Ephemera Catalog

aimproducer — Sat, 14 May 2011 08:28:09 +0000

Monday night (May 16th at Field 36 Gallery, at 6PM – be there!) is our opening launch. What does an interactive journey through the mind look like after a month of concept, production, and scripting work? Check out our catalog for a sneak preview.

Meet Our Engine Team

aimproducer — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:47:23 +0000

Head Programmer Simon leads members of his team through a scripting lesson.

This week of the project belongs primarily to our Engine Team. Last week, our Production group members produced dozens of assets in a very short amount of time. Most of them were coming to 3-D modelling programs such as Maya and Wings 3D for the first time, and within a few days have created a surreal and beautifully textured world that includes everything from trees, eyeballs, television sets, lightbulbs, mazes, laboratories and mysterious rooms. It’s now in the hands of our programmers to make it interactive.

With feedback from the Executive Producers of the project, the programming team has been divided into a few different groups. Simon, the Engine Team lead, also scheduled a few scripting lessons to help bring his group up to speed with the challenge of programming the Ephemera world. According to Simon, here’s how it breaks down:

TEAM 1:

Responsibility 1: Scripting.

This team will be in charge of making sure that Javascript and scripts created in iTween work appropriately, and apply them in the project database. This team will only be in charge of applying scripts to objects already placed in Unity by team 2. If a movie does not play at the appropriate time, or if an event is not occurring, this is a scripting issue.

Responsibility 2: User Testing.

This team will also be in charge of testing the project’s compatibility with the systems downstairs, as well as making sure it “plays” correctly. If the controls are difficult to use, the frame rate is too slow, or if an object doesn’t make sense/doesn’t work, it is this team’s responsibility to make note of this and fix it.

TEAM 2:

Responsibility 1: Construction

The database will be a current build of the project in Unity, into which they will place all the objects submitted, ready to be scripted. Determining exactly what this means will take some communication between teams 1 and 2.

Responsibility 2: Server Management

This team will also be in charge of taking all objects out of the asset drop folder and updating the project database. If there is a problem importing assets due to file type, this team needs to organize an effort to communicate with the Production Team to resolve the issue. This team also needs to make sure files are named according to naming conventions, so that they can be manipulated properly by Team 1 while scripting.

EVERYBODY:

Responsibility 3:

Exhibition Space Management: Everybody does this. Basically, it involves constructing the physical space for the project on level 3, and being ready to open the doors on LAUNCH DAY.

DAILY BACKUPS: Simon.

Simon’s visual metaphor for how the Engine Team will work together:

Production mode engaged

thelahta — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:33:56 +0000

Well, we’re in production now, and what a thrill it is. Interested students can learn we have a colourful TRACKING SHEET (ooooh) up on the wall to keep track of the assets made. The production team gamely jumped into Maya/Wings, which I think is commendable especially seeing most of them have absolutely no experience with the bloody things.

Executive Producers meeting! Which wasn’t terribly exciting as most people have gone home to work (that’s what I’m telling myself) or are too busy working out Maya/Wings to come and talk to the execs. Anyway. On Thursday it will be AMAAAAAAZING.

Chug, chug, chugging along

thelahta — Mon, 09 May 2011 06:31:58 +0000

Lahta, your Even Twitchier Producer, writes:

So we will have the cerebellum all good and ready to go in Unity in time for the Execs at 6 pm today. Hopefully we will even have it setup in the exhibition space itself. With sound and everything! To date, these things have been completed -

Sound for 6 regions, 2 to go
8 room structures modelled, with assets for 6 of them currently being intergreated
1 room currently being integrated by Engine
Exhibition space has been mapped and arranged, ready for materials and setup
Promotions materials being arranged as I type this now.
More news as it comes to hand.

Concept Team Reflective Statement

sophiahanover — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:25:18 +0000

Our original theme of how the brain is shaped by technology came about from members of the concept team pitching ideas for a theme. Karis and Lindy put forward ideas that shared this theme so we decided to explore it further. The original idea of navigating through the mind and being presented with choices of media was put forward to the executive producers and we realised it wasn’t achievable. The main feedback was that we should keep the theme and try to simplify it, give the production team more artwork to do, give the audience more in the way of game play, catering to the different users that may interact with the piece. Simon also informed us that it was very important to keep the code simple by sticking to one kind of game play throughout the piece, as there isn’t a lot of programming experience in our group.

The next morning, we assembled with some stand-in helpers from other teams and tried to work up a new idea that still utilised the original theme. Meredith showed a game called Akrasia that is set inside a brain and explores the concept of addiction. Sebastian showed us a really intriguing TED talk from neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor who suffered a stroke and described the shutting down of her brain, which made us think about how we could represent this. We explored ideas of game play and Lindy pitched an idea of a fly through set in tunnels and chambers.

These ideas seemed to be the makings of something great but we were still trying to work out how we could relate these new ideas to the concept of how technology shapes the brain. In the end we decided that it was just as compelling to discuss the many functions of the brain, and moved away from the concept. We researched the brain and thought how we could divide the space up into the different regions and representing them individually. The Jill Bolte Taylor talk inspired us to explore the dysfunctional states of the brain as well, and thought this might be a nice way to give the user another way of interacting with the space by triggering different responses from each region. Each concept team member was given regions to research more thoroughly and decide how the functional and dysfunctional states of the region could be represented.

Directors Note | Production Tuesday..

sophiahanover — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:12:30 +0000

So, here we all are quietly working away in the studio I thought it might be good to have a review of where we are so far….

We’re hoping to have a full room done by tomorrow, so that it can be user tested and we can incorporate some of the sounds into the room to see how cohesive it all is. The production team is now creating the whole structure and delivering it to the engine team ready for scripting/ crunching and user testing. Sounds are being sourced by Terry and Max, then processed and embedded into soundscapes to insert into the environments. Jin is currently making a scale model of the exhibition space as we’re considering what can be be physically done to accentuate to space when we have the projection up and running. Postcards/Website/Blog are all produced; while Karis, Dan and myself will be looking into sponsorship for the opening.

Pablo and Simon doing a fantastic and huge job of educating the masses, and taking the weight of the world on their shoulders right now…

Meeting with the exec Producers on Thursday, so will have some solid progress to show them!

Production Week….Engage!

aimproducer — Mon, 02 May 2011 09:17:08 +0000

Today was the first day of production. Pablo, our production lead, set up a schedule to get the team started on creating the objects, assets, textures and rooms that will populate the exhibition. There are about eight rooms representing different parts of the brain, and the Concept Team has created a road map detailing what each room will need to have.

Four production team members stayed on in the studio late to get started. Most of the assets will be created using 3-D modelling software such as Wings 3d, Maya and Unity 3D. Some of the environments that will be recreated include a scientific laboratory, an urban street scene, and a surrealist mountain scene. Most of these scenes begin as simplified objects that need to be manipulated and formed into more complex shapes. After they’ve been shaped, we’ll add textures that give the objects the appearance of being made of wood, glass or other materials.

Basic shapes: the beginnings of a laboratory (Maya 3d).

Need a lightbulb?

Executive Meeting – Presenting the Concept

thelahta — Sun, 01 May 2011 01:29:12 +0000

Lahta, your twitchy producer writes:

Well, on Thursday we presented the new concept to the executive producers – Sarah and Ollie. They seem cautiously enthused, if that’s even a state one can be. Ollie was very taken by the experience of navigating through one’s brain, and suggested quite a few code-y things to Simon, the Engine Lead. Sarah was mostly concerned with the delivery – how are we going to make all these assets and 8 ‘rooms’ in time? Pablo, the Production Lead, looked mostly thoughtful about this, as he so often does. Meredith, the Concept Lead, was understandably chuffed to hand over this mammoth task, and now we switch from concept mode into production mode. More news as it comes to hand.

Why Are We Here?

aimproducer — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:58:28 +0000

As a class, RMIT University’s Animation and Interactive Media students are a pretty diverse group. In addition to Australia, we come from China, Malaysia, the United States, Colombia and Taiwan. Before starting our program, we worked in a number of different fields -we were concept artists, web producers, writers, educators, animators and even publicists. Some of us have never animated before coming to the program, and some of us have been working as multimedia artists for years. Ephemera is a collaborative exhibition project we’re putting on together as a group, drawing on our unique talents and backgrounds to put it all together. We’ll be using the 3-D game engine Unity to create an experiential space that uses visuals, sound, interaction and even teleportation to create a unique user experience. We’ve been split into different teams, and each team has a different role to play:

Executive Producers: Two alumni working from our program will oversee the project. They’ll also be there to offer mentorship and guidance.

Director: The fearless leader, who defines the vision for the project and oversees the overall production.

Producers: We help keep everyone in line, and pay attention to deadlines. We work with every team to ensure that this exhibition is the best that it can be.

Concept Team: We’re the architects behind the idea. Our job is to sketch out the initial plan, themes and artwork that will inform the final project. We also authored an extensive concept document for the Production team, detailing the scope, art, sound and layout of this 3-D space.

Marketing Team We’re not content to wear one hat; we wear several. We’ll help to spread the word about this exhibition. And we built this awesome website!

Production Team: We pick up where the Concept Team leaves off. We’re responsible for taking the Concept Team and Director’s vision from paper and bringing it to life. We’ll gather and create the actual artwork, sound, lighting and visuals that you’ll see in the final project.

Engineering Team: The Engineers are the problem solvers and programmers of the group. We’re the ones who handle scripting, technical issues, adding code and interactivity to the project. We also take care of user testing and make sure everything is working right before the launch of the project.

In the end, our most important job is working together as a team. Did we mention we only have a few weeks to put this all together? Check back for regular updates on this blog where we’ll be documenting the trials, tribulations and adventures of putting on a group show. And don’t forget to check out Ephemera: The Exhibition…coming soon to a Melbourne gallery near you!