And after much discussion, we've finalized our storyline for the book :
Title : Owl, Fox and Dog goes on a picnic!
-------- Scene 1 ---------
Owl, Fox and Dog decided to go on a picnic in the field.
They met up in their neighbourhood, and left for the field.
On their way, they saw rubbish pile on the streets.
Owl : What should we do with rubbish pile?
Fox : We should just leave them!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should pick all the rubbish up and throw it in the dustbin!
Fox : It's just rubbish. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
Rubbish pile with start gathering itself and turns into a garbage monster and tries to eat them
[ Dog ]
Rubbish bin spills rainbow to the ground (with sound effect).
(might consider putting a reward system: gold/stars to be counted at the end of the story)
*Did You Know: Rubbish that are left exposed will cause a terrible smell*
-------- Scene 2 ---------
After awhile, they felt a little thirsty.
So they decided to stop by the vending machines to get some soda.
After drinking the soda, Owl is staring at her empty can.
Owl : What should we do with the empty cans?
Fox : We should throw them on the floor!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should recycle them in the recycle bin!
Fox : It's just a can. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
Vending machine throws a tantrum on the floor (because there's no more new cans), fox is
depressed because there's no more soda
[ Dog ]
Vending machine spills rainbow and gives them extra cans of soda
*Did You Know: There are not enough materials in the world to make new cans*
//////////removed//////////-------- Scene 3 ---------
Soon, they passed by a school yard.
There, they saw a baby panda drawing on papers.
Then, the school bell rang, and he left the papers behind.
Owl : What should we do with the papers?
Fox : We should make paper aeroplanes!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should pick them up and recycle them!
Fox : It's just paper. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
Tress are being cut down to produce more paper, including Owl's treehouse. *Owl
crying, Dog and Fox are helpless*
[ Dog ]
Birds form rainbow as they build their new homes on the trees.
*Did you know: Papers are made of trees* //////removed///////
-------- Scene 4 ---------
On their way to the field, they crossed the river.
There, they saw plastic wrappers on the river bank.
Owl : What should we do with the plastic wrappers?
Fox : We should throw them into the river!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should gather and put it in the recycle bin!
Fox : It's just plastic. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
River turns black and it shows Uncle Turtle is stuck because he couldn't swim properly.
[ Dog ]
Fishes jump out of the water forming rainbow and Uncle Turtle is waving happily with them
*Did You Know: Turtles likes to eat jellyfish. They die from eating plastics because it looks like jellyfish*
-------- Scene 5 ---------
They have finally reach the field.
There, they saw all the food wrappers scattered on the field.
Owl : What should we do with the food wrappers?
Fox : We should just leave them and begin our picnic!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should clean them up before we eat!
Fox : It's just food wrappers. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
A strong wind blows the food wrappers and they all fell sick the next day.
[ Dog ]
Sunflowers bloom, rainbows form and the other minor character joins them for a picnic.
*Did You Know: Eating in a dirty environment could make you sick!*
--------------------------------------------
We've removed scene 3 because we have decided that the layout for the pages should be one sentence for each page, because children from the age 4-6 might have difficulty trying to read paragraphs. And after separating the paragraphs to sentences, there are too many pages (children have short attention span, too many pages will lose their interest), so of all the scenes, we've decided to cut down scene 3. Besides, our book comes in series, in my opinion, I think without adding in too much scenes, children might want to read more, so this will keep them interested in other series.
Our first scene would take place in the neighbourhood in Rainbowland (Fox's, Owl's and Dog's homes)
Here's our first draft (I think we need to brighten up the scenes, it does seems a little dim) :
And Owl's home up close:
And our main characters :
We've started working on the first scene for our demo prototype and we've split the jobs among each other.
I did the illustrator work while Komal does the animating and Lai Yenn will be packaging them up in Metaio. We might switch jobs so each of us gets to work a little on each part.
We've discussed about the storyline and here is our current storyline :
* - story part still in discussion
Title : Owl, Fox and Dog goes on a picnic!
-------- Scene 1 ---------
Owl, Fox and Dog decided to go on a picnic in the field.
They met up in their neighbourhood, and left for the field.
On their way, they saw rubbish pile on the streets.
Owl : What should we do with rubbish pile?
Fox : We should just leave them!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should pick all the rubbish up and throw it in the dustbin!
Fox : It's just rubbish. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
Rubbish pile with start gathering itself and turns into a garbage monster and tries to eat them
[ Dog ]
Rubbish bin spills rainbow to the ground (with sound effect).
(might consider putting a reward system: gold/stars to be counted at the end of the story)
*Did You Know: Rubbish that are left exposed will cause a terrible smell*
-------- Scene 2 ---------
After awhile, they felt a little thirsty.
So they decided to stop by the vending machines to get some soda.
After drinking the soda, Owl is staring at her empty can.
Owl : What should we do with the empty cans?
Fox : We should throw them on the floor!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should recycle them in the recycle bin!
Fox : It's just a can. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
*Vending machine packs up suitcase and walks away (coz there's no more new cans), fox is
depressed because there's no more soda
[ Dog ]
Vending machine spills rainbow and gives them extra cans of soda
*Did You Know: There are not enough materials in the world to make new cans*
*-------- Scene 3 ---------
Soon, they passed by a playground.
There, they saw paper aeroplanes all over the grass.
Owl : What should we do with the paper aeroplanes?
Fox : We should make more paper aeroplanes!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should pick them up and recycle them!
Fox : It's just paper. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
Trees start crying as paper aeroplanes cut through them and falls down.
[ Dog ]
Birds fly across and forms rainbow and trees drop apples for them
*Did you know: Papers are made of trees* *
-------- Scene 4 ---------
On their way to the field, they crossed the river.
There, they saw plastic wrappers on the river bank.
Owl : What should we do with the plastic wrappers?
Fox : We should throw them into the river!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should gather and put it in the recycle bin!
Fox : It's just plastic. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
*River turns black and Uncle Turtle floats up on its shell
[ Dog ]
Fishes jump out of the water forming rainbow and Uncle Turtle is waving happily with them
*Did You Know: Turtles likes to eat jellyfish. They die from eating plastics because it looks like jellyfish*
-------- Scene 5 ---------
They have finally reach the field.
There, they saw all the food wrappers scattered on the field.
Owl : What should we do with the food wrappers?
Fox : We should just leave them and begin our picnic!
Dog : No we shouldn't! We should clean them up before we eat!
Fox : It's just food wrappers. How bad can it be?
[ Fox ]
*Food wrappers swarm around them like bees and contaminate them with germs and they all fell sick
[ Dog ]
Sunflowers bloom, rainbows form and the other minor character joins them for a picnic.
*Did You Know: Eating in a dirty environment could make you sick!*
-----------------------------
Actually this is the 2nd draft, the first draft, our lecturer asked us "Where did fox got more paper to make more paper planes?" I was slightly dumbfounded as I really never thought of that question before we created that scene's scenario. To me, seems like anything is possible in Rainbowland (The place where our characters lived in). We then settled that there was a pile of newspaper somewhere at the playground. However, after a few deliberations, I thought that children would thought that real paper planes can slice off trees and hence, they would actually make more.. So, after letting my group members know about my opinion, our decision is that we want to change the paper planes scene to drawing papers.
In out first draft, we were lacking on the entertainment value, so in this 2nd draft we added more "quirky" situations to exaggerate the scene.
As for scene 2, children might not be able to relate to real life work, so we've decided to change the vending machine's actions. Possible actions that we've discussed would be,
1. throwing tantrums.
2. crying and flooding the place.
In scene 4, initially we concluded that Uncle turtle would be dead (because we are trying to relate to real life situations).. but I think it is too much of a shock for children because children can't relate to death yet at an early age. So, we have yet to change that part to a better action.
As mentioned in the previous post, my group as decided to create an interactive eco-print book using AR.
Our target audiences are children aged from 4 to 6 years old. Basically, children would be able to see animated scenes of a scenario of a page. They can choose what will happen to a certain scenario based on their choices.
For example, the trios (the owl, fox and dog) encountered a scenario where there are litters on the floor. The owl would ask its friends what should they do. The fox would give a negative answer while the dog would give a positive answer. Then there will be two icons of the fox and dog at the bottom of the page. (yet to be confirmed about the placement of the QR codes in a page) with two different QR codes next to the respective icons. Then, children would have to make a choice and scan one of the QR codes to see the consequences of their choice. They also can scan both QR codes to see the different consequences. It is entirely up to them how they want to read the story.
For this class, we are required to come up with an idea and prototype for our AR project. My group members are Lai Yenn, Komal and me. We did some brainstorming and came up with 6 ideas.
1. AR Board Game
2. Moving Photos App
3. Star Mapping
4. Know-Your-Environment Storybook
5. Winged Shirts
6. Sticker Tattoos
My idea was the AR Board Game and Moving Photos App. The AR Board Game is to let users play with an interactive board game, but the flaw in this idea was I do not have a solid idea for how will the game play work..and it is the most important factor in this idea for it to work. But no worries, for after my group discussion, we decided to combine game elements into our choosen idea.
My second idea appeared to be too much of a hassle for users. First off, users have to have a photo and the video that they want to play when viewing the photo. They also need to print the photo to be able to see the video. Come to think of it, it really does take too much time to just make an image move, for users. Some users may not be able to follow the steps right and the app would not work too well.. Perhaps somewhere in the future when technology is more advanced, I would simplify the idea more and developed from there..
My idea was the AR Board Game and Moving Photos App. The AR Board Game is to let users play with an interactive board game, but the flaw in this idea was I do not have a solid idea for how will the game play work..and it is the most important factor in this idea for it to work. But no worries, for after my group discussion, we decided to combine game elements into our choosen idea.
My second idea appeared to be too much of a hassle for users. First off, users have to have a photo and the video that they want to play when viewing the photo. They also need to print the photo to be able to see the video. Come to think of it, it really does take too much time to just make an image move, for users. Some users may not be able to follow the steps right and the app would not work too well.. Perhaps somewhere in the future when technology is more advanced, I would simplify the idea more and developed from there..
After many deliberations with our lecturer and within ourselves, we've decided to proceed with Know-Your-Environment Storybook and by adding interactivity bits into the book.
There are many environmental issues that we can include into the book, but we wanted it to be suitable for children, something that children can relate to. So, we did researches and finally decided to focus on one topic which is, recycling. After that we searched up on top preschooler books to be use as our reference.
1. Dr. Suess (design style)
2. Mo Willems (design style)
3. Harold and the purple crayon (storytelling)
4. Jane and Peter (storytelling)
5. Berenstain Bears (design style)
5. Berenstain Bears (design style)
We then narrowed down to Dr. Suess to be use as our primary reference.
Initially we wanted one main character to lead through the story, but after many deliberations, we've decided that a trio would be more suitable. As a trio can have a more interesting conversation rather than 2 characters or even one.
We searched up on different animals to be use as our characters. All of us named a few animals to be narrowed down. I suggested raccoon, rabbit, and some other animals. The animals I named are mostly neighbourhood animals as children see them often, so most likely they are able to relate to them. Initially, we've chosen Owl (the wise one), fox (the sly/naughty one) and raccoon (the kind and sensible one).
However, our lecturer suggested we go for a universal approach, which is to relate the characters with their personality. Come to think of it, I agreed that the raccoon does not match with the given personality which is kind and sensible. As a raccoon is more related to mischief and a scavenger. That was what partly I had in mind when I thought of using the raccoon. We then changed it to a dog.
Now, our trios consist of an Owl, a Fox, and a Dog. Initially, I thought of giving them names, but since this is for preschoolers, it would be great if they can identify the animals from their real species name first then only proceed to giving them nicknames. We wanted to include more educational element in the book.
After trying out Augmented Reality using Metaio, I feel that there's great potential in this technology. So many wonderful things can be done with this technology. I just need to do many more research to understand AR better.
When I first watched the National Geographic's AR's campaign, I've thought that wouldn't it be more amazing if we were able to feel the actual "texture" or feeling while touching the animals.
Here's National Geographic's AR :
So I searched up on feeling and texturing for AR and I found something known as "Haptics and Tactile Feedbacks". More can be read from : http://augmentedstories.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/haptics/
According to Helen Papagiannis (from the blog augmentedstories.wordpress.com), while she was wearing a Head Mounted Display (HMD) and using a Phantom Stylus (shapes like a pen) she was able to touch and feel the virtual object in front of her.
Senseg is a company that created touch technology (http://senseg.com/) where touch screens become like "Feel screens".
Users will be able to feel the texture on their smartphones, tablets, and other touch interfaces simply by touching the screens.
I feel that by combining this with AR, we'll be able to enhance learning experience by including the technology into school textbooks and so forth, people with disability such as blind, or deaf can use this technology to help them communicate. Even in the advertising world, such as clothing line, users can try on clothes virtually and feel the fabric before purchasing the product.
During the first week of class, I've learnt about a new technology known as Augmented Reality (AR).
Before I get to explaining about what I know about Augmented Reality, this class is about innovation and collaboration.
In my own understanding, innovation refers to recreating, improvising, renewing an idea or product or strategy to produce better results for societies' needs. Collaboration means to work together with others to achieve something.
After learning about AR, I searched up on the word "Augmented" to get a better understanding of the word. Augment means to make something greater in size or to enhance it. According to howstuffworks.com, augmented reality adds in sounds, graphics, smell to the real world in real time. AR display graphics from the viewer's perspective unlike many systems where it displays graphics from one point of view.
We were encouraged to have our own explanation of Augmented Reality. Here's my explanation (it may not be accurate)
"Augmented Reality is a concept where extra information is displayed overlaying the real world in real time."
Here's a video which explains it in a very simple way:
And Ikea has created an app to let you furnish your home virtually using AR :
