Not too happy!!!

Ok so its currently 6am, 6 hours after i decided just to 'have a go' at looking at colour correction. I was trying to produce a colour desaturation when you walked into a specific area...

What i have worked out...

1. Everything that i have read online is wrong!! Using a color_correction_volume entity linked to a trigger brush gives you the opposite effect to what is required! You step into the triggered area and colour is RESTORED when in fact you want the correction to happen when that environment.

2. Making it work by putting a volume of trigger brushes around EVERYTHING BUT the environment has its problems unless you put it all in a func_detail before applying the linkages

3. When the thing does eventually work the effect bleeds into the rest of the map - the whole map desaturates slightly so it looks less vibrant then before. Not only does it make the map less lively but it nullifies the whole point of a drastic colour desaturation!

4. Throughout typing this whole blog entry ive had to correct every instance that i've written 'colour' because ive programmed myself to type 'color'

5. Im worried that sound and (potential) animation triggering is going to lead to just as many problems.


I can see myself having another go tomorrow although i dont think there is a single setting in the colorcorrectionUI or the func_detail properties i havent tried. If i cant get it to work id rather lose the desaturation effect and try and produce something that swells shadow or lighting or something, i really dont know. It just seems a shame to lose the vibrancy of the piece for one small effect.

One thing is for sure though, i gotta get out of this 3am, 4am, 3am, 6am OCD fueled work pattern. Sometimes i think if i left it alone a while and even slept on it id have a clearer picture or at least the will to try a few more times. Lets see what tomorrow brings

:)

Internal architecture stills

Internal space drafts by Lee in Half Life

Water Tower External Design

Implemented by Jovi using 3DS Max and photo textures -

Work in Situ

**Post deleted wednesday 6th January**

Time Management..

After doing a rough draft of the floor plans we've divided work up a little bit as follows:

Jovi-
• Building the external tower
• Build objects in 3Dstudio Max
• Scripting animation/sound elements into HL
• Research how to do animation in HL

Selma-
• Building ECG machine, piping, and wires (blood trans.)
• Build objects in 3Dstudio Max
• Scripting animation/sound elements into HL

Iona-
• Gathering textures
• Historical research and oral history
• Sound recording/foley
• Studio 6 conservatoire mix
• Scripting animation/sound elements into HL
• Particle generators and skyboxes (external environment)

Lee-
• Building the maps/architecture in Half Life
• Sound recording/Foley
• Rough mixes then Studio 6 conservatoire mix
• Scripting animation/sound elements into HL
• Research triggering in HL (animation and sound)

• Particle generators and skyboxes (external environment)

TimeLine

Working with 5 weeks left to finish should give us plenty of time for unexpected problems and a week to fully test and gain feedback from people.

Week 1 (as of 16th Nov)

• Complete water tower amendments
• Gather relevant textures for existing tower internals (photography on site)
• Building of maps/architecture in HL (Half Life)
• Object research and plans on realisation in 3DS Max
• Build upon ideas of how the blood transfusion ideal could be achieved (Selma)
• Begin oral history research

Week 2

• Continue with 3DS Max object building including compilation tests and UV mapping
• Research into object animation particually in reference to the ECG machine idea (more to follow)
• Continue internal architecture and design
• Import real world 256x256 textures into HL and implement
• Oral history script and how it will be experienced through the space

Week 3

• Complete 3DS Max object building and begin to import into HL, orientate and UV match to existing HL entities (objects/prefabs/lighting)
• Research into triggering sound and animation within HL
• Begin sound sample gathering using predefined sound script throughout the space

Week 4

• Continue sample gathering and begin compiling atmospheric sounds/triggered sounds/oral history work (fragmented narrative)
• Contextualisation check - Meeting to discuss if the media created is sufficient to describe the space in the way we want it to
• Animations produced and put into HL - tested and developed

Week 5

• Import sound elements and set up proximity triggers within HL
• Any remaining skybox work (picture of the new hospital through the windows etc)
• Work with particle generators to create dusty environments

Week 6

• Test/troubleshoot and resolution
• Feedback

:)

Second Floor Plan

Here are the Second Floor plans for the Wartime Scene

This floor is where is starts to get a little surreal.

As you enter the second floor you are met with gun fire, explosive noises, and generally a very busy and intrusive soundscape. The imagery itself aims to describe a war scene very graphically by actually bringing the outdoor elements of the scene inside. For all intents and purposes this is a beach landing. The walls are replaced with perspective images of beaches, ships, the sea and the other side a high banked steep hill topped with barracks and sea defences. The 'room' is littered with war artefacts. There is a segment of a tank breaking through the wall and anti-tank objects are scattered around. Short fragmented oral accounts from the landings can be heard as you negotiate the space. The space however is fairly void of colour.

Animation elements: Being able to shoot a machine gun?

As you move through the scene the anti-take objects begin to lay side by side with wheelchairs, parts of hospital beds, and general hospital equipment. This merging also happens with sound as hospital equipment starts to bleep around you. Colour begins to saturate as you move towards the hospital doors.

You push through the doors which immediately triggers the halt of the battle sounds. We move into a pre op corridor where the mood is a lot quieter and the oral accounts become more frequent but still ambiguous and fragmented. You can however here the crying of a baby.

The much brighter corridor leads to an operating theatre. The walls here resemble metal framed fabric screens and house an operating table, surgical equipment and blood bags. The overriding hospital sounds become a little more busy. You can hear pumps, bleeps, scissors etc. These merge into a rhythmic pattern so the longer you spend in the hospital environment the more routine like it becomes. This could represent the routine the existing hospital staff/patients must put aside when moving to a new environment. The idea of change, a new environment and hope is depicted with an implied love story between a nurse and a soldier.

The final scene is a room with a single cot inside and the sound of a baby softly crying. The crying sound has been redefined by its environment and now signified new life.

The cot and surrounding wallpaper is covered in poppies.

Animation elements: Being able to rock the cot

Ground floor plan

We intend to control the flow of content through each scene by using physical walls and barriers which guide the viewer along the correct pathway. Sound, animation elements and visuals will support the experience particularly through oral history components. Touches of interactivity will allow a more immersive environment and engage the participant long enough to allow us to trigger sound elements through the act of moving in proximity of a space or along a triggered timeline.

Here are the first floor plans for the Victorian Workhouse Scene

We decided to situate it on the ground floor so that it would be the first scene the viewer saw when entering the tower. Firstly this immediately established a dialogue between how the modern day and 200 years ago as the towers realisation is similar to how the building looks today. It also allowed us to introduce the sound descriptive and animation elements from the beginning.

As you through the double doors you are met with dark walls, minimal light, and manual machine noise. The turning of cogs and fast tapping describes sewing machines. You can sit at the machine, press a button and the machine begins to work. This triggers a further machine noise for added value.

You continue through the close cramped space turning left to reveal a dimly lit blackboard on the wall. Another look left shows a row of pews, a crucifix and a bible. This represents a closely bonded school/church situation. Potentially here religion based classroom readings can be simulated and brought to life through sound. In the distance the dull machine noise still prevails.

Continuing forward you are met with a kitchen/washroom scene. Pots and pans hang from the ceiling arching over a cooking range. You have to walk through the cooking equipment before moving on, knocking it to the floor with an inevitable clang and bang. Throughout the scene a bubbling noise, a scraping noise can be heard describing the duties of everyday workhouse kitchen duties.

You follow the corridor around where some light from the window palely illuminates a corridor of small bunk beds. 6 in total here. Bed creaking helps describe the cramped conditions. The infirmary is our last port of call. Empty buckets, cloths and blood stained bedding describe vividly the utility of this space. There could be possibly sound elements depending on how ugly we want to make it...

You then move up the stairs to wartime.