katrinaproject3

toc Saturday: whoops! I just was checking this on a PC computer at work and noticed the text for the instructions does not carry the correct font! You can see in the screenshots below how it is supposed to look (like the Second Try -- Circle screen at the top right). This is an easy 4 second fix, but I can't do it till I get my laptop resuscitated and edit the original flash file... (you will see below that my laptop had some technical issues last night and died on me... battery wise though! So everything will be a-okay). I hope to have it replaced by today or tomorrow.
 * My Site**

**BETTER VERSION HERE** (I got a new laptop charger, hurray! and I have now fixed the little embedded fonts... this was posted on saturday though, so I made a separate folder for it and everything so the time stamp is still valid for the site. The only thing I changed, is the little font thing that I couldn't have known about until I tested it on another computer)

//Also, I just thought I should mention, the exercise for this project definitely influenced the way I went about the site in terms of one of the site's use of 3D, and both of the sites' use of sound effects//

=Mood Boards= I wasn't really sure what to do mine on... so I did a couple mood boards:
 * [[image:echolovrick.png width="328" height="424"]] ||  || [[image:lovrickspace.png width="329" height="425"]] ||
 * I was thinking of "echo"... cause I read //some// of this book, "House of Leaves," over the summer and it covered a chapter on echoes (i.e. the origin of her name and her existence from greek mythology, and the calculations of it). It was pretty interesting how echoes were used to give the reader the idea of space in a room: one character enters a pitch black hallway, and when he drops a penny on the ground, he can hear the echo. He wanders the space by mapping the space around him via the echo. Then he stumbles into a new room; when he drops the penny in the next room however, there is no echo, and you can sort of feel the panic he experiences when he has no idea how endless this room may be (the doors are all moving so... yeah it's a weird book. I wouldn't recommend it)

ANYWAYS, it talked about how echoes had life to them, had their own story, were more analog than digital in a way, and uhhh yeah. || ....... || OR, something a bit less narrow than echoes, I was thinking I could do space, both in context of like, space (big vs small) and space (universe and stars).

I'm thinking I'll do space because there's a lot more variety of things I can do with it via, illuminating space with sound or light, experiencing different sizes of space, and all that fun vast space universe stuff...

Other thoughts of inspiration for this concept: Radiohead - House of Cards: media type="youtube" key="8nTFjVm9sTQ" height="295" width="326"

The xx - Basic Space: media type="youtube" key="kHZVGqqf3gg" height="195" width="322" (^ that video's from Jennifer) ||

=Death of a laptop,= My laptop died (I uploaded all the screenshots just before it did), due to a terrible battery & charger thing. Anyways, I typed this whole thing on my brother's iPad. So, sorry about any strange autocorrections and/or lazy language.
 * a tragic tale**

Also, all the images used in this project are mine (that trip to Taiwan and China really paid off with infinite amounts of useful photos)

=Initial Ideas= So, I wanted to do something cool and complex like stuff in the Space mood board I did, and I had all these ridiculously complex sketches. You will see them here. (coming soon! -- My macbook is on its last legs or something... I'm going to the apple store this weekend to enact my warranty.. The sketches aren't very clear anyways)... soon = now! (saturday)

I had these big ideas where u can move stuff around in a maze and use echoes to reveal space around you, so that you can get yourself out of there. And stuff where you take shapes and pull them around in 3D and spin them and stuff...

Then I got onto my computer and realized none of this was possible given the timelines and my ability/knowledge. SO, I scaled it back a lot. I liked the idea of using outlines of shapes because I felt that associated well with space. Also, shapes in general, I feel, make you think a lot about space (or vice versa). Maybe it's because of all that grade school geometry.

Anyways, I got my first idea for the navigation, which would be outlined shapes rotating in a "3D" space. I thought how I'd do this for a while, and felt as though flash was my best bet for doing this. I've never done actionscript before, but I //have// used its basic animation tools, like the timeline and stuff. So, I'm not sure, I just decided that I wanted to do this navigation bit in flash.

Once I decided I'd do my navigation in flash I quickly realized processing apps could not be embedded into a flash document without a popup (I didn't want a pop up). So, I figured I'd have to do my whole site in flash. Which, after making the navigation, I was pretty comfortable with because I liked the way the navigation turned out.

=First Try=

Navigation
My original navigation had a blank background and arrows that appeared when a shape on either side of the center shape was hovered over. The arrows at the bottom led to some confusion, as people tried to click the arrows (which would disappear on shape rollout) rather than the shapes.

Circle
I wanted all my different explorations of space to be reflective of the navigation, and since I really like the shape idea, I thought I'd carry the shapes over into the explorations. This was my first idea for the circle one:

It was supposed to be sort of like anti-gravity... or like a fan blowing from beneath it (there was sound that went with it). You could click on the circles and move them around. I was however having trouble trying to figure out how to make all the other circles swerve away from your selected circle (I knew it had something to do with hit test, but never figured it out).

Hexagon
So, I was still pretty attached to the idea of sound and echoes revealing space.

I created a hexagon that bobbed to a beat Then, when the space bar was pressed, it made a sound and let out 'echo' lines that revealed a space

Graham suggested focusing more on the composition. I agreed, I felt that I forgot about the visual aspect of the project... So, I started over, but still working, a little, from what I already had.

=Second Try=

Navigation
I decided to add imagery to my site rather than JUST geometry. This way, the geometry could compliment the imagery, or vice versa... The two served as complimenting contrasts. So, I added an overhead scenic photo of an urban city (this was Taiwan; taken from a ferris wheel). The way space is mapped out and organized in populated environments is a common subject of interest for some... City spaces are planned out specifically and some definitely encourage speed, compaction, crowding, etc., while others encourage a completely different attitude.

I also changed the rollovers from arrows, to the actual image getting a transparent overlay (I also did this for the center shape, as it lost it's clarity)

Circle
I completely changed my floating idea. I figured I'd connect my different explorations with questions about space. The first, exploring the question of **personal space**. Graham seemed to be really encouraging the use of type... So this is definitely the exploration that uses type the most. You can "hover to discover" the different personal space bubbles of the people all sharing the same wide road.

Hexagon
This one was pretty close, in concept, to the original hexagon exploration. I wanted to continue to use **sound**... Whenever the spacebar is pressed, a random (out of the three above) hexagon set projects out of my friend's mouth, along with a corresponding sound. For this one, I ask, how does sound fill space? I then experiment with visualizing how sound might look.

Triangle
Now I ask, what inhabits the space **inbetween**? It's a bit of a silly exploration of what is there, inbetween two things that are already there. I treat them like little magical triangles that jitter around. They are all connected to form a sort of web that sticks between the two things that create what it is: the in between... Does that make sense? What I mean is, that, inbetween space would not exist without things on either end, making it something, "inbetween" When you hit the spacebar, more for the user's enjoyment, the jittery web gets a little jolt and the web springs apart. However, it quickly pulls it self together. Perhaps it is something like when someone or something passes through it.

Cylinder
I really wanted to explore space in terms of **mapping**, with a very math-y, geometry approach. The lines draw themselves in quickly and for some, simultaneously. They turn a regular image (French district in Shanghai) to an image through the eyes of an architect or mathematician. Really though, we all are trained to see things like that. Artists, for example, are taught to break down what they are drawing into familiar shapes.

Anyways, the flower box outlines were a pain to make/animate. I immediately regretted the idea to make them once I started. But I think it paid off in the end. :)

Square
For this one, I asked, how does our vast, invisible space **act**?



I decided to use an image with a lot of space so that I could have room for the space alone to do stuff. The exploration starts out blank, with no fun-acting space. This is because, to us, it is invisible, and we can only wonder how it secretly acts. Once when the spacebar is pressed, the squares dance around playfully, in sharp contrast to the dark looking image (literally, but also in content... That black dome thing reminds me of an evil lair)

Loading
I got the code for this from: http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/699675

If you have a speedy computer, you may not even see the loading screen. If you are interested in seeing it in action, empty your cache and then run a bunch of RAM sucking programs and videos... then you shall have a loading bar.

=Thoughts on space and its a questions= While some may find the explorations as answers to the ambiguous questions, I consider the explorations to be fun silly suggestions and/or wonders about space