Final Presentation Images

Almost Complete

Alright, so the glass eye is sculpted and cold worked to a polish again. The digital side of things is similar to the last post. I added color changes to the planet circling the star. It now changes to brown as if all of the water burns off when the sun goes into it's red giant phase. There are a few more thing that I would like to change before actually setting the piece up in a gallery. For example I need to change the stand. While it's better than what I originally had (cardboard), it still doesn't fit with the visual style and aesthetics of the eye itself. It is very rectangular and boxy, while the eye is nothing but smooth and organic lines. I would also like to cold work the eye a bit more. There are a few select areas, such as the nub on the end, that could use some grinding down.

Redesign

After receiving the feedback from my second update I was under the impression that I was supposed to completely rehash the visual side of my piece in 4 weeks. I talked to a few people and they gave me suggestions to modify my original style, which I have done. I've nixed the multiple stars and decided instead to focus on Our star. I have also added earth orbiting. There isn't any interaction between the two yet, however I want the earth to eventually be affected by the sun's life cycle. For example I want the earth to change color when the sun nearly swallows earth when going into it's red giant stage. I'm also toying around with the idea of using a flocking simulation of some sort, or maybe just some hard coding to add a moon and some satellites orbiting earth. I also want those to be blown away after the sun poofs off it's outer shell. 

As for the glass portion, I haven't talked to Joel yet as I have been nailing down the concept a lot lately, however I have a few new ideas for what I want to project through. Glass blowing has helped me see the world in a bit of a different light. It has shown me that hard work will allow me to accomplish anything. Glassblowing hasn't just improved my hand eye coordination, it has become something that follows me around and has really turned into a sort of lens that I view the world through. I am thinking that I want a single, clear piece of glass, of a yet undecided shape (circular in someway for sure) that sits right in front of the sun. The earth won't be included in the lens. 

Even though this particular point isn't really related to the overall concept of decay, I believe that it ties in well because, if you think about it, every single picture of the universe that you have ever seen has been through a lens. Even originally I liked the idea of glass as a lens for this piece. I want it to soften the edges and lines of my animation. Which is kind of ironic as lenses are traditionally used to bring things into focus. 

New Direction

Well I've been thinking a lot about the feedback that I received and I have been doing some research into the topic as well. My visual style that I presented was not well received. It didn't communicate what I was trying to represent. I have come to the conclusion that I will probably need to nix 90% or more of what I have done on the digital side of things and 100% of what I have done on the glass side of things. I'm not even sure how I will incorporate glass into this either. Anyway, I believe that if I start to insert images into canvas I will be more able to visually represent the tiny amount of this universe that we will likely affect. It will be a bit more literal and less abstract. I will likely Photoshop my own images, however I will probably throw something together with pre-existing images to make sure that everything works and is doing what I want to do and saying what I want it to say.

Decay

I've been attempting to research a bit into art that incorporates decay into it. Unfortunately I haven't found a lot that seems deal with anything but the literal sense of the word decay. Actual decaying artwork, artwork that looks like it is decaying, artwork subject matter that is decaying. None of which seems to be touching on what I am looking into which is the eventual nothingness that the universe will supposedly become. They are all using a very literal sense of that word. More along the lines of decomposition as opposed to what I am thinking of. I have incorporated an entropy function into my code that is starting to get at the decay idea I think. I haven't changed the aesthetic yet as I enjoy it and I think it communicates stars and energy.

Some screenshots of it in "action"

Everything, from the main stars, to the background stars are fading at a rate that is difficult to notice but eventually  becomes very noticeable.  Full animation is at: My Website

Projections

I've done some experimenting with my glass and projections. It was a bit different than I expected but I think that I can deal with it by making my glass even thinner than it already is. This shouldn't be too much of an issue, just a simple readjustment.

This is a photo I took of some of the projections. Quality is sub-par as I didn't have anyone around to help me photograph it.

The first three images show the projection through thinner pieces.

This is through some thicker glass and it isn't nearly as bright as I wanted. Thinner is obviously the key.

Progress 10/16/13

Life has been rough for the last few weeks so progress isn't exactly coming easy. There has been some however. From the coding aspect I have progressed since the last update, although it has been quite slow I think that it is a good start and a good base to build off of.

This is the current state of my canvas, a live version can be found at:
www.eacrow.com/BFA.html

I still need to flesh out the actual concept but I will be posting some photos of the projection soon here, I have tried it out really quickly and it seems like I will have to blow as thin as possible, also the ribs seem to scatter the light a bit too much but you will see that when I post the next update.