Big Final Proposal

Immersive narrative experiences have always intrigued me as communication tools.  In the past, I tended to deal in physical environments, which lent themselves particularly well to the concept.  Though specific narrative arcs were often fairly linear in nature, larger installations often allowed viewers to pursue them at their own discretion (in terms of pacing and organization).  Retrofitting this approach to be applied to a web-based project proved to be an interesting approach.  Given that the viewer is not capable of any type of physical encounter in this situation, the task became one of constructing a compelling environment that allowed for the same type of meandering investigation.

Choose-your-own-adventure literature has always occupied something of a soft spot in my memory.  Though they made for aggravating reading, the concept seems particularly well-suited for this type of project.  Using that basic premise, I would like to create a pseudo-evolutionary narrative activity based in several varieties of medieval paganism and late antique theology.  From a starting point, the viewer will be presented with a selection of runic/calligraphic characters with which to begin their journey.  Based on the symbolic and aesthetic associations of the character chosen, the viewer will be presented with a second set of choices (this time dealing with a set of creatures linked to the chosen character according to - mostly - indigenous new-world mythologies) with which to proceed.  According to this second choice, the viewer will be directed to a vague description of the significance and symbolism of the choices made presented in the form of a cladogram (a diagram expressing evolutionary relationships between organisms, based on shared characteristics).

The basic plan for this project is to keep the visuals to a minimum, and a fairly sparse minimum at that.  The majority of the images and text will be provided through transfers (either by scanning or training in Illustrator) of calligraphy and ink drawings (see below for an example of the aesthetic and a rough outline of the general layout).  Though I will be referencing the act of divination and prophecy I should note that, like those particular fields, I have no intention of making any clear predictions and will cloak most of the information I provide in vague mythological, and overly-specific biological terms.

Here Comes Geometry

I had an interesting challenge for this laser cutter project: I needed to cut identical slots, following the path of a polygon, into (what would eventually be) a circular piece of MDF.  I wanted to make sure that everything stayed consistent, so my first impulse was to use the polygon tool in Illustrator, though that turned out to be more trouble than it was worth.  While I was able to construct a perfect 21-sided polygon that was the size I needed, there was no way to mark out the slots I needed to cut on the individual sides, and do so consistently.  Instead, I decided to take a bottom-up approach and construct a jig that would allow me to draw out my pattern by hand.

I started by using the line segment tool to create a horizontal side.

Next, I used the rectangle tool to construct a box of the appropriate size.

Using the Direct Select tool, I clicked on the center of the rectangle, then pressed the Command key and aligned it with the center of the line segment (pressing Command allows you to snap the anchor point to another when moving it).

Then, copy and paste the object.

And rotate.  Using basic geometry, I determined the angle between sides by using the following formula: [180(n-2)] / n, where n equals the number of sides.  I decided on a hexagon for the demonstration, since calculations are much easier (and angles much more precise) than a 21-sided figure.

It was necessary for me to also include measurements for the shape's circumcircle (the circle which encloses a given polygon and shares its radius), so I was able to use basic trigonometry to calculate its radius using the following formula: s / [2 sin (180/n)], where s equals the length of a side and n the number of sides.  Once established (roughly 3" in this case), it was a matter of drawing the appropriate line segment, then rotating it into position (again using Command while moving the segment to snap it to the intersection of the existing sides.

From this point, I was able to create my jig for the laser cutter.  I constructed a shape to enclose the entire object, then deleted all but the rectangles and the end points of the radius.  This device could then be used with a compass, and would allow me to both draw the circle I needed while placing the slots at regular intervals.