Project Idea 1- Most Versed/Confident Proposition:
Animated Pilot Episode
Pitch/Pilot for a potential film, web, or television series (TBD either to be 2D or 3D animated.)
Highlighting character animation (Human bipedal and animal quadrupedal characters), featuring voice acting, and potentially music/soundtracks. May be shortened to an Opening/Closing Title Sequences as proof of concept for a pilot episode/featurette/series, using originally composed/arranged digital music/composition tracks.
Potential Known/Acquired Skillset:
Animation (2D/3D Character Animation)
Adobe Animate (potential 2D app), Autodesk Maya (potential 3D platform, although I’d need to learn more complex techniques to achieve what I’d like to do if I decided to make the project with 3D software)
Mix craft Pro Studio 8 (DAW), Access to a Midi piano (I own an Arturia model) Audacity (recording voice acting and sound engineering)
Video Editing
After Effects, Premier Pro, Da Vinci Resolve
Graphic/Digital Art and Design
Photoshop, Illustrator
Project Idea 2- Ultimate “Out There” Challenge / Operation – Complete Disregard for Idea 1:
Musical Drawing pad Application for artists and/or non-musicians, or a Sound Redesigning Engine for engineering new tracks/audios.
A digital application (or if feasible, a physical installment) for an instrument people who aren’t as knowledgeable in music but still want to make compositions. You make music/play notes by drawing on a tablet/drawing pad/digital canvas.
This somewhat pre-exists as a prototype from a previous class, but perhaps I could work on this and reimagined it into something more versatile, interactive and accessible (maybe even create a physical version!).
This might be repurposed into a sound redesigning engine, where you wouldn’t need to search for stock files and worry about royalties or people hunting you down for copyright, because you’ll just be able to make your own! Record a sound and then rearrange it at your leisure within the various editing options in the application/software!
May actually revert to a different, but interactive, tool used to help ease people into the world of music (reading notes, music theory, etc.) at an entry level.
Potential/Required Skillset:
Application Programming (lots of coding)
Max 8 (no longer have access to it)
Other forms of Coding (for recording and tweaking audio)
Basic understanding of music disciplines (music theory and note reading, at least?) *this would require me to heavily/hastily learning a host of new skills/concepts not as strong as my other developed skills in my IMM career*
Project Idea 3 – Exploring Aspirations without Constraint / More Doable but Massive Learning Curve
Physics-based party/battle game or web-based creature creation/education game
Building a physics-based party/battle game (similar to Gang Beasts but hopefully more in-depth/more mechanics), or a “decide-your-adventure” web game with a creature creation feature (similar to the spore franchise) that simultaneously educates on evolution and Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest/natural selection.
Potential/Required Skillset:
Game Design (no previous experience aside from animation that can transitioned easily enough)
Web Design/Coding Languages (would need to relearn languages like P5.js and others to do the brunt of the work
Adobe Animate (very web friendly and I already understand this app, so using this for parts of the project wouldn’t be too much of a struggle when and lets me focus on learning the other software)
3 thoughts on “Dylan J. – Thesis Initial Concepts”
With your second idea, I had came up with a similar idea for my IMM User-Centered Musical Design class. Apparently, something like it kind of already exists, but I’m assuming you picture it a bit differently: https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Kandinsky/ So with this example, you can draw with your mouse and it just plays the note. However, if I am reading your idea correctly (maybe I’m not lol who knows) would different notes play depending on the drawing? If the app senses you’re going up (x axis # increases) the note will go higher and higher, and if it senses it goes lowers (x axis # decreases) then the note will go lower. Thus, you are drawing and also creating music haha! One thing you may want to take into consideration with this idea is those who may not be able to draw for whatever reason. If it’s some kind of medical condition or disability, think about those potential users too and see if there’s something you can think of to accommodate their needs too.
Oh one more thing I forgot to add: don’t let your lack of knowledge in music discourage you from taking on this project! I’m sure what you need to learn isn’t as extensive as you think. Professor Nakra would be a great resource for you, she probably knows of things that will help you 🙂
As promised, here are my thoughts for your animated pilot idea:
I recommend figuring out the length and scope of your project first (2D/3D? How long will it be? What are my resources?) You can always go back to this later and change it.
Consider focusing mostly on showcasing one or two key aspects of your abilities, i.e. storytelling & animation, and work on streamlining the rest. This will also impact your project scope, and the pipeline you use as well.
For example, if you wanted to showcase storytelling and animation, you would want to find/buy your models (characters and environments). You can find high end humanoid models for *very* cheap at Daz3D.com, assuming you would then learn how to use Daz Studio and work it into your production pipeline. Likewise, you can find equally affordable models of the Unreal Marketplace or Unity Asset Store, and as mentioned, if you went with this approach, you’d want to similarly figure out a way to implement Unreal or Unity into your pipeline. Personally, I prefer Unreal for higher end graphic elements like raytracing/ambient occlusion/global illumination and find Unity unbearably slow here, but for a cel shaded style, for instance, Unity is perfectly usable.
With your second idea, I had came up with a similar idea for my IMM User-Centered Musical Design class. Apparently, something like it kind of already exists, but I’m assuming you picture it a bit differently: https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Kandinsky/ So with this example, you can draw with your mouse and it just plays the note. However, if I am reading your idea correctly (maybe I’m not lol who knows) would different notes play depending on the drawing? If the app senses you’re going up (x axis # increases) the note will go higher and higher, and if it senses it goes lowers (x axis # decreases) then the note will go lower. Thus, you are drawing and also creating music haha! One thing you may want to take into consideration with this idea is those who may not be able to draw for whatever reason. If it’s some kind of medical condition or disability, think about those potential users too and see if there’s something you can think of to accommodate their needs too.
Oh one more thing I forgot to add: don’t let your lack of knowledge in music discourage you from taking on this project! I’m sure what you need to learn isn’t as extensive as you think. Professor Nakra would be a great resource for you, she probably knows of things that will help you 🙂
Hi Dylan,
As promised, here are my thoughts for your animated pilot idea:
I recommend figuring out the length and scope of your project first (2D/3D? How long will it be? What are my resources?) You can always go back to this later and change it.
Consider focusing mostly on showcasing one or two key aspects of your abilities, i.e. storytelling & animation, and work on streamlining the rest. This will also impact your project scope, and the pipeline you use as well.
For example, if you wanted to showcase storytelling and animation, you would want to find/buy your models (characters and environments). You can find high end humanoid models for *very* cheap at Daz3D.com, assuming you would then learn how to use Daz Studio and work it into your production pipeline. Likewise, you can find equally affordable models of the Unreal Marketplace or Unity Asset Store, and as mentioned, if you went with this approach, you’d want to similarly figure out a way to implement Unreal or Unity into your pipeline. Personally, I prefer Unreal for higher end graphic elements like raytracing/ambient occlusion/global illumination and find Unity unbearably slow here, but for a cel shaded style, for instance, Unity is perfectly usable.
Hope this helps!
-Greg