dsdn112 Class

In class today we presented our experiments in our groups. I brought along my clay balls. Some people already had some really great ideas such as a rubex cube using textures rather than colours. One person had balloons and had filled each of them with something different. One of them was filled with banana and another with mandarin pieces which I thought was kind of gross but a unique idea. Another person in my group had a similar idea as me with the weights. He had two oranges; one normal and another one much heavier than what you would expect. I liked this idea.

Here is some feed back which I got for my experiment:
- Great idea, could try different colours
- Keep the balls the same size
- Changing the shape
- Use different materials and textures
- Better distribution of weight

I think this is all very good and true advice. This was just a first, rough experiment and I know that I need to refine my idea more.

I have been doing a little bit of Internet research and inspired by one of the videos which I watched and posted onto my blog previously as inspiration. I was inspired by the idea of upside down vision (the glasses in the video). So I may try and make an upside down telescope. I may make a coloured filter on the glass in order to make it more difficult to comprehend what you're seeing. Then maybe still using the weight idea, design a type of task that must be completed while looking through the telescope. First I think I will design the telescope so I can see what it's like and how difficult it is to see. That will help me come up with a good idea for a task to do while seeing through it. I could make a type of maze. Or if I put some kind of transparent colour onto the glass of the telescope then I could make a task that also involves colour, to make it harder. A maze using colour perhaps? A brain teaser? I will do some more research into colour too.

First Experiment

Brainstorm

I wasn't feeling very well and missed last class. However I have caught myself up with some research and by writing a brainstorm. I've decided to focus on either touch or sound. 

Experiment

I have decided for this experiment to focus on touch. The aspect of touch I've chosen is weight. When a person picks up an object they expect it to have a certain weight. If the object is much lighter or much heavier than they're expecting they can be quite taken back by it. The materials I have purchased are the following:

Knucklebones for the weight

Marbles also for the weight and how they sound when clinging together.

Modelling clay as it's easily molded and hardens.

I started off by cutting the clay and shaping it.

I placed marbles inside the first ball shape and then put clay over them.

Then only one marble in the next ball and left space so it would rattle around creating a noise.

I then put the objects in the microwave for ten minutes in order for the clay to harden.

These are the balls I made.

I created this one with groves. It has one knuckle bone inside it.

This small ball is half filled with clay to create an uneven weight.

I also experimented with this idea. I put a knuckle bone inside the clay and molded onto my finger when the clay was still soft. Thankfully once the clay had hardened it still fitted onto my finger. It created a very unusual  sensation as the end of my one finger felt more heavy than usual. 

I also tried this idea inspired by the human senses sound video that I watched on Vimeo. I created ridges and  a flat spoon type of shape which creates sound as you run it along the ridges.

This object just has these grooves as I tried to stick marbles in them, after cooking they didn't stick. If you hold the spoon side ways and run it across it still creates a bumpy feeling and a sound.

Hopefully showing these experiments in class tomorrow will go well. I plan to further refine my ideas.

Inspiration

Inspiring videos

Public Resonance from sam weller on Vimeo.

Photograph Steps

Dsdn 144 Proposal

Panorama

Contact Sheet

Images

Proposal

The first photos I have taken are of nature and the view of the city on Mount Victoria Lookout. However this is not the direct subject I want to photograph. 

Proposal - To explore the structure of different man made path ways from nature to concrete stair ways. Nature pathways being made from dirt and man made ones being industrial and made from concrete. Industrial pathways suggest it leads to a man made place such as a street with houses. A pathway made from natural resources with nature surrounding suggests it leads somewhere purely mother nature such as the bush or a walk track. I plan to construct the composition so that where the pathway leads is not shown and creates a mystery to where it may lead. 

Creative Coding - Lesson 2:

In class today we began to learn how to code using the programme Processing. I understand how to set out the code and use the brackets and numbers. I just have trouble with knowing what numbers to use to get the shapes where I want them to go. This is something I will have to improve on. Here are some screen shots of what I tried last lesson. I didn't screen shot everything that I experimented with because I didn't know we had to screen shot and I didn't save all my experiments.

A basic square with an eclipse evenly in the middle.

This is something I did myself by finding a tutorial online. As I move the mouse around the circles follow, building up many layers of circles. The faster I move the mouse - the less circles and more far apart they are. The slower I move the mouse - The more circles and closer together they are. I was happy with this experiment as it was one of the example codes I found. It's listed in my previous Dsdn142 blog as inspiration. I didn't realise how simple the coding was behind this idea. Maybe as practise I could start colouring this experiment to make it more interesting.

This is me creating a shape and getting confused on where and how to put the line.

I also experimented with the background and stroke colour. I understand that you use different numbers to create different colours which I also experimented with at random. I think that you use RGB colour charts from memory but will have to research this further. I think for now the thing that I really need to improve on is my graphing, working out where the shapes go, how to make them and how to get them there.

Dsdn112 - Interactive Technology. Blog Post One.

Class Reflection

Today in class we had to bring 5 objects for each of the senses. These are the items I brought along:
- Hearing: Two 50 cent coins. Rubbing them together creates a very distinctive sound because of the material and engraved texture on them. Also dropping them creates a very distinct sound that most people will associate with money. The sound is part of the luxury of owning currency.

- Taste: Dairy free chocolate. As I can't eat chocolate, yesterday I was sent some dairy free chocolate that I could eat. It was the first real tasting chocolate I'd tasted in years. To people who normally eat chocolate it may have tasted average but to me it tasted insanely good. It has a very sweet taste and a very smooth texture. Smell is also an important factor in chocolate as it contributes to the indulgence experience.
- Sight: Batman Arkham City PC game. The cover is so original to any other of a pc game. It has a metal case with an ink stained picture on it. Combining only two colours with the black, green for Joker and Red for Batman. The silver of the metal is used as the 'white' or 'skin tones' which is also very stylistic and original. It's just surprisingly detailed and classic for a pc case which I like.

 - Smell: Our Mate, the British version of Marmite. It's a yeast extract so has a very strong smell. As of the taste, you either love it or hate it. I would describe it as possibly being a very salty sort of smell. Despite it being strong, if you love the taste, the smell will probably have you craving it. 

 - Touch: Playstation 2 controller. It's designed very specifically to be held in your hands. Everyone loves the feel and texture of the analog sticks and the feeling of how knobbly and smooth they move. Touch a ps2 controller, overall, is just a very enjoyable and user friendly experience, which is what I like. 

Some other things that people brought along which I found interesting:

For touch someone had brought a type of Plasticine. Before touching it, you expected it to feel like putty. However, the feel was very light and had a type of wet texture. I found this really interesting.
For sight, I find the kaleidoscope really fascinating and distorting.
For sound, people brought high pitched noises and alarms. I find this digital sound to be very irritating, especially at such a high frequency. I prefer acoustic sound to digital sound. 

Mind Maps

We got into groups and made a mind map for one of the senses. The group I was put into was Hearing. We brainstormed many different aspects of hearing. Such as materials, how size and weight effects the pitch of the sound. How people perceive music differently. Different sounds create different atmospheres. Acoustic sound versus electronic sound. Rhythm versus endless drone. Rattling, sloshing and tensions create different sound - movement. Vocals. Instruments. Layering. Distance.

No one chose to go into the smell group. People must see it as a hard one to do. Not many people seemed keen to do taste either. That would be hard as you'd have to think of a hygienic way of doing it and it may require more resources to be refilling things or replacing things for people to put their mouth onto. I'm unsure of which sense I will do yet. I may stay away from smell ans especially taste unless I got an amazing idea for it. I'll look more into sound, touch and sight for now. 

Next week we have been asked to bring along two more objects. One that is functional and one that is fun. I will have to have a good search to bring something interesting. We can't bring the same thing as we brought today. I also might so some research into the senses and some research into materials, just to get some inspiration for this project and begin to think of some ideas. I need to commit to one of the senses and that way I can move on with the project more quickly as not committing to an idea has held me back in the past.