MDDN 241: Development

After a series of hiccups that involved all my data being lost... twice.. for some unknown reason besides the fact that Maya hates me and a large amount of fatal errors and data being lost so some frames may be lost (by some i mean all), i finally got my designs and form change to a point that if i lose it all again, it is slightly acceptable. The clip is now 31 seconds long and its looking pretty nice with my photos now put on as some textures. The texture for the planet was actually a photo of a poster that was on a street corner of some juice exploding. It nearly looks as if its Jupiter right? Yeah, that was intentional. 

MDDN 241: Lighting effect and Glass texture

MDDN 241: Further Animation

MDDN 241: Spinning Animation

This short few second video is the animation style I want for the shape spinning. It was all going well but then i hit a brick wall so to speak. I want the crystal shape in the center to snap back into a sphere and the angular ring around the outside to become more smooth and ring like. The brick wall is that i have no idea how to do this and the interwebs isn't being that helpful either.

MDDN 241: Maya Rendering of Pluesa XII

MDDN 241: Concept of Crystalline Orbit

          So as explained in the previous MDDN 241 post, this is the new concept for Crystalline Orbit which avoids, for the post part, the use of liquids. Because of the intense compression of the crystal as it spins rapidly (which i now discovered a way to draw! The last concept with spinning i had no idea how to draw it spinning effectively!), the shape is crushed into a sphere with the planetary ring surrounding it and an atmosphere. 

          At this point, i can do something really clever with the lighting effects and make it appear as if the planet is orbiting a sun. This can be achieved by rotating the main light around the sphere. This will make it appear as if the planet (which I shall don Pluesa XII for no apparent reason besides the fact that every planet or star deserves a name) is rotating around its own star and has a day and night cycle. 

          Then my idea breaks down a little from there, quite literally. The planetary ring surrounding the sphere will break apart using the shatter effect on Maya, and fall away from the gravity of the planet. Then the outer crust of the planet begins to crack as well and shatter to reveal the inner core of Pluesa XII. Further development on this may take place as to what happens after the crust has broken down. 

MDDN 241: Idea Breakthrough

So the idea that the tutors recommended and I in turn chose for the final concept t develop and create was Concept One: The concept about a spinning crystal that turns to liquid. Alas there are a few flaws in this concept that need to be ironed out in the developmental stage of the design. I have named this design concept Crystalline Orbit.

The main and major flaw is that the concept was planned to turn into liquid and then explode and create waves. Liquid on Maya is apparently incredibly difficult to create, which I'm not surprised about. After seeing the tutorial on the 18th March on how to add videos to the surface as a material, I had a breakthrough idea.

When Slizard added the video of the waves onto the spherical shape, it made it look like the outer atmosphere of a planet to me. Therefore, once the crystalline shape has condensed into a sphere, instead of being a ball of liquid surrounded by the ring, it will appear to be a planet with a golden planetary ring around it, which will remain to slowly rotate and look as if the planet itself is rotating. Then the idea can develop further from there. But the original shape of translucent crystal like material will remain at the start. Therefore, there will be a material transformation from a translucent, dimly coloured pretty looking material that has a great reflection of the light source to a darker, atmospheric style material that is itself a small video similar to that which Slizard showed us in the tutorial. Drawings to emphasise this change in material and density will follow shortly, so stay tuned.

MDDN 251: Proposal

The three interfaces I will be looking at are:

-          Battery Alarm Clock

-          Ibanez LED Digital Auto Tuner

-          Television Remote

I chose these objects because they all have minor things in common which is he underlying topic of the chosen devices and have multiple components that can be easily manipulated to my desires. They all have LEDs or LED displays that function after there has been a certain input into the device, the LED or sound that it creates being the output from this.

The chosen interface and modification is the LED Digital Auto Tuner and modifying it to do the reverse of it purpose. It created the most interesting modification by reversing the actual use of the device and creating something that is the opposite of what it was originally for. I want to be able to play an LED or a pattern of LEDs and create the sound from a speaker that corresponds with that particular LED (e.g. the 4D sharp LED lights up and the note that corresponds with that LED sounds out from the speaker). This will include the Auto Tuner, a speaker (possibly the one that’s connected to the digital analogue alarm clock) and some understanding of electronics and how to work the Ardiuno.

Components Needed:

-          LED Digital Auto Tuner

-          Soldering Iron

-          Solder

-          Arduino

-          Speaker system

-          LED

-          Wires

-          Other Small Components

MDDN 251: Concept 3

Television Remote

                The television remove is an Everyday object that incorporates a large number or buttons that send a signal to the Television through a part of the circuit board. The LED display at the end is another output (Image 3c) from the device once the button is pushed, to show the user that a button has in fact, been pushed. The sheer number of buttons on this device seems like it would make the circuit board complicated (Image 3b), but they all link to one another and to the main point of interest, the transmitter to the television. The remote comes apart to three or four easy to understand pieces: The front casing, the rubber button layer, the circuit board, and the back casing to complete the remote. On closer inspection of the circuit board at the location of buttons, each one is marked out with the larger shape shown in Image 3b. These make the device simple to understand where the connection points for the buttons are.

                Possible manipulations for the device included the use of the buttons which are the main feature of the device, and connecting a large number of LEDs to the device, manipulating how the button presses light up different number and patterns of LEDs. This is a simple manipulation, and if chosen can be further developed through the process. The fact that it is a simple manipulation that can hold a very impressive effect when enough LEDs are connected together makes it slightly more impressive. Ideas such as having a pattern of the LEDs playing in a loop from the Ardiuno that can be changed by pressing different buttons can create an interesting sight.

3a

3b

3c

MDDN 251: Concept 2

LED Guitar Tuner

               

                The LED Ibanez Digital Auto Tuner is a simple model. It uses LEDs to display how tuned each string of the guitar is. Image 2a shows the front of the tuner with the display LEDs. The lower five LEDs show what pitch the tune received in the microphone (6E,5A,4D,3G,2B,1E). The upper LED display whether the note played is flat (too low) or sharp (too high). A blue LED lights up when the note is correct.

Upon opening the tuner and viewing the circuit board, it appears to be a lot more simple that the previously mentioned alarm clock. There are two visible capacitors and what appears to be an integrated circuit connected to a large amount of resistors and LED connections. The device runs off two AA batteries. When fully taken apart the circuit board is very simple on the other side. With a small microphone to record the sounds, the LED and the power switch (Image 2c and 2d).

2a

2b

2c

2d

The modification for this device is an interesting concept. The original idea was to reverse the functions of the Digital Auto Tuner. When the Arduino device plays a certain LED or a button press lights a certain LED, the sound corresponding with the LED’s pitch and tone out of a connected speaker. This would apply to all of the LEDs on the device and the tune they respond to. This modification is reversing the main function of the device while making it more interesting.

MDDN 251: Concept 1

Battery Alarm Clock

                With a red LED light up full analogue display and two extra lights for alarm and AM/PM, the alarm clock can be run from wither a power plug wall socket or a D battery. The alarm clock has all of the buttons on the top and a set of dials on the side for tuning and volume. Upon closer inspection, the buttons on the top seem simple and understandable enough (Shown in image 1c). But the remainder of the alarm clock’s circuit board is complicated and confusing with a large amount of capacitors that cover the majority of the circuit board. There is also hot glue that the manufacturers put all over the circuit board components to hold it together, making the board look even more complicated and messy (Shown in images 1f).

1a

1b

1c

1d

1e

1f

The possibilities with the alarm clock to rein vision its purpose involve the use of the LED display and the tuning dials. By wiring the tuning dials to the LED display, rotating the dial will create patterns on the display and make different lights up at different tuned points (Shown in the drawn images). This utilizes the majority of the alarm clocks components besides the buttons on the top and the speaker. These have fewer possibilities and would complicate the design a lot if they were utilized.

CCDN 271: Assignmet 1 - Sources

Google Warming

The Source found for Google Warming was an article written for Arteneo de Manila University about Google Earth and the style off surveillance it provided for the population. Google Warming: Nations Under Surveillance looks deeper into the program Google Earth, what it provides for the people with access to the free program and how easy Google Earth makes it to be able to 'stalk' people. It also gives some insight into how the program affected the people it was designed for. The report stated that certain governments and national institutes requested discretion in the location of "Top Secret" installations and properties (Caluya 2010 Pp 3. Line 1-2). The fact that Google has created a program that has images of the entire globe that even includes a street view and is free to anyone makes Google Earth one of the top "Big Brother" style Surveillance. The report concludes with a sentence that could be considered one of the best statements in relation to Google Warming:

 "The whole world is under surveillance; time is running out." (Caluya 2010. Pp. 12. Line 3) 

Caluya N.R. (2010). Google Warming: Nations Under Surveillance.  Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines.


The Everyday

The Design of Everyday Things (1988) by Donald Norman is a book relating to the design of everyday objects ad what makes one object more appealing to a user while at the same time being frustrating and complicated to other users. Within the book, Norman looks in-depth into simple objects such as the commonly overlooked door handle and how that is functional in the Everyday and can determine how one would interact with the door. By looking so intensely into such simple interactions that the everyday person would overlook, Norman gives a larger insight into what a person living their own personal everyday might miss. A review of the book on www.usabilitypost.com stated that due to its earlier publishing (1988), the book looks at the less technical everyday objects like water faucets, door handles and clocks. These are objects heavily overlooked in our everyday.

Norman D.A (1988) The Design of Everyday Things. London, England: The MIT Press.


DIY / Hand-Craft

DiY Culture: Party and Protest in Nineties Britain edited by George Mckay gives a minor insight into the Do It Yourself mindset of the 1990s, with quotes and examples of Do It Yourself from the several earlier decades as well. Mckay researched the development of Bitain's DiY culture that despite being conned "DiY", the book appears to be more centered around the culture of activist people that take part in the DiY style with quotes such as:

"DiY culture was born when people got together and decided that the only way forward was to do things for themselves" (Mckay, 1998)

This source can be effective for some parts to the DiY culture but lacks the insight into the design and craft side of DiY which makes the book lose some of its effectiveness for this purpose. Without researching into the design and hand-craft sense, there is a higher chance that this source would not be relevant to the purpose it was needed for despite its insight into the DiY activist culture.

Mckay G. (1998) DiY Culture: Party and Protest in Nineties Britain. London, England: VersoBooks.


Critical Design

Critical Design Ethnograpthy: Designing for Change by a collaboration of Sasha A. Barab, Michael K. Thomas, Tyler Dodge, Kurt Squire and Markeda Newell can best be described as an insight into the participatory design work aimed at changing local context while creating an instructional design that can be used in multiple different contexts (Barab et all. 2004). The book looks at opportunities that are available as local critiques are made, which are then refined down into designed artifacts. The collaboration review design-based projects that critically question and "test" society such as "The Quest Atlantis Project" that combines comercial gaming environments with lessons from educational research (Ji Y. Son et all. 2006). This source can be an effective insight into the less well known critical design projects that subtly criticise ethnicity and society.

Barab, S.A. Thomas, M.K. Dodge, D. Squire, K. Newell, M. (2004), Critical Design Ethnography: Designing for Change. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 35: 254-268.

MDDN 241: Development of Form

MDDN 241: Precedents

The precedent i chose was László Moholy-Nagy because he used strong colours that i want to reflect in the concepts i've created. Also he uses translucent shaped that are effective when overlapped over one another. This is an effect i want to use in my concepts. The colours cancel each other out and make an interesting effect that i would like to replicate in my work.

MDDN 241: Precedent

Precedent: Edgeworth Johnstone's oil painting Crystal Formation 
The formation in the upper right-hand corner was most striking to me as i wanted to base my concepts of the metamorphosis from a dull material to a translucent shiny material. Because the oil painting is not shiny and is dull, but the shape and appearance implies that it is translucent and gem-like, it captures both the dull and translucent aspects i was looking for.

MDDN 241: Concept 3

concept 3 is based on the reverse of the previous Concept where a crystal formation is covered by rock. This concept looks at a rough, raw crystal being refined down and cleaned to become a gleaming, shining shape of perfection. Well... Almost. Once the rock is cleaned away and the rough raw shape is cut down to be a stereotypical gem shape, a chip of the refined crystal breaks away and the crystal begins to break down. This could be developed further to be the entire crystal breaking down into small shards, or the crystal is just slightly chipped and the chip falls away.