Ridhvik Gopal
15 posts

Final Report Part II: Zoetrope

Ridhvik Gopal
Student Work
1 Comment
Overall, I think my project came out pretty well. I was able to successfully iterate through many designs and finalize on the one I like the most, which was also the most simple. Initially, I went with a boxed design (where the cylindrical zoetrope would sit over a box) and have a motorized function to…

Final Report I: Zoetrope

Ridhvik Gopal
Student Work
2 Comments
Background The Zoetrope is one of the oldest platforms for animation.  It’s origins are a little unclear, however, it was popularized in the 1900s as an artifact. Growing up, animation and cartoons were a big part of my life. I owe my ability to draw to years of watching anime and trying to replicate that.…

Final Stretch: zoetrope

Ridhvik Gopal
Student Work
1 Comment
4/19/17 At this time I had finished procuring the dense cardboard tube that would be the main part of the Zoetrope. 1. I finished painting on 4/2 I had never used spray paint before so I had to learn from youtube and practicing on scraps. Repeated sanding and re-painting resulted in a structure that was…

Final Stretch: Zoetrope

Ridhvik Gopal
Student Work
No Comments
I have finished the sketching and designing part of the project and have procured all the materials that I would need for my project. 8 inch diameter tube High density foam boards. Paints DC motor Arduino I am all set to start working on it this Thursday and Friday in the IdeaForge Makerspace. I will…

Construction Timeline: Zoetrope

Ridhvik Gopal
Student Work
1 Comment
I have been a part of a fair amount of projects and if there is one really lesson that I took away from all of them is to not overestimate oneself when it comes to planning. With that I tried to be as conservative of my abilities on order to not set goals I cannot…

20th Century Design Movements: Zoetrope

Ridhvik Gopal
2017 - new, Student Work
5 Comments
For my final project I decided to make a Zoetrope. It is a primitive animation device which behaves behaves very much like a flip-book. The three different aesthetics that I explored in this post are Art Deco, Art Nouveau and the Streamlined design of the 1930s. The way I reimagined my design into these very prominent…

Design Review: Zoetrope

Ridhvik Gopal
Student Work
9 Comments
The Zoetrope was perhaps one of the oldest platforms for animation. It’s origins are a little unclear, however, it was popularized in the 1900s as an artifact. Growing up, animation and cartoons were a big part of my life. I owe my ability to draw years of watching anime and trying to replicate that. Hence…

Top Five Constraints of Making a Zoetrope

Ridhvik Gopal
Student Work
4 Comments
The Zoetrope is perhaps one of the oldest tools used in animation. What dawned to me profoundly recently, was that video was available long before audio in filmmaking, which seems very counter intuitive to me, because I went with the radio before television mindset. However I would like to have a small tribute to the…

Main Project Inspirations

Ridhvik Gopal
Student Work
1 Comment
My normal approach to deciding a project would be to pick an aesthetic and proceed to build something from there. However, for my main project Idea, I wish to do the opposite and create an object first and choose the aesthetic. This approach will allow me some flexibility in the design process. I love making…

Upcycle Final Report: Mechanical Bonsai

Ridhvik Gopal
2017 - new, Student Work
17 Comments
Inspiration: letting the artist in and giving the engineer a timeout After a frustrating brainstorming session over the weekend, I ended up making almost no progress. Hence, I decided to go ahead and build something out of discarded foam boards which I found in my RA resource room in my residence hall. I thought it…

Design Loop: Wood-Metal Structures

Ridhvik Gopal
2017 - new, Student Work
2 Comments
My project started out without any set goal or a direction. After taking tedious classes which requires planning just shy of a German train schedule. It was much more tempting for me to remove the cobwebs out of the creative thinking section of the brain and let those neurons loose. Luckily for me, being a…

Aesthetic Explorations: Retro-futurism

Ridhvik Gopal
2017 - new, Student Work
1 Comment
Although many of these visions seem almost comical now, the spirit in which they were created crystallizes the essence of how the future was described prior to the 1980s. There was a time in the past when the future was thought as a beautiful place of cooperation, peace, beauty and of course, convenience. But the…

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0