Chris S CCDN331

Digital Media, and its designers. With the digital age, we as media designers can harness the power of polygons and pixels to create. This creation being, the process of modeling, texturing, animation and digital graphics. We can combine these elements to tell a story though rich and empowered, visualization medium.

Embrace this digital era.

In digital media, our skill sets are like coffee, a fine blend of rich principles; from the paintings of the old and primitive cavemen, to the timeless classics of the old masters, and the beginnings of hand drawn perspective, to the interactivity of this digital age.

With this we welcome the old and integrate them into the new, unlike how others may follow a set of guidelines and rules, we've become more adaptive and flexible, in our medium.

The flexibility of media, yet rapid movement of the ever-changing digital era comes at but price. Media designers are consistently forced to evolve along with technology as it improves. Digital medium, is consistently changing, to the point if we were where if we were to fail to keep up and adept with new tools, we would be crippled in the industry and stray from demands.

New pipelines, processes and tools are always readily available, and these are forced upon us, and we need to explore them in order to be on par with the top. We must keep well learnt, read, aware and educated.

These harsh conditions of this tedious digital process, there is form of refuge. We have the abilities to observe and create with the guidance of others. Share, create and watch another's process, and learn how they've utilized their technology, and tools. We have been given the opportunity to understand how complex our colleagues craft is, and incorporate their skills into our own work. This feeling of sharing and enlightenment from the basic illustration to the VFX breakdown brings to mind, sharing is caring.

Threw user made video and content, we can grasp understanding form those intermediates above us, and continue to pass knowledge around.

This concept of knowledge sharing explains and creases digital communities, a digital nest, were we could share knowledge and help others with new techniques and improving workflows. Intern, we take and we give, a digital robin hood of pixels and technology.

    David. F., & John. S.  (2013). Making Game Art: The Designers Manifesto. Retrieved from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132366/making_games_art_the_designers_.php?print=1

  Auriea. H., & Michael. S. (2006). Realtime Art Manifesto. Retrieved from http://auriea.org/data/static/RAM.pdf

I then selected my final render, and precoded to apply colour correction, lights, digital depth of field, radial blur, and some diffusion to bring out some additional high-lights and characteristics; as-well as make colours look, proper.  From here the process was completed, in terms of creation. The tools in my entire process used are as followed.

zBrush

Adobe Primer

Adobe After Effects

Magic Bullet

I have begone playing with a more bust/chest form as well, the idea was generally a bird man, from one of my previous sketches; to enforce the idea of limitless creation possibilities. I don't like the current form of this; however, I've started experimenting with neck forms, to just stretch the back a tad, giving it a more bird-ish like feel. 

I then split the model up into three sub-mesh bases, thus the spheres creating the back of the neck, bust and head. 

These were sub-divided to show appropriate levels of detail in terms of what/when its viewable in view port. 

I've started recording my sculpt for my manifestation. The idea in general is to turn it into a break down via, recording production in these steps.

Current step show is the spherical modelling, and generic shaping. Then re mesh and the start of detailing. I'll keep this updated as I go.

Sketches(I actually skipped this step because I was getting mad at my creative block)

Spherical Modelling/Shaping.

Dynamic Meshing/Remeshing.

Scupting.

Touch Up.

Painting/Texturing

Animating(If time allows)

Rendering.

Composing video/manifesto completion.

Digital Media, and its 3d artists.  With the digital age, we as digital artists we can harness  polygons and pixels then, model, texture and animate them. We can combine these elements to tell a story though a rich and digitally empowered, visualization medium.

Embrace this digital era.

Transferable Skills.

Our skills sets are like coffee, a rich blend of principles, from the paintings of  the old and primitive cavemen, to the timeless classics of the old masters, and the beginnings of hand drawn perspective, to the interactivity of the digital age.

Learn and Educate.

Software and technology are consistently evolving,  digital design, the hive mind, the driver. This effects the work flows, pipeline and capabilities of familiar technology, as well as final production. The more and more that become available change the digital game completely. Therefore, learning new processes, new tools, software introduce and techniques are a complete must to keep top industry standards.

Your power.

As your work is completely digital, we have access to powers sub-par with wizards, 'ctrl-z' and 'ctrl-y'. Although your work should always be backed up more than once, there is no fear in being creative, no fear in losing hard work. Experiment, sub-divide, re-render, remodel, and reform. There is no fear, you can revert back to your original or starting position  or make decisions to flick between the two in real time, and gain a newer perspective.

Collaborate  and network.

The internet is kind, and nurturing, our nest. With the use of networks and the web, we can meet other designers with similar tests, or inspire ourselves by viewing the work and form of others. You can push and pull ideas from another, learn new techniques and easily pass on wisdom and write up tutorials; all these small processes in one place; to aid crafting something more polished and refined.

The Breakdown. Sharing is Caring.

The breakdown. The ability to observe and create. Watch another's processes, software and tech, attempt to learn them and bring into your own pipeline; have the opportunity to understand how complicated work was created, finalized and resolved. See the process and incorporate.

Even share your process, make your break down, give back to the community and expand the knowledge base. Help others understand your techniques, workflow and pipeline. Help others resolve and tackle issues they've come across.

Entertain.

Digital media is pushing the art movement in today's entertainment industry, although its consistent competition, our art work has made it to popular TV shows, movies and video games. Our art has provided the visual aesthetics for a large majority of modern media, it has worked alongside craft and enhanced it though computer graphics, and raw code.

Interact.

A tale of stylus and tablet.

Digital Media, and its 3d artists.

We can harness polygons, model, texture and animate them. We combine these elements to tell a story, though a rich visualization medium.

We can make fictional or realistic  creations, anything we want, we breathe life into our creations though the power of our imagination, their life source.

Our skill set is a rich blend of principles, from the paintings of old and primitive cavemen, to the timeless classical of the old masters, and the beginnings of hand drawn perspective to the interactivity of the digital age.  The Stylus, and the tablet.

We push the art movement in the entertainment industry to new levels; though this our art work has been made popular in TV, movies and video-games.

Times are changing, as the web starts showing exploits, we can begin to take control of its vastness; as technology has not been so accommodating to our art. Unlike graphic designers, photographers and traditional medium artists, digital printers and videographers. We have been if not, completely left out, 3D on the web with an all-too-familiar interactive environment is now possible.

Though these new interactions, we will make our brand of art popular. A powerful, robust and interactive experience, that we can share with everyone.

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- Our skill set brings new forms of interactivity.

-We push art movements in today's entertainment industry, to new levels.

- Our skill set welcomes old and new skills.

- Though the internet, only recently have we started taking over by introducing new 3d interaction.

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sources;

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/blog/?p=644

http://tale-of-tales.com/tales/RAM.html

http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/1121griffin.html

Just my thoughts and ideas for the next proj.

Tablet and Stylus, a Digital manifesto. Great patience is required to tell a great story.

The sleek and speedy machine of "Fine Arts" was demolished during a head-on collision with the insurmountably jaded wall of "Post-Modernism". No one, it seems, has much interest in even hauling off the wreckage. "Good enough", I say; "let sleeping dogs lie". It is time for a new order. Not one of those lame "rising-out-of-the-ashes" things; because it is time to turn our backs on what was. Let the art schools, fashionable galleries and the whole money grubbing industry of Fine Arts rot and rust and fall in from the weight of its own exclusivity. It is time for a revolution. It is time for a "Digital Manifesto".

As traditional arts and tools are slowly removed from the entertainment industry, a new era of artists have adapted to technological means, of tablet and style, rather than pen and paper. A technological time-frame that has added more jobs into the process of animation; such as key-framing, the tedious task of skeletal rigging and weight painting; all these new tasks including those of old traditional means, but on a digital canvas. Far more patience is required for these tales of new to be foretold in this day and age, there for great patience is required for a greater story.

For my manifesto, I want to show a time-lapse  video of the entire character creation process for something of professional character modelling standard. This would involve, the concept work, 3d modeling/sculpting, the skeletal rigging, weight-painting and possibly putting into sequence and animating with some form of audio/voice acting to suit the creature. The video will pay attention to craft, on a digital scale. 

..// Hacktivism.

The Design of Anonymity; Should we fear the lulz?

  Networking, A composition of cables and signals to communicate data, though digital bound media, Hacktivism, A method. A toolbox, A new way of thinking, and A rather formidable tool for the modern day activist; this medium, along with the use of digital design effectively grasps the attention of modern social media. However, the side-effect of Hacktivism is that often the internet bound population and other crawls of life that thrive off the digital era are left with the feeling of paranoia, as internet policies strengthen on a world-wide scale; such as mass-censorship, latching onto this uncharted playground of networks. This leaves the demands of these 'Hacktivists' unmet, and the ideals of anonymity begin to lack, as what few once stood for are slowly removed and traces soon later forgotten.

Thesis

An entity composed of cables and networks, communicated though data and digital bound media, hactivism, a method, a tool. Hacktivism a new engine for thinking and a formidable tool for the modern-day  activist; as this medium effectively grasps the attention of social media. Sadly, the side effects of activism, nay; hacktivism, are that often denizens and the other crawls of life that thrive off the digital age are left with the feeling of paranoia, as cyber policies strengthen on a world wise scale, and march on their uncharted utopia. Hactivists demands turn unmet, and their anonmimity begins to lack, as credibility for what was once stood for, is traces removed, and forgotten.

  REFERENCES

Hampson, N. C. (2012). Boston College International and Comparative Law Review.Hacktivism: A New Breed of Protest in a Networked World , (2), 511-542.

Provided source discusses in depth the term hacktivism and defines it as a nonviolent use for political ends of "illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools"; as well as the general break down of what is considered hacking/hactivism. The journal moves on to argue about social moments in popular protests that are integral parts of twenty first century society; Groups such as anonymous, etc. This leads to a discussion about cyber warfare, waged by hackers on behalf of state and not-state actors(governments utilizing hacking, etc). Hacktivism tends to be motivated by political concerns that are least partly focused on offline issues, its engaged with primarily with communicated, not destructive goals.

  Denning, D. (2001). Activism, Hacktivism, and cyberterrorism: The internet as a tool for influencing foreign policy. Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy, 239-241. Retrieved from

http://bit.ly/1BmLOUt

Final, Here is my completed series for project two.

My work has been focusing on the idea that Design Shouldn't become a symbol for consumer identity, as I believe that consumerism shouldn't be used to show ones self-worth, persona and being. By taking the idea of a crazy consumer engulfed by sales and specials of consumer goods, to the point that its more or less  buying yourself an identity, rather than discovering yourself though other means. Think the silent killer, the red sale sign. The mischievous wallet murder, discount sales.

I have tried to show the idea of suffocation, time and money, the shopping 'spree', and brand-scaping and or influence/popularity of objects; how this changes and how people change, when something shows the magic word of the consumer world sale. From this stand-point I looked into the ideas of global brands and brandscaping, and how this is achieved by targeting youth. The journal article I have chosen goes on to state as the example, starbucks, how Its became such a globalized brand by 'socalizing' with todays youth, with the use of the hash-tag, and other 'popular' language to target; I tried to use star bucks to beginning with the assignment but was asked to leave when I pulled the camera out.  So I tired similar reasoning with open brands in Wellington, thankfully Avon and Kirk happened to have a sale on that week. Streets were flooded with women and their cosmetics, redbags and other additional branded goodies. I took advantage of this by entering stores and snapping a few items with bright red sale signs, strangers with their AVON SALE bags and such, to try emphasize an overwhelming presence, I also used methods like time lapse and some photo-editing of motion blur to suggest drowning, amongst other commercial buy goers.

Additional things I was looking into, were why we buy impulsively, and the science behind the ideals of shopping. For example, how humans copy others, even though we are somewhat oblivious to it, we succumb to our moods, an example of this would be the classic.. tub of ice cream whilst depressed or feeling down.  

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My Haiku;

Human entity.

Searching for Identity.

Commercial, Servant .

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Was in attempts to link for everyone, drowning in consumerism and the magic of sales, that the items they were looking for was parts of their identity, they needed for feel complete, then the idea of being a commercial servant, is the very products they had bought being carried around, becoming somewhat a burden as they're carried and strutted with throughout the city. 

I have used a mixture of scholarly sources and other means, such as  psychology articles

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/425098 - Scholarly source, research journal. 

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/consumed/201309/7-reasons-why-were-irrational-shoppers - Article based on the book  - "Why we buy - The Science of shopping"