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Planning a world
First of all we explored the landscape designs possible with Bryce 4, a fantastic 3-D modelling program from Daz3D software. We then discussed the types of environments we thought our alien planet, Delta 7, should have. Then the 5 class groups developed their ideas about each region (the food & drink, religion, laws, etc.) Three locations within each region were then planned in detail. |
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Plotting the adventure
A basic plot
outline was then developed, using a prepared template, as shown
opposite. The red lines and circles indicate poor decisions and
dangerous situations, while the green show better choices. Although
this looks complicated, it meant players would have the opportunity to
rescue themselves from a bad first decision when entering a region. It
even allowed them to escape from the final dangerous situation,
although with only a 1 in 3 chance of doing so, and no possibility of
leaving with useful advice or a gift.The basic outline, complete with decision choices, was then expanded into a complete text on paper, then typed into the final web pages. |
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Storyboarding |
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Background scenery and object graphics Over several
sessions, we used Bryce 4 to develop the objects and
scenery needed for the locations. Individual objects (such as
spacecraft or buildings) were created by combining various simple 3-D
shapes (called 'primitives') and applying textures to them.
Final scenes sometimes used many separate objects, as in this elaborate palace scene. Sculpted landscapes and suitable skies completed the effect for exterior scenes. |
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Costume Design After
exploring paper folding techniques to find out what was possible, we
drew costume designs for the
alien characters of each region. We thought about the kind of clothing
that would be suitable for the region itself (whether it was hot or
cold, wet or dry, etc) and for the individual character (servant or
queen, guard or villager).
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Costume Making We then made the costumes during a whole-day session in the school hall, with some parents helping (Mr Rose says thank you very much to them!). We inked papers and card in the morning, then created the finished costumes by folding, crumpling and stapling the inked materials to a card skeleton. More detail was added the day after using inked tissue paper, and wire was used to create unusual headwear. |
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Photographing the 'aliens' Another fun day was spent photographing oursleves in the costumes with a digital camera, in front of a white 'cyclorama' (whiteboard, wall & white card on the floor!). This made it easier to digitally remove the background from the scene later on, using Serif PhotoPlus software. |
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Final 'compositing' Finally, all the separate elements were combined together using the photo software Paint Shop Pro 7. Each part of the image (background, each individual actor, trees, special effects) was placed on a separate 'layer' so that they could be adjusted separately. The images below show the stages of the process for one, relatively simple, shot. |
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| Return to Escape
from Delta 7 home page |
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