Updated Yari Concept
Tuesday 29 November 2016
Sunday 27 November 2016
360° Panoramic Painting: Case Study
http://www.yogjoshi.com/360-panoramic-painting/
Notes:
I do think this works really well. It has the possibility for making concepts clearer as the image can be viewed in the round. It's really quite immersive and lets the viewer feel like they are inside the image, its also quite fun being able to turn it around and look at an image from different perspectives. The experience being interactive is novel as the viewer feels more involved with the world in the artwork.
Notes:
- Everything painted in Photoshop, as a flat image.
- Panopainter, program used to create 360 image, works with PSD files. Each time Photoshop file saves it will update in Panopainter, means you can keep workflow open in 3D to constantly check image is working.
Artist Example (Flat image, painted in Photoshop):
Artist Example (Using a grid, found on Panopainter, as guide):
Grid used (below) set layer to multiply:
Notes (Cont.):
- To make left and right edges mesh together use offset (filter>other>offset)
- "For the horizontal value, enter half the size of the width. In this case the width of my painting was 4096 pixels, so half the value would be 2048."
- Offset has to be applied individually to all layers
My attempt:
Sketched out a simple desert environment to test out this technique of panoramic painting myself, I didn't want to waste time doing a complex drawing for a test in case this didn't work out. I used the program panopainter above. Luckily you can have a document open in panopainter and photoshop at the same time so you can draw in photoshop and it will update in real time in panopainter.
To get the drawing to loop continuously without a seam, I used the offset too in Photoshop to ensure the edges met up:
You have to apply this offset to all the layers for it to work, as you can see, you end up with the middle of the painting so you can work on makng the image seamless. When you are finished you can remove the offset to return the drawing to its normal state - but now the edges will match up.
See Below:
When the image was completed, I exported it as an image file and used a program called Exiftool to change the file types so it will show up as a panoramic file when uploaded on facebook - a platform which supports 360 degree images.
For the image to be supported as a panoramic photograph on facebook it must have the following information:
Make: RICOH
Model: RICOH THETA S
Projection Type: equirectangular
This is the 360 image uploaded to facebook:
To get the drawing to loop continuously without a seam, I used the offset too in Photoshop to ensure the edges met up:
See Below:
Make: RICOH
Model: RICOH THETA S
Projection Type: equirectangular
This is the 360 image uploaded to facebook:
I do think this works really well. It has the possibility for making concepts clearer as the image can be viewed in the round. It's really quite immersive and lets the viewer feel like they are inside the image, its also quite fun being able to turn it around and look at an image from different perspectives. The experience being interactive is novel as the viewer feels more involved with the world in the artwork.
Google Cardboard (VR) Notes + Google Camera Test
Notes from playing with games on Google Cardboard App.
- Motion Sickness!! (made worse by games you have to move around a lot for - with no central point of focus) (Some headsets have it so you can see the sides of the helmet youre wearing, helps with motion sickness.)
- Add audio/headphones for immersivity
- Make sure "line" on phone screen matches up with line in cardboard VR
- 360 degrees TOO IMMERSIVE (Especially for horror games) Scary.
- Really nice for viewing more arty style games/landscapes/not as bad for feeling sick.
- Good for viewing art for VR games (better idea of how it could look in 3D)
- No apps for uploading art, some for panoramic camera photo viewing.
- Cardboard Camera: This app allows you to capture a 360 photo, which is basically a panoramic photo that goes all the way around. (Could take panoramic photo of a printed out painting? See if that works.)
- Cardboard photos are linear, so no looking up or down.
- PSViewer is a good Cardboard VR app for viewing photospheres, a photosphere is a collection of stitched images that creates a 360 image, like you're looking at the inside of a photographic ball.
- Need a phone that fits the gen of google cardboard that you're using.
- Google Cardboard also favours phones with higher pixel density, higher resolution doesn't make much difference. (Samsung galaxy s6 will work better than an iPhone 6)
- Your phone needs gyroscope to be able to use the app
- Need to be running android 4.1 or up
- Minimal external navigation options, such as controllers, compared to higher end VR
- Many apps utilise "hover navigation"
- More expensive/later versions of cardboard VR feature a button on the "VR machine"
- Android phones have a wider variety of apps for use with Cardboard VR
- Motion Sickness!! (made worse by games you have to move around a lot for - with no central point of focus) (Some headsets have it so you can see the sides of the helmet youre wearing, helps with motion sickness.)
- Add audio/headphones for immersivity
- Make sure "line" on phone screen matches up with line in cardboard VR
- 360 degrees TOO IMMERSIVE (Especially for horror games) Scary.
- Really nice for viewing more arty style games/landscapes/not as bad for feeling sick.
- Good for viewing art for VR games (better idea of how it could look in 3D)
- No apps for uploading art, some for panoramic camera photo viewing.
- Cardboard Camera: This app allows you to capture a 360 photo, which is basically a panoramic photo that goes all the way around. (Could take panoramic photo of a printed out painting? See if that works.)
- Cardboard photos are linear, so no looking up or down.
- PSViewer is a good Cardboard VR app for viewing photospheres, a photosphere is a collection of stitched images that creates a 360 image, like you're looking at the inside of a photographic ball.
- Need a phone that fits the gen of google cardboard that you're using.
- Google Cardboard also favours phones with higher pixel density, higher resolution doesn't make much difference. (Samsung galaxy s6 will work better than an iPhone 6)
- Your phone needs gyroscope to be able to use the app
- Need to be running android 4.1 or up
- Minimal external navigation options, such as controllers, compared to higher end VR
- Many apps utilise "hover navigation"
- More expensive/later versions of cardboard VR feature a button on the "VR machine"
- Android phones have a wider variety of apps for use with Cardboard VR
Google Cardboard test - putting my own work into google Cardboard
There aren't any apps on google cardboard that allow you to put drawings into Google Cardboard in order to turn them into VR. There is an app on Google Cardboard, however, called Google camera which allows you to turn photos into VR. I hoped to use this app to photograph my drawings and turn them into a VR image that could be used using teh google cardboard app and viewer.
Using the google camera app on google cardboard I did the first test: taking a photo of my own surroundings.
Test 1:
Photo I took using Google Camera is downloadable and viewable through the google camera app through this link: https://vr.google.com/vrphoto/AIJsmdkIYPjHUBtFtkQCTnPL7YTvTSv1kdd09Qk-cekRQ-6SgXaruSIxOH4E
This worked really well. You have to move the camera REALLy slowly when you take the photo though so it took ages to get right. It's actually really effective, it's weird looking at my room in the VR camera because things are in a different place to where they are in real life, it's taken the photo so everythings sun a bit to the right - so when you take the headset off its very bizarre. The only issue is with this app is because it takes a panoramic shot you can't look up or down.
Test 2:
Going from taking a panoramic photo, I wanted to see if I could take a panoriamic photo of my own work to view in VR.
Photo I took downloadable/viewable through google cardboard camera app - link here: https://vr.google.com/vrphoto/AIJsmdmBgWDrUxIcrPlkf8zOPkXoW4h6yjT7aa2Cjg2zPpNU0J-DXgBTq23T
This didn't work very well. I was hoping to just go really slow moving the camera over the drawing and then finishing the panoramic shot early but this only gives a very small shot of an image and the rest of the environment is just blank (see test in cardboard app)
I learnt that that image/drawing i wanted to put in google VR would have to be a full 360 drawing for the app to take an image of the drawing and render it as a VR environment.
Test 3:
Because I realised from the last test that the drawing to be made into VR would have to be a full 360 Image, I tried laying out a really long drawing (just doodled in promarker) to take a panorama of and put into google camera. I thought this would be a really good way of solving the problem. I thought if this worked, I could do a real drawing this long and change it into VR. Unfortunately, when I tried to film this the app told me the image I took would have to be upright and so it wouldn't let me take a photo at all.
Test 4:
Test Viewable on google camera app, downloadable from this link: https://vr.google.com/vrphoto/AIJsmdmSMJFNy0koRQ6RqRf7bAU5_qn5nkxw_DBENuclMC-1M7v2RjxJetMZ
As a final test, I pinned all the pieces of paper up against a wall so I could film them with my phone upright to see if this long, upright image could get one of my artworks into google cardboard via the google camera app. This did not work either. The gyroscope in the app could sense I was walking sideways to film the image, not round in a circle, so the result viewable through the link is just all the sheets of paper really bunched up in one place, with the rest of the 360 blank.
As a final test, I pinned all the pieces of paper up against a wall so I could film them with my phone upright to see if this long, upright image could get one of my artworks into google cardboard via the google camera app. This did not work either. The gyroscope in the app could sense I was walking sideways to film the image, not round in a circle, so the result viewable through the link is just all the sheets of paper really bunched up in one place, with the rest of the 360 blank.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I don't think google cardboard is an upcoming way to get artwork viewed in 360 in an industry pipeline. Firstly, the app doesn't work for drawings yet despite that, you'd need to use a steady cam to film the drawing to stop your shaking when you film the artwork which would add extra unnecessary steps and also cost because you'd need to pay for a steady cam to film the artwork. Also, the artwork made would need to be ginormous to get it into VR and this just wouldn't be time effective - it would take way too long. Because of this, I've concluded that Google Cardboard is a great platform if you're developing VR apps that you want to be accessible to a wide audience, however, it's not good for viewing artwork. It's a faff and would definitely not improve the current industry standard concept design process. Because of this, I'm going to look at alternate ways time-based media and Vr could help the concept art pipeline.Friday 18 November 2016
Yari Expression Sheet
Character Design Sketches + Moleskin double page
Yari sketching to get down more poses/movement and character through these elements. Thursday 17 November 2016
Environment Sketches
I think the obelisks are too level on the image but this can easily be changed.
Material Studies
Case Study: FZD Illustration & industrial Design
http://fengzhudesign.com/tutorials.htm
Design Cinema
Episode 53: Illustration & industrial Design
Illustration
Illustration produced directly for consumer
artwork = dollah $$$$
Funding = materials
client, advertising agency, book cover
end result is the artwork is the money
Artwork = money art tied together with money
Illustration direct to consumer
Painting is the result
final image has value
value is in image
image is final product
illustration is final product.
purely meant to sell artwork itself.
Industrial design
Main focus is not artwork but product itself
average consumer never gets to see artwork behind product the art is used for
average consumer cares less what artwork looks like
(ex: entertainment design industry)
average 2-6 month design (pre production)
product = money
consumer doesn't see art
consumer only cares about ipad, not designs of ipad. ipad designs would be destroyed and no one would care.
if original artwork is destroyed, value is gone.
Education
Illustration
evoke emotion
technical skill
develop own style
heavy focus on anatomy and figure drawing
different mediums
style is/can be defined by materials
experimenting with different style
experimentation
artwork is income
how do you make drawings look good/how do you make light look good when its fractioning through glass
how do u make cloth look good
Industrial Design
paintings are meant to show to producers/executives/guys with money.
what will film look like when its done
scenes help illustrate what final product may look like when consumer sees it
mean for pipeline, not consumer
rapid prototyping
easier for the next guy to see
unique style is not so important, clients paying for content not indevidual style
most schools teach common technique used in industry
design LANGUAGE very important
clients want a clear design
perspective, light particle, wavelength, what does blue light on black material look like - more sciency kind of
"have to work with a massive group of people. To make sure your design, once it's finished can move down the pipeline and help these nine hundred and ninety nine people, make it into a final product" - feng zhu quote
mass consumer focus
sell product to as many people as you can - mass market approach
Design Cinema
Episode 53: Illustration & industrial Design
Illustration
Illustration produced directly for consumer
artwork = dollah $$$$
Funding = materials
client, advertising agency, book cover
end result is the artwork is the money
Artwork = money art tied together with money
Illustration direct to consumer
Painting is the result
final image has value
value is in image
image is final product
illustration is final product.
purely meant to sell artwork itself.
Industrial design
Main focus is not artwork but product itself
average consumer never gets to see artwork behind product the art is used for
average consumer cares less what artwork looks like
(ex: entertainment design industry)
average 2-6 month design (pre production)
product = money
consumer doesn't see art
consumer only cares about ipad, not designs of ipad. ipad designs would be destroyed and no one would care.
if original artwork is destroyed, value is gone.
Education
Illustration
evoke emotion
technical skill
develop own style
heavy focus on anatomy and figure drawing
different mediums
style is/can be defined by materials
experimenting with different style
experimentation
artwork is income
how do you make drawings look good/how do you make light look good when its fractioning through glass
how do u make cloth look good
Industrial Design
paintings are meant to show to producers/executives/guys with money.
what will film look like when its done
scenes help illustrate what final product may look like when consumer sees it
mean for pipeline, not consumer
rapid prototyping
easier for the next guy to see
unique style is not so important, clients paying for content not indevidual style
most schools teach common technique used in industry
design LANGUAGE very important
clients want a clear design
perspective, light particle, wavelength, what does blue light on black material look like - more sciency kind of
"have to work with a massive group of people. To make sure your design, once it's finished can move down the pipeline and help these nine hundred and ninety nine people, make it into a final product" - feng zhu quote
mass consumer focus
sell product to as many people as you can - mass market approach
Artist Research: Sachin Teng
My attempt: This small amount of animation really brings an image to life and makes a concept more engaging.
Proposal Change
HIVE: Case Study
Case History/Background
Contextual Research:"Tools and software like Tilt Brush have the potential to revolutionize visual design just like Adobe did years ago. This new immersive artwork may pave the way to a new age of art." BIW Joural, Posted on May 16, 2016 by Abraham Matias. http://brandingironworldwide.com/journal/2016/05/google-tilt-brush-virtual-reality-painting/
"The Data Arts Team at Google was presented with the challenge of showcasing this experience to those without a VR headset, on the web where Tilt Brush doesn't yet operate. To that end, the team brought in a sculptor, an illustrator, a concept designer, a fashion artist, an installation artist, and street artists to create artwork in their own style within this new medium." Last updated October 21, 2016. https://developers.google.com/web/showcase/2016/art-sessions
There has been a VR exhibition is San Francisco. June 13th 2015.
Video captured from the event - Watch artists paint in VR: https://virtualart.chromeexperiments.com/#/artists
"Tools and software like Tilt Brush has the potential to revolutionize visual design just like when Photoshop and Illustrator did years ago." https://virtualrealityreporter.com/tilt-brush-virtual-reality-painting-art-exhibition-world-first/
"Every archetect will soon design using 3D goggles. According to designer and visualiser Oliver Demangel, who beleives that virtual archetecture will be as convinceing as the real thing within 5 years."
"Demangel predicts that archetects and designers will be designing using VR tools within a few years and sending clients virtual models of their projects so they can walk through them wearing a VR headset."
"Probably the two mains problems will be addiction and isolation"
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/04/27/virtual-reality-architecture-more-powerful-cocaine-oculus-rift-ty-hedfan-olivier-demangel-ivr-nation/
Historical Research:
Panoramic Paintings
nineteenth century panoramic paintings were made to fill the viewers entire field of vision, making the viewer feel present in the scene.
1838 - Stereoscopic photos and viewers
"In 1838 Charles Wheatstone’s research demonstrated that the brain processes the different two-dimensional images from each eye into a single object of three dimensions. Viewing two side by side stereoscopic images or photos through a stereoscope gave the user a sense of depth and immersion. "
(Virtual reality society).
Principles of stereoscope today are used in popular google cardboard and low budget VR head mounted displays for mobile phones.
1929 - Link Trainer The First Flight Simulator
Edward link created the "Link Trainer" (patented 1931)
First commercial flight simulator, entirely electromechanical.
"It was controlled by motors that linked to the rudder and steering column to modify the pitch and roll. A small motor-driven device mimicked turbulence and disturbances. Such was the need for safer ways to train pilots that the US military bought six of these devices for $3500. In 2015 money this was just shy of $50 000. During World War II over 10,000 “blue box” Link Trainers were used by over 500,000 pilots for initial training and improving their skills." (Source: Virtual reality society).
1930's - Science Fiction story predicted VR
"Pygmalion's Spectacles" by Stanley G Weinbaum - contains the idea of a pair of goggles that let the wearer experience a fictional world through holographic's, smell, taste and touch. In hindsight, the experience is very like VR.
1950s - Morton Heilig's Sensorama
Arcade-style theatre cabinet that would stimulate all the senses, not just sight and sound.
Features:
- Stereo speakers
- stereoscopic 3D display
- fans
- smell generators
- sight
- sound
- vibrating chair
Meant to fully emerge the individual in film. Six short films were invented which he shot, produced and edited himself.
1960 - First VR head mounted display
non interactive film medium without motion tracking.
1961 - Headsight,First Motion Tracking HMD
Used for remote viewing of dangerous situations by military. head movements control remote camera allowing viewer to look around an environment.
1965 - The Ultimate Display by Ivan Sutherland
A paper that described a blueprint for VR Today:
"“The ultimate display would, of course, be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. With appropriate programming such a display could literally be the Wonderland into which Alice walked.” – Ivan Sutherland
1968 - Sword of Damocles
First head mounted display connected to computer not a camera. Too heavy for any user to wear however as it was very large and suspended from ceiling. User would need to be strapped into device.
1969 - Artificial Reality
In 1969 Myron Kruegere a virtual reality computer artist developed a series of experiences which he termed “artificial reality” in which he developed computer-generated environments that responded to the people in it.
1991 - Virtuality Group Arcade Machines
layers would wear a set of VR goggles and play on gaming machines with realtime (less than 50ms latency) immersive stereoscopic 3D visuals. Some units were also networked together for a multi-player gaming experience.
1992 - The Lawnmower Man
Real virtual reality equipment from VPL research labs was used in the film and the director Brett Leonard, admited to drawing inspiration from companies like VPL.
1993 - SEGA announce new VR glasses
The wrap-around prototype glasses had head tracking, stereo sound and LCD screens in the visor. The device stayed in the prototype phase due to technical difficulties however.
1995 - Nintendo Virtual Boy
A commercial failure despite price drops. The reported reasons for this failure were a lack of colour in graphics (games were in red and black), there was a lack of software support and it was difficult to use the console in a comfortable position.
1999 - The Matrix
The film features characters that are living in a fully simulated world, with many completely unaware that they do not live in the real world. Film brought VR into the mainstream.
Virtual Reality in the 21st Century
With the advance of modern technology, a new form of time-based media has emerged in the form of virtual reality. It's popularity obvious through the rush of companies like " Microsoft with its Hololens, Oculus with its Rift, the HTC Vive, and even PlayStation and Magic Leap with their unreleased headsets... trying to patent anything that might be patentable."
Info taken from: http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/history.html/and/or/my proposal research
Questions/Issues
Cost.
Time.
Resource.
How effective does it need to be/what points/positives/attributes does it need to surpass a process/method already in place in industry?
Time.
Resource.
How effective does it need to be/what points/positives/attributes does it need to surpass a process/method already in place in industry?
Analysis/Discussion
My attempt above.
Practical augmented reality
controller mimics gestures of painting
great for creating concepts that could be sent to clients and viewed in 3D
controller mimics gestures of painting
great for creating concepts that could be sent to clients and viewed in 3D
Meeting With Industry professional, Chris Kelly, Web and Data analyst, DC Thompson
I joined the Abertay Careers mentoring scheme as I thought that getting paired with an industry professional would benefit me in developing my organisational skills, self-confidence, presentation skills and would prepare me with other skills/abilities to prepare me for the working world in general. Through this program I hoped to benefit by being more prepared for employment. By being exposed to an industry professional, I would become aware of how I would be expected to conduct myself in the workplace. In addition to this, I would benefit from the experience of a person currently in industry who could help me with developing skills or traits I may not know that I need to have/work on. This would give me a head start when looking for a job.
Firstly I would like to work on my online presence. A lot of my work will/could be freelance and on a contract-basis. because of this, how I conduct myself online is very important as this behavior will give an initial impression of how I conduct myself to prospective clients. Secondly, I would like to develop my presentation skills. Being able to present myself and being able to give the impression that I am confident and knowledgeable will help me in industry. Thirdly, I would like help developing my proposal and dissertation. I would like to know whether the topic I am looking at will help me in industry. I would also like to know what programs/software/skills that are used in industry so I can incorporate them into my work.
Currently, I am a university student (honours year). I have had experience with part time work and presenting to clients in third year through professional project. I currently have resources (lecturers) inside of university, and facilities like HIVE that can help with the development of my project however being partnered with a mentor and being able to experience a work environment through on-site visits will be very valuable to my development. This is because a work environment is very different to a university environment.
Problems that might occur to prevent me from achieving the best result in this scheme could be:
We arranged a first meeting and these are my notes:
Main points I was given that will help with my proposal:
Firstly I would like to work on my online presence. A lot of my work will/could be freelance and on a contract-basis. because of this, how I conduct myself online is very important as this behavior will give an initial impression of how I conduct myself to prospective clients. Secondly, I would like to develop my presentation skills. Being able to present myself and being able to give the impression that I am confident and knowledgeable will help me in industry. Thirdly, I would like help developing my proposal and dissertation. I would like to know whether the topic I am looking at will help me in industry. I would also like to know what programs/software/skills that are used in industry so I can incorporate them into my work.
Currently, I am a university student (honours year). I have had experience with part time work and presenting to clients in third year through professional project. I currently have resources (lecturers) inside of university, and facilities like HIVE that can help with the development of my project however being partnered with a mentor and being able to experience a work environment through on-site visits will be very valuable to my development. This is because a work environment is very different to a university environment.
Problems that might occur to prevent me from achieving the best result in this scheme could be:
- Personal/professional differences with my mentor that we don't work had to overcome.
- Me not putting in the work/doing enough work. This would stop my mentor helping to their best ability because I don't have enough content for them to work with/I'm not acting on their advice/making the most of the process.
***
I found out via email form the careers office that my mentor was Chris Kelly from DC Thompson.We arranged a first meeting and these are my notes:
- Main program used in his offices/for artists at DC Thompson is photoshop
- I shouldn't link my personal twitter to my Behance account, make a separate twitter/private my personal twitter. Only post positive things because thinks could be interpreted to make me look unreliable/lazy when this isn't true.
- My wordpress/online portfolio needs improving to make it look more eye catching/noticeable. He said people in his office can help with this.
- He said i need to be clearer about the area of art I want to go into so I can better prepare myself for applying for a job in this area. He said he would be able to get me into DC Thompson to see the different departments/shadow artists to see which areas I was interested in.
- He said he would be able to help out in developing my organisation skills. He advised that I plan my work week to week rather than day to day so if something comes up my plans are not entirely thrown off and I can move them around. (I can put this advice into real effect when planning my time in my proposal for my second semester project.)
- He said he can help also with my presentation skills. He presents regularly in his job and sometimes has only five minutes to prepare for a presentation. He says the key is to be able to present yourself as if you know what your talking about and he can help me learn this.
- He also said I will need to develop my interview skills and will set me up a mock interview with him and also the art director at DC Thompson to give me interview experience/advice.
Main points I was given that will help with my proposal:
- Concentrate on VR Painting to 3D print (Tilt brush to 3D model).
- "How do emerging technologies effect concept art & its application?" - Rather than just focusing the question on VR.
- Look at (Chanel?) Fashion Mirror.
- "emerging technologies" could constitute old technologies used in a new area of the first time.
- What does a new technology need to have/what does it need to be in order for it to surpass something/a technology or process already in place in industry.
- What are the obstacles? Cost/Time/Resources?
Concept Art: Working to a Brief
Deecon, the Dundee comic convention, put out a competition to design a mascot for the 2017 con. I thought this would be a good design exercise because it would make me work to a brief someone other than myself has set and this would give me insight into worikng in the traditional concept design pipeline as concept design is visualizing an idea given to you by someone else. I did several iterations of colour palette as the set colour palette was difficult for me to work in the yello/burgundy colours were hard for me to incorporate into the design. Eventually i ended up submitting two versions 1 & 2 to give the competition moderators more choice - especially as they were asking for a concept not a final design, this would allow them to consider different colour schemes when viewing my entry.
Concept Art Pipeline Charts
Tolkein Inspired Environment Concept Ideas
Case Study on World Building: Tolkien
Tolkien's story world has depth and detail that is arguably unparalleled by any other fantasy series; to the extent that in 1997, "The Lord of the Ring's" was chosen as "the greatest book of the century by British Readers".(Pu, 2012) Because there is no better example of world building than Tolkien's Middle-earth, it's important to analyse why Middle Earth proved so successful if the narrative technique that Tolkien applied in making a successful fantasy world, is to be re-applied to world building in Concept Design. Catherine Butler notes that "Tolkien makes repeated use of English place names in his work, with a substantial number deriving from the countryside near Birmingham (where he grew up) and Oxford (where he lived as an adult)".(Butler, 2014) The grounding of Tolkien's fantasy in reality, is arguably the reason why Middle Earth is such a believable world. Tolkien himself mentions in his essay "On Fairy Stories" that imagination is often regarded more highly than image making, and so there is an attempt made to restrict aspects of reality within fantasy.(Tolkien, 1983) However, it is a sense of the mundane in Tolkien's work that gives Middle Earth such engaging realism. In "The Lord of the Rings" he writes:
"The trees do not like strangers. They watch you. They are usually content merely to watch you, as long as daylight lasts".
His personification of the trees alone creates an uncanny atmosphere, however, once the reader becomes aware that the real-world Moseley Bog was used as inspiration for the scene(Middleton, 2007) the imagery becomes that much more powerful. The readers ability to visit the bog, or an area similar, and experience the atmosphere first hand only makes Tolkien's "Middle Earth" more immersive.
While Tolkien believed that a sense of the mundane could aid world-building, he also believed that drama was naturally hostile to Fantasy.(Tolkien, 1983) In the modern day, Tolkien's definition of drama, as something that is visibly and audibly acted, could easily be applied to films and games within the entertainment industry. His opinion was that, in drama, the viewer was "likely to prefer characters, even the basest and dullest, to things. Very little about trees as trees can be got into a play." (Tolkien, 1983) This is a valuable insight into the design of media, and it highlights the need for a heightened awareness when world-building. Modern technology allows designers to create immersive environments like never before, so a strong sense of environment design could help develop a unique world that isn't hostile to audience engagement with the landscape.
