Exhibition Description

Baldwin Ally Embracing Vision

Written Proposal This interactive object is focused on the sense of sight. The must have aesthetics for this model in order for it to function are two magnifying glasses facing into each other. They are attached to tubes and fixed at a certain length from each other in order to be in focus. The tricky thing about this model is that when looking through it, your sight is upside down. This is what gives the model a new and innovative experience. Navigating is difficult. However, by embracing this new vision the user will see the one of the three images correctly and in 3D while everything in the background of the image is an upside down world. Instruction -       Choose one of the three upside down images provided. -       Get someone to hold it up as you take two steps back from them with the binoculars. -       Gently hold the stalks at the end, one in each hand. -       Hold the lenses up to your eyes, red being on the left. -       Adjust the lenses to the width of your eyes. -       Looks through the lenses so that you see one image. -       Navigate to find the image. Remember that your vision will be upside down. -       See the 3D image which will only appear the correct way around to you.

8 Photographs of final design

Prototype

I've already talked about this prototype in other blog posts but will explain a few details.

Two lenses

 Side on view

 Other side has no stalks to hold onto. This is where your eyes would view. These lenses will have coloured filters. Red and cyan.

 Hold the stalks like this.

 View through the magnifying glasses.

I was holding the lenses with one hand as I needed to hold the camera to take the photograph. Normally when actually using it, you'd have one in each hand. They would also be held together and not diagonally like this as I couldn't balance them with one hand. 

Making 3D Images in CS5 - Screen Shots.

My first image I made 3D. This will of course be upside down. I thought if it got into the exhibition it would be cool for the open day. People thinking about studying  Design at Victoria will pick up the binoculars and read this. Maybe they'll think it's a sign :)

This is an upside down optical illusion. It looks like a white man with a long nose but then you see that it's actually Batman in 3D hanging upside down. Thought that this would be good.

A picture of a dragon which I digitally painted in 3D. It will also be displayed upside down.

Just a practise image for a photograph. This is a picture of my old car - 1981 Leyland Mini. I just wanted to see whether I could get 3D to work on a real photograph. It did work, but I needed the image to pop out from the back ground.

So I got this stock photograph from Deviant Art (no copyright.) 

http://photshopmaniac.deviantart.com/art/Bike-Stock-193909184?q=boost%3Apopular%20in%3Aresources%20car%20white%20background&qo=0

And then this background. I edited and blended them together. I blurred the background and turned down the saturation. I then used levels to blend the bike in and painted in some shadows. 

This makes the bike pop out from the background more. The background is just normal and not in 3D. I wanted only the bike in 3D in order to make it stand out.

http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/?qh=&section=&q=background#/d1sz0ga

I have tested all of these images with my 3D glasses so don't see why they shouldn't work. I will need to test them again once I have made my final model. I'm going to get these professionally printed and mounted onto foam board for the display.

Four Images To Print

Another Tutorial so I kow my stuff (hope it works)

Another helpful tutorial for making an Anaglyphic Image

Binoculars Feed Back

I have constructed a basic version of the binoculars. I presented them in class today and got some feed back.

I need to figure out a way to connect the two lenses together. Maybe attached with a hinge at one end so people with different eye widths can adjust to get one image.
I tried just wearing the 3D glasses while looking through the binoculars. The 3D worked thankfully, however when making my final pair of binoculars I will put the lenses on the glasses to act as filters.

Angela thinks the corrugated cardboard works very well for this project. She recommended putting a matching black cardboard around the frames of the magnifying glasses to make it less obvious how the magnifying glasses work. I think this is a very good idea and will try this (hopefully it will work and look good.)

We tried viewing this through the 3d glasses with the binoculars. It was very hard to navigate, but hopefully once the lenses are stuck together it will become easier to focus the glasses. As vision is upside down, naturally navigating is going to be the real challenge.

I want to make the 3D image which will be viewed. I want it to be really distorted. So maybe some time of upside down optical illusion combined with the element of 3D.
I will get the pictures printed professionaly and perhaps mount them onto foam board. If I get time, I'll try to make more than one image so people have a few different images to try it out on. Mayve I could also build a type of stand to hold the pictures up. Then put some tape on the ground by my plenth at presentation on Monday, so people know about what distance to stand from the picture when focusing the magnifying glasses.

I will take some photos of what my prototype looks like so far and post them onto the blog. They still have some glue on them as I wasn't sure of what measurements to do and was just making a rough prototype. My real model will be made with much better craft.

Examples of Binocular Designs

These binoculars have a very large, interesting shape.

Very vintage using gold colours. Short though, looks as if it's made of metal. I like the aesthetic.

Very steampunk but I think it looks awesome. Although not functional for my design.

I love how leather is used here. Would help for the binoculars to be much stronger and would be much more user friendly to touch. I also like how wood is used here, very classical.

Not a great aesthetic but very functional.

This design is very steampunk.

I like the middle used and how the binoculars are held together.

Very unique, steampunk design. This reminds me of a small magnifying glass with a larger one over top so it kind of reminds me of what my design may be like. Also I like the use of wood. Seems much to large and daunting to use though.

More like goggles and less like binoculars but I really like the classical, vintage appearance here. It takes on obvious characteristics of steampunk design. Perhaps I could use a chain like this in my own design. Although not appropriate for my design maybe, I like the ornament used here.

Another great design. I like the middle part which is holding the two lenses together.

These are all great examples of Binocular designs. I really need to think about how I will attach the middle piece. It may need to be made so that it can be adjusted for each individual and their face shape (width of their eyes.)

Binoculars

I have bought the equipment to start making binoculars.
- 4 small magnifying glasses (kids ones.) Although they have bumps around the edges which I have to cut out in the work shop in order for the cardboard to stick (I tired without, it didn't work.)
- 3d glasses to experiment and use the correct coloured cellophane from.
- Plastic sheet with black paper over top. Although the paper doesn't stick very well to it, even when mounted on with spray glue adhesive. Also, I find it doesn't seem to work as well as the corrugated cardboard. The corrugated cardboard seemed to be the right consistency in both weight and flexibility.
- Glue

I'm thinking that making these is going to be a lot more difficult than I originally anticipated. I'm hoping to pretty much have them finished tomorrow so I can go and show my tutor Craig and start improving them for the last session on Friday. They're due on Monday!

In class today I had a good play with the 3d glasses and what images work best on them. I'm really worried that they may not work with my binoculars or something will go wrong. So tomorrow morning I will go and get a few pictures printed out and hope they work. Making my own may also be difficult but I will try my best at that.

If this experiment fails then I will have to quickly move onto something else (developing the upside down telescope more and not head in the direction of 3D or binoculars.) I have an idea for it, but am still worried about the time constraint. So I will get on to making these tomorrow in hope that time won't become to much of an issue for me.

Research Anaglyphic 3D images

http://www.3dnewzealand.com/help/viewers/

Anaglyphic 3D images require you to wear red/cyan glasses (viewers) like those pictured above. The red lens normally goes over your left eye.

Important: 3-D viewers are available from many sources. Be aware that not all viewers are created equal and some give much better results than others. Factors such as the accuracy of the colour gels and the amount of light which they let through determine how well the 3D effect will work. If you find that the 3D effect is not working, it may be because your viewers are poor quality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaglyph_3D

Anaglyph 3D is the name given to the stereoscopic 3D effect achieved by means of encoding each eye's image using filters of different (usually chromatically opposite) colors, typically red and cyan. Anaglyph 3D images contain two differently filtered colored images, one for each eye. When viewed through the "color coded" "anaglyph glasses", each of the two images reaches one eye, revealing an integrated stereoscopic image. The visual cortex of the brain fuses this into perception of a three dimensional scene or composition.

TUTORIALS

How to make a 3d image (photograph): http://www.opentutorial.com/Make_3d_images
How to make a 3d image (drawing): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzqZ4ZGe1BI

Materials

I have also been thinking about possible materials that I can use for my final model. After discussion with my tutor Craig, we decided plastic may be a good way to go. This is because the material will look sharp, form a tube easily and slide easily as the tubes need to slide in and out from each other. One tube must be smaller than the other. I brainstormed many different types of metal and this seems to be the best one to try so far. I may need to paint the inside of the plastic black though so the light doesn't interfere with the vision of the telescope.

Development onto the binoculars and 3D

In this class I brainstormed and write down some possibilities with my project. I've been thinking I could turn the telescope into binoculars and make them 3d using red and blue filters. However, this would require four magnifying glasses which may get expensive. I'm going to get a cheap pair of classic 3d glasses and experiment. Also, making an image 3d may be a bit of a challenge. This is also something I'm going to have to experiment with.

If the 3d binoculars don't work out, my second option is to distort the magnifying glasses and then print out a pattern. Take a photograph of the pattern through the telescope and then put that image onto Photoshop. I would then use the transformation tool to distort the image to what would look normal through the telescope. This way the image would look upside down and distorted but when looking through the telescope it would become clear. One thing I would have to experiment with is making sure the magnifying glasses would still focus at a distance if their shape were to be distorted. 

Interim Review

Yesterday morning at the interim I presented my story board and prototype model to the group and different tutor. The tutor said "a very impressive story board for a very impressive concept and model." She really liked the amount of effort I had put into the story board and I'm very happy with this feed back. She also commented that the idea behind my model was very simple yet effective. That I had discovered a basic idea of what the two magnifying glasses do and have turned it into a great model. I wish I had got a little more feedback on maybe how I could construct my official model or ideas for the picture illusion. I will just have to keep brain storming this myself.

Also last week in class Angela had a play with my prototype and thought it was a really great idea. She also said it was very well constructed. I was really nervous about what she might say so was quite relieved.

I'm so happy to have had such amazing feed back so far but I feel a little behind in that I need to push my idea further and start developing the final model. I don't want to run out of time. More research and further experiments are required.

Written Proposal

This interactive object is mainly focused on the sense of sight. The must have aesthetics for this model in order for it to function are two magnifying glasses facing into each other. They will be attached to tubes. One will be slightly larger as they will slide in and out from each other in order to focus. To focus into the distance, is must be extended. To focus up close, it must be shortened. The tricky thing about this object is that when looking through it, your sight is upside down. This is what will give the model a new and innovative experience. However navigating with it is difficult, but also a challenge which adds to this new experience. The user will focus the telescope into the distance at a piece of paper. In normal sight, the picture on the paper will be a complete scramble and make no sense to the user. However, once looking through the telescope the image will become clear as day light. This will help to create an exciting experience for the user. The telescope may also have coloured filters on it or be three dimensional in order to really add to this experience. The aesthetic must haves in order for it to function are handles,  glasses and be able to become long and short in length to focus it. 

Story Board

My story board took a lot longer than it should done as I was difficult and decided to digitally paint it. This was my first time digitally painting on Photoshop CS5 (or at all) and I think I did an okay job. I don't normally like drawing or painting with hard materials (as I'm no good at it.) However, something about digital art is a lot more alluring to me. Maybe it's that it doesn't make a mess. Or that if I make a huge mistake I can just delete a layer and go back a step as opposed to starting fresh again. Anyway, these are the three images that I really put effort into. Hopefully I can further my skills from here so when more assignments like this come up I have the skills to make it more visually appealing.  I thought this approach to the story board was a lot more polished then just a sketch for example. 

Story Board

The Upside Down Telescope

Using two magnifying glasses and corrugated cardboard I made a mock up of the upside down telescope. It works, flipping the image upside down. However, I would say that it works better at a distance as it's hard to focus things that are right in front of you. I also got some red cellophane to play around with using a filter. I felt this made the image a lot harder to see which may not be a bad thing to distort the image more, really playing on the sensory of sight. It was also difficult to navigate where you are, but this may add to the sense experience.

Hold the handles to adjust

Handle on each end

Slide in and out to focus

Slide out to focus at a distance....

I presented my experiment in class this morning (a lot of people in my group were away.) However I got a lot of great feed back and some really good ideas to push my project further. Here are some of the ideas that I discussed with people and suggestions I received:
 - Make the telescope 3D using red and blue filters. Then make an image that normally you can't make out and looks crazy but when holding the telescope up to it, it's clear and makes sense.
 - An image that only makes sense when looking through the telescope. Upside down ect....
 - A laser pointer attached onto the telescope to help make it easier to navigate.
 - Pin hole camera to flip the image upside down.
 - Research red filter and how some colours when looking through it look the same shade - play on this idea of colours and their shades when looking through a filter.
 - Making numbers or words upside down and then having to read them through the telescope.

I got a class mate to write numbers and words down and then hold them up on the other side of the class room. Then me and another class mate used the telescope to see if we could figure out what it was. I found that the image will have to be quite bold and dark when looking from the distance. If it's too light then it will be very hard to make out what it is.

I now plan to research more about this 3D idea, upside down images and filters (colours.) I will then get some images ready for next class for user experience. This will help me to understand whether people are making out what the image is.

Research:

3D glasses

I Just had a quick read about 3d glasses. I'm still unsure how I would use this for my telescope as old 3D glasses traditionally have a red lens and a blue lens. Each eye needs to see through just one of them and then your brain puts them together to make the image appear 3D to us. I don't see how overlapping the red and blue filter would work on my telescope. I would have to create something more binocular like - with two different lenses to see through. I will have to think more about this idea.

Upside Down Illusions

I have been looking at the way different images look flipped upside down. Image illusions. Here are some I have come across for different inspiration.

Images found from: http://www.designboom.com/history/inversionimages.html

Maybe I could print some of these out to test with the telescope and try with the filter over top.

I also found this BBC article with different theories on why our brain sees photos of upside down people with their expressions the right way normal looking. It isn't until we flip the image the right way we notice it looks strange.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bang/article_thatcher.shtml