When I started this blog, I always wanted to be able to flip through each version of a painting in place so that anyone can see precisely what had changed. I had a good go at modifying the behind-the-scenes HTML that Blogger supports, but it was understandably limited. So you get this document-like report that is not very interactive. It was always on my mind that I would fix this, but this would take putting together my own website. Could I be bothered? It turns out: yes, but only because I was also getting heavily into WebGL. Although WebGL has a 2D mode, the whole point is really the 3D stuff. As I am the proud owner of an Oculus Quest, I have the perfect viewer for a 3D webpage, but there is nothing to stop WebGL from being shown in a standard browser. So that's the background.
The first (and most obvious) goal would be to convert the pages in this blog into the 3D views. The problem here is that I want to flip through images in a real-world realistic kind of way. So I picked on the idea of projectors. Here's how it looks at the moment:
This is what I call the history room. It has two projector screens, one for the painting and the other for the description. There is also a pedestal on the right for an overview. The overview does not change so it's just a piece of paper. In this lights-on mode no picture is selected. However, the walls have all the paintings with history hung somewhere. Each painting is a link back to the history room with the painting selected. The lights go off and the projectors come on:
There's still plenty of work to be done: the projectors need legs, the pedestal lamp hovers in space, the projectors themselves are just boxes and worst of all the clicker on the table is just a mess. However, the basics are in place.
Although the stated mission for this blog is to reveal the insides of the (i.e. my) painting process, I am not carrying this over into the website as was. Having done so much to get the 3D up and running, I'm going to generalise a lot and add in anything that I think will look good. Yes, I will keep the art aims alive, but I want to explore the 3D generation in its own right. With that in mind, I need a separate a home (or landing) page. I fancy following the modern fashion and using a light-themed page. I decided on a room to give a self-contained starting point. Then I thought of the attic room that I used to live in during my PhD and this is the result:
This is a much sanitised version of it and the bed has been removed along with all the junk. However, it has a personal touch which makes sense to me. Lots yet to do here, such as a new mission statement and navigation help. Plus it needs an easel somewhere to hold my current work.
The first release of the website is getting close. Lots of bits and pieces done. Alas lots of time sucked into this:
However, the books work. I have also got the skin mechanism running, which I was wondering about skipping. I have verified the pages on Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and their equivalent on the Oculus. I have not verified on Internet Explorer: I just assume that it does not work.
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