human vs. natural environment - relation to history - identifiable niche in time

During the initial stages of research for the 'Race in Savannah' project, I saw an interesting dichotomy between the work I was doing in regard to the natural world and the man-made technology of a specific period, namely automobiles in the year 1911. Essentially, the difference was in the relative stasis of the natural environment compared to the dynamic changes of man's technological evolution.

The historic record of nature is much larger, more majestic and antique, serving as an excellent backdrop for virtually any phase of human development in the area. The specifics of the year required the man made elements. This is constantly changing and, I guess, it is this element that allows us to measure ourselves.

The unique man-made contrivances, the more bizarre the better, make a niche in time and gives a particular definition to the period. This element cannot be accessed immanently but, on the contrary, must be retrieved through study and research in a library or other database where records have been deposited by previous generations.

The past is not past in regard to Nature as long as at least some of it is around. Oak trees look just like they did 100 years ago.

Last stretch

Currently, I am multi-tasking with intensity as the end
of the quarter approaches.

The construction of the racetrack has been the primary focus
thus far and with good reason.

After understanding a series of unforeseeable obstacles and
realizing various unique solutions, I am now preparing to
prepare the image layers of the tree tunnel for the final time.

*It is important to maintain one primary color tone throughout.
*The image planes must also be big enough so that the seams
do not show through.
*The alpha mask that creates the tunnel effect MUST be big
enough so that it is not evident that one is passing through
2d planes.

I have also resized and polished the car textures, adding specularity
and reducing the gloss to give a metallic effect.

The end of the track (bleachers, judgestand, starting blocks, and finish line
still need a little texturing.

I am in the process of modelling the driver around a biped model.
The idea is to reduce any problems in regard to rigging that might arise
from a more complex model.
Keep it simple.
The illusion is important.
The driver must be able to wave his arms and he must approximate the look
in Peter Helck's picture.

isinglass

associative themes

*isinglass - This is what I called shiny strips of
mica that I would find when wandering through
the forest as a little boy.

Theses strips of mica were so thin that they were
both semi-transparent and semi-reflective.

*Nature's stained glass

The mineral grew like an onion

*thousand shades of green
*dense, impenetrable forest

To my knowledge, no one has really
seized on the potential of Savannah's
environment.

A virtual world based on the city's
extraordinary elements should always
be based upon the phenomenal tree
cover.

The virtual element should magnify this
component to a bizarre extreme.

*slight bending, 2d becomes 3d
*line travelling through, 3d becomes 4d

Maybe other objects are also attached to the
line besides cars and drivers.
e.g. - lightning bolts, stars, strange geometric
configurations, or other distinctive environmental
elements that may not otherwise be clearly visible
because the field of vision is focussed immediately
around the track(cotton plant, peaches, big mosquito,
horse/carriage)

This sort of effect would really create a vortex mechanism,
which would appear to be drawing matter through a black
hole of sorts...towards what, another universe, a vast abyss,
paradise???

An existential race car game!!!
A journey through space against time.

The Derailed Ride

This post is dedicated to an analysis of amusement park
rides, simulations, tunnels, etc.

The common theme here is the idea of transcending the
real world and going into some sort of alternate reality or
scene from history.

There seem to be two primary considerations.
I think I've mentioned these before.

1) There must be a link preceding entrance into
fabulous realm

2) There must be an all-encompassing fabulous realm.

The alternative universe is traditionally presented in
one of two ways:

1)The viewers/audience/riders are sitting in some sort
of enclosed/artificial space in which all elements are related
to the imaginary world.

2) From an enclosed space, viewers/audience/riders observe
a world from a sealed screen where everything is constructed
to facilitate a certain immersive experience. Most often these
types of rides are vehicular. The screen actually operates
like a windshield.

**These two modes of virtual world presentation can be combined
to create an enhanced experience. An example of this would
be one in which the audience is in the cockpit of a spaceship watching
the journey through an imaginary window in the front. Great speeds
and daring turns literally result in screams/thrills/nauseated stomachs
from the general public as if they were on an actual rollercoaster

Another example is demonstrated in the use of an enormous screen dome
that encompasses an entire theatre. Here the concept of movie and
ride seem to blur together.

Thoughts:???

Here are some relative links:

NASA dome movie/ride:

http://www.hrpictures.com/2005/WILDCANYON/WILDCANYON.html


"The Art of Immersive Spaces" - an interesting program outline
for a conference on virtual world construction:

http://www.deaf04.nl/files/files/texts/coverage/reader_immersivespaces.pdf

Review of Orlando's theme parks
(perhaps a field trip in the future of SCAD grads??):

http://www.ajc.com/travel/content/travel/southeast/fl_stories/0505/22trthemeparks.html

A review of keyspots in Vegas relative to immersive forms of entertainment:

http://www.vegas.com/traveltips/arcades.html

another article about designers of immersive virtual environments:

http://www.fredraab.com/careprint2.htm

Great portal and links to numerous sites relative to amusement
parks:

http://www.thrillride.com/index.html

Top 10 horror games(good discussion on the immersive element
of video games):

http://www.justadventure.com/articles/Horror/Horror_Top_10.shtm


-interesting connections between film industry and interactive/
immersive worlds:

Constance Balides gives a good summary of her paper entitled
"Virtual Spaces and Incorporative Logics: Contemporary
Films as "Mass Ornaments":

"This paper focuses on spectators' experience of immersion in
technological film spectacles associated with some of these
computer generated special effects and more generally, on the
implications of immersion as a cultural logic of consumption in
various contemporary media forms and leisure practices."

http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/papers/balides.html

A company that specializes in the construction of
immersive amusement rides:

http://www.world-wideattractions.com/divisions.html

An awesome proposal/outline for implementing a series
of rides in a theme park in the Niagara Falls area.
Good info about the theory behind the implementation of
these types of rides:

http://home.earthlink.net/~metatroy/metapresents.htm

"Virtual Reality, Decadence, and the Will to God
A Rebours and Mondo 2000":

http://www.saddlesores.org/hm_vr.html

Midterm Report

-At this point I have a working prototype for the racetrack.

-Initially, the process was difficult and time consuming.

-The problem was mainly in developing an adequate
plan for building the track.
-I had many ideas and began working on them only to
realize that I was wasting my time.

-Besides, how vast was the world supposed to be?
-How could I make the forest to appear more dense than it actually was?

-During the initial modeling stage, I built 10 different trees.
-This enabled me with a good base which I could multiply and
rotate ad infinitum.
-I also made dozens of alpha channels, trying to find efficient
yet aesthetically pleasing ways to recreate live oak trees.
-Finally, I decided that it wasn't that important to be
completely photorealistic and that concern would prevent
me from actually producing the short movie from start
to finish.

-I came up with a unique solution regarding personal stylization.
-I created a path that led through a series of concatenated images.
-It reminded me of what it would be like to drive through a movie
or a strip of film.
-Each frame represented a slightly different stage of the journey.
-At a certain speed, the images would seamlessly flow into one another.

-These images were taken from various 'tree tunnels' in the city of Savannah.
-I took about 70 pictures.

-Each image was then imported into Photoshop.

-I opened the Peter Helck picture and, using the eyedropper,
captured some of the key tones in the painting.

-Then I dropped the tone over the actual photograph.
-Back in Max, I brought the photographs in and gave them a reduced opacity.
-I laid them on top of a series of planes and cracked a tunnel hole in the bottom.
-Next I drew a line through the tunnel and attached a camera.

-The avi is a bit crude and jerky, however, the idea is there and with a little polish,
-I think the whole thing will come off well.

-I have also built the finish line apparati and have begun importing
the car models into zbrush for retexturing.

-Originally, I planned to implement a couple of other 'scenes'
like a graveyard, a cotton field, or part of the city of Savannah.
-I think this may be a bit grandiose for one quarter and it seems
that the real focus is on the immediate area around the track,
the forest tunnel.
-This aspect alone requires much more study and polish.

-In the next week, I will begin building the character models.
I have allotted two weeks for this aspect of the project.

SPEEDTREE

A couple of days ago I was reading through the latest issue
of Game Developer and there was an excellent review about
a revolutionary tree design software known as SpeedTree.
It is published by IDV.

Tom Carroll, a 3D environment artist with Rockstar San
Diego, wrote the review, and he seemed very enthusiastic
about the program's potential to heighten the look of
outdoor environments requiring trees, forest, or just foliage.

There is a free demo version of SpeedTree(3rd edition) online
at Digimation's website:

http://www.digimation.com/software/asp/products_demo.asp?product_id=388

The software sells for $395 but you can use the free demo
for two weeks.

The real version comes with 30+ different types of trees but
the demo only has four.

It is very user-friendly and plugs right into max.

Here are a couple of other useful links that you can also
use:

For tutorials:

http://www.digimation.com/software/asp/product_techtutes.asp?product_id=388

A trailer demonstrating forests that have been made
with SpeedTree:

http://games.softpedia.com/get/Games-Demo/SpeedTree-Trees-of-Pangaea-Demo.shtml

Tree Net

This post deals with issues of compositing 2D masks with 3D models to create a tunnel through a forest.

The question is how to create the illusion of a massive and dense world without confounding the environment with polygonal mass.

Realism is important only to the degree that it is clearly apparent that we are dealing with a forest.

I want to rely more heavily with imaginative stylization because it is this element that makes the world strange and alluring.

The process that I plan to use is as follows:

There is a basic layer or line of oak tree models on either side of the road/track through the forest.

The closer to the road, the more polygonal mesh.

Beyond the first line of trees, I will begin placing alpha masks with various types of indigenous flora between and beyond the meshes.

At the end of the layered forest onion, will be a foliage wall.
For all practical purposes, this is the edge of the universe.

Another consideration is the ceiling or treenet.

The treenet is a web of branches, leaves, and Spanish moss that is so tightly knit together that it is impossible to see through.

Again, here there is a combination of 2d masks and 3d models.

The alpha masks will give the sense of depth and richness.
The models will afford real substance.
The treenet is bit trickier than the sides because this is the path that the camera will frequently be moving along.
The 2d alpha masks, therefore, will have to be concatenated successively all the way down the road to maintain the illusion.