Final project
Interactive Landscape
Objective
Create awareness about the importance of preserving mountain forests and the impacts of deforestation and farming. Users choose scenarios by placing a wooden model on a control board with a projector illustrating the effects of farming and deforestation on an interactive landscape model.
Credits
David Rios - Instructor, "Introduction to Physical Computing"
Mimi Yin - Instructor, "Introduction to Computational Media"
Harvey Gunjareug - Assistant in Coding and Debugging
Qiuyao He (Lois), Lening Hou - Videography and Photography
Created the water flow
num: A constant set to 1000, representing the number of particles that will be created.
noiseScale: A constant defining the scale at which the noise function will operate, influencing the movement of the particles.
angleOffset: A variable starting at 0, which will be used to alter the direction of the particle movement.
A for-loop runs 1000 times (the value of num) to create particles, each represented by a vector with a random position on the canvas, and stores them in the particles array.
Inside another for-loop, each particle's position is updated:
A random color and stroke weight are set for each particle.
point (p.x, p.y): Draws a point at the particle's current position.
Noise and angle calculations determine the direction of each particle's movement.
The particles' new positions are updated using the cosine and sine of the calculated angle, creating a flow-like movement.
Four Scenarios
Audios
"In mountain forests, tree canopies absorb rain, protecting the soil from erosion, while roots soak up water to prevent landslides."
“Mountain forest farming increases landslides and floods, impacting villages and disrupting nature's balance as trees, vital for rain absorption, are lost.”
“Deforestation, or cutting down trees, really hurts the environment. It destroys the homes of many animals and plants, leads to more floods and soil being washed away because trees help keep the ground stable, and makes the weather more extreme.”
“Restoring forests by allowing them to regrow naturally is a slow process, but it's highly beneficial for the environment. It's not just about increasing the number of trees. While it takes about 10 years, much longer than it takes to cut them down, this approach is valuable for preserving biodiversity and preventing flooding and landslides.”
Interaction
User Interaction and Audio Integration
Interaction is key. When users place a wooden cylinder on the control board, it triggers the P5 javascript to display their chosen scenario, accompanied by explanatory audio. This immersive experience makes learning about environmental impacts more engaging and accessible.
P5 Javascript: Simulating Natural Phenomena
For an added touch of realism, I used P5 javascript to create water flow directions and flooding simulations on the mountain using flow field and Perlin noise algorithms. This added an interactive and visually appealing element to the project.