Mar 14
SECOND SKIN VIOLET | COLLABORATIVE UNIT
24/01/22–28/01/22 | week 11
BRIEF: Design a way for people to embody and enact the outer appearance of a digital avatar.
Group Members: Boxun, Yixi, Jacob, Ranga
As designers and storytellers, we often place our spirit and expectations on a subject. Violet, a fictional superhero, is expected to give voice to countless individuals. People constantly define her and even cling to her, she can deceive and pretend because she is an ideology that does not exist. At the beginning, we were a little confused about what form violet should take, and how she could be identified and embodied by different people. We initially wanted to people feel her power through digital ways.
We started by talking about the virtual anchors that have become very popular in recent years. They interact with people through the avatar created by designers. So we aslo want to personify the violet as an avatar to bring power to people. We tried three different approaches to designing the Violet.
3D scanning
At first, I used the app named Capture to scan different peopleto get their body through 3D scanning.Our inspiration came from John’s feedback. He mentioned that in security check, a person passing through the security gate can be clearly caught, but when two people are physically touching, it will be difficult to identify them. So Boxun then tried to fuse 3D scanning images of different people into one body image. But when we reflect on the design purpose, we find that this is not a logical idea.
After trying 3D scanning, we tried to put the image of violet on the mask. I drew an illustration of the face of a violet, and after importing Spark AR, people could see the effect of the mask on their face in real time in front of the camera. But it’s hard to experience the power of violets.
So we rethought the characters, and tried to make the characters three-dimensional holographic projection vivid. We planned a holographic projection of the violet’s body parts. Boxun and I made a small model and tested it with a 3D scan of the character. To test whether the 3D model we scanned could achieve the projection effect, we made a video of the model rotating in four different directions.
After the group discussion, we decided to use a real-time holographic projection to show the violet. In consideration of the final display, we decided to use four iPad live video calls instead of the four models in the previous video. To accommodate the size of the iPad screen, Boxun and I built a new, larger holographic projection screen. Ranga and Jacob made masks for the live projection performers. Our final design inspiration comes from the Hindu goddess Kali, who is the embodiment of power and freedom in Hindu mythology.
Reflection
Our work constructs a digital virtual space through real-time holographic projection, where performers interact in real time in front of the camera. We allow the audience to watch the performance in a digital virtual space, rather than the actual performers, and the camera is the medium of false spectacle in this project. The space seen by human eyes may be a false image, and it can even be said that the image is instructive and deceptive. I hope to arouse people’s thinking through digital expression. These digital expression is a virtual existence constructed by us, so people’s reflection may not be real, it is likely to be the product of utilitarian spectacle society.
Reference:
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Kali — Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali> [Accessed 13 March 2022].
