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

Stalk movement development

This demonstrates how the stalk move within the interaction once they had been developed further. I have added a random(); into the code so that a fifth of the stalk moves freely and constantly, giving the illusion of wind throughout the interaction. 

I think this works well because it allows the interaction to always appear alive, which correlates directly to grass and growth.

Dirt

To create a more realistic interaction and environment, I will add things like dirt.

Colour palettes from colourlovers.com which I found relating to dirt. I will incorporate these colours as they are representative of new growth within dirt and will relate well to the grass which I have.

These three images show how dirt can be represented. In my previous update of my interaction I added roots into the ground to add realism and looking at these images I have decided to try to refine this and focus more on its relation to the dirt, not the grass

Stalk change affecting overall

Here it shows how the stalk development has caused the overall appearance of the interaction less structured and more realistic. 

It also shows how I have developed the interaction to be more widescreen. This is so that it appears more like a landscape- which relates to how we perceive grass usually.

Stalk development

Original stalk chosen

Development:

The reason I will choose that stalk was that it represents grass in the most realistic way. However I have adapted it slightly. Singular blades of grass can be related to triangular forms of green in the simplest form. Therefore, for a stalk of grass, the most realistic way to mimic it is to use triangles layered on top of each other.

This is how I have come to the stalk below. When duplicated and placed together the overlapping of the triangles create a depth and the top shows how grass grows unevenly and sharply.

When duplicated it looks a lot more realistic and so I will attempt to use this from now on, changing and adapting when needed

Coding the stalks

These are individual stalks which I coded to decide which would give the best effect when multiplied and placed together.

Because stalks of grass, such as the one above, sprout many blades from one place I will try to emulate this in my code. Therefore I will discount the first stalk which I coded as it is too simple and more blades will represent a more realistic view.

As for the second stalk of grass, it is quite spread out and when made to grow by the user, could end up being too spread out to represent grass.

The last stalk shows many blades, but a lot closer together and also overlapping at the base. This represents the cluseters and darker parts which can be seen in the above photo. Also, when it grows it will still be confined within a smaller space, mimicking real grass growth.

For these reasons I choose the last stalk to develop

Straight lined grass

This illustrates how my current interaction is too straight and doesn't mimic the movement of real grass enough. It also seems boring and the user would quickly move on.

However it also illustrates how I have coded the grass to change colour as it 'dies'.
I will keep and develop this further so it is more relatable to real grass in colour and movement.

Stalks- research

Within my concept I am looking at grass for the inspiration and within this I feel that stalks will be the most maleable and interesting to adapt. They will give depth and movement that straight blades of grass will not.

Within the code I will have to make these as their own void so that I can use arrays to create multiples without reqriting line after line.

Reverting back

Despite looking at the different perspective of the grass I have decided to revert back to the horizontal seciton view. I've done this because at the moment it looks too tiled and hardly resembles grass, except in principle.

I also think that the code can be more interactive if I revert back to the way I had it. This is because it will more resemble grass and I can add other elements of nature within it such as the wind and how it moves it.

However I will try to incorporate some to the techniques which I used in the birds eye view perspective.

Change of perspective

I am now exploring the idea of looking at the grass from a different perspective. At present I am looking at the grass from a section point of view, but I will investigate how it looks from a birds eye view.

This shows a rough draft of how patches of grass will grow when rubbed.

I will limit the length the grass can grow otherwise it becomes less natural as shown above

These show some patches which were regulated to grow to a certain length, giving the illusion of mown grass. These could create a lawn effect which would be appropriate, however I would add an effect so that they died slowly to create more realism.