DSDN 144 Weekly assignments

Slow and Fast Shutter Speed

For my Slow Shutter speed photo I took it at my local beach. I set the shutter speed to 8 seconds and while the photo was being taken i moved the camera slightly to get a sort of distorted look to the photo.

For my Fast Shutter speed i took a photo of me dropping the 10 cent piece into my bathroom sink. I like this photo because it shows some of the splash just as the coin hits the water

MDDN 241 Project 1 Progress

I am getting near the end of my animation and i am liking how it is looking. After the shattering i bought all 4 pieces together to the same point and it looked somewhat like a raindrop.
The raindrop was what i thought of for my first concept and was inspired by Jason Deamers work in WALL-E. I think it would be cool if this is what i end up freezing at the end of my animation and use the ice material which i got early on

MDDN 241 Project 1 Progress

In my animation i have just finished the shatter scene. This scene was quite difficult to animate because of the fact that you cant animate an object that already has a gravity field on it. If i did animate it then it would completely ignore the gravity field and start the entire animation where i would want to animate the object.

To get around this i duplicated the ball in the spot where it stops in the hole. This happens at frame 337 so on the object with gravity i turned the visibility on until 336 and turned it off at 337 for the rest of the animation. For the duplicated object its visibility is off up to 336 and on at 337.
This lets me then animate the new object and keep the gravity working for the original object.

The shattering part was quite challenging to animate. I used the shatter tool to break it into 4 pieces and then i animated each of the pieces.  I had to keyframe the 4 peaces at several places along the times line to when its stops because it was traveling in a horizontal line and sometimes disappeared under one of the hills of floated over the holes. So i have to make it that it was skimming the surface of the plane.

DSDN 144 Project 1 Hand in

Finals

After looking through all of my photos which i took in my second and third photo shoot i have figured out the set of photos which i think show my narrative the most.

I chose these four because i believe that these four which show the idea of lifelessness because i think these four show the deserted and lonely place. I think in my photos it does show that there is no life in this station.

I think that I did quite well for my first ever photography assignment. I think that the four photos which I picked out from my shoots are the best to show the lifelessness of the station. All four of my photos came from my third shoot but some of the shots were inspired by ones which I liked from my second shoot. In the end I decided to shoot my photos in colour because I think that it adds a bit more meaning to my photos and helps show some of the more smaller details of some of the photos. Lighting at the station was quite hard to try and control for my shoots because of the lights at the station but I think that after playing around with the aperture and shutter speed I eventually managed to get a good look. There were several aspects of this project which I found quite hard, first was trying to get a day which wasn’t raining so I could take my photo, but also try and show what I wanted to show. I am glad that I did it when I did because I went by it the other day and they were completely cleaning the entire station to make it look new. But overall I am very happy with how my four finals came out and I am looking forward to experimenting more with light in the third project

CCDN 271 Assignment 1 Hand In

CCDN 271, Assignment 1

Assessing and critiquing sources                           

The Everyday essentially means the things that we use everyday, mostly things that we take for granted and have used them so much that it has just become habit for us to use them. Donald A. Norman (2004) talks in his book called ‘Emotional design: why we love (or hate) everyday things’, he talks about the emotional connection which people have with everyday objects which they own.

The book starts off with Norman discussing the fact that he has a collection of three teapots at his home. One of them is completely unusable because it has a broken handle, the second and third are useable. But he goes on to say that he doesn’t use any of the three when he makes his tea. He says that the reason why he keeps these 3 teapots even though Norman (2004) doesn’t use them, is because ‘I value my teapots not only for their function for brewing tea, but because they are sculptural artwork’ (pg4).

What Norman writes about in his book is greatly linked to my research topic of the everyday. I chose this book because he talks about how the things we use in our everyday lives might not be very practical (like the three teapots) but are things that we are attached to because they have a symbolic meaning or a emotional connection to us.

Norman adds several personal experiences of his in his book, he gives the example of when he got his first computer which had a black and white screen and once he got his first colour monitor, Norman (2004) realized that ‘color added no discernible value for everyday work. Yet I refused to give up the color display’ (pg9).  This demonstrates even more evidence which relates to my topic. That the everyday objects which we use like colour computers and broken teapots might not be practical to use, but we still keep them around because we love them.

He also goes on to talk about how it’s not only emotion that is a major factor in the everyday, but another major theme is the behavior of the human subconscious. Our subconscious is something which greatly affects the everyday things we use. We are now so used to doing the same thing everyday that we subconsciously do things automatically without realizing them. An example of this is when you get up out of bed in the morning. Most people repeat the same routine every morning that they now do it without even thinking about it.

The things Norman says in his book will help me with my research topic as he covers why we use our everyday objects over other objects which we can get that are used for the same things. Not only that, but Normans book will also help me because he uses a lot of his own examples in his book which I can quote in my research paper.

Bibliography

Norman, Donald A.. "Prologue." Emotional design: why we love (or hate) everyday things. New York: Basic Books, 2004. 3 - 1

DSDN 144 project 1 Third Shoot

In my second shoot there were some photos which i liked but not enough to put into a good collection.

So i decided to go back to Linden station and do a third photo shoot.

This time all of the photos are in colour. There are many of the same photo but they are slightly different because i was changing the shutter speed and aperture.

Open publication - Free publishing - More design

DSDN 144 Mini World

For my mini world i used the same images i used for my Panorama.
There are several of the same mini world layered on each other to get rid of the line where the 2 ends of the panorama meet.

MDDN 241 Project 1 Progress

I have made my new scene and added the gravity field into my scene. I think that it makes my animation look much better than it did from my original idea. 

Because i am using the gravity field and i want to ball to stop bouncing at a specific spot I made the plane have hills and holes so that the ball will bounce into one of the holes and then stop in the same place each time.

MDDN 241 Project 1, Progress

I have decided to slightly change my idea for this  project because after playblasting the entire animation i didn't really like how it turned out.

I have also figured out how to use the gravity field which will then give me more of a realistic bounce on my ball. 

What i have decided to change more is that after my ball bounces a few times it will stop and then start to form a sort of lava crust around it. I have chosen this image for my material.

After it hardens it will start to crack and then shatter into several pieces which will them merge back together into another form and then freeze like i planned it to do originally

MDDN 241 Project 1 Progress

Shatter

The final part of my animation is for the object to shatter into several pieces. In maya there is a shatter effect which i can put onto my object which will break it into several different pieces.

I like this Shatter tool because it will help with my animation quite a bit. But animating each of the pieces was that hardest part and to get them to go in a motion which they would do in real life is also quite difficult

MDDN 241 Project 1 Progress

The next stage of my animation is my model melting so thats what I animated next. Using a Lattice Deformer i managed to change the form of my object from a ball to a puddle and then to a deformed looking object.

I kind of like this but I know i can work on this a lot more. I want to try and make to act more like a liquid and for it to ripple on the ground and also when its in the air.

DSDN 144 Second Shoot

For my second shoot i decided to do the train station idea.

I want to shoot the photos when there are no people around and the only time when that is, is at night time.

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These are all the photos I took during this shoot. Some are bad quality because i was trying to find out which is the best settings to use for this shoot.

I decided to take some in black and white as well because i think it adds a more scary / silent feel to the images

MDDN 241 Project 1 Progress

Materials

I have found some images which i am thinking of use for my materials for this project. I only really need to get 3 different materials.

1. Metal

2. Liquid 

3.Ice

For the metal material i found an image which i really like and i'm thinking of using my my actual one

I like it because it already has a metallic glow to it and it also wraps around a ball quite easily

For the liquid material i found that maya already has a material called water so i am thinking of just using that and playing around with the colour and some other attributes 

I found 3 different ice materials which i might use. It all depends on how it looks like with the transition from one material to another

I have put all of my materials and also the water material onto 5 balls in maya to see what they look like.

I also added a bump map onto the 3 ice materials because for my final I don't want to know that they are a smooth object but the object before it was quite crusty and has frozen in time

DSDN 144 project 1 second proposal

Project 1

Space

Because i changed my idea i have decided to do a second proposal

The Space I am exploring is Linden Train Station. I want to show that Linden station is a dark and lifeless place. When walking off the train late one night I saw that it was quite a scary place and lifeless place which people think twice before going there at night.

There are several view points which I think would help me show the dark and lifelessness of the station which I am hoping to be able to get to. Because i want to show that it is dark and lifeless I am going to shoot at night time which is going to be difficult because I haven't done night shooting before. I am also planning on shooting in black and white to show a more darker tone to my images.  

MDDN 241 Project 1 Progress

I have done some playing around with maya and i think that i have got the basic concept for how to use it down.
This first thing which i have done is testing on how i can make the ball bounce. So using the data i got from when i tested bouncing a golf ball in my garage i made this simulation.

I dont really like the way in which the ball bounces in this simulation because I don't think that it looks very realistic and it looks like its being forced back up after the bounce.

MDDN 241 project 1, Testing

For my project 1 i am going to start off with a ball which will bounce several times before melting

I want to try and get the ball to bounce as realistically  as possible which means that the height in which the ball bounces will decrease as time goes on. To figure out the approximate rate in which it decreases i set up a experiment in my garage. I set up a piece of wood and marked it with 5cm distances on it. I then dropped a golf ball at the 1 meter mark until it stopped bouncing. 

The results are that 

after the first bounce it will go to the height of about 0.80 meters

after second = about 0.60 meters

after third = about 0.50 meters

after fourth = about 0.40 meters

Fifth = about 0.30 meters

sixth = about 0.20 meters

seventh = about 0.15 meters

eighth = about 0.10 meters

ninth onwards is about 0.02 meters less each bounce until it stops

It also took about 8-9 seconds for the ball to come to a complete stop from the 1 meter mark

DSDN 144 project 1 Artist Models

Sixth Artist Model

For my sixth artist model i wanted to find a photographer who uses black and white photos to show a lifeless setting.

I found a couple photos by Wayne Eddy. Thses two photos are using black and white and I belive show the feeling of lifelessness

In the photo I think the graffiti helps add the more meaning to my narrative. A lot of Graffiti artists do their work in abandoned places where no has been for a while. I know that at Linden Station there is often some graffiti on the walls and seats so if i take some photos with some graffiti in them but not making them the subject of the photo could help me get my point across.

In the Second photo I like that you can see the boats on the wharf but no one in them. I think that it shows that there would be some people there but not at the time of the photo. I cant show something like this in my photos becuase you can't see any cars or anything from the station but maybe if there are things which people have left behind at the station like rubbish, could help me somehow get a photo like this

DSDN 144 project 1 artist model

Fifth  artist model

Tom Page

My fifth  artist model for this project is Tom Page. I am looking especially at his lifeless portfolio.

Becuase i want to show my space as lifeless in my photos i think that these photos could help me get an idea on ways i could show lifeless

I like these photos because i think that they are showing a good sense of lifelessness. I especially like the second and last one because in the second one showing bags like that mean that someone is most probably leaving a place which would then make that place empty and lifeless.

I like the last one because it shows that there is no one to pick up the rubbish which has been left behind. At linden Station there is often quite a bit of rubbish lying around so i could use this to help me get my point across

DSDN 144 Artist Models for Second Shoot

Artist Models for Second Shoot

When looking for artist models for my second shoot i came across a group of photographers called Lostlosangeles. This group of photographers go around taking photos of abandoned and lifeless places. Not just plaecs which have been destroyed but also places which are still perfectly standing.

These 2 photos are taken at a amusement park when it is closed. These 2 are perfectly fine to use unlike the 2 bellow. These 2 photos show that to show the idea of lifelessness that the photo doesnt have to be taken at night or have anything wrong with the construction.

 
These 2 on the other hand have been destroyed. They were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The photographer wanted to show that even though these places have been destroyed that there is still some form of beauty in these photos.The graffiti on the walls mean that it hasnt been forgotten but just not many people visit as much as before Hurricane Katrina.

I like these 4 images because it shows the different means of lifelessness. For my project i am thinking of shooting my photos at night which is when there are less people at the train station and i think that the lighting from the station will also help in my photos

I am thinking of also shooting in black and white

I found a image of the ferris wheel in the first photo but in black and white

I think that the black and white added to the photo is a good touch. Nothing has changed from the photo and the one in colour. I think it adds a bit more darker ton to the image and that could work quite well for my second shoot

DSDN 144 Project 1 Change

Because i didnt like how the images from my first Shoot came out i decided to change my idea.

I have decided to shoot at linden train station. It is quite a old train station and gets quite a bit of abuse given to it like a lot of rubbish lying around and often gets graffitied. At night time it gets quite deserted and seems lifeless. That is what i want to try and show for my new idea. I want to show that at times Linden Station is a lifeless place.

MDDN 241 project 1 Progress

I have decided that i am going to do my raindrop idea to work on more for this project. I have thought of a possible change in it though to show more of a material change. I am thinking of getting rid of the raindrop and add a metal ball which bounces a couple times and then melts into the puddle of liquid. 

Everything from when it melts will stay the same. It will keep the idea of forming into a liquid object and then freeze. 

I think that this idea could help the idea that it is a change in material because in my original idea the material will somewhat always be water the whole way through.

DSDN 144 First Shoot photos

For my First Shoot i took photos at Aotea Lagoon.

These are the photos which i ended up taking

Open publication - Free publishing - More aotea

After taking some shoots i decided that i didn't really like the images which came out and i didnt think they were showing what i was trying to get across.

Because we haven't had that good weather this year i don't think that it would be possible to get a better day than it was on the day of my first shoot. And in Wellington it is quite windy which didn't help with me wanting the water to be calm

So i Decided that for my second shoot that i will do the Parking Lot idea or the Train Station 

DSDN 144 project 1 proposal

Project 1

Space

The space that I am exploring for my first project is Aotea Lagoon and I want to show the idea of peacefulness and relaxation. Aotea Lagoon is a very nice and quiet place where people go to just chill and relax. There are quite a few places in the lagoon where I want to shoot because I know that it will give me some very nice views around the lagoon.

To show the feeling of peacefulness I want to shoot during the day that is quite sunny and not many clouds in the sky. I think that it may be quite easy to show that the lagoon is peaceful because it is a nice quiet place.

I want to try and not get any body in the foreground of my images but maybe in the background. I want to show that the place is peaceful and not very crowded.

DSDN 144 project 1 artist model

Artist model 3

My Third Artist Model is Jim Crotty.

I wanted to see if the image was in black and white that if it would change how the scene looked and it could still be peaceful.

Jim Crotty does a lot of black and white photography and does many in places like the 3 images above. Many photographers use black and white to try and show a more darker tone in their work. But i believe that in these images it doesn't. Even in black and white there is still a sense of peacefulness in these images. In the second image you can see the sun rays shine onto the water which i think is a very good thing in this photo.

In my photo shoot i am probably going to do several photos in black and white to try and see if i get the same effect as the photos above

DSDN 144 Project 1 artist model

Artist model 2

My second Artist model is a New Zealand photographer called Chris Gin

Chris Gin does a lot of work during either sunrise or sunset. He also does a lot of work around rivers, lakes and the ocean. I think that the way he takes photos is quite interesting. The 3 photos about were all taken when the sky had a kind of maroon colour to it. I think that it adds a bit more emotion into the photo. He may be taking these photos during the 'golden hour' which would explain why he has such good lighting in this work.

Using the Golden hour could work quite well with me work because hopefully it would give the sky that maroon colour to it and then hopefully would give quite a nice reflection off the lagoon.

DSDN 144 Project 1 artist model

Artist Model 1


My First Artist model is Philip Hyde
He does a lot of landscape photography which is kind of what i am going to try and do for my first shoot.
Here are 3 of his photos which i really like and might just and use some of the things which are in his photos like reflections and lighting.

Early Morning, Lake Tenaya, Yosemite National Park, Sierra Nevada, California, 1975 by Philip Hyde.

I really like this photo because of the reflections in the water of the trees
Becuase i want my photos to look peaceful i am hoping to get some reflections off the water at Aotea Lagoon. I think that the reflection and the stillness of the water will help to viewer see that it is a nice and quiet place.

  Mt. Denali, Reflection Pond, Denali National Park, Alaska by Philip Hyde.

This is another photo which again uses reflection to help show the peacefulness of the scene. From what i have found it seems that when photos are taken when there is water invovled that it helps to get a reflection on the water. To get this i am going to have to go on a very nice day and for the water in the lagoon to be still which is quite hard in wellington.

  El Capitan, Clouds, Fall, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, 1973 by Philip Hyde

This photo has a slight reflection but not much because the water isnt taking up much to the scene unlike the other two photos which i have found. I think that this one is another good photo which shows peacefullness of the scene. What i think makes this photo look good is the stillness of the photo. The trees look completly still and it doesnt look like there has been any wind.


I am hoping to get some images similar to these photo but may be hard with Wellington weather, but i am really going to try 

MDDN 241 Project 1 Concepts

Concepts

For my 3D animation i have come up with 3 concepts which i am thinking of developing more using maya.

Concept 1

My first concept was inspired by designs done by Damien Hirst and Jason Deamer

These 2 were designed by Damien Hirst. What i got from these 2 objects wast that they both are completly solid objects. The Diamond Design on the skull to me shows that it is indestructible. Diamonds are something which i would like to try and use for my animation.
In the second object i really like the refractive and reflective properties of this object and that even though it is one object which i would assume is meant to be all the same colour, that because of the light and the surface around it that the colours have changed .

For my initial for i was looking at a design by Jason Deamer. The design which caught my attention was a design for the disney movie WALL-E.

 Even though i know that this object as made to be a robot I reminded me of a rain drop.

From the rain drop i managed to come up with my first concept

I want the inital form and material to be something organic but you cant really touch without destroying it and will eventually turn into something which would feel hard

(description of scene is on the image)

Concept 2

My ideas for my second concept again came from Jason Deamer. For this idea i wanted to try and make something look organic and alive

 These are two of Deamers incect designs.

I was thinking of doing something like this for my initail form for my second concept

I wanted to do something which is something that couldnt happen in the real world unlike my first concept

The material for this concept is to have to have it look alive. And will change into something which is a inanimate object and different from the starting form.

 Even though on the storyboard it says that it will start off as a worm i had ideas of differnt incects which i could use for my inital form which will behave in the exact same way as the worm in the story board

Concept 3 

Jason Deamer has been my main sourse for my precedents for this project.

Again i liked the work which he did on the movie WALL-E so i looked at more of his designs from that movie.

What i liked from this image is that you really know that this is a robot. For my final concept i like the idea of making something which would move and behave like a robot. 

I wanted to make the material solid and metalic and will turn into liquid which is will not only change in material but color aswell

Out of all 3 of these concepts i am most probably going to work on either concept 1 or 2 to use for my final animation.

DSDN 144 mindmap

Here is a mind map which i did for possible ideas i could do for project 1

At this moment i am more leaning towards doing my first shoot at Aotea Lagoon. This may or may not change depending on the shoots which i end up getting from my first shoot.

I also like the Empty parking lot idea which is what i would probably do if i don't like what i get from my first shoot.

DSDN 144 Project 1 - Panorama

Panorama

I decided to use aotea lagoon for my panorama shot because there is a very nice little island in the middle of the lake which you can get a good 360 view of the whole lagoon.

Here are my 5 shots

They were quite easy to stick together because i decided on a point where i wanted them to merge when i was taking the photos.

 Now here is my Panorama version of the photo