This project is a 3D animated short film about trauma and conflict and how memories can stay with us throughout our lives. I made this film for my parents, who grew up in a conflict zone and experienced similar events. Following the main character's development from early childhood to adulthood, the film tackles how memories and past events inform our present lives.

Thesis

Significance

Advisor: Robert Laplante

Work:

-Blur Studios (CFX)

-DreamWorks Animation (Trolls)

-MPC (Dark Tower, The Mummy)

-Ingenuity Studios (Taylor Swift)

-CoSA (Swamp Thing, SHIELD)

-Brainstorm (Woman in the Window)

-Alkemy X (FOTWD)

-Framestore (Electric Hummer)

Animation Pipeline

• Interviews
• Analysis

• Scriptwriting
• Storyboarding

• Music
• Asset Development
• Visual Development

• Animation
• Compositing

Research

Story Development

Preperation

Creation

Methodology : Research

Interviews

Analysis

Categories

Methodology : Creation Stage 1

Story Development

Storyboarding

Storyboards

Methodology : Creation Stage 2

Music

Asset Development

Artistic Style

Methodology : Creation Stage 2

Animation

Editing

Loving Vincent

In a story depicted in oil-painted animation, a young man comes to the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.

Loving Vincent is the world's first fully painted film. They painted over 65,000 frames on over 1,000 canvases. 

• how to write a story based on real events
• respecting peoples experiences
• project management
• animation pipeline



What I learned

Challenges

• working with an untested blender add-on
• dramatizing people's real experiences
• timeline
• render times

Being able to understand my experiences, thoughts, and emotions play a huge role in how I take on life. Having time dedicated towards reflecting and documenting the past and present, (recent or not) helps me understand myself and my way of thinking. I also find it fun to look back on previous moments throughout my life, with seeing and appreciating the different changes and experiences that happen throughout time.

However, each day, week, and month, I "don't seem to have enough time" for those moments to get back in touch with myself. With the distraction of social media and the online world, it is now rare that I take moments for reflection and to just be present.

So when starting off capstone, I made the choice of creating a large scale installation to challenge my high fidelity physical protyping, along with allowing myself and others to take time for themselves in an interactive space.

Background

• Focusing on staying presents/ in the moment/ slowing down
• time for reflection
• time for yourself
• physical interaction with the space
• adding to the space
• creating/ visualizing your own path while seeing /connecting with others' paths (?)
• colorful - visual interest
• tactile - interactive interest/ curiosity (?)
• 

Personal: Why does it matter to me? Why did I choose this?

intro

• too much time wasted/ spent on my phone/ Instagram
• wanting to take more time each day for reflection
• wanting to take time to record the happier good moments that happen in the everyday life
• 

add picture here :>

add another sentance about/ introducing making a larger installation

alsos people to pause and reflect

This is why I decided to focus my capstone on an interactive exhibition that would allow people to reflect on their life journey and be in the present moment.

Research Says...

Memory

Emotions

Experiences

In this process I started to dig deeper into research to better understand the effect of our current culture on youth mental health - social media bla blah- and how memories are formed and how it connect with emotions

• Emotions:
• decreases emotional well being with over consumption/ other
• Memory:
• can decrease the strength of holding onto memories - especially when getting older in age
• over usage of phone/ social media etc also takes away time for creating more core memories and experiences

Paula as my advisor, - creating goals / pinpointing design elements etc

shes a deisgn coach from nuvu that helped me with my concept development

john with the fabrication production

Picture of John

Advisor & Special Thanks

Paula Garza Gonzales

John Mendizabal

Design Coach

Physical Fabrication

Wonderspaces - Austin TX Looking for Inspiration

Path Patterns is an interactive and immersive installation that encourages people to reflect in the present moment. The installation is based around us living in a fast-paced culture and fosters people to get back in touch with themselves and their surroundings.

The user chooses a colored yarn and weaves their own visual representation of their path that brought them to who they are today. Users start their weaving in a panel and wall of their choice, and add as much of a design as they want. Their choice of color and visual exploration will help them further reflect on their paths and how they interact with others'.

Project Statement

• focusing on staying presents/ in the moment/ slowing down
• time for reflection
• time for yourself
• physical interaction with the space
• adding to the space
• creating/ visualizing your own path while seeing /connecting with others' paths (?)
• colorful - visual interest
• tactile - interactive interest/ curiosity (?)
• path/ path in life

• encouraging thoughtfulness, staying in the moment, and reflection

where people are reflecting on a memory and representing it through threading and weaving in a panel.

What to prompt people with? reflective question

 installation's form

interactivity of people

Elements of Design

- User & Form -

user and form

Installation Form/ Visual Structure

User Interactions With The Space

User Experience & Reflection

form= organic vs orthogonal, be intrigued by the visuals

user experience = reflection prompt, talk about all the iterative prompts, have fun

user interactions = how are people entering the installation, moving, interacting with one another, pause staying in the moment, be immersed

(Physical experience vs mental experience)

[more sketches/ structure ideas]

say "why" about each sketches/ how did i do that with the sketches

Prototype 1

(oragami boxes)

[more sketches/ structure ideas]

sketch model

Material / Form Finding

Form Tests

prompts - (add sample of journal?)

Data Collection Prompts

• Sketching "small" things I notice or experience throughout each day
• What are

• joy
• gratitude
• openness

Prompt Iteration 1:

What’s a moment in your life that you appreciate?

(Something/ someone you cherish, something that someone did for/ with you, a core memory, a collection of moments, etc,)

Prompt Iteration 2:

Reflect on your day-to-day, what is something that you might take for granted but makes your day a little brighter?

Final Prompt:

Think about the path you took, today or the path that you have taken over time to bring you to this moment. “As you weave your path, think about the people you encountered, the feelings, and special moments.” Be thoughtful with the colors and shapes you create, reflecting your journey and others’ paths.

…or just play around with creating different shapes with various colors!

Elements of Design

- User & Form -

Installation Form/ Visual Structure

User Interactions With The Space

User Experience & Reflection

after figuring out these 3 pillars of design for the project, I then moved on to the final concept and fabrication phase

Small Scaled Prototype

Final Construction Process

final photos

Thank You!

Capstone 2024 Final Review || Lalita Bellach

Capstone Timeline

Research

Outreach

Observations

Brainstorming

Refining

Final Presentation

I spent ten years in a Montessori classroom and I loved every second of my time there. Throughout the years, I learned important building blocks that make the foundation of who I am today. Now, in my final year at NuVu, I love looking into the innovations of technology and how they can benefit the world. This project is the crossroads of two components that are very important to my life: my Montessori education and my love for pushing the limits of what's possible.

Inspiration

Importance

• This year's American Montessori Society's annual conference main theme was Artificial Intelligence

• Future technologies will play a large part in our future, we need to prepare future generations to excel in that world

• If used in the right setting it can help students develop important cognitive skills

Literature Review

• The 4PADAFE instructional design matrix illustrates a practical application of AI in education, enhancing understanding and engagement through personalized assistance.

• Generative design utilizes AI to enhance human creativity rather than replace it, fostering innovation across fields.



• "If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom."

Emphasize the point that there were doubters of Montessori, and there are now doubters of AI and future technology, but they will be proven wrong like the doubters of Montessori cirriculum

What Is Montessori?

• Teachers are Facilitators
• Freedom to Explore
• Hands-on Learning

Why Technology Doesn't Fit

• Focus on Physical Materials
• Freedom Within Limits
• Direct Interaction with Environment

Outreach

Blake Johnson

Multi-Faceted

Storytelling

Impressionistic

Concrete

Starting Points

Mr. Bob

• Tech Educator
• Always excited about Tech
• Taught Me!!

Pins

Interactive Blocks

Student Identifier

Interactive Display

Brainstorming

Using AI adaptively

Interactive Digital Display

$$$

Too Digital

Multifaceted

Story Telling

Augmented Reality

What About AR?

• Look at existing technology in the classroom
• How is technology being used? Independent or collaboratively?
• How do the teachers feel about it?

WWF Free Rivers AR Game

Questions For Observations

Classroom Observations

Montessori

Technology

Teachers

• Almost everything is learned through discovery and observation
• The open environment encourages self correction

• There is a physical component in every lesson
• Everything is reinforced with reflection/debriefs

• Technology is used to experience the impossible
• Teachers use technology to reinforce what is being learned with physical materials.

Re-Framing

Montessori

Technology

Teachers

Discovery & Exploration

Experience The Impossible

Physical Components

Augmented Reality

"Experience The Impossible"

Sketches

Mocking Quick Prototype

Wireframe

Wireframe

More Interaction!!

More Immersive!!

Material Design

3D Modeling

Object Detection

AR Functionality

3D Modeling

Animation

Design

Material Design

Material Design

Object Detection

AR Functionality

Combining Components

Sorry Maria Montessori

Realism

Collaboration

Thank You!!

Sue Angelides 

Krista Bartolome

Anna Dubrowski

Nada Elsonni

Kari Frentzel

Keenan Gray

Isabel Jacobs

Blake Johnson

Masha Karbovskaya

Rob MacDonald

John Mendizabal

Isa Murray

Amy Neale

Laura O'Leary

Annu Radha Kumar

Sammy Sass

Keith Schacht

Katelyn Shore

Robert Sisson

Matt Stalberger

Hunter Stillwell

Diane Sullivan

Jon Turnquist

Elka Walter

Inspiration

Background

• Change and growth result from taking risks and engaging in life experiments.
• The brain learns best when actively engaged and working, according to research from Princeton and Indiana University.
• Effortful learning signals deeper and more durable knowledge, enhancing the effectiveness of the learning process.
• Effective learning involves identifying knowledge gaps, practicing application, and synthesizing learned information for a comprehensive understanding.
• Mentors can encourage artists to step out of their comfort zone and take creative risks. as well as challenging them to explore new themes and ideas in their art.
• We can observe a shift in our thinking and creative expression when working in new mediums.

Mentorship

Mediums

Scale

Joan Hanley

https://hanleystudio.com/

Methodology

Medium Selection

Practice & Planning

Execution

• Create multiple works using different mediums
• Gain familiarity with the mediums I may use (gouache, acrylic, oil)
• Pick a medium to use for my final

• Brainstorm ideas for the final piece through sketches and fast paintings
• Further practice my mediums

• Use my sketches to guide the process of my final work
• Paint big

Review

Medium Selection

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