce rendering tools and skills. The last tutorial introduces animation tools and skills. These tutorials are densely packed with information and techniques that may be new to you. You may want to re-read the lessons after completion, or even repeat the more difficult lessons. You can view movies (in Flash format) demonstrating each tutorial in the online documentation. In order to view these movies, you may need to install a Flash player. You can download Flash plug-ins for your browser for free from www. macromedia. com. Disclaimer: There may be slight discrepancies in procedures between the movies and the written documentation. If you 2 How to use this book encounter a discrepancy, use the written ocumentation version because it will be the most current. For More Information Information on learning more about AliasStudio and training. These tutorials are an introduction to AliasStudio. They are not intended as an exhaustive guide to the capabilities and options of AliasStudio, and will not teach you everything th ere is to learn about the products and workflows. For additional information and more comprehensive explanations of tools and options, refer to the online documentation included with the product, and read Getting help on AliasStudio (page iii). Graphic Conventions Explains graphic conventions used in the tutorials. To call attention to part of a screen shot, we ighlight the important area and darken the rest of the image. For example, in the picture shown, we have marked the location of the close box on the Action Window. To indicate a click, we use this symbol. For example, in the picture shown, we have indicated that the Open command should be clicked. In the text of the instruction, we will refer to this as File Open. The first word or term is the name of the menu or palette; it is followed by an arrow and the name of the menu item or tool. In the case of a submenu, two arrows are used: Layouts All Windows All Studio refers to the All Studio menu item available from the All Wi ndows submenu, which is found on the Layouts menu. To indicate that an option box for a tool or menu item should be opened, a box appears after the tool name, like Surfaces Skin ?. When we ask you to choose a tool, we show the tool’s icon next to the instruction. Terms Explains terms used in the tutorials. Click: Move the mouse pointer over an object and press and release a mouse button once. Double-click: Move the mouse pointer over an object and press and release a mouse button twice fast. Drag: Move the mouse pointer over an object and hold down a mouse button, then move the mouse with the button held down. Then release the mouse button. Click-Drag: Move the mouse pointer over an object, ress the mouse button, and move the mouse pointer to a final position before releasing the mouse button. The Scene: The 3D â€Å"world† inside the view windows. 3 How to use this book The Model: The curves, surfaces, and points that make up the object you are creating. Note about Window Names AliasStudio 2008 brings a change in Stud io and DesignStudio to the names of the Front and Side orthographic windows. Some of the tutorials in this book (Modeling a Shower Gel Bottle, Modeling an MP3 Player, and Rendering Basics) use the new naming convention; the rest of the tutorials still use the older DesignStudio window names. At the start of each tutorial, a section describes which window ames are used in that tutorial, and how to set the window names. 4 How to use this book 5 INTERFACE BASICS Learning objectives You will learn how to: ? Log into the system and start AliasStudio. ? Arrange windows. ? Use tools and tool options. ? Customize shelves and marking menus. ? Tumble, track, and dolly the view. ? Use the Object Lister window to understand the model Introduction Before you begin working in AliasStudio, you should spend some time learning how AliasStudio represents the scene and the model (both externally and internally), and how you use menus and tools to create and edit model data. Installing the tutorial cou rseware files Each tutorial in this book is based on an Alias wire file which contains the material you need to learn the tools, skills and concepts in the tutorial. When you install AliasStudio, the courseware files are not automatically installed. These files are required to complete the Learning AliasStudio and Technical Surfacing tutorials. If you have installed the online documentation, your courseware may already be installed. If not, follow the following procedure to install the courseware. To install the courseware for use with AliasStudio: The courseware files (Alias wire files and other support files) are automatically installed when you install the documentation from the AliasStudio Documentation CD. If you have not yet installed the documentation, place the AliasStudio Documentation CD in your CD-ROM drive and proceed with the installation. You will require write permissions to the directory in which you plan to install the online help and courseware files. If you want to install only the courseware files, go directly to your disk drive and find the CourseWare folder on the disk. 2 Copy the CourseWare folder from its location on your hard drive or CD-ROM drive into your user_data folder. On Windows systems this is typically: C:Documents and Settings[userid]My DocumentsAliasStudiouser_dataCourseWare 6 Interface Basics To install the courseware for use with AliasStudio Personal Learning Edition 1 The AliasStudio documentation should have lready been installed on your system. The courseware files you’ll require to perform the tutorials can be found in the CourseWare directory, located under the Help directory. If you have installed the application in the default directory, you should find the CourseWare directory at C:Program FilesAutodeskAliasStudioPLE2008Help. 2 Copy the CourseWare directory from the Help directory to your account’s user data directory. On Windows systems this is typically: C:Documents and Settings[userid]My DocumentsAliasStudiouser_ dataCourseW are Starting AliasStudio Logging In If you have not logged in to your account on your workstation, do so now. To log in to your account ? Type your user name and password at the prompts. If you have an account on this workstation, the operating system user environment will appear. Depending on which product you are using, the AliasStudio icon may have a different name, such as DesignStudio or AutoStudio. To start AliasStudio on Windows 1 Double-click the Studio shortcut icon on the desktop, or choose Studio from the Start menu. When you start AliasStudio for the first time the Application Launcher appears on your desktop. 2 Choose a product to launch and options where applicable. If you want AliasStudio to launch the selected product and options automatically every ime you start AliasStudio, click Set Default. When you start AliasStudio again, the default product starts and the Application Launcher does not appear. You can change the default settings anytime by choosing Application Launcher from the Start menu. 3 Click Launch. The chosen product should start. 4 If the main AliasStudio window appears, AliasStudio is installed. The Start-up Process The first time you run AliasStudio, you may be presented with a choice of product to launch, if you work in an environment where there are several AliasStudio products installed. The product choice will depend on the licenses owned by your organization. 1 Choose the product you want to run, and click Go. Next, you’ll be presented with a workflow selection. 2 For the purpose of these tutorials, choose the Default workflow, which gives you access to all 3D curve and surface creation tools. The Paint workflow is for working solely within a 2D environment. You can click the Do not show again check box so this window won’t appear every time you launch AliasStudio. If you have chosen a workflow setting and checked Do not show again, you can change the default workflow by choosing the workflow you want from Preferences Workflows. AliasStudio will launch the application in the same workflow that was active when you last exited the application. AliasStudio shows a splash window as it loads. During start-up, AliasStudio may warn you about unusual conditions on your system: ? If you are already running AliasStudio (or if AliasStudio exited abnormally the last time you ran it), the application will ask you if you really want to start another copy. 3 If you are sure AliasStudio is not running, click Yes to continue loading. After AliasStudio has finished loading its resources and plug-ins, the workspace window opens. 7 Interface Basics Overview of the AliasStudio Interface The main parts of the AliasStudio interface are: ? the Palette, located on the left ? the Menu Bar, located at the top the Window Area, taking up most of the interface and located in the middle (this area may or may not contain view windows when you first start AliasStudio). ? Shelves, located at the bottom (the Shelves may or may not be visible) ? the Control Panel, located on the right As you continue through this tutorial you will become more and more fami liar with the AliasStudio interface. Using Help One of the most important menus is the Help menu. The Help menu is organized so that you can get quick and specific information on just about any tool in AliasStudio. To get help on a tool or menu item It’s easy to get help on any tool or menu item in the interface. Just follow the steps below. 1 Click the Help menu, located at the right end of the menu bar. 2 In the Help menu, click What’s This? You are prompted to select the tool for which you want help. (This prompt appears in the prompt line, located just below the menu bar. ) 3 Click a menu item or a tool icon in the Palette. A browser window is launched and the on-line documentation about that tool icon or menu item is displayed. 4 When you are finished reading the information, minimize or close the browser window. Menu Bar Shelves Control Panel Window Area Palette 8 Interface Basics Arranging Windows Performing Menu Commands To use the menus to choose a window layout Click the title of the Layouts menu to open the menu. Notice the arrow next to the All windows item. This means there are more sub-options for this category: 2 Click the All windows item to open the submenu, then click the All windows item. The All windows command arranges view windows in the â€Å"Studio† layou t: Top, Front, Right, and Perspective. These tutorials will sometimes refer to menu items by the path through the menus to the item. So All windows will be: Layouts All windows All windows. As an alternative to the single-click method, you can use the pull-down menus by dragging the mouse down the menu and releasing on the item you want. Window Controls Use these controls on the borders of view windows to move, close, and resize the window: The view windows have more controls across the top, but for now you will concentrate on the close box, title bar, maximize, and resize corners. You will discover the functions of the other icons later in the tutorials. Close box Title bar Maximize box resize corners (4) 9 Interface Basics Closing Windows To close the Top view using the close box ? Find the close box in the upper left corner of the Top view window. ? Click the Top view window’s close box. The Top view window disappears. Resizing Windows You can change the size of windows using the resize arrows at each corner. To change the size of a view window using the resize arrows and maximize box 1 Find the resize arrows in the corners of a view window. 2 Drag a resize arrow to change the size of the window. An outline of the view window follows the mouse. 3 Release the mouse button. The corner of the window snaps to the new size. 4 Try dragging the resize corners in the other corners to see how they resize the window. ? Often you will want to work in one large window to see more detail. Use the maximize box to temporarily make the view window fill the entire screen. 5 Find the maximize box in the upper right corner of a view window. 6 Click the maximize box of the view window . The view expands to fill the entire screen. Notice that the maximize box changes to black to show the window is maximized. 7 Click the maximize box again to return the view window to normal size. Moving Windows To move and arrange the remaining windows 1 Find a view window’s title bar. The title bar is the area at the top of the window, between the close box and the other icons on the right. 10 Interface Basics 2 Drag the title bar. An outline of the view window follows the mouse. 3 Release the mouse button. The window snaps to the new location. ? By now you probably have some view windows overlapping other windows, similar to this: The windows are like a stack of papers on a desk. As you shuffle them, they can overlap. When windows overlap like this, you can click in a window to move that window to the front of the stack. 4 Click the title bar of the Perspective view window to move it in front of the other windows. The windows are probably a little disorganized at this point. You can quickly reset them to a default layout using the commands in the Layout menu again. 5 Choose Layouts All windows All windows. The Active Window Notice one of the view windows has a white border. This is how AliasStudio indicates the active view window (sometimes also called the current view window). The active view window is always the last view indow you clicked in. Some tools change behavior based on which view is active, but for now you can disregard which view window is active. Saving an arrangement of windows If you have a particular choice of windows that you plan to use repeatedly, you can save the set by choosing Layouts User windows Save Current Layout. You’ll be prompted for a file name. To use this layout in the future, choose Layouts User windows Retrieve Layout. 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 11 Interface Basics Using Tools Using Tools Describes how to use the AliasStudio interface, such as selecting tools and creating shortcuts. Tool Basics To orient yourself in the Palette window Find the Palette window on the left side of the screen. If the palette is not visible, go to the Windows menu and choose Palette. The Palette window is divided into separate palettes of tools, each labeled with a tab at the top. For example, the Curves palette contains tools for creating new curves. The Curve Edit palette contains tools for editing and reshaping existing curves. 2 Find the Surfaces palette. It’s the seventh palette from the top of the window. If you can’t see the Surfaces palette, use the scroll bar on the left side of the palette window to scroll up or down until it’s visible in the window. 3 Hold the cursor over a tool. The name of the tool appears in a small box just elow the icon. This small text window is called a tooltip. This feature can help you to identify tools until you become familiar with the icons in the palette. Once you are familiar with the icons in the palette, you may want to disable tooltips. To do this, choose the ToolTips option in the Interface section of the General Preferences window (Preferences General Preferences – ? ). Now you will use the geometric primitive tools to add some geometry to the scene. The primitive tools create simple 3D geometric shapes such as cubes, spheres, and cones. As a technical surfacer, you may not regularly need to add these simple shapes to a model. However, hey will allow us to practice several AliasStudio interface concepts, including choosing tools, using manipulators, sub-palettes, tool option windows, and snapping. 12 Interface Basics Using Tools To create a primitive sphere in the scene 1 Click the Surfaces Primitives Sphere tool. A red outline appears around the icon to show it is the current tool. 2 Click in the Top view window to place the new sphere. A new sphere, one grid unit wide, appears where you release the mouse button. Using a Snap Mode To use grid snapping to place a primitive cube You may have noticed that some tools have a small yellow arrow in the top right corner. These arrows indicate that more, similar tools re available in a hidden sub-palette. To access the extra tools, you must click and hold the mouse to open the sub-palette. 1 In the Surfaces palette, click and hold the Sphere tool icon. The Surfaces Primitives sub-palette pops out. 2 Hold the middle mouse button on the different tools in the sub-palette to see their names. 3 Click the Cube tool. The sub-palette disappears. The Cube tool is selected and now occupies the space in the main palette where the Sphere tool was. This time you will place the new primitive using grid snapping. 4 Find the snap buttons, to the right of the promptline. 5 Click the Grid button to turn on grid snapping. Click and drag in the Top view window. 13 Interface Basics Using Tools The cube snaps to the grid intersections as you drag. 7 Place the cube at a grid point by releasing the mouse button. 8 Click the Grid snap button again to turn grid snapping off. In addition to using the Grid button, you can grid snap by pressing and holding the Alt button while you place a primitive. To use the palette menu to choose the Cone tool This time we will show you an alternative method for choosing tools from palettes. 1 Click the tab at the top of the Surfaces palette. The palette collapses down to just the tab, and the other palettes move up to fill the space. This feature is very useful for saving space in the palette window and in shelves. You can still choose tools from the palette using the palette’s menu. 2 Click the right mouse button on the Surfaces palette’s title tab to open the palette’s menu. 3 Click the Primitives item to open the sub-menu. Just like the menus at the top of the screen, arrows indicate that an item in the palette menu has sub-items. 4 Click the Cone tool item. You have now seen two different ways to choose a tool from a palette. From now on, we will ask you to choose tools by name, such as: â€Å"In the Surfaces palette, choose Primitives Cone. † Whenever you are asked to choose a tool, you an either click the tool icon, or choose the tool from the palette menu. 5 Click in the Top view to place a cone in the scene. 6 Click the Surfaces palette’s tab again to expand the Surfaces palette back to normal. To use tool options to add a half-cylinder 1 With the right mouse button, cl ick the title tab of the Surfaces palette to open the palette menu, then open the Primitives sub-menu. Notice that some items have shadowed boxes next to the name of the item. 14 Interface Basics Using Tools 2 Click the shadowed box next to the Cylinder item. 3 The Cylinder options window appears. 4 Double click in the text box labeled Sweep, then type 180 and press Enter to set the sweep to 180 degrees. Use the slider next to the Sections text box to set the sections to 4. 6 Click the Go button at the bottom of the window. This button applies the settings in the window and activates the tool. 7 Click in the Top view window to place the new half-cylinder in the scene. As you specified in the option window, the cylinder has a 180-degree perimeter and is created from four sections (spans). 8 Look at the Cylinder tool icon. It has a small option box symbol in the top left corner. Like the symbol in the menu, this indicates the tool has options. 9 Double-click the Cylinder tool icon. Th e Cylinder Options window appears. 10 Click Exit to close the options window. Picking and Unpicking Objects Picking refers to selecting objects in the scene for use with other tools. For example, to move a CV, you must pick the CV, then use the Move tool on the picked CV. Picking objects in the scene is a fundamental part of modeling with AliasStudio. Because it is so important, AliasStudio provides several different tools for picking. To pick all and pick nothing 1 In the Pick palette, choose Object Types All obj/lights. All the objects in the scene highlight to show they are picked. 15 Interface Basics Using Tools Unlike most selection tools, Pick Object Types All obj/lights does not stay selected, since you never need to use it twice in a row. When these momentary types of tools finish, the current tool reverts to the last continuous tool you selected. 2 In the Pick palette, choose the Nothing tool. The Pick Nothing tool unpicks every object, leaving nothing picked. Like the Pick Object Types All obj/lights tool, the Pick Nothing tool does not stay selected. The current tool reverts to the last tool you used. To pick and unpick individual objects 1 Choose the Pick Object tool. 2 Click the cone primitive in the view windows with the left mouse button. The cone highlights to show it is picked. 3 Click the other objects with the left mouse button. They also become picked. With all the objects picked, click one of the picked objects with the left mouse button. The object you clicked becomes unpicked. The left mouse button toggles objects between picked and unpicked. 5 Now click one of the primitives with the middle mouse button. The object you clicked is picked and the other objects are unpicked. 16 Interface Basics Using Tools The middle mouse button picks only the object you click. 6 Click the picked primitive with the right mouse button. The object is unpicked. The right mouse button unpicks objects. This is most useful with pick boxes, as you will see in the next procedure. To use pick boxes to pick and unpick several objects at once With the Pick Object tool still selected, click one of the primitive objects with the left mouse button. 2 Press the left mouse button and drag a box around all the primitive objects. All the objects inside the pick box toggle between picked and unpicked. 3 Now drag a pick box with the middle mouse button around some objects. Now only the objects inside the box are picked. 4 Now drag a pick box with the right mouse button around some of the picked objects. 17 Interface Basics Using Tools Any objects inside the pick box are unpicked. To pick by name 1 Use the middle mouse button to pick only the sphere. 2 From the Windows menu, choose Information Information window . The Information window appears. The information window allows you to adjust parameters for objects in the scene. 3 Find the Name field. The name of the object should be sphere or something similar. 4 Close the Information window. 5 Click in empty space with the middle mouse button. All objects in the scene are unpicked. ? Remember, the middle mouse button picks only what you click. If you pick â€Å"nothing† (empty space), then the tool acts just like if you had chosen Pick Nothing. 6 Type sphere, then press Enter. The text appears as you type in the promptline at the top of the workspace window. When you press Enter, the sphere is picked. Shortcuts to Tools The variety of tools available is the source of AliasStudio’s power, but finding tools in the palette can potentially become time consuming. You can make commonly used tools available more quickly, and hide rarely used tools until you need them. AliasStudio provides three solutions: shelves, marking menus, and hot keys. Shelves are like the palettes, except you control the tools’ options and their position on the shelves. You will use shelves to organize all your commonly used tools. Marking menus pop-up at the current mouse location. They provide a very fast method to choose the tools you use most often (such as Pick Object). Hot keys are special key combinations that perform ommon menu or tool commands. Creating Custom Shelves To show and hide the shelf window 1 In the Windows menu, choose Shelves. The Shelves window appears. ? The Shelves window provides a floating window in which to keep commonly used tools. 18 Interface Basics Using Tools AliasStudio, however, pro vides another, even more convenient location for shelves. In these tutorials, you will use the shelf area in the control panel. ? Since you will not be using the Shelves window, you can close it. 2 Choose Windows Shelves again to hide the Shelves window, or click the Shelves window’s close button. To help demonstrate how to make new shelves, you ill clear the default shelves and make new shelves specific to these tutorials. Before you clear the default shelves, you will save them so you can retrieve them later. To save the initial shelf set 1 Choose Windows Control Panel. The control panel will appear. 2 Hold the left mouse button on the Shelf Options menu button at the top of the control panel’s shelf area to open the pop-up menu. 3 Drag down to the Save item and release the mouse button. A file requester appears. 4 Click in the File text field and type Default, then click Save. In the next procedure, you will start a new shelf of tools commonly used in curve fittin g in preparation or the lesson on fitting curves to scan data. To clear the existing shelf set and create a new one 1 Hold the left mouse button on the menu button at the top of the shelf area to open the pop-up menu. Notice how the menu button is now called Default, after the name of the current shelf. 2 Choose New from the pop-up menu. A requester appears asking for the name of the new shelf. 3 Click in the text box, hit the Esc key to clear the text, and type CurveFit. Click OK to name the new shelf. The old Shelf set is deleted and a new, empty shelf appears in the shelf area. Now you can begin adding tools to the new shelf. 4 In the Palette window, find the Curves palette. With the middle mouse button, drag the Fit Curve tool onto the Curves shelf in the control panel. 19 Interface Basics Using Tools The tool appears in the shelf. You could move the entire Curves palette onto the shelf by dragging its title tab, but you only want a selection of tools from the full palette. Next , you will add curve drawing tools to the palette. Since you will often need to create curves of different degree in technical surfacing, it would be useful to have customized versions of tools with different settings. The shelf allows you to do this. When you drag a tool onto a shelf, the new copy of the tool keeps the settings it had when it was dropped on the shelf, ndependent of the original tool in the palette. Using this technique, you will create several versions of the two original curve creation tools, New curve (edit pts) and New curve (cvs). Each version will have different settings for the Degree option. To add versions of the New Curve tools to the shelf with different options 1 In the Curves palette, double-click New Curves New Curve by Edit Points to open the tool’s option window. (Remember that you can also choose New Curve by Edit Points from the palette menu). The New Curve by Edit Points option window appears. The options let you set the knot spacing (para meterization) and degree of the new curve. Make sure Knot Spacing is set to Uniform and Create Guidelines is off. 3 Set the Degree option to 2. 4 Find the tool icon at the top of the option window. This icon represents the tool as configured with these settings. 5 Press the middle mouse button on the tool icon at the top of the option box and drag it to the CurveFit shelf. Now when you choose this icon in the shelf, the New Curve (edit pts) tool will create degree 2 curves. 6 Back in the option window, set the Degree to 3. 20 Interface Basics Using Tools 7 Use the middle mouse button to drag the tool icon at the top of the option window to the shelf. Another copy of the tool is added to the shelf. When you choose this copy of the tool, the New Curve (edit pts) tool will create degree 3 curves. 8 Click Exit at the bottom of the option window to close the window. To rename the tools 1 Move the mouse over the CurveFit shelf’s title tab and press the right mouse button to show the shelf’s menu. Note that the two versions of the tool have the exact same name and icon. To be able to distinguish between the tools, you will rename them. 2 Find the first version of New Curve by Edit Points you dragged to the shelf. If you can’t remember which is which, doubleclick the two icons to see their option windows. You want the version with the Degree option set to 2. Hold down the Ctrl key and double-click the tool icon. A name requester appears. 4 Double-click in the text box and type Edit_pt_Deg_2, then click OK to rename the tool. 5 Hold down the Ctrl key and double-click the second copy of the New Curve by Edit Points tool. 6 Double-click in the text box and type Edit_ pt_Deg_3, then click OK to rename the tool. 7 Hold down the right mouse button on the title tab of the shelf to open the shelf menu. The two copies of the tool are now distinguishable in the menu, but still have identical icons. We recommend you keep the shelves collapsed and use the shelf menus to choose tools. This saves space in the shelf. To remove a tool from the shelf 1 Add another tool to the CurveFit shelf. Let’s now assume that this was a mistake and you wish to remove the tool. 2 Hold the middle mouse button over the tool’s icon in the shelf. The name of the tool appears. 3 With the middle mouse button held down, drag the label to the upper-right corner of the window and position the cursor over the trash can icon. 21 Interface Basics Using Tools 4 Release the mouse button. The tool disappears from the shelf. You can also delete groups of tools by dragging a tab with the middle mouse button to the trash can. You may have noticed that icons are a bit crowded on the shelf. The large icons are good when you are learning which icon is which, but now you will switch to the small icon size to save space in the shelf. To change to the small icon size 1 In the Preferences menu, choose General Preferences – ?. The Interface options appear. 2 Set the Icon Mode to Small. If you wish, you can also turn the icon labels option on to display name labels on all the icons. 3 Click the Go button at the bottom of the window to apply the changes. AliasStudio loads smaller versions of all the tool icons. You have seen how to create shelves with customized tools. In later lessons you will load premade shelves containing all the tools you need to omplete the tutorials. Using and Customizing Marking Menus An even faster method for selecting tools are the marking menus. Marking menus generally hold fewer tools than a shelf, but are much faster since you can use quick gestures to choose tools. With practice, selecting tools with marking menus becomes almost instantaneo us. To choose common tools with marking menus 1 Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys. 2 With the keys held down, hold the left mouse button. 22 Interface Basics Using Tools The left mouse button marking menu appears at the location of the mouse pointer. 3 Keep the left mouse button held down and drag down until the Pick Object box is ighlighted. A thick black line shows the direction of the mouse pointer. 4 Release the mouse button to choose the highlighted tool. The Pick Object tool is now the current tool. 5 Hold Shift and Ctrl with the middle and then with the right mouse buttons to see the other marking menus. Each mouse button has a separate marking menu. Once you have learned which direction corresponds to which tool in a marking menu, you can use a quick gesture to choose the tool. 6 Hold the Shift and Ctrl keys, then drag up and release the mouse button quickly. The black line shows the direction but the menu is not drawn. When you release the mouse button, the arking menu fl ashes the name of the selected tool on the screen. You have just selected Pick Nothing. Use this method to choose tools even faster once you have mastered the positions of the tools on the menu. Learn which tools are on the marking menus, and use the marking menus whenever you need to choose one of those tools. The more you use them, the faster you will become, until you can choose tools with quick gestures. To customize a marking menu with common tools 1 In the Preferences menu, open the Marking Menus sub-menu and choose Modeling Marking Menu – ?. The Modeling Marking Menu shelf window appears. This is a special shelf window. The tools and enu items on the different tabs appear in corresponding marking menus. The procedure to modify the content of marking menus is similar to the one for modifying shelves that we learned earlier. Here you will make a small modification to the Pick marking menu shelf. 2 Double click the Pick Pick locator point tool in the Palette or Control Panel to open the Pick Locator Options box. Right mouse button Middle mouse button Middle Right 23 Interface Basics Using Tools 3 Hold down the middle mouse button and drag the tool icon from the top of the option box and drop it between the third and fourth last icons on the shelf. You now have a tool on the marking menu to ick locators. 4 Hold down Shift and Alt keys and press the left mouse button to show the marking menu again. The tool you just added is called Pick Pick_locator in the marking menu. You will change the name to something more concise. 5 In the MarkingMenu shelf window, hold down the Ctrl key and double-click the Pick locator tool in the shelf (second from the right). A dialog box appears. 6 Type Pick_Locator in the text field and click OK to rename the tool in the marking menu. 7 Show the left mouse button marking menu again. You now know how to customize the marking menus. In later lessons, you will load pre-made marking menus with common urfacing tools. Using hot keys Hot keys are special key combinations that choose tools or perform menu commands. You can get a complete listing of all the hot keys in the hot key editor. To use hot keys 1 In the Preferences menu, open the Interface sub-menu and choose Hot keys / Menus. The hot key editor appears. 24 Interface Basics Using Tools ? AliasStudio’s option windows use a hierarchy similar to that of the file lister: options are organized into hierarchical sections that can be collapsed and expanded. 2 In the menu section, click the Layouts subsection title to expand it. Click to open a Section Heading You can see the hot key for the User windows tem, as well as text fields for defining other hot keys. You can define your own hot keys if you wish. For the most part we will not use hot keys in these lessons. If you are new to Autodesk AliasStudio products, we recommend that you spend some time working with the product before you define hot keys, so you can learn which commands you use freq uently enough to need a hot key. 3 Click the close box to close the hot key editor. 25 Interface Basics Changing Your View of the Model Changing Your View of the Model Learn how AliasStudio represents the 3D model on your 2D monitor, and how to use the view controls to get the best possible angle on the model for the ask at hand. Tracking, Dollying, and Tumbling the Camera’s View There are many different ways to change the camera’s view in AliasStudio. In general, you will only need to learn three camera moves to model effectively: tumble, dolly, and track. Because these camera movements are so common, AliasStudio uses special hot key/mouse combinations to let you access these movements quickly. To use the camera move mode to move the camera in a perspective window 1 Hold down the Shift and Alt keys. Keep the keys held down during the following steps. 2 Make sure the mouse pointer is over the perspective view window. 3 Drag the left mouse button to tumble the camera: D rag left and right to rotate the camera. ? Drag up and down to tilt the camera. Tumbling the camera changes the azimuth and elevation angles of the camera. 4 Release the left mouse button, but keep the Shift and Alt keys held down. 5 Drag the right mouse button to dolly the camera in and out. Dolly in out Track Tumble rotate tilt up down left right 26 Interface Basics Changing Your View of the Model Dollying moves the camera forward and backward. 6 Again, release the right mouse button, but keep the Shift and Alt keys held down. 7 Drag the middle mouse button to track the camera. Tracking moves the camera, but does not change the direction in which the camera is pointing. When you are done moving the camera, release the mouse button and the Shift and Alt keys to exit camera move mode. Now, try moving the camera in the orthographic windows. To use the camera move keys to move the camera in an orthographic window 1 Hold Shift and Alt to enter camera move mode. 2 Make sure the pointer is over an orthographic window such as Top, Side, or Back 3 Drag the right mouse button to dolly in and out. 4 Drag the middle mouse button to track up, down, left and right. 5 Now try dragging the left mouse button to tumble the orthographic view. Nothing happens. You cannot change the view direction of orthographic windows. They always ook in the same direction. Moving the camera is a very important skill in AliasStudio. Throughout this book you will need to move the camera to work with geometry. Using the camera move mode soon becomes second nature. With practice, you will be able to 27 Interface Basics Changing Your View of the Model move the camera where you need it without thinking about the keys or the mouse. Practice tumbling, tracking, and dollying the camera around the model some more before you move on. To use Look At to center on an object 1 Use the marking menus to choose the Pick Nothing tool. Remember that the left mouse button marking menu has the pick tools. Now us e the marking menus to choose the Pick Object tool. 3 Pick one of the geometric objects you created earlier. 4 Find the View palette. It’s near the bottom of the Palette window. 5 Choose the Look at tool. The active view window (the window with the white outline) changes to center on the picked object. 6 Pick nothing. 7 Use the Look at tool again. The active view changes to center on all the existing geometry. When you use Look at with nothing or everything picked, the view will center on all the geometry in the scene. Look at is most useful to quickly find geometry that is outside the view of a window or too far to be seen clearly. AliasStudio provides two additional tools to make it easier to move the camera around a model quickly: the â€Å"point of interest†, and the viewing panel. Changing the Point of Interest Normally, camera move mode (Shift+Alt) is calibrated to best view objects at the origin (the center of world space, coordinate 0,0,0). This can become awkward when you want to move the camera around objects away from the origin. The point of interest manipulator lets you center the camera movements on a point on the model. To use the point of interest manipulator First, make sure the point of interest manipulator is turned on. 1 Choose Preferences General Preferences ?. The General Preferences window appears. 28 Interface Basics Changing Your View of the Model T 2 Click Input on the left hand side to open the Input section. 3 Turn on the Use point of interest option. 4 Click Go to close the window and use the new settings. 5 Move the mouse pointer over the Perspective view and hold down the Shift and Alt keys to open the Viewing Panel. Keep the keys held down for the rest of this procedure. 6 In the Viewing Panel, open the Pnt of Interest section and turn on Visible. 7 Position the mouse pointer on the wireframe of one of the primitive objects and click with the left mouse button. When you release the mouse button, the point f interest manipulator appears on the model where you clicked. Drag with the left mouse button to tumble. The view tumbles around the point of interest. 8 Click and release on another point on one of the primitive objects. The point of interest manipulator jumps to the new point. 9 Drag the circle at the center of the point of i nterest manipulator. The manipulator moves across the surface of the object. 10 Notice the light blue or yellow arrow extending from the center of the manipulator. This arrow indicates the normal at this point on the surface. The arrow is light blue when it is pointing toward you and yellow when it is pointing away. 11 Click the light blue or yellow arrow. The view changes to look at the point down the normal. 12 Now look for the red and green arrows extending from the center of the manipulator (tumble the view to show the arrows more clearly if necessary). These arrows represent the tangents along the U and V directions for the object. 13 Click the red arrow. The view changes to look down the tangent in the U direction. 29 Interface Basics Changing Your View of the Model Use the following overview illustration as a reminder of the different controls on the point of interest manipulator. Using the Viewing Panel You have probably already seen the viewing panel appear when you enter camera move mode in the Perspective window. This window lets you quickly switch the Perspective window to a default or userdefined view of the model. As you work on the model, you will probably find yourself changing the camera view back and forth between two or more areas of interest. The viewing panel lets you â€Å"bookmark† views of the model and return to those views by clicking the name of the bookmark. To use the viewing panel to move between different views 1 Click the maximize box in the upper right corner of the Perspective view window. The Perspective view window enlarges to full screen. 2 Hold down the Shift and Alt keys to enter camera move mode. Keep the keys held down for the rest of this procedure. The viewing panel appears in the upper left corner of the Perspective window. The images at the center of the panel (small icons of the top and bottom of a car) represent the model. 3 Click an arrow to view the model from one of eight different directions. The horizontal and vertical arrows represent front, side, and back views. The diagonal arrows represent three-quarter views. Click the red or green arrow to look at the tangent along the U or V direction Click the light blue/yellow arrow to look down the norma Drag the circle to move at this point the point of interest along or across the object 30 Interface Basics Changing Your View of the Model Click the left car icon to see a top view, or the right car icon to see a bottom view. 5 Click the white arrow near the bottom of the viewing panel to return to the view previous to your last camera move. 6 Click the Viewing Panel section heading at the top of the panel to collapse the entire panel into a small heading. Use this technique to get the viewing panel out of the way when you want as much viewing area as possible. 7 Click the Viewing Panel heading again to expand the panel. 8 Click the Point of Interest section heading to open it. Options related to the point of interest manipulator appear. 9 Turn off the Visible check box to hide the point of interest manipulator. Turn the Visible check box on to show the manipulator again. 10 Turn on the Locked check box to keep the point of interest manipulator locked at its current position. The manipulator will not move when you click at another point or drag its center handle. Use this option if you find that you are moving the manipulator unintentionally. Turn the Locked check box off to free the manipulator. 11 Turn off the Perspective check box. The perspective view changes to an isographic projection. 31 Interface Basics Changing Your View of the Model Many people find an isographic view easier for technical modeling, since parallel lines in the model remain parallel in the view window. For the remainder of the tutorials, the screen shots will show isographic views. However, feel free to turn the Perspective checkbox back on if you prefer a perspective view. To set and show bookmarks 1 Move the mouse pointer over the Perspective view and hold down the Shift and Alt keys to enter camera move mode. Keep the Shift and Alt keys held down. 2 Find the Bookmarks section at the bottom of the Viewing Panel If it is not visible, click on the tag in the bottom right corner of the viewing panel. It will turn white and the bookmarks section will appear. 3 Click the new button in the bookmarks section. A new bookmark appears at the bottom of the section. Move the camera to a new view on the model. 5 Click the new button again. A second bookmark appears in the bookmark list. 6 Click the label for the first bookmark, then the second. The view switches back and forth between the two bookmarked views. To be able to distinguish between bookmarks later, you should rename them now. 7 Cl ick the edit button in the Bookmarks section. The Bookmark Lister window appears. 8 Release the Shift and Alt keys. 9 Hold down the Ctrl key and double-click the first bookmark icon in the Bookmark Lister. A dialog box appears. 10 Type a new name for the bookmark, then click OK. For production work you should use meaningful ames such as â€Å"back panel† or â€Å"door handle†. By default, bookmarks are named BM, BM#2, BM#3, etc. Move the cursor over a bookmark icon to see its current name. 11 Ctrl double-click and rename the other bookmark. 12 Note the buttons in the Bookmark Lister window: ? The Delete button removes the current bookmark (green outline) from the list. ? The New button adds a bookmark of the current view. This is the same as clicking new in the viewing panel. ? The Prev and Next buttons change the view to the bookmark that precedes or follows the highlighted bookmark (green outline). Delete New Prev Next Bookmark icons Cycle Publish 32 Interface Basics Changing Your View of the Model The Cycle button displays the bookmarked views in a slideshow fashion. ? The Publish button saves the current or all bookmark(s) as image files on your disk. ? Clicking on a bookmark icon changes the view to that bookmark. This is the same as clicking a bookmark in the viewing panel. 13 Close the Bookmark Lister. 14 Hold the Shift and Alt keys in the Perspective window to show the viewing panel. Notice your new names in the Bookmarks section. Use the following overview illustration as a reminder of the different controls on the viewing panel. The Twist and Azimuth/Elevation tools rotate the view around the point of interest. Open/Close Panel Open/Close How to cite Alias Tutorial, Papers

Due Process and Parental RIghts free essay sample

Due Process and Parental Rights 2 One court case that addressed parental rights and due process is Zachary Deal v. Hamilton Board of Education (6th Circuit 2004). This case involved a three year old little boy and his parents, Maureen and Phillip Deal. Zachary Deal began preschool comprehensive development class at Ooltewah Elementary School. In September of 1997 while he was attending preschool, his parents chose to begin teaching him at home using a program developed by the Center for Autism and Related Disorders or CARD (United States Court of Appeals, 2009).This program used one-on-one applied behavioral analysis or â€Å"ABA.† On May 11, 1998 the Deals met with an IEP team to determine ESY or extended school year. The told the IEP team about Zacharys progress using the CARD program at home and they wanted Zachary to receive a school system funded home based ABA program for forty hours per week, as well as, speech therapy. The IEP team agreed on speech for three days a weeks. The Deals had a few other IEP meetings over the following year. During the year of 1998-1999 Zachary attended public schools sixteen percent of the time. When they reconvened in May 1999 to discuss ESY for the summer, the school refused to grant the Deals their request of the school funded ABA program again. They stated that because of his infrequent attendance they could not document any regression without the ABA program. Zachary attended a private preschool for the 1999-2000 school year and did not attend public school at all. For the 2000-2001 school year, Zachary did attend public school, but only part time. Throughout this time, the Deals continued to request at all IEP meetings that the school system provide Zachary with system funded private ABA. Each time this request was denied. In September of 1999 the Deals requested a due process hearing under the provisions of the IDEA. (United States Court of Appeals, 2009). Zacharys parents felt that he was not receiving a FAPE and they were not willing to give up without fighting for what they felt was the best education possible for their son. The main disagreement that the Deals had with the Hamilton County Board of Education Due Process and Parental Rights 3 was they wanted Zachary to attend school in the LRE and for him to receive school funded private ABA or another form of ABA therapy. The school board was accused of predetermining not to offer Zachary ABA on any level, regardless of how beneficial it was which violated IDEA (United States Court of Appeals, 2009). Additionally, Zacharys parents were not fully involved in the IEP process which deprived Zachary a FAPE. At one IEP meeting Zacharys parents were informed that they were not allowed to ask any question which goes completely against parental rights (County Schools, 2005). The IEP meetings also failed to have a general education teacher present. The Deals began their administrative hearing in March of 2000. In October of 2001 they initiated a review of portions of the ALJs decision in district court. Finally in December of 2004 the courts decided a verdict. The decision had been made to reimburse the Dealss with the money they had spent on private ABA and related services (United States Court of Appeals, 2009). Sadly, it took years in court and an estimated 2,2850,000 to defend a relatively small reimbursement claim (County Schools, 2005). I find this court case to be pretty confusing. There are many different variables and angles which you can take. I agree with the ruling for a number of reasons, however, I also feel that the parents were not fully cooperating like they could have to achieve the best results possible. In the one article I read it actually addresses how many could â€Å"think† that the school district is the victim, but in all actuality if you read the full court transcripts you will see that is simply not the case. The article was written by the Deals attorney so it is biased, but it makes some very good points. I am not quite sure how to draw the line in how much should be expected from the school system and at what point a family is demanding too much. Obviously I am not the only one who thinks this is confusing or there  would be more concrete federal laws. On one hand I feel that the most important thing to keep in mind is parental rights. Who else is going to fight for a child like their own parents? If parents are denied proper notification, proper time to plan to attend the meeting, supply the materials in the native Due Process and Parental Rights 4 language and/or supply a translator, the school district is violating IDEA and there should be consequences. This I feel is more of a black and white issue so there is not as much room for confusion. I think it is when it comes down to issues such as LRE and additional programs/ services that it goes more in to a gray area. This is when parents have to turn to due process. I assumed that many school districts give in at this point to keep from incurring court cost and media attention. After reading this case, I am not sure that my logic is correct. Clearly in the case of the Deals the school showed no interest to hear their side of the story or take in to consideration Zacharys progress with his at home ABA therapy. A school cannot discredit a parents opinion and do as they please, but when a child is rarely attending the program, can the school be responsible for paying for private therapy for a child they know little about? It is a catch twenty two in my opinion. The parents do not want to send they child to a school where they will regress and the school does not feel responsible for giving out additional funding and services for a student they have little data on. Someone has to give somewhere. The bottom line is there are always going to be situations that are difficult to know who is right and what placement will be right for a student to be truly successful. I think that a family does not always have their own childs best interest at heart and pushes to help them receive social security benefits, etc. This is a truly sad situation and one that I hope is a rare occurrence. Some parents struggle with denial and push for services that the child cannot truly benefit from just so they feel more â€Å"normal.† My heart breaks in these instances, but we somehow must help a parent understand that their childs future might look a little differently than planned. Lastly, we must all try to have the students best interest at heart and not think of what will be the easiest or the cheapest, etc. Working together with the parents of special needs  children should be a team effort. No matter how demanding and difficult a family is, we as special education teachers must try to find a middle ground so that a case like this does not present itself again. Due Process and Parental Rights 5