Building Process...

When I finally got building I realized that it was difficult, if not, impossible to script a building that could respond to senses. There were some things that I wanted the building to do, but wasn't able to create or find a script for. So I decided to use scripts that would do something very similar to what I what I wanted to happen.

I opted for a building that responded to demands. A lot of the scripting was made possible through  scratch for second life which I found really difficult to use last semester. Amazing how much difference it makes when you actually read the tutorial!

Anyway. The idea is still based on the four main things needed to sustain a plant. Sunlight, water, soil, and temperature. I mentioned in another post that humans and plants are very similar, so these four things actually become important for sustenance in the life of a human being. I decided to script the building to respond to our command for light, wind and water.

Here I was thinking about how the coloured circles would be arranged on the structure. There wasn't any particular reason as to why I used black for the walls. I just really liked how it made the colours stand out a lot more.

Tuesday 16/08/11.

After arranging the circular coloured glass, I played around with the effects to make them glow more. Just to give some sort of idea of how it might look if light was shinning through them, or how they would look at night.

Seeing the lights from the outside or the inside of the building wasn't the idea I was going for. So I decided to place them within a thicker green wall. There is a problem though. I want the walls of the building to bloom open like a plant when I command for wind. But if I do this, the walls with the lights on it will be in the way.

I wanted the roof of the building to open up when I command for wind. I tried scripting a single roof and I didn't like how the single roof moved. I thought it would be more interesting to have a checkered rooftop so that every single prim in the roof can move when the building opens up.

*I wanted the red prims to move and rotate in a different direction to the prims in green. I only chose red so I wouldn't get myself confused when applying the script to each and every prim.
At first I tried applying the script to one prim, and then just copying those prims. PROBLEM. When I did this, some of the prims moved another prim. I'm not sure why or how it did that. But the only solution I discovered was to copy and paste each prim (but make sure there was no script to it before you copy and paste) and then go through each individual prim and apply the script :( HARD JOB that was.

So here's what the roof top, and each individual prim did when I commanded for 'wind'.

At this point, I discovered that it was actually possible to apply more than one script to a single prim! That was such a relief! Now I was able to move the black walls with the lights away, while the green walls opened a little bit when I commanded for wind. When I command for light also, the green walls would move away for a short period of time, and then resume to its original position.

When an avatar commands 'wind', the roof top and the walls of the building open up a little bit. Not entirely. As I wasn't able to create or find a script that could pitch the walls at a 45 degree outward, then return to its original position. I know this might have an effect on the main idea. But...

6:41PM...

Out with the red and in with the green :)

The whole of last week I was struggling to find a way in which I could get the room to respond to something related to soil. Today, I decided that since soil acts as a SUPPORT for plants, I could do something related to the idea of SUPPORT. I thought about having the building floored by transparent glass, and suspended between two buildings. The idea is that when you walk over the floor, it would look so transparent that you'll feel as though you'll fall through because there's no solid SUPPORT. It's not until you keep walking however, that you realize that there is a floor to support the avatar and the building at that height. To show this, I wanted the floor to glow when an avatar steps on it.

I managed to find a script. The only problem was, the script had its own default settings. It would only allow me to change a red floor. So every step an avatar took, the red area the avatar stepped would turn yellow. I actually wanted the floor to have a transparent texture, that turned to a brown colour when the avatar stepped on it. I couldn't change these colours - or at least I didn't know how :(

Another problem was something to do with the site itself. If I wanted to show the structure suspended on top of a glass/transparent floor between two buildings, I would either have to move the entire building (which I found difficult because I would then have to select every single prim) OR, change the existing building underneath my structure.

Others decided to add a little humor by trying to slice me with their sword while I was building. Even trying to run me over with their flash vehicles! I really liked the space ship though. 

Another struggle I came across was finding a way in which the building would respond to water. Today I thought that I could make it sort of metaphoric. Like the soil idea. The floor was transparent to look as though there was nothing supporting the avatar or the building at such a great height, and then the floor glowing as the avatar took a step to show that there was in fact some solid support. 

Plants need water for growth. Without it, growth will stop and the plants will eventually die. I decided to take this idea and represent it in the walls of the structure. When an avatar commands 'water' the walls of the building will grow. It didn't exactly grow the way I thought they would...but they grew! (???)

PROBLEM: I wanted to use the square as a starting point for my building. I orignially wanted the form of the building to change - for it to morph. But I haven't been able to do that. At the moment, even though its reactive, it looks and feels as though I'm in a green cage - like a plant trapped in a green house. Also, the space feels so tight that it would only be suitable for one person. I may need to make it a little bit bigger so that groups of people can experience the building's reactions too.

Judy has just given me an idea. I have reactive architecture, but I don't have the 'architecture' - which is always the problem with me :( The building/structure should give you a reason to actually move through the space. Currently the structure just looks like a green box on top of another building. I need try and find a way to relate it to the existing building. She mentioned "wrapping around the existing building" which I thought was really interesting. The idea of having a "hallway" wrapping around the existing building really got my attention. As soon as I pictured hallway, I thought about darkness, and tight space, which was an idea I addressed in my last project too.

When walking through a dark hallway, there would actually be a need for light and so an avatar will actually command for light. If the architecture makes an avatar need something, or want to discover something, I won't have to create a prim that would hover a floating text explaining how this structure should be used. The structure itself should be able to tell the avatar how it should be used, and where you should go through it, instead of the avatar having to try and figure out what their purpose is within that space.