Worklog

Overview

Dustin: 3d modeling, Testing, website developer, 3D printed models
Karli: 3d modeling, Testing, website developer
Katherine: 3d modeling, Visual design and materials, content creation
Sophia: 3d modeling, Visual design and materials, content creation
Austin: 3d modeling, AR/Blender/Unity researcher and 'expert'

Weekly log:

2/16

General Updates:

  • Each team member was assigned a specific island to work on, or improve, based on pre-designed metrics to standardize the models from Austin's previous testing.
  • The goal for each individual was to get comfortable with the modelling software of their selection, and come to class on Wednesday with a base model to be prepared to get crit and have a working session on parts that could be improved further, so next week the islands can be considered "complete."

Specific Updates/Blockers:

  • Elizabeth built the basic form for her island, using a lot of the initial shapes made by Austin, and got familar with navigation in the new software.
    • Blockers: Can't build the curved bridge - unsure how to make a curved object in Blender
  • Dustin built out his island - with trees from scratch to allow for his rope swing to hang correctly
    • Blockers: Struggled to get waterworks area, and tree matching other islands
  • Katherine built out her island in Fusion 360, incorporating feedback from an external person to make the space smaller so less kids can cram in, and not social distance.
  • Karli updated 2 pre-existing islands to improve the structure and make it more representative of the 2D models.
    • Blockers: Transitioning from blender to fusion caused some delays
  • Austin updated existing islands, smoothing out features and making more accurate representations of the initial renderings.

Upcoming:

  • We are still working out details on the best way for us to update each other and stay on track as we operate remotely, so future updates should be more systematic
  • Working session this Wednesday to work through blockers and help each other out as we all learn 3D modelling at different paces
  • MVP renderings seem to be ahead of schedule, so we might be able to fit more into this semester

2/23

  • Dustin, Katherine, and Karli updated and standardized their islands based on pre-determined systems that we discussed last week and brought up to the "MVP" standard we hoped to achieve.
  • Elizabeth, Sophia, Austin, (and Katherine too at first), had heavy technical issues with our modelling software's, between the systems either crashing PCs, uninstalling the software or other issues. We all hope to complete islands up to a level we are happy with by tomorrow, but currently we are behind schedule due to the technical issues.

3/2

  • Dustin, Sophia, Katherine, and Austin did refinement on key areas of islands including: slide shape, addition of protective handrails, adding interactive panels.
  • Karli took on Elizabeth’s island (due to her computer problems) and brought it up to a MVP level
  • Elizabeth started piecing together how we’ll be producing AR, Video, and/or physical model for the final deliverable in addition to establishing procedures for user testing.
  • Austin also started mocking our islands relative to a real playground’s size

3/10

  • Sophia:
    • Refined on the design of the entrance sign
    • Instead of elevating the wall, I added an protective top above the slide so kids can't climb over the wall
    • Extended the slide closer to the exist door
  • Elizabeth Built out a doc with details about how to transfer our products into AR/VR/3D printing, and any associated costs/materials needed to pursue these 3 versions.
  • Dustin added those chains I posted earlier and established with Karli our plan/questions for testing
  • Katherine and Sophia:
    • we work on the visual design elements for the playground. This week our goal is to create a mood board for the color/materials of the playground.
      • pick our theme color: Green tone for floor separated with primary color for play objects. (see detail color code on mood board)
      • Hexagon base: we pick three green tone colors for ground level base, elevated level base and the base/path between each island.
      • Hexagon base materials: Rubber floor (Fusion has Rubber as materials and can change color)
      • Textures on the transparent pixel glass: for decoration and safety purpose.
  • Austin:
    • I was able to play with different layouts, specifically the medium-to-larger sized one, and I thought this layout could work well in sectioning off different parts of the park space.
    • I also looked into unity, and while it's still pretty daunting, got a little bit of understanding of what it can do
    • I started to build out a sample terrain space (looks like a park in the middle of nowhere lol), but it helped me to practice building terrains, hills, and adding trees, grasses, and textures. The next thing I want to figure out is how to add textures to individual pieces of an island once either before or after theyre imported into unity.
    • next steps ->
      • get comfortable with navigating the scene view, it can be how we make our video
      • put together assets we can use to build the surrounding parts of our environment / playground
  • Karli:
    • Dustin and I fleshed out our testing plan Here
    • Made some nicer fixes to the Tarzan island (photos below)
    • Still working on the fixes to Elizabeth’s island

3/15

  • Dustin: Created presentation for Wednesday
  • Karli: Worked on the presentation and added all my .objs on the drive in the models folder
  • Elizabeth: Got specific details about VR providers (determining price points, and still looking into student discount), as well as confirming details with makerspace in Ryder (we can use the heat sensitive filament)
  • Sophia:
    • Tried adding color on the .obj files via Fusion but Fusion can only add color to the whole piece. The piece doesn’t show its color in Render as it did in design.
    • Also attempted to directly add color in Unity but my Unity couldn’t open up the .obj files
    • Next steps: download Blender and add texture via Blender

3/23

  • Austin worked on prepping the 3D models in video/AR form for user testing
  • Karli and Dustin worked with Austin to figure out logistics of getting said models in the hands of testers
  • Katherine and Sophia worked on finding/creating more textures. They have found all textures for 3 out of 8 islands.

3/30

  • Austin continued to improve upon our 3D models in AR to hopefully make testing easier
  • Karli did her first test with a user which we’ll be making adjustments from this week
  • Katherine and Sophia continued work designing/finding visuals for playgrounds
  • Dustin did the required training class to be able to use the 3D printers in the maker space and looked into USDZ format for AR on Apple devices

4/6

  • Katherine continued work on Treehouse island and added visuals
  • Sophia created a materials research document
  • Karli researched different ways to market our models
  • Austin looked into using Unity for recording a ‘video’ of our models
  • Dustin did user testing and will today start doing tests with 3D printing

4/13

  • Dustin worked on the structure for the website
  • Karli finished user testing and helped finalize the design of the website
  • Katherine helped finalized the design of the website
  • Sophia built 3D models for environmental pieces in our video/renderings
  • Austin built the scene for our 3D models to be placed in for our video.

4/20

  • Katherine: added a swirly slide to the Treehouse island and worked on copy for the website.
  • Karli worked on copy for the website and css/layout fixes on the site
  • Sophia worked on the poster
  • Austin worked on the video should be close to complete Wednesday
  • Dustin finished implementing the carousels on the website. Attempted to 3D print again but had trouble with the printers and a lack of availability. Will be trying again today.