The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5156

As his first Advanced Manual Superfab Operation came to an end, Ves gained a good understanding of the state of his students.

Few of them were as bad or unpracticed as Klaus Robar-Fulton.

The average proficiencies displayed by all of the Terran mech design students fully satisfied Ves. He was confident in his ability to transform each of them into part-time artists who knew how to elevate their mechs into good quality works rather than standard fare.

Ves found rather perplexing that the wealthy Terrans did not prioritize good craftsmanship so much, at least when it came to mechs.

He expected a society that was mainly dominated by long-lasting clans and organization to pursue quality over quantity.

However, as materializers continued to penetrate more and more aspects of their industries, there were fewer opportunities for notable artisans to practice their crafts and earn renown for their artistic skills.

The traditional art scene was doing well. Wealthy Terrans were still willing to pay millions of MTA credits to obtain a transcendent piece of art to decorate their opulent mansions.

It was not that important for mechs to display any remarkable artistic expression from its maker. The Terrans mainly wanted these complicated and important war machines to function exactly according to their theoretical specifications. They did not want their machines to exhibit any anomalies as their sheer complexity meant that a lot more factors could go wrong than normal.

Ves did not fully agree with this mindset, but then again he was not a Terran.

For now, he just hoped that this batch of too students would one day be able to go out and express their craftsmanship without restraint. The mech industry could definitely benefit from having a little more personality.

As the first class of this course came to an end, Ves ended this session by assigning homework to all of his students.

"Each of you have the foundation to turn a superfab into a tool that can be used to express your art and vision. There is still a long way to go before you can consistently elevate the quality of your work. If you cannot elevate the quality of your work to a point where you can justify the additional time and effort spent into its production, then your craftsmanship is still not up to par."

A superfab had been relegated to a niche production method to the Terrans. Much of their industrial infrastructure was based on the use of expensive materializers. This meant that it was hard for any mech designer to justify the decision to go back into the past and resort to a less efficient method of mech fabrication.

Ves did not know whether all of his students could improve to the point of being able to turn their craftsmanship into a selling point, but he was willing to do his best to make this happen!

"Now 1 am sure that you are wondering how you can improve your craftsmanship since it is not up to par. There are many ways to do that, but my personal suggestion is to start out small and slowly work your way up to turning your mechs into art."

His highly accurate physical projection approached Alexa and lifted up the masterwork mech figurine.

"I believe that each of you are capable of fabricating a small facsimile mech like this. Compared to a full-sized machine, it only takes a fraction of the time to produce a work of this size. What 1 want you to do before our next practical class is to take your time in an available workshop and craft your own mech figurine. Do your best to incorporate the lessons that I have taught to you today."

This homework assignment triggered various reactions from the crowd. The students were not accustomed to spending their time on such an activity. They were learning to become mech designers, not toy makers!

"My assistant should have already transmitted a document that sets the requirements and restrictions of this assignment." Ves continued. "You will be granted permission to draw from a stock of ordinary materials without cost. You are also expected to complete your own works with the use of manual tools and superfabs at lower automation settings. Don't try to cheat. It is the height of foolishness to present a work that is not your own in front of a masterwork mech designer. Any questions?"

One Terran immediately raised his arm. "Professor, are we expected to create a functional mech figurine? Must it be realistic enough to fly around and fire actual weapons?"

Ves shook his head. "That is not necessary. You can use my own model as a reference to the degree of realism that you should pursue. Just focus on creating a small-scale visual representation of a real mech design. It's the look that matters. You should simplify the internals and the functional parts as much as you think is adequate and within your skillset. You will have to use your own judgment." "What mech designs are we permitted to adapt for this assignment?"

"Any first-class multipurpose mech design will do." Ves shrugged. "Each of you have spent at least four solid years learning how to design such a machine. I am sure that you have designed a couple of basic designs in your previous courses or in your free time perhaps. It doesn't matter if your prior work is inferior in terms of performance or refinement. What matters is that it is a genuine representation of your work and vision. If you do not have a mech design of your own for whatever reason, you can contact my assistant."

Ves wanted these students to start with their own designs because it would be easier for them to express their own personality through their craft. Not only that, but the resulting mech figurines would be able to tell him a lot more about the skills and other traits of his students.

After answering a few more questions, Ves dismissed the students.

"Remember that I will be away on a conference for the next week. This should give you plenty of time to craft a fairly realistic mech figurine of your own. The better you are able to express your own creativity, the closer you are to elevating your craftsmanship to a degree where you can pass this course. Your subsequent assignments will only become more and more difficult, so do your best to get off on a good start."

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify