Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
script, they can create effects like rain, smoke, and ire, as well as graphic shapes in a 3D design. In
Le Cactus
(Figure 4.2, picture 3), Maya Paris (an artist working in the United Kingdom) displays the usage of all three
sorts of shapes in her 3D design. There are the textual shapes of words like “what” and “not” hanging in the
air, and consistently throughout the environment she has used circular and semicircular shapes to create old
phonograph records and art deco motifs. The environment becomes illed with additional shapes when avatars
are seated on an interactive carnival ride located within the space. As they rotate, the seats they ride in (shaped
like bananas) give off particles with shapes that look like cherries, bananas, and other fruit. The visual fruit
salad piles up and ills the environment with shapes generated by the ride, complimenting the general ambi-
ance in this lounge, a playful homage to Josephine Baker's (1906-1975) cabaret acts.
4.2.4 f
orm
Form is often the most recognizable element in 3D design and probably the one you would think of irst. The
form of an object is at once its identity to us and its impact on our senses. The volume of space that a form
occupies deines its relative importance and implies mass and weight to our perception. The form of a cavity
surrounded by 3D design deines our relationship to the environment, our relative scale, and our sense of
importance in it. In
The Arrival of the Fish
, Rose Borchovski has many forms, animal and human, arranged
in a surreal assemblage. In one part, she has a series of penguin forms (Figure 4.2, picture 4) that displays
multiple versions of the penguin, in a sort of stop-motion effect. This series of forms creates a sequence that
explains to the observer what the form of a penguin is and allows the observer to create a mental “animation”
of the penguin diving off its perch. By inverting the form as the penguin takes a dive, the observer is allowed
to see many sides of the penguin in a single glance, enriching the experience of encountering a penguin form.
4.2.5 C
olor
The element of color is subjective and emotional. Like shape, it connects with your brain on a primal level.
Colors in the natural environment warn us of poisonous vegetation or animals. Our society attaches meaning
to the color of roses and other lowers, and we use color words to describe a state of mind, such as “feeling
blue” or “green with envy.” Many of these color meanings are also tied into cultural structures, such as the
white wedding dress or the orange robes of Buddhist monks. Color can also deine and inluence our per-
ception of space because warm colors such as red and orange seem to move toward us, and cool colors like
blue and purple seem to recede. In her fractal-like sculpture called
plante*,
Betty Tureaud (a Danish artist in
real life) creates a sense of iridescence with the application of rainbow colors and implied relection on the
surfaces (Figure 4.2, picture 5). Because the texture is set to self-illumination, no shadows are rendered, and
the eye is free to bounce among the cluster of structures that make up the sculpture. By utilizing color in this
way, she creates a sense of lowing motion across the 3D surface.
4.2.6 T
exTure
Texture, the sixth element of 3D design, belongs to two senses, touch and sight. You can speak of “visual
texture,” but the understanding of that concept resides in our tactile experiences. When you reach to touch
the surface of unpolished granite, you know it will feel rough, and you also know that visually it will look
pocked and catch tiny shadows across its face. The visual texture of light and dark across the face of an
object can also be created with color contrasts. In her prototype for an educational project at the Possibilities
Unlimited Museum, Quinlan Quimby used texture to redeine the concept of the Blue Willow china pattern
(Figure 4.2, picture 6). In shades of blue and white, she has borrowed from the famous blue willow china
