Thought Process is a virtual environment created to be explored. The concept comes primarily from an animation I created in 2006 by the same title. The animation went through a series of shots that focused on fruits as a metaphor for thoughts that grew from nothing and were transformed in to something. The environment I created consists of four rooms that explore many of the concepts I used in my original animation, but in a 3D environment that can be explored. Where my original animation was a fast-paced journey through the mind, this environment is a single moment frozen in time. This allows the viewer to explore the environment at whatever pace they please, without becoming overwhelmed by the chaotic nature of my visualization of the thought process.
Because I had explored this concept previously, I already had an idea for some of the visuals. For instance, in the first room, the large tree was a primary component of the animation, and I wanted it to be a focus of this piece, since it is the origin of the fruit that is used throughout the piece. In the environment I created, I chose to have the tree stand alone in a rather plain looking room to emphasize it as a single origin of the fruit. However, the way the bottom of the tree breaks through the ground and its roots grow somewhere unknown shows that it draws its life from other places, the way ideas are drawn from everywhere.
Original photo from sxc.hu by jacobaboyd
To encourage exploration of the environment, there are elements that lead the view from one room to another, and suggest a linear process going on in the environment. This encourages movement through the environment as I envisioned it, while still leaving the details of exploration up to the viewer. In the first room, the pipes carrying the fruits lead in to the second room.
Elements connect the rooms, encouraging exploration
This second room contains elements that were not in the original animation, yet I think it is perhaps the most interesting part of the environment. I wanted to create “black box” type machines, where things go in one end, and some things happen inside, and something comes up the other end. It’s probably obvious the primary function of the machines is to smash the fruit and extract the juice, but I believe there’s an element of mystery as to how parts of it actually function. The visuals for this room came from images scattered across the internet, as well as sketches I did before modeling the piece.
concept art.
reference photo from http://www.coffex.com.au/coffexfactory.php
My goal for this piece was to visualize what I consider an extremely complex and abstract concept – the process of forming and developing ideas. The environment created portrays only one idea of what the thought process might look like if it took place in the physical world. My hope is that the viewer might see this and consider how else ideas may be formed, and take a closer look at how things work in their minds. I believe that examining the process of how you form ideas can only serve to improve that process.