Screen Pluck

Just as a side note - during the mid semester break I wrote this program ( in Java ) to aid in the development of my second life program. I anticipated that I would need to be taking timed screenshots, and didnt find any software which I really liked or that fulfilled the requirements I had.

So I wrote Screen Pluck.

It is free, and released under the GPL license.You can download it here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/screenpluck/

Location

Here is a simple diagram showing the location as an augmented diagram with the second life building superimposed.

As can be seen, the southern end has pedestrian access is able to be utilised to draw the public into the exhibition space.

Reactive Lighting and Space Formation

In developing my idea of gifting within this reactive architecture head space I moved towards an idea of an architecture that develops the experience, shaping it around the 'user' of the architectural space. I developed a basic script using scratch for second life that has a timer which senses the distance to the nearest avatar and alters the light and glow affects according to the distance.

This was not entirely possible in scratch4sl so I had to learn Linden Script.

However, after a number of hours of learning and development I was able to create a successful script. The closer you get to the object the more it glows and lights up the surrounding area. The further you get from the object the less it glows and lights up.

The purpose of this correlates with the function of the architectural space. As the public walk through the high-traffic area that is over-arched by the southern section of the building they are then drawn into a semi-private space which is the exhibition area. This is a merging of both the private studio and the public walkway, but is true to being either strictly public, nor private. It's purpose is between the two, creating a thresh hold of space into which the pubic are drawn and the studio is present ( through their exhibited artworks ).

The public are drawn into this through the reactive element. As they walk through the covered section of the building which is public lights sense their proximity and light up around them, but draw them up the ramp through the visual narrative of the lights being long and continuing down the corridor in an unbroken geometry.

This exhibition space then needed to be shielded from overlighting in order to maximise the effect of the reactive architecture. This was achieved through creating a concrete wall on which to suspend the exhibitional elements.

Frosted glass texture

In order to address the issue concerning my 'box' being too intrusive it was suggested to me that I may profit from using a semi-transparent surface. I took this idea and developed it. The idea was to create a frosted glass surface that would only allow general shapes to be visible through the material. This would allow the public to see what is happening in the space, but would not interrupt or intrude on the privacy of the employees or partners. This concept became central to my design - the flow of space and the relationship between private and public space.

Below is the (tileable) frosted glass texture I developed in photoshop:

Reality Transfer

After learning how to create sculpt maps in 3ds Max, I then proceeded to move my original concept ( my final idea from teh drawing paper ) in to Second Life. It was rather difficult finding a site that resembled my location in reality - between two apartment complexes. However, I did find one that seemed to be perfect! So I began construction and completed my original form and structure.

However, this highlighted a number of issues in my design.

• The glass 'box' was too intrusive and may b uncomfortable for the workers and artists to have people watching them constantly.
• The thresh hold opening on both sides of the studio opened the studio up to the public excessively. There is a prominent lack of privacy.
• There is no exhibition space to engage the public - the glass wall ( which I had planned to have as the primary exhibition space - a membrane on which artwork can displayed ) was insufficient. It felt tacky.

This became the focus of my next work on the project.

Sculptie and Script idea

My sculpty is a waveform floor. It reacts with the user, so that when the user gets close it glows. The amount of  glow is proportional to the distance the user is from the object. I had to learn the basics of second life in order to implement this ( scratch is rather limited in options you can implement ). Glow is not an option given in scratch so I used to scratch to create the basic framework and then I edited the code using the Linden Script API to edit the code myself. However, due to the lag of hte server the overall glow manipulation is difficult to observe unless you run it on a much less cluttered server.

The following are some screenshots of myself at work - some are on my own server in order to demonstrate the effects (geometry and script effect is identical on the Second Life Grid):

Above: Using my own server to test out scripts and sculpties ( saving me a lot of bandwidth and time )

Above: Using the Secondlife grid and also using ScreenPluck - a program I wrote to take screenshots automatically while I work.

Second Life Scripting and Sculpties Issues

As we were asked to create some Secondlife Sculpties I created a strip that would duplicated to create my floor. However, I have run into some challenges with this.

First sculpties in Secondlife are physically treated as the type of object they are created from. So my floor is really an invisible block the size of a room. You cant walk on that. In order to overcome this I would have to create a number of invisible blocks to approximate the physical space of my sculptie.

Secondly, server overload. I am in the last group. Because of this the world is already full of prims and scripts. This is a significant problem for scripting. Why? Because Second Life uses server side scripting, NOT client side. So if there are a hundred or two hundred scripts running on the server then there will be considerable lag transporting this information back to the client side.

In order for me to work more efficiently I have installed and begun running my own local opensim server to test my scripts on. This way I can see if the scripts are working much quicker, and my workflow is much more effective.

First Sculpties

Judy asked us to create sculpties using 3dsMax. So I did. I downloaded and installed PrimCOmposer, and used software I wrote to take screenshots ( screen pluck - you cna find it on sourceforge ). I didnt find anything too difficult, except I couldnt remember how to recreate a sculptie in 3ds max. So after trying to figure this out for a while I just downloaded an opensim server and ran that locally to test things out. Here are a few of the screenshots from that:

Gifting Research

I was asked to find my own reading/video material for discussion tomorrow. So I found this interesting video from ted.com which raises questions about Artificial Intelligence in and independent self controlled machine construction and how this may relate or become part of design and construction. Certainly raises interesting questions about the direction of design and our lack of efficiency with current models. Perhaps we still have more to learn from nature than we realise. But how does this relate to gifting? Well, if we can give gifts that build themselves then we are creating the possibility of gifts that never stop giving. We are giving both life and intelligence to our creations and a gift that develops and grows with the recipient.

My A1 Drawing and Video file are complete. The address for the video is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va2YN5xPTvk

De Blas House Research

The matrix I was provided with earlier in the Semester was a reference to the De Blas House: a home designed by the Architect Alberto Campo Baeza for the Professor of Literature Francisco de Blas.

From my research I discovered the following about the home and its inspiration. This is a summary I wrote of what I understood from http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com/2008/10/casa-de-blas-in-sevilla-la-nueva-madrid.html.


De Blas gave Architect Alberto Campo Baeza the complete collection of poems by Spanish poet Luis Cernuda (1902- 1963). This poetry was to be the inpirational material of a home where De Blas and his family could 'listen to music'.

The location was a steep site rising 15 metres. At the top it overlooked a flatter plane and was emphasised by an elevated advantage of natural light reaching it.

The basis of design was in its duality: a juxtaposition of solidity versus invisibility. It looked simply like a glass box placed on top of a concrete one, but which created a strong emotive response, especially in the poetic feeling of being inside while at the same time engulfed inthe 'music' of the environment. The impenetrable concrete contrasted with the almost non-existent faceade of glass.

This architecture created a deeply personal experience. One sits in silence and listens to the music of the place.

How will this relate to my design? At this stage I am unsure. The aesthetic created by such contrast in materials and the resultant atmosphere is surely a highlight of the design and is impressive. Perhaps I will use such a contrast to create a duality of space for the occupants of my design.

Further photos that I thought were very valuable are found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/campobaeza/sets/72157600038837061/