MUV601 - Robin Le Couteur - Assignment 3, blog 6 - 2018

Assignment 3 Reflection - Blog 6

In this blog I'll be reflecting on the project as a whole. This will include my thoughts on how I think the project went, any roadblocks I hit and how the project came together in the end.

My initial goal for this project was to make a scripted keyboard that you could play, as well as other instruments to play alongside it. What I ended up with was a little bit more simple than I was expecting, but I think it managed to capture my initial inspiration quite well.

The focus was to make a simple to use interactive environment that was fun. I wanted it to be able to be used by multiple people as a collaborative environment. The end result almost exactly reflected these goals. The result allowed multiple people to collaboratively enjoy my creation.

Looking at what my learning goals were, I managed to achieve them all.

The goals were the following:

• Learn how to create a model outside of SL and import it (I will use this to build the groundwork of the project)
• Be able to work with different types of interactive scripting such as activating object movement, color change, effects(Glow, brightness), and sound activation on object touch, when an object is stood on, or any other ways to interact with objects that I discover.
• Be able to design in a way that creates a specific atmosphere or feeling.

The first goal I achieved by successfully creating the keyboard and some other elements in Sketch Up, then importing them into Second Life. I figured out what settings I needed for exporting and importing to get the models into SL without any glitches or unwanted changes to my models

The next goal I managed to achieve by animating the movement of my keys with visual effects alongside. The keys were both touch and collision activated.

The last goal listed here was achieved through experimenting with types and colors of textures as well as using inspiration from real world environments that I wanted to mimic. I used lots of wood and various lighting to mimic visual features of a concert hall.

Looking at how my schedule was laid out and how closely I followed it, I think I was not that great. At first I was on schedule, but other assignments and commitments quickly took priority. The project slowed down and got a week off schedule then, then two weeks, then I pulled it together on the last week and got everything finished off. 

The order that I did my tasks was close to how I planned except texturing happened later than projected. This was fine however as it was easier to texture with the project fully assembled.

My last thoughts are that I had a bit of fun with this project, and I think Second Life is very cool, but I doubt I will ever get back into it as it's not really my thing. I will probably pass on my project freely for anyone to use because I have no use for it any more.

Goodbye Second Life, I had fun :)