Research Part 2

I have researched about all the animals in the Plymouth coast. Here is my research.

Hermit crabs – spirally curved bodies, seashell, can retract in and out of its shell (possibility for animation) with the animation we can make the hermit crab hide into its shell when the users mouse hovers over the crab. We have decided to do this because hermit crabs are weary animals and hide on instinct.

lobsters – hard protective exoskeleton, they must molt to grow which they change colours, have 10 legs, often have different sized claws.  We have decided to make the lobster snap its claws to try and make it more interactive and interesting rather than it just being sat there and just click on it to view its information

anemones – as an example of interactivity and animation, to make it more realistic we have decided to add an effect to the anemones. This effect is to make the anemone brush in the direction of the mouse as it passes it by (if the mouse passes by the actual anemone).

starfish – Every now and then we will make the starfish move ever so slightly even with being interactive.

small sharks – If  the mouse goes near the shark it will decide to chase it until the mouse has got a bit of distance.

Rubbish – If you click on this you will discover what humans are doing to the habitat.

School of fish – We have decided to make this an interactive by having them scatter when the mouse comes near the school, we will use coding to tell them to go a certain distance and regroup to where they were originally. We will not include information as you cannot click on them because they will scatter away.

If the mouse is not being used all the animals will be docile and just swim around minding their own business.

For information about the animals, you will have to click on the specific animal and it will come up with a bubble detailing on that animal for example; its food chain, natural life, breeding, habitat.

First this will start off as an animation of a boat sailing in the sea, then you will go into first person and dive into the water after that, you will have a first person view of the sea. The background for this is being based on Plymouths water so for this the animals that would be in here are the animals that are in the Plymouth sound section of the aquarium. The reason for choosing the Plymouth sound area is because the aquarium was originally for the purpose of showing Plymouth what animals live in our coastline. 

Now this is the final Information we narrowed it down too.

Hermit Crab

Food Chain
The Hermit Crab is a scavenger, it feeds on dead and decaying animals.

Threats
Believe it or not, Humans are the biggest threat by collecting shells on the beach, Hermit Crabs are still inside their shell and some people don’t know, they eventually die without food or water.

Behavior
They are very shy animals, if they feel threatened, they will hide into their shells.

Life Span
The Hermit Crab can live up to 30 years.

Lobsters

Food Chain
Lobsters feed on clams and mussels. Their claws work differently, one is a crusher and the other one brings the food to its mouth.

Threats
People are lobsters biggest threat as they are often food in restaurants.

Behavior
Lobsters are very social to their own kinds.

Life Span
It all depends on the size of a lobster, they can live from 15 to 100 years.


Anemone

Food Chain
Anemone eat crabs, sea urchins and small fish.

Threats
People collect Anemone and sell them.

Behavior
Anemone are very calm creatures when clown fish are around, the clown fish give anemone leftovers of their meal and anemone give clown fish protection from predators and a home.

Lifespan
They can live between 60-80 years.

Starfish

Food Chain
Starfish eat clams, oysters and certain snails.

Threats
Threats for the starfish include seagulls, along with certain lobsters and crabs.

Behavior
Starfish have no central nervous system, most of their organs run like a motor.

Lifespan
Starfish can live between 200-300 years.


Strarry Smooth Hound Shark

Food Chain
This Shark mostly eats Crabs and Lobsters.

Threats
Fishers are their main threat. They are caught faster than they can breed.

Behavior
Little is known about this shark. They reproduce once every two years.

Lifespan
Unknown.


The Rubbish in the Plymouth Sound coast can be very dangerous to the animals, they can either get killed by trying to eat stuff like carrier bags, or get severally injured, we need this to stop and save all the life in the Plymouth Sound Coast.

Research and Exploring Ideas

With given the task, we have come up with ways to research, an example of my research is actually going to the Plymouth Marine Aquarium and taking notes about the animals inhabited, especially names. I have also gone up to the staff and asked questions about important information. Also alot of revision was done online.

The task that had to be accomplished by creating an interactive image. We had to base the fish around its natural habitat, all of the fish had to belong in the same group. Our idea was to do the Plymouth Coasts.

Nobody Here
This is an interactive animation which I thought wasn't too good. Sure it has a scroll with your mouse which toggles through many different words which the person sitting behind the computers starts to type and it comes up the other side. The colour is black and white which suits certain things but not this animation, would have been best with colour. There is also so much room which has been a waste of space. Overall I think this is a bad animation.

http://www.nobodyhere.com/justme/me.here

Crash Test Dumbass Overkill!
Now as much as a high rated interactive animation this is, it came out pretty disappointing. The buttons are not very clear at what they do, it isn't humorous like it says, the sound isn't very good. I just think that they could have done so much better. Sure it tells you what button does what at the beginning but that doesn't mean you will be able to remember what does what. Overall again I think this one is a bit of a let down.

http://www.boneland.com/toys/ctd2/index.html

Knotty Kitty
Now this is just rubbish. You have to untangle a cat but every time you make a move, you get the mice talking, laughing where you can't do anything else but wait for them to finish. This gets annoying quickly. Also the sound is bad quality and it just doesn't work at all. This is no good!

http://www.boneland.com/toys/tkk/index.html

Developing Ideas

With the ideas we have come up with, we have decided to base our initial plan on an interactive tank with a short movie clip of a boat sailing out and an a first person view of the diver diving in. We thought about having all the fish swimming around and they interact as you hover over them, also when you click on a fish, an information box will pop up giving details about that type of fish. Another idea is to have a mini game with all the rubbish, find them all and an information box will pop up.

Working Within Constraints

Completing the Work

We have put all the information, animation and images together and it has turned out really well. The final piece that was left was finding out about all the little sharks located within the Plymouth coasts. I had to go down to the Plymouth Marine Aquarium as there was nothing about them on the internet. When I arrived I couldnt find the names so I went to find a member of staff and he was happy enough to share all the information. I quickly jotted it down and now transferred it to my team members. With that added we have put together our work.

Reviewing My Work (Evaluation)

Overall I think the interactive fish tank project has done really well. I have to admit the images and the animation came together really well. Unfortunately I have only done the research and typing up all the information which seems like a little part of the project. Next time I will be more involved with the images and animation. We had plenty of time to get it done but it also felt a bit rushed compared to the other projects. I think I will start to get more information next time but certain species have little information about them. I do think that the project was fun and we did it pretty well.