Statement

Statement

As part of the final submission for this assignment I was required to write a hundred word statement. I have included it below, but as I believe its only been the last week that I have referred to my project by it's title I should provide some context. I called my project 'Box' because I spent the initial weeks thinking 'inside the box', limiting myself to the boundaries I thought were in my room and that I could not move. It was only in week 8 that I realised that I had more freedom and so was able to fully achieve my original goal of allowing more light into the room and exploring a threshold in the window area. I have tried to explain this briefly in my statement whilst explaining how I could communicate my process, decisions and results to my audience. My final statement is as below:

Box

It is easy to restrain oneself within a limited mindset. Through ‘Box’ I communicate to my audience the possibilities when existing parameters are questioned. This is seen unquestionably in my workspace models. I imagined how college accommodation could be structured to allow more light into small rooms. To communicate this, I made a series of models that showed the progression from traditional configurations to community-minded rooms that increased natural light through shared windows within internal walls. Notably, one model demonstrates how I achieved my goal of increasing natural light in the room and provided a threshold to the outdoors. By changing the existing framework, I learnt to think beyond the supposed limitations and experiment with the ‘what if’.

'Box' 10 Best Process Images- Final Submission

Fusion360 Model One

Fusion360 Model One

This is a rather belated post. I realised I had not yet posted the original Fusion360 model that I made. So here are the photos and a bit of an explanation of the complicated process it took to get to the final stage of the file.

It took a couple of goes to get the hang of Fusion360. I was also operating it on a computer that wasn't quite up to where it needed to be graphics or processing time wise. I had to restart a couple of times but eventually was able to construct a box with 3 different sections with the grid at 3mm thick.


I then laid out all of the pieces onto one plane. We can start to see here that I'm going to have some problems as some of my pieces have extra lines from where I haven't constructed them correctly on the original model.

I then exported the plan into a PDF file as instructed on the tutorials. You can see that like Russel I also manged to unintentionally bring across my original model as well. Here we can also see that I have made my model a lot smaller than the one in the tutorials. If we were to cut this it would be incredible small which would make it difficult to assemble.

I opened the PDF in the Adobe Illustrator template for the laser cutters and adapted the colours so that the machine would know what to cut and what to leave. My work is so small you can't see it here.

 I zoomed in here, but because the line weight is so fine I clicked on an element to make it stand out.

 Which highlighted that problem I mentioned earlier. The machine is going to look at this piece and think it needs to cut it in two which is not what I want it to do. If it does this I won't be able to assemble it the way it needs to be done.





I used the pen tool and the cut tool to remove the line and then grouped the two sections into one. Now it should cut correctly! I had to do this on a number of faces which has ensured that I now am more careful in making sure my sketches are accurate on the original model. I can see that simple mistakes can have a far greater impact than they seem far later on in the process.

Photoshop Model

Photoshop Model(s)

I had another go at putting texture on my model. To be more accurate I had another 3 goes. Each time, I learnt some more about how to use Photoshop and so decided to make a new version in case what I was hoping to do didn't work out (I didn't want to go back to the start!)

Attempt 2.0

I started using the texture feature of the paint bucket which worked a lot better, but realised my perspective was sort of odd and so started trying to adapt it.

I painted with black and white to add to back of the model so that I could use the clone tool to cover it in texture making it look like it had been there all the time.

I wanted to show that my workspace was part of a much larger complex of buildings so I put it into Adobe Illustrator so that I could draw a series of lines to hint at other rooms.

I then reopened it in Adobe Photoshop and played with the clone tool, paintbrush, bucket, eraser and most important- the opacity level to make the other spaces fade into the background. I have always loved the effect of water colour on an image so I aimed to create a scene that looked a little like that rather than something that was hyper-realistic. I also used the lines to add some detail to the window to finish if off. Ta-Da!

I then made two more images by taking this image and changing the background.

 The first one took the background of my first attempt and made the model sit in it. I had to alter the lighting to make it more appropriate. I have another source of light from in front of it as you can see the front corner is a little lighter. I used the Photoshop pattern for grass and then used the eraser, paintbrush and blurring tool to combine it all together.
Image courtesy of: http://www.freeskybackgrounds.com/pages/free-sky-background-14.html

My second image I went with a forest theme and had some fun making it 'disappear' into the forest. I once again used the eraser, paintbrush and blurring tool as well as adjusting both light levels and colour. I also made a mask of the foreground which I copied multiple times to create the vine effect.
Image courtesy of: https://www.pikrepo.com/fbotu/movie-scene-forest-forest-scenery








All in all, I have learnt so much in Photoshop. I began this process with barely any idea of how to use Photoshop and have finished with the skills to do everything I want to do. All I really need to do now is practise using these skills so that I become more competent.

Photoshop difficulties

Photoshop Difficulties

This is an update on my Wk 8 studio work. I have had some difficulties in using Photoshop to place textures onto my model. For starters, I realised that the original photo I was going to use probably would not be very good to set into a scene so I changed it to the image below. Even so, putting textures onto it has been far more difficult than I though it would. I am going to try an new technique but thought I ought to record the results so far.

I have been trying to place textures over my model, but I am going to try instead tracing my model with the magic wand tool and putting textures on the resulting shapes.

Latest Model

Latest Model

I completed the model of the plans I had drawn up earlier in the week. I made it out of cardboard to make it more substantial, however it meant it was a lot harder to cut.

 You can see very clearly the path of light in this photo. The larger window is letting in far more light and lighting a lot more space. It would mean that the desk and bed and light in the day which would be better for lighting to study. I am thinking of using the photo for my Photoshop work later this week.

Rendered Model

Rendered Model

I finished my model of my initials and rendered it on Fusion360. I chose to use a mixture of glass and cherry wood to create it which is a material combination which I thought is very attractive. The lightly frosted glass allowed the interior lines to be seen more clearly allowing the graceful shape to be on show. I also think it provides a different perspective to what a completely solid model would. You can see parts of the shape that would be hidden in any other material.

I was also able to shell the interior- I widened the top of the A and made the shell 1.5mm thick. In consequence there are two shapes on the inside going either side of the J to make up the sides of the G. Despite liking the original shape, I choose to shell it because I thought it would provide a different perspective to the shape. I am exploring what possibilities are available outside the most obvious.

This is the view from the G. One can see the effect of the light glancing off the glass. By choosing to have a reflection on my ground plane, I have ensured that you can see the shape despite some of it being almost invisible. I love how smooth it is. I love how it has developed from a very solid object to an object that appears very fragile and graceful.