Project Chinook Evaluation

Meeting The Brief

The overall message that we aimed to portray when we started project chinook, was the
message that the environment is being damaged by the human race to the point that it may
reach a point in which humans have damaged it to the point of no repair, and in order to help
prevent this damage, as opposed to throwing away parts that you may conceive as just
scrap metal, to instead take those parts and experiment with them until you can upcycle
them to create something new or something that has a use. In this case, we decided that we
wanted to take an old world war two munitions case, which most likely would have ended up
on the side of the road or in a landfill somewhere and turn it into a PC Case. This concept,
would both upcycle it, which is one of the key parts of our concept, and also give it a purpose
that allows it to have a use for a considerable amount of time due to the fact that computer
cases don't degrade in the same way as components, and therefore it can be reused for
years to come and outlive any components which are put inside it. This is especially
beneficial when we consider the fact that computing seems to be taking up a large part of
our future. I feel that my work in the project, which was to create the 3D components and
build, alongside sourcing the components for the product, does to an extent communicate
that message. While my work 3D modelling and rendering the components does not, since
this is digital and I did not contribute towards the final design of the posters, I feel that the
work I put into sourcing the components did. Primarily, The container which I found for the
project, was purchased from Ebay, where it was being kept in a shed with very little purpose,
and having discussed with the seller what the plans for the container were if it was not sold, I
discovered was to simply throw it away. Secondly, while we were discussing components for
the system with our sponsor, Chillblast, I agreed with them that we should not receive the
latest generation of technology, but instead technology which was no longer going to be sold
within their systems, this saves these components, which may have just been scraped, from
going to waste sites such as Agbogbloshie, which I discovered during the research phase of
my project. Finally, while purchasing the fans and front panel for the system, I made sure
that these parts were also brought from Ebay, and from sellers who had previously used
these parts for their systems and were now moving on with them for example upgrading,
many of these small components can often be thrown away however more than always can
be reused, and that is exactly what I am doing with them within this project; recycling them
for a system and saving them from waste sites or dumps.

In order to target the audience for our project and ensure that we were pursuing the
appropriate design aesthetic, I created a poll on a website named Strawpoll, which is a poll
site allowing me to generate a link and poll which I can easily share and linked examples of
renders we had designed to this poll. These renders encapsulated a bold, however also
simplistic and attention grabbing style. I then posted this poll into discord servers which had
a wide demographic of users, such as the NZXT and Corsair discord servers and along with
these, these servers have a high count of users which suit our demographic, and this was
proved that the design style which we used to target our audience was appropriate.
In order to contribute to this, A selection of our instagram posts were promoted to a range of
audience variables and demographics, during these promotions, the promotion which was
targeted to our exact demographic, proved to be the most popular. This confirmed that the
design styles we were approaching were perfect for our audience.

I feel that in terms of aesthetic and technical qualities, my final deliverables are to a high
standard. Aesthetically, there are no issues with the geometry or design of the components
that I have modelled that subtract from aesthetic goals, and along side this, the models
which I created were all size accurate, this meant that despite being digital, if they were
transferred directly out of my screen and into real life, they would be the exact same size as
the actual item. This is a massive benefit when focusing on the technical aspects of the
product as it allows for myself and my team to create models which can be used for planning
of the final product to scale, and therefore allow us to create accurate measurements for
when we modify and build the final system as opposed to only being used for aesthetic
purposes.

Moreover, I feel that the design style my team and I pursued within the project was highly
effective and aesthetically pleasing. We first looked into creating posters which
encompassed the environmental design style and focusing towards that, however the more
we explored and created concepts around this we realised that this aesthetic was not
appropriate. In the end we pursued a 80’s style aesthetic. We realised that this style fit
perfectly with out project, and alongside this, it stands out from other design styles which are
used in the recent and professional, such as minimalism which seems to fill feeds on a range
of social media every day. An 80’s design style, is something that contrasts in a range of
ways, including style, colour scheme and layout to the average content seen in a social
media today.

During my project proposal and established within my role distribution chart which is under
the planning section of my site, I establish that I will be working on the following sections of
my project. Firstly, I worked towards the Web Design & Development, before moving into the
Component modelling and then final build of the system. I have successfully completed the
modelling of the components which will be included in the final system and alongside this, I
successfully designed and developed the website to a high standard. Unfortunately however
I did not manage to complete the final build of the system due to complications with shipping
and time management. These issues could have been avoided if my communication with our
sponsor regarding deadlines and timings had been clarified, it has however been agreed that
the system will be build post the completion of the design elements of the project.

Research & Context

While completing my research behind the project, I researched a wide range of topics. I
started by researching locations that waste related to our project may end up, so in order to
do this I researched a waste site called Agbogbloshie, which is an Ewaste dump in the north
of Ghana, I then moved on to research companies and artists that have created careers out
of the modification of cases and resources in order to create systems such as the one my
team and I set out to create. In the central segment of my research, I researched various
parts of system building that I had concerns regarding. Examples of this include the tools I
may need when creating and building the final concept and system, examples of other
people creating mods from scratch materials or unusual items such as jerry cans and finally,
whether I would need to do anything regarding the isolation of components to prevent short
circuiting. In the latter sections of my research, I look at environmental reports and upcycling
articles, along with research into the audience for my project. The primary section of my
research, which focused on the contextual area behind my project; The environment,
provided me with a stronger insight and understanding of where components and ewaste
ends up if not recycled and the damage it causes to the environment. This research gave the
project a stronger sense of meaning and provided me with added sense of motivation for the
project as I felt even though it was smaller I was creating a project which is still noticeable
and may make people think twice about what they do with the items they are considering
throwing away. This research has also made me consider the sourcing of components, as I
then realised that new components were not appropriate for our project but instead older
components should be used which will reinforce the motive that we are using materials
which the average person may consider to be junk. The later parts of my research; which
encompass researching the development of my project and how when it comes to parts such
as building the final product, provided me with a strong sense of what actually has to be
considered for a project such as this. While I had a large amount of experience in building
systems, I had very little with modification or creation of cases short of having to create
mounting solutions for graphics cards which were too heavy for their brackets and slots. This
research gave me a lot to consider when it came to the final design, and was one of the
most useful as without it I may have designed something which may have damaged the
hardware that we had been sponsored with.

I feel that the piece of research that was most essential to the product we were creating, was
the research surrounding other people creating their own cases and modifying cases.
Without this research, I could never have created the final build that I wanted to create and
there may have been damage to components which would ultimately resolve in having to
source new ones, which would have been costly and unprofessional. Secondly, however I
feel that the research into the environment and the damage that was being caused by not
recycling components such as the ones we were working with, was also highly essential, as
it provided a stronger insight into an area of the environment that while I was aware of, had
very little knowledge of.

Problem Solving

The main issue that I did not manage to resolve before the deadline, was mainly the quality
of my texturing which while not being the biggest of issues since it meant that my teammates
who were creating advertising and branding related assets, could create textures which were
appropriate towards the design they were working on.

The biggest issue which I overcame was one I encountered during the modelling process,
particularly when it got to the final rendering work. While exporting some of the components
models, I exported them as OBJ’s in order to simply distribute the models to both the scene I
had created in maya and to give to my teammates since this allowed them to import the
models into a multitude of software and not have to worry about a conflict in the lighting used
within scenes, however due to the way I had modelled various components, I had issues
where exporting as an OBJ would result in a “black hole” style of geometry in which sides
and faces would glitch into each other. This was resolved by learning use of the cleanup
function which is available within the “mesh” menu in maya. It also took a lot of puzzle work
in order to create the site in a way which was light weight and streamlined for end users to
run. These issues were mostly fixed by regular visits to stack overflow, a forum where users
can ask questions to a vast community of users who have a large amount of experience in
the world of development. I also used instagram pages dedicated towards various
programming languages such as CSS & HTML.

The main part of the design which I had to reconsider while working on the project, was the
placement of the power supply, the power supply is a large square shaped object, which fills
a large area of the case, however the issues with this was, that I planned on putting it on the
bottom of the case, however the biggest issue with this was that it would have blocked both
of the systems outtake fans, which is an inconvenience since it means that the risk of hot air
being collected within segments of the system would have been created. I solved this by
changing the planned orientation of the power supply in order to half the area that the supply
would have first blocked. This still blocks part of one fan however the fan is next to the grill of
the supply which improves the airflow as it is not blocked by the supplies case.

Progress & Learning

The first thing that I am pleased about my project, is the creation of the components that I
was responsible for. The graphics card in particular I feel has been created to a very
professional standard. When I placed this on a moodboard with other components which had
not been textured and therefore looked similar to mine, it took upwards of 45 seconds for the
people I asked in various communities such as discord servers and college to find my model
and multiple people got the incorrect model.
The second section of my project that I am pleased with, was my contribution towards the
design of the website, I created the primary frame for the site, using backgrounds from
games such as Outrun, and I feel I created an effective design, which was then completed in
a professional manner by Detroit who was working with me on this section of the project.
The overall design of the site is to a very professional and also unique standard which
matches professional work.

Finally, I am very pleased with the animation work I have contributed towards the project
with regards to the components. The animation of parts contributed to highlighting what I felt
was a professional standard of modelling work. I also feel that the time I put into the
animation was worth it and the animations have a professional finish to them despite at
times having frustrating render times.

I feel that there are definitely parts of my project that could be improved, primarily, I feel that
at times my communication skills with both my teammates and our sponsor lacked,
communication is an essential part of any project and sometimes, looking back, I feel there
were aspects which I definitely should have put a stronger emphasis towards in order to aid
the rest of my teams work, particularly since I had the primary concept for the project and a
strong idea of how I wanted the final product to appear.

The other aspect of my work that I would like to improve, is within the planning section of my
project, A lot of the time I planned to do one thing and in the end deviated from that plan,
and while this did not affect the project to a larger scale, if thought through properly would
have contributed to a larger time allowance for other parts of the project. For example, I first
planned to use other software that I was less familiar with in order to create models such as
using Autodesk Inventor, however when it came to the actual creation stage of my project, I
ended up resorting to tools I had more experience with as that saved time within the creation
process and eliminated trouble shooting.

Finally, looking back on the project, I feel that at times my management of time was lacking
and that I was looking to do things that were less appropriate towards the project or
sometimes I would get distracted by other concept routes that I could have explored.

I feel that the biggest project management skill that I gained through the work I put into this
project, was the management of time and communication. I established earlier that I felt
these skills were lacking, however now looking back on the project I have now learnt from
this experience what needs to be improved in the future and this experience I will definitely
use and reflect on in order to improve these two skills.

I feel that the design and technical skills which are most valuable that I have gained through
this project both revolve around the modelling of the components, firstly, I feel that the skills I
learnt from designing, planning and creating the models for the components are very
valuable. I learnt skills such as how to fix broken geometry in Maya, which could have been
a huge issue as at one point I had an issue where due to broken geometry I could not export
my model as an OBJ file as it would cause problems with edge loops. Secondly, I learnt how
to use various animation tools within the Maya workspace which were a strong contribution
towards my project and will be vastly helpful in projects I may want to complete in the future.
I also l;earnt methods to reduce the number of faces and complexity of my models.

If I had time to repeat parts of the project or the project as a whole, I would focus on my
planning stages of my project, since I believe that a vast amount of this work, while useful,
was not entirely necessary for the project and product that I had in mind, and due to this, I
wasted time which I could have put towards other sections of the project such as creation of
assets or developing the site.

Self Grading

I feel that the overall quality of my work is to a high standard and this is consistent
throughout my project. For the Context section of my project, which contains details of my
project such as Rationale, Concept, evaluation and a rough action plan, is to a strong level,
and I would award myself an 8 for this section of my project. For the research and planning
segment of my project, I would award myself a 8, I feel that I have strongly researched the
project and evaluated a strong range of sources which are linked to my work however there
are sections where I could potentially look into going into more detail. I would award myself a
8 for my final products, the reason for this is that I believe my modelling of the components
are to a high, almost professional standard, however it may have been appropriate if I had
textured and rendered the models in multiple styles in order to support my group for the
segments of the project where this is required.
I would award myself a 9 for my evaluation. I believe that I have gone into a strong level of
detail for this section of my site, and have written in a professional, clear and sophisticated
manner, while also explores the details of my project to a high standard.