02. Mesh Mashup: Concept Generation
My Mesh Mashups
Introduction: Introduction: From the beginning of the project, I knew it was going to be challenging as I was introduced to two concepts (remix culture and juxtaposition) I wasn't too familiar with before this project. After taking what I learned from class and doing some extra research, I was able to get a better understanding and therefore apply it to the project itself and what I wanted the theme to be. Remix culture involves the blending, repurposing, and reinterpretation of existing design elements to create new and innovative ideas and products. Knowing this, my mind started coming up with all sorts of ideas. However, I couldn't just have random objects put together, as that wouldn't fulfill the requirements for this assignment. I also learned about juxtaposition and how there have to be two or more objects that are placed side by side with the purpose of either highlighting the difference, creating effects that invoke emotion, or even just making points on relevant social-political issues. This did narrow down my options, but it also let me come up with a theme for my concepts. The theme is phrases that have animal names but actually have nothing to do with animals. From this point, knowing what I wanted to create was the easiest part; the toughest part was finding the models through Thinkverse and creating my ideas around the objects I had to work with. This is how it turned out.
The Ten Concepts:
Toad in a Hole
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Description: So this is the concept that first came to mind and inspired the whole design. It was kind of my introduction to what the work process was going to be like for the next concepts. I am not sure exactly what inspired this dish, but I found the name hilarious because, while the name is repulsive, the actual food tastes nice. Before starting the work process, I thought this would be easier than last week's assignment since we are using pre-made objects, but I quickly realized that there would be objects I have to make myself (the fork and knife in this case), and this continued to be a theme throughout all the designs.
Busy Bees
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Description: For this design, I was reminded of the Bee Movie, which I watched as a kid, and with that in mind, I decided to make some "worker" bees on their way to work. The juxtaposition here is that the bees are exhibiting human behavior. In addition to that, they are following a road even though they are flying. I chose to add this to show that the worker bees don't really have much free will but instead spend their lives working in the queen's best interest until they die. This was one of the easiest designs to make due to most of the objects being duplicates.
Elephant In the Room
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Description: My first instinct for this design was to literally put an elephant in a white room, but that would be a cop-out. I chose to do this design instead, which depicts a baby elephant that has been taken out of its natural habitat to be experimented on. The juxtaposition here is that the elephant is growing up in a lab instead of its own home. You probably notice the trunk at the top, and I purposely left out everything else, so whatever is going on behind the scenes is left to the viewer's interpretation.
Monkey in the Middle
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Description: This was probably the hardest design to make, and it definitely took the longest. This is partially because it was hard to find the meshes I wanted, so I had to keep changing up the concept to fit the meshes I could find. It was also a nightmare trying to find a monkey head that would go into Tinkercad (due to the sizes). I don't have Rhino on my computer, so I didn't know how else to decrease the faces of these meshes (this applies to every concept I did, with some being worse than others), so I left them the way they were, and tried taking screenshots at an angle and distance where you could still tell what the objects are.
Cat(s) in the Bag
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Description: This was the easiest and a favorite of mine. Being the simplest, this design is composed of only pre-made meshes from Thingiverse. The juxtaposition here is that there are a bunch of sleeping cats in a bag, which makes it seem as though they are inanimate toys you would buy from a store. The shush emoji on the front of the bag signifies that something bad will happen if you wake the cats up, such as the cats going outside of the bag. The meaning behind this is that cats are secrets, and if you say the secret, you have to "let the cat out of the bag.".
Fish out of Water
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Description: Fish out of water was actually the second concept I thought of, but I didn't start working on it until later because I was unsure of how to execute it. After some thinking, I thought it would be best to keep it close to how we normally interact with fish that aren't food, which is through some type of glass enclosure such as a fish bowl or aquarium. I decided that a snow globe would work best in terms of juxtaposition, as I used sand rather than snow, which also put the fish in an environment that was opposite of what they were used to.
Wild Goose Chase
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Description: My favorite process, by far. This design was inspired by the name, of course, but also by Mario Kart, as you can tell from the 'rainbow road'. I thought it would be funny to have a bunch of geese (and one duck) racing while pushing actual shopping carts. Even though it was one of the least complex of all the design processes I did, it was incredibly fun to make and also taught me a bit about creating a visually pleasing background for your objects.
Ants in Pants
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Description: Simple but effective. That is exactly what I was going for when creating this. After creating seven 3D designs, I thought it was time for a breath of fresh air, and that is reflected in the screenshot. Using only two different meshes and a white cube, I was able to create this sort of 2D effect of the man running as ants were falling out of his pants. Although there aren't many details, this design tells the story of a man who lied his way through life and is now running from the consequences.
Butterflies in Stomach
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Description: Another favorite of mine. This is a museum showcase of a man who went through most of his life as a loner but ended up finding love at an old age, which allowed him to experience the sensation of having stomach butterflies that he never got when he was younger. Though it may be fiction, this piece shows that even an old man is able to experience such a "youthful" feeling. The juxtaposition actually happens with the visual representation here rather than the story, as inside the old man's skeleton manifested the butterflies he felt during his last moments alive.
If Pigs Could Fly
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Description: Last but not least, what if pigs could fly commercially? Initially, I thought about having pigs actually fly with wings, but it only takes one Google search to see how many times that has already been done. So I chose the next best thing: an airplane. In the image above, you see a group of pigs on an airplane, which begs the question, What are the pigs doing on the plane? It would be easy to just say that this is a world where animals operate as humans, but I think it is best for things like this when they are open to interpretation by the viewers. This could simply be a plane smuggling of pigs across countries, but nevertheless, there is a clear juxtaposition between the pigs themselves and the environment they are in.
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