Evaluation & Page Design Flow Diagram

Now the product is complete, overall, I am happy with the outcome of my interactive poster. There is a strong correlation with interface, colour scheme and sound to fit the theme of presenting futuristic technology. My aim was to have clean interactive experience with ease of access to information; as if it were to be used within an actual museum. However now I think back, I could have added some more variety in terms of animating and transitioning my menu page and objects without taking away from the theme of ease of interaction.

My favourite part of my poster would have to be the science museum section due to the page transitions and mapping of the exhibition rooms within the image of the actual museum. This interactive element adds more depth to the poster and creatively communicates information across to the user. An overall improvement I could have made would have been to use same page transitions found for the museum scenes and used them within the main menu and the future object pages.

The audio I picked within my poster was long searched for, as I wanted the most fitting sci-fi, technological sounds to correspond with the rest of my design. I used Audacity to adjust the sounds so that the clips all started as soon as the buttons were pressed and were all roughly the same noise level. I don’t think further improvements for audio could be made.

The Science Museum Page Development

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Once again I started creating the scene within Photoshop first.

I used the Pen Tool to make a selection around the museum and refine the edges.

I then  correctly sized the image and added some adjustments.

From here I used the square selection tool to crop the image 3 times, as show below.

Once this was done, I needed a hover effect. I chose to add an inner glow and a couple of other styles to produce a hovered image.

Each piece of the museum was then saved as an individual .png file, since they were being adapted into buttons.

Next I set up the tweening to give the effect of transitioning from one scene to another. It was fairly simple due to the way I prepared the images before hand.

Adding in the hover images onto the buttons.

The buttons were then given functions and linked to their correlating label/start position.

image for museum found on the science museum site: https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visit-us

Using Photoshop to Template and Scale the Poster

 

Background found from Free PowerPoint Background Images

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Once I decided the layout was ready to be imported into Adobe Animate, the images that were going to be transformed into buttons had to be saved as a transparent & cropped .png files as shown below.

Image Development

My Designs for the ‘Objects of the Future’ Exhibition

3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing within Industry

3D printing, now known as additive manufacturing is the process of creating three-dimensional objects by consecutively layering down materials until the object is formed. Any printed object is first designed as a digital 3D computer model. These digital files can be saved and shared so others can print the same designs.

The original focus for 3D printing was to take over the consumer market by having a 3D printer in every household; however, that didn’t pan out and now additive manufacturing’s aim is to take over industry operations. A Dubai-based start-up called Cazza states it can 3D print 200m2 of concrete a day by using a 3D-printing crane called the “Minitank.” It has produced results of a 50% increase in production when compared to traditional means.

The potential for this technology to change the way industry is massive and additive manufacturing is already being put to use by companies today, such as the industrial giants GE, Siemens and Boeing Aircrafts. HP also released its first 3D printer during 2016, called the HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution. This industrial printer was the first of its kind to print parts at 50 microns in size; the 3D equivalent of a 2D pixel. This technology enables the manufacturers to print a single part with various materials, colours, and to even embed electronics.

En.wikipedia.org. (2017). 3D Printing. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

3D Printing. (2017). What is 3D printing? How does 3D Printing work? Learn How to 3D Print. [online] Available at: https://3dprinting.com/what-is-3d-printing/ .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

HuffPost. (2017). Beyond the Hype: What’s Next for Industrial 3D Printing.  [online] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/vicki-holt/beyond-the-hype-whats-nex_b_14751106.html  .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

Forbes.com. (2017). 3d Printing will change the way we make things in 2017. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikescott/2017/01/25/3d-printing-will-change-the-way-we-make-things-in-2017/#23a57c8a310e  .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

 

Objects of the future: Cognitive Computing & IBM Watson.

Cognitive computing’s purpose is to solve problems by emulating the human thought process of thinking, reasoning and remembering. It does this by using a computational model to reason, act and adapt based on its past experiences. Cognitive systems can achieve this thought-like process by performing self-learning techniques like pattern recognition, data mining and natural language processing (a systems ability to understand language as it is spoken.)

The most current, well known & backed cognitive system is called IBM Watson. Watson is a Q/A system that allows users to ask questions posed in a natural language and receive precise visual or audible data. Watson does this by accessing it’s 90 servers, altogether holding a combined data store of over 200 million pages of information, which can then be processed against its six million logic rules to form an answer. This is how Watson can surpass a high-functioning human’s ability to answer questions. Over the last few years, it has been used within many industry sectors over the world such as Finance, Legal, Retail and Healthcare.

Despite the following, since it’s release, IBM Watson has taken some criticism over the last year due to its profit decline and ‘overhyped’ marketing approach in relation to Watson’s health care abilities. Bernie Meyerson, IBM’s chief innovation officer has tried to reel back Watson’s public expectations, saying it’s “just the first step on a very, very long road.” An example from Meyerson relating to Watson’s healthcare abilities states that if a radiologist looking through dozens of MRI images of the brain to find a tiny but deadly haemorrhage that could be as small as 4mm long. Machine vision has the ability to zip through the images and highlight any marks that look like a brain bleed for a doctor to examine. Watson doesn’t have a direct understanding of cancer like a doctor does, but it can help us see the signs of cancer, based on how it’s understood and talked about by us.

I do agree with Meyerson’s points, especially with the fact that technology like this will take time accomplish our expectations. Once the foundations have been set for cognitive systems, they will form a fundamental role in how we operate in our daily lives; so laying out the foundation and attempting to tackle this feat now is a step in the right direction to a more advance & productive future.

MIT Technology Review. (2017). IBM Watson Video Series – Watson Data. [online] Available at: Platformhttps://www.technologyreview.com/s/609490/ibm-watson-video-series-watson-data-platform/ .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

Fast Company. (2017). Can IBM’s Watson Do It All? [online] Available at: https://www.fastcompany.com/3065339/can-ibms-watson-do-it-all .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

iQ UK. (2017). Cognitive Computing vs Artificial Intelligence: what’s the difference?. [online] Available at: https://iq.intel.co.uk/cognitive-computing-vs-artificial-intelligence/ .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

En.wikipedia.org (2017). Watson (computer). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer) .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

WhatIs.com. (2017). What is IBM Watson supercomputer? Available at: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/IBM-Watson-supercomputer .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

Objects of the future: Augmented & Virtual Reality.

Firstly, I want to make clear of the differences between virtual and augmented reality. The two share very similar aspects, however, there is a core difference between the two. Augmented reality builds upon what would normally be perceived by displaying non-intrusive digital interfaces & graphics upon your vision. Augmented reality can be seen as a more enhanced version of our own reality. On the other hand, you have Virtual reality, a computer-simulated environment that is completely artificial. This allows us to explore places and environments that couldn’t be achieved in our own world. A good scenario that makes use of both devices would be in training application for surgeons. VR would be assigned as a training tool used prior to an operation; allowing surgeons to practice within a simulated world with no consequence. AR however, would be adapted into real-time surgery, as it could be used to aid the surgeon with necessary information or even real-time visual instructions for more inexperienced doctors learning on non-vital patients.

Only in very recent years, has the tech industry come to the realisation that Virtual and Augmented reality is becoming more consumer and market-friendly; especially with the rise in computational power and smartphone devices. Because of this, we have seen a larger increase in applications and games using AR & VR capabilities. Take Pokemon GO for example. This mobile gaming app utilizes a basic augmented reality mode that runs on the user’s camera and location. In this mode, the camera feed is directed on the screen along with a 3D projection of the supposed Pokemon found in that area. Another great example of augmented reality being implemented into an app and used by the masses, would be Snapchat’s camera filters added in late 2015. There have also been several consumer releases of Virtual Reality headsets in the years 2016-17 from a few large manufactures. These included Valves Vive headset, Facebook’s Oculus Rift and Sony’s PlayStation VR. These systems differ from the cheaper mobile VR devices, as they include a motion tracking ability via motion sensors. Improvements for the next generations of VR technology include cordless headsets which allow for ease of mobility and an increase in realism, as the user doesn’t have the sensation of a wire dragging across the floor. When referring to mobile VR, hardware improvements for an increase in frames and visual smoothness will transform VR into a leading platform for the masses.

In terms of impact on our future, I think these two pieces technology will be at the forefront, along with artificial intelligence like IBM’s Watson. Between the two, I would say augmented reality has a bit more to offer, simply due to its practicality of converging real-world visuals with an adaptable digital interface. AR can be taken advantage of in many different work scenarios, especial in mechanical engineering and manual labor. whereas I can only see VR working in environments that require a fully simulated space or for non-consequential training.

WhatIs.com. (2017). What is virtual reality? – Definition from WhatIs.com. [online]. Available at: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-reality .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

Wareable. (2017). Explained: How does VR actually work? [online]. Available at: https://www.wareable.com/vr/how-does-vr-work-explained .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

Reality Technologies. (2017). The Ultimate Augmented Reality Technology Guide. [online]. Available at: http://www.realitytechnologies.com/augmented-reality .[Accessed 1 Dec. 2017].

Culturally Significant Objects: The Printing Press

For my first post, I thought I would start off with a device that laid the foundation for our modern culture. Although having been used by Europeans during the mid-1400’s and in eastern civilizations such as China 500 years before that; Johannes Gutenberg revolutionised the printing press in the mid to late 15th century.

Prior to the introduction of the printing press into Europe; scribes under the church were the only people capable of writing texts and preserving them. This meant that the church had complete power over what information should be retained and what should be shared with the public. The later introduction of the printing press turned this power dynamic on its head, allowing for information to be mass produced, shared and eventually read by all.

I believe that for this reason, this single piece of technology has been the forefront of our cultures rise in individual knowledge and was a major catalyst in improving the process of shared information at the time.