The final stretch

Finally finished just going to wait for the presentation now...

A version finsihed

woohoo

progression of final idea

So its still going to be contextual space but after having a chat with Gianni i've decided that his right and i do need a form of linkage between the pages; after a lengthy debate with myself, i settled on the idea of using the briefcase man as the link.

His sort of symbolises a journey and i'm going to make him multiply as you delve deeper into the site; a kind of "space is relative" statement. Time to get to work!

pop up window

having a bit of trouble trying to size the window correctly... I'm trying to have it so that the main site appears in a popup and the javascript just doesn't work in safari but is ok for both internet explorer and firefox

Final idea

My final site is going to be about space as a context; but to link the idea together it will also be a sort of journey following the suitcase through different settings exploring how the same thing can look and feel different depending on where is it as much as what it is around.

Finished the first few pages i think, there will also be a text element to the pages. Proposing questions. The site will be more about the journey rather than any single page by itself

concept...

So, a series of pictures like these where i have a recurring image in different situtations and how the same shape and thing could be so obvious in one space and totally hidden in another. How one shape could mean so many different things. Clcking on it will lead you to the next page.

I'm not too sure but at the moment it's an ant farm and at the end i was thinking that each ant could have a link to a differnt interpretation of paradise.

I'd probably have an entrance page that makes the first image appear in a pop up and the subsequent pictures load in there.

Final Project Proposal

I've settled on the idea of contextual space. How any given space feels and what it means is really determined by the context in which it sits. Using a perhaps over simplified analogy; a window is only a window, it means nothing until you know what is on the other side. Equally, what is on the other side means something different to everyone, the meadow outside could be open and warm for one person and foreign and cold to another.

My idea very much follows the same route as 99rooms, I want to constrain the viewer to a certain path. But at the same time, they should feel like they have a choice. I want to have a recurring image hidden inside a series of different images, such that the viewer will search through what is front of them (i think this adds depth to otherwise flat images) before proceeding. 

made a little flash slideshow but can't upload it....

will put them up as separate images or change it into .mov or something when i get home

Apologies... and critique

Haven't had the time to post anything on the blog... lost password...

Critique:

http://99rooms.com

This site is the main inspiration for my own work because although it is very lineally structured, in the way that there is only 1 path to follow (i.e. there is no option of skipping pages or going backwards). Despite this, it still gives a feeling of depth and resembles a maze type environment.

It shows how 2 dimensional space can be made to feel like a 3 dimensional environment, the idea that you must click on one thing on the page before the next page become available is, well its fun and its amusing.

It is a very flash intensive site but isn't bogged down with the usual overuse of moving elements and flashy text. The artists have really kept this site simple and straightforward but it's still complex in the details.

sound can be embedded into flash

but it's better to string it through the library so that it can actionscript through the shmoozzl

flash s able to stream files, woohoo

Sound panel

can specify the sound asan event; something that downloads completely before the thingy starts

or stream

x = new sound();

x.attachsound("crossroads");

x.start(0, 5);

using the equal sign (=) to define the sound as x

X denotes a sound object

attachsound defines teh file

start defines the start and loop

stop();

x.stop()

are different things

my button troubles

on (release) {

x.stop();

x.start(0, 100);

for the start button and obviously omitt the start command for the stop  button

for the mp3 file (not in library as external)

on (release) {

x.stop();

x.loadsound("mp3/rainforesr.mp3")

}

saved the rest of his files on datastick1

exercise for next wek

produce a 3 page site; criteria- continuity, pages have to link and flow through

a few simple techniques to animate static images is either by slicing in photoshop or by using hotspots in dreamweaver.

storyboard it!!!

I want to show how the site could flow not just pictures etc..

want to know how you would travel through it

need to start timetabling in some kind of rough working concept.

START!!!

learning some control links etc... more action script stuff

templates and stuff should be fine. so maybe look for some code to push into my project to make it bouncy and flashy and the what ever else... easiness

flash button

stop button;  on (release) { stop(); }

play button; on (release) {stop(); }

lets get some mouse control

Using Flash

Using flash;

A quick run down on scrubbing, frames, key frames and tweening.

the shortcut for inserting a key frame is ...

sub selection tool selects/moves only part of the object whereas the one of the right selects the whole object

underneath is the free transform tool, next to that is the gradient tool etc...

the pen tool (vector program) so very much works the same way as illustrator! vectorized graphics is awesomely cool

different kinds of symbols:

- movie clips; other movies inside the movie so embedding another moving object  inside this particular element.

- button; as name suggests (mouse down behaviours etc...)

remember to set the center of the object as the center

you can see your newly made symbols in the library

- graphics; 

 

ACTION SCRIPT IS THE JAVA OF FLASH... NEED IT TO GET MORE COMPLEX COMMANDS AND EFFECTS. StUPID CAPS LOCK

remember to insert keyframe and choose the frame that you want to action to take place.

Seeing that I can't draw....

I've been thinking about the final project and think that i've settled into a new idea. I can't draw but taking photos isn't too hard, so i've decided that I'm going to explore space in terms of control. Maybe a one or two page site with loads of photos. stuff like people in crowds (on trains, at a bar etc...) then others with someone in the park, at home, in an elevator... Something along the lines of how much space is enough space or even too much, and how that is defined.

Something like that wouldn't be too hard to make into flash. Perhaps a map/blueprint sort of thing on the starting page, and have the pictures blowout into the page when you click onto a position on the map. Like how the daskboard/widgets on a mac come up when you hit the middle button. Or even driectly into a movie format.

Lacking direction at the moment, would love to know what anybody thinks about it.

Many thanks in advance,
Martin

inspiration

99rooms is just an amazing website and my own work is going to heavy reflect/relate to what they've done; maybe not with as much skill and wow factor but more along the lines of a similar concept

Guidelines for the site...

1. Conceptually- how does it meet the theme?

2. How did you come about your ideas for this?

3. Realisation visually- how will you express the theme visually? Give example either from you screen sample (prototype or first concept) and/or another site?

4. Discuss your interface or the navigation style. Will it be mostly:

a) linear? 

b) organic? 

c) A combination of these? 

d) some other style?

5. Did you chose storyboarding OR a flow chart? explain it...

Using text as an object.

Using text as a structural former. differences between circular and square form... how to "frame" the work/logo.

Lots of russian text, differing orientations, inversions etc...

constructivist artists??? don't know if the term is correct but its basically someone using text as form, the way logos are used in art.

bending text but keeping a linear form to combine a graphic element with text. Even just changing he size of the text through out the page can highlight and direct attention. The combination of Uppercase and lowercase. think abut not using an indent... text to the edge of the page, image to the edge of the text.

Inverting, overlapping, "bolding", altering the axis... even rotating, using text as a dynamic feature., 

A cool example of text use is in this thing here... they've written a program to partially randomize text placement

Week 5 class.... Some excellent ideas

Some more really cool stuff....

99rooms.com I think that my final work will probably be very similar to something like this.

It seems that my inability to draw, is going to  be a big problem with this site. It'd take me way too long and i'm just not skilled enough so... in short maybe i'll do that text thing and use text to build the structure of the site...

This is what I started to do before reality hit me.

websites of the week

http://www.once-upon-a-forest.com/
http://www.mowa.org/
http://www.99rooms.com/
http://www.lost-something.co.uk/contents.htm
http://www.kingcosmonaut.de/spampaint/
http://www.silenttransit.com/projects/linguasso/

Difficulties...

I'm having a little bit of trouble finding inspiration and perhaps organising stuff..

this is really irritating

Week 5 in class notes

Had a bit of a look at http://playdamage.org ; to be quiet honest it's not really my type of site. Although the images are quiet interesting, there is no apparent structure and despite the images being in rather low resolution, the pages still take a fair while to load. Not sure whether thats because of these computers or the site but either way, it's just a little disorganised and without a focus your really don't know what you should be looking at.

webartlinks.blogspot.com has past students' work and could provide some ideas on what I could could do for my flow chart next week. Adobe has a guide for  planning. He also reckons that a mock up could be good, so a little bit of photoshop slicing etc..

smartprojectspace.net has a fairly interesting index page with the idea of a paper paged book but again, it doesn't have a consistent interface. Something like aclip.net is much better; I really like the idea of structure, it looks so much cleaner, the guy has all his video clips and what not embedded into the site but they don't load until you want them to. The user has control over what content the are looking at,. great if you want to keep on updating your site and have your target audience come back.

Something like bauda.com is extra cool. Now thats usability in art... Something that appeals a lot more to me.

In terms of space; virtual or real? How do we depict one or the other, what are the connections?

Ripon

This is another pretty cool site, and even more impressive is that fact that I found it myself, without any help.

Again it's a fairly structured site and easy to navigate but instead of having the whole site as a flash file they've opted only to use flash in certain areas of the screen which makes it load much quicker.

I think that the concept behind this site is pretty interesting as well. Its basically an ongoing project with these two guys developing this video game. They're doing this installation art thing using stills and projections from the video game. I'm not too sure but I think that it's about video game culture, violence and something to do with utopias...

I like it because it's simple, lots of black and white, lots of text (non of those fancy borders and graphics that you see on other sites). It's just a "clean", straight forward site. Not too crowded.

Cremaster

A friend sent me this link to Cremaster. It's a website written for this guy, Matthew Barney, he produced this series of 5 movies which explores creation and sexuality.

I think that it's a good example of web art, although it doesn't explicitly use the internet as the medium (i.e. the actual full length movies are not posted on) it still has lots of arty features etc... Like the many stills and trailers. It just has an arty feel.

I especially like the way the flash content is designed to fill up the whole browser screen (like here)and the way the site has been structured, it's not all messy and cryptic like the many other art orientated sites, its easy to navigate but the menu bars are still interesting.

If you get a chance you should definately have a look at some of the trailers they look pretty cool.