Mock Up

 I made a quick paper mock-up of the map slider. I just rotated the map provided on the Victoria University website. Rather than continuing to use this map I think I'm going to draw one based on it so I can have only the information I need.

Glow

I used the ink from this UV pen to highlight my hand-etching in this acrylic

The UV ink worked much better than the glow-in-the-dark paint. The paint didn't glow enough for me to get a picture of it in the dark and it was very messy to apply.

Acrylic Bending Tests

The hairdryer didn't work. The acrylic just snapped where I had the pliers.

The iron worked better, I used baking paper to keep the iron clean.

Boiling didn't work very well. It was hardly malleable at all.

The lighter worked alright for bending but I couldn't keep the acrylic clean.


Success! The hair straightener worked really well.

Idea

This is how I would like my app to work. I think it's pretty easy to follow based on other apps I've used.

 Clicking next to 'Building' will open a drop down menu with all of the buildings at the Kelburn campus (CO, HM, MC, VZ etc) and likewise clicking next to 'Room' will open a drop down menu with the room numbers.

Once you enter your location these steps come up.

When you click the check box by one of the steps it puts a tick there and opens the next step.
There is an arrow on the side that you can click to change to the map system.

 The map will show the path to the destination as well as all of the checkpoints. The that you have ticked off will be in a highlighted colour. Your current location will appear as a red dot. From the map there is also an arrow on the side that can take you back to the checkpoint system.
I haven't put it into all of the pictures, but I would also have a top bar of icons with tasks that you might want to do at any point during the navigation. Like 'Home' which would take you back to the startup page. 'New Path' that lets you enter a new destination. 'Where am I?' recalculates your position, tells you the nearest landmark to where you are and gives you the list of checkpoints from your position to your destination. I think this would be helpful if you decide to take a detour while your en route. Also 'Exit' which takes you out of the app completely.

Spatial Navigation

The article Gender Differences in Spatial Navigation (2007) explains how women tend to use and give instructions with landmarks whereas men tend to use 'Euclidean navigational strategies' i.e. they visualise the entire path.
Most navigation technology shows you an overhead picture with the path mapped out. This is how most men navigate, by keeping the entire path in their head. Women tend to look for landmarks that they recognise to work out where to go next.

I would like to base my interface on this. My idea would involve inputting your destination and then following the checklist of landmarks to get there. I would have photographs of several checkpoints between your current location and desired location with instructions like 'turn left at the vending machine'.
 But there would also be a way to change to a map view.I think this system would make it straightforward to get anywhere, even on a campus as complicated at the Kelburn one.

Reference List

Lee,K., & Lee,S., & Kim, B. (2007). Gender Differences in Spatial Navigation. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 1-4, Retrived From: http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/

Navigation Systems

Ive been thinking about different navigation systems and one that I've always found easy to follow is the system in the Jak and Daxter series.
As you're walking/ driving around there is a small map in the bottom left corner that rotates to show the way that you're facing and also shows an icon in the direction of the place that you need to go.
You can also bring up a map of the entire area where you appear as an arrow showing the direction you're facing and your destination is showed as a bright green dot.

Inspiration

I was looking at my Hero model and it reminded me of one of the images from DSDN 171 last trimester.
It was a chandelier by Dale Chihuly. Each piece is made of blown glass. It's obviously static, but the way that the glass is manipulated makes each piece look almost fluid. I want to achieve this sort of effect for the tendrils of my model.




In contrast to this I have found an example of a flat stacking technique by Helen Musselwhite. I think this is between 2D and 3D, because it is obviously made up of only 2D components, but when these are brought together they create depth.

This is a piece by Jessica Minckley called 'A Twisted Bit of Universe. In the chandelier above the fluidity is very controlled whereas this  example is quite chaotic















I also found this beginner's guide to acrylic
http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2008/03/14/a_modders_guide_to_acrylic/1
with different steps and techniques for bending and sanding etc. I think it'll be really useful for me because I haven't worked with acrylic before.

An Idea Taketh Shape...

 There's no way I'll be able to work with limbs as thin as the one on my model so I had an idea to etch some thin lines into the acrylic and then fill them with UV ink. Then when I shine a black light on it these thin tendrils will appear. This sort of reminds me of bioluminescence. I'm also going to test glow-in-the-dark paint. That way you won't need a black light to see the effect. But I don't think there are any glow-in-the-dark paints that are invisible in the light. I got this blue one to do some tests with.

Form Ideas

Structure and Noise

 

These are my final images.

       

Colour

Okay, the previous final four aren't quite the final four...
I just got some feedback at the Thursday tutorial and I'm going to bring in some orange towards the end because by current colour range is very limited.

        

The Final Four

Here's one of my inspiration pictures. This is where I got my colour scheme.

Success!

I managed to get processing to draw triangles in a circular pattern. Here is a circle with random added in.

Rather than having each of my images being disconnected, like in my last idea, I'm going to have each image flow into the next.













Progress shots.