Making Scan your Skull

Within this post I will be explaining how I made and filmed the footage of the 'Scan your Skull Booth' in cinema 4D. I will also be discussing what went well and what I would improve on if I were to redo the booth.

I contributed to many things within the group that may not have been specifically defined by a role as Every morning when I arrived to uni I would check up on everyone. Ask where everyone was and what else needed to be done as well as completing my own tasks.

Setting out in creating the 3D render of the Booth:

Before I started to create the render I used Elliott's initial sketches and then created my own in response to the research and my personal ideas as well.

The sketch below is a re-sketched after receiving feed back that too much text on the screen would be less interesting than that of something thats animated and interactive.

Once ideas were agreed I set about constructing the booth. It started as a solid rectangle object. I would then subtract sections to create access points. This provided access for us to both see inside the booth and to show how it would be interacted with. No colour was used initially as I wanted to just construct the main frame.

We didn't want the booth to be so rigid so, I decided to concave the the corners to add an architectural element to the design. I also started to experiment with colour and textures. I wanted it to fit within the Winston Mathematical exhibition, the colours were inspired by Sara Hadids' Architectural representation of flight and air. I chose purple and blue as the colours go well together but also because the colour blue is associated to maths and technology and purple as it is such a prominent colour within the exhibition. The lines which also feature in the design on the back and chair are homage to the directional lines within the exhibit on the floor. As you can see from the images the progress up to the final outcome.

I encountered a few problems whilst constructing the booth as well as animating the screens and animating the moving arm. However, I found that animating the arm was simple enough as the software uses key frames similar to that of Adobe after effects. By adding a few key frames I was able to make a simple yet effect arm mechanism. But the first real problem was, how would I be able to make an animation shot that would go all the way round the booth? To overcome this I searched on youtube multiple tutorials on how to use a camera within the software. To then make the camera rotate, I needed to make a spline (path) for the camera to follow. Basically like a track shot. I then had to make the booth the target within a tag option on the right.

As you can see on the left this is how I programmed the camera to do what I wanted it to do. The path Spline A is linked to a circle. That you can change size at any time. You can then change the hight of the viewpoint (camera angle). To then create a link so the camera focuses on one subject you select target A1 and link it to the object. To then animate the camera to circle around I needed to input two key frames for start and finish.

The next problem was to solve the second camera angle. I did not realise you could put more than one camera angle in the same file. To change the camera point of view or switch cameras you need to just press the square to the right of the camera icon on the right. However, the only way I could get a free standing camera was to insert a metaphorical camera man. Yes a stick figure holding up a camera is what you are given. I could then place him through the wall to get a shot of what it would be like if you were in the booth and looking at the screens.

However there was the next problem of solving how to make the animations me and Rosie made to play on the screens. I had seen it done before on a screen but I was not to sure if it would work. So I just tried making a material and set the texture as the animation. To my amazement it worked. However I found I needed to edit the footage Rosie sent to me as it was too long for the design sequence. I had to shorten and cut it down to then play within the time of the key frame animation of the arm with camera on it.

I added neon lights for the lighting within the booth as otherwise the booth would be too dark for the camera to capture the image (I was thinking how it would work logically) After speaking with my lecturer Steve we discussed how it needed to be accessible for everyone and as such I designed everything i.e the hight of the chair and screens so they could be used by someone in a wheelchair. My design was inclusive for all. I even thought about the arm, that could be mechanised to go up and down so it would be the right hight for the person using it. It could feature a sensor to know what hight to go to. I also thought there could be a visual when the user pressed the button to then have a graphic to show where the persons face needs to be within guidelines.

Final visual outcomes: