Sensing: Using the web camera and face location to determine one is at the centre point

Effecting: Tracking

Computing: MAX

Assignment: Using Max as the platform, create a photo booth that gives audio commands to the centre of the and takes a photo when in the right position.

Similarly, in assignment it makes use of what we learnt about jit.grab and cv.jit.faces for display and face detection. What’s new was audio and programming it to take a photo.

Challenges: Firstly, it took me many trials and errors to figure out the centre position and the correct audio to be triggered. After that it took me awhile to programme the countdown 3seconds when in the right position to take a picture. However, multiple audio still plays whenever triggered where it’s a possible further development.

password: photobooth

Sensing: Using the camera in my laptop and face location to determine the video frame

Effecting: Tracking

Computing: MAX

Assignment: Using Max as the platform, create video that acts as a movement tracker that follows you as you move sideways.

This second assignment is almost like an extension from the first where we still have to make use of what we learnt about face detecting but instead of changing opacity, it is to locate the face and match it with the designated frame from the pre-recorded video. Compared to the first assignment, tackling the first part of this was much easier as it was using basically almost the same theory but just with a few tweaks to fit the task. 

 Challenges: The main problem was figuring out what values to use for the scale. I had to go through several trial and errors before finally settling on the most suitable one. Another problem was when no face was detected, the frame did not freeze at the spot it was last at and it always jumped to the frame that showed my finger pointing to the extreme left (have yet to fix it). I also faced the same problem (room lighting problem) when documenting.

password: maxtracker

Sensing: Using the camera in my laptop and face size to detect distance of person.

Effecting: Reflecting, opacity and transitioning

Computing: MAX

Assignment: Using Max as the platform, create a virtual magic mirror that depends on the distance between a person and the mirror which result in video brightening up (far) or fading out (near).

Programming language is a generally new thing to me and Max is no different. This is the first time I’m experiencing it and I feel that it is quite different from the other languages that I learnt last semester. However, I do find that this language is relatively much easier to understand and use? I like how it functions like a mind map that is interconnected to help one see the full picture more easily.

mirror

Challenges: The programme could not run properly or like how it is expected to initially because I mixed up the “objects” with “messages” and “float” with “number”. The connections were also sometimes difficult for me to grasp as to which wire connects to which box. The main problem I faced was adjusting the values so that i have the opacity and transition that i wanted (scale & jit.op). I also found it hard to document my work if the lighting wasn’t good enough as the face detector tends to detect many other things(non-faces objects included) aside from my face, which caused the programme to glitch. This also raises the issue of if more than one object is detected at different areas & of different coordinates, the programme may flicker and “glitch”.

password:maxmagicmirror

There were a few things that i really love in this interactive website : style of graphics, choice of colours and the simple animations through scrolling. It aims to raise awareness about water saving through the portraying of everyday life which is relatable and informative in the sense that some people may not even know about this facts. I also appreciate the fact that they make the interface easy to use and simple to understand. I feel that this has a lot of potential if narratives was weaved  more into it .

Link : http://everylastdrop.co.uk

 

Side-note:

This is also a possible style that i would really want to try/work on and i think it may be possible with adobe muse? However, i also wanted to add more interactions than just scrolling which i think isn’t really possible with muse..

This was a interactive narrative that was created by a collaboration between ING Direct and Unicef with the aim to raise money. This is a game where it requires you to pair your handphones with your browser. Whenever your phone is flipped, the story of the girl changes between a positive path and another that is negative which is also suggestive of what one’s donation can do.

I personally like how the narrative is like a a literal flip from leading a positive life and to that that is negative. Since the user is the one who initiates the flip, i feel that it emphasises the point of “what one’s donation can do” more. 

Link: http://unahistoriaquedalavuelta.com/en/

 

Side-note:

This concept also sort of reminds me of dual realities which i find to be an interesting topic that i could develop.

This online game is interesting in the sense that it draws it’s narratives from a real-life event – the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on 12th January 2010. The earthquake killed more than 200,000 people, 1.5 million were displaced, and over 300,000 destroyed buildings in the 7.0 magnitude quake. I like how this game utilises the combination of interactive story where the player can play a part in the rebuilding of Haiti, as well as a platform that raises awareness – issues like famine, homelessness & poverty – to the players about the situation through journalism. I also like how it can also be immersive with the help of the environmental audios. 

Link: http://apps.rue89.com/haiti/en/

 

Side-note:

A possible way to raise awareness while getting some freedom to choose which is a component that i would really like to try and include in my works.

Initial Ideas For This Project
  1. Compilation (nursery rhymes + pov project) based on common subject matters from my past works : animals.  

-rhymes (b&w works) transitioned to pov (colourful works)

2. Compilation with improvisations (nursery rhymes)

– adding in particular into the b&w works to evoke/represented a certain mood/feeling/atmosphere

3. New works (typographic portrait problem project)

-using the line work style of illustrations to create a zine on typography

4. Compilation with improvisations (pov project)

– using the content to make a zine focused on the interactivity of it

-inspired from feedback from previous critique

5. New works (pov project)

– using the same style (basic shapes/vectors) and context (singapore) to make a match-word-to-pictures-kind-of-book.

– focused on interactivity

 

*note:  ideas i choose to explore more on / develop.

 

 

Process

Before I started on the illustrations, I researched extensively on all the singlish words used commonly used here in Singapore, followed by narrowing it down the ones that I thought would be more appropriate for my project. (some examples: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9SxP4EKVfKBV0hZb1BBYnJXc3c)

After that I first tried out making a few illustrations for idea 5( refer to above on initial ideas). 

jelly

Tryout of a illustration for word (agar-agar: jelly / rough estimation).

swaku

tryout of illustration for word (swaku-mountain tortoise) with full background/ setting a context.

I tried out two ways of portrayal , one being just focusing on the subject matter itself and the other being set in a context where viewers can find clues/hints from the background/surroundings (perhaps a hint of narrative too).

However, I realised it was hard for me to bring life to this objects that are already representational in real life and from the tryouts, I was not fully pleased with the results. I scraped the idea. Hence, I decided to work on idea 4 instead as I’ve always been more drawn to having many narratives in my works.

Firstly, I reviewed my series of works for the pov assignment and selected the ones that I’d like to use while changing some others for new illustrations.

Untitled-1

original set of works that I worked with.

sawku-

Replaced the original work(top-right) with this

For this idea, I was really inspired by this interactive book that Joy gave as feedback from the previous critique.04_SingaporelangBook_Stills_grande-1 05_SingaporelangBook_Stills_grande 08_SingaporelangBook_Stills_grande

Singapore Lang – What the Singlish! Book

I tried out various binding methods for the mock-ups, such as side stapling , saddle stitch with thread and Japanese binding. After consultation, many recommended for the book to be able to be fully-opened for easier user experience.

I decided to work on how my speech bubbles would appear and the meanings. Instead of stickers, which are only for one-time use, I thought of ways that the speech bubbles can be used several times. I thought of using velcro, however, i felt the thickness of the material would cause the zine to pop out constantly.

images

paper dolls with its unique flaps

Hence I decided to go with this idea of flaps.

Untitled-1

Initial

Then, for better user experience again, I decided to make it in such a way that the direction of the speech bubbles is interchangeable. The speech bubbles are also colour coded based on the negative or positive feeling or connotation it evokes. For example, green is highlighted in words like ‘bojio’ , ‘mugger’, ‘hao lian’ and so on which suggest hints of envy/jealousy.

TEXTTT TEXTT

I then proceeded to work on improving the visuals of the content itself with trying out changes of illustration styles while retaining the content itself. I also did some edits for the content to make it more appropriate and even more relatable to singapore (aim: with one glance, viewers should be able to tell its singapore context).

Illustration style 1: adding of obvious black outlines to make the subject matter stand out more

'''deer

left: with outline / middle: original / right: embossing

However, it was scraped as it did not make much obvious differences and did not fit the final outcome I was looking for.

Illustration style 2: adding of embossing / shadows to make it more 3-dimensional and also to make the work come more to life.

6. home 5.love 4. 'sawku- 3. water HOLIDAY HOLIDAY-(white)2. HOLIDAY- 1.phone

Illustration style 2: line work illustrations with limited colour palette (2-3colours used only)

1.phone3. water-3. water3. watersf

I really loved the aesthetics however I was facing many problems with making it neater and hiding the overlapping shapes.

Cover pages design tryouts:

Untitled-1(black) Untitled-1(black)ferf Untitledr-1 Untitled-1 deer(white) deer

Reference pages design:

text(att)- text(att) text(single)- text(single)

With the content done, I worked with the layout of my zine.

Proposed layout in indesign (not in running order): https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9SxP4EKVfKBV1dvMEZRcUlxNXM

 

 

Final

1

  • missing page photo (reference page)

2 3 4578910 copy

For this zine, I wanted the main focus to be on the interactivity. There are two sides (single life / married life) to this zine, where it can read from any direction and the narratives would still work. The reason for two sides is because there are the groups of people who are more career/single life orientated, the groups of people who are more family orientated and of course the group of people who overlap these two sides as well.

I titled the zine – ‘Adventures of the Kiasubuck’ because viewers can choose how the story flows, the personality of the characters. Generally, I invite viewers to set their own adventures based on the available choices of singlish words. This is to highlight how their choice of words and the way one speaks can change the impression they leave on others.

The zine is printed one sided so as to prevent damage to the subsequent contents as I created slits for viewers to slot in their choice of speech bubbles. The available places for slotting in the speech bubbles are not just limited to the pre-made slits but I welcome viewers to make their own slits and they can choose to place the speech bubbles on anything they see fit , allowing for a more enriching experience. The white border around the content serves to maintain the neatness as well as an influence from the book I’m inspired from (Singapore Lang – What the Singlish! Book). The orientation of the book is in a horizontal format instead of vertical so viewers are allowed to immerse themselves in the narrative and see the details (the small details are important hence I avoided making the works too small). Choice of paper is thick for both the cover pages and inside pages, this is to firstly retain my inspiration from the kind of hard paper the creation of paper dolls  use. Secondly, it is to withstand the possible wear and tear in the future.

For the speech bubble page, I made them in a layout that all the individual speech bubbles follow the orientation of the respective pages. The pockets are made of tracing paper so to allow viewers to be able to see the words at one glance without having them to take each out to check which one it is. I also left part of speech bubbles out of the pockets so that viewers can easily take and put the speech bubbles back after use.

Difficulties/Reflection

The hardest part of the zine was actually the speech bubbles aspect as I had to think about how to store them properly without them falling out when the book is flipped from all directions and I had to cut them all out neatly without damaging them . Credits to Fiona who taught me how to make the secure pockets.