blooloop: They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The world of themed entertainment is no exception.
Visualization, the process of translating words and abstract concepts into something that can be seen, explored and evaluated, is one of the most crucial tools in experience design.
5 comments:
Visualization is such an interesting concept especially if you take into account the different ways that the theatrical industry uses specific forms. The differentiation between physical and digital forms of visualization is a divide that causes tension within our current process. The Scenic designer is required to both provide a physical model and a digital version. Both are used differently throughout the process but I think we're losing one aspect that the article mentioned. Visualization can be used as a reference to allow for decisions to be made. We tend to treat visualization as a thing that needs to be this and this alone but what it truly needs to be is the final product. Each element of a show can be constructed anyway we want as long as the final project looks the same as the rendering. The one part where this can become complicated is when a physical and digital model differ but that is why constant communication will always be needed.
One of the main things that I took away from this article is how helpful digital tools are for visualization in the modern age. Being able to quickly change aspects of a design without having to redraw or rebuild something from scratch is so important as more people join projects and deadlines get shorter. Something that stayed with me was when Ménard-LeBlanc said "The human creative judgement cannot be replaced." With AI being used in the workflows of large companies now, it is so important to keep the human spirit of design alive. Something that is completely AI will always feel a bit off to us, and that is not the feeling that stakeholders want brought into the designs they are supporting. Visualization is a creative and collaborative process by people, and that is one of the reasons why it is such a vital part of the design process.
There are so many ways to visualize everything in today's society. As the article “Visualization: from creative vision to buildable reality” describes, "the process of translating words and abstract concepts into something that can be seen, explored and evaluated" essentially means you can take anything in the world and extract a unique message from it. Translating concepts in the production world, from digital visualization to abstract ideas to tangible objects, is an incredible process. I like TAIT’s distinct turnkey approach the most, specifically their multi-phase visualization strategies where everyone is part of the full process, "from the creative directors to the production designers." Rather than relying on an isolated group of thinkers, everyone works together all at once to bring a sketch, draft, or 3D model into real physical life. I think that is amazing, especially because integrating everyone's input helps create something truly great.
Visualization is essential to our industry, and so much of our goal to create a high quality production rests on our ability to understand what it needs to look like and be able to do far in advance of when it will be in the space. A design team functions best when everyone is able to be on the same page and that often starts with visualization, and making sure that not only every department can clearly understand how they will impact each other, but also that the director and rest of the artistic team can see the artistic vision you are going for, it also helps achieve a more cohesive production. I’m really invested in this, because I have such a personal fascination with drafting and modeling software, and I have been really working on figuring out how to leverage different software to be useful for my workflow and in our industry. This is why I personally really like VectorWorks, because it has tools for each area, scenic, lighting, sound, and media. It has the ability to at the same time be a tool for artistic scene design rendering, pragmatic construction drawings, schematics for signal paths, schedules for lighting instruments, and so much more. Though it is not the only tool that can be used to accomplish this, and even I don’t love the idea of the industry becoming dependent on our tools, especially only a single piece of software, doing the communication for us, I do think that tools like can be a really good way to strengthen a team's ability to visualize a production, and encourage collaboration.
I found this article really interesting as it documents the early history and methods of visualization, and compares it to newer models of creating a design vision. I find it intriguing that we still use early visual models such as , but I understand the importance of them to develop key skills in design. This article also gave me a new understanding of visualization as a shared understanding among a group of people attempting to accomplish a shared design. I think that the use of 2D and 3D, digital and analog visualization are all extremely important in communicating your design to a group of people attempting to follow your vision. However, I still think that–like this article says–starting with a sketch or drawing is incredibly important prior to referring to digital models of visualization. Once finishing a sketch, utilizing 3D models to get an in-depth understanding of how you want your design to look is also important, as it effectively communicates your design in greater detail to your team or audience.
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