The Project

She went to stand up but he stopped her. "Actually, I was wondering if you could do me a favour," he asked in a rush. "Ok," Julia said cautiously. She hoped he wasn't about to ask her out. She had considered how she could politely decline in such a situation but it would be easier if it didn't come to that.

"Well...um...I have an idea that I want to present to management but I'm not very good at public speaking. I was wondering if you could listen to my presentation and give me some advice."

He looked nervous as he made his request and Julia suddenly felt like an idiot for assuming he was romantically attracted to her. The poor guy just needed some help, and she was probably the most qualified person he knew to provide it. And she did owe him for saving her budget on the project.

"I would be happy to help," she said graciously. She whipped out her Blackberry and checked her schedule. "Would 5pm suit you?"

"Today? Uh, sure," he said, looking pleased.

"Great. Come and find me in my office when you're ready." She patted his arm affectionately and then left him to it.

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The air-conditioning failed late that afternoon and Julia sweltered in her stuffy little office. She took her suit jacket off and wore only a sleeveless chiffon blouse and skirt but was still sweating. Tendrils of long auburn hair escaped her bun and hung in damp curls down her neck. She was just about to head home early when she noticed someone hovering outside her office and remembered her promise to Steven. Drat.

Julia called him in, hoping she didn't look as disheveled as she felt. "It's a bit warm down here, isn't it," he remarked.

"Yes, I noticed," she said shortly. Steven had changed into a short-sleeved t-shirt but didn't seem to be otherwise affected by the heat. He seemed to shrink back at the irritated tone of her voice. "If now is a bad time, we could leave it for another day," he offered apologetically.

Julia forced herself to stop grouching and be more helpful. It wasn't his fault the air conditioning failed. "No, it's fine. Let's see if the meeting rooms are a bit cooler." She picked up her notebook and Steven followed obligingly.

The meeting room on the South side of the floor was only slightly cooler, but it would have to do. She took a seat at the end of the table and directed Steven to stand up the front. He connected his laptop to the projector and opened PowerPoint.

"Ok, let's see what you've got," she encouraged him. "I'll just listen the first time through and make notes."

"Um, now? Ok..." he cleared his voice and stood up straighter. "Good morning everyone. My name is Steven Moore and I'm a software engineer here at GenSoft. I'm here today to tell you about some software I developed which can convert images from a standard digital camera into a three-dimensional model." He clicked the mouse to start the PowerPoint presentation. Then he started talking enthusiastically about polygonal mesh templates, terrestrial albedo, client-side presentation and embedded flash code.

Julia was completely lost after the first ten seconds. She tried to take notes but soon realized it was pointless. "Steven, stop a minute."

He stopped and his face fell. "Was it that bad?" he asked dejectedly.

"No, you spoke very well," she reassured him. "Your presentation would be great if you were delivering it to a group of developers as knowledgeable as yourself."

"But I'm not presenting to developers."

"Exactly."

Understanding dawned in his face. "So you're saying I need to explain it in a way that managers will understand."

"Yes, that is important," Julia agreed. "But the most important thing is to keep in mind what you hope to achieve from this presentation. Is it your goal to educate management about 3d modeling?"

"It might help," he suggestted uncertainly.

"But what is your primary goal?"

"Well...I want them to provide some funding and resources to develop my idea commercially."

"Now we're getting somewhere. If you want people to invest in something you need get inside their heads and understand what motivates them. Most people don't need to know the technical details, they just need to know that you know the details."

"Really?" he asked, looking unconvinced.

"Trust me. All you need is a smattering of technical phrases in the right places. For example, I've learned that many people are impressed by the phrase 'probability density function.'"

A smile tugged on the corner of his mouth. "I think I could work that in somehow," he said agreeably.

"In your case I think the words 'terrestrial albedo' will work just as well," she informed him.

"Won't they need some kind of proof that my software can do what I say it can?"

"That's what demos and technical reports are for. Now, I'm still not sure exactly what your software does. Have you thought about the commercial applications and potential markets? That's the kind of thing management will want to know."

Steven stared down at his notes. He looked disappointed. "I haven't really thought too much about that, I was more concerned with the technical issues."

Julia felt a rush of admiration and sympathy for the young man. He was obviously very intelligent and had a lot of emotional investment in this idea of his. He just needed a bit of help to take it to the next stage. "Maybe I could help, if you show me what it does," she offered.

He looked at her in surprise and gratitude. "You would do that for me? It's all set up on my home computer, so I would have to show you there." Julia stood up and tried to peel her shirt away from her sweating back. "Let's go then. I can't stand this heat any longer."

"Uh...right now?" Steven asked nervously. "Oh, I'm sorry," Julia laughed self-consciously. "It was a bit rude inviting myself to your home wasn't it? Your girlfriend is probably waiting for you to get home for dinner."

"Actually, I live alone," he corrected her quickly. "Well, except for Sasha."

"Sasha?"

"My cat," he clarified, blushing a little. "You're welcome to come over right now, I just assumed you would have other plans already."

"Fortunately, my evening is wide open" she replied cynically. Julia didn't feel the need to explain that, in recent months at least, she typically spent her evenings alone reading reports or doing work around the house. That would completely ruin the sophisticated image she maintained.

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Steven lived only a few blocks away in a terraced apartment so he usually walked to work. Julia had caught the bus that morning so she didn't have a car to worry about and walked home with him. They chatted along the way and Julia was pleased to discovered that he became a much better conversationalist once he relaxed a bit. She learned that he grew up in Taupo and had a younger sister who was studying at Auckland university.

Julia didn't know what to expect of his apartment, some kind of computer-geek bachelor pad, perhaps. She was pleasantly surprised when he opened the door and found it was light, roomy, and attractively furnished. The apartment was fairly modern, with clean lines and a neutral colour scheme. There was a large oriental rug in the lounge which provided an splash of crimson and gold to contrast with the cream leather sofa.

"This is a nice place you've got," she commented. It had a comfortable, welcoming feel.

"Thanks," he said shyly. "It's nice and convenient for work. Look, there's Sasha."

A grey tabby cat strutted out of the bedroom to greet her owner. Or, perhaps more likely, to demand her dinner. She had the lanky look of a young cat not long out of kitten-hood. "She's a bit stand-offish with strangers," Steven warned Julia.

Sasha sniffed cautiously and then proceeded to rub up against Julia's ankles, purring loudly. "You don't say?" Julia raised an eyebrow.

"Well she usually is," he asserted, watching his cat in bemusement. "Would you um, like a cold drink?"

"God yes," she replied gratefully.

He fetched her a glass of ice cold water while she patted Sasha. Soon the cat was rolling around on the tile floor in ecstasy, offering her tummy for a rub. "Your cat is shameless," Julia said teasingly.

"Well, you can't blame me for that. She didn't exactly have a high-society upbringing before I adopted her from the shelter." he said with a straight face. Julia grinned as he handed her the glass of water. She hadn't really expected him to have a sense of humour.

She drank all the water in a few gulps, and soon felt a bit cooler. "So, where is your project set up?" Julia asked. Steven led her into a small room off the lounge. It was furnished as a home office.

"What a beautiful desk," Julia exclaimed. The large desk took up almost half the room. It was executive-style, mahogany with leather top and carved detail around the edges and drawers. It was set up as a computer workstation with a desktop box and 22 inch screen at one end. Beside it was a matching mahogany bookcase with DVDs and books stacked tidily on the shelves.

"It's an antique," Steven said proudly. "My dad helped me restore it when I was nineteen."

Julia looked at him and tried to fit this new piece of information with the preconceived image she had of him. It didn't fit at all. She realized her preconceived image might need a bit of an overhaul.

"What is the blue sheet for?" she asked curiously. It was hanging from the end wall and didn't really fit with the rest of the décor. "Oh, that's my blue screen," he explained. "I use it as a background when I take pictures so it's easier to isolate the object I want to model. Look, I'll show you."

There was a small table in front of the wall, also covered in bright blue cloth. He took a small wooden bowl down the shelf and placed it on the table. Then he got a digital camera and took pictures of the bowl from several different angles.

"Now I'll use my software to mesh create a three-dimensional model out of these images." He turned on the computer. "Um, would you like the chair?" he offered courteously.

Julia declined since he would need to sit down to use the computer. She was happy to stand and watch. He plugged in the camera and downloaded the images. The he opened the program he had developed. "My object-recognition algorithms detect the shape of the object from each image," he explained. "I just need to tell it which angle I took each picture from so it can put them together to create the model."

He preceded to do as he described. Julia noticed the interface for the software was pretty rough and the process seemed to involve a lot of tweaking of the source code. Now she understood why it needed more work to make it ready for commercial use.

Steven clicked a button and an hourglass appeared. "I'm creating the model now. It doesn't usually get it quite right the first time but I have a few tricks to improve it."

An image finally appeared on the screen. Julia leaned over his shoulder to get a better look. "What the hell is that?" she asked. The object looked vaguely wooden in texture but it had odd spikes and angles and looked nothing like the original bowl.

"Um. Yes." Steven looked embarrassed. "This is the albedo problem I mentioned earlier. Reflections confuse the software. But I can fix it by constraining it to a basic mesh shaped like the object."

He selected something which looked like the wire outline of a bowl and processed the image again. This time, the resulting image looked almost exactly like the original bowl.

"Hey, that's pretty cool," Julia said. "But what is the advantage of that image over the original photos you took?"

"You can't do this with a photo." Steven demonstrated by rotating the virtual bowl to show it from different angles.

Julia suddenly realised the possibilities. "Oh wow, you could use this to make a model of something you wanted to sell on TradeMe or Ebay. Potential buyers then view it from any angle they wanted," she breathed.

"Exactly. That's where you'd use the embedded flash I was talking about. It could be useful for any online retailer" he said eagerly.

"And people could use it to create virtual objects for games," she added.

Steven turned to face her and Julia suddenly realised how close they were. She had her hand on his shoulder and their faces were so close his hair tickled her cheek. He must have realized at the same moment because he suddenly turned bright pink.

Julia stood up hurriedly and stopped invading his personal space. She kept talking and pretended she hadn't noticed his embarrassment. "I think that's the angle you need to go for, Steven. Use your presentation to show management how useful this would be for online retailers and they'll be beating down your door to fund it."

Steven nodded and the color slowly faded from his cheeks. "Thanks, that's really good advice. Of course, I'll have to redo my presentation from scratch."

"You do that, and let me know when you're ready to go over it again," she smiled at him. "Now, can we try modeling something else?"

"Ok, what did you have in mind?"

"How about this book?" She picked a dictionary up off the shelf.

"I already did it," he replied. He opened a folder with dozens of pictures in it and showed her model of the book. "I've done pretty much every object in my apartment."

"Even Sasha?" she asked with a smile.

Steven shook his head and sighed. "I tried but the little minx won't sit still."

"Hmm. How about people. Could you do me?"

"You?" Steven looked surprised but considered it. "I don't have a person-shaped mesh yet but we could try it anyway."

Julia moved the little table out of the way and stood in front of the blue sheet. She struck a pose and pouted like a model in a magazine. "Ok, I'm ready!"

Steven laughed out loud and captured the ridiculous pose on camera. He checked the image on the camera screen and looked thoughtful. "I don't think your white top is going to work very well. It's very reflective," he observed.

"Are you trying to get me to take to my top off, Steven?" She frowned in mock seriousness.

"No, I would never...that's not what I meant," he stammered. He seemed alarmed at the accusation. Julia debated whether or not to make him sweat for a while longer but then felt sorry for him. "Relax, I'm just pulling your leg," she grinned.

Steven sighed in exasperation. "Well stop fooling around, or I won't make a 3d model of you!" He held up the camera and sternly instructed her to turn ninety degrees. "Yes, sir!" she said obediently. She turned side-on and repeated the pose. He barely managed to take another photo before they both succumbed to helpless laughter again.

Eventually they got photos of her in the same pose from every angle. "Now I need one from the top down," said Steven. He stood on a chair and took a picture of the top of her head. Then she watched as he downloaded the pictures to his computer. "Good god, my hair looks terrible," she said, mortified. It had gone all frizzy in the damp heat. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Don't be silly, you look beautiful," he said automatically. Then he did a double-take. "I mean, uh, in a professional kind of way..." He looked like he was about to blush again.

"Thanks Steven, you're really sweet. But I'm still deleting the evidence before I leave."

"If you like," he said amicably. He set up the images in the appropriate order and ran his program. Julia held her breath and waited for the model to appear.

She burst out laughing. "I look like I'm wearing a Madonna outfit drawn by Picasso!"

Steven looked a bit hurt. "I did say the white wouldn't work very well. Maybe you should have taken it off, after all." He fiddled around with the software and somehow pushed parts of the model into the correct shape and removed the spikes.

"That looks lot better," Julia said charitably. "You could have left those a bit bigger though." She pointed at her avatar's breasts. Steven drew in a sharp breath. "Let's not go there," he said firmly.

"Fine." She pouted. "But at least make my butt smaller."

"For the love of..." He slumped back in his chair in exasperation. "Are you always this demanding?"

She shrugged. "Probably. My last boyfriend moved to Sydney to get away from me." Julia suddenly realised what she'd just said and was completely mortified. How did that come out? She barely knew Steven but was acting like a complete air-head and telling him far too much about her private life.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. His blue eyes were full of sympathy.

"Don't be," she said shortly. "I'm over it."

"Even so, he must have been a total moron," Steven declared.

Julia decided a change of topic was in order. She gazed at the little 3d representation of herself on his screen. "Your software does seem to work just as well on people. It still needs a bit of work but there's another application for you."

"What, narcissism?"

"No," she laughed. "Online clothes shopping. People can upload their avatar with some measurements and dress it up to find clothes that suit them."

They discussed the possibilities for a while before Julia's stomach reminded her it was dinner time. Steven, reading her mind or perhaps hearing her stomach rumble, offered to call for some Chinese takeout. The steaming boxes of noodles were delivered within fifteen minutes and they sat on the couch to eat. Sasha was terribly curious about the delicious-smelling boxes and Steven had to scold her when she jumped up on the couch. She stayed on the floor after that but she still watched them intently.

"You've got a good view here," Julia noted, looking out the large window. Downtown Wellington was light up with brilliant reflections of the setting sun. "I guess that's one advantage of living in such a hilly city," Steven mused. "There are a lot of places with nice views."

Julia finished her noodles and Sasha took that as an invitation to jump on her lap. "Oh," she exclaimed. Sasha turned around a few times and then settled down, purring happily. "Sorry," said Steven. "Just push her off if you like."

"No she's fine." Julia stroked the cat, who purred even louder. But her phone rang suddenly and Sasha jumped off in alarm. Julia took it out of her bag and checked the caller id. It was Ben. "Sorry, this won't take long," she told Steven. He nodded quickly and she took the call.

"Hi Julia. It's Ben"

"Hi Ben. How are you?" she asked politely.

"I'm good. Really good. I've been thinking about you," he replied.

Julia glanced at Steven and saw he was still busy eating. "Yes, I had a good time too," she told Ben.

"Are you busy later in the week? We could grab dinner and a show or something."

Julia didn't need to ask what he meant by 'or something'. She felt a bit guilty about talking with him in front of Steven though. "I'm with a colleague at the moment," she informed him. "How about I call you back later?"

"Working late, huh? I'll wait for your call then. Goodnight, babe."

"Goodnight." She closed her phone. "Sorry about that," she said to Steven. "I don't mind, really," he reassured her. He looked curious but she didn't volunteer any information about Ben. She wasn't really sure how to refer to him at this stage, since one date hardly qualified him as her boyfriend.

Julia thought some more about the original topic of Steven's presentation. "Have you thought about what you're going to wear?" she asked. Steven finished his box of noodles and put in down. "Wear?" he asked, confused at the abrupt change of topic.

"When you're giving your presentation to management," she explained. "You should really wear something a bit more professional-looking than your usual clothes."