2019_APD_Wk04

By Simiao Gao

Theme:

Place

Context:

Shadowing - Matthew Rosier & Jonathan Chomko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZNmJ1ahFVM

An interactive streetlight that records the shadow of a passerby and plays it back to the next pedestrian. Shadowing creates pockets of memory in the street. It compresses time within a single space to form a connection between those who inhabit the same urban environment. 

Method:

In the fourth week class, we stick the eyes in the classroom, which give us some interesting characters (photos). I want to show the result of the student’s interaction with this place for people who might come into the classroom, which is more like an experience interactivity project instead of a game.

(Classroom_Photos & Rough_Idea_Sketch) 

I worked with Qiannyu on this practice. The idea is about trying to use a microphone as input to trigger the animation when the input sound level exceeds a certain height. I response to design the characters created by other students in week four class and make the mini animation. Qiannyu takes the coding and compositing/testing part. The plot of this project is that these cute characters were born and lived in this classroom. When people come into the classroom the character are sleeping. It would wake them up if people made a loud noise. The characters would show up for a few seconds then go back to sleep.

(Character_Sketch & Character_Design)  

Two types of animation are required for this project. A continuous loop of sleep animation before the microphone senses a certain height sound. After the microphone gets the sound. The character animation would project at the specified location.   

I am going to create characters in Illustrator Experiment with Toon Boom Harmony to make the animation. 

(Process_Video : https://youtu.be/cjUWsg3Xyv4)

(Animation_01 : https://youtu.be/MRTza_A7NEI)

(Animation_02 : https://youtu.be/znnPrar7EGY)

Reflection:

Unlike shadowing, which can keeps recording and displays players – place interactions. It takes a long time to prepare our project, like character design and animation. The classroom ‘memory’ cannot be record and display in real-time. It loses the connection between players and place in some way  

Experiment with toon boom harmony is a kind of interesting experience. Rigging the character and make it move took me a lot of time. Much harder than I thought.