octopus ... done and done

not only am i finally done with the octopus project, but so is the shop! had the opportunity to snap some pictures just before it got put in giant custom shipping crate for the next trade show (the shipping charge was about as much as i have in the bank).



it amounts to a huge wooden aquarium-ish box, as you can see, with interactive wheel devices on the front to manipulate the characters within the scene. the octopus moves by himself, as you may be able to tell in the photos. there is a front panel of glass that has been taken off to remove glare in the photo.


you can just barely see in the above photo the filtered light that's more apparent in person ... two overlapped sections of shower door panels does a real convincing job of mimicking underwater light effects (quite possibly my favorite touch to the whole project, if you can't tell)

almost every creature in the scene had a unique movement it would make when one of the wheels was turned - the eel rocked back and forth, the small purple fish swam in one direction and then cut back to the opposite way, the seahorse family rose up and down in a wavelike formation ... etc.

also the ceiling panel was a great final touch - almost completely reflective, it gave the amazing illusion that a water's surface makes when seen from below.

anyone with a passing knowledge of this blog knows that this was my favorite project at creative arts, inc., and i must say now is probably the best project we've ever produced here! if this doesn't sell some library or hospital somewhere to invest in our product, i don't know what will.