I would say that I definitely met my expectations in terms of what I was looking for to achieve so far. The first half of my stay here was about finding new ways to create content related to my profession. We tested cloud computing, a solution that would allow me to have a powerful machine by connecting my personal computer to a streaming service that provides powerful GPUs and CPUs. We produced much content on Instagram, LinkedIN, Facebook, Behance and other relevant social media platforms. The purpose of it was to make me familiar with anything that serves as a way to let my product known to the world. We also tested generative ai, which we might say is the real game changer, as I had already argued in my business plan. Nanobanana Pro and Grok, Veo are the ones I’ve used the most. They not only can generate new content but even more than that can be used as an editing tool, and in my opinion, it far outshone Photoshop in that regard. I did some modeling, rendering, texturing, pure architectural stuff. We did a pro bono project to help design a future Lebanese Maronite Church here in Paphos.
So, to summarize, so far I’ve dealt with the learning part. I’ve made posts, designed, and produced them. I think these things, these tools I’ve had the opportunity to familiarize with are a real revolution and anybody who is even remotely involved with content creation, art, design, advertisement, marketing or anything that involves communication as a whole needs to come to terms with the fact that AI is here to stay and we can either use it or be owned by it, as they say.
The biggest challenge I faced was not work-related, to be honest, but rather socially related. I have struggled with getting to know new people outside of work. My host is a very good person, though, and we are close in age, so that is a plus.
The next phase, which has already started, involves, creating my own website, social media pages, posts, and start projecting my presence online in the world of archviz to test these new technologies and start expanding as a professional. We will see about testing VR and 3D printing on the field, if there is any time left, but certainly I also gained some interesting insights about those technologies as well.