When I started this project, I was stuck trying to find the right object to project onto. The idea to use this bust of a bulldog in my room came to me after testing 3 or 4 other objects. I wanted to challenge myself but also keep the freedom I had so I went in with no plan. Instead I watched a couple tutorials and got straight to work. I wanted a futuristic vibe going to match the song I was choosing, Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk. I also wanted the bust to stand alone and not add any videos so that the actual animations on the bust show better. Overall spatial scanning was tough with this object but I did what I could to make it look cool.
Technique:
I tried using spatial scanning but found that adding quads and circles was way easier in getting the shapes I wanted. It took quite a while longer than the shoe project but I feel like it was worth it for the final product. The visuals are all elements in Madmapper that I layered to make a cohesive piece of work.
Interpretation:
While my experience was similar to that of the shoe mapping project, I feel like I enjoyed messing around with visuals on this project more. I'd like to work more on other more complicated shapes so that I could get more experience and learn to make more seamless visuals.
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.
For this project I wanted to use video to create something home-y looking and nostalgic to me. I used old video from a family trip to Pakistan two years ago and chose a song with an upbeat but calming vibe (Chaku Chidiya by Lifafa). The second comp is similar to the first but the footage being used is from over ten years ago so I thought of this as a kind of time machine accompanied with soft orchestral music (BTS Spring Day).
Techniques:
I wanted to create a more intricate mapping surface, but to me the content was more important than the surface in this case and so I ended up using a plain white box.
I first mapped the three planes of the box using the plain grid. I then edited my videos into three montages for each of the planes. I then created a single surface to map my background onto. With this I layered a solid color, an animated surface, and then an audio reactive surface to create depth. I then varied them to create my different cues with the videos and my end scene.
For the second one I did the same background mapping concept and instead of mapping all three sides with video, I only did one since the video was already edited and I didn't feel I needed to cut it up.
Interpretations:
For the first composition I only used white and green for the background because those are the colors of the Pakistani flag. I wanted to make the video look like it was jumping around and have them all playing at the same time to create a hectic feel which correlates with how it feels to travel overseas.
The second composition is much more calm than the first and I used light pink/ rose-y pink for the background to make a reference to 'rose colored glasses'. I accompanied it with soft piano music (BTS Spring Day). I layered a cloud media over the video to add to the nostalgic feels.
The end scenes for both are white noise to emulate older TVs when they wouldn't have signal.
For this project, I wanted to focus on music and visual interaction. I chose the Spanish pop song, “Eres Para Mi” by Julieta Venegas and I accompanied it with psychedelic type visuals with vibrant colors.
Techniques:
The techniques I used were similar to the shoe mapping. I mapped my relief object, (which are a couple of foldable drawer organizers) created my cues on madmapper, and automated all of these cues using Vezér. I also tried spacial scanning my relief object, but due to their dark color, my results were kind of useless.
Interpretation:
This was probably my favorite project we have done. Though my relief object was really simple, it gave me extra time to make more cool effects and practice my automation skills. The “Eres Para Mi” song is a song my mom overplayed throughout my childhood. Though I hated it at a time, it has grown on me and puts me in a good mood every time I hear it. This project is really just a visual representation of what this song makes me feel
I started this project with the corner of my bedroom ceiling in mind. There is a rectangular drop down on part of the edge of my ceiling that I thought would be the perfect place to map. I wanted to add more appeal though, so I thought that I could get some more depth and geometry if I cut out shapes and taped them to the ceiling. Now I can have more things to map and create more of a landscape. I wanted all of my visuals to be audio reactive to the song Gnomad by Schmoop and jade Cicada. This song is a high-energy halftime drum and bass song so I wanted to have lots of white on the buildups to signal that there is something coming up and then go all red and white on the drops so that I can match the energy of the song.
Technique:
I started out by cutting out my 3D shapes from poster board. I wanted variety so I did two different triangular prisms and a cube. I then noticed that there is no round geometry in the scene, so I hung up my poi. The balls at the end of the rope made for a perfect way to hang the balls right at the base of the triangles so that it looks like they are hanging from the triangles. Once everything was set up I put my projector onto the tripod and began the process of creating layers that I could map onto the shapes. I started with the walls and then worked my way up to the smaller shapes that I had cut out. I then turned most of my quads into line layers as well to give them some more depth and accentuation to their edges. Once things were mapped, I started adding in video clips that matched the energy and madness of the song, and then I set up their speed parameters to bump to the bass hits in the song. This gave the visuals lots of "pop" and made things feel more custom.
Interpretation:
I LOVED this project. I want to build custom 3D stages for concerts, so this was a great way to get a feel for how I can build things to map on and how I can work my content for music. I also learned about how important projector positioning is when you are trying to the spatial map so that your videos aren't too stretched.
Concept:
For this project, I spent most of the time stuck with few or no ideas as to what to create. For the relief, I got the idea to use sticker vinyl from where I work. After testing with it, it looked nothing like I had hoped and decided to use cut up boxes to help 'stiffen' the relief. This created the triangular look I originally hoped for with just the vinyl. As for the projection, since I was low on ideas and time I decided to just mess around with the MadMapper FX settings for different medias and create some cool animated textures. Though, after I started doing this idea (on Sunday night) I had an idea to create a small animated scene to animate and project but due to my 'self imposed time constraints', this idea will have to wait.
Technique:
The shape of the relief was simple enough to where I did not feel the need to use spatial scanning. Placing the vertices of each surface was actually very easy compared to the shoe from the previous project. As for the visuals, they were created as separate scenes with different MadMapper FX attached to them.
Interpretation:
Since I didn't leave myself enough time to really do what I wanted to do, I still tried to create something I wouldn't have been able to a couple weeks/months ago. MM is pretty hard to create animation in since there's no timeline, but using generators and numbers has taught me a couple new things about animating that I can use in the future.
For my project I wanted to go for a kind of space and future retro vibe based on the song Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa.
Technique:
I didn't have much to work from, so I just put together some stuff. I didn't have a complete white canvas so I just used one that was hanging on my wall. I had a little square bucket so I hung it up on my wall by using some ribbon and tying the bucket to it. I then pinned the ribbon to the wall. I used my canvas to cover the ribbon by having it lay vertically on top of the bucket at an angle. I also included a circle mirror that I had at the bottom just for funsies.
Also, I had to move my desk and take some stuff off from my walls to create a space where I could do my work and also be able to have a background.
Interpretation:
In Dua Lipa's cover art for Future Nostalgia, she is in a spaceship in space, so I tried incorporating space into my composition. I also included a lot of pink because Dua Lipa wears a pink suit in the cover art. In her album, it has a sort of retro feel to, so I tried to mesh together the retro and space vibes, as well as a bit of a futuristic kind of aspect to it as well.
