Working Title: Dimensions2.0

This title is a work in progress, It will be changed as soon as possible, when I develop my ideas further. 

I started a new semester at university on the 10th of January 2011, this was the beginning of the last project I will do for the course I’m studying. Picking up where I left off, my last project dimensions was focused on learning how to use the software in order for me to create illustrated panoramas. One of the main areas that was thoroughly undeveloped though, was the theme, what were these panoramas going to be about? I started my panoramas with the idea that I wanted to illustrate a shop in which I would be sat behind a counter, in this shop I would draw as many things as I could think of that defined me. Objects that were references to movies I watched when I was growing up, like the hover-board from back to the future and every video game console Ive ever owned amongst them. I like this idea but it wasn’t working as a project, it was and still is something I am interested in doing but I dont think its a good starting point for this project.

So then I thought about what the aims were for this new project. I had experimented with linking panoramas together in the context of a virtual tour and thought about ways in which I could incorporate this. I want to make a series of panoramas that are linked together and can be navigated by clicking around, for example: clicking a door would take you to another panorama perhaps of an outdoor scene. With this in mind and the theme from the Shop panorama still plaguing my thought, I wondered if it was possible to make something that wasn’t dissimilar to a video game. 

Above is a quick mock up of a layout for the panoramas to follow. Each coloured rectangle represents a panorama, within each panorama is at least one “hotspot”, when clicked the view is changed to another panorama, multiple paths can be used leading to the feel of a maze. This with the added idea of including clues in each panorama that leads the viewer to clicking the correct “hotspot” and in turn get to a goal is very similair to a game. 

At this point I don’t know if I will include A strong narrative such as “get to the end to escape” or something similar. I do know that whatever I do I want it to be laid out as above. It may be that my final set of linked panoramas can be clicked through for eternity, looping with no end. It could be that clicking through them and enjoying each one is the “game” and not so much about trying to get to the “end”.

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Dimensions

Dimensions is the title of my most recent body of work, it was completed before Christmas 2010. The project was very much a research and development project where the outcome was more a series of tests to prepare me for my next project.

This project was mainly concerned with learning how to use software that would enable me to create interactive panoramas. Although I did make a few crude looking photographic panoramas without the use of either a tripod or a fish-eye lens, the goal I was aiming for was to make illustrated panoramas. This led me to understand how an interactive photographic panorama works and what I needed to produce to make an illustrated version.

I discovered how at the heart of any good interactive panorama is a single flat image that shows the viewing angle from a single point (360 x 180), this is an equirectangular image.

Above is an example of the first illustrated equirectangular image I created. This image is of a sort of second hand shop where the items for sale are references to various geek media and films etc, that are so prominent in my everyday life now and as I was growing up, also there are other references to people and possessions I own. For now though the theme this image shows is unimportant, Ill come back to that later. The projects main aim was to get this sort of image to behave as the example here shows. I initially used a program called Pano2QTVR by Garden Gnome Software, newer tests have been produced using Pano2vr, a later improved version of this program.

Also in the Dimensions project I produced a series of 3D anaglyph illustrations that needed to be viewed using red/cyan 3D glasses. Once I got this set of technically laborious Illustrations out of my system I felt better with the notion that I would never attempt anything similar again. The end result was pleasing but honestly wasn’t worth the effort. Heres one below, others can be found on my website.

 I also used another piece of Garden Gnome Software, Object2VR. This was integral to me being able to create a rotating model of a subject. But before I began with the software side of things this process was followed…

1. Buy a “lazy susan”, a device for rotating heavy objects eg: speakers, 46” CRT televisions, humans.
2. Place a camera on a tripod, aiming at the lazy susan which is now placed on the floor.
3. Get a human, to stand on the lazy susan and take a photo of them, rotate the lazy susan by 30 degrees clockwise and take another photo, repeat until 12 image are taken.

 This process gave me 12 images that I could draw from, and when I put the illustrations through Object2VR (unpaid trial version) I was left with an interactive “3D” illustrated object. Its easier to look here for a few examples. This is maybe something ill pick up on in the future but not now, for now I am done with that.

 I call the Dimensions project a success. It wasn’t a success in producing a massive volume of physical work, but in terms of learning and understanding it was an invaluable journey. I will be continuing my work with interactive Illustrated Panoramas in my current project that is so far imaginatively titled “Dimensions 2.0”. This is absolutely a working title and will be changed as soon as I think of a better name.

-Mark

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