Visual Styles in The Prisoner

In this post I’ll be looking at the visual style that’s used in the 1967 television series, The Prisoner. Artists and designers started incorporating curves into art, architecture and products. Technological and scientific advances in the early 20^th century allowed shapes to be used in products that wouldn’t have been possible in the past. Designers and architects experimented with new forms and produced unique products and architecture such as Eames’ iconic chair.

Although a cliché, Eames’ chair is one of the most iconic and recognised designs ever and when talking about 20^th century modernist products, this Eames’ chair will always be at the top of the list.

In 1963 a Finnish furniture design named Eero Aarnio designed an unconventional and remarkable chair named the ball chair. The chair features in The Prisoner and is used by “Number 2”.

This chair and other similar chairs have been used in recent movies and television programmes such as “Men In Black”, where the egg chair was used. These chairs convey importance to the viewer; therefore if a character is sitting in the chair viewers will generally consider the characters to be of importance.

Another product that appears in The Prisoner is the lava lamp; it resembles “Rover” the white ball which returns captives back to the town, it also is constant reminder of the advances of technology in the 20^th century. The lava lamp was an item every boy wanted in his bedroom in the mid-late 1960’s, and another iconic modernist item of the 20^th century.

USEFUL LINKS;

Links of recent films and TV programmes to the prison: http://m0vie.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/lost-for-words-do-we-really-need-an-explanation-for-lost/

Eero Aarnio Ball Chair: http://www.eero-aarnio.com/8/Objects/Ball_Chair.htm

Article on Contemporary Modern Design: http://interiordesign.lovetoknow.com/Contemporary_Modern_Design

Article on Modernism and Graphic Design: http://rebeccareilering.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/modernism-and-graphic-design/

1920-1960 Modernism Design: http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/learning/designingbritain/html/crd_modernism.html

xoxo gossip girl.

Applications of 3D: CAD & CAM

There are two abbreviations thrown around a lot in design and manufacturing industries, these are CAD and CAM. Firstly CAD stands for Computer Aided Design, it’s used in 2D and 3D design on computers, as we are talking about 3D I’ll explain the uses of CAD in regard to 3D. CAD is generally used to create curves, solids and surfaces in 3D objects, many everyday objects are originally created using CAD such as the hairdryer below which was created on a CAD program called Maya, made by Autodesk.

CAM stands for Computer Aided Manufacturing; it is the process of a 3D model being made into a real life object. 3D models that are mad using CAD are often imported into a CAM program to which an object is made through a process such as 3D Printing or a CNC Machine. Because these 3D models are made by machine and following strict instructions they are usually extremely accurate and are used nuclear submarines and aeroplane engines.

This blackberry mould is an example of what can be produced using a CNC Machine. These moulds are amazingly close to the actual model they are based on and are identical to the model that has been created on a CAD machine that has been transfered to CAM.

The picture above is of a CAM CNC Machine, there is a video online of this machine in action more examples of what has been made on this particular CNC machine which may interest you.

Applications of 3D #1

3D stands for 3^rd Dimension; it comes after the 2D work has been completed and it is common that 2D images are used as reference. This is the basic application of 3D in regard to Games Development; however 3D is used by many other industries and people. One of the industries that use 3D the most as well as being relatively similar to the games industry in terms of the production process is the film industry.

Similar to the games industry, films have different genres, along with the script the genre of a game makes it easy to guess how much 3D is going to be used. For example, when comparing a romantic-comedy to an action film such as the new “Resident Evil: Afterlife” which is full of special effects.

The credits at the end of this trailer on imdb http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3447719449/  would have been designed in a 3D program and then transferred to an editing suite.

Along with text being produced using 3D software, effects, models and objects will also be made. In the same trailer multiple knives are kicked off a table and fly through the air, hitting the chair a character is sitting in. 

These knives would have ultimately been designed using 3D, it would be hard to come across a film which has been released within the last few years that doesn’t implement the use of 3D.

Architecture is another industry which uses 3D to visualise the projects they are working on, to show their clients what they hope to achieve at the end of the project. It is usually rendered out and a fly through the building will be recorded showing all the important parts of the design. There are specific 3D packages designed just for architects however they will also us 3DS Max and Maya as games designers do. The aim of using a 3D package to create a 3D representative of what they wish to achieve is very similar to the reasons why games developers create a 3D image of their designs.

Architecture is another industry which frequently uses 3D. 3D has massively benefit the architecture industry, using 3D has allowed architects to show designs, building, structures etc. to clients in amazing quality and detail and acts as a tool to sell, this is done rendering out a fly through of the designs showing all the important parts. Depending on how detailed the 3D design is along with the size and amount of polygons used will determine how long it takes to render, however low quality renders are used if it is just to check for any problems or glitches, this applies to everywhere 3D is used.

There are specific 3D programs that have been designed for architecture one of the most popular is AutoCAD Architecture, which is made by Autodesk, the same people who made Maya.

 Second part will come soon.

xoxo gossip girl

My first post :>

Hi internet friends, I will be using this blog to track my progress through my final year of BTEC Games Development. I'll be uploading pictures of my work and also document research I make.

My aim is to be the best blogger in my class, it won't be hard. :>

xoxo gossip girl.