Project Video:

Final Presentation Video: Presentation Video (Full version of the video below)

Live Demo: Live Demo *2

Due to the holidays, the school's projector is no longer available for hire. We had to use our only projector to set up the scene and shoot the video. As a result, the video recording did not meet our expectations and we had to project and shoot the video separately and edit it to create our final presentation.

After the first presentation, we optimised the project, rebuilt the scenario and recorded the video again.

The video was shot by Rudan and Jeala, the video was edited by Rudan, the sound and music production was handled by Yuan, and the set was built by all of us.

After collating all the live recorded videos, I drew up a flowchart of the video clip and also the subplot for that video clip.

(This image was drawn by Rudan Zheng)

The first act of the video starts with a ripple and ends with a ripple in the title as well as an introduction to the project.

The second segment is three two-second videos switched with the sound of water drops, used to quickly demonstrate three visual effect clips from our project, similar to the abstract section of the thesis.

The third section is the introduction to the project, and for this clip I used typewriter effects and sounds to create it, which seemed to make the video a little more interesting.

The fourth part is our production process. I’ve sped up the video because it’s been a long process over the last two months or so. The main part is the production process of building the set on the day we exhibited it, then interspersed with a roll of film strips of different types of production processes such as software, testing and material assembly.

For the part about how to transition to the actual display, I tried a more subtle approach with the last video in the rolling strip of film being a video of the characters entering the display room. This video gets larger as the figure gets closer to the display until the moment the door is pushed takes over the whole frame. This allows for a very natural transition to the actual part of the display.

The fifth part is the actual exhibit, and because it is so long, I have only taken one minute and 30 seconds of it for the screening part of this video. Because of the range of the shot, we only got the main view of the wall, and the other two walls were projected using a small screen to show the image in the video.

We have included an interview section, as well as an interview with the audience about the project after they had visited us. The interviews include but are not limited to, their thoughts and what they think we could improve.

At the end of that video, I created a scrolling bar of people, which included the division of labour within our group and what we were working on. The background image for that section is a poster that I created to enrich the visuals.

The content of this blog consists of the work of  Rudan and Jaela.

Rudan was responsible for the layout and visualisation of the poster, and Jaela for the drawing of the main character.

Rudan

The background image for the poster is from my friend Yiru, who gave it to me a few years ago.

I used a cut-out template to superimpose the background on the figures, the base colour of the figures in the top right corner is from the visual effect we created in Touch Designer; the base colour of the figures in the bottom left corner is from the build-up of different paints.

Regarding the design of the title. On the one hand I have cut the typeface and added some linear elements to make the title more abstract and add interest; on the other hand, the linear elements echo the water ripples and the lines representing the sensitive heart in our design concept. The liquefied black bar under the title, which I created using the liquefaction function in PS, softens the image while echoing the flow of the water.

Jaela

I abstracted the figures and drew the main figure in the line.

Reference

Hudson, D. (2019) Vibrant watercolour ink abstract background stock illustration – illustration of expressive, graphic: 163090094, Dreamstime. Available at: https://www.dreamstime.com/vibrant-watercolour-ink-abstract-background-digitally-created-watercolor-swirl-wash-texture-image163090094 (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

At the end of the test, we felt we needed to acquire some new props as well as update some of them to achieve better visual effects.

Water Tank

The size of the previous tank was too small, resulting in a black edge on the wall caused by the edge of the tank blocking the light when the water ripples were projected on the wall. Therefore, I decided to replace the water tank with an a3 size.

I purchased a 2mm thick sheet of 420 mm*297 mm clear PVC on eBay to make the bottom of the tank, and two 1mm thick sheets of 420 mm*297 mm clear PVC to make the four sides of the tank. I then cut these clear PVC sheets with a hobby knife, as well as using a glue gun to glue the five cut PVC sheets to make a sealed clear water tank.

Fortunately, the a3 size tank was just right for our needs. And the ripples in this tank project nicely on the wall.

Line

Considering that we wanted to show the complexity of emotions within people, I decided to use some thread to decorate the room for the exhibition. I purchased some fine sewing thread for hanging the water tank up, as it is only when the tank is at a certain height that the light can cast ripples through it onto the walls. I then brought out some of my hand-knitting threads in different colours, which intertwine in the room to create a better visual effect.

Bells

The bells can be used as a way for a person to interact with the device. The bells are attached to a wire and when a person touches the wire, the bells make sounds. These sounds can be blended perfectly with ambient sounds and can give the audience a sense of touch. In other words, the taut wire symbolises the sensitivity of the human heart, which is affected by the touch of others.

Character Movement Animation

We re-shot the video of the people walking. The frontal walk as well as the side walk were filmed in multiple views.

I then imported the two videos into Capcut and used the video auto key feature to snap out the characters and make the character silhouettes black. After completing the two black character silhouette videos, I imported the videos into PR to make adjustments to both videos so that all the character actions in both videos were at the same point in time.

I added a background image to the side movement video of the characters, which was taken from an open source AI image. I tweaked and created that type of footage in PR to complete the background of the movement. The side video of the character was merged with this motion background to complete the side video.

These two videos will later be imported into Max and used to capture footage on location.

Heart keying

Create an alpha channel heart video that can correspond to the silhouette of a person in frontal movement, enabling live capture in Max.

Reference

Free vector: Parallax background with Autumn Forest and Lake (2021) Freepik. Available at: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/parallax-background-with-autumn-forest-lake_21087491.htm#query=2d%20forest%20background&position=26&from_view=search&track=ais (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Free vector: Silhouette shadow of forest scene (2022) Freepik. Available at: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/silhouette-shadow-forest-scene_27282385.htm#page=2&query=2d%20forest%20background&position=18&from_view=search&track=ais (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Pin on quick saves (2023) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.jp/pin/710020697526232615/ (Accessed: April 26, 2023).

Rudan

This week we test the effectiveness of the installation. The tests include the sound visualisation effect of max audio imported into Touch Designer, the effect of the installation’s water projection in combination with Touch Designer and the reworking of the projected image on the wall by max.

Based on the following flow chart, I was involved in optimising and practising the various sections. This includes testing in the field, optimisation of the effects of the installation, integration of the sound visualisation generated by Touch Designer with Max and editing of the Max video.

(This image was drawn by Rudan Zheng)

Wall One is used to representing the abstract inner world of the characters, using Touch Designer to recognise the audio to produce a sound visualisation.

Combining Touch Designer’s audio visualisation with the device’s water ripple:

To make the water ripples fit the projection better and to add colour to the ripples, I placed translucent sheets made of laser paper collage in front of the projector.

The effect of Wall 1 is as follows:

Wall II we use to show the real world of the characters and is therefore more figurative. The projection of wall one is recognised by Max, overlaid with the silhouette of the figure to create the image, and projected onto wall two. However, as the figure is too small and due to the distance captured by the computer camera, the actual effect is not as obvious as it would appear on the computer.

Philly gives us advice in the tutorial. On the one hand, the silhouettes of the people are too monotonous, on the other hand, we can try to capture the wall images with other equipment. So, we shot additional silhouettes of people. Based on the silhouette video we shot, I added a background to the video to increase the area available on Max for capturing the wall and to enrich the animation of the silhouette on the other hand.

The silhouettes of the people were generated in Max, and I created two different backgrounds for the scenes in Pr.

I combined the silhouette of the character with the sound visualisation generated by Touch Designer to achieve the following effect, which is also the desired one:

Put the figure in the max and combine it with the footage captured by the camera.

After the group discussion, we had a preliminary distribution of work. My job was the preparation and purchase of materials.

Lights

First I tried a mobile phone light source as a light for the water ripple reflection and determined that a point light source was the best light for reflecting the ripples.

I then tried a larger yellow spherical light source and found that this light source, because of its particular construction and colour, reflected colourful light through the object on the wall.

I tried other light sources of different sizes, such as a circular torch, a long strip of light, and a small torch.

But none of the results obtained were as good as the mobile phone light source and the yellow spherical light source. I presume this is related to the intensity and size of the light source.

So, after a discussion with the rest of the team, I decided to go for a mobile phone light and a yellow sphere light. The final choice depends on the final result.

Water Tank

Considering the light transmission of the water tank, I preferred to use glass as the material of the water tank. But as can be seen in Figures 1 and 2, whether it is colourless or tinted glass, it is difficult to reflect the ripples of the water visibly on the wall as the glass is too thick and has a strong light reflection of its own. So I came up with the idea of a transparent PVC material.

First, I purchased 110mm*110mm*110mm pieces of clear PVC and then glued them together with a glue gun to form a square water tank. Through testing, I found that the transparent PVC material had a good weight and light transmission, which was very much in line with our project requirements.

However, in subsequent tests I found that the tank was too small, resulting in a small projection area on the wall and a noticeable black edge. I, therefore, intend to re-purchase the clear PVC.

Laser Paper

In comparing the projection of the PVC water tank with a mobile phone light source and a yellow spherical light source, we have tentatively decided on a mobile phone light source. In order to achieve the light reflection in our design concept, we wanted to use laser paper to achieve this effect. This means that the white light source is reflected through the laser paper, causing the light to reflect in different colours on the wall.

However, practical tests showed that the projection of light on the wall through the single laser paper was not obvious.

Transparent PVC SheetS with Pigments

As the projection of the single laser paper on the wall was not obvious, I tried cutting the laser paper and pasting it in the form of a collage on a transparent PVC sheet. But the projection was also mediocre.

Then I tried to colour the transparent PVC sheet with gouache paint so that the light would be projected on the wall through the coloured translucent PVC sheet. However, the projection was still not good.

Therefore, I am trying to find other ways to make the light appear colourful on the wall.

Drip Device

We were going to make our own drip device but I suggested that we could just buy medical drip props which would give us better control of the drip rate. As medical drip props are not sold in the UK, not even for plants. I, therefore, decided to purchase them from China and have them couriered to Edinburgh. As the time between purchase and receipt was greater than two weeks and returns were not possible, I opted to purchase two different drip props for plants.

Arduino

We expect the Arduino to control the start of the drip unit, the running of the unit and the projection of the projector.