Week 5, Group Presentation: Planning

Planning


This week our team prepared our group presentation on the collaboration topic of planning. I was involved in writing content (I focused on planning theory) collectively along with the rest of the team members and also assisted in the graphic design and collaboration of our final Powerpoint presentation. I also re-designed and re-produced out project Gantt Charts.
Link to Powerpoint (PDF):

 
Link to 1000 Words (PDF):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d8j95ej8us3av01/Wiki%20Group%20Presentation%201000%20Words.pdf

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0cptki6jl3nztz/Week%205%2C%20Group%20Presentation%20Dropbox%20upload.pdf

GROUP COLLABORATION PRESENTATION: PLANNING

What is planning?

Planning refers to the process of setting goals, developing strategies and outlining tasks and schedules to accomplish both the quantitative and qualitative objectives of a project. Planning is the skeleton to the foundation of a successful project. Planning is a continuous process that never finishes – plans should be  constantly evaluated and revised throughout the life of a project to ensure success.

What are the stages of planning?

1. Analyse the opportunity, problem or project brief (establish what needs to be done).

2. Identify an aim for the overall project and define objectives (establish the outcomes you are working towards).

3. Identify, explore and evaluate alternative options or solutions (consider ways of going about the project).

4. Select the specific course(s) of action best suited to the project goal.

5. Outline the details of the plan (e.g. assigning roles to team members, identifying potential risks and associated contingency plans, collecting resources, identifying milestones and establishing a time line, etc).

6. Implement the plan (the action stage).

What does successful planning achieve?

- Increases team efficiency by optimising the use of resources. 

- Reduces the risk of project failure.

- Aids in the organisation and coordination of individual team members as to ensure the are all moving in the right direction towards the intended project outcome.

- Increases team productivity as members  of the team are more motivated to perform as they have set guidelines and objectives to meet within specific deadlines.

- Facilitates and assists in the decision making process.

How have we used planning in our project?

Identifying our aim: 

Our aim is to recreate and provide an insight to the Katoomba Aerial Ropeway which collapsed over 120 years ago using interactive technology to develop an immersive and educational 3D environment. To do this successfully we have broken the project down into smaller components.

Defining a timeline: 

We have developed two Gantt charts; one which shows our overall project schedule and one which defines the individual roles of each team member throughout the length of the semester.

Detailed planning: 

We have split the project into various steps or stages to make it more manageable, we have then completed detailed planning for each stage. The stages are: site visit; 3D modelling using 3DStudioMax including export and import to CryEngine3; Environment (terrain and typography) and texturing in CryEngine3; and interactivity (implementing interactive features into our environment using Crydev documentation as a key resource.

Site Visit:

4 team members attended the site visit and were allocated individual roles with the aim of observing and recording as much information from the site as possible by taking photographs, video footage, making sketches and writing notes. We also intended to liase with the client to learn about the history and operation of the ropeway and guage a clear understanding of the clients expectations for the project.

3D Modelling:

Will be completed by 4 team members using 3DStudioMax, each member has been assignment a particular component of the ropeway system to focus on (Bethany - shale bucket; Daisy - ropeway towers; Iqra - mechanical transport components; and Maria - coal buckets and rail tracks). We will be using photographs and sketches as our key resources for this process.

Environment and Texturing:

The environment will be created in CryEngine3 by Matt and Yen, following the completion of 3D modelling, the models will be imported to CryEngine3 and textured by collaboratively by all team members. Once the static environment is complete we will be able to move into intergrating interactivity. As the game engine can only be used by one user at a time (no way to set up a server) we will simply have to take turns working on this stage of the project using a single work station.

Interactivity:

Interactivity will begin from week 8 onwards. The finer details of this stage are yet to be planned however we have defined that we will have 3 CryEngine3 levels: the start of the ropeway (with movement and interactivity); a middle section of the ropeway (with movement and interactivity); and an 'exhibition' of the shale bucket (with interactivity). We have also considered some interactive features such as a user interface menu and information boxes that pop up when certain objects are selected or moused over.