Promotional Video Blog

I have been working on some ideas for my YouTube promotional video. I started by brainstorming out ideas, see below:

I then created mood boards, see below:

I took my idea and tried to develop it into a storyboard, see below:

I then wrote an audio script for the narration, see below:

You Tube Video Audio Script

60 years ago,

1941,

The German Luftwaffe launched the sustained strategic bombing of the United Kingdom known as the Blitz.

A northeast coastal town suffered more than most

With over 80,000 buildings damaged or destroyed Hull lost parts of its heritage

Lost but never forgotten

In 2011 we will remember

(We’ll meet again Vera Lyn music)

Royal Institute Building

I have been working on the royal institute building and I have sourced some good reference material for this building, see below:

I have found photos and postcards, one of which gives me an indication towards the colour of the building, it looks like the stonework is white or a very similar light colour and I have based the colouring of my recreation on this postcard. From the postcard you do not get a clear indication of the colour of the doors and window frames so I have chosen a colour that is similar the colour of the doors and windows at the Ferens Art Gallery, I chose that building as a reference point as it has similar architectural features to the royal institute.

This is my 3d recreation of the Hull Royal Institute, see below:

Cecil Restart

I have now restarted the Cecil theatre and I hope it goes better this time.

No Compass

After extensive searching, there seems to be no way of accessing the device’s compass through action script. This is a major blow for my application, as it is an integral part of the way users can accurately line up the 3d recreations with the specific locations. There does not seem to be a solution that will provide users with the same accurate information but there are alternatives that will minimise the problem that this has caused.

You can access the Android device’s compass when developing for Android directly, and the iPhone also allows this but unfortunately developing for Android using Adobe Air does not allow the functionality that I had planned for and needed to make my application as intended.

If the technology is not available on the platform that I have chosen then there is very little I can do, but I will strive to provide the user with the best possible experience available within the realms of the technology. As this is a relatively new platform I could not have foreseen this problem, especially as it seems possible to access all of the devices other functionality but I will not let this phase me, all I can do is provide the best product I can and I will strive to do this.

Prudential Building

I have just finished the Prudential Tower building and this has been the hardest building so far. The Prudential building is the most different looking of the 5 buildings that I have chosen to recreate, it has a very different architectural style and this has had its own challenge. The prudential building features an 8 sided tower which has caused me great difficulties from a modelling point of view. I have been using a method of creating lots of polygons and pushing and pulling them to create reassesses for doors and windows using the extrude tool, but for some reason I was not able to divide the tower into the sections I needed in the same way as you can on a square object. This puzzled me for days until I came across the tessellate function which then allowed me to split smaller areas into more polygons, giving me the flexibility that I needed.

The archways where a challenge that I have not encountered before but with a little bit of guidance from James Field regarding the booleon function in 3ds max I’m happy with the end result. I also struggled with the texture of this building as when viewing the source material (see below), it was very hard to determine what the building actually looked like, so I have made my decisions based upon similar buildings in the vicinity of the prudential building’s original location, this could be changed if any evidence comes to light to point me in a different direction. Please see the finished building below.

Future Possibilities

The possible futures for this technology are incredibly exiting, imagine been guided to a location and seeing a 3d building, displayed in 3d when 3d phones become available, or been able to not only see recreations of the outsides of buildings but you could also have a virtual tour of the inside as well.

Geolocation apps are very popular at the moment and I could use the code from my app to create similar apps, i.e. in hull we have a local heritage guided walk along the fish trail, this could be improved with geolocated info available on your phone as you’re guided along the trail, or for a while the city displayed a trail of model frogs on its streets to mark the 25th anniversary of Philip Larkin’s death, they have now been removed but users could be guided to see 3d recreations of the frogs with the relevant accompanying information.

Instead of destroyed buildings, this technology could be used by councils or companies to show future buildings or planned developments. Apps like this could guide you to public buildings, toilets, specific businesses etc. the list could go on and on.

Geolocation and A.R apps can help and inform people in a ways that have never been seen before; they can guide people, provide information at the relevant location and offer visual references.

Hammonds

I have received numerous compliments about this model and being asked to display it at the Platform Expo was a great confidence boost, I am extremely happy with the Hammonds model and I hope that my other buildings are of the same quality, please see finished building below: