ARTS 308 - Final Sculpture Documentation Video

ARTS 308 - Kinetic Sculpture Post-Mortem

Last Thursday I gave my presentation for Topple, my kinetic sculpture and final project for ARTS 308. I feel that the presentation was a success and that general audience reaction was positive.


Finished Construction

The final touches to the sculpture were completed on-schedule; some adjustments were necessary to make the wind-up/release mechanism smoother and I also added spacers to the base of the sculpture.

Above is a close-up of the winding mechanism. While I had the option of creating a metal pulley system, I chose to make it wood to stay on-theme with the rest of the sculpture.

The locking for the mechanism is rudimentary yet effective; you simply stop the wind-up hook with the block and remove the block to release the mechanism. Again, this component is on-theme with the rest of the sculpture and I was satisfied with that despite its crudeness.

Presentation

Topple is a kinetic sculpture that experiments with the natural force of gravity and the possibility of both constructive and destructive movement. It was inspired by childhood play activities which are inclusive of both creation and destruction. I started with the desire to portray de-constructive motion and built off of the idea of children being just as excited to destroy structures made from toy blocks as they were to create them.

The motion of Topple is achieved by using a winding mechanism to "build" a tower of toy blocks, and releasing the mechanism to make the tower fall down. Due to the connected structure of the blocks, the process of building and destroying the tower can be repeated again and again.

The experimental kinetic element is derived from the falling motion of the "tower"; the blocks never topple over each other in the same way twice.

Nostalgia for childhood play experience is a major theme of Topple. As a small child, I played with wooden toys. The main structure of the sculpture is wooden, as well as the winding mechanism. I wanted every detail of the sculpture to support this overall theme of nostalgia. The blocks themselves were hand-cut, sanded, and hand-painted by me. The color scheme of the blocks incorporates the three Primary Colors - a direct reference to early childhood. The process of building Topple was a singular experience for me because I had never built anything like the old wooden toys of my childhood as an adult. I feel like the experience of playing with wooden toys is going extinct; indeed, I see more small children playing with electronic hand-held media more than anything else.

Hopefully Topple will evoke the memories of innocent childhood play in viewers and will prove an edifying and interesting interactive experience.

As Topple is interactive and hand-powered, the best place to exhibit it could be any public space (hopefully sheltered from weathering).


Reaction

Reaction to Topple seemed positive; the mechanism for winding/letting fall the "tower" of blocks was easy enough for viewers to manipulate themselves.

Many viewers commented on its resemblance to early childhood toys. They also commented on the nostalgic design.


Final Thoughts

If I could redo this project I would have spent more time perfecting the structure of the block "tower". I would have experimented with more interesting structures for the "tower" and engineered structures that held up better.

The twine used to make the "tower" is appealing but it won't last forever. Eventually it will wear out and snap. There was also an issue of the twine stretching after winding the "tower" up. The winding mechanism itself is very simple and I might have spent a little more time perfecting its design, although in its current state it certainly gets the job done.

Topple was the first time I've built something resembling the wooden toys of my childhood; I enjoyed working with my hands to achieve a sturdy structure that could house the main action of the sculpture. I was very pleased with my work painting the toy blocks. In some ways I felt like an old-time toy maker.

ARTS 308 - Kinetic Sculpture Progress #3

As of yesterday the "tower" of blocks is complete. The blocks seem to fall with good spacing and yet they still resemble a "tower" structure.

Cylindrical wooden dowels didn't provide the structural support I needed so I switched to furniture balusters which are much thicker. In the above photo you can see the beginnings of the pulley system that winds up the blocks into their "tower" form.

The above photos show that the wind-up pulley works and, once let go, it allows the blocks to fall in a smooth manner.

After getting instructor feedback, I'll be putting the final touches on the sculpture in preparation for Thursday's presentation.

ARTS 308 - Kinetic Sculpture Progress #2

As of Saturday the wooden toy blocks have had holes drilled in them and are connected by twine to form a "tower" network. The tower will probably be about two feet high. The remaining steps are forming a wooden structure to house the blocks and a winding spool mechanism to raise and drop the "tower".

ARTS 308 - Kinetic Sculpture Progress

Fifteen wooden blocks have been cut, sanded, and are being painted for the kinetic sculpture. After they dry I will drill holes through them so that the twine can run through and create a "tower" network of children's blocks.

ARTS 308 - Project 3 Re-Proposal

As of last week I've finally settled on my final kinetic sculpture idea.

Concept

This kinetic sculpture explores childhood memories of building blocks - and how it was just as fun to destroy my creations as it was to build them.

VIST 405 - VIDARR Rigging & Animation Milestone 3

I created rigs for Vidarr, the draugr, the snake, and the wolf. In the end our project leader decided to just focus on Vidarr and the draugr during this final phase in development.


Draugr

The draugr was the first character that I animated for the game. He has a much more simple set of animations than Vidarr's: a few idle poses, walk, attack, and death.

The rig is your standard IK setup for limbs, a few basic FK spine controls, and pole vector constraints for orienting the position of the draugr's elbows and knees. I also optimized the rig controls for animating by locking, hiding, and making unkeyable all unwanted attributes.

I did include a few special controls to enhance the movement of the draugr; there is a control attached to a one-joint IK which manipulates the draugr's gaping mouth, and another for the shield on the draugr's back.

Vidarr

Vidarr's rig was re-done to match the utility of the draugr's.

For a little extra freedom with animating I added controls to raise and lower Vidarr's shoulders and controls to bend his toes a bit. The model itself was not well-crafted which made skin weights exceptionally wonky for the toe controls.

The hip control's y-rotation is connected to an IK spline along Vidarr's spine up to his neck.

I also created some driven keys that control Vidarr's hand language. When the control is pushed outward the palms extend and when it is pushed inward towards his wrist Vidarr's fists close.

Parenting the sword, a separate Maya object, to Vidarr's wrist node hasn't given me problems yet.

Pipeline Notes

Since no real asset management pipeline is being used for this project I have done my best to manage my animations as cleanly as possible. A few notes:

• So far, all the animations of a given character are located in the same file. I simply animated one action, then I start the next animation a few frames afterwards.
• The graph editor and dope sheet make it simple enough for me to offset animations frames if an animation needs to be longer or shorter.
• Since surfacing is being done in Mari, I simply created automatic mapping UVs while the rigs are in their bind pose (our surface artist does the same) so that the texture file can be re-referenced without UV problems.
• Any corrections to skin weights will automatically apply to the rest of the animations.
• This method saves me time and sanity; I only need to keep track of one animation file per character.

Custom Tools

To improve my workflow I have created three custom tools:

1) FBX prep - Runs a script that preps the animation for export as an FBX to Unreal with just one click. Specific steps are as follows:

• Delete non-deformer history for all visible geometry
• Select the skeleton's joint hierarchy and bake the IK animation for however long the animation playback range is set
• Delete all IKs and controls, leaving just the geometry and skeleton.

Note: The script searches for certain names of groups rather than types of objects. Thus I have to follow a few personal "best practices" for the scene - the geometry mesh for the character must be named "Geo", any reference geometry must be named "GeoRef", the skeleton root joint must be named either "Hip" or "Root", and all IKs and controls must contain the prefix "IK_" or "CTRL_" in their names.

2) Export All... - More of a shortcut that exports the scene as an FBX set to my preset for exporting to Unreal.

3) Goto Pose Tool - Doesn't have anything to do with the "goto" command in programming. Goto Pose brings up a window displaying all current animations for the character as well as the start and end frames for that animation in the scene's time slider. Clicking a given pose's name snaps the animation playback range to that animation's. This saves me a lot of time trying to find the playback range for a given animation.

Note: In its current state, the Goto Pose Tool can't interactively manage poses in the tool window; any new animations and values for a particular pose/animation have to be written into the script itself. The tool currently only works for Vidarr.

ARTS 308 - Kinetic Sculpture Proposal

Moving Shadow Attached to Performer

Exploring the social (macro) and emotional (micro) implications of identity as represented by our shadows.

A performer manipulates a lightweight armature that is attached to their feet and hands.

Materials

I want to use something lightweight that will not be too cumbersome for the performer (balsa wood, fabricated plastic sheets). I also want to design a structural joint system that is flexible but won't collapse under gravity. Finally, I'm interested in creating a structure that fits together rather than relying on hardware to attach the different parts of the armature.

Challenges

• Designing a structure that "fits together" without much hardware
• Finding light yet sturdy material
• Figuring out the balance of the sculpture as attached to the performer

ARTS 308 - Inspiring Kinetic Sculptures

About Face - Anthony Howe

88" h x 62" w x 60" d

Copper, stainless steel

About Face uses wind power to articulate copper panels that make up a face.

About Face is interesting to me because it brings a human element to Anthony Howe's otherwise non-human kinetic sculptures. The individual panels making up the face remind me of pixels in a digital image, only these pixels are manipulated in 3D space in the real world. Some of the panels are driven by a mechanism, while others are "free-swinging", according to Howe. This piece makes me think of the ever-changing collective identity of the human race. Each panel could represent a human life, with its own directions, articulations, and driving forces. The panels collectively form a composite representation of the human landscape.

Kinetic Ball Sculpture Energy - Hüttinger

The sculpture is powered by a person pedaling the mechanism. It represents how energy is generated, transmitted, stored, and released in a sustainable environment.

This sculpture is an extreme example of human-powered sculpture, a concept I find inspring.

ARTS 308 - Kinetic Sculpture Introduction

Man-Made Kinetic Movement

After viewing James Cody Hovland's kinetic ship sculpture, I realized that wind-driven sailing ships are just big wind-powered buoyant sculptures, and that the same principles behind moving sailing ships are used for wind-powered artistic sculptures.

Hovland's kinetic ship sculpture explores beyond simple wind propulsion and transforms the entire hull of the model ship into a mechanical entity with a life of its own. Curiously, the hull of the ship seems to drive the movement of the sails at times.


Natural Kinetic Movement

Snakes almost seem like a kinetic sculpture themselves - they move with a rhythm not found in most animals. After doing a little research I learned that snakes propel themselves on their scales which are designed to slide the snake forward while catching on the ground as they move side-to-side. So, in terms of Visualization, the snake is made up of a hierarchy of joints that rotate on an axis while translating eachother forward. The movement is re-created in wooden toys that you see at places like Hobby Lobby. The concept of connected joints like a snake's skeleton could be an interesting way to create a kinetic sculpture.

And just for fun:

ARTS 308 - Body Extension Sculpture Post Mortem

Last Thursday I exhibited my body extension sculpture to the public. Besides my peers in class, a few children from a social program and some video cameramen came to try out our sculptures.


Sculpture Presentation

I was inspired to make this sculpture from an idea I had about having an extendable hood that let you use your phone in dark places like a movie theater (and also from my wife frequently telling me to put my phone down and pay attention). I thought about how technology controls our attention while tempting us with mass connectivity. It's as if portable technology has attached itself permanently to us, and immediate person-to-person interaction is becoming extinct.

One of the biggest design challenges was shape language and communicating the austerity of technology as it fuses with the organic self. Using foam board, I crafted a box which represents the universally rectangular shapes our portable technologies come in. The wires, representing physical electric connection and also "mass connectivity" offered by the World Wide Web and social media, are uniform as they leave the box. As they travel towards the viewer, the shape language of the wires become more organic. They spread, twist, curve, and interweave in a synthetic network of vessels and veins. The cloth around the mask section runs along the naturally organic curve of the viewer's face.

The all-black design accomplished my goal of creating a sculpture entity that was oppressive and cold. The sight of the wire network attaching itself to the viewer's face brings to mind images from cyberpunk visionaries such as H.R. Giger. To me, the sculpture became a symbol of our present relationship with portable technology but also a model for a possible physical relationship with technology in the future. My choice of materials was critical in creating such a symbol.


Application

I would display this piece in a public gallery and have it either performed by someone or permanently attached to the face of something like a mannequin. There was still the option, however, of inserting one's iPhone into the box and viewing, with absolute focus of attention, our own portable technology. I would have liked to have developed ways for viewers to put on the sculpture with an iPhone inserted, assuming viewers wouldn't destroy my sculpture in the process.


Reaction

From what I could tell, the overall reaction towards my sculpture was curiosity as it stood alone. The curiosity turned to repulsion at the sight of the sculpture's parasitic relationship with the viewer/performer - most agreed that it was "creepy". I feel that this reaction reinforced the purpose of the sculpture and that my design and material choices contributed to the reaction.

The children who visited the class didn't seem to understand the sculpture, although they were curiously less afraid of it. I'll admit, I felt apprehensive showing them such a negative sculpture.


Looking Back

If I could do this sculpture over again, I may have crafted a longer tunnel of wires connecting the box to the viewer's mask. With budget constraints, I could only afford to make the tunnel/tube about 18 inches long. Perhaps I could have developed a way to attach the box to a wall and have the viewer walk up to it and peer through the mask.

These limitations did not ruin the project, however. I thought the need for the performer to hold the box in their hands reinforced the image of portable technology that demands not only to absorb our attention and focus, but also to occupy our hands.

The foam board box is rudimentary and I could have spent more time and care making a more sleek-looking box.

ARTS 308 - Body Extension Sculpture Process

The Box

One end of the sculpture had to represent technology, so I chose rectangular, austere shape language that is evident in most of our popular electronics. I originally wanted to make the main color of the sculpture white to mimic the color of Apple products but I eventually chose black to represent a kind of anti-Apple.

You can see in the photos below that I used black foam core and left an indention to insert my iPhone 4.

Black foam core proved very difficult to hot-glue together into a hollow box after cutting pieces. I ended up having to reinforce the box structure with tape so it would hold together. If I had given myself more time to experiment with this technique I might have fabricated this piece with a 3D printer.


Tube of Wires

I measured the perimeter of the inside of the box against the perimeter of a plastic mask from Hobby Lobby (I ended up not using the mask but I used its perimeter as a template for later). The box perimeter was about 26" and the mask measured 27" around my face, so I cut a black fabric section that was 26" on one end, 27" on the other, and ran 18". Now I had enough fabric to fit inside the perimeter of the box while being able to fit around the mask part.

Using a 50-foot roll of 16/2 electrical wire, I cut pieces and hot-glued them to the black fabric. I split the wires and arranged them into a more organic pattern, like blood vessels, at the mask end. This process was the most time-consuming.


Finishing Touches

I glued the fabric into a tube and then glued it into the inside perimeter of the box as seen above. I got the exact shape language I had envisioned: a uniform, rhythmic composition of wires starting at the box and spreading, splitting, and turning more organic near where one's face would go. The hot glue left a lot of little plastic strings which had to be removed.

I folded the other end of the fabric into itself over a 27" strip of thick plastic and attached an elastic string to form a wearable mask.

ARTS 308 - Body Extension Sculpture Concept Art

VIST 405 - Vidarr Character Rig Progress

The above video is a timelapse of the rigging work I've done for the Vidarr group. If it's not clear from watching the video, I worked on defining the skeletal joint system, setting IK handles, creating external controls, editing attribute connections, and general troubleshooting.

After working out some issues with the geometry mesh and doing a smooth skin bind, I went to work painting weights. Weight painting took nearly half of my work session, which lasted nearly four hours.


Technical Issues

• The model for Vidarr is too complex. Some parts of the character mesh include things like individually modeled rivets on his boots, individual laces on his gauntlets, etc. which made weight painting a nightmare. I mean, even on my Skyrim character tiny details like that are just painted onto the texture with displacement/normals mapping.
• The model for Vidarr came to me in different grouped parts rather than a single combined mesh. This caused major issues when I ran the smooth skin bind because many of Vidarr's limbs were mirrored instances. Because several parts were instanced, Maya wouldn't let me freeze transformations or reset their history.
• When I tried to combine these mesh groups in Maya there was a loss of data - apparently an infamous bug that occurs a lot - and Vidarr's right arm disappeared. I tried things like exporting the mesh as an .fbx, re-importing it and binding the skin but it made Maya run ridiculously slow. Finally I re-modeled his right arm myself, stuck it into the hierarchy, and this time the combined mesh turned out alright.
• Maya's skin weight painting utility is barbaric and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what brush size will get those tiny spots painted the way I wanted.

What's Next

The rig is far from perfect; I still need to refine painting the skin weights. I'll also add things like shoulder controls, elbow controls, and hand rigs, with some custom attribute connections.

VIST 405 - Animated Texture Demo

Hand-Painted Digital Cels

After taking a 2048 x 2048 UV snapshot of a proxy tree object, I "painted" the color spread, frame-by-frame, for 24 frames. I imported the images into After Effects and compiled them into a video running essentially in half-time, so the video file ran for about two seconds.

Demo Animation in Maya

I then imported the video itself into Maya as a maps-based texture for the proxy "tree". The result was a demo on what a 2D-animated texture might look like:

This approach could be as time-consuming and tedious as we want it to be, but I think we could achieve a unique animated effect with this method. I also researched procedural animated masks in After Effects as an alternative method. Maybe we could use both methods on hero assets vs non-hero assets.

The "painted texture" will certainly be more time-consuming, but I think we'll achieve some striking effects. I'll advise the texture artists to take more shortcuts animating the textures on the non-hero tree objects in our environment.

Demo finished on 21st February, 2015

VIST 405 - Milestone Progress

2D Storyboard & 2D Animatic

I drew the storyboard images in ink on paper and later scanned them, doing a little post in Photoshop (levels adjust, contrast/color adjustments).

The shot of the deer taking notice of the color magically spreading through the tree underwent an important revision; after passing the shot off to management and layout for critique, it was determined that the camera direction didn't work. After working out the issue with layout, I revised the shot like so:

Original shot direction:

 

Revised shot direction:

I acted out the scene with layout until we got the shot we needed. After reviewing the new shot, it was approved for the 3D animatic by management and layout.

I passed the images off to editorial for the creation of the 2D animatic.

Completion of milestone: 12 February, 2015

ARTS 308 - Body Extension Sculpture Concept

Concept

Technology, particularly mobile hand-held technology, offers a compelling distraction from the world around us. My body-extension sculpture is a mask that amplifies the distracting quality of technology. The mask fits on one's face and connects to a long tube structure attached to a fixture. Inside the fixture is an iPhone, iPad, or similar device.

The mask obscures the peripheral vision of the wearer, and the hand-held device is the only object that can be focused on. The flexibility of the tube demands that the viewer move and bend in order to bring the technology into their line of sight. Once in view, the device is too far away to be operated by the viewer, symbolizing the the idea that we have less control over our technology than we think.


Mask Making Techniques

Paper mache techniques using plaster of Paris seems to be the quickest way to form a rigid attachable mask. The mask part would have to be open so that a flexible tube or tunnel structure can attach to the fixture where the iPhone/iPad will be placed.

I've read on the web how clay can be used to make a cast with paper mache being overlaid on top. Paper mache takes 24-48 hours to set.


Materials

Ultimately, the aesthetic quality of the materials used to build/embellish this sculpture will be more important than the actual function of the sculpture.

The tube will have to be a flexible material like plastic or maybe latex (although I don't know where to get a lot of latex). One conceptual idea for the tube was to have the materials transition from organic around the viewer's face to electronically-themed around the hand-held technology. My original idea was to use wires, cords, etc. that will run along the length of the tube, giving it a kind of "cyberpunk" feel.


Schedule

The final exhibition for this sculpture is March 10, and the sculptures will be installed in Langford C Monday afternoon. This means the sculpture needs to be finished Monday the 9th.

Thursday, 26 February - cast paper mache parts

Tuesday, 3 March - attach tube, finish basic sculpture structure

Thursday, 5 March - add material embellishments

ARTS 308 - Project 1 'Feeling Like a Ghost' Post Mortem

Project 1 is finished! The exhibition was Thursday the 12th and I think our sculpture was a success.

The sculpture was safely suspended from the ceiling of the walkway connecting Langford A to Langford B/C. The wind was blowing but the stiffness of the treated fabric didn't blow too much and actually gave the sculpture a life-like feeling.

While observing passers-by on the walkway, I saw that many reacted to the sculpture as if they were looking at a real person. Some thought it was funny to see what looked like someone standing there with a sheet over their body. I thought that reaction was interesting, because it connects to my original concept of a sculpture that represented a real human beneath the guise of a ghost. I think the posture and placement of the sculpture reinforced the theme of loneliness and isolation.

If I could redo this sculpture project I would spend more time figuring out a way to stand the sculpture up without suspending it with string. I chose the walkway for the economy of moving/placing the sculpture, but if I had the entire campus I might choose an area with even more student traffic, like the area around Rudder or the MSC.

ARTS 308 - More Project 1 Progress

 Dressing the Body Cast

After stuffing the cast with newspaper, we assembled the sculpture and stuck the feet into the old jeans and boots. At this point the sculpture looked mediocre, but we knew everything but the legs would be covered up in the end anyway.

Applying the Sheet

Using 50 lb fishing line, we suspended the body cast by its belt loops to the ceiling. The sheet is a King-sized sheet folded long-ways. Once draped over the body cast, we arranged the layers of fabric around its head and arms until we got an appealing, life-like pose:

 

Treating the Sheet

We did the above-mentioned pre-arrangement so that we could plan out how we would drape the body cast with the treated sheet. After all, we would only get one chance. We filled a bucket with a mixture of wood glue, regular Elmer's glue, and water and submerged the sheet. The weight of the soaked sheet caused a few issues with the structure of the body cast, but we were able to secure the sculpture into place with some more fishing wire.

To emphasize the shape of the sculpture's head, we tightened some duct tape around the sculpture's neck. After arranging the folds of the sheet into the shapes we wanted and holding some parts of the sheet together with safety pins, we left the sculpture to dry.

This final process was finished at 12:20 PM yesterday; by about 4:00 PM much of the sheet had dried and stiffened. We will continue to monitor the drying process, possibly re-applying wood glue/water solution to parts that need additional treatment.

The final challenge will be the process of transporting the sculpture outside to the bridge between Langford A and Langford B/C Thursday morning before we install it in its final exhibition space.

ARTS 308 - Project 1 Progress

Body Cast

The plastic/tape body cast is finished for all intents and purposes; the process only took a couple of hours to complete.

Fabric Stiffening

On Tuesday we tested a mixture of wood glue and water on an old t-shirt; after a few hours the technique didn't seem to work but by today the fabric was nice and stiff; I'm guessing a thinner fabric like a white sheet will do even better.

There is an issue regarding the weight of the wet treated sheet on the body cast; resolving the issue will require either strengthening the body cast or using lighter fabric; probably both.

At this point I think it's obvious we need to stuff the body cast with something like packing paper which is easy enough to find. To stabilize the cast in the exhibition space, we've thought of either using a wooden armature/skeleton to stand the cast up or suspend the sculpture from the ceiling of the bridge between Langford A and Langford B/C discreetly with fishing wire; since the sculpture will wear old heavy work boots the weight of the boots will "settle" the cast to the ground.

As for an alternative to the bedsheet, I've discovered that cheesecloth and bottled fabric stiffener can make striking ghost-like structures:

The result would be a much lighter material with more potential for detail. The cheesecloth process, in the end, could turn out cheaper and easier to manage than using a white sheet.

ARTS 308 - Project 1 Proposal

Title: Campus Ghosts

Concept: A 2011 ACHA-NCHA survey found that about 30% of college students reported feeling "so depressed that it was difficult to function" at some time in the past year.

I pondered on the causes of depression in a college environment. My body cast sculpture explores the element of loneliness and alienation that many people feel in the college environment - a feeling that one doesn't even exist on the same plane as their peers. Thus, they feel like ghosts, unable to interact with those around them.

Campus Ghosts is a confrontation with students who feel like ghosts due to their loneliness - the sculpture literally makes the unseen seen.

The concept is inspired by the words of a song by B.O.B. aka Bobby Ray Simmons called 'Ghost in the Machine' (full song lyrics here):

Tell me where am I supposed to go?

And who am I supposed to believe.

If only you knew what I knew.

Then you could see just what I see.

So I grab my bags and go, as far away as I can go.

Cause everything ain't what I used to know.

And I try to hide, but I just can't hide no more.

There's nothing worse than feeling like a ghost.

Location: I want the sculpture's location to reflect the theme of ordinary people "hiding in plain sight". The location must also reinforce the feeling of isolation even in a place where students are frequently found. So I chose the 2nd floor walkway connecting Langfords B&C with Langford A.

Material: My initial idea for the sculpture was a white sheet with eyes cut out. It's one of the most recognizable images of a "ghost". The biggest challenge with using a white sheet will be getting it to stay in place with wind, weather, etc. I will research ways to get cloth to be more rigid, or I may use wires or even plaster of Paris to create a rigid cloth body.

Schedule: Thursday, February 5: Finish plastic body cast. Wednesday, February 11: complete material attachment on-location.