光 の 幽 霊
LUMINOGEIST
Preface
Research + Development
Prototyping + Evaluation
Installation*
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Acknowledgement I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Professor David Hall for playing the significant role as my supervisor and mentor, providing all the necessary knowledge and support, without which I would not have completed this project.
01 Preface The prime purpose of this publication is to present developments and process of the final phase of my thesis project, Lumino Kinetic and Beyond 1 , a series of digital media experimentations that explores the properties of light and perception of space, for the purpose of digital media art and product design. As a follow-up to the previous experimentation, Luminous Specimen 2 , this subsequent project, Luminogeist, concentrates on the development of an installation art, which glass prisms and 3D animation interact based on an illusionary technique, Pepper’s Ghost. Luminogeist is a coinage of my own creation that deprives from 光の幽霊 (Hikari no yuurei), which is Japanese for “luminous ghost.”
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(http://ubernotes.blogspot.com) (http://www.yuriendo.com/Luminous-Specimen)
Video: doubleprismpod test 003 (https://vimeo.com/ 49543009)
Luminous Specimenひかりの標本 In connection with a product design course, which aims to explore the world of interior design, technologies and materials to develop a contemporary bathroom product and ambience within, this experimentation’s goal was to explore alternate possibilities of a bathing and grooming space where light therapeutic values are digitally accentuated as digital media installation. Inspired by the visual effect that kaleidoscopes create, this simple installation is constructed with a pyramid-shaped glass prism attached to a LCD screen, and the animation is projected on the prisms’ surfaces from behind, which seals light source inside of a prism as if it were a specimen. Consequently, this conceptual project resulted in generating the idea of a follow-up installation, Luminogeist, to conclude my thesis project. Additionally, Luminous Specimen has been featured in various notable online publications, such as Designboom 3 and Amusement 4, which also encouraged me for stimulating further investigations with this very medium.
3 Designboom.
(2012, July 20). Yuri Endo: Luminous Specimen. Retrieved http://www.designboom.com/art/yuri-endo-luminousspecimen/ 4 Amusement. ( 2012, July 23). Luminous Specimen, digital images trapped in a prism. Retrieved http://www.amusement. net/2012/07/23/luminous-specimen-digital-images-trapped-ina-prism/ Video: doubleprismpod test 002 (https://vimeo.com/49541044) doubleprismpod test 003 (https://vimeo.com/ 49541955)
02 Research + Development Upon researching technical and artistic options for the project, I came across an illusionary technique, Pepper’s Ghost, which has been frequently used for theater, haunted house, magic tricks and special effects in movies. Pepper’s Ghost is an artistic method takes advantages of light reflection, more precisely, by utilizing special lighting and plate glass, this technique makes viewers see objects that are not physically there. Focusing on preserving the elements of Luminous Specimen, such as its portability and use of a triangular shaped object on an iPod, I ran a test based on Pepper’s 360° Illusion Pyramid that creates a faux holographic image, which is visible from all 360° angle.
Mechanism of Pepper’s 360° Illusion Pyramid On the bottom of the pyramid, which is made out of a sheet of OHP transparent film (6×6 cm), a piece of white cardboard is placed. Upon removing the top part of the pyramid (around 9 mm each), a small piece of cardboard 1×1 (cm) is placed on the top as dimmer. The pyramid’s angle of inclination is approximately 45°. A 2D image, which is consist of 4 exact same skull pictures, is uploaded in the iPod. The top of the pyramid is placed in the middle of the 4 images to create a faux holographic illusion. Video: pepperpod test 001 (https://vimeo.com/50001628)
03 Prototyping + Evaluation >> Device Design Inspired by Pepper’s 360° Illusion Pyramid, the idea behind this prototype is to create an integrated version of the Illusion Pyramid, that can be served as an ornamental product, which elevates its aesthetic and commercial appeal through a digital media installation. Combining four glass prisms, a set of two large and two small glasses, creates a pyramid shape in the center of the object. Corresponding to previous experiments, the pyramid’s angle of inclination is set approximately at 45°. Thus accordingly, the center part is empty and this provides the correct refractive index for a faux holographic ghost to be shown from various angles.
Video: Lumino Kinetic Lab test 003 (https://vimeo.com/53783996)
>> Animation Design The concept behind the animation is to take advantage of the geometric appearance of the Chinese typography to create an illusion, in which holographic texts float inside a set of prisms, simultaneously to concentrate on the 3D reproduction of photographic and cinematic processes, Light painting and Slit -scan. The initial test animation is constructed by minimally structured 3D Chinese characters simply rotating. Taking inspirations from Light painting, the second animation features one character morphs into different sets of characters, while the third animation is based on Slit-scan, presenting unique deformations of several different sets of translucently texturlized characters. All Chinese characters used in said animation signify light or luminosity. Video: Lumino Kinetic Lab test 001 (https://vimeo.com/52205011) Device + anim test 002 (https://vimeo.com/55032414)
Video: Hikari + Ghost + Slitscan render test (https://vimeo.com/54664151) Kirameki + Ghost + Twist render test (https://vimeo.com/54698057) Kirameki + Ghost + Twist + Sine render test (https://vimeo.com/54710455)
morphv2 (https://vimeo.com/54816883) Shyomei (nParticles + morph) render test (https://vimeo.com/54747887) Shyomei + Rinkou (nParticles + morph) render test (https://vimeo.com/54757543)
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Installation* In this final stage of the project, the device and animation design are finally merged to create a digital media art installation. Inspired by various visionary techniques in relation to the characteristics of light, the project helped me acquiring hands-on comprehension of each technique to develop an substantial product prototype, which highlights the purpose of both digital media and product design. Video: Luminogeist (https://vimeo.com/55029096)
Related links Process blog: (http://ubernotes.blogspot.com) Video: (https://vimeo.com/yuriendo) Online portfolio (http://www.yuriendo.com)
LUMINOGEIST
Yuri Endo 2012