Report: Blender at the TechOlympics, Cincinnati

Our call for a volunteer to demo Blender at the Cincinnati TechOlympics was answered by Matt McComb. Ryan Fink reports on the event.

Ryan Finke reports on Matt McComb’s presentation at the TechOlympic

The INTERalliance’s first annual TechOlympics Expo successfully ran in the heart of Cincinnati, Ohio during the weekend of March 5th, 2010! A technology event attended by nearly 400 high school students, the TechOlympics Expo consisted of three days spent in the Millennium Hotel downtown woven with Olympic-style technology competitions, educational breakout sessions, and fun social events.

One such breakout session focusing on Blender was called “Finding Your Nemo: How to Make 3D Movies for Free!” Because of the original post on BlenderNation, we were privileged to have Matt McComb, an instructor of 3D Graphics and Animation Technology at Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio, come down to Cincinnati and present how to use Blender.

With nearly 100 students listening, Matt taught the full process of creating a 3D movie in Blender by demoing his own project, Valor, originally a 3D film project but now being transformed into a tower defense video game. His presentation captivated the students for the entire hour and sparked questions both during and after the session.

Thanks to volunteers like Matt, the TechOlympics Expo 2010 was a hit! TechOlympics 2011, here we come!

If you would like more information on the success of the expo, please visit http://www.techolympics.org/ for a longer review. Thanks!