Above are some screenshot examples of the kind of graphics I have created to be overlaid in the space. I used Adobe After Effects CS5 for this, consulting this book:
and various online tutorials for help. I am new to After Effects, so part of the practice in this research project is learning this software. The software acts as the gateway into my research findings: without an effective use of motion graphics, the research will be limited in its findings. If I can learn the processes that will enable me to experiment with how the space can appear as though it is morphing through mixed-reality, then the project’s outcomes will be much more reliable and worth investigating.
As part of practice, I have utilised a literature search and video tutorials as a method to mimic, refine and explore the practical processes involved in creating the visuals needed for the project. My next step, in creating a short piece of graphics, was to experiment with how these demonstrated my aims and objectives by projecting them in the space. I have chosen this particular area in the church for a number of reasons, some practical, some artistic and some theoretical. Firstly, I was somewhat limited by power supply, length of extension leads, appropriate surfaces on which to place the projector (which proved to be a difficult task if I wanted the projected area to cover the area I had designed graphics for), light (will the orange glow of a streetlamp infiltrate the space?), and a space big enough (and safe enough) for an audience to stand. This was my first step. I then, from this deduction, articulated my theoretical concerns (which, in some instances, were mutually dependent on the practicalities of space, for example, light): is the area going to be dark enough for the projector to be visible, and create a series of lighting conditions? Artistically, I wondered whether the area embodied enough of the church’s architectural and artistic features for me to augment, and whether choosing a corner of the church would neglect the rest of the space.
In this first experiment, however, I was limited by the light conditions, as I could only access the church during the day. I am allowed access at night, but circumstances in this instance meant that I couldn’t conduct the experiment then, so I have had to shift my focus away from lighting conditions and towards geometric mapping of the features of the space. Determining this early on, I deduced, is essential for me to create graphics that will be geometrically accurate. If I can map the co-ordinates of the space early on, I can move on to experimenting with light and shadow rendering techniques, which will culminate in a further experiment within the site, which will take place at night.
So I set up the projector, inserted the graphics into MadMapper, and experimented with configurations to best fit the co-ordinates of the space. Crucially, I discovered that my graphics were flawed. I had created them over the top of a photograph I had taken of the given space, but the photograph was taken at an angle and was thus skewed. I presumed that MadMapper would rectify such a warped perspective, but asking the software to firstly adjust the perspective of the graphics and then the skewed perspective of the projector in the space was simply too much to ask. I could never reach a satisfying result: if I moved one corner, it would throw off the balance of the rest of the graphics:
In Spatial Augmented Reality: Merging Real and Virtual Worlds (2005), Bimber and Raskar propose three geometric rendering components: projector model, display portal and user location (96). Projector model outlines how the projector geometrically projects light outward, display portal, or display surface, is the spatial qualities of the projected surface, and user location outlines the location of the projector in the real-world co-ordinate system. If I can align the perspective of the graphics with that of the projector model, MadMapper can consequently adjust the co-ordinates to align themselves with the display portal as a result of the user location.
Result: I must, in Photoshop, adjust the perspective of the photograph to create a flat perspective, and experiment with this result using the same user location. If satisfying results are not reached, experiment with other user locations. Once I do this, it remains for me to analyse how the meeting of the real and the virtual ‘interact and continuously contaminate one another’ (Giannachi 2004: 99). The abstract and virtual qualities of the white lines served originally to highlight the structural qualities of the space in the dark. I wanted to explore how the real space might embody qualities of the virtual lines, how the lines clearly embody qualities of the real space and how each thus co-depend on one another. In order to experiment with notions of disjunctive time, I suspect that I must experiment with more realistic graphics, to allow the virtual to firstly embody the temporal framework of the space, and to consequently reappropriate it.
BIMBER, O. and RASKAR, R. (2005) Spatial Augmented Reality: Merging Real and Virtual Worlds. Wellesley, MA: A K Peters, Ltd.
GIANNACHI, G. (2004) Virtual Theatres: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
MEYER, C. and MEYER, T. (2010) Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects: Essential and Advanced Techniques. 5th ed. Oxford: Focal Press.
throughthehypersurface 