Initial tutor feedback indicated a need to improve continuity of argument as there appeared to be chasms which might not be obvious to me as the writer but that leave the reader wondering how the content got from one place in the text to another. I have, I hope, addressed this by taking the manuscript apart, removing irrelevancies, reorganising the Abstract and Conclusion, and ensuring the top and tail are relevant to each other.
Project 10 will inevitably build on this as the subject matter of the Dissertation is directly related to the work I am doing now and will likely expand upon in 3.3 and beyond.
I was asked to consider the limitations of the technologies I am currently using and how I propose to move forward with this. After some thought, it seems to me that some of the limitations are due to my own tendency to use functions I already know and like rather than push each one to its limits. I suspect I have been sidelining this in the interests of cracking on with the required project work but perhaps Project 10 will give me that opportunity. There remain some limitations within the apps that restrict my ability to grow the digital dimension. For instance; Artsteps (VR gallery), while permitting aspect re-sizing in static images, will only present videos in landscape. Second Life requires all images to be resized as a 1:1 image, maximum 1024×1024 before uploading for a small in-world fee. MotionLeap and some of the other mobile apps lose applied functionality when imported into desktop apps, although I can and do import videos to PowerDirector for further work. Most of the display platforms have file size limitations. Artivive has a target image limit of 3MB but thereafter permits video layers of up to 100MB and will accept additional audio layers. Its downside is that it is aimed at making AR visible to users for short periods on the grounds that most people will only hold a phone vertically for 45 seconds maximum. This means I have purposely made very short videos for this application and capitalised on its looping facility. It is also evident that native animation videos made in, for instance, MotionLeap, map directly onto the target image with no black borders, while videos made in PowerDirector have a black surround. This may be an issue I could correct but have not found it possible to date.
A further divide falls, for me, at mobile v desktop apps, the first being a small-screen + stylus awkwardness of visibility and dexterity while the second can be expanded to fill my large desktop screen where it’s much easier to see and can be worked using my graphics pad and pen. Also, it’s much easier to keep cats off my desktop equipment! The crunch is that there are more of the former than the latter.
Moving forward with this has included asking artivive to look into ways of reducing the app’s reliance on high light levels but this is somewhat nit-picky as it is, in my view, the best AR platform for the viewer. Many of the others, while perhaps permitting larger file sizes, have an intermediary such as a QR code or a website between the viewer and the AR whereas Artivive’s AR activation is immediate.
AR activation can be flighty. It undoubtedly works best in a stable environment with good connectivity to an internet source. In these settings, you have the best chance of viewing the AR mapped neatly onto the target image and remaining stable there. But there is an increasing drive to take the application out of galleries and onto the streets. For instance, this undated installation in Toronto, Canada, and I have done this too, putting artwork onto public buildings in my locality and sometimes using greenscreen to give the appearance of the AR working around doors and windows (e.g. Frog Fall 2024).
Unfortunately, there is little or no mobile signal in the village or the local town, something about which I have contacted our MP citing not art but emergency services. I am pleased to say he responded remarkably quickly and comprehensively to the 90 second video I’d made although we are as yet no further forward.
While this is a painting from an earlier level 3 unit, the applied text is in response to a discussion about text in art and the validation within this course of video material. I am increasingly bringing text into my work, presently in the form of creatively written labels, but with ideas about making it more of an integral feature.
After beginning to work on local broad landscapes, taking the photographic source as their base and then imagineering the end results, in this unit I have focused on the immediate landscape of my garden. This was a deliberate act designed to change both aspect (landscape to portrait) and palette (reds and blues to greens, blues, and yellows) and allow me to build on those new skills.
‘Tempus Fugit’ is illustrative of an annual community project which is to decorate our lane throughout Advent with lights and images. It is password protected for now (the password will be emailed to my OCA tutor) and made fully public on November 30th.
The post demonstrates the complexity of creating a base that will work both for an AR animation and also a physical card that people can have in their homes. It has to be child-friendly and attractive to all ages.
My objectives at this stage were to further develop my painting skills, something I feel I have done, thereby giving me a firm platform from which to move onto my final unit. As ever, I don’t know where that will take me but I can be relatively certain that there will be more use of digital layers, text, and narrative overlaying physical paintings that are capable of holding their own in environments lacking mobile or wifi network signals.
At the moment, I am thinking about making videos using greenscreen to ‘project’ images onto local buildings. These will not be available in situ as AR due to limited connectivity but will be available via my YouTube channel and also as AR using the trigger photograph. This last option will make available the range of 3D and animation layers provided by Artivive.
SCH 2024
Conboyhill Arts - art from stART to finish 