seltzdesign » interactive

‘Nightgown’ – a chill-out lounge

admin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:09:47 +0000

At the end of the Foundation Course Art & Design, a major project had to be prepared. As a project I set myself the Concept for a chill-out lounge and therefore the area of interior design and 3D branding.

For lots more information please see the ‘nightgown’ subpage at: www.seltzdesign.co.uk/nightgown.

Sketch render of the interior

A major focus was put on the lighting design, as well as the design of some custom elements like the ‘light bubbles’. The visualization was done completely in Cinema 4D.

But the project also included the design of a coorporate identity, including a small website to present the project. This was accomplished using (the now sadly discontinued) Freehand MX, Photoshop, Fireworks and Dreamweaver.

Interior with light bubbles

Virtual Tour of the Whiteheads Steel Works

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:05:54 +0000

As another major part of the ‘Ghosts in Armour’ project, a virtual tour was created. It was initially centered around the abandoned and now non-existent Whitheads Steel Work in Newport, which was a major factor in the lifeblood of the city of Newport and it’s inhabitants.

To preserve what remained and enable other people a unique view into the 250.000 m² of abandoned industrial space, which was still dotted with traces of human interaction, a virtual tour was created. But more then just a tool to see the spaces now absent, the team of ‘Ghosts in Armour’ deemed it invaluable as a tool for teaching and exploration that brings closer the information and experiences we uncovered in the 9 months of exploration, research and creation.
The virtual tour consists of some 120 full 360º views and more then 500 individual hotspots, revealing history, evidence and information about the industry, workers and spaces.

This was a collaborative project, produced by mainly 4 artists (Matt Wright, Gordon Everett, David Daniel and myself) and consisting contributions from more then 20 artists. I was involved in the design, functionality and production of the virtual tour, as well as the integration into the website.

one of 120 views in the virtual tour of the Whiteheads steel works

The Virtual Riverfront

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:01:05 +0000

For the exhibition at The Riverfront, Newport, for the international art project ‘Ghosts in Armour’ (www.ghostsinarmour.com) a virtual gallery and interface was needed for visitors bound to a wheelchair, as wheel-chair access to part of the gallery was not possible, as well as a method of viewing the exhibition via internet.

For the exhibition an interface was created that ran on a computer with a 19” touchscreen monitor, mounted on an arm that was freely adjustable in forward/backward tilt, height and forward shift. A map with selection hot spots could be clicked to bring up 360º views at various points in the gallery, which could be freely navigated in using dragging in the viewer using the touchscreen as well as zooming in/out.
The output was projected on a 3m x 2m screen a distance away forward of the computer terminal, to enable other visitors to see the users exploration.

The terminal proved great success and got great feedback from the pupils and carers of the National Star College – an organisation that for more then 40 years has “helped young disabled people discover their potential and prepare for the best that adult life can offer”.

National Star College student using the touchscreen terminal.