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Roisin Grant, a 17-year-old secondary student from Presentation Secondary School, Waterford, joined Walton Institute’s Mobile Ecosystem and Pervasive Sensing (MEPS) Division recently as an intern. We asked Roisin to tell us about her time at Walton and what she learned.
I spent 6 weeks working at Walton Institute as an intern, from the 20 June until 27 July. In the future, I would like to be a game developer and professional digital artist. I chose to work at Walton because of the great experience it would give me before starting college next year. It is also a nice, welcoming environment to work in, and close to where I live.
I worked with Stephen Barnes, Experienced Research Software Developer, and Sinead Barnett, Junior Software Research Engineer, who taught me how to use a number of software programmes including Blender to create 3D models, and Unity Engine for Augmented Reality (AR) game development. This internship also taught me many other skills that will help me in my career like time management and communication.
I enjoyed making 3D models in Blender the most. While I struggled with the programmes at first, thanks to Sinead and Stephen’s guidance, it became a lot of fun to work with. They showed me the basics of Unity and AR game development for Android and IOS devices, which I did not know before. During my 5th week working at Walton, I even had the opportunity to use the Digital Photogrammetry Unit to create a 3D scan of myself, which I could then import into Unity and make into my own personal game character.
I’ve always had an interest in STEM, and have known that I want work in game development. My time at Walton was extremely beneficial to me as my school does not offer this type of technology training, so this was an excellent start.
I learned a lot during my internship at Walton and really enjoyed working with the team. I gained insight into the daily life of a 3D artist and game developer. I have also grown as an artist, made 3D models to use in my portfolio, and have acquired useful social skills for the future.