Experiment 2 Submission

The second experiment in the BENV 2423 subject was really interesting and very insightful. I managed to first of combine the use of many software packages and work across these software packages to achieve the outcomes in this experiment which I frankly struggled with in some stages but managed to overcome those obstacles at the end. The primary objective of this experiment was to turn the model given to us into a decayed structure some 100 years after human existence.

When I decayed my building, I made sure that I understood how the various elements of my building are constructed, the properties of the materials these elements are constructed from and how these elements will fail over time. For example, I knew that concrete would crack overtime due to being exposed to moisture. I combined my knowledge of such facts with my skills in using the software packages we were required to use to achieve the outcomes of this experiment which I'm overall pleased with, 

Landscape Design

The landscape design in this experiment in my opinion is such an integral factor to consider to realistically replicate the feel of decay because a well maintained landscape will surely look different to a landscape that has not been serviced for 100 years so this was an important factor to consider when designing the landscape surrounding my decayed building.  

Below I have placed a few images of my landscape to explain how unmaintained landscape can impact a structure after 100 years.

This image shows how part of the roof has been damaged due to rough weather conditions that the structure would have been through and how that has allowed for trees to encroach through the building and also how moisture has damaged the internal walls.

This particular image shows how the surrounding bush and trees have encroached onto the building and have almost become part of the building and how vegetation and structure have almost moulded.

This is a distant view showing the entrance to the house. It shows how the vegetation has blocked the main path which would have been clear of vegetation if maintained and it also shows how the structure has been impacted by the environment throughout the 100 years.

Forensic Architecture

I was extra careful in this part of the experiment because I wanted to realistically convey how the various elements in my building would fail over time. I conducted research on each of these elements by firstly understanding how they are constructed, the materials involved and examples of these elements and how they have decayed once exposed to the environment and weather conditions.

Below I have placed images of different areas of my building and how they have failed overtime.

This image shows how the timber floor has faded overtime and how it has been affected by termites.

This image shows how the roof has been damaged and a portion of it has fallen off. It also shows the main frame of the roof which has also decayed due to exposure to the elements.

The main concrete walls of this house have also cracked and portions of these walls have fallen off. The face of these walls also show negative signs of human interactions after the original owners vanished from the earth through the use of graffiti.

The Event

For this part I have shown great examples of human occupation by adding furniture to my model but taking care to convey human occupation after 100 years. 

Below I have placed a few examples of human occupation in my building.

This image shows an old bed in one of the bedrooms. I took extra caution when placing this bed because it would have initially been placed in the centre of the bedroom and in straight alignment due to the human nature. I have however shown it out of position and not as straight which could have been the result of an earthquake.

This image shows an old dining table where the occupants of this house would have dined. Again, I have shown how this object looks after a natural disaster such as an earthquake by the placement and positioning of the chairs in relation to the table.

The Textures

I believe that this was the most important part of the experiment as I have mentioned earlier. To realistically replicate the state of decay throughout my building and scene, I had to ensure that I created high quality textures that included high levels of details conveying the state of decay as per the element involved. For example, I added scratches & cracks to concrete, stains and colour fade to timber etc. 

Below I have placed a few unwraps of the different elements of my building and the level of detail in each of these unwraps to replicate the state of decay.

Unwrap of external walls

Unwrap of roof

Unwrap of ground floor

Interactivity

I added interactive decay to my project by mainly using the Rayfire plugin which can be seen throughout my trailer. I had to ensure that I understood the different properties of the materials that made up my building and how they would break based on the level of impact and the type of impact.

I also had to ensure that I accurately presented the state of decay throughout this part of the experiment.

My Trailer

The final part of this experiment was to create a short trailer which conveyed my building and the state of decay after 100 years of no human existence. I tried to capture the detail of the interactive decay in my trailer and also used my trailer as a tool to convey the message of what a structure would possibly look like and be like after 100 years of no human interactions.

Cryengine Files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bx7q3d2mh15oyzi/BENV%202423%20Exp%202%20Aram%20Odesh%20z3464739.rar

3ds Max File: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0dyw27c7qlkxrkw/rudin_house_Aram%20Odesh_z3464739.rar

Week 5

I will demonstrate the notion of decay throughout my building by creating high quality unwraps for each component of my building in 3ds max which contain strong elements of decay depending on the material involved whether it may be concrete, metal etc. I will then also use various plugins available like ray fire to to create the interactive side of the decay in my experiment. 

This week's lecture was presented by Jeremy Harkins who I personally enjoyed learning from when he was my tutor in previous subjects of this course. I believe that seeing how the various techniques that I have been learning in studio and in this subject has been used in the real world, inspires me to raise my standards and to try and produce high quality projects by understanding the process that the professionals in the work force apply to their projects. 

Furthermore, it is also vital to be highly proficient in the software packages that we are using in studio to be able to express your ideas in your own projects without being restricted due to lack of knowledge in the software that you are dealing with.  

Week 4

For this week's tasks we we're required to work with the blend layer inside of cryengine and apply the technique to our building whilst using our sketches as our reference. Below I have posted 3 test images of my results in using blend layer.

Brick Wall Blend Layer

Brick Wall Blend Layer

Brick Wall Blend Layer

We were then required to find 5 trailers to use as our reference when creating our very own trailer for experiment 2. Below I have included 3 links to 5 trailers which I think are great examples to reference to when creating my very own trailer.

I chose this trailer because it uses nice transitions between the various shots.

This trailer shows a variety of buildings and highlights the detail of the decay in buildings by zooming in and panning.

This particular trailer was chosen because it feels organic with the shaking movements of the camera.

This trailer uses excellent transitions to maintain the momentum and feel of the trailer which standard transitions would not be able to do.

This particular trailer uses nice angles to capture the building that is collapsing which enhances and amplifies the feeling of destruction.

This week's lecture was about how different materials fail and decay once exposed to the elements and once these materials have aged. We were shown great examples concrete, glass, metals and timber and how each of these materials will decay depending on their properties. I believe that this lecture will enable me to realistically decay my building for this experiment and will enable me to represent each of the materials within my building in the correct manner. 

Week 3

For this week's tasks we were required to do 3 sketches of our chosen house and show how the structural elements of the house will fail after a certain period of years and after being affected by natural disasters.  

This is my first sketch of the rudin house. This sketch shows how the concrete walls have collapsed in certain areas thus revealing the timber frames, how the glass has cracked due to high winds and water and how also the metal elements have stained due to moisture. 

This sketch is a close up of a window and wall. It shows the cracked internal gyprock revealing the timber frame and also shows the cracked flooring revealing the floor boards.

The above sketch is of the roof. It shows the structure underneath the cladding as well as how the concrete has cracked due to the weather conditions.

I then continued working on my rudin house model and continued adding details to it to show the state of decay after 100 years of no human existence. I took the model that we were given and retraced it by ensuring that I kept 4 sided polygon surfaces where ever I could so that the texture will apply more efficiently to the object. Some of the surfaces on the initial model did not join to other surfaces so I spent the time to ensure that my model contain cleans surfaces to make modelling the decay an easier and cleaner process.

This week's lecture was rather informative of how different structures look like once they have been abandoned. We were also made aware of the various tools and plugins that we have at our disposal when working on our buildings inside of 3ds max to create a realistic affect of the state of decay that our buildings will have faced after 100 years. All in all this week's lecture was informative and has enabled me to gain a better idea of the characteristics of an abandoned building. 

Week 2

For this week's tasks we were required to develop textures using Photoshop and apply them to our model in cryengine by exporting them using the crytif Photoshop plugin. Below I experimented with applying specular effects to a concrete texture which I then applied to my model.

Concrete texture without spec map

Concrete texture with spec map

We were then required to research the properties of 3 materials and the process involved in making each material, the life time of each, what conditions will corrode these materials, structural pros and cons and the main use of each of these materials. The 3 materials that I have chosen are concrete, glass and steel.

Concrete

How is concrete made:

Concrete is made by mixing water, cement, stone and sand. The quantity of each of these materials added to the concrete mix is determined by the type of application. A concrete mix needed to serve air crafts will posses different properties to concrete serving cars.

Life span of concrete:

Concrete actually hardens as it ages thus having an outstanding life span of 30 years on average based on the climate and environment conditions that the concrete is serving under.

What conditions will corrode concrete: 

Concrete degradation may have various causes. Concrete can be damaged by fire, aggregate expansion, sea water effects, bacterial corrosion, calcium leaching, physical damage and chemical damage (from carbonation, chlorides, sulphates and distilled water).

Structural pros and cons of concrete:

Concrete can be put under intense pressure and has excellent compression properties but does not preform as well when under tension and this is why concrete is usually reinforced with steel. 

Glass

How is glass made:

Glass is manufactured by melting sand, soda ash, dolomite and limestone together.

Life span of glass:

Glass lasts for decades and there is no exact life span associated with glass hence to why it is a primary material used in construction. However, the form of the object constructed using glass changes its form over many decades.

Structural pros and cons of glass:

Glass is very brittle and has limited structural adequacy in tension or compression unless it is reinforced using sealants or other form of aggregates or is tempered by heat.

Steel

How is steel made:

Steel is iron that has most of the impurities removed.

Life span of steel:

There is no solid answer as to how long the life span of steel is because it is dependant on the environmental conditions that the steel is exposed to and the application that the steel is used in.

What conditions will corrode steel:

Steel rust because it is an alloy of iron and rust is basically an oxide of iron that is formed when iron reacts with oxygen gas in the presence of moisture or water. After a time of exposure to these conditions for some time, steel corrodes.

Structural pros and cons of steel:

Steel is excellent in tension and is the best chosen material when requiring materials to withstand tension but is weak in compression and this is why concrete that has strong compression properties is always combined with steel that has strong tension properties to create reinforced concrete. 

This week's lecture was excellent in providing examples of the common materials used when constructing a building such as steel and concrete and how each of these materials shares independent properties and characteristics that when combined can be capable of supporting a building. This week's lecture also showed a few examples of how each of these material look like once exposed to corrosion or damage over several years.

Week 1

As part of the second experiment for this semester, we were required to install the required plugin to be able to export our model from 3ds max to cryengine. After following the tutorial I managed to export a sample model that I created using 3ds max to my cryengine scene which I created in the first experiment. 

I then re-exported another model which I created inside of 3ds max to ensure that I had adequately learned the process involved to be able to export from 3ds max to cryengine.

The next part of this week's individual study was to talk about each of the three houses in terms of their materials, design and history.

The Barcelona pavilion was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The design of this house is influenced by the l style of modernism. The main materials and structural elements that make up the Barcelona pavilion are steel frames with glass and polished stone.

http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/1297020019-bcn-pavilion-gandolas-528x352.jpg

The house in Bordeaux was designed by Rem Koolhaas in 1998 in Bordeaux, France. The main concept behind the house in Bordeaux is laying three floors that are different in nature over each other to create a contrast between spaces. The main materials used are concrete, steel and glass which create and overall nice contrast between the materials throughout the house.

http://www.infoteli.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/House-in-Bordeaux-Architecture-by-Rem-Koolhaas.jpg

The Rudin House designed by Architects Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron in 1996 is rather a standard looking house that is shaped using four main external walls with a gable roof and chimneys. This house almost blends in with the surrounding environment and context but includes a touch of modernism by using large openings in the shape of windows and doors. 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wONFWEsgJrOgDxwfgneV7ed7WVqMUk4OvBmY9GFCEpHbupLjvL1O4phrzHRwtWimI0Y4pIrKBfGkggx6klDB0az6DTY2eRumG7WNOptEklgmT1Aw_hM3ifbOTbDuQM-p_wu4X6TwZC0/s1600/rudin+house.jpg

This week's lecture was an introduction to experiment two which is about life after people. This lecture also included a few examples of structures that have been abandoned by humans for many years which showed how the different materials and structural elements in each of those buildings behaved over that particular period since they were abandoned by humans.

Experiment 1 Submission

This first experiment in the BENV 2423 subject required me to improve my cryengine skills greatly and also required me to be unique in my approach towards the tasks in this experiment. I began this experiment by establishing what I wanted to achieve by the submission date and allowed myself to experiment with untested ideas rather than the common ideas as a way to differentiate my work and conceal it with a touch of uniqueness.

Strategy Statement
The strategy statement was put in place to help establish how I was going to conceal my letter and number combination from macro to micro throughout my island. My strategy statement can be found here.

5 Draft Images of Island
Draft images of my island can be found here and here.

Video Trailer
As part of the final submission for this experiment we had to create a video trailer to promote our island. I always wanted to associate the feeling of mystery and suspense in this project and this is heavily portrayed throughout my video trailer through the use of background music and video effects without needing to use text to portray the mood conveyed in my video trailer.

My developed Island
Below are a few screen captures of my final developed island.

Files to play test Cryengine 3 Environment
The files needed to play my Cryengine environment can be found here.

Week 6

As part of this week's tasks, we had to review the work of our fellow students. I have attached screen captures of the students that I reviewed.

This week's lecture was about movement which conveyed examples of movements which have inspired me to try and incorporate some of the features in those examples shown within my cryengine scene. The lecture was also helpful in showing how to work with flow graphs to achieve our strategy plan.

Draft Submission

As part of our experiment 1 submission, we were required to put together a draft of the outcomes for this first experiment.

Strategy Statement: 

The challenge with this brief is not how hard it is to conceal the letter and number which in my case is a combination of “H9” but the challenge is to actually stay creative and explore unique ways to incorporate the letter and number into the created environment to create a satisfactory experience for the user and allow them to be challenged into finding the 5 various scales of this letter / number combination throughout the island. I will try and use various techniques, elements and effects on various scales to ensure that I best conceal my letter and number combination and ensuring that I adhere to a unique approach.

5 Images of Cryengine environment:

This image above shows the whole island.

Macro - The largest combination of letter and number that I incorporated into my island is quite unique in my personal opinion. My idea behind this combination is incorporating a sand island within my main island that disappears during the night as the water level rises and reappears during the early hours of the morning and throughout the day revealing an imprint in the sand conveying the letter and number “H9” as the water level drops

My second combination is made up of fallen tree logs that lay on top of each other forming the letter “H” in a natural way and 9 big rocks that are placed randomly near the fallen logs. Upon looking at this combination from a distance, once can only identify this combination as natural elements that have formed over a given period of time blocking a path but upon close interaction and focus one can then identity this combination involved that convey the letter “H” and number “9”.

With my third combination I tried to seek a different approach to concealing my letter and number combination. I highlighted a specific section within my island and linked it to a sound file that would play and say “H9” every time the player is within that specific area. I believe that the use of sound to conceal these elements is rather unique. 

My fourth concealment of the letter and number combination allowed me to use a decal to convey the letter “H” as white paint on an old demolished building and represented the number “9” buy placing 9 lamps randomly around the same area to illuminate light for the letter “H”.

Micro - this is a plinth located on the island that displays the letter "H" and the numbers 4,3,1,1 which equal to "9" when added together.

My final step for this experiment is to keep adding details to my environment and ensure that I thoroughly cover the assessment outputs. I must also develop a trailer that would successfully convey my island in a distinctive and significant way as part of my final submission.

This week's lecture was really useful in presenting excellent examples of the concealment of subliminal messages and products within ads, movies and other means of representation. The content in this week's lecture have inspired me to ensure that I maintain a unique approach when concealing my letter and number combination.  

Week 4

The first step of this week's tasks is to select and upload an image from week 4 lecture to my blog. I decided to choose a painting done by Gerhard Richter.

The next part was to replicate the mood in the chosen image on my own created island. I unfortunately was not able to start my island in cryengine so opted to creating a new island for this week's exercises. My results can be seen below.

Before

After

My screenshot of my current settings.

Time of day settings

Cloudy Sky

Settings for image above

Blue sky with some clouds

Settings for image above

Late afternoon cloudy day

Add caption

Settings for image above

Evening sky

Settings for image above

This week's lecture contained examples of environments both man made and those developed naturally over centuries. I believe that the main focus of this week's lecture was to actually inspire us to use reference images of naturally developed landscapes as inspiration to use in our own environment rather than using man made landscapes such as the palm island located in Dubai as our reference. I was also inspired by some of the works that various artists have produced. 

Week 3

The first task of this week's studies was to find 4 reference images of works created by a list of landscape architects / architects given to us in the lecture. I decided to select 1 image from each of the architects.

The next step was to recreate similar scenes for each of these reference images in different areas of throughout my island keeping in mind that I has to use the brushes and objects found in cryengine to help me in recreating the features found in these reference images.

Capability Brown (a)
flickriver, http://www.flickriver.com/groups/gardensparks/pool/interesting/

Humphrey Repton (b)
Wikimedia, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Humphry_Repton01.jpg

Claude Lorrain (c)
reframing photography, http://www.reframingphotography.com/content/claude-lorrain

William Gilpin (d)
Tate,http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilpin-mountains-and-lakes-t09541

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

I decided to use the reference images as inspiration rather than blueprints to replicate the same landscape shown in the reference images. By doing so, I was able to recreate realistic landscapes with my own personal touch.

The task that followed was to select a 5th reference image and implement the landscape shown in a section of my environment. I decided to choose a reference image of a lion's forest as shown below to replicate in my environment using cryengine. The results can be viewed below.

Outdoorphoto, http://www.outdoorphoto.co.za/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=259950

The next part of this week's tasks was to create a short clip showing my environment which I have been modifying and detailing for my first experiment. 

This week's lecture was about the topic of picturesque showing examples of the work produced by a few landscape architects and designers. Each of the work that was shown in this lecture was inspiring in terms of its context, form and especially the setting. Each of the landscapes shown were correctly set with relation to surrounding objects and elements. All in all this lecture has inspired me in the work that I produced as part of this week's exercises.