Week 9 - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PRESENTATION

A presentation really well presented by the Oculus Project Group. A really complex topic to present, however a great discussion was brought up and followed through by the audience.

Pros:

- Great introduction speaking with a really clear voice
- Images relate well and headings are clear
- Very precise information about Intellectual Property as well as examples
- Relating to the audience and the other projects reflected the specific and precise information gathered
- Discussion brought a lot of interesting questions
- Minimal reading from notes, which shows they've understood the material
- Everyone is well spoken and very clear

Cons:
- Video may have had a voice-over, however it is still clear.

The overall presentation was really well presented with a great lengthy discussion at the end, having both the presenters and audience engaging intelligently on different problems relating to Intellectual Property.

Marker Project: Virtual Context Update

Project progression has been very slow with the virtual environment. This is due to slow progression of the overall project as well as lack of motivation. The use of rhino and grasshopper to create the environment is getting a bit tedious. I've consulted this problem with my team members and concluded to using Sketchup and Lumion to create the environment. 

Reason for the change:

• The environment did not need any parametric measures to manipulate
• The focus of the project is the Marker, which is grasshopper intensive 
• Roads and highways can be modeled up very accurately in Sketch-up quickly and efficiently, considering the change and the amount of time to complete the project
• Sketchup and Lumion go hand in hand, allowing quick modelling and rendering 

Week 8 - COMMUNICATION

Communication has evolved in the past few centuries. The advancement in technology has introduced many ways to communicate. In terms of this project, there are a number of mediums to enhance communication between each individual. This includes:

• Skype - Online conference calls 

A medium to mimic face to face conversations, integrating visual and verbal means through a computer. This is efficient to communicate informal messages.

• Email - Electronic mail 

Electronic mail can help communicate more detailed and structured information. 

• Facebook - Social Network

Communicating in a social virtual environment, sharing information informally 

• Face to Face 

A personal and more emotive means of expressing ideas and information 

This weeks presentation was presented by the Steering Wheel group. 

• The slides were clear with good use of graphics and illustrations. 

• The video illustration was creative and can be very informative, however the information was a bit repetitive after Peter already explained the Cheney Model.
• Informative about different factors that would affect communication.
• I would have liked to see the group relate to their project a bit more than what was presented 
• Team is missing leadership, which is also evident in the previous presentation as well. 

Communication, in terms of the Marker Project has been lacking lately. Although the group members know the general direction of the project, communication can be improved in many more ways. Examples include dedicating days to meet up and share information gathered and progression of set tasks. Collating documents and listing resources that the group can refer to in the future. This has been done on Google Docs, however the information seems like it is all over the place, which is shared on the group facebook page.

GROUP MEETING - 22 April

Today's group meeting consisted of gathering more inspiration and conducting research on our approach to the project. The pathway is still not clear with our approach, however many ideas are being shared.

The group presented a number of ideas to Nicole (tutor). One major concept raised is capturing the movements of athletes from the sports played at The Blacktown International Sports Park, which is an idea brought up by 'Alexander Lee, z3466382. Alex research can be found here:

http://code3100alexanderlee.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/pathfinding-stance-analysis.html

Issues brought up in the discussion by Nicole mainly focused around the fact that the marker needed to be a bit more conceptual and less straight forward. This is an example of positive conflict. The collaboration of ideas communicating between the group and Nicole helps develop and point out the flaws in the project, ultimately leading the group to a more conceptual end product.

Reference:

Lee, Alexander. 'Pathfinding Stance Analysis'. http://code3100alexanderlee.blogspot.com.au/. N.p., 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.

Week 7 - PLANNING PRESENTATION

A video was produced by one of the team members using a stop motion styled edit to create a sense of originality and hard work, which caught my attention. The information they shared verbally was enhanced by the video, visually stimulating and engaging the audience and myself into reading and absorbing the information.

The presentation about Planning, addressed by the Virtual Museum group outlined how to plan very clearly. Major points outlined include:

• Preparing for every situation
• Case study of how planning helped themselves individually and as a group
• Ensuring efficiency and being able to execute 
• Enhancing productivity with thorough planning

Planning plays a critical role in executing a project on time. This not only relates to collaboration projects but also plays a major role in everyday life as an individual. Planning consists of having goals to reach and to possibly go beyond what is expected. Considering the residential distances of each student in the class, planning and collaboration must be a priority for the majority of the groups involved in this subject.

In terms of The Marker Project, planning has been a very poorly executed aspect of our approach to the project. The team does not have a team leader and runs in a non-hierarchical manner where team members are allocated tasks. Experience from previous group projects somewhat gave a sense of knowing each others strengths and capabilities. Alex and Annisa are allocated the modelling process of the markers, Maurishka has been assigned to create the draft for the presentation and document some research, Chris is allocated the interactivity and I have been allocated to create and prepare the virtual terrain for the markers..

Marker Project: Virtual Site Focus

As a group, we've decided to focus on the development of areas in the virtual environment which will be of greater value. This means that we will only be developing the M7, M7 exits and the route to the Blacktown International Sports park in higher quality compared to the roads which don't relate to our network of markers.

This image is the starting stages of elevating the main roads and placing onto the terrain. The colours represent the three main highways.

Red : M7 (Main focus)
Blue: M4
Orange: Great Western Highway

The bottom part of the image illustrates the elevation of each highway. The next step is to integrate Wallgrove road, which is right next to the M7 and branches off to intersect into the Great Western Highway.

Marker Project: Creating the Virtual Context

As a group, we've decided not to stick with one marker, but plan to create multiple markers, which indicates and enhance the directional cues towards The Blacktown International Sports Park. Each member of the group has been assigned a particular task. The tasks assigned to each members are:

Chris Tee: Prototype
Alex/Annisa: Modelling
Maurishka: Design Concepts and creating the ''Conflict" powerpoint
Jeremy (myself): Topography

I've been assigned to create the virtual context of the site.

Alex has recommended to use a grasshopper plug-in named "Elk". Elk uses two topographic and map platforms from OpenStreetMap.com. The website contains maps with road presets, distinguishing highways from major and minor roads. Elk uses this information to plot points onto grasshopper, keeping with its respective elements of highways, highway exits, major roads and minor roads.

 Plotting of Map using Elk

Elk Coding

 Elk Terrain Map

Elk Terrain Map Coding