Collection Personal Items

Here is my collection of my personal items. I have laid them out on a chair with my xbox and football boot as the focal point.

I have used my Newcastle United football shirt. I have used this as they are the team i support and feel very passionated about, therefore it is an important thing in my life.

My Xbox has also been included in this. I tend do spend quite a lot of time on this (maybe bit too much!!) So this is also a big part of who i am as i have always enjoyed video games and my xbox is probably the best £300 i spent!!

I have also used a mobile phone in my collection (however this isn't mine because i took the picture with it!). i think its very important to keep in touch with family and friends all the time so having a phone is very important to me.

Ipod/Speaker. In my collection i have used my Ipod and also one of my speakers. I am constantly listening to music and looking for new music i have not heard. When i come into my room there is always music playing and i even go to sleep with my music on in the background.

At the back of the picture is one of my sketchbooks. I am always scribbling things down on something, whether its a piece of paper, my desk or in a sketchbook. I am always thinking of different ideas for things, i don't want to forget these so i then write them down or draw them out! Sometimes my writings are nothing to do with my course or work I'm doing but something completely different that i just liked.

My football boot is at the centre of my collection. I love to play football whether its just for fun with friends or a competitive game. Its a big part of my life and i play as much as i can!

Animated Logo

This is my final logo for my identities module. I decided to animate it just to see how it looked, think it looks okay and i am pleased with my finished logo!

Logo

These are the renders for my Logo for my identities module. I first created my logo in illustrator from my scanned hand drawn logo. I have then imported the illustrator file into 3ds Max where i have added the different materials and colours. I have also varied the background and also the light and shadows to create different effects.

Football - Finished

This is my finished football for my showcase. I added a different grass texture underneath to make it look more realistic as you can now see the blades of grass.

Water Animation

This is my water i created animated. This is done by adding phase to the material that is the water. I think its really effective and looks like real water, this is aided by the sphere which also creates a good effect.

Water in 3ds Max

Another idea i had, similar to the landscape was to have it set on water. This is the still render of my water. I think this looks pretty good when the water was animated. I followed a tutorial for most of the design however i created my own textures for the water, sky and also the sphere! I added the sphere to create the effect of an object floating on the water, therefore adding to the realism. The sphere also reflects the water when its animated which looks good!

3ds Max Landscape

Another idea i had for my showcase was to have a kind of landscape concept. I tried to have a go at doing this myself as i thought i had learnt quite a lot in 3ds Max recently and felt quite confident. I started by inserting a plane and adding a texure, which is a picture of some grass close up. I could then add bump to make it look like hills or more flat. The sky was added by using a gradient material and selecting the colour of sky.


To make the landscape look a little more realistic i added some fog, this is done under the rendering toolbar under effects.

I think the landscape looks good as a starting point, however, much more detail is needed if i am going to make it look anything like being real!

Research and Creativity

Research is an absolutely vital part in any design process. I like to use many different research methods in order to competently complete different pieces of work. I use the Internet a lot as it is a great source of varied information. books can also be very useful as some of the information in books can sometimes not be found anywhere else.

The starting point i felt most comfortable with was the In/Front of method, i think this was the best starting point for research from my point of view, think it gives a good base in which to continue from. The starting point i didnt particulary like was probably the behind method, i didnt really feel that the starting point had many beneifts and i doubt i would be using this one in the future.


My creativity has been mainly academically based over the past few years. All the way through school i have always chosen to do creative subjects and courses. For A-Level i chose both Product Design and ICT which were quite high on creativity. For Product Design i was required to think up many different projects from a small brief and develop these to create a final piece. ICT was a very similar concept, being given a small brief and then creating and developing different ideas to get to a final destination.


When going through the design process creativity is a very important quality as the ideas can change very quickly and the development can change paths many different times before things are settled on.

For my main Product Design project at A-Level we were briefed to make a piece of contemporary furniture. The brief was vague so that creativity could be as high as possible. this was much the same in my ICT project as the brief was also quite vague.


I have found however that in the Multimedia course the need for creativity is as high as ever. I have noticed from only the first few months of the course that you are given so much space to be creative and go in a any direction that you choose, i believe this was shown especially during the Pixilation project and also in the Interactive Narratives project.

Item for Showcase

3ds Max Seminar Week 3 Pictures

3ds Max Seminar Week 3 (Bit Late)

Blu Tac Pixilation

Just found this pixilation from the first term from my Narratives module. Realised iv not opened it yet so here it is. i think it looks pretty cool and i think the music fits well, especially at the start!

Logo

These are my two hand drawn logos, i am going to import these drawings into Photoshop so i can then edit and improve them. I want to add colour and also improve the quality of the designs. I might also add come more graphics. I can turn the objects 3D by importing into Adobe Illustrator and the 3ds Max.

Logo Ideas

These are my first basic logo ideas. I think maybe 2 of the ideas i quite like, the others i wont be developing. I like the top right and the middle left one. I think the top right design is quite good and also very simple. I like the squares, and also the writing style.

The middle left design also looks quite good, i like the two different shapes and also the writing style under the main logo.

Stadium Idea

This is my stadium idea that i drew out. I decided to create it in Google Sketchup. I did this beacuse it is fast to make and also quite effective. It would be better to make in 3ds Max but it will take hours to create, i am going to wait till i have my final design to undertake it in 3ds Max.

Box/Showcase Ideas

These are my first basic ideas for my box/showcase. i was looking at having an interactive environment with lots of click able objects. The ideas i have are to have a computer/laptop, shop window, a changing rooms or a football stadiums. These are only my first early ideas and will be expanded and improved on for my next upload.

3ds Max Seminar Week 4

This is my first render of the figure created in week 4 3ds Max seminar. I am reasonably pleased with the outcome but the hands are far too big and the head is quite small, i plan to improve this and upload the better version soon.

Identities Research - Websites

Another site I went on was Coke Zero Dance Hero. This is to promote/advertise the Coke Zero soft drink. The game is based on a dance off between two different characters, an eyeball and a tongue. At the start you are asked to select which character you want to be, I chose the tongue.

When the game actually starts circles pop up on the screen displaying a number, these circles must be pressed in the correct order for your character to do the dance correctly. The better and faster you are at clicking the circles the better score you get and the better the dance is.

At the bottom of the screen there is a green bar that moves to whichever side is doing the better dance, for example if the tongue is doing better then the more green that characters bar is.

As for advertising the product I don’t think the website has much affect. I don’t feel compelled to go out and buy some coke zero after playing the game. I think the website has been created with not the intention of marketing the product but to make the coke website itself more worth a visit. Websites for companies advertising food and drink are never that entertaining so this game adds something extra to it.

Identities Research - Websites

I found a website from Toyota called virtual test drive. The website is to advertise/promote their new car model the IQ. This is done by offering the customer the ability to text drive the car on the internet. The concept of being able to test drive a car interested me.

When I opened the site I was given different menu options to choose from, each one was a different kind of test drive for the car. Each menu option led to a track where I used the direction keys to drive around the track and complete different tasks based on the option chosen. The handling wasn’t the best as only the keyboard direction keys could be used, giving the car a rigid feel; it either turned or went straight!

The website itself doesn’t really make the car look that good, it looks rather boxy and a bit plain, and not the best advert for the car! The idea of letting a customer have a virtual test drive is quite good though and if done to a higher standard it could be very effective.

Identities Research - Websites

The next site I looked at was the Talk to Frank Website. The aim of this website is to inform people about the effects that Cocaine can have on a person. This site is based on the recent TV Ad campaign on Cocaine.

It is set in a basement. Each area of the basement is interactive meaning the user can navigate around the basement selected different objects. Each object has a different effect that cocaine has on a person who takes it. For each effect there is an interactive ‘game’ which lets the user find out information about cocaine and also what it does to a specific body part.

My two favourite interactive games involved a heart and also snorting lines of cocaine. The heart game consists of a heart beating normally in a glass jar, the user then pumps cocaine into the heart and the effects of it are then shown by it beating faster and faster till it eventually explodes. The other game is about the purity of cocaine. The mouse is transformed into a rolled up piece of paper, the user then drags it down a line of cocaine and is informed about its purity and how much other bad stuff is in it.

The website is really informative and I think will open people’s eyes to the bad effects of cocaine. The site had a high level of interactivity which makes navigating the website quite fun. The little side games on each object will interest the user and will make them read about the harmful effects.

The website is very well organised and is also structured well as the website is viewed in a specific order. The user can replay the games as many times as they want. The site is sticking with FRANKS image well. Talk to Frank has always been seen as an informative source rather than telling you what and what not to do, this site sticks with this by simply informing and not preaching.

Identities Research - Websites

I went onto the FWA (Favourite Website Awards) and looked at some of the different websites on there. The first one that jumped out at me was the FIFA 09 site. This website is to advertise/promote the video game. The release of each new game in the FIFA franchise is widely anticipated among the gaming world and always has to compete with its rival Pro Evolution Soccer (PES).

The website involves two different football matches involving four different teams, the teams are Manchester United, Shalke 04, Lyon and Real Madrid. The teams have been chosen to cover the largest fan base possible.

When the website loads up you are asked to choose which match you want to watch and also what team you support. Then you are shown the game from your chosen team’s perspective. The game is shown on a big screen in front of the teams ‘fans’ and is played out on the FIFA 09 football game. As expected the match is drawn to avoid any bias.

This website isn’t that interactive, there’s not much the user can do or explore, and they just pick a team and watch a game played on FIFA 09! The only interactive part of the website is after the game has been played and you can view different features of the game.

The content of the website is well organised however and is relevant to the product the company is advertising. Anyone who likes the FIFA games will probably be interested in the website, especially fans of the teams that are involved. The website is also easy to use with only a few buttons that need pressing, however this makes the interactivity not very good.