Explanation of the Prototype
Since the Gundam customiser (creatively named
Custom Gundamiser!) is designed as a downloadable, external application, an interactive website prototype did not seem so appropriate. The following are screenshots that illustrate the steps a user would take in order to customise a Gundam using the
Custom Gundamiser application, focussing mainly on the generative aspects.
There are four main areas in which a Gundam model kit can be customised. Thes…
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Added by Mandy on November 4, 2008 at 4:30pm —
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this is a random post.
i was just working on assignment 3. you know how i was thinking that having already made a 3D gundam model in Maya last year would make things easier for me? Don't get me wrong, it certainly does. I think this task might have been quite impossible without it...
BUT i was making some renders - by that i mean LOTS - for my screenshots, and it actually really made me appreciate how much easier it would be to have a generative system do it for you! i have to sit here manuall…
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Added by Mandy on November 3, 2008 at 9:30pm —
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so, i've pretty mcuh decided that i'm going to make a non-functioning prototype, so some fancy screenshots of my Lego-Digital-Designer-esque Gundam customiser. I have never been more glad that chose the same subject matter for my 3D modelling assignment last year!
the way i am going to do this is reuse the Maya model i made last year, take screenshots of me tweaking some of the edit points, and changing colours and textures, etc. and photoshop them to look like screens of my application. If i h…
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Added by Mandy on October 20, 2008 at 10:39pm —
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well, i thought about it. and at first i wasn't sure how emergence might work with my gundam application, and i'm still nor quite sure... but anyways, here's my example!
so i consulted the almighty research tool google, and typed in "emergence design examples" and this came up:
http://emergence.design.ucla.edu/
It is basically a software system - a CG environment - called (funnily enough)
Emergence.
It offers a whole virtual environment,…
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Added by Mandy on October 20, 2008 at 10:25pm —
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some catchup:
this was last week's tute on Evolutionary Context Free.
I tried using my own Context template, but i don't think there were quite enough varying parameters to make anything interesting. they still looked pretty much the same after a few tries.
So i just used the demo.
the circled ones are the ones i chose as "parents" of the next generation.
I started with this....
…
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Added by Mandy on October 20, 2008 at 10:07pm —
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Wow, these three hour presentation sessions are a real killer. it was hot, it was dark, and by about 5.15pm i was too deliriously tired to worry too much about presentation. Which was really baaad cos mine really needed to rely a lot on explaining :( ah well, read about it in my report!
but now that i'm home, i've showered and had food, i'm all good ^^.
so, i'm not really having a go at it or anything, but the assignment details were a tiny bit vague. see, the "design a mass customisation tool…
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Added by Mandy on September 22, 2008 at 10:35pm —
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Concept Recap
The idea is basically the mass customization of Gundam plastic kits. Gundam models come in a range of grades (complexity levels) and scales, and these affect construction and therefore the level of potential for customization.
Rather than having to machine your own parts – the current method of Gundam customization – a Lego-style mass customization tool can be adapted to the virtual designing of Gundam components and accessories, and have Bandai (the manufacturer) package…
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Added by Mandy on September 22, 2008 at 12:00am —
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Wow.. that step-by-step guide to Context-Free-ing was very useful. I was wondering how i couldn't get stuff to do anything interesting.. it was cos i didn't know you had to have it call itself - was it in that one tute i missed? cos i never knew that! - but anyways, it makes much more sense now.
so while i'm waiting for my video to make itself, i shall be telling you about how the design came to be. So, i would like to have done something a little more interesting, but i'm racing the dying effe…
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Added by Mandy on September 9, 2008 at 12:04am —
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Before i start, i just had a thought. Apparently we can use either Processing or Context Free for this exercise... so if i chose Processing... it's possible to load and display images into Processing.... that way... I know it defeats the purpose and all, but hypothetically, i just do it all in Illustrator! :D
Anyways, it was tough deciding between Context and Processing... I tried working with Processing, but then I gave up cos it was too much effort drawing everything up individually...…
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Added by Mandy on September 1, 2008 at 11:30pm —
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I have looked at several approaches of customisation in the hobby products area:
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Purely functional items – rechargeable batteries
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Novelty items – Mighty Muggs
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Hobbies – Radio control cars, and Gundam plastic model kits
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[Serious?] Toys – Lego Factory
What I Found
Batteries
When it comes to purely functional items such as rechargeable batteries, options include the type of cell used, the type of plug, the capacity, the voltage and the cell config…
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Added by Mandy on August 24, 2008 at 10:30pm —
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Well, I was reviewing the assignment details, and found that we're supposed to be trying to think about customisation more in terms of people being able to
design stuff, rather than just fiddling around with various options. That proves a little more challenging....
So I started thinking about the type of stuff I might want to design-my-own. And of course, I would love to be able to customise
my Gundam mod…
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Added by Mandy on August 22, 2008 at 10:45pm —
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The Brief
Apparently I am a rug designer and I need to come up with fractal designs for some rug manufacturer.
The Process
Well, I started out by stealing the "
Distorted Checkerboard Rug" template.
Firstly I undistorted it i.e. I removed the rotation. Then I removed the outline of the outlined squares so that I don't need to include that file.
I then made a separate…
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Added by Mandy on August 18, 2008 at 11:02pm —
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Is anyone surprised by my thinking along this line again? :P
Anyways, I found this site:
http://www.customrccars.com/ and surprisingly enough, they do custom radio control cars.
Now, the site is not particularly good in itself. It was right on the home page, but it still took me a while to find the actual place to customise your RC car. Once I did however, I found that it was not quite as I had expected.
…
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Added by Mandy on August 16, 2008 at 11:01pm —
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It's not exactly mass-customisation. Actually, it's not really mass-customisation at all.... but it's so awesome that I *must* make you see some sort of relevance! We should all "think outside the square" a little, right? ;)
So, if you don't know what they are, please visit this link to the Hasbro site
http://www.hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=browse&brand=880&pg=2.
They really are an awesome idea. So simpl…
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Added by Mandy on August 16, 2008 at 10:34pm —
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Well, I think I'm going to think along the 'hobby' line no matter what I try to do (not that I particularly endorse Lego as a hobby, but anyways...) so here's what I did and how I came about doing it.
The Thought
I remember being told in Year 12, when thinking up Major Project ideas, that there's a program that allows you to design your own Lego. So I went to the Lego site
http://www.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx, and followed the…
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Added by Mandy on August 14, 2008 at 10:35pm —
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Uh... I was off, sick, for this tutorial so from what I can gather, the tutorial exercise was to pick something from the Context Free gallery and fiddle with it. Please correct me if I'm wrong :P
So
here is the original. 'Blue Dragon' by blade.
And here's my version.
…
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Added by Mandy on August 14, 2008 at 9:30pm —
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New entry because people don't like reading stuff that is too long :P
While on the Configurator Database site, I came across a site that made custom rechargeable batteries. The site was in German, so I didn't try to go too far with it in case I ended up having to buy it! But I came across pretty much the same service a couple of years ago when I went to a toy fair.
I don't remember whether they did online orders, but they (forgot their name! I'll get back to you if I can dig up the flyer...) w…
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Added by Mandy on August 4, 2008 at 10:09pm —
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Well the object of today's tutorial was to play around with existing product configurators i.e. look at sites that offer this, fiddle with the various options and not end up buying the product (i.e. being very typically "customer" :P).
There were so many of them to choose from, but the ones I played with were not particularly good.
The first was a custom bag design site
http://www.1154lill.com/home/ .
The system was fairly straightforward to use. Yo…
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Added by Mandy on August 4, 2008 at 9:56pm —
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