Bayang Flores Project 3: Relief Mapping

Concept

    For this project I didn't have very many ideas as to what I wanted to do. I was kind of lost on how to proceed, but wanted to work with objects that I could either create or had readily available.

    I decided to try and bring one of my pieces to life by projecting onto a prop I wanted to create for a cosplay. This is Star Guardian Soraka's staff from the game League of Legends. One of the characteristics of her staff is that the star changes color, and is filled with magic and light. I wanted to project onto my 3d printed star to see if I could achieve the same effect. 

Process

    To create my relief mapping, I first had to create the model for the star. I ended up making an .obj based on Soraka's staff, converted it into an .stl and printed it on my Ender-3. Once printed, I mounted it to the wall with a pushpin, and used a Canon T6i and MadMapper to spatially scan the object. 

    Once that was done, I used the spatial scan image as a background reference, imported the .obj into MadMapper, and calibrated the model to create a UV map for the print in real life. I created a separate quad for each face of the star to have the projection wrap around the object properly and then added a wireframe outline to each of the faces.

    After that, it was just a matter of what I wanted to project. 

Interpretation

    I ended up just adding the release music for the skin line as a background sound.

    The first scene features a magical girl transformation sequence in the center of the star (from a different character, but the same skin line). I overlaid and feathered out two different backgrounds to create a surreal magical feeling, almost like the star is glowing, suspended in another dimension. 

    The second scene features Soraka herself in the background. I used the Serpentine FX animation on the lines and the MadNoise effect in deep pink and yellow on the faces. In doing this, I was trying to make the star feel dynamic and alive. For the outer points of the star, I used the color pattern effect to have the colors shift. I also added a square outline outside of the star to better frame it and have it stand out from the background. 

For this project, I regret not investing in a more powerful projector. The transformation sequence came out looking really cool when I was mapping it on my desktop. However, once projected, a lot of the detail is lost due to the lack of lumens. At least I'll know better for next time! Regardless, I honestly had a lot of fun with this project. I was definitely lost for a while, but in working on this I had a chance to explore both blender and pepakura for a little bit. I'm still a fair beginner when it comes to literally every aspect of this project-- the modeling, the projection itself, UV mapping and such--but it's a really interesting course of study and I enjoy learning more and more about it.