Students Blog

For this class, I’m going to experiment with researching how to make a scene interactive (really basic) and to try and get some of the elements to work, using draft models and cards in Maya. I’m going to keep it as simple as possible (probably just a nodal camera with tilt/rotate/maybe zoom on one backyard view.) What I hope to accomplish in the next month is:

SCHEDULE
10/1 – 10/7
- Research: how to make 1 backyard environment interactive
- Try a package such as Unity?
- 5D Conference
10/8 – 10/14
- Create list of what needs to be in environment
- Create pano sphere
10/15 – 10/21
- Rough layout -1 environment in Maya
10/22 – 10/18
- Test to see if any of the interactive stuff works

Rough style frames are included below, however, I'm assuming I'll have to not use photos and make pretty rudimentary models in order for any of this to work in real time. Am experimenting with structure instead of style here.

Posted by Amanda Tasse at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wireframe proposal for a new Gundam game:

1: Health Meter - In the shape of the Gundam one is piloting. At full health, registers as green, but will gradually shift towards red as damage is taken.

2: Thruster & overheat info: Two separate gauges going from blue to red within a larger indicator that itself will turn red if thruster shutdown by overheating imminent

3: Radar and enemy indication: Cutout is in the shape of the gundam head, where the sensors are located. Enemies will appear as dots in a traditional radar field within it.

4: Weapon info & remaining shots: Graphical display of current weapon and shots remaining

Sample:

Posted by Matthew Lee at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This looks interesting. They're breaking out the maps. Unfolded

Posted by Amanda Tasse at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What is the Interactive Component in the design?
An Animation Installation:
- A full-size re-creation of the corner of the attic from the film with cards pinned on the wall and scattered on a table &/or tucked away in shelves viewers can look through
- The digital animation is viewed through a life-size stereoscopic telescope or binoculars (examining close-up or internal things instead of far-away places). I might try to make a version that a viewer can explore in real-time

Intention For the Viewer:
Evoke empathy
Inspire curiosity

Process & Mark of Success:
A basic narrative structure is set up at the beginning to introduce the viewer to the character’s world. In this animation installation, the viewer can then browse physical documents - artifacts from the character’s life - as they examine his backyard environment digitally, through a telescope or binoculars. Success will be evaluated by the amount of time, ease, and attention that users devote to exploring the world. Additionally, it is important that viewers understand the basic overriding concept of the piece – a subjective portrayal of memory loss associated with aging.

Atlas:
PHYSICAL ARTIFACTS:
Cards pinned on a wall (possibly on a map) & stacked on a table or in drawers

EXPERIENCE:
Rummaging through someone’s mind as its parameters change

TABLE OF CONTENTS of CARDS:
Information & facts associated with dementia, memory loss, brain functions
Maps of External locations character has lived with dates on them – a key
Map of Internal Thoughts/ Knowledge Storage
- Drawings of the world – sketches character may have made with notations
- Lists that the character has made – memories, shopping lists, etc.
- Photos - strings attaching certain photos and documents to one-another
Physics – Traditional to surreal world
- Teleporting, ground rumbling & cracking, house breaking apart, characters appear flat &
- ghost-like, spatial relationships change
Time – Occurrence of a memory signaled by a surreal change in the environment
Stories – Simple dialogue interaction, talking to oneself, writing, drawing

ASSETS TO BE PRODUCED:
- Found Objects: Telescope or Binoculars, old photographic equipment
- Model of Installation: Digital or Physical
- Photos: Aged – Of landscape locations, stills or snapshots from the film
- Cards: Handwritten lists, Maps, Poems, Phrases, Sketches of places, Diary pages
- Digital 3D mock-up of environment with viewer navigation enabled

Posted by Amanda Tasse at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Halo 3 Gameplay Video - Multiplayer

* Why I like this game: As someone who has been a Halo fan since the first game came out (not Halo 2 as much, due to the cliffhanger "ending"), I enjoyed the combination of music, gameplay, and intense graphics. Halo 3, the final volume in this particular story arc of the universe, offers very smooth play, fast-paced action, and a very immersive audio environment. I particularly enjoyed the distance effects, where one could hear things like gunfire from very far away, building up the realism. And of course, the co-op and multiplayer modes were very well done, especially with the inclusion of the Forge.

Wireframe:

Wireframe analysis and the description:

1. Grenades - the number and types grenades you have available to you

2. Shield Strength - The most important indicator one needs to be aware of, equivalent to a health bar

3. Equipped Weapon & Ammo - The shape of the weapon one has, along with a count of how much ammo is in the weapon/how much reserve ammunition one is carrying

4. Radar - Shows enemies within 15m, with a bonus if they are moving

5. Team Score - During multiplayer, allows one to easily see how the each team is faring.

Posted by Matthew Lee at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

World Drawings

1. Working Title: INSIDE – OUT
To simulate the confusing cycle of memory loss & dementia associated with aging, the viewer is taken on a journey through one man’s mind as it deteriorates, turning inside-out on itself. Memories, represented by images & sounds from places he has lived, become jumbled, distorted, and disappear as he struggles to keep hold of reality.

Genre: Magical Realism
Media (Animation installation)

2. Place it:
Pictorial Landscape. The viewer travels through time, rather than physical space, as 4 separate locations are represented as overlapping stacked layers within one main world. The varied layers are revealed through animated changes in transparency, peeling away, ripping, objects falling through which break the picture plane, z-plane object depth distortions, disappearing & cracking layers, & change of viewer perspective using a lens enabler (i.e. telescope).
Locations:
1) Interior attic (look-out tower) of a house
2) Backyards - acre of land with surrounding wrought iron fenced off perimeter boundary
- Illusionary space of background matte paintings beyond the fence
- Beyond that, black space, revealed to be a floating world
a. Ohio (summer) – grass, a few trees, river rock path
b. Ohio (winter)
c. South Carolina – Spanish Moss trees, beach grass, dunes, marsh
d. Arizona – arid, desert, scattered chaparral

3. Audience.
Adults
An individual personal experience - could be viewed in group format
Part 1 – 3rd person POV – cinematic narrative
Part 2 – 1st person POV – looks like interactive narrative
Part 3 - 3rd person POV and/or lack of POV (dark space)
Agency: Viewer defines & colors their experience of the man’s perception through selection & association of provided supplementary materials – chance juxtaposition of complementary hard elements (physical cards, notes, drawings) with the film

4. Motivation – Intended viewer experience
- To enjoy a physical stereoscopic spectacle
- To imagine what it must be like for one’s familiar external and internal world to become jumbled and fall apart
- To take the viewer on an emotional journey from familiarity to confusion to peace
- To inspire empathy

Posted by Amanda Tasse at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)