3D | Multidimensional - RYATHO | University Website

3D Project

Project Brief

Continuing on from 2d, create a series of three dimensional album covers using physical 3d mediums.:

1x 12inch Album Cover
2x 7inch Single Cover

Jump to final outcome

tAKE ME THERE

Research

Album Covers

More recent album covers across the industry don't really contain a great deal of 3d; these were the best from a sea of traditional 2d covers. 3d in the industry tends to lean towards 3d body art vs sculptures (which isn't necessarily bad, but it's overdone at this point).

EDM-Specific Covers

EDM wise, there is slightly more play with 3d. Dance albums tend to be a bit more daring with covers, using elements like fire and lighting to achieve the results rather than relying on the 3d object itself.

Development

3D Scene Sketches

Developed Ideas

From the 3 ideas developed, the house party scene is definitely one to be developed further as the main idea. if time permits, would like to explore the others as single covers, but if not, the house party idea has a lot of room to play with in creating different but related outcomes.

Object research

Idea 1: Pandora's Dots

The Tesseract, Marvel (2023)

The tesseract would be the ideal form for 'pandoras dot's idea, a ball encased within a square. It also gives off the right sort of glow.

Pandora's Box

Researching pandoras box is not what's contained within my head. Really don't remember it being so traditional in shape; always assumed it was an extravagant cube with a glowing phenomenon inside.

Idea 2: Sandy Dots

Sony Bravia Advert (2005)

Bouncy balls could have great potential in 3d. They're easy enough to source in bulk, and generally have a great vibrance that would show up well within lit scenes.

Luude's music video for Down Under (2022)

Idea 3: Dot's House Party

Black light UV house parties:

Out of the 3, UV black lighting has the biggest potential to really make a piece pop. There's the opportunity to exaggerate features, and provides a lot of depth, especially against dark background settings

Physical Doll Houses:

Someone in 3rd year kindly donated an old dollhouse for use in a project (handed down through multiple students). It has a stunning inside and out. If possible, it would be good to include somehow in the work, however its styling suggests a rather different form of 'house party' vibe. Also have an old dollhouse in the loft, which looks a bit worse for ware, but it has helped to envision what I want to do.

3D Play

Spray Paint

Painted in neon fluorescent paint for use with UV lighting.

The plastic balls proved quite difficult to spray evenly, in contrast to the furniture. Not being sprayed evenly is an issue, not because of runs, but because the balls may not glow sufficiently with UV lighting. The furniture on the other hand has come out excellent. The Balls likely needed sanded first to roughen the surface, as their smoothness complicated the result.

UV and Sand

Plastic balls, UV and sand

These look great compositionally but the balls lack any sort of vibrance. The pink could pass in this regard but the green and blue have proved quite underwhelming. They possibly needed a base coat of white.

Dollhouse furniture in sand:

In contrast to the balls, the furniture looks great in the sand. These are a lot brighter under UV despite not having a base coat of white paint. The furniture is a tad on the small side, so unsure if they will be used in development; they have proved useful at this stage however.

Furniture, UV, rocks and sand:

More shots of the neon furniture with fluorescent painted rocks added to the scene. The rocks likely needed a white base coat first, similar to the balls. Both the furniture and stones however do stand out when fully dark with UV light only.

Bouncy balls, UV and sand:

Bouncy balls have proved to be so much more vibrant when used with UV lighting. Their size is a better fit for use in a diorama vs the plastic balls above.

UV rocks backsplash:

Although these weren't intended, the pattern left over by the spray painted rocks gives off quite a cool, psychedelic effect. It is purely 2d however, making it useless for this project, but it could have uses in the future.

Album direction

From play and research, decided to go ahead with creating a 2-story diorama, that will be situated in a dark room with UV light only. Decided not to use existing pre-made furniture, and instead design my own, mostly so that it fits the build exactly, and also means that the build can be scaled slightly bigger.

Scene crafting

MDF Laser cutting (3D CAD)

text

Diorama Dimensions:

inside volume: h200mm x w400mm x d300m / 24,000cm³
front/back parts: 200mm x 400mm @ MDF depth of 4mm
sides: 200mm x 300mm @ MDF depth of 4mm
ceiling/floor: 400mm x 300m @ MDF depth of 4mm

Diorama mockup file:

Joinery

To keep the diorama together, I've designed in box joints to hold the walls together loosely. Once tested to see if it fits together, it'll be glued where possible to give the structure rigidity.

Lasercut in action:

Assembly test:

The structure fits together better than I imaged it would. Discovered post-cutting that the pieces of MDF used weren't all 4mm (some were 3mm), which could have caused an issue, but thankfully it hasnt. There is some joints that don't fit as snug as others, however this is only a minor flaw that hasn't affected the build.

The furniture went together well, but the MDF being different thicknesses caused structural issues with the chairs, so I had to add an extra strip of wood behind to get them to hold in place to be glued. The table was the easiest to slot together; it could stay together without being glued due to the box joint design.

Needed to blue tac the furniture down (above), so it didn't blow away whilst spraying.

Spray painting:

Spraying smaller detailed pieces proved more difficult than the walls. table blew over whilst spraying, which tarnished the top finish. Will need to photoshop some imperfections out.

Assembly:

Happy with exterior build, Black walls was the right choice, as it lets it blend behind the scene and let the rest of the features (windows, doors, objects) stand out). Varnished the floor as I didn't want the full room to be black; the sheen from the varnish and the etching add a bit of character.

Crafted Objects:

The furniture has turned out well. They're a little rough around the edges, which isn't ideal but it adds character. With the help of Scarlett and Jess, gave the ducks some character by giving them a rave makeover. Also crafted the Logos to be used in the scene where possible.

Acrylic Laser Cutting (3D CAD)

Unfortunately due to cost and lack of material, wasn't able to create a transparent acrylic diorama.

scene decoration

Didn't plan on using ducks but they give off a fairly good party vibe. Bouncy balls were particularly hard to place on the floor, as the MDF must have a slight curvature to the board. Happy with the scene overall; not gluing anything down inside means there's option to change the composition where necessary.

Scene Photography

12" Album Cover

7" Single Cover 1

7" Single 2 Cover 2

Studio Photography

Before continuing with development, thought it was best to try using the photo studios to see if a better outcome could be produced for the album cover.

Whilst there is possibly more detail in the photos, I think the ones I took without the studio have slightly more charm. There's more haze around objects, and the slight lack of clarity actually adds to the photo effect vs being crisp.

Photo Development

Editing in Lightroom

As the photos are part of a set (album + singles), wanted them to be consistent in colour and lighting, so adjusted the RAW files first in Lightroom before proceeding any further.

Adjusted Photos

digital development

Setup

Chosen pairings

Album cover, front and back:

Plan to use this image for both the back and front, but add a slight to twist so that whilst it looks mirrored, there are features that are defying the mirroring.

Single cover 1, front and back:

Single cover 2, front and back:

Photoshop Layout