Week One - Play & Observation
At the time of creating this work, I observed the thoughts I was having regarding my Studio 2 project where I found myself trapped by too many ideas, and as a result not feeling like I was progressing. In order to represent this internal observation, I decided to create a simple low poly platformer that disappears around the user as they progress through the small environment. The low poly style of this
Magi work, and the fact that it responds to the users interactions to create a feeling of being trapped had a direct influence on my Studio 2 project, inspiring
me to build a virtual 3D environment that changes around the user to stimulate emotions. From this work I was able to build upon my Studio project, where I pitched my inital idea of creating a styilised exterior space designed to represent feelings of depression.
Week Two - Play & Tinkering
Using the theme of tinkering as a spring board, I explored the ways in which I can use the timeline in Unity to create simple animations. This act of play and tinkering helped me better understand how I can create in built animations in Unity, which has become a very important skill that I have incorperated throughout the development of my Studio project. As seen in week 4 and onwards, I have used Unity’s in built animations to create basic levels of interaction within my prototypes, in which the user can open doors, and cause walls to move towards them by
moving through triggers within the environment. This type of play has very much assisted the evoloution of my Studio project by allowing me to create more
dynamic and interesting spaces that can respond to the users movements.
Week Three - Play and Materiality
Combining real life material and 3D graphics, I decided to use this weeks as a chance to learn some basic Augmented Reality. Being so accustomed to creating and rendering 3D models within a computer, it was a welcome change to be able to see a 3D object interact in real time with a real world object. This task taught me the importance of breaking away from the ‘mundande’ and ‘familiar’ world of rendering objects in Maya and Unity, and has sparked my interst in regards to what is possible with Augmented Reality. Despite not having a strong connection to my Studio project, this work assisted in showing me how important it is to engage with practices I am not familiar with and the impact it can have on ones perspective.
Week Four - Play and Place
As we move further into the semester I decided to use this class to build upon a prototype I had been working on, in which I was devloping an interior layout for my Studio project. To make it more interactive and to add another level of play, I created an opening door animation (in a similar fashion to Week 2), and wrote a simple OnTriggerEnter code that registers when the player walks through an invisible trigger within the environment. When the trigger registers that the player has moved through the space, the door opens before the user and gives the illusion that the environment is reacting to their movement. This act of the environment responding to the players movement is something that I have carried throughout the rest of my Studio project, and is one of the key interactions that I am using to help create my responsive 3D virtual space within Studio 2.
Week Five - Play and Objects
To tie in with the continued iteration in my Studio project and the theme of objects, I decided to return to the drawing board and redesign both the layout and environment of my Studio project. As I have noticed that the prototypes I’ve been working on in previous weeks have been looking rather bland and rigid and far too big, I have decided to both scale down the size of my environments as well as change the overall style and aesthetic. Moving from the rigid and rather stale white box prototypes I had been working on in previous weeks, I tried to throw myself into a much more crazy and fantasy asethetic that I feel will be much more successful in creating an environment that has the ability to evoke emotions of isolation, helplessness and a sense of no escape. By scaling the size of objects and distorting the structure of my models I believe I have created a more refinied environment that will hopefully better stimulate the users emotions as they traverse these disturbing landscapes.
Links
Week 1: http://magistudio.net/work/advanced-play-design-week-one
Week 2: http://magistudio.net/work/advanced-play-design-tinkering
Week 3: http://magistudio.net/work/character-place-and-simulation-and-advanced-play-design-week-3 Week 4: http://magistudio.net/work/apd-week-4-2
Week 5: http://magistudio.net/work/apd-week-5-1
Week One - Play & Observation
Using a photograph as reference, I modeled a low poly tram scene that represents my observation of Melbournes iconic tram scene. Using my skills as a 3D artist, I used Autodesk Maya to model the objects, purposely using a low polygon count to achieve a cartoon aesthetic, and used Unity to light and render the scene. Despite its simplicity, this task really helped inform my Studio practice by reafirming how much I want to create styilised 3D environments. As a practioner I love to create
3D worlds that users can explore in a game space (whether that be in Virtual Reality or on a computer), and as a result of this quick exercise I was inspired to use Maya and Unity to create a Studio project in which the user explores styilised 3D environments.
Week Two - Play & Tinkering
In order to better understand the workflow between Maya, Zbrush and Substance Painter, I took this opportunity to tinker with these programs to better understand how I can create styilised textures for my 3D models. By taking a highpoly model from Maya, transfering it to Zbrush and baking the maps in Substance Painter, this method of tinkering has helped me build a better workflow that I can utilise in my studio practice. As a result of this Magi work I have a better grasp on how to use these programs, and feel more able to use this process to texture the 3D assets I will use to create my styilised 3D environment.
Week Three - Play and Found Objects
Upon finding Pro Builder, a program that allows users to model 3D
shapes directly within Unity, I decided to use this class as an opportunity to learn how to I can use it to create white box prototypes. Being able to use this program within Unity has played a very important role within my Studio as I have progressed throughout the semester, as it has allowed me to create level designs soley within Unity without having to use a 3D program such as Maya. Despite the result of this exercise looking rather simple, this Magi work has helped inform my practice by giving me the skills to create simple white box environments within Unity, that I can use to test layouts for my studio project.
Week Four - Play and Place
Building upon the previous weeks exercise, I decided to take the white box environment I created and push it further by adding better lighting and objects with bevels and boolens for extra detail. Created completely in Unity, the ability to add these details has further pushed the boundaries in regards to the types of environments, albeit simple, that I can create in Unity. To try and give the environment some character, and make it somewhat similar to the interior that I want to create in my Studio, I added in windows, skirting boards and doors to give this environment some semblance of a house interior. As a result of this work, I have learnt how to enhance simple objects to create more dynamic white box spaces as I continue to build and iterate the environments for my Studio.
Week Five - Play and Objects
For this weeks exercise I again wanted to build upon the whitebox environment I created the previous week. In order to tie this work to the topic of objects being both anywhere and anything, I decided to take the house environment and use it to help further explore my Studio project. As I am investigating how 3D visuals can be implemented in a 3D space to convey emotions of isolation and helplessness within my studio, I have taken this virtual space and attempted to make the user feel isolated by forcing the walls to close in around them. By taking this object (the interior environment) and giving it agency, I feel that I have achieved some success in being able to evoke these emotions within the user. However, I have discovered through this exercise that I have made the space too large and feel that this detracts from the emotions that I am trying to convey within the scene. As a direct result of this Magi work, I will reduce the size of the interior envrionements within my studio project as to ensure that the changes within the environment have a much more powerful impact on the players.
Links
Week 1: http://magistudio.net/work/character-place-simulation-observation Week 2: http://magistudio.net/work/character-place-simulation-week-2 Week 3: http://magistudio.net/work/cps-week-3-2
Week 4: http://magistudio.net/work/cps-week-4-1
Week 5: http://magistudio.net/work/cps-week-5-1