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Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Unity - Asteroids

Creating boundary for asteroids

Firstly a game object called boundary is created. A books Collider is added. Attached to this foundry new script will be added called destroy by boundary. The script means if the asteroid leaves the boundary it will be removed.




Adding Asteroids 

An empty game object called asteroid is created. 

Then I dragged the model asteroid as a child of the asteroid game object. In later development this can be changed to my own models of asteroids. There are different shaped preset colliders that we can add to our models. The collider most suitable for the shape of the asteroid would a be  a capsule collider. I resized the collider so it fit around the shape of the asteroid. This means when a bolt is shot and hits the collider area the asteroid will be destroyed.


A random rotator script is added. Within the script the code allows the asteroid to tumble and rotate. I then attached it to the asteroid game object.



Boundary
A script was then created to destroy the asteroid on contact. This id done by destroying the game object.

This script was also added to the asteroid game object, which allowed the option explosion to appear in the inspector. I dragged the VFX explosion_asteriod onto this. This meant every time the asteroid is hit with a bold, the asteroid gives a explosion particle effect and is destroyed.


Then I coded the player (spaceship) to be destroyed when hit/ in contract with the asteroid.





Game Controller


An empty gameobject is created and in the drop down menu Game controller is created.


The game controller will contain waves, hazards score, and ending/restarting the game.


Spawning Waves

In terms of wave spawn position we want it to randomly spawn waves along the  x axis. The code below allows this.

 Vector3 spawnPosition = new Vector3 (Random.Range (-spawnValues.xspawnValues.x), spawnValues.yspawnValues.z);


Game Controller code in terms of spawning waves:
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class GameController : MonoBehaviour
{
    public GameObject hazard;
    public Vector3 spawnValues;
    
    void Start ()
    {
        SpawnWaves ();
    }
    
    void SpawnWaves ()
    {
        Vector3 spawnPosition = new Vector3 (Random.Range (-spawnValues.xspawnValues.x), spawnValues.yspawnValues.z);
        Quaternion spawnRotation = Quaternion.identity;
        Instantiate (hazardspawnPositionspawnRotation);
    }
}




For the asteroid to be recognised as the hazard it needs to dropped onto hazard slot in the inspector. After that spawn values were set to the area that the hazards will be spawned randomly in on the x axis. 



One opinion to create several asteroids to spawn in would be to copy and paste the above code several times, however this is messy, and inconvenient especially if you want to spawn in lots.  Instead we added code below to give us the option to be able to change the hazard count in the inspector. 

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class GameController : MonoBehaviour
{
    public GameObject hazard;
    public Vector3 spawnValues;
    public int hazardCount;
    public float spawnWait;
    public float startWait;
    public float waveWait;
    
    void Start ()
    {
        StartCoroutine (SpawnWaves ());
    }
    
    IEnumerator SpawnWaves ()
    {
        yield return new WaitForSeconds (startWait);
        while (true)
        {
            for (int i = 0i < hazardCounti++)
            {
                Vector3 spawnPosition = new Vector3 (Random.Range (-spawnValues.xspawnValues.x), spawnValues.yspawnValues.z);
                Quaternion spawnRotation = Quaternion.identity;
                Instantiate (hazardspawnPositionspawnRotation);
                yield return new WaitForSeconds (spawnWait);
            }
            yield return new WaitForSeconds (waveWait);
        }
    }
}


The code above also allows me to set a spawn wait time, start wait time and wave wait time, meaning the player has time to get ready at the beginning of the game, and also that the asteroid spawn in at different times and not all at once.



A DestroyByTime script is added, it means the object will destroy once the time is up. This is added to all the explosions prefabs within the game.

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class DestroyByTime : MonoBehaviour
{
    public float lifetime;
    
    void Start ()
    {
        Destroy (gameObjectlifetime);
    }
}


You can change the lifetime in the inspector, which I set to 5. Now the clones do appear in the scene.

Experimenting with the Environment



Looking at A River Ballet in Four Seasons I really liked the attention to detail with the textures, and the unpredictability of the patterns, because its nature than its creating the movements. While I was visiting home last weekend I decided to practice using my camera once again, and capturing textures in an ecosystem. I deiced to use the beach, as there are a lot of different colours and textures, that are created naturally.



I really enjoyed looking at the movement of water and the texture it creates. Im going to research other aspects of bio-art which I think I will be interested in.







Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Art and Ecology Now - Andrew Brown - Concept Research

'In recent times, however, there has been growing tendency in contemporary art to consider the natural world not only as a source of inspiration or subject to represent, but also as realm to influence directly - a sphere of action to transform and improve through creative means.'



Bright Ugochukwu Eke - Acid Rain
"widespread disregard for the environment by polluting authorities and powerful corporations, but also on the damage caused by individuals who little indiscriminately"
Plastic bags filled with water hung from the ceiling that represent raindrops. However when you look closely they contain charcoal-coloured carbon dust, a reference to pollution and the blackish acid rain in industrialised countries. The installation also reflects Eke's own experience when working outside in the deltaregion of Nigeria, where after just two days the toxic rainfall had caused burns to his skin.


Suky Best - The return of the Native
"It considered how landscape has been affected and reflected by technology"
The pictures are in fact a blend of fact and fiction. She wanted them to be convincing but not real in order to emphasis that something has been lost and can never been recovered.





















Andre J Zdravic - A River Ballet in Four Seasons
Vivid colours and rhythms, interesting as the movement of the water creates texture.
Philosophical and spiritual insight to life, and the audience can be reached on  a personal level.



Susan Derges - The River Taw
'I was fed up with being on the wrong side of the camera. The lens was in the way. I was stuck behind it and the subject was in front. I wanted to get closer to the subject. I had long liked the idea of the river as a metaphor for memory. The river being conscious thing containing memories - all the things it carries with it such as rocks, pebbles, shale. It is nature's circulatory system...Walking along the river I realised that if I worked outside in the dark with something that was real, if I worked at night, then the whole night became my dark room and the river was my long transparency. I was able to work directly with the subject - no intermediaries - no lens between us.'

This is a unusual technique creating camera-less photography. Using torches, moonlight and flash out doors at night to captures forms outside directly onto photographic paper. Direct indexes of the moving waters, a trace of the actual thing itself, as it 'prints the flow of the river'. on the physics materials, such as the paper, and light to create the image, rather than focusing on the camera itself. Even though this was achieved without a camera, it give the illusion that it was taken and manipulated by technology. Process that allows the artist to fix shadows onto light sensitive paper.




Saturday, 21 February 2015

Tutorial with Kathleen


My tutorial with Kathleen was really helpful, and helped me to see how I can incorporate my interests into my work. For A Level I did media studies, English and Biology, and when deciding what path I wanted to take for university I had to choose between biology or a creative course. This was a hard decision, but the reason I chose a creative course as I felt I had the opportunity to express myself and explore in my own way, although I still have a interest in research science (particularly biology).

When deciding I was looking at courses like zoology, which includes the study of animals, plants and ecosystems. When I mention this Kathleen recommended artist, books and ideas which could inspire me in terms of research into this other interest I have. I took some notes below into things I can think about when researching for ideas.



  • Relationship between animals and humans
  • Hierarchy
  • Evolution
  • Hybrid
  • DNA
  • How did they develop knowledge to communicate
  • Sculptural - animal body parts - reference to science
  • LED lights
  • Tiger fish transparent embryo - studied
  • Adam Zaretsky
  • Art and science now Stephen wilson
  • The molecular gaze Anker
  • Kathy high
  • Francis Stacy ethics


Im definitely going to look into these things, experimenting and documenting my findings. Although I am not sure what my core idea is going to be, I would really love to try and create something within expanded cinema, so an installation that may contain projections and objects. I would really like to make a physical object/ sculpture as well as something digital, as I think they very much compliment each other.




Bio-art Lecture

GFP Bunny, Eduardo Kac


Notes from lecture

The manipulation of living

Bio-art represents a crossover art and biological sciences with genes, cells, animals and plants as new media, in bio-art, the intrinsic processes of life and genetic evolution are harnessed to create synthetic living entities and transgenic hybrids.

Alexander Flemming - painting with bacterial formations (1930s)

Recreation of life itself.

Subjects that we can look into when research bio-art movements:
  • Histories of plant, animal and human representation

  • Imagery of DNA, cells, chromosomes and proteins

  • Art about disease

  • Art about extinction 

  • Art and genetics 

  • Art and biotechnology

  • Ecofeminist art

  • Artifical life and emergent behaviors

  • Land art, ecological art and other kinds of expression in which living things are integral

An artefact may be defined as a material object which is embodiment of human intention; a physical entity that does not exist in the absence of human manipulation and intervention, deliberately created by humans...

Villem Flusser, Essay "Curie's Children", Artforum journal (1988)

To not replicate what scientists are already doing, but to build onto it.

Fields and Frames Lecture and tutorial with Vicky

Below is some notes I took in a lecture relating to a summery of what fields and frames is, and giving examples of artists and possible techniques we can use in our piece.

The single frame
Time lapse
Duration
Pixilation
The frame
Perspectives

  • 16mm loops, scratch, perforate, paint
  • Projectors share the same space as audience
  • Audience encouraged to participate in making of film
  • Body as resource - mimic/build a tripod or a rig
  • Holding tools and technologies
  • Physical positions and viewing perspectives 'upside down'

Reflexivity - making the audience aware of what is going behind the camera,

Go! Go! Go!, Marie Menken (1962) uses her hand replicate the shutter on the camera, using her body.
Can acknowledge the presence of person behind the camera within experimental film.
Scene at the end where Marie waves her hand in front of the camera to replicated the shutter. Can also see her reflection.

Duration - Time in film in correlation with time in real life. Peter Gadal "Durational equivalents between shooting time and viewing time. "

Neighbours - Norman McLauren - pixilation
Pixilation is an interesting technique which 'misses' frames to give the appearance of gliding or flying. In the example above it really adds to the comedic values, and allows actions that couldn't be achieved in real life to be acted out in this sort film (without the need of special effects, which was not available at this period of time).


  • Physical, material, surfaces and layers
  • Material properties are pronounced and reflexively addressed analogue film capacity to deteriorate. 
  • Entering the frame as interventions.
  • Composite and layered palimpsests.

All parts of making the film is significant

Materialism

1970 Video space
1971 TV Interruptions
1974 Entering Second House
1990 Television Interventions
1991-1994 Animate!

Early material cinema


  • Roh film (1968) - film should not be used for non filmic references
  • Negative image
  • Manipulate the running speed of the film by passing it through with their hands.


'tactile or 'haptic' cinema is a method employed by film makers who for various cultural reasons, wish to 'protect' the image' - Laura Marks 2000

Girl from Moush 1993


  • Layers
  • Film itself 
  • Texture
  • Colour manipulation 
  • Change in speed on each layer
  • Clash but compliments
  • Each layer was differentiated not only by image and colour but also by speed. Sense of texture.
  • Why give the audience a clear picture?
  • Haptic image

Laura Marks - the haptic

  • Possibilities for cinema to represent embodied experience.
  • Optical techniques force the viewer to feel with the eye eliciting a haptic encounter.
  • Soft focus and multiple impositions, surface density
  • Intercultural cinema - lack of archive representation greater reliance on memory as it appears to all senses.
  • Tactile image can be used by artists to stake a deeper investment in their subject.
  • Protecting image by disorienting the viewer.
  • Tactility by proximity and contact with the screen



Materiality of film stripe
  • Celluloid
  • Sprockets
  • Frames
  • Optical sound
  • Chemical on top of film


Digital Materiality
  • Static
  • Pixels
  • Codec

All of which above can be experimented with and explored in this unit.

Tutorial with Vicky

Psychoanalytic

Another important aspect of research is looking into what is being said about art works and how this influences/creates the pieces.

I mentioned my interest with Pipolotti Rist, and her installations which include big projections, and projections onto different surfaces.





In coming up with an idea vicky suggested that I scope it out, what do i have in common with other female bodies in digital screen art. Start with yourself. 

A photographer that was considered to look into was Cindy Sherman, as her photography was very much about her role playing and dressing up in different outfits, playing with the idea of identity.




Who am i? what is my specificity of being a young women in 2000s. Compared to before?

What is made by feminists? Why they want to steer away and create expanded cinema pieces because single screen was a male dominated market.

Another important part of research is using quotes to show that i understand what i am reading and to show Im engaged in a place of enquiry, when I have found a subject I am interested in.

In terms of the things Vicky suggested I think I am really interested in the body, however Im not sure whether I have the knowledge and a strong enough opinion to create a piece that is feminist orientated. However I am very interested in the techniques Pipilotti Rist uses to create an immersive, and eye opening experience for the audience. The audience is something I will have to think about when making my work also.



Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Unity - Tilting and Shooting

Tilting

A public variable tilt was created.

public float tilt;


Within the fixedupdate rigidbody rotation was created to allow the ship to tilt slightly when the left and right keys are pressed. The amount of tilt can be changed from the inspector once this code was placed in the playercontroller.

        
        rigidbody.rotation = Quaternion.Euler (0.0f0.0frigidbody.velocity.x * -tilt);
    }


Shooting



Because the bolt is dim and you can see the black background, I changed the shader to Mobile>Particles>Additive. This made the bolt more bright and glowing in colour and go rid of the black by making it transparent.


I formed my shot code within the playerController. The game object shot was created.

public GameObject shot;
    public Transform shotSpawn;
    public float fireRate;
    
    private float nextFire;


Instantiate means an object to instantiate and a position and rotation to set.
The game object we will be attaching this to is the shotspawn, which I created as a child to the player.

Instantiate(shotshotSpawn.positionshotSpawn.rotation);


I positioned the shot spawn relative to the player ship, so it will always shoot out from the ship.



















The rest of the code allows when the button, in this case a mouseclick is pressed the shot will fire, which then after it will almost reset to allow the shot to be fired again. 

void Start()
    {
        shotSpawn = GameObject.Find ("Shot Spawn").GetComponent<Transform>();
    }

    void Update ()
    {
        if (Input.GetButton("Fire1") && Time.time > nextFire)
        {
            nextFire = Time.time + fireRate;
            Instantiate(shotshotSpawn.positionshotSpawn.rotation);
          
        }
    }

I also added a script to the bolt itself called Mover. This allows the bolt to move with the ship itself so the bolt always comes from the ship and not from one place on the scene.

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class Mover : MonoBehaviour
{
    public float speed;
    
    void Start ()
    {
        rigidbody.velocity = transform.forward * speed;
    }
}


Friday, 13 February 2015

Maya - Experimenting in my own time (Failure number 1)

I am still undecided about whether I am going to use a space theme for my game (even though that will probably be easiest), so I decided to play around and create different models.

One idea I had was to create a turtle. I think I got the basic shape nearly right, however I think my model is is a bit too wide, and when I put it into smooth mode, I could see I did not  make my whole shape level, and from the side its a bit bumpy. I am definitely going to give this another go.







Better luck next time!

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Dance in Mainstream Music






Sia - Chandelier and Elastic Heart

There is a strong relationship between dance and music within both these videos. Both in which are not obvious and can be interpreted in different ways. However, its believe that that the dance reflects the lyrics, especially in Elastic Heart.







Elastic heart addresses two possible narratives, one represented through obvious action and movement and one that is represented metaphorically, however aided by the lyrics of the song. The first narrative is them moving like animals, or cavemen, and paints two animals fighting, one trying to gain the others trust. This is shown through facial expression as well, which is another key aspect of dance and choreography. The second narrative which is more metaphorical relates more to the songs, and it debated to what it means. Some interpretations have stated that it shows a hard relationship between two people, whereas other views have said it represents the relationship between father and child. It can also be interpreted as letting go of your inner child/innocence which is something that happens when you grow up, and is something that is quite difficult emotionally. 





I think a more avante-garde approach to dance, and placing it in a mainstream environment creates mixed feelings from the audience. Being exposed to a wide audience, (most of which are not educated or exposed to experimental dance) can cause huge misinterpretation, as people look at the obvious before digging deeper into it. This is what happened to Elastic Heart, as the online communities deemed this dance as inappropriate and 'pedophilloic', however I feel this is not the case at all. I think the dance in both videos and very beautiful and fluid, and I would like to see more of this approach to modern day music. 



The Gallery

The Brain
Julia Cowell, Thomas Doukinitsas, Lauren Fox, Joshua Sampson

An interactive installation that breaks the boundaries between the relationship of technological and biological connections, demonstrating an understanding of the abstract similarities of the two. By a combination of science and art, the piece questions if we as humans are both emotionally and physically projected through our technical creations. We invite you, the audience, to explore this parallelism by the use of touch and view the brain through a new, innovative, digitalised perspective. 


My thoughts

Creating something out of my comfort zone has certainly been challenging. I am extremely pleased with the overall aesthetics of the visuals and the brain itself, and the development from the prototype to the final gallery piece. I had never done circuitry before, and although a lot of research was needed it was interesting to learn new skills in an area I never thought I would I would explore.






Torso
Shahid Abu


It represents how the mind can easily be fooled due to inherent expectations. The piece appears to depict a male torso, when in reality the mould was created from the torso of a female. The intention of this piece wasn't to trick the viewers, but make to them question why the shape they were viewing was innately masculine. I documented the production process through a series of photographs, over the span of a few weeks. I wanted to show in depth the process by which a sculpture is made from scratch.


Interesting that the concept of the piece has developed due to audience reaction. When first seeing the pictures, we assumed that the torso was male, although was female. This created a slight twist in the meaning of the project and was further explored. The images of the process and text compliment each other very well, placed next to each other in a corner, to give it a 'live book' appearance. 




Untitled

Laura Thomas

Using binaural beats and selective imagery developed from research into closed eye hallucinations, I aimed to create a relaxing and intriguing experience biased on the concept of near death experiences.

Especially on big screen the experience of this piece is very immersive. Complimented by the binaural beat that create a low 'hum-like' sound, that creates a relaxing state. It challenges the ideas and visions of people who have had near death experiences, and represents this in interesting way. 

Human Puppet
Robert Adams


Given the nature of the current world it is hard to argue who is in control of anything these days, so for 24 hours you will all be given a bit of that control as you help a man walk around and give money to charity... or perhaps just hurt himself and cause an emotional breakdown for fun; yet in terms of control you are all equal, so let's just hope you all have a common purpose for what to do with your new-found puppet.



Being in the gallery and being there for most of the 24 hour performance piece it was interesting (and slightly sad) to see how mentally as well as physically challenging this performance was. 

Bus Journey to Nowhere
Joel Foster

Where are we headed in life. What lies down the path before us. These are the queries that lead me to produce this piece. This is a simulation of a bus ride driving along a vast motorway passing through bleak yet beautiful scenery of the weather conditions outside. It’s a mesmerising visual experience, which plays in a repeating cycle entrapping the viewer to the perspective of the bus passenger. The purpose of this experience is not the destination but the journey.

An interesting experimental piece, featuring merely a bus journey, however captures a sense of 'true' time. Because the journey is very long and continuous, it manipulates your sense of time.




Green Florescent Protein
Lucy Jones


Based on the research into sustainable lighting for the future, this work is born out of a fascination for the fluorescent bacteria: Vibrio Fischeri. This sound and light installation intends to show you what a light made from this bacteria may look like, but also to investigate the bacteria on a molecular level through the use of the sound; the sound is a musical composition entirely based on the DNA structure of the bacteria itself.

I really enjoyed this piece. Combining sound as well as visuals to represent the structure of bacteria, and process of growing it, certainly makes this piece interesting. The sound, formulated by the DNA structure of the bacteria itself, is very relaxing considering it has be formulated not by typical music structure. The glowing light bulb represents the bacteria very well, which is also supported by photographic recordings of the process of growing the bacteria.



Watched
Mollie Bowers


An anti surveillance film, simulating society’s Behaviours with CCTV, questioning CCTV’s fundamental hold over Society's Behaviour. Also aimed to bring attention to the authorities abuse and misuse of CCTV and the influence it can have in our judicial process. I used locusts to express my ideas. Locusts are recognised as an unpleasant insect, which allowed me to achieve a menacing and disorderly atmosphere that mirrors our own chaotic society. 


A very impressive piece, highlighting the subject of surveillance, and having 'no privacy'. I like the use of crickets instead of humans itself, and the creation of a little town by hand, gives the piece its own charm, and makes it more engaging. 
Moving Graffiti 
Chloe Wilson

I really like how colourful this piece is, and how it is strongly influenced by street art/graffiti. It especially looks best projected onto a large wall, where every little detail of the animation can be seen. 

Where do you live E02
Ulysses Almeida


In spite of popular appeal, all I've got was a B!
See u online ;)

I really enjoyed these vlogs. Not only is it based around the idea of psychogeography and where we live, but the add humour makes it entertaining and enjoyable.



Overall outcome
This definitely was a new and challenging experience for me, planning and setting up a gallery, as well as getting my piece ready. It was interesting to see the progress of setting everything up, and each piece going into place. I would really like to make a installation again in the future.