THE MEANING OF LIFE

It is finally clear what our project is about.

We are working with a building form, based somewhere on site/terrain, that invokes a feeling or emotion of "waking", with specific emphasis on creating an "atmosphere"- using a restricted palatte and copious amounts of subtlety and restraint.

"Waking Dreams"

So before today, I was intending to use the idea of "waking dreams", (that drifting moment between sleeping and literally "waking up"... Between dreaming/reality, where things are malleable and possible before being fixed through waking, where reality and a dream are indistinguishable) to inform my virtual reality project ....

How does the mushroom come in, you ask?

With the juxtaposition/placement of a "dream" object (see popular culture "Alice in Wonderland", cartoon Mario and Magic Mushrooms) in "real" scenario (the section)- kind of a shock effect.

But apparently it's supposed to be architecture in the form of a building-

So back to Square One.

Difference between Architecture and an Object

Architecture...

Engages all the senses
Architecture supports human living
Improves the quality of life
Has a spatial quality (in, out, on, under, over, through, beyond, NOT "at")
Is the work of a "collective"
Is an every day event
Deals with both the corporeal and permanent- works with void
Is a process
Architecture has subtlety
Elements of environment: snow, wind, temperature, climate, terrain

Creating An Object To Chuck Onto SL

Beginning to shape the mushroom!

Ridiculous amount of steps to make this... >:(

Finished product. Hopefully I'll figure out how to apply the texture onto the mushroom on Second Life
This (only) took six hours.

3D Studio MAX Tutorials Mushroom

"Waking Up"

So I'm at Uni on Saturday and I don't know why. And because there's no one here to listen to my complaining fantastic insights, I'm doing something I promised myself I'd never do- talk to my blog (using the blog for more than appeasing my lecturer and to pass my paper).


Some "Waking Up" Verbal Diarrhea Interpretations:

• Seeing something in a new light/clarity: As Ian said about the memory mini-project- a moment that invokes a emotion that you experience which changes your reality. A common theme is adopting a holistic perspective on life- the (in)significance (or place of) an individual existence the larger scheme of things. 
  (Getting dangerously deep here: Existential Crisis!).
• The moment a baby  first opens their eyes. What does the world look like from that kind of untainted viewpoint? Another interesting thought: when does one become self-aware and cognizant?
• Waking Dreams: That drifting moment between sleeping and literally "waking up". Between dreaming/reality. Like the movie- Inception... Matrix... the layers of alternate reality (which one is the real one?)
• I'm sounding more and more uncomfortably like Michael Milojevic when he rambles.
• Not being disillusioned: "waking up" unpleasantly and uncomfortably.
• Catharsis
• Possibilism: Like the French Revolution (Following my General Education that we partly based our section on: History) and the toppling of known reality... possibilism before things become fixed. Rationalism vs. Irrationality

Or you could just wake up the normal way... by opening your eyes.


And here endeth the blog.
(Now to translate this into architecture and not some English Literature scholarship essay)

Using 3DS MAX

Instructions for Sculptie Mapping

-> New Document
-> Maximise Viewpoint Toggle: this splits the screen into four perspectives and makes it easier to position and scale objects
-> Right toolbar ... Create ... Geometry ... Under "Standard Primitives", switch to "Prim Composer"
-> Choose Object Type: "SculptMap", Convert to "Editable Poly", Stitching Type (Object)
-> Modify Tab ... Selection "Vertex"
-> Under Soft Selection: "Use Soft Selection" to sync multiple points bending, optional "Relax" to smooth down any spiky shapes
-> Manipulate Shape
-> Go to SculptGenMax ... Generate sculptmap ... Save to file with file type compatible with SL

Manipulating Random Shape

My "Bowl"

To Upload Onto SL

Load as Bulk .bmp. Create and change Object to "Sculpted" and drag into "Sculpt Texture" from Library.

Add caption

Section of Site

Beach Road- From Anzac Ave to Vector Arena
Basically looking at the interconnected relationships and functions of the buildings in terms of the flow of people (shown by the variously thick/thin strands) through the area using them- e.g. apartments, commercial, shops, recreational places.

Trying to figure out which unlucky double, triple and quadrupled-up section had to be cut to make the map of the area.