Thesis Blog - Week 5

February 25th

7 Days until Demo Day

74 Days until Showcase

This project has been rough. The worst part is managing the ambition and keeping the scope tracking at an appropriate level while still having everything including the narrative work well. This is going to be one hell of a week to get things in order.

I need to finish this fish circuit.

I need to work out a Touchdesigner script.

I need to get a voice actor to read 2 pages.

I need to collect and cut footage to fit my narrative.

I need to figure out how exactly I will present the demo.

I've been working through a pipeline for creative built environment projects that include program phase, design phase, and construction phase. These progressively move forward once the prior has completed. This project is different where several parts must happen synchronously due to time restrictions. So I have an unfinished script, half done electronics and sloppily scripted code. I am working around this by setting priorities of what is already set and frozen and carving out working areas around them. Does it work spread on a table? Yes. Does it look anything like the real thing? No,it's a mess of wires, protocols, and weird setups. Does it deliver a story? Maybe. I knew setting out this was ambitious and I'm starting to feel the crunch especially with a looming deadline.

I'm carrying a lot of pressure for the demo day because it will set the momentum to carry into thesis. If I can't get a decent working prototype by Monday. I won't be in a good spot to develop content down the road. I need to work on sets, props, interactions, staging, onboarding, offboard, media, marketing. Lot's of non-technical parts to enhance the project and they need time too. Including the thesis class work like writing my paper, assignments etc.

Honestly this all sounds doom and gloom but I am extremely excited. I am building a circuit for this fish that looks and fits great. I'm learning about voltage regulators and how to make my circuits better. I found a bunch of archival Y2K footage on YouTube that had me busting out laughing at Bobst library. I'm deep in the weeds of TouchDesigner but every hour I spend on a problem is producing more learning than any structured content has in the past. I have a party planned with a bunch of friends who work on broadway to workshop my script and get feedback before the demo day.

I can do this. I will do this. It will be done, by Monday.

That last part was for me.