Research - Project 1

Throughout the project some research has helped me back-up my project which helped me show off the meaning of identity, I put it in my sketchbook so I could quickly jot down some notes on what I thought. Here are few photo's that I have taken of the research in my sketchbook.


The images on the left were spider diagrams that I made about my identity i.e. how I look, what I like etc. I also thought that I would create a spider diagram on objects I like because Roma said that we could portray ourselves within an object.


After choosing that I wanted to portray myself as an object I thought that I woureld research into what the objects would look like so I could get an idea on what I would like to sketch out.


After researching self identity I thought that I would research a bit more into the whole meaning of identity itself. So I thought that I would look at different examples of identities that we don't really notice in our every day to day lives.


I thought that should share my images with everyone of who I am now and what I was like in the past and it turns out that I haven't really changed which, I feel is a good thing. But it was a good example of identity.


A bit more research on some artists that I admire and some information from Roma giving me some feedback (which I need) about what to do for the next project.




These were final pages of research that I have done so far. I was experimenting with what the environment would like, what objects would be used etc.

I will continue to pursue my research throughout the project because I feel that researching into my work will really help me push forward, improve and learn more about what identity is and how to work with it.

Second life - Diary

I have been having a few problems trying to log onto second life for the past few days so it looks like I haven't been posting my diary entries for a few days. Like I said in my last entry I wanted to explore second life in the day time, it wasn't quite day time more like early morning but there were certainly a few more people around.


I was still on freebie beach because doing my research I relised that this island was one of the more popular places that avatars like to go. I also really like this place, it looks like a really sociable place.


As it was early hours of the morning I thought that I would explore the island a little bit, change my outfit and wait for day light and for more avatars to enter the virtual worlds. So I browsed the free stuff danced a little bit and then day light broke out. There were suddenly lots of avatars around.


Ok so this image is not showing daylight it is an example of what the virtual world calls camping. I was trying to look into this and now I know what it means. Its when an avatar sits down an either a selected bench or seat for a certain amount of time and receive linden money for it, I would like to try it sometime by I am quite impatient.


When morning came my aim was to try and talk to people. So I teleported back to the beach. The image on the right shows an example of another way on how to teleport to other places quicker. Back to my aim I went to try and talk to some other avatars but it was harder then I thought. Everytime I went to speak to someone I was either blank or it took quite along time to send messages so I wasn't very successful.


The two avatars to the left of my avatar seem to have a close friendship and from what I heard they had only just met that day. But they planned to meet up later on in the day so they have someone else to walk around the virtual world with. So maybe my next aim on second life would be to find another avatar who would give me some more information/be a friend whilst i'm in this virtual world. And so i'm guessing that will be my next aim in my next visit to the virtual world.

Avatar - Development ideas 2

Ok once I had sketched my design ideas out I thought that I would design my ideas on Photoshop to see what my pencil identity would look like.


As you can see on the left I started off designing just the basic outline of the pencil. I wasn't too sure about the what colour I wanted my identity so tried different colours to see what worked well and what would relate to me, but looking at them I relised that the original colour worked the best. I used the gradient tool to add tones to give a more 3D look to the image. It took me along time to actually create this shape but I am pleased with the outcome.


Once I had got my shape I thought that I would edit it to give it a more feminine look. The image on the right shows the process of how I did it. This was Roma's advice that I took and I really like it.



I came up with the idea to add pencil sharpenings to give out the impression of hair, this took me quite a while to create but I showed a few people the outcome and they were impressed. My decision now is whether to go for the pencil with the sharpenings or without, so I think that I am going to create the identity on 3D Max and see what feel looks better.

Viral Marketing

We were set the task to reference one of the slides in the 'being connected' lecture. At first I wasn't too sure on what I had to do but after last weeks tutorial I saw that Craig had looked into viral marketing and I found, what I saw really interesting.

Looking over the internet I relised that viral marketing mainly depends on each person passing on the message to over friends. The more people who sends the ad/message the quicker the message is spread and can be known globally, the message could also slow down if people do not send the message.

When we were discussing this in the tutorial last week it came to my attention that the majority of viral marketing is used for more personal use i.e. jokes and I thought a good example of this would be links to 'youtube' Last friday I watched a program about youtube showing the most popular videos on youtube. It showed us the top 50 viral marketing videos. I have posted a few examples below showing clip from the show:

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This was on the top ten, I could see why people would want to send this to other people.

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Yet again another video mainly for the audience entertainment. In my opinion I think viral marketing is mainly for the viewers entertainment and is good way to share each others common interests.I am going to carry on researching this subject because I find it realy interesting and would like to see how this will expand in the future.

Avatar - Development ideas

I haven't posted a blog about my avatar for along time so I thought that it was about time to share my work. Since the end of week 27 I took Roma's advice and created a gannt chart to make my timing easier and I have to say that it really did help. I am ahead of my schedule at the moment and about to start my environment design on 3D Max. Since week 28 however I have been working on my initial ideas for my identity idea. The work that I did mainly involved sketchbook i.e. research and sketches.Below are a few images that I have taken from my sketchbook showing the process of my ideas.

Back at my review meeting I was told to add images of my sketchbook to show people my work away from the computer.


Initial Ideas
The camera - I love to take pictures and photography has always been a great passion of mine, however there is no sense of identity that I could add to this image.
Ballet shoe - I always love dancing and I thought a ballet shoe would be the best way to portray this. This image could work well as an identity.



Initial Ideas
Laptop - I couldn't live without my laptop its what I live and work with all the time however like the camera there is no way I could make it my identity, its just an animation.
Straighteners - As my hair is naturally curly I need my straighteners. I loved this sketch because it was so easy to create an image. I like this idea but then I would have to think what environment would work well with this sketch.



After choosing my sketch I liked I then developed the ideas further by giving the sketch a different look. I choose the pencil as my avatar so I developed my ideas by giving the image a more feminine look.
I have been evaluating my work as I have been going along to help me improve my work. I have designed my final look for my avatar on Photoshop doing a series of experiments to see what gives the best look.

My little bug

Haven't posted a blog on here in a while so I thought that it was about time to post something. Last week Andy set us the task of creating a small bug or worm just like the BBC3 worm. Below is the outcome of my work.



Its very basic but it shows how to create slow yet effective movement to an object.

The aim of the task was to learn the technique of morphing an object so you would be able to create a number of different movements and be able to make it into one sequence.

I found the task quite simple and helpful. I already knew the basics on how to create the shapes and the instructions given were easy to follow, the morphing wasn't as hard as I thought. I didn't realise that creating clones of one object would be a way of how to make an object move. Having done this exercise I think that I could use this for my identity. I have come the the conclusion that my identity will a pencil, and in my opinion I feel that morphing will be a good way to make my pencil look more like an animation. I also hope that it will give the pencil more of an identity, it will add emotion but my main aim if I was to use morphing in my project would be to give the pencil a more girly impression.

I will be posting some of my design ideas on my blog shortly as I have done my initial ideas through sketch books and photoshop.

Second life - Diary

Right my in my last post I had two aims and they were to join more groups and to learn more gestures and I think that I've done it. When I return back to the virtual world I was allowed back into Happisland and I wanted to make some money and messages kept popping up saying the best way to earn free money was to take a survey. So that was what I planned to do.


The image on the left shows what the survey boxes look like. They are called however ATM machines and when I clicked on them it wasn't what I was expecting. When I clicked on either machines a link would appear but not to surveys but to membership form for either gyms or online companies. I did not pursue this as I don't really trust these types of sites however this has now shown me one example of how companies advertise their business, doing this method advertises globally and because it is free linden money avatars will sign up.


I lost interest of Happisland because no one was willing to help me join the group so I went to few different clubs and, I suddenly learnt gestures all you have to do is right click on the object/floor and select what you can do. The image to the right is an example of my avatar sitting down.


Off on search again I came across a list of popular places and Jazz bar sounded quite interesting so I teleported there and wow!!! the avatars there look stunning. I was guessing that these were regular users and had the money to buy glamerous dresses. Even the assistants of the islands looked the part but as I did not and look quite casual they didn't seem too interested in talking to me.


I worked out how to dance yay!! but as I didn't look the part no one seemed too interested in dancing with me oh well I wasn't too fussed because I now know how to dance and do gestures.

I would like to try and experience second life more in the day time because when ever I go on its always night time for the virtual world so I will go on at a later time and have a look around, maybe something different will go on.