The pace of life and the technological development is causing a moral decrease. It also causes the colors of life to fade, because as people we are forgetting where we come from and we are being urged to whatever technology attempts to substitute.  It is nostalgia for what is being lost in the fast and demanding pace of life and at the same time,a need for redefining the self.

“Nostalgia” illustrates a 3D visualization of the journey of the creator into herself in an effort to redefine her identity, looking deep into her roots and the people that influenced her life. This journey starts with an exploration of the outer space of the self, the universe.  Two hemispheres covered with a magical mixture of colors, surrounding her center, which is not the sun but the globe of her mind. Moving through the eyes of the self-portrait, one discovers a garden of flourishing thoughts and memories. While moving deeper into the globe, one discovers the place where she was born, Cyprus (Κύπρος [keepros] in Greek), her destination in this virtual journey.

According to Jackie Morie, VE should be able to provide experiences as rich and complex as those in real life. It should also be able to evoke emotional responses from those experiencing the navigation. In this wok I wanted to create a sense of exploration by presenting the items of the environment gradually, providing a different sense and experience in each viewpoint. The models are unfolding as one moves towards the virtual environment. The images are imposing and the combination of colors are  harmonic. To achieve these goals I tried to create different experiences for the navigators based on their location in the virtual environment. Specifically I structured my piece into three distinct levels:

Level one: “The outer space”

Using a previous personal piece, “The solar wind” I tried to incorporate the mystery and the beauty of the universe surrounding the individual. By incorporating colors, shapes and structures that one usually meets in snapshots of the universe, I wanted to remind the navigator how beautiful is the world around us is and also how small and insignificant one looks within it.

Level two:  “Self Portrait”

For this level I used a personal 3D face scan in combination with a polygonal shape. By giving black and white colors to the globe of my mind and my face, I wanted to show the industrialization and the alienation of one’s self and the fading of the colors of life. The only parts that preserved their neutrality are the lips and eyes since these are the instruments that enable communication with your our inner self. Through the eyes and lips we see and speak about what is out there but also what is inside us. Especially through the eyes; for that, the navigation into the mind starts from the eyes.

Level three:  “Inside the mind globe”

In regards to this level I tried to capture the complexity and randomness of the brain’s functions. Multiple pieces of information are processed at the same time and spontaneous thoughts are linked to in each other in a random but sensible manner. The information illustrated in this level looks like garden of flourishing thoughts and memories. Personal pictures were used to illustrate the memories of people and places from my home country and roots. For the flowers, the organic forms and the frames of the pictures I used polygonal modeling in Maya. For all of the shapes I started from a smooth cube and developed the forms by extruding faces and manipulating the dimensions of the objects.