Reflections: Final

We've finally come to the end of our final project for VIST 405. It's been a long six weeks with an incalculable number of problems, but I'd have to say that I'm happy with what we turned out with in the end. Before I speak any more about the project, watch our documentation video. I think it explains a lot about what our project was and what it turned out to be. It's better than typing it all again.



So there you have it. A good summary of what our project was. Here is the entire 8 minute video clip of what we projected on each wall of the cube, in case you're interested. The video is at a strange resolution because it is four "screens" across.



Cool. I think it's better to let these images speak for themselves. I've previously explained my parts of the video, which are the intro and the interlude. I think that the whole video came together well in the end.

As I mentioned earlier, we had many problems with our project. The cube itself caused most of these. We were originally going for an 8ft cube. We successfully built and projected on this cube, as evident in the video shown here:



We liked the bigger cube, but unfortunately it was susceptible to the weather and various other conditions, including light. It was because of this that we decided to build a smaller cube, approximately 3.5ft, to show at the Viz Show. We had previously built a small cube of around 2ft in order to test projections while the large cube was still in progress. Experiencing the videos from inside this smaller cube was different from the large one, but still immersive. It's a more personal experience, as only one person at a time could be in the cube.

Displaying Reflections at the Viz Show was an interesting experience. A surprisingly large number of people showed up to view the installation, including many professors. Everyone seemed to enjoy the experience. Several people told me that watching the visuals from outside the cube was very engaging, even though that's not how the installation was meant to be experienced. Several people also seemed very emotionally affected by the piece, leaving the room with tears in their eyes. That, I think, means we were successful in our efforts.

An unfortunate mishap occurred while I was showing the piece, though. A girl ran into the cube, which was suspended from the ceiling with only fishing wire. The wire broke, and I had to shoddily patch it back up. The mapping was sort of off from then on, but I don't think anyone seemed to notice too much or care.

In the end, Reflections took a lot out of me. It was a lot more work than I thought it was going to be, mostly because of the complications we had with the cube. It took a lot of time and effort to set up the installation each time, which soon grew tiring. I think if I were to make it again, I'd make it a more permanent piece, building the cube with more solid materials and using higher quality screens. I was happy with the final result, though, in spite of all the problems. It was one of the only projects I've worked on that people seemed to really enjoy and connect with. For that reason, I'm glad I spent all the time I did on Reflections. It was a learning experience in many ways, and I'm glad we had something to show after all is said and done.