Sound

I wanted an ambient background sound to create the atmospheric environment of a hot summer day. For this I used chirping birds and the sound of wind which are nostalgic for people. 

I wanted something simple, subtle, but easily recognisable for grass growing.

Sky colouring and clouds

I chose a full colour for the sky as I thought that the gradient would be too much and be too busy for the interaction.

I also made the clouds and tested what speed they should be at as to make sure that they are noticeable but not distracting. 

This shows a time lapse of how the clouds move across the sky and how many will be on the screen at once.

Falling grass

The speed of how the grass falls helps to relate it to real life wind movement so I investigated what speed was most appropriate. 

I didn't want it too fast otherwise it wouldn't be noticed enough, so I have slowed it down to allow the interaction to become more realistic.

I also tried to make it fall at an angle to make it seem as though it is moving with the wind. 

Cutting grass

Here it shows how the interaction now includes the cutting of the grass. 

Although it will be difficult to cut large sections of grass all at once, this replicates how difficult it is to cut grass in real life. 

I had difficulty getting the grass to cut from both sides and at the right amount of grass to be cut as well. However now I'm happy with how the grass cuts as the mouse is clicked as it seems natural and isn't too difficult.

Roots

Here I looked at the roots' colouring and thicknesses. The top ones show the chosen colour, which I chose because of the way it reacts with the dirt below it. Real roots are fibrous, meaning that I wanted my roots to be similar- thin, but visible as they grow.

Dirt development

This shows the progression of how I wanted the dirt to look.

 For instance, the first section shows the base one colour look, which is far too basic and wouldn't suit the overall interaction.

The second and third segments show how I was working with lerpColour and how it wasn't working.

In the bottom line I looked at the different colour progressions. These included gradients so that it seems more natural and realistic.

The first is too light as it detracts from the rest of the interaction and the last is slightly too dark which also takes away from it.

The second segment in the last line is a rich enough colour which I think adds warmth and overall is a positive addition/ accompaniment to the interaction.

Background images

Although the interaction will be solely focused on the grass and its effect on the environment around it, I also want to have other elements to make the scene more aesthetically pleasing and less boring.

I considered having things such as birds flying across the scene but they felt too busy and could detract from the actual interaction.

I also considered having clouds moving across the top, which I decided was a better alternative as it appears more seamless. 

Both of the videos shown above show clouds which I considered while coding my own. I ended up keeping the clouds quite basic as to not detract from the interaction and to make sure that I could focus my coding on the grass. 

This shows my trials of different opacity which I conducted to make sure that the clouds are visible but not distracting. I decided however that as long as the clouds are moving at an appropriate rate then the opacity makes little difference. Therefore I will choose the last cloud so that they are visible and just work on the movement