The issue of Virtual Material Handling, Haptic Response and Craft Thinking
I have recently engaged in a dialogue with Tereza Stehilikova, who is in the process of submitting her final practice based PhD project at the RCA, and is just about to go through her Viva. I met with Tereza at the recent Society for Animation Studies conference held at King's college London. I am really interested in how her research project in the 'perceptive' Tactile, supported by practice based experimentation and interviews with Jan Svankmayer may counter my own research project.
Tereza had a similar experience to myself in regards to her initial encounter with CGI technologies. She turned to forms of haptic, tactile and object animation to satisfy various elements of her practice she found lacking in CGI. She didn't revisit the CGI technology as I am currently in the process of doing.
I am beginning to question if there is a problem of 'virtual material' handling and if this can be better integrated into the creative process as an evolved form of thinking and engaging with virtual craft and virtual material processes. I am not necessarily relating this to a hybridisation of virtual and material forms as I believe this is well under way, or in terms of the human-computer interface design as I am sure this is currently in research development, I am questioning how we think about virtual material and if we can better integrate an approach to cgi technology and craft practices to develop a model of thinking about virtual modelling through the application of Craft processes and material thinking.
Tereza had a similar experience to myself in regards to her initial encounter with CGI technologies. She turned to forms of haptic, tactile and object animation to satisfy various elements of her practice she found lacking in CGI. She didn't revisit the CGI technology as I am currently in the process of doing.
I am beginning to question if there is a problem of 'virtual material' handling and if this can be better integrated into the creative process as an evolved form of thinking and engaging with virtual craft and virtual material processes. I am not necessarily relating this to a hybridisation of virtual and material forms as I believe this is well under way, or in terms of the human-computer interface design as I am sure this is currently in research development, I am questioning how we think about virtual material and if we can better integrate an approach to cgi technology and craft practices to develop a model of thinking about virtual modelling through the application of Craft processes and material thinking.
