More playing around with ideas...

I have messed around on 3DS max even more today... Didn't do any sketches but managed to get straight stuck into it with my idea using glasses.

So far I have produced a simple glasses shape, although I couldn't figure out how to remove the lens area, so just used a cube shape of the background colour. I also added some eyes to animate through the glasses. This follows my previous simple, cartoony style.

Screenshot time...

3ds max - hmm...

If I am brutally honest, now I have installed the program onto my laptop and attempted to follow tutorial videos and produce an object other than a basic shape or text... I am not liking it too much. Very confusing. I am a bit baffled on how to come up with an idea and make it on this program in 3 weeks... It will probably take me that long to figure out how to make one of the shapes I want?

Hmm indeed...

Anyway, this is very rubbish and took me hours (surprisingly) but I tried to produce a very poor, cartoon style face on 3ds max. I also animated it floating forwards and to the sides.. As with my other example though, I have no idea how to get my rendered images into an actual animation or video file. I will look into this this week I think.

Screenshots of this:    (the rendered images were a bit pale... no idea why to be honest!)

I would like to figure out how to make glasses on there actually. To avoid facial features, I think a good way of representing myself could be to do with my glasses or hair. These are what people seem to notice about me first... Oh joy. :P I will sketch some ideas for this theme tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Animation Project.

So, I was given the brief for my new project in DP1 today - 3D animation.

My main task is to produce a television ident for a channel/station based on myself and my social networking sites. (e.g. Facebook, Twitter...)

Here are examples of existing televsion idents using 3D animation that I quite like...






In my first seminar yesterday, I learned the basics of 3Ds max (the software I must use in this pathway) to make a simple animation of the word "JELLY" jumping and bouncing on the floor (in a jelly-like fashion - clever much?

I couldn't figure out how to put my rendered stills together an animation on Premiere Pro yesterday, and do not have this software at home (maybe I shall find a way at some point haha), so here are a few of the 100 rendered stills from the animated sequence...

My Interactive Space (online!)

Here is the URL for the start of my interactive space on Making New Maps. (http://www.makingnewmaps.com/ is the homepage for my peers' work)

http://www.makingnewmaps.com/maps/Samantha_Freeman/index.html

Hope you like it! I may change this further to make it more interactive before my final presentation in week 20 :)

Thankss.

Interactive Space Rationale

My main idea in this project was for my images to act like a first person activity where they can walk around a house. I also wanted to bring a sense of mystery through using cut outs (doorways) to hide what was coming next, as well as giving the images a dark mood and including quite interesting uses of typography. I am quite interested in this darker style of design and film, particularly animation by Tim Burton. For instance, his dark, gothic style of typography in his work inspires me, as well as a dominant use of black and dull colour tone throughout some of his imagery.



In my first idea/attempt at linking pages, I gave the user total choice of which part of the house to go to. For instance, they would go through the front door, then get a choice of 3 pathways and then 2-4 choices beyond these. I also included links back to the original hallway to carry on the exploration.

I showed this version in my seminar group presentation with Simon, and it was brought up that this was quite confusing and frustrating as a strategy of getting around the pages. It was also mentioned in other presentations that it would be a good idea to give the user a reward for progressing correctly (e.g give my sequence an actual end, rather than just linking in random orders).

I did this by only giving each image a maximum of 2 choice hotspots, so my sequence wasn't too complex or confusing for the user. Although this meant, after the first few pages, my interactive space is quite linear in structure (not many choices for the user to make), I think this was more successful than my previous attempt, as it is more obvious what is needed to progress to the end. I also made sure the end page didn't give a link back to the hallway, but only to "play again" in the corner. I think this was a good way of rewarding the user - by suggesting they have completed the "game", as it were.

Last Seminar...

So today I have my last seminar for this part of the Design Practice 1 module (Interactive Space). I have just about finished my interactive sequence using HTML and am almost ready to submit my folders to be uploaded onto the Making New Maps site. I think its been quite successful, and have recently added typography to my images as well as desaturating them slightly, which I think has added more effect. I also think the use of hidden hot spots (links) in my images is more effective than my previous versions with borders on the "hover" style instruction.

Here is a preview of the first 3 images before the choices kick in!

Interactive Narrative in "Heavy Rain - Move Edition"

I recently posted here for my Context 1 module about the new Playstation Move feature on the Playstation 3. Yesterday after uni, I purchased the "move edition" of the well known game "Heavy Rain".

This game is based on interactive narratives and choice making, which I have grown an interest in since starting my current Interactive Space project in Design Practice 1. Having seen my boyfriend play the regular version of the game on Sunday, I really liked the idea of its interactivity and thought the move edition would add to this player involvement.

Although I have only just started this game, I am finding it really interesting and a great inspiration for this current topic. It's also much less typical in style and artwork than other popular games I have come across (First person shooters, motor racing, mafia, etc.) I think this could be also be influential when I go onto my next project - 3D animation.

My Multimedia.

This week, for my Context 1 module, I have been given the task to write about a recent piece of multimedia that interests me. So, seeing as I use my Playstation 3 practically everyday, I have chosen to focus on the new "Playstation Move" feature.

I have owned my Nintendo Wii for approximately 2 years (since whenever it was first released) and was really excited at the time about the interactivity of the Wii remote. However, after finishing my college course I decided to purchase a Playstation 3 for the higher quality of game graphics (Blu-ray powered HD) and to play online games such as Modern Warfare 2 (Call of Duty), LittleBigPlanet, and Modnation Racers. Although these games aren't as interactive as some on the Wii, I thought they were much more realistic and visually pleasing.

When I heard about the Playstation Move I couldn't wait to get it, as it brought together my favourite aspects of both consoles. Unlike the Wii's sensor bar strategy, the Playstation Move controller is tracked using a USB camera. The end of the "remote", as it were, lights up a certain colour, and this is picked up on the camera, as well as the user themselves. This is much more accurate than the previous option chose by Nintendo, and gives much more realistic gameplay. (See video above!)

I am really pleased with the product so far and can't wait for them to bring out new compatible games. I think this shows where gaming is heading, and soon we could all be moving around our living rooms to control a variety of games. Could this be the end of the original, gamer-style controllers, though? I should think not!

Interactive Space Latest - HTML!

So, this week I have learned the basics of HTML coding and CSS styling stuff. To be honest, I remember not liking it at school (so long ago though!) so wasn't expecting to like this subject area, but actually quite enjoyed it. :o

I am liking how this project is not boring typical web design like I was expecting this specialism to involve. The interactive aspect and the use of photography/Photoshop has made me quite enjoy what I have produced so far, despite really wanting to do animation.

Anyway... HTML.. What do I know?

<html>
<head>
<body>
<br> <b> <i> <u>
<a href="...">
<img src="...">

That's all I can think of, but the site http://www.w3schools.com/ is a great help when making my pages.  I have also learned how all these tags must be nested within each other to work, as well as about hexidecimal colour codes (#FF0000).

I found HTML a lot easier on Dreamweaver as it was more visual and the colour coded parts did make it easier to figure out!

Looking forward to completing the interactive site next week!

Sayonara.

Photographs. (:

These are the photographs I took yesterday for my Interactive Space project. I think they follow my previously drawn out plans very well actually! :o I have posted them in the same order as the narrative tree thing I posted before this.. so, yeah, quite complicated to visualise, but you can try to follow that! (Basically the doors and main objects in each picture would be clicked on - e.g. click on the stairs area to go upstairs or click on the fridge in the kitchen to retrieve the lucozade!!)

I have played around with "levels" and "hue/saturation" tools mainly on Photoshop to enhance these pictures. I have also reduced/cropped them to a 1024x768 size, as this is the size (I think!) they need to be on the final webpage.

Enjoy.

Rough sketches..

Emphasis on the "rough"! (:

Firstly, here is a rough idea of how my interactive narrative could work. I have drawn this in a tree-style diagram, showing how each of my numbered images would link together.

Here are some very quickly drawn initial storyboarded ideas. These are just to give me an idea of what and where to photograph tomorrow. Basically it (very roughly!) shows progression through different doors and rooms inside a house.

I now have an idea of what I will take pictures of and bring to my seminar on Tuesday. I doubt I will totally stick to this plan but at least I have a very rough idea how to go about it. :D

Interactive Space Project...

So, I have experimented with 3 short sequences of my own photographs in my first week of this mini project. Now it is up to me to produce at least 15 images for my final interactive sequence on the "Making New Maps" website.

To be honest, I am still not totally sure of what I will produce for my next seminar on Tuesday afternoon, but I have quite a good idea... I think.. (:

Although I think my second and third sequences on my previous post were more effective photographically, I think my first example using door ways and a more dramatic approach is one I would like to experiment with more. Therefore, my main idea I will try and produce this weekend is taking the idea of pathways in interactive webpages and representing them with doorways and hallways inside a house.

For example, I could start with an image of the exterior/front of a house, then take images of doorways and what appears behind each one. This idea could work well if the viewer could click on the door or handle themselves to access new areas/images.

I have also considered different ideas involving shadows, processes (drink/food?) and character interaction from suggestions in my previous seminar, but think I will firstly try my own idea and see how well it works. I will now sketch out what I plan my 15+ images to be and include, and then I will photograph them tomorrow when I go to my boyfriend's house (it is a lot bigger than my bungalow! haha :D)

Will upload some sketches and images when I have produced them. (:

Visual Storytelling.

Here are three sequences of my own photographs based on the topic of "Visual storytelling".



This sequence was based on the visual strategy of cut-outs and negative space. I used doorways and corners inside a simple hallway, which I also think adds tension.



My second sequence's main visual strategy is a reduction in colour richness, but also experiments with scale/zoom and linking through association.

My final sequence mainly uses the strategy of action-action-reaction, but also has a strong, consistant use of flat colour fields (blue).



 
 

My Design Process.

To help with my context module, I am recording my typical use of the design process, using my final major project from my BTEC National Diploma as my main example. My final piece was a short flash animation promoting awareness and support for depression sufferers. I also produced a range of storyboard designs to complement my animated piece.

Firstly, I chose a main theme of narrative imagery, where I would use animation and imagery to show action and/or emotions. This led to me basing my initial ideas on pictures telling stories and incorporating photographs and picture frames into my work. Therefore I photographed and sketched such things for primary research. Secondly I had to mind map subjects to base my animation and storyboard imagery on. Depression and mental health was my favoured issue to promote, therefore this was something I looked into in great detail. For example, I researched and contacted a charity I chose to use in my work, as well as looking at existing imagery for similar purposes.

The main part of my research and idea development was looking closely at artists whose work I admired. For instance, two of my main influences were Tim Burton and Benoit Guillaume, and I used this research to come up with illustrative styles to use in my animation and storyboards. I used these developed styles to influence my ideas, which I developed from my initial storyboarded ideas from the start of the project. From these, I chose my final ideas and started to produce rough animations and storyboards. This involved firstly hand-drawing my imagery, then scanning it in, manipulating it, and putting it together on Adobe Flash. These rough pieces of work gradually became my final outcomes as I tweaked them after frequent evaluation of my work. (This happened everytime I made a major change to my work and its appearance).

Storyboard Design 1

Storyboard Design 3



Linear Background - Ink Wash



Original Figure Drawings

My Flash Animation

Just to show the finished product...

Here is the final edit of all of the group's whiteboard animations from induction week.
Enjoy.

Induction Activities - Whiteboard Animation & Pinhole Cameras

As part of my induction week before starting my Multimedia course, I did a couple of group based activities to get into the swing of things, which helped learn skills as well as being fun!


The first activity I did was a group whiteboard animation. I have done a lot of stop motion animation previously in my college course, but had forgotten how laborious the process can be. :) However, it was a fun exercise to do with exciting outcomes and I look forward to doing more animation in the coming months!

This animation by Kristofer Ström is called Minilogue/Hitchhiker's Choice and was one we looked at before producing our short animations. I really liked how the animator has shown drawings being altered and transformed into each other, as well as the way he uses his hands to give an illusion of him pulling his drawings away from the board.




 
The second activity we did a day later was producing a pinhole camera from a 500ml can. To do this, I cut the top off the can; made a totally blacked out lid using paper and tape; made a pinhole in the side of the can; and made a simple shutter over this hole using a black piece of tape.

Here is my finished camera! :D

Once this camera was produced, I went into the dark room and curved photographic paper around the inside of my 500ml can pinhole camera. (Doing this, making sure the shiny, sensitive side was facing away from the surface of the can, and that the gap in my paper was where my pinhole was! Very important stuff.)

I then replaced the lid and shutter tape and went out into the Arboretum to take a quick photo. To do this I placed the camera on a sturdy surface (this happened to be a bin) and opened the shutter (removed tape from pinhole to be precise) for approximately 11-12 seconds, before replacing the shutter. This had exposed my paper to the image. Now it was ready to develop!

This meant going back into the dark room (making sure not to remove the lid at any point, of course) and placing the paper into developer, stop, fixer and water. My negative image was now printed.

After this I quickly dried my negative image under a hand dryer before scanning it into Photoshop, where I inverted it and altered the brightness and contrast until I was satisfied with its quality.

Here is my finished outcome. Despite the apparent chemical marks, not too bad for a first attempt, yes? :)