A4 Reflection

Reflection

With these last three studies using elements from earlier studies of the semester, I’ve found myself looking back at my creative process and seeing dramatic improvements in my ideas and inspiration. After having a fair time to use the program (MAX) its enabled me to know that there is almost a way to create anything I can think of, which has been super exciting to see as I have created things I would’ve never thought were possible at the start of the semester. My goal for the final studies of the semester was to create polished projects that have genuine entertainment and engage an audience. This was my goal because I felt as if all semester I was making things that weren’t so polished and didn’t have as much of a wow factor, as what they could. Luckily, with the development of my skills with the project I was able to take it up a notch and succeed in meet in my goal. The biggest motivator for me during this whole process of assignment 4 was finishing the semester off with a solid three studies that I can look back on and see the progress from study 1 to 8, which I can very much see now.

My design process is still relatively the same. From study 1 I always tried to make the patch look as simple as possible, as I thought that was the most engaging way to inform the user on what the studies were meant to do. I have definitely developed skills in this area by expanding my knowledge in the presentation mode, where I can make things look neat and be placed in positions of my choice. I has also used the inspector tool, which has been super helpful in making the presentation look even more appeal, adding colour, changing texts and ultimately making the study look more like an experience itself, rather than just a patch in a program. The inspector tool has been the most helpful with choosing what I want to appear when the patch was open. This was very useful in study 6 especially, as I knew this study would be shown at the studio exhibition, as so I needed to make it as forth coming as I could to help the user who was interacting with it. Ultimately, the inspector tool was used as a way to show my development in a way that I could make things look more professional.

Looking back at where I was earlier in the semester, I can say that my development with MAX has grown significantly. I was able to enhance my learning capabilities from simple effects and sounds, to full functioning games and exercises. What helped my development the most would probably be the in class exercises mixed with the tutorials on the MAX website. Both these combined offered so many new avenues of ideas and skills that I wasn’t aware of. I also found study 6 particularly useful as I got a chance to view the whole classes major project, looking into other peoples thoughts, skills and abilities with the program, allowing myself to learn off their studies and use theirs tool to add to my skill set and ultimately created bigger and better things. In study 8, I think I used my knowledge of the program and the wider community to the best of my ability, as I used bits and pieces from multiple tutorials to ultimately create my own patch. Having a greater knowledge of the program has meant that I have been able to expand my creative/ design process as I’m able to think of ore ideas to create and have a better understanding on how to do those things.

Overall, I still believe I have a lot to learn in Max with developing and taking my skills even further. What has helped the most in the past has been the actual experience I have with the program, so I know that the more time and effort I put into the program, the better ill become using it. I have outlined that I learn best whilst seeing someone else use the program, explaining why things happen and so without having actual classes I will resort to viewing more tutorials and using the reference and help tools to keep building what I’ve started.

Looking back at my last three studies, I believe I saw my biggest improvement. I was able to understand the program well enough to work on it by myself and solve my own problems, whilst using Camille to help me where I needed. If I had to take away anything from this program/course, it would be that trying new things takes extra hard work but once you get the hang of it, it all comes together nicely.

A4 study 8

Study 8

For my last study, I found it particularly hard coming up with an idea that would engage an audience for over 5 minutes. This is when I started to think outside the box, coming up with the idea to create something that places the user under the impression there is an end goal, when there isn’t, hopefully keeping them interested for a longer duration of time. I used the MAX website to find help tutorials and I came across a patch that was similar to the game cube runner. I decided to take this patch and turn it into my own study and put my own twists to it. I used presentation mode to set the study out as a game, that had tactile interaction with the track pad. I also used ‘Swatch’ tools allowing the user to colour the game however they would like, adding to the time they spent interacting with the game before playing it. These three swatches controlled the sky colour, mountain colour and building colour. By adding instructions, I hoped to make the presentation mode look simple, whilst being able to instruct the user on what to do. One thing I didn’t manage to figure out however was to make the pop up window appear in front of the patch, so that the user could see it. This means that to display the project I would have to open the patch and re size the windows to the computer screen to make the window and the patch work together on the screen. Over all, it was something that can be played by many users to their own tastes and can be engaging and aesthetically pleasing to look at.

expo blog

Expo

For my exhibition study, I wanted to create something that immediately drew the user in and made them engage with the study. I wanted to build on this engagement with certain emotions; I wanted to target the user being unaware and vulnerable to a surprise. The particular emotion I chose was to scare, or created fear for the user. I did this by creating multiple ‘ubuttons’ that acted as pop up windows of scary images that would appear on the screen if that area of the photo were clicked. Alongside these images, I linked certain ‘playlist’ audios that would play with them. This would create a visual surprise by the image on screen but also a physical surprise as an unexpected noise can make you jump. I finished it off with some simple instructions in the presentation mode that made the game seem harmless and look fun. The key element of this study was to twist the audience’s expectations , whilst using their vulnerability in my favour to create a bigger reaction. I used the inspector tool to change the colours of the text and the window to create a happy vibe, in the hope to catch them off guard with the scary images. To keep the surprise a secret I also used the inspector gadget to open the patch in presentation mode.

A4 Study 7

Study 7

I wanted to revisit my major project of last assignment and make it more prominent. Some feedback I received was to make the project ready to go by opening the patch, and so I used the inspector tool to make sure the patch opened in presentation mode and not edit mode. I also used the ‘load bang’ tool to trigger the camera and the audio to turn on whilst the patcher is being opened. This saves the user from having to turn on the functions in edit mode. As this was the main feedback In my previous assignment, I wanted to make sure this was the first thing I tackled in refining my study. I also took what I learnt in a class activity and added it into my refining, by using colour and text functions to create a more aesthetic looking project. Once again, these were located in the inspector tool, which has been super helpful in my development with this study and with the program altogether. Whilst refining my major project, I also wanted to work towards making it flow better for the user. I decided to create a new layout of text boxes and obstacles placings to ensure the user knows what to do next and helps them engage further with the piece. A main part of this last assignment was to also sustain the interaction with the user for over 5 minutes and so I used the playlist tool to add videos and sound to lengthen the interaction with the user, whilst adding a feature from my study 6 where I added a ‘guess which box’ game to lengthen the time of the users interaction.