In week 10 of the makerspace I was doing some work on my storytelling script to screen production bible and on work for the Animation 102 short story animation. I had updated my character profiles on Elias, Juliana and Uncle John along with the addition of the shoe store concept art and floor plans. I asked Annabeth for second opinions and she suggested the introduction of text in the empty spaces. I felt this was a good suggestion and would be good to discuss some elements of the project. In Animation 102 our near final task was a short story of our choosing and I decided to use the irritating insect story. The story so far would be the character relaxing on a deck chair to get bothered by a insect, whilst trying to relax.
This required a deck/resting chair, so using the time in the maker space I decided to create some props. However seeing as how I didn't have an armature to measure my materials from I decided to make a good estimation upon using it many times before I felt I had an imprint of the size in my mind but at the same time I was nervous. I sketched out a long rectangle in the top corner of the card followed by a second as I was planning to fold it in half to compensate the weight of the armature as it was made of metal. Using a pair of scissors very slowly I cut out the rectangles, scored a line down them so they would fold in the head rest and the end of the bed.
I was going to wrap this up in fabric but I sadly didn't have
any on me at the time so I would save that for home use. I needed to consider supports and Annabeth suggested creating a wooden frame around the sides much like a normal chair. I was concerned when she mentioned Balsa wood as it meant I would need to use a saw, thankfully Annabeth assured me the wood was thin enough to use a craft knife. So I measured out the length of the rectangles against the wood and used a metal safety rule with a craft knife, but cut slowly to avoid any injuries. The wood was now in thin strips and using the larger pieces as the supports for the thin frames it would hold the centre area in place.
I would need to glue gun the wood down but for the time being I used double sided tape to hold the balsa support together. The legs of the chair were a difficult task but on the shelves I found some small sheets of clear acrylic sheets. I looked at them and figured they could be of use to me. Unfortunately I was hesitant in the idea as I wasn't sure if these were scrap pieces. The head of the maker space told me these were okay for me to use so I took them with me.
Later on at home I applied the fabric to the chair centre, by using spray on adhesive to stick the piece in place. I took precautions and covered my desk with old fabrics and wore glasses and covered my face whilst I applied the spray with a window open to avoid inhaling any fumes. The fabric was cut down and stuck to the cardboard. Using a hot glue gun I stuck the support and legs together, and the piece was complete.
Looking back I would think that creating a prop for my animation project was a good use of time in the maker space. However what I would've done differently was make sure I had some of the materials on me if I decided to do some work in the maker space, and see if I could've stuck the support together using the glue guns in the room. In hindsight I should've asked about using the glue guns as it would save me the time to do it at home. Instead of making estimated measurements I should've asked if I could quickly borrow an armature from the technicians to get an idea of size. However I was confident that I had made the correct measurements as I'm sure artists and inventors like Da Vinci couldn't have made his work without taking any risks.
In conclusion the session was well spent and I had a useable prop for my animation task, and hope that it will take the weight of the armature. In future I shall ask to borrow an armature from the technicians in the event that any future projects require the use of props in the animation, and then use those measurements for future animation props if required.
I was going to wrap this up in fabric but I sadly didn't have
Looking back I would think that creating a prop for my animation project was a good use of time in the maker space. However what I would've done differently was make sure I had some of the materials on me if I decided to do some work in the maker space, and see if I could've stuck the support together using the glue guns in the room. In hindsight I should've asked about using the glue guns as it would save me the time to do it at home. Instead of making estimated measurements I should've asked if I could quickly borrow an armature from the technicians to get an idea of size. However I was confident that I had made the correct measurements as I'm sure artists and inventors like Da Vinci couldn't have made his work without taking any risks.
In conclusion the session was well spent and I had a useable prop for my animation task, and hope that it will take the weight of the armature. In future I shall ask to borrow an armature from the technicians in the event that any future projects require the use of props in the animation, and then use those measurements for future animation props if required.
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