For the Praise the Material piece which I was working on heavily last week, I have created a wooden MDF top which not only masks the projector outline within the setup, but also heavily strengthens the whole setup, allowing it to support objects and usage much more easily. With some paint and work, it would look really crisp and ready for exhibition.
As part of the preparation for the exhibition, we also came up with final poster and social media material for publicity purposes. We decided to go with a really neutral design due the mixed nature of our work and let the artwork speak for itself when people arrive at the garage space.
Also continuing with my runway experiments, I have begun to try and explore other ways to generate images of my face, to express the materialistic way we approach digital devices without even realising it. I have cropped all the images of my face which I previously ran through runway in order to see how it will alter the output when the model is trained on an existing face recognition and drawing model. Previously the outputs came out quite frightening so it will be interesting to see how much more real the cropped versions may look.
I have also began to attempt to use photogrammetry to model my head in 3D space, so I can attempt to create a bust based upon the previous runway output of my face which really fascinated me. I want to try to recreate this both manually and by automated processes to see the difference again between what we see and how the machine views these ideas.
Here you can see the photogrammetry output came out quite glitched, with a huge chunky bulge coming out of the front of my face. I actually think this doesn’t matter due to the output which I am trying to create being similar, but find it fascinating how a computer which isn’t trained to comprehend faces can interpret them.
The changes visible just a third of the way through the initial round of training are already pretty striking. The way the characters have begun to be given rounder face shapes, and more pronounced teeth, along with glasses heavily reflects my appearance across the images.
Here you can see the finished gan which is possible even more scary than the previous one I created. The way the machine reproduces my face is really fascinating. Especially how obviously it is me now that I have cropped the image in. The version where I didn’t crop the images provided more interesting results in many ways due to the fact that they were less obvious and taylored for a specific outcome. I enjoy giving the machine more control over the imagery which it then generates. I think that following this process made me realise how important this randomness actually was.
I have begun to attempt to sculpt from this 3D scan which I created earlier. I haven’t included the glasses yet, but as these aren’t part of me, I am beginning to question whether or not I should actually make them part of the final object as they aren’t actually part of my body. However as the project relates to reproduction and materialism, perhaps they are important to the makeup of my face, and the vanity and materialism associated with the images as a factor of that.
Here you can see this model processed and rendered. As with most of the models I create, I wanted to test out materials with the model and see how each one would appear on it. I enjoy the woods, but because of the detail, all of the materials look pleasant on the bust. Perhaps I could actually fashion the bottom of a bust (a stand like section) as well as glasses onto the model.
Here I was exploring ways in which I could present this model in real life. The second video is a mockup of an idea, where I could project onto the surface of the object in order to repeat this machined, overproduced feeling that it could maintain, even when brought completely into reality. The whole feeling of a computer taking upon identity, and being able to replicate it feels rather ominous and freakish, and I want to convey that idea, alongside mocking human tendencies for reproduction and materialism.
Here I have created much more refined version of the model which I want to create in physicality. The addition of the stand and the cut more like a traditional bust, as well the as the glasses make the whole thing feel more refined. I also added more definition and depth to the face in order make it less flat, and to exaggerate the drawing the computer generated.
I then printed this small to see how it would look in physicality. I want to try to create a full sized version of it in order to project onto, but also to have a large scale version, which would include the glasses.
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