Codeblocks

Currently, I'm trying to get XML (something I can use for my database to make the project work correctly) figured out and trying to dissect the fluid simulation code. Unfortunately, both of these things aren't going so well. I'm going to keep poking at the fluid code, but in the end I think I'm either going to have to mostly include it as is, or try and rewrite the whole thing.

Luckily, we're covering AJAX, XML and soon PHP (read: The stuff I need to make my project work) in one of my classes, so it shouldn't be too hard to get things rolling once I figure out the fluid simulation.

One thing I am currently worried about, however, is that I need to use canvas for this stuff, and canvas seems to be having performance issues when I up the scale (not even upping the number of objects). We'll have to see what happens, and see if I can't make it work anyway.

Water, water, and....well a LOT of water

Primarily, I have been slowly coming up with questions based on everyday life that I plan to use for to calculate personal footprints through the questionnaire(the development of which is currently being mildly delayed due to learning jQuery in another class, and the realization that use of jQuery could save TONS of coding time.)

I've also been playing with design ideas. I thought of the idea of creating a design that was over 3000 pixels tall, that would incorporate each of the footprint displays on top of each other (carbon, garbage and water, top to bottom) but I don't quite like the direction it was going. I will however put it here to show process/see if someone else likes it:

It was about the time that I started working on the bottom of the design that I realized it really wasn't working how I had envisioned in my head, hence the funky coloring at the bit. Instead I decided to try and go with my garbage footprint design (with some modifications of course) and I'm working on the water footprint area.

I thought the area might be a bit big at first (it's meant to be like a quarry or a canyon stream)...and then I looked up the average water footprint per person (something I'm surprised I hadn't looked up before)...the frightening bit is I might not have thought BIG enough.

You see, here is the original scale I was thinking on:



Each of those blue squares? Each one equals 2000 gallons of water, and there are 256 of them. Quite a lot of water huh?

THAT ISN'T EVEN THE ANNUAL WATER FOOTPRINT OF ONE PERSON! The average American water footprint per day is just over 2000 GALLONS. A DAY. I knew this was going to be quite a bit, BUT I WASN'T EXPECTING A NUMBER THIS STAGGERING FOR ONE PERSON!

So knowing that 356 objects per person isn't going to be something that a browser should be able to handle, I've decided to try looking into fluid dynamics and trying to do it that way. Sounds a lot harder right? Well I found this online: http://codepen.io/stuffit/details/hszvg

It's a free to use/modify/whatever code for fluid dynamics (it includes gravity, though the base example uses 0 as the gravity). I've already played with the code a bit, and it should be easy enough to incorporate into the scene, and if I add lines on the side to indicate the actual amount of water it is representing, it should be fine. (of course, still having scale indicators. Though it's going to be a tiny human if I go that route)

Creating the Survey Form

Work up to this point (from last point obviously) has been spent on creating the survey page, mostly on layout. What I have so far Here.

iPad Form Design

In an attempt to keep things natural and as simple as possible, I've decided to try and design a simple yet interesting layout for the survey that modifies the rest of the piece.

I'm currently working on the idea that the survey will be conducted on an iPad that is fixed in front of the three computer screens. The user will be asked questions and will be provided with a selection of buttons to press to enter their answers. Here is an in-progress example:

I was trying to keep the interface as interesting as possible without making it too busy. I am also doing research into what questions to ask, trying to keep mainly in the realm of daily activities. I also want to have as little text as possible, but I don't want the answers to be too confusing.

Formal Defense Presentation

Link to Prezi:

http://prezi.com/qikmuptosk7n/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy



Picture is mostly unrelated.

Research(And complete and utter lack of direction or ideas)

After quite a bit of thought, and research into climate, bees, and the state of the world's flora, I've come to a single conclusion: I have no idea where this project is going, nor where I should take it, or if I even should bother continuing in this direction as opposed to starting anew, or if I could even come up with another idea that would even be half as far fleshed out as my current line of work (that admittedly isn't even fleshed out at all.)

~I can't think of meaningful ways to tie the scenes together.
~I can't think of meaningful interactions with the piece, using traditional input devices(mouse + keyboard) or special input devices (touch screen, pressure pad, ect.)
~I can't think of a backstory or concept or anything that would make this piece anything more than a complicated flashy toy
~And honestly, the more I try to figure it out, the more I try to think about what I can do, the more I start to freak out, and the more my thoughts become a constant stream of "I don't know what to do I don't know what to do I don't know what to do..."
~And beyond that, stepping back and trying to take my mind off it doesn't help, because it either stays in the back of my head and freaks me out because I'm not actively thinking about it/working on it, or leaves my mind completely, and the freaking out due to not working on it all hits at one time once I remember about it/try to work on it again.

As such, I have signed up for Heather's office time tomorrow at 9 a.m. Also hoping that because I've signed up for the office time, and because I've put up this post that's basically a cry for help, maybe some idea will just come to me, though I doubt it.

Design and Testing

Up to this point, I have managed to get a base landscape planned out, and although I plan to revise the artwork and style a bit, especially as I move into scene into multiple versions of itself (differing times/states), I am rather happy with what I have currently:

It's a bit tough to try and resolve the ink-style painting with the woodblock style, or color, or honestly even itself. Further research into the sumi-e style has given insight to multiple different approaches.

But being as this is an early stage model that was intended more for layout reasons, so I'm not so worried about getting the style exactly down as trying to nail down exactly what I want for the style, and being able to start loosely laying out objects on a page.

In fact, I currently have a test page that is mostly laid out, and I've been fiddling with javascript interactivity, though more in an attempt to remember exactly what I'm doing than anything else.

Unfortunately, I also lost about an hour and a half of work time to an attempt to create a subtle animation of the big yellow tree (like a light rustling in the wind). Mostly I learned that that the liquefy filter in photoshop does some weird things to an image besides the intentional distortions.