Maya Churi

Thesis Paper

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:26:15 -0800

Creative Capital funded game...

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:03:33 -0800

The PATH ----- Launch Trailer from Tale of Tales on Vimeo. Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn’s (2006 Emerging Fields) Creative Capital supported game, The Path, is inspired by Little Red Riding Hood, set in the modern day. The player controls not one, but six incarnations of the red protagonist. A story about growing, choosing and losing, The Path does not offer the player challenge through complicated game rules or grand goals. There is one rule in the game, and it must be broken. There is one goal, and when you attain it, you die. The Path is a psychological trip that is highly unsettling to some and gloriously revealing to others. Will you choose the path of needles or the path of pins? For more information: Story website: http://grandmothers-house.net Trailer: http://ThePath-game.com Development Journal: http://Tale-of-Tales.com/ThePath/blog Game available at: http://Tale-of-Tales.com, http://www.direct2drive.com/, and http://store.steampowered.com/

Tree Animations

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:21:52 -0800

I've been working on the animations for The Tree this week. Take a look at the first one... Click Here for Animation

Woodwork update

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:15:05 -0800

Things are on track with the physical interface. The base is being put together now. We've decided to go with a simple pedestal for the base - which is different from the moulded plyood design I'd originally done. We made this, hopefully temporary, change to save time before the thesis show. The piece of plexi-glass you see below as cut to support the Tree controller. The cut-out is for the photoreflectors.

Tree Rings Cut - Final Physical Interface

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:34:38 -0800

The physical interface for The Tree has been cut! There were a few snags, mainly the 1 inch crack that occurred. Since we are cutting against the strongest grain of the tree - a choice we made in order to keep the look and feel of the tree slice - this was always a risk. Fortunately we can fix it.

Background Panorama 2

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:19:06 -0800

Happy New Year everyone! Lately I've been playing with stereocards as the potential backgrounds for The Tree. After discovering the piece of Ash that we will use for the physical interface I started thinking about how we can use the largest ring - the one with the bark - to control the backgrounds (the environmental history). Today I created a background using the stereocards. I am experimenting with the idea that the backgrounds could be controlled by the largest ring - moving in a circle much like the smaller "memory" animations that would match up with the figures in the background. Tree History Panorama

Rings - The Physical Interface

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:12:35 -0800

Today Gene and I found two slices of an Ash Tree. We can make 4 or 5 rings out of the two slices. The diameter being between 12 and 13 inches. These are beautiful pieces of wood. The rings are defined and the colors are rich. We also found two slices of maple - which is a harder wood - but the rings were not as strong and the colors muted. Hopefully the Ash will be strong enough to withstand the cutting process.

Tree Backgrounds

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 10:29:09 -0800

In my previous post I wrote about the physical interface prototype. Today I am working on the backgrounds for the animations. I've been experimenting with different backgrounds. I've done some pinhole photography and some flat color and texture designs but none of them felt right. I started thinking about history a little more and the stories that exist in pictures from the past - particularly in stereo cards which document a wide range of subjects. So, given that inspiration I went to the local flea market last Sunday and picked up a few. They tell some wonderful stories about trees, people, what people take from trees, the environment and war. I did some basic tests with the animation I already had (the background images have not been touched up. Take a look at two versions. Single Background Double Background My thoughts are that if I imitate the starting point of a subject in the stereo card image it will give users a guide as well as create a cohesive story between the backgrounds and and the animations that take place. Here are two possible starting points. Turpentine Logger I love this image because of the way the soldier is looking at the "tree." I wonder what he's thinking. And wouldn't it be wonderful if he got up and carved something into the trunk of the tree? Solider And what about projecting in stereo?

Interface Prototype

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:24:08 -0800

Today I went to visit with Gene, a friend and woodworker who is building the physical interface for The Tree. He created a three-ring prototype to figure out the best way to get the rings to move and to play with different types of wood. We discovered a few things during this visit. 1) It won't be possible to use an actual cross-section of a tree as the act of cutting apart and drilling into it will weaken the wood (most wood when used is cut length wise not across as I had initially wanted). We went to a wood shop and figured out that we have two choices. We can either use a piece of Baltic Birch plywood or a single piece of maple. The choice between the two is purely aesthetic. The plywood will have a more "modern" look and the maple could potentially be more organic feeling and looking. I am leaning toward the maple but have yet to make a decision. 2) The rings, the way they are currently put together, do not move completely independent of each other. This was a concern that Andreas had brought up when I discussed the original mechanics with him. Currently, there are ball bearing balls in between the wood pieces. It would require the user holding some rings steady while turning others. Watch the video This is of concern to me but also interests me. There could be some positive outcomes of this mechanic. Firstly, it would promote cooperation between users and secondly, it would force users to think about what they were doing before taking action. I won't know specifics until the prototype rings can control an actual animation which will happen sometime in January. Andreas had made another suggestion which was to have each ring attached separately to the pole in the middle that holds the ring up with ball-bearings. The challenge with this is that the sensors would have to be far away from the circuit to which they are attached by long wires. I am worried that this will make them less stable. If anyone has any thoughts on this let me know. 3) 5 rings may be too much. The prototype is 3 large rings. I am considering keeping it at three or making it four with a fifth ring in the center which does not turn. As I finish storyboarding this holiday I hope to have a better sense of the right amount. Gene at work in his shop:

The Tree

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:33:24 -0800

Over the past few weeks I've done a number of experiments to determine how the tree "sees." I created a digital pinhole camera and took a series of photographs then experimented placing inverted photograms onto the pinhole images. The effect is that of a "burn," much like a memory burned onto the tree's rings. Each burn represents a moment in time, caught in a silouette snapshot. Throughout this process I've continually thought about the affordances of the tree. I kept asking, "What does the tree control?" And I kept coming back to one thing, "The tree controls its memories." The core idea is that the "tree" (in the form of you, or I) can control these various burned memories, placing them into its field of view - much like a stage - and the various memories will interact, irregardless of scale (which changes depending on the size of the tree when the memory happened). Animations affect change of the subsequent memories. For example, if a mouse comes across a dandelion it bumps into it and the seeds blow away. The next time the dandelion is placed on the stage there are twice as many. If the mouse did not bump into it there would only be one the next time around. The memories will explore the collision of cultures - plant, animal, human - and our effect and dependence on one another. There will also be magical moments, taken from stories and mythologies, that work their way into the life of the memory.

a Tree - Directed Research week 1

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:45:50 -0800

Andreas Kratky and I met last Friday to discuss the structure of my Directed Research which will focus on creating Experiment Cases related to my Thesis. These Experiment Cases will serve as technical and design prototypes in an effort to figure out what works and doesn’t work in experiencing the life of a Tree. The main focus of the Experiment Cases will be the senses that a tree experiences, from the scale of time to the sense of sight, to how sound is perceived. Experiment Case #1, Play with Time. How does a tree perceive time? Fred Rochlin, a writer and performer, once told me that as you get older (he was 72 at the time) life goes by faster. As a young person one year of your life is a larger percentage of the whole – so it passes slowly. As you get older, a year is a much smaller portion of the whole and therefore goes by faster. If a Tree is five hundred years old, a few moments will pass in an instant and it’s memories might appear as fleeting thoughts or Déjà vu. How do people interact with time as a tree perceives it? Can they move things forwards and backwards? Can they slow things down and linger on a memory? We can choose what memories we want to linger on, can a tree linger? How can that control be manipulated? What if a tree, whose memories pass by with such a quickness that it is hard to determine what is happening, can choose what moment to stop the flood of images and rest? Experiment Case #2, Play with Sight. How does a tree see? Is it in color, black and white, shadow, texture? Trees have no eyes, but we know that you don’t need eyes to see, our other senses create images as well. What are the senses of the tree that make up an image? What is the visual eye through which the three sees? Do they see through the eyes that dot the trees trunk and branches? Do they see through their leaves? Up, down, front, back, everywhere. Does a tree see everything? If each leaf serves as a sensor to an image, are the images in duplicate like the sight of a fly or does the brain of the tree put the images together to create a whole? How does a tree see memory? The shadow picture – That shadow is the memory that lingers, there is meaning in the shadow. Experiment Case #3, Play with Sound. Layers of sound. I want to have a series of audio files that start and stop depending on the movement of the tree and it’s environment. There are sounds... ants crawling on the tree, the leaves blowing in the wind and even external factors such as another tree being cut down. Those sounds I want to be created through instrumentation (as opposed to real audio of events). In Camille Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals the instrumentation mimics the movements of the animals such as birds. I want to experiment with instrumentation that mimics the experiences of the tree. Then I want to layer the music, one sound on top of another. I love the instrumentation in Arthur Russell’s This is How we Walk on the Moon because of the layers that build through the piece. Experiment Case #4, Play with Fabric. There has to be a divider that separates our world from the world of a tree. Andreas put it succinctly when he said the fabric serves as “a membrane between the two worlds.” The point at which you enter the world of the tree. I am drawn to, (I do not know the proper name) the carnival attractions where one puts their head through a hole and onlookers see you as whatever image is painted around that hole. A frog, a fish, a witch, a bird. If I take that concept and reverse it so that one would put their head through the hole and they would then be entering the other world, a black box or a dark room, like another dimension where you experience the life of the tree.
Notes on the experience: Seasons and landscape changes The colleagues of the tree Umwelt of a tree Potential meaning of how memories relate to eachother What does the tree know? Is it important what order these things happen? How do I formulate the translation of the senses of the tree? Sense of space? Above ground and underground The idea of growth Notes on story: Event A leads to event B and event B has to be the outcome of event A. We have to know why things happen.

The cardboard tree trunk

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:25:12 -0800

Since a towel wrapped around my feet and legs evoked such a sense of stability I thought that extending that stability to the entire torso would enhance the sensation but actually it had the opposite affect. I took a large cardboard box, scored it on the outside and wrapped around myself and a few others. The box wasn't snug so it didn't feel secure (one of my testers even fell over - like a tree falls). Even if it was snug I don't think it would have the same sensation unless our feet were grounded to the middle of the shins - making sure we wouldn't tip. But even then, it might not be necessary at all.

One hour under a tree...

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:30:20 -0800

...and what I saw there. There are spider webs all over the tree. Webbing from leaves to branches - maybe moths? Nest. A bird flew out when I touched the tree. Outside of tree is green and lush. From underneath the leaves aren't so bright. Droopy. You can see a lot more detail of the branches. The parrots in the tree next to this one make a lot of noise. They come in packs, eat the fruit from the tree, drop the shells to the ground and leave. The hummingbird also comes and sits and rests. The tree provides a lot of shade. The sun shines through the leaves. There are eyes on the tree from where branches were cut or broken. The fruit the tree provides for the birds and other animals. When the fruit gets too heavy because it isn't picked off, it weighs the tree down. It becomes droopy. As soon as the fruit is picked the tree perks up. Dead leaves that fall to the ground. The sound of the leaf falling and hitting the ground. What if something fell from tree and could be collected? Could many leaves be made - each with some sort of interactive componant to the leaf? What would we do with it? What would we want to do with it? What if people could take them home? Would people bring them back and if so what would the significance be of bringing them back be? While under the tree I started thinking about the mythology of trees. Their significance in story and the historical purposes they have served. I'd like to start a resource of when and where trees have appeared in story and in historical context. If you remember any, share them. And if you have any personal stories - let me know. Have you ever been to the Treaty Oak in Austin? You can read about its history.

What could make us feel like a tree?

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:13:27 -0800

A few days ago I asked a couple of kids to come over and show me what they would look like if they were a tree. I didn't give them much instruction. More than anything I wanted to see what they would come up with on their own. The results were interesting: one did a yoga tree pose and another looked up at me and said, "Why would I be a tree?" After a little prodding and discussion of what a tree looks like they loosened up and made some tree-like gestures. For the first round, the kids were free to do what they wanted with their arms and their legs. But given this freedom I found that they were constantly trying to balance their top half with their bottom half. I then wrapped a towel around their legs and everything changed. They became more experimental with their arms, suddenly, the top half of their bodies seemed free. The limitations put upon their bottom half, liberated their top. After the kids left I did the experiment with myself and when I wrapped the towel around my legs I felt completely different. It felt as though I was standing in a foundation that provided me with stability that allowed me more flexibility with the rest of my body. If the legs are stable and feel well supported it seems to allow one to let go of that part of the body and no longer think about it, which frees up the senses to focus elsewhere.

Thesis Notes on Storied Experience

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:16:33 -0800

Here are some notes on my thesis - the idea and the experience. Special thanks to Mike, Ethan and Al for their creative input... The goal of my thesis is to create a multi-sensory experience in which the participant can understand/percieve/feel what it is to be another living thing. Essentially becoming/transforming into the other. Through the Storied Experience participants can learn, sense and eventually come to understand what it feels like to perceive the world from the other’s perspective. In the simplest terms, I would like to explore how we can use advanced technology as well as simple science to create a layered experience that gives us the impression that we, as well as our senses, have changed. The participant will be given visual, auditory and tactile cues based on the cognitive understanding and instinct of the chosen entity. Perhaps gesture can play a part as well. (Scope - TBD). Thoughts...we can't change our mass but we do have materials at our disposal that can give the perception that our mass has changed. Oobleck, for example, can easily give the perception of walking on water - much like the Basilisk Lizard can. How does story work its way into this understanding? How can story enhance perception? And, when working in tandem can story and perception create a uniquely rich and profound experience. In the case of this thesis the perspective will be of either a crow or a tree. Why a crow and why a tree? They are both characters in the children's story I am writing - which is an integral part of the project. But, my goal is to create a format or structure by which the methods used to create the experience could be used for any living thing. Some questions: How does affordance work its way into this? How do I articulate the affordances of a crow or a tree? How do I differentiate between anthropomorphism and science in this context? Do I have to differentiate? Does the integration of story lend itself solely to anthropomorphism? American Heritage Dictionary – Anthropomorphism – Attribution of human motivation, charactersitcs, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals or natural phenomena. Does the project have to be untainted by anthropmorphism…can anthropmorphism be attributed on some level to human instinct – why is it given so little voice? A bird ascribed human charactersitcs or a human ascribed bird characteristics…maybe we just have similar characteristics.