Week 13 - Final Presentation

Judgement day had arrived! Each group had 20 minutes to present their work with some brief feedback directly after. Russell had set up a peer review system so that each group will give feedback to each group also.

Oculus: 

PDF: https://www.dropbox.com/s/r269lwpdd8mwoxn/Oculus%20(1).pdf?dl=0

Driving Simulation:
From day 1 I thought that this would have been a very challenging assignment to take on, and I was right! They managed to get the simulation up and running using a real steering wheel, the only part of the brief which wasn't met was the truck. The making of the steering wheel, the programming required to have it all functioning was very impressive. The start of their presentation was a bit slow and the Arduino Processor is still a mystery to me, but I never understood programming strongly.

Aerial Rope Way:
I found that Eric and Dominique both spoke very passionately about their project. I got the feeling that their meeting with the founders really enriched their view on Katoomba and helped understand the clients need. All of their work was well documented and I thought the website was an excellent touch. The video walk through's were surprisingly clear and visually nice and crisp!

Blacktown Marker Project:
I felt that this group had the best understanding of their brief and had undergone researching the surrounding area of the motorways and Blacktown very well. When they were presenting their work and unveiled the markers they created my first thoughts were that this would actually be very interesting the be driving beside and under. I thought the interactivity was a lovely touch, regardless of the legalities although the different types of interactivity were a bit much.
Virtual Museum:
I was unaware that the Virtual Museum group had their brief changed until they presented. Considering they only have a few weeks to put everything together i thought they handled the situation very well. The interactivity with the Ipad's was a great idea, the software was really responsive.


Oculus Presentation Roles:
Daniel - Introduction, briefly talk about brief
Dara - 3Ds Max Modelling, Texturing for UE4
Andrew - UE4 & demonstration
Matthew - Gantt chart, project limitations
Shanny: Scribe for feedback

After we finished our presentation the majority of the feedback we received was all UE4 based, mostly regarding blueprints and procedures which Andrew had answered well as he was our teams UE4 master.

Feedback:
As part of the presentation we required participants to test the Oculus Rift, immersing themselves in our environment that we have collaborated and worked on as a group.
The aim of the project was to outline and show users how dangerous using one of the construction vehicles can be on a Hong Kong construction site.
In the end, participants all agreed that they did not feel safe while being immersed into the environment because there were a lot of dangers that they have missed purely because it was impossible to see them. This included:

• Simple factors like the reflection of the glass that they are looking through, it ultimately affected their vision 
• Blind spots/dangerous objects (and people) that can not be seen at all whilst in the cabin of the vehicles

From Russell, he found it engaging when the dangers of the construction site were outlined, emphasising on the fact that the visibility whilst in those vehicles were quite difficult (correctly presenting the initial project problem).

Criticisms (from Russell):

• He found an inconsistency in scale jumping between the vehicles. Russell said that the truck was particularly off and different from the crane & excavator.
• The orientation appeared incorrect

Improvements/developments:

• If we could make it more user friendly in terms of not having to be told where to look once the Oculus is put on
• An idea - to have the dangers outlined in UE4 via glowing material, e.g. glowing people or glowing dangerous steel beams.

Oculus Group Wiki:
Our group has complied a separate page which documents all our work, modelling, useful links, processes and the like. The information in the link below demonstrates the use of Unreal Engine 4 and 3DS Max for the purpose of replicating our work should our client require to do so.

Link : http://code3100-oculusproject.blogspot.com.au/

Week 12 - Mercedez Benz

Guest Speaker - Jerry Stamoulis (Pacific Asian Marketing Manager)

Jerry also gave a presentation on Mobility, he took us on a trip into the future. Showing us what Mercedez Benz thought society will be like and what we have to look forward too. Mercedez is and has been one of the leaders in Automotive design and have a almost limitlessly funded Research and Development team.

He introduced us to a self supported car, it charges its own battery and can drive without a human behind the wheel. What I found most interesting about this lecture was that in the future Mercedez was focusing on the 'Drive experience' going from A to B. What I found noticeable was that the car interior that we all know and see daily is expected to change. The interior of a car becomes a habitable room, very similar to a living room. I found this related back to several other guest speakers during the semester who also mentioned similar ideas regarding Architecture and how it'll change in the future from what we know Architecture to be today.

Oculus Group Meeting:
With only 1 week to go before our Final Presentation we decided to meet to go over any issues we we're having and to try plan the last stretch of what remained. Dara and Shanny's model were almost near complete, they wanted to try fine tune the texturing process from 3DS to UE4 as we were having some trouble with the exportation. Andrew with well under way in setting up the Environment in UE4 and Mathew and myself were near completing the Truck model.

In this video I model the steering wheel, pedals, bring all geometry's together for the first time in their correct position in the cabin, search for Vray textures and apply them.

Week 11 - Remuneration

Key notes taken from Presentation:

- Not all group members presented, (which was fine) it was still a very compelling and well spoken presentation.
- Great introduction taken from a movie scene pretty much summarising their whole presentation I thought, might have had a stronger impact at the end. However, it engaged the audience and I was hooked.
- Made their presentation very personable with the use of what we (Arch Comp / Comp Design) should be expecting from potential employers in all regards. 
- Observation : there was a bit less group discussion after this weeks presentation. I thought that was brought up by everyone being deep in thought regarding employment, salaries and the like. 

Week 10 - Conflict Presentation

Key notes taken from Presentation:

- Role playing to show a conflict to start of presentation caught everyone in the rooms attention.
- Break down of sources of conflict and peoples characteristics was great! They personalised stereotypes and it really helped them convey their ideas.
- It was very clear and well spoken
- Group discussion after presentation was strong as most groups were suffering from either mild or sever conflict within their own groups.
- Method of resolution were explained

Modelling Progression:

In this video I continue t model the buttons, compartments & recesses in the dashboard

Week 9 - Intellectual Property

From the day we chose to do Intellectual Property we began to realise that it was a topic that will be difficult to keep the audience engaged and interested. Russell and Nicole have both mentioned the importance of clarity, relevance and relate-able. All our members agreed upon a few changes (for the better) and the presentation was a hit with the students as well as Russell & Nicole.

Useful links for our Presentation
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ctev1d8y8q703ub/pres1.pdf?dl=0

Draft Presentation
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11LyT1PlWX8-IV_329BCmwtjmN2QUjotWcu9ML7YWFdQ/edit#slide=id.p

Group Wiki - Intellectual Property
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LSB0ma7teWOP16RU0_Nw3nAq5gjnpJ0uj59LtUN5xvk/edit

Week 8 - Lecture & Individual Milestone

Rob from Cox Architects presented his ideas on the way he thought designers should think and the future of design. He began by showing us several projects he had worked on as well as his currectly work with the use of G.I.S. (Geographic Information System) 

"What language do you speak?"

A strong statement that Rob constantly refered back to. As diverse as any spoken language can be, a designers language can easy be portrayed in the same light. The diversity of a designers language often refers to how they present a design with the tools they have on hand, whether it be the manipulation of a sketch or the lines and surfaces created in a modelling software.

A designer should always be thinking on on two levels, direct and indirect, to fully convey our message to the world. Rob believes that only then will the "Errors per cubic meter" in Architecture reduce. He also explained how the sharing of information, ideas and models will benefit the Architectural community in the future and better design, art & architecture.

"Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan"

http://www.coxarchitecture.com.au/

Image 1 : Grail 1968 Demo Flowgraph

Major Milestone : 

Truck Interior Modelling Progression

3DS Max Modelling progression of the Interior of a Volvo FMX Truck. (Part 3)
In this video I begin to model the dashboard along with the airconditioning outlet, buttons and compartments.

My role in the Oculus group is to model part of the Track Cabin along side Mathew. It's been a bit tricky as we've had to share the model frequently to see how certain components of the model tie in with one another but over all its been manageable.

For our Presentation on Intellectual Property I'll be focusing on a brief introduction with my main focus being on :
     - What is Intellectual Property?
     - Summarising : Design, Trademark, Copyright, Patent, Plan Breeder's Right        & Others
     - And how to take ownership of I.P

Week 7 - Lecture, Research & Modelling

Andrew Butler from Cox Architects gave a lecture on 'Mobility'.

http://www.coxarchitecture.com.au/

The main philosophy I gathered from Andrew presentation was to always apply yourself and to continually push yourself. He's explanation of how the Architectural world is today and how it would be in the future was depicted as something forever evolving for the better. He also explained the importance of knowing several programs and never to get tied down to just a handful.

Image 1 : 

Oculus Progression : 
Week 7 was a good week for the group we had all progressed in our models or had help each other solve issues we were having in the process of modelling. We have fine tuned our 'Original' Gantt Chart to a more realistic timeline which everyone has agreed too.