The CDs are back from the printer, and the web version is up! The Connections CD is a technical walkthrough for new students at Northern Illinois University. The annual project started a few years before I came to work for ResTech, and in the five versions since I took over, it’s changed a lot (I used to suck at Photoshop).
The screen demos and interface were authored with Adobe Captivate. For the actual CDs, I wrote PC and Mac specific launchers in ActionScript and burned them to a dual-partition format. Hopefully whoever takes over for me next year likes working on this project as much as I did.
My friend Colin is working on a from-scratch game engine for a 3D tower-building simulator. Here is a very early demo of what he’s programmed so far. This expanded-style view is the foundation of the level editing mode.
I looked up one of my old 3d projects from an independent study from 2003 and decided to touch it up. This was a prototype for a standalone DVD copier/media player, where an original and blank would be inserted in the trays and it would create a duplicate. A product similar to this was released about a year later, and now it’s all pretty laughably obsolete.
Still, there was some good detail work here (especially the CD drives), so I started restoring it and put some new textures on it. I can’t remember if none of the corners are filleted intentionally, or if Inventor 6 would crash if you created too much geometry. Either way, this whole project could use some fresh case design and re-purposing (Blu-Ray Copier?).
After reading about the Vertical Farm Project, I became interested in trying to design a building with some type of environmental benefit for my final ARTD490 project. I came up with a scalable tunnel/road-covering for rural roads, powered by solar cells, and intended to provide several benefits:
Off-grid highway lighting for remote/rural areas, increasing wildlife visibility
Supplemental electricity for connected areas
Insulation, reducing icing in winter and cooling roadway during summer
The arch design is essentially in compliance with AASHTO Standards for US interstate bridges and passageways, with a clearance over 18 feet and an inside width of 40 feet. Each section is 10 feet long.
Variations on the design include a longer version with lined troughs on each side so topsoil can be packed into the outer supports, increasing its insulation properties and reducing its visibility in naturally pristine areas. Another variation envisions each section connected to another by mag-lev rails, allowing solar energy to be expended deploying a flexible, weatherproof “curtain” between arches in the case of severe storms or emergencies.
With the exception of the solar cells, construction materials are low cost but durable enough for prolonged service. More concept renders below:
On April 16th, Northern Illinois University hosted an art exhibit called “Interreaction” in the Holmes Student Center Glass Gallery. The show was planned, organized, promoted, and featured work by undergraduate Time Arts students. The focus was interactive, installation-based work that balanced technology with artistic intent. We enjoyed high attendance and an overall positive response.
My piece, “Reflex,” was an interactive sculpture constructed out of nylon string, tape, and pellon fabric. The fabric is threaded through and suspended by a web of strings attached to the ceiling and floor. Each length of string was constructed in a fractal-like pattern: a length of 10-12 feet has offshoots at set distances, each of these 6-8 feet in length. Off of these branches are additional lengths of string, branching into 2 foot end segments.
Behind the structure is a computer, DLP projector, and a concealed webcam. A Flash/ActionScript application is projected onto the fabric and fed video data by the webcam. The Flash app populates a black screen with small, circular objects that drift around aimlessly. Every 50ms, the current frame of video is captured as bitmap data and applied as a difference filter to bitmap data of the previous frame, creating a two-color image map of motion in front of the camera. On each frame, the application iterates through the floating objects, and checks what color the image map is at this location. If motion is being recorded at the location of an object, it is sent flying away. When viewers walk past the installation, the objects ripple. If a viewer waves their hand around in front of it, the objects scatter and move away.
The result is an initially subtle level of interaction; many people would walk almost completely past the installation, then suddenly stop and do a double-take, wondering if the motion of the objects on the screen was tied to their movement or mere coincidence. This reaction contrasted sharply with the response later in the night, when the secret was out and viewers gathered to test the limits of the interaction.
If you have a webcam, you can view the Flash component of the project here. If you do not want the project to access your webcam when prompted, simply navigate away from the page. Clicking “Deny” may cause the plug-in to crash.
Here’s a pattern study, working from an original design. This is my first render that makes use of the MentalRay rendering engine and its extended material library.
It’s been a long time since I worked with 3D, and my early attempts were always marked by an amateurish aesthetic and lack of design consideration. For my first independent study project, I focused on created a high-resolution, visually rich typographic piece.
The Game Developers Association of NIU had their first meeting of the year last night. Here are some of the highlights.
gamedevmap is an online catalog of major game developers, publishers, and organizations. It’s an excellent resource for programmers and designers who are looking for employers in their area. The site is organized with a world map splitting up companies by region. [link]
gotoandlearn() is a video tutorial library for serious Flash developers. From slider bars to dynamic Flex applications, the videos vary in scope and complexity. Along with an active forum, this is an essential site for anyone trying to get things done in Flash. [link]
GRAVITY BONE is a fun little indie game based on the Quake 2 engine. This ‘Nuevos Aires’ spy adventure is populated with quirky, blockhead characters, bright colors, and fantastic music. It’s free, fun, and funny. [link]
BIT.TRIP BEAT is a new game coming out for WiiWare. I’d try to explain this piece of sublime 8-bit beauty, but really you should just see it for yourself.
I’m finishing up my final project for my 2D Animation course, and wanted to post a bit of what I’ve been working on. Synesthesia has been a major influence on my work, so for my first major project I wanted to focus on the visualization of sound.
Based on some sketches I drew during the last few years, I created some distinct geometric patterns in Photoshop and animated them using After Effects. Set to Ratatat’s track “Mirando,” these first 30 seconds use a lot of post-processing effects and filters that make rendering in my chosen resolution (1080i) ridiculously tedious. So far I’m happy with how it’s turning out, expect much more to come. I’m hoping to have the piece complete for exhibition at an Ars Nova group show on December 10th.
Matanuki.com went online at the beginning of 2006, and until now it has mainly served as a file repository. While a number of bright new websites have popped up on matanuki subdomains, the root directory has alternated between this bold-faced lie and an empty/broken installation of WordPress.
About the Design
This site is starting with a basic WordPress install, and I’ll be building on that foundation in the coming months. In order to give it a distinct look and feel, I started with a clean, minimalist, XHTML/CSS theme called Blass2 by design group 1000ff. Vielen dank, guys. Expect a lot of changes in the coming months.
A Brief History of Dublyner
I registered the AIM name “dublyner” in junior high school, after the James Joyce novel Dubliners. I’d like to say there was a deep connection or meaning there, but the truth is I just liked how it sounded. Later, after actually reading some of Joyce’s works, I decided it was worth keeping. Dublyner became my online identity.
I’ve started and abandoned several personal sites, including a cheesy Xanga page in 2004 and an empty Blogspot in 2005. The only blog I ever updated consistently was built into the RoosterTeeth forum. As the site blossomed into a social network of 700,000+ users, I and many of the older members became troublemakers and elitists. It was time to move on.
After leaving the RT community, my online presence was limited to Killbam, a small forum run by a high school buddy to help our old gang keep in touch while we were away at college. I retired the pseudonym, posting with my real first name. Along with a well-groomed Facebook profile, there’s been little need to branch out and start my own personal site.
Matanuki Gets a Purpose
As I enter the professional world, it’s becoming necessary to create a professional online identity. This site will document my projects, including freelance ventures, animations, and graphic designs. The blog will be business-casual: personal, but don’t expect a lot of dick jokes and YouTube videos (unless they’re mine). I’ll be publishing with my real name, and using the site as an online portfolio.
