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Arts

Arts

:This article discusses the range of artistic activity. For the computer application, see aRts. A precise definition of the arts can be contentious, but the following areas of activity are usually included:
- Art / Visual arts
- Architecture
- Crafts
- Dance
- Interactive arts/Videogames
- Drawing
- Film
- Literature
- Music
- Painting
- Photography
- Pottery
- Sculpture
- Theater While art challanges the observer with hints at questions, design focuses on functionality and tries to give clear answers. Both terms might not be understood as exclusive categories as they share essential concerns. In academia, the Arts are usually grouped with or a subset of the Humanities. Some subjects in the Humanities are History, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Women's studies.

External links

- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-56 Dictionary of the history of ideas – Classification of the arts] Category:Culture

Arts

External links

- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-56 Dictionary of the history of ideas – Classification of the arts] Category:Culture

Visual arts

The visual arts are a class of artforms, including painting, sculpture, photography, and others, that focus on the creation of artworks which are primarily visual in nature. The visual arts are distinguished from the performing arts, language arts, culinary arts, and other such classes of artwork. The definition is not strict, and many artistic disciplines involve aspects of the visual arts as well other types. In Britain until recently the fine arts—painting, sculpture, printmaking, et cetera—were seen as distinct from craft disciplines such as applied art, design, textiles, and the various metalworking disciplines such as blacksmithing and jewellery. This distinction arose from the work of a group of artists led by William Morris known as the Arts and Crafts Movement whose political aim was to value vernacular artforms as much as high forms. The movement was at odds with modernists who sought to withhold the high arts from the masses by keeping them esoteric. The result of the conflict between the two groups was to politicise the products of what we now know as visual artists. British art schools made a clear distinction between the fine arts (a term that hints at their supposed superiority) and the crafts in such a way that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of high art. Although this is no longer the case, the residue of inequality between the crafts or applied arts and the so-called fine arts still exists in some quarters. In Britain the term "visual arts" is suitably independent of these older, loaded concepts and as such is the preferred term for work across all the disciplines in question. A similar stigma exists in the US, where "arts and crafts" has a very particular meaning, denoting the sort of artwork first taught in elementary school and also (later in life) a variety of kitsch, household artwork. Most craftspeople are still seen as practicing something other than "fine art" among the traditional art school set, but, of course, can produce "high art", in any medium.

Common types of visual art

- Body art
- Ceramics
- Comics
- Concept art
- Decorative arts
- Depliage
- Design
- Drawing
- Film
- Found art
- Installation art
- Intervention art
- Graffiti
- Land art
- Light art
- Mail art
- Minimal Art
- Painting
- Photography
- Printmaking
- Sculpture
- Sound art
- Textile art
- Video art

History of the visual arts

- History of art
- History of film
- History of design
- History of fashion
- History of painting
- History of photography
- History of sculpture

References

External links

- [http://www.artlex.com/ ArtLex] - online dictionary of visual art terms.
- [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm Art History Timeline] by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- [http://people.msoe.edu/~mccrawt/resume/papers/HU438/mccrawt_hu438_art.pdf Tenability of the Distinction Between Arts and Crafts] - essay. (PDF)
- [http://www.passionforpaint.com/BudgetArtCollecting.html The (Budget) Wise Art Collector]
- Visual arts Category:Topic lists ko:미술 ja:視覚芸術

Architecture

Architecture (in Greek αρχή = start and τέχνη = craftsmanship) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. A wider definition would include within its scope the design of the total built environment, from the macrolevel of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the microlevel of furniture. furniture, Athens, Greece]] However, the widest definition in modern use refers to the organization, articulation, and interfaces of any built (or To Be Built— TBB) entity, whether a building or a communications' network. That is, an architecture, in its broadest sense, shows how the components of a built or TBB entity fit together. An architecture may be considered a translation between a user's needs and a builder's building instructions, or requirements. The components of an architecture may be already built items, or specified items (items whose building requirements have been completed), or To Be Specified items (items whose building requirements have not yet been been completed, and for which only user or builder needs may be assigned).

Introduction

The skills of the architect are used in complex building types such as the skyscraper, hospital, stadium, airport, etc. to less complicated projects such as commercial and residential buildings and development. Many pieces of architecture can be seen as cultural and political symbols. The role of the architect, though changing, has been central to the successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) design and implementation of the built environment in which we live.

Scope and intentions

According to the very earliest surviving work on the subject, Vitruvius' De architectura, good buildings satisfy three core principles: Firmness, Commodity, and Delight; architecture can be said to be a balance and coordination among these three elements, with none overpowering the others. A modern day definition sees architecture as addressing aesthetic, structural and functional considerations. However, looked at another way, function itself is seen as encompassing all criteria, including aesthetic and psychological ones. Architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, including within its fold mathematics, science, art, technology, social sciences, politics, history, philosophy, and so on. In Vitruvius' words: "Architecture is a science, arising out of many other sciences, and adorned with much and varied learning: by the help of which a judgement is formed of those works which are the result of other arts". He adds that an architect should be well versed in fields such as music, astronomy, etc. Philosophy is a particular favourite; in fact the approach of an architect to their subject is often called their philosophy. Rationalism, empiricism, structuralism, poststructuralism, and phenomenology are some topics from philosophy that have influenced architecture. phenomenology, Italy]] # Translation of firmitatis utilitatis venustatis [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/home.html] due to Henry Wotton, 1624 [http://www.gardenvisit.com/landscape/LIH/history/vitruvius.htm#ch1-3].

Theory and practice

Architecture and buildings

The difference between architecture and building is a subject matter that has engaged the attention of many. According to Nikolaus Pevsner, European historian of the early 20th century, "A bicycle shed is a building, Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture". In current thinking, the division is not too clear. Bernard Rudofsky's famous Architecture Without Architects consolidated a whole range of structures designed by ordinary people into the realm of architecture. Architecture is also the art of designing the human built environment. Buildings, landscaping, and street designs may be used to impart both functional as well as aesthetic character to a project. Siding and roofing materials and colors may be used to enhance or blend buildings with the environment. Building features such as cornices, gables, entrances, window treatments and borders may be used to soften or enhance portions of a building. Landscaping may be used to create privacy and block direct views from or to a site and enhance buildings with colorful plants and trees. Street side features such as decorative lighting, benches, meandering walkways, and bicycle lanes may enhance a site for passersby, pedestrians, and cyclists.

Architectural history

Architecture first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials and attendant skills). Prehistoric and primitive architecture constitute this early stage. As humans progressed and knowledge began to be formalised through oral traditions and practices, architecture evolved into a craft. Here there is first a process of trial and error, and later improvisation or replication of a successful trial. What is termed Vernacular architecture continues to be produced in many parts of the world. Vernacular architecture, India]] Early human settlements were essentially rural. As surplus of production began to occur, rural societies transformed into urban ones and cities began to evolve. In many ancient civilisations such as the Egyptians' and Mesopotamians' architecture and urbanism reflected the constant engagement with the divine and the supernatural. However, the architecture and urbanism of the Classical civilisations such as the Greek and the Roman evolved from more civic ideas and new building types emerged. Architectural styles developed and texts on architecture began to be written. These became canons to be followed in important works, especially religious architecture. Some examples of canons are the works of Vitruvius, the Kaogongji of ancient China and Vaastu Shastra in ancient India. In Europe in the Classical and Medieval periods, buildings were not attributed to specific individual architects who remained anonymous. Guilds were formed by craftsmen to organise their trade. Over time the complexity of buildings and their types increased. General civil construction such as roads and bridges began to be built. Many new building types such as schools, hospitals, and recreational facilities emerged. Islamic architecture has a long and complex history beginning in the 7th century CE. Examples can be found throughout the countries that are, or were, Islamic - from Morocco and Spain to Iran, and Indonesia. Other examples can be found in areas where Muslims are a minority. Islamic architecture includes mosques, madrasas, caravansarais, palaces, and mausolea of this large region. With the Renaissance and its emphasis on the individual and humanity rather than religion, and with all its attendant progress and achievements, a new chapter began. Buildings were ascribed to specific architects - Michaelangelo, Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci - and the cult of the individual had begun. But there was no dividing line between artist, architect and engineer, or any of the related vocations. At this stage, it was still possible for an artist to design a bridge as the level of structural calculations involved were within the scope of the generalist. With the consolidation of knowledge in scientific fields such as engineering and the rise of new materials and technology, the architect began to lose ground on the technical aspects of building. He therefore cornered for himself another playing field - that of aesthetics. There was the rise of the "gentleman architect" who usually dealt with wealthy clients and concentrated predominantly on visual qualities derived usually from historical prototypes. In the 19th century Ecole des Beaux Arts in France, the training was toward producing quick sketch schemes involving beautiful drawings without much emphasis on context. France, USA]] Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution laid open the door for mass consumption and aesthetics started becoming a criterion even for the middle class as ornamented products, once within the province of expensive craftmanship, became cheaper under machine production. Industrial Revolution, India]] The dissatisfaction with such a general situation at the turn of the twentieth century gave rise to many new lines of thought that in architecture served as precursors to Modern Architecture. Notable among these is the Deutscher Werkbund, formed in 1907 to produce better quality machine made objects. The rise of the profession of industrial design is usually placed here. Following this lead, the Bauhaus school, founded in Germany in 1919, consciously rejected history and looked at architecture as a synthesis of art, craft, and technology. When Modern architecture first began to be practiced, it was an avant-garde movement with moral, philosophical, and aesthetic underpinnings. Truth was sought by rejecting history and turning to function as the generator of form. Architects became prominent figures and were termed masters. Later modern architecture moved into the realm of mass production due to its simplicity and economy. However, a reduction in quality of modern architecture was perceived by the general public from the 1960s. Some reasons cited for this are its lack of meaning, sterility, ugliness, uniformity, and psychological effects. The architectural profession responded to this partly by attempting a more populist architecture at the visual level, even if at the expense of sacrificing depth for shallowness, a direction called Postmodernism. Robert Venturi's contention that a "decorated shed" (an ordinary building which is functionally designed inside and embellished on the outside) was better than a "duck" (a building in which the whole form and its function are considered together) gives an idea of this approach. Another part of the profession, and also some non-architects, responded by going to what they considered the root of the problem. They felt that architecture was not a personal philosophical or aesthetic pursuit by individualists; rather it had to consider everyday needs of people and use technology to give a livable environment. The Design Methodology Movement involving people such as Chris Jones, Christopher Alexander started searching for more people-orientated designs. Extensive studies on areas such as behavioural, environmental, and social sciences were done and started informing the design process. As many other concerns began to be recognised and complexity of buildings began to increase in terms of aspects such as services, architecture started becoming more multi-disciplinary than ever. Architecture now required a team of professionals in its making, an architect being one among the many, sometimes the leader, sometimes not. This is the state of the profession today. However, individuality is still cherished and sought for in the design of buildings seen as cultural symbols - the museum or fine arts centre has become a showcase for new experiments in style: today Deconstructivism, tomorrow maybe something else.

External links

- [http://www.pygmies.info/camps.html African Pygmies Architecture]
- [http://www.aia.org/ American Institute of Architects]
- [http://www.architectsindex.com/ ArchitectsIndex - Directory of UK Architects along with work examples]
- [http://www.architypes.net/ Architypes - Wiki of architecture design principles and patterns]
- [http://www.architecture.com/ Architecture.com - Courtesy of the Royal Institute of British Architects]
- [http://www.archpedia.com/ Archpedia - architecture encyclopedia]
- [http://www.vernarch.com/ Center for vernacular Architecture-Bangalore-India]
- [http://st-takla.org/Gallery/Gallery-Coptic-Orthodox-Architecture-01.html Christian Coptic Orthodox Architecture] at http://St-Takla.org
- [http://www.cupola.com/bldgstr1.htm Cupola - Building and Structure Photo Galleries]
- [http://www.danda.be/ Danda - News and reviews on architecture]
- [http://www.iab.org.br/ Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil]
- [http://www.islamicarchitecture.org Islamic Architecture]
- [http://www.archinform.net/ Archinform - International Architecture Database]
- [http://architect.architecture.sk Famous architects]
- [http://www.galinsky.com/ Galinsky - People enjoying buildings worldwide]
- [http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/ Global Architecture Encyclopedia - Glass Steel and Stone]
- [http://www.thehopkinscompany.com/glossary/glossary.html Glossary of Architectural Terms]
- [http://www.greatbuildings.com/ Great Buildings Collection]
- [http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ New York architecture images]
- [http://www.riba.org Royal Institute of British Architects]
- [http://www.sah.org/ Society of Architectural Historians]
- [http://www.vitruvio.ch/ Vitruvio]
- [http://worldheritage-forum.net/de/ Worldheritage-Forum: Weblog and Information on UNESCO World Heritage topics] Category:Applied sciences Category:Arts ko:건축 ms:Seni bina ja:建築学 simple:Architecture th:สถาปัตยกรรมศาสตร์

Videogames

:This article is about computer and video games. For the magazine see Computer and Video Games (magazine). Technically, a computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players may interact with in order to achieve a goal (or set of goals). A video game is a computer game where a video display is the primary feedback device. Since nearly all computer games use some sort of visual display, these terms are usually considered interchangeable, and are frequently used as umbrella terms for interactive game software. The phrase interactive entertainment is the formal reference to computer and video games. To avoid ambiguity, this game software is referred to as "computer and video games" throughout this article. However, in common usage, "computer game" refers more specifically to games played on a personal computer, while "video game" (or "videogame") actually refers to both, and "[console name] game" refers specifically to games played on a particular console.
- For specific information regarding "computer games", see personal computer game.
- For specific information regarding "console games", see console game. console game) is held every year in Los Angeles. New projects are shown every year.]]

History

The first primitive computer and video games were developed in the 1950s and 1960s and ran on platforms such as oscilloscopes, university mainframes and EDSAC computers. Arcade games were developed in the 1970s and led to the so-called "Golden Age of Arcade Games". One of the most well-known of these games is Pong. The 1970s also saw the release of the first home video game consoles. The late 1970s to early 1980s brought about the improvement of home consoles and the release of the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Colecovision. The video game crash of 1983, however, produced a dark age in the market that was not filled until the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) reached North America in 1985. The last two decades of game history have been marked by separate markets for games on video game consoles, home computers and handhelds. See the article on Console wars for additional information on that facet of game history.

The future of console gaming

The end of 2005 and first and second quarters of 2006 will see the next generation of console gaming in the form of continuing advances in processor technology, graphics technology, design innovation, and even platform specific gaming community infrastructure. Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are all participating in this coming year's "technology race". The second generation Microsoft offering, the Xbox 360, will be powered by a multi-core CPU, the PlayStation 3 will be powered by Cell processor technology, and the Nintendo Revolution will allow the gamer to interact with the game via a wireless motion sensing controller, although full technical specifications are yet to be revealed.

Gameplay

Main article: Gameplay In computer and video gaming, gameplay (sometimes called "Game mechanics") is a general term that describes player interaction with a game. It includes direct interaction, such as controls and interface, but also design aspects of the game, such as levels. Although the use of this term is often disputed, as it is considered too vague for the range of concepts it describes, it is currently the most commonly used and accepted term for this purpose when describing video games.

Genres

Main article: Computer and video game genres Games, like most other forms of media, may be categorized into genres based on gameplay, atmosphere, and various other factors. Any individual gamer is likely to favor some types of gameplay over others, these are refered to as video game genres. The most common genres in use today include platformers, adventure, role-playing games (RPGs), first person shooters (FPS), third person shooter (sometimes called shoot 'em ups), sports, racing, fighting (sometimes called beat 'em ups), action (although this term is abused), puzzle, simulation, and real time strategy (RTS), to name a few. It is rare that a game will fall purely into one genre, most games are a combination of two or more genres (e.g action/RPG). Although most genres have 2D counterparts, they are for the most part considered entirely different genres because of the differences in the way 2D and 3D games are played (e.g. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64). The increase in the popularity of online gaming has also resulted in new sub-genres being formed, such as the massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

Gaming platforms

massively multiplayer online role-playing game Today there are many different devices that games may be played on. Personal computers, consoles, handheld systems, and arcade machines are all common. There is an extremely thin line between games played on the computer and those on the console, which is a standardized computer with little or no setup. Many games intended for computer are now just as prevalent on consoles, both of which have many of the same titles. This is due to the fact that video game consoles have drastically increased in computing power and capabilities over the last few years to the point that they can handle games that were formerly only playable with comparatively higher-end computers. During the last generation of gaming, most major computer game releases have coincided with the release of console versions, and titles initially developed for a single platform are often ported to others if they prove to be successful.

Personal Computer

Main article: Personal Computer Games Personal computer games are commonly referred to as "computer games" or "PC games". They are played on the personal computer with standard computer interface devices such as the keyboard and mouse, or additional peripherals, such as joysticks. Video feedback is received by the user through the computer screen, sound through speakers or headphones. Computer games are often more powerful than console games because of early market releases of their external architecture and graphics cards. The most popular genres of Computer games are First-Person Shooters, Real-Time Strategy, Simulations, and MMOGs, given the long-standing nature of Internet access and online play. First Person Shooters benefit highly from using the keyboard and mouse to give very fine control over player movement that is still not matched on the consoles. Today, most PC games require the Windows operating system to be installed on the computer. There is, however, a continuing movement to get the most popular games to run under the Mac and Linux operating systems. According to the Entertainment Software Association, console games have outsold computer games roughly four units to one in 2003 and 2004 [http://theesa.com/facts/sales_genre_data.php]. For more information, see sales. One possible explanation for the declining sales of personal computer games in relation to that of consoles can be found within the PC itself: a computer must meet certain minimum requirements (listed on retail box of the title) such as CPU speed, memory, video card memory, hard drive space, operating system, Internet connection speed (for online games) and other criteria. Without the proper hardware, the game may perform poorly or not run at all.

Internet

Main article: Internet gaming Online Games are those which either require or benefit from a connection to the Internet to play. Online gaming began with PC games, but has over time expanded to include most moder consoles. It is now a key feature of modern games, with the inclusion of Internet connectivity in consoles such as the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and in mobile/cellular phones. Online games need to allow several people to play at the same time, so not all genres are suitable; the most popular genres include MMORPG's, FPS's, racing/driving games, strategy games, and sports titles. The Internet is also host to thousands of small Flash and Java games, named after the programming language in which they are written. These games generally do not share the same magnitude of development costs, depth, or seriousness of PC and console games, and are generally quick to complete by comparison. Some of these games, such as Runescape, however, have expanded far beyond this, and can often be considered on the same level as "mainstream" PC games.

Console

Main article: Console games Console games are played video game console, a specialized computer specifically designed to play games of a certain format. The player usually interacts with the game through a controller, and video and sound are typically delivered to the player via a television, although most modern consoles support additional outputs, such as surround sound setups. Consoles themselves branched off from personal computers around two decades ago, a fact which is still evident not only in the name, but also in many of the peripherals available for many consoles, like the keyboard and mouse peripherals released for the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Sega Dreamcast.

Handheld

Main article: Handheld video games Handheld games are played on handheld game consoles, such as the Nintendo Gameboy, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP. Handheld consoles act as their own controllers, which the player uses to interact with the game, as well as having in-built display and audio output devices. Because they are designed to be played on the go, they are usually small enough to fit into an average pocket (the virtual boy is an exception to this), but due to their small size, haldheld consoles have reduced processing power compared to larger consoles, meaning that games are shorter, and until the release of the DS, were limited to 2D.

Mobile Phone

Main article: Mobile/Cellular Phone Games Most mobile phones now have games built into them, and others are available for download, or can be bought for a small amount of money. These games are more restricted than traditional handheld games, and usually play more like arcade games.

Arcade

Main article: Arcade Games Arcade games, traditionally, are "coin-operated games", played on a standalone device originally leased to commercial entertainment venues. These are programmed, equipped, and decorated for a specific game, consisting of a video display, a set of controls, and the coin slot. Controls are similar to those available for many consoles (albeit usually as peripherals) and range from the classic joystick and buttons, to light guns, to pads on the ground that sense pressure. Arcade games that are no longer profitable to lease can be purchased by private individuals, many of whom then explore the game dynamics by altering the programs. This term has now expanded to include any game that has more direct action, with fewer long term objectives and, for the most part, shorter in-game levels.

Popularity

:What rock and roll was to the youth of the Sixties, gaming is to the youth of today. — Killol Bhuta, brand manager, Ford Motor Company [http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=107487] The popularity of computer and video games, as a whole, has been increasing steadily ever since the 1984-1987 dropoff caused by the video game crash of 1983, and the popularity appears to be continuing to increase. The average age of the video game player is now 29 [http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=8540&filter=myturn], belying the myth that video games are largely a diversion for teenagers.

Sales

teenager) with a large selection of games for several major consoles]] The four largest markets for computer and video games are the United States, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom. Other significant markets include Spain, Germany, South Korea, France, and Italy. China is not considered a significant market, most likely because an estimated 95% of video games sold in the country are pirated. [http://slate.msn.com/id/2116629/] Sales of different types of games vary widely between these markets due to local preferences. Japanese consumers avoid computer games and instead buy video games, with a strong preference for games created in Japan, that run on Japanese consoles. In South Korea, computer games are preferred, especially MMORPG games and real-time strategy games; there are over 20,000 PC bang Internet cafes where computer games can be played for an hourly charge. The NPD Group tracks computer and video game sales in the United States. It reported that as of 2004:
- Console and portable software sales: $6.2 billion, up 8% from 2003 [http://gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=5650]
- Console and portable hardware and accessory sales: $3.7 billion, down 35% from 2003 [http://gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=5650]
- PC game sales: $1.1 billion, down 2% from 2003 [http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/28/news_6117438.html] These figures are sales in dollars, not units; unit shipments for each category were higher than the dollar sales numbers indicate, as more software and hardware was sold at reduced prices compared to 2003. Retail PC game sales have been declining slightly each year since about 1998, but this fact should be taken with a grain of salt: the retail sales numbers from NPD do not include sales from online downloads, nor subscription revenue for games like MMORPGs. There is a commonly repeated, mistaken belief that video game sales now exceed the revenues of the movie industry. This is untrue; in the United States, video game sales have exceeded the movies' total box office revenue each year since about 1996, but the movie studios trounce the video game publishers when the movies' "ancillary revenue" is counted, meaning sales of DVDs, sales to foreign distributors, and sales to cable TV, satellite TV, and broadcast television networks. The game and film industries are also becoming increasingly intertwined, with companies like Sony having significant stakes in both. A large number of summer blockbuster films spawn a companion game, often launching at the same time in order to share the marketing costs.

Computer and video games in the broader culture

Computer games are huge business worldwide. Take for example South Korea. Developers there boast MMORPGs such as Lineage and Ragnarok Online with millions of subscribers and a third of the world's MMOG revenue. StarCraft gosu (expert players) are celebrities in a game that some have called the country's national sport. The success of computer and online gaming there is usually credited to South Korea's push for broadband Internet connections in the home and earlier bans on Japanese products (these restrictions were removed by the late 1990s). Numerous websites and publications devoted solely to games have been created, including Official Xbox Magazine, Nintendo Power, Official Playstation Magazine, GamePro, GameSpot, GameSpy, IGN and GameFAQs. Video gaming now ingrained in popular culture in the United States. Many T-shirts are available that directly reference video games, such as one with a picture of an NES controller with the text 'Know Your Roots.' Also, video games have also become a major part in cross marketing platforms, such as in Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh, where a child can watch the television show, buy the trading cards, and play the various video games available. Video game properties have had mixed success when migrating to the movies. One of the first films based on a video game property was The Wizard, which some criticized as a 90-minute ad for Super Mario Brothers 3. In the mid-90s, films for Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, Wing Commander and Mortal Kombat were released. Reviews have generally been poor. Despite the ultimately poor performance of these movies, many studios still want to turn big games into movies, hoping that the popularity of the game will help the movie. However, after the initial bunch, many projects materialized that were never finished, but the success of films like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider has led to more films materializing. Doom, a game which film makers were trying to cross over since the mid '90s, finally hit theatres 12 years after its initial release. John Woo is also producing a movie on the popular Nintendo game Metroid. There is still debate in the movie industry on whether video games can consistently be turned into good, profitable movies. Films like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which has received mixed responses from audiences, with some saying it is a great movie, and others saying it is a very bad movie with excellent computer-generated imagery, but ultimately flopped in the box office, and Uwe Boll's House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark, which both ended up being horrible flops both in fan reactions and box office success and both ending up on the IMDB's bottom 100 movies, do not, in turn, give much confidence in whether these movies will be handled seriously. The recently released Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children may change some people's minds though, even though it's a straight to DVD affair. On the other hand, video games get much more success when adapted into cartoons/animes. Some notables examples of major success includes the various Mario Bros. cartoons, Sonic SatAM, Captain N: The Game Master and Earthworm Jim while Sonic Underground, the American Mega Man cartoon and 4Kids' dubs (although this isn't limited to their video game-based dubs) are cited as being poor. Sometime, they even "help" more obscure/Japan-only games pick up popularity in America although rarely; To Heart would be the best example of such thing. Movies have had far more success moving the other direction, onto video games. Most summer blockbuster films now have a simultaneous video game release; some of the most lucrative video games of recent times are based on movies, such as Electronic Arts' and Stormfront Studios' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and the series of EA LotR games that followed it, and Activision's two Spider-Man movie games. Even though movies have had more success in game conversion, not all movie games are popular amongst the gaming community. Some publishers believe that the success of the movie will help the game sell, and so may not have as lengthy a development schedule as needed to make a compelling game. Some examples of this are the Catwoman and King Arthur movie games. Also, video games have found themselves on MTV2, in a popular show called Video Mod, where characters from popular video games perform songs from hit artists, such as characters from The Sims 2 performing the song "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains Of Wayne. On the Internet, gaming has also become a popular subject of many webcomics. Currently there are two varieties. The first one is the sprite comic, such as 8 Bit Theatre, in which the artist uses sprites from the earlier Final Fantasy games to tell stories. Sometimes these are original stories, but are often parodies of the game in which the sprite came from. The other is a more traditional comic strip, containing original art, like Penny Arcade. Here, the storylines or jokes revolve around current events in video gaming. The success of Penny Arcade has attracted many people in the industry, including Ubisoft. Other parodies have come in the form of amateur videos, such as those of Mega 64. In Germany, the TV channel NBC Europe broadcasts a show called GIGA, which turned more and more into a video and computer game show. In the show, new games are presented and reviewed. Lately, the show featured the esports scene a lot, by introducing professional players to the audience and broadcasting live competition matches. Online shows are fast becoming the place to view live action gaming broadcasts such as gamespot's 'On the Spot'

Development

Main article: Game development Video games are made by developers, who used to do this as individuals in the 80's (Bedroom Coders) , but now are almost always a large team consisting of designers, graphic designers and other artists, programmers, sound designers, musicians, and other technicians. Video games are developing fast in all areas, but the problem is of price and how developers intend to keep the price where it is while incorporating better technology, that inevitably costs more. Most video game console development teams number anywhere from 20 to 50 people, with some teams exceeding 100. The average team size as well as the average development time of a game have grown along with the size of the industry and the technology involved in creating games. This has led to regular occurrences of missed deadlines and unfinished products; Duke Nukem Forever is the quintessential example of these problems. See also: video game industry practices. Visit http://magicalgames.suddenlaunch3.com/index.cgi for forums about videogames.

Game modifications

Main article: Mod (computer gaming) Games running on a PC are often designed with end-user modifications in mind, and this consequently allows modern computer games to be modified by gamers without much difficulty. These mods can add an extra dimension of replayability and interest. The Internet provides an inexpensive medium to promote and distribute mods, and they have become an increasingly important factor in the commercial success of some games. Developers such as id, Valve, and Epic provide extensive tools and documentation to assist mod makers, allowing for the kind of success seen by popular mods such as Counter-Strike. Popular mods are sometimes bought by the developers of the game. This is the case of Valve's Half-life. They bought a number of popular mods including Counter-strike and Day of defeat. After the release of Half-life 2 Valve developed these mods for the sequel and sold them through their digital distribution software Steam through the internet. Recently, computer games have also been used as a digital art medium. See artistic computer game modification.

Naming

Gamers use several umbrella terms for console, PC, arcade, handheld, and similar games since they do not agree on the best name. For many, either "computer game" or "video game" describes these games as a whole. Other commonly used terms include, "entertainment software," "interactive entertainment media," "electronic interactive entertainment," "electronic game," "software game," and "videogame" (as one word). Computer and video games may be considered a subset of interactive media, which includes virtual reality, flight and engineering simulation, multimedia and the World Wide Web.

References

- Lieu, Tina (August 1997). [http://www.cjmag.co.jp/magazine/issues/1997/aug97/0897pcgames.html "Where have all the PC games gone?"]. Computing Japan.
- Costikyan, Greg (1994) [http://www.costik.com/nowords.html "I Have No Words & I Must Design"]
- Crawford, Chris (1982) [http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Coverpage.html "The Art of Computer Game Design"] Category:Games ko:컴퓨터 게임 ja:コンピューターゲーム nb:Dataspill simple:Video game th:Category:เกมคอมพิวเตอร์และวิดีโอเกม

Photography

Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. It involves recording light patterns, as reflected from objects, onto a sensitive medium through a timed exposure. The process is done through mechanical, chemical or digital devices commonly known as cameras. The word comes from the Greek words φως phos ("light"), and γραφις graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or γραφη graphê, together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines" or "drawing."

Photographic image forming devices

Most commonly a camera or camera obscura is the image forming device and photographic film or a digital storage card is the recording medium, although other methods are available. For instance, the photocopy or xerography machine forms permanent images but uses the transfer of static electrical charges rather than photographic film, hence the term electrophotography. The rayographs published by Man Ray in 1922 are images produced by the shadows of objects cast on the photographic paper, without the use of a camera. And one can place objects directly on the glass of a scanner to produce pictures electronically. Photographers control the camera to expose the light recording material (usually film or a charge-coupled device) to light. After processing, this produces an image whose contents are acceptably sharp, bright and composed to achieve the objective of taking the photograph. The controls include:
- Focus
- Aperture of the lens
- Duration of exposure (or shutter speed)
- Focal length of the lens (telephoto, macro, wide angle, or zoom)
- Sensitivity of the medium to light intensity and color The controls are usually inter-related, for example brightness is aperture multiplied by shutter speed, and varying the focal length of the lens will allow greater control over the depth of field. Depth of field is the area of the image that is in focus. The larger the depth of field, the larger the area of the image that is in focus. The smaller the depth of field, the smaller the area that is in focus. A higher aperture setting, like f16 or f22, gives the photographer a smaller depth of field. A lower aperture setting, like f1.4 or f2.8, gives a larger depth of field.

Uses of photography

Photography can be classified under imaging technology and has gained the interest of scientists and artists from its inception. Scientists have used its capacity to make accurate recordings, such as Eadweard Muybridge in his study of human and animal locomotion (1887). Artists have been equally interested by this aspect but have also tried to explore other avenues than the photo-mechanical representation of reality, such as the pictorialist movement. Military, police and security forces use photography for surveillance, recognition and data storage.

History of photography

pictorialist pictorialist

Invention

Chemical photography

Projecting images onto surfaces has been done for centuries. The camera obscura and the camera lucida were used by artists to trace scenes as early as the 16th century. These early cameras did not fix an image in time; they only projected what was before an opening in the wall of a darkened room onto a surface. In effect, the entire room was turned into a large pinhole camera. Indeed, the phrase camera obscura literally means "darkened room," and it is after these darkened rooms that all modern cameras have been named. The first photograph is considered to be an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative called bitumen of Judea. It was produced with a camera, and required an eight hour exposure in bright sunshine. However, this process turned out to be a dead end and Niépce began experimenting with silver compounds based on a Johann Heinrich Schultz discovery in 1724 that a silver and chalk mixture darkens when exposed to light. Niépce, in Chalon-sur-Saône, and the artist Jacques Daguerre, in Paris, refined the existing silver process in a partnership. In 1833 Niépce died unexpectedly of a stroke, leaving his notes to Daguerre. While he had no scientific background, Daguerre made two pivotal contributions to the process. He discovered that by exposing the silver firstly to iodine vapour, before exposure to light, and then to mercury fumes after the photograph was taken, a latent image could be formed and made visible. By then bathing the plate in a salt bath the image could be fixed. In 1839 Daguerre announced that he had invented a process using silver on a copper plate called the Daguerreotype. A similar process is still used today for Polaroids®. The French government bought the patent and immediately made it public domain. Across the English Channel, William Fox Talbot had earlier discovered another means to fix a silver process image but had kept it secret. After reading about Daguerre's invention, Talbot refined his process, so that it might be fast enough to take photographs of people as Daguerre had done, and by 1840 he had invented the calotype process. He coated paper sheets with silver chloride to create an intermediate negative image. Unlike a daguerreotype, a calotype negative could be used to reproduce positive prints, like most chemical films do today. Talbot patented this process, which greatly limited its adoption. He spent the rest of his life in lawsuits defending the patent until he gave up on photography all together. But later this process was refined by George Eastman and is today the basic technology used by chemical film cameras. Hippolyte Bayard also developed a method of photography, but delayed announcing it and so was not recognized as its inventor. Hippolyte Bayard

Reference

- Coe, Brian. The Birth of Photography. Ash & Grant, 1976.

Social history

Popularization

The Daguerreotype proved popular as it responded to the demand for portraiture emerging from the middle classes during the Industrial Revolution. This demand, that could not be met in volume and in cost by oil painting, may well have been the push for the development of photography. But still daguerreotypes, while beautiful, were fragile and difficult to copy. A single photograph taken in a portrait studio could cost $1000 in 2005 dollars. Photographers also encouraged chemists to refine the process of making many copies cheaply, which eventually lead them back to Talbot's process. Ultimately, the modern photographic process came about from a series of refinements and improvements in the first 20 years. In 1884 George Eastman, of Rochester, New York, developed dry gel on paper, or film, to replace the photographic plate, so that a photographer no longer needed to carry boxes of plates and toxic chemicals around. In July of 1888 Eastman's Kodak camera went on the market with the slogan "You press the button, we do the rest". Now anyone could take a photograph and leave the dangerous portions of the process to others. Photography became available for the mass-market in 1901 with the introduction of Kodak Brownie. Very little has changed in chemical photography since then, though color film has become the standard, as well as automatic focus and automatic exposure. Digital recording of images is becoming increasingly prevalent, as digital cameras allow instant previews on LCD screens among other benefits, and the resolution of top of the range models has exceeded high quality 35mm film while lower resolution models have become affordable. For the enthusiast photographer processing black and white film, little has changed since the introduction of the 35mm film Leica camera in 1925.

Economic history

In the nineteenth century, photography developed rapidly as a commercial service. In the U.S. in 1890, the number of professional photographers was about the same as the number of accountants, artists, and dentists, respectively, and about ten times greater than the number of authors. End-user supplies of photographic equipment accounted for only about 20% of industry revenue. Several trends characterize the photographic industry from the end of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. The ratio of revenue from end-user photographic supplies to revenue from professional services rose by an order of magnitude. The prevalence of personal cameras and the ratio of end-user photographs rose closely in tandem with the prevalence of telephone and the telephone conversation minutes. However, the ratio of photographic industry revenue to telephone industry revenue dropped sharply.[http://www.galbithink.org/sense-s6.htm#wpp1] Given the development of new digital technologies for creating and sharing images, and of new communications devices, e.g. camera phones, understanding the economics of image use are becoming increasingly important for understanding the evolution of the communications industry as a whole. Resources Jenkins, Reese V. Images & Enterprise: Technology and the American Photographic Industry 1839-1925. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. The book provides a fine overview of the economics of photography and is especially strong on the growth and development of the Eastman Kodak Company.

Color photography

Main article: color photography Color photography was explored throughout the 1800s. Initial experiments in color could not fix the photograph and prevent the color from fading. The first permanent color photo was taken in 1861 by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell. One of the early methods of taking color photos was to use three cameras. Each camera would have a color filter in front of the lens. This technique provides the photographer with the three basic channels required to recreate a color image in a darkroom or processing plant. Practical application of the technique was held back by the very limited colour response of early film; however, in the early 1900s, following the work of photo-chemists such as H. W. Vogel, emulsions with adequate sensitivity to green and red light at last became available. The first color film, Autochrome, thus did not reach the market until 1907; it was based on a 'screen-plate' filter made of dyed dots of potato starch. The first modern ('integrated tri-pack') color film, Kodachrome, was introduced in 1935 based on three colored emulsions. Most modern color films, except Kodachrome, are based on technology developed for Agfacolor (as 'Agfacolor Neue') in 1936. Instant color film was introduced by Polaroid in 1963. Color photography may form images as a positive transparency, intended for use in a slide projector or as color negatives, intended for use in creating positive color enlargements on specially coated paper. The latter is now the most common form of film (non-digital) color photography, owing to the introduction of automated photoprinting equipment.

Digital photography

Main article: digital photography digital photography Traditional photography was a considerable burden for photographers working at remote locations (such as press correspondents) without access to processing facilities. With increased competition from television, there was pressure to deliver their images to newspapers with greater speed. Photo-journalists at remote locations would carry a miniature photo lab with them, and some means of transmitting their images down the telephone line. In 1981, Sony unveiled the first consumer camera to use a CCD for imaging, and which required no film -- the Sony Mavica. While the Mavica did save images to disk, the images themselves were displayed on television, and therefore the camera could not be considered fully digital. In 1990, Kodak unveiled the DCS 100, the first commercially available digital camera. Its cost precluded any use other than photojournalism and professional applications, but commercial digital photography was born. Digital photography uses an electronic sensor such as a charge-coupled device to record the image as a piece of electronic data rather than as chemical changes on film. Some other devices, such as cell phones, now include digital photography features. In 10 years, digital cameras have become widespread consumer products. Digital cameras now outsell film cameras, and many include features not found in film cameras such as the ability to shoot video and record audio. Kodak announced in January 2004 that it would no longer produce reloadable 35-millimeter cameras after the end of that year. This was interpreted as a sign of the end of film photography. However, Kodak was at that time a minor actor on the reloadable film cameras market. The price of 35mm and APS compact cameras have dropped, probably due to direct competition from digital and the resulting growth of the offer of second-hand film cameras. However, "wet" photography may endure, as dedicated amateurs and skilled artists often prefer the use of traditional and familiar materials and techniques.

Commercial photography

The commercial photographic world is traditionally broken down to:
- Advertising photography: photographs done to illustrate a service or product. These images are generally done with an Advertising Agency, Design Firm or with an in-house Corporate design team.
- Editorial photography: photographs done to illustrate a story or idea within the context of a magazine. These are usually assigned by the magazine.
- Photojournalism: this can be considered a subset of Editorial. Photographs done in this context are accepted as a truthful documentation of a news story.
- Portrait and wedding photography: photographs done and sold directly to the end user of the images.
- Fine art photography: photographs created to fulfill a vision, and reproduced to be sold directly to the end user. The market for photographic services demonstrates the aphorism "one picture is worth a thousand words," which has an interesting basis in the history of photography. Magazines and newspapers, companies putting up Web sites, advertising agencies and other groups pay for photography. Many people take photographs for self-fulfillment or for commercial purposes. Organizations with a budget and a need for photography have several options: they can assign a member of the organization, hire someone, run a public competition, or obtain rights to stock photographs.

Terminology

Traditionally, the product of photography has been called a photograph. The term photo is a convenient abbreviation. Many people also call them pictures. In digital photography, the term image has begun to replace photograph. This term is neither more nor less correct than photograph, either in film or digital photography. (The term image is traditional in geometric optics.) Although not viewed by all photographers as true photography, digital photography in fact meets all requirements to be called such. Even though there are no chemical processes, a digital camera captures a frame of whatever it happens to be pointed at, which can be viewed later.

Photography as an art form

stock photographs settings can achieve unusual results]] During the twentieth century, both fine art photography and documentary photography became accepted by the English-speaking art world and the gallery system. In the USA, a small handful of curators spent their lives struggling to put it there, with Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and John Szarkowski, and Hugh Edwards the most prominent among them. Yet the aesthetics of photography is a matter that continues to be discussed regularly, especially in artistic circles. Is photography an art - or is it just the mechanical reproduction of an image? If photography is authentically art, what makes a photograph beautiful? Is there a kinship between the beauty of an Atget and a Rembrandt? The controversy began with the earliest images "written with light": [http://www.nicephore-niepce.com/pagus/pagus-bio.html Niépce], [http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/daguerr.htm Daguerre], and others among the very earliest photographers were met with wonder, but some questioned if it was really art. Clive Bell in his classic essay "Art" states that only one thing can distinguish art from what is not art: "significant form." Bell wrote: "There must be some one quality without which a work of art cannot exist; possessing which, in the least degree, no work is altogether worthless. What is this quality? What quality is shared by all objects that provoke our aesthetic emotions? What quality is common to Sta. Sophia and the windows at Chartres, Mexican sculpture, a Persian bowl, Chinese carpets, Giotto's frescoes at Padua, and the masterpieces of Poussin, Piero della Francesca, and Cezanne? Only one answer seems possible - significant form. In each, lines and colors combined in a particular way, certain forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions." [http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/361r13.html Text of Bell's essay].

Aesthetic realism and photography

Clive Bell Others have since examined if this criterion be applied to photography. This question has been examined by the aesthetic realism understanding of beauty. Some of the most important writing on this subject is to be found on the web sites of Len Bernstein, [http://www.dienes-and-dienes.com/Atget.html Louis Dienes], [http://www.dienes-and-dienes.com/Cartier-Bresson.html Amy Dienes], and [http://www.mindspring.com/~davidmbernstein/Dorothea_Lange.html David M. Bernstein]: photographers and critics. Len Bernstein has described the [http://www.lenbernstein.com/ Aesthetic Realism understanding of photography as an art form] in essays which have been published for example in [http://www.apogeephoto.com/apr2001/bernstein4_2001.shtml Apogee Photo Magazine] and in [http://lenbernstein.com/Pages/RiisArticle.html Photographica World: The Journal of the Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain]. On his web site he introduces the subject as follows: "When I began to photograph more than 25 years ago, I felt I found a way of expressing myself that met something so deep inside me that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life. Walking with my camera, the city streets seemed transformed - friendlier, more interesting - and I spent hours searching for dramatic situations, trying to capture the right moment. Looking through the viewfinder, what I saw had new value for me, boredom and loneliness seemed to vanish, and I wished I could feel that way all the time. And hoping to learn what made a photograph successful, I avidly studied the history and technique of photography. "My hopes were met when I first heard this magnificent statement by Eli Siegel, the American critic and founder of the philosophy Aesthetic Realism: [http://www.terraingallery.org/IsBeauty.html 'All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.'] This is the criterion for beauty that centuries of artists, philosophers, people in all walks of life, have searched for; the explanation of what makes a photograph good and how our personal questions are the questions of art - dignified and cultural! I've had the thrill of testing it in thousands of instances, from the first known photograph taken by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826-27 to the most modern work of today." [http://lenbernstein.com/PagesLargeImages/peopleparkbench.html For an online exhibition of Bernstein's photographs click here.] Likewise, important articles (referred to above) on photography as an art form, written from the Aesthetic Realism point of view, will be found on the David M. Bernstein web site [http://www.mindspring.com/~davidmbernstein/Dorothea_Lange.html "What Does a Person Deserve? The Answer Found in a Great Photograph"] and the "Dienes & Dienes" web site. See, for example Amy Dienes' [http://www.dienes-and-dienes.com/Cartier-Bresson.html "The Self Alone & The Self Going Out; or, Cartier-Bresson's Photo of a Leaping Man"]; Louis Dienes' [http://www.dienes-and-dienes.com/Atget.html "On a Photograph by Eugene Atget"] and his illustrated poem "Black and White," originally composed for his own exhibition of photographs, which begins: [http://www.dienes-and-dienes.com/Photographs-and-A-Poem-1st.html "The day black and white got a break..."] An often neglected form of art in photography is that of portrait photography. A portrait is the basic rendering of someone’s likeness. A good portrait photographer not only wants to capture the true likeness, but also the personality of the individual. The photographer needs to be proficient not only in the workings and setting of the camera, but also needs to understand form and lighting. Great lighting and positioning can make someone appear at their best form if used correctly. Lighting and camera placement can also aid in correcting defects such as shortening a nose, making someone appear slimmer, etc. In this form of art, portrait photography takes on many roles, and can help create various moods that the individual is seeking.

Reference

Tom Ang, Dictionary of Photography and Digital Imaging, The Essential Reference for the Modern Photographer (Argentum 2001)

Additional reading

- Freeman Patterson, Photography and The Art of Seeing, 1989, Key Porter Books, ISBN 1550130994.
- The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, ed. by Robin Lenman, Oxford University Press 2005

External links

- [http://www.digitalkb.com/digital_photography/knowledge_base/exposure/ Understanding Exposure and Digital Cameras (Image Sensors)]
- [http://www.dofmaster.com Depth of Field Calculators]
- [http://www.dpreview.com dpreview.com] digital camera reviews
- [http://www.photopermit.org PhotoPermit.Org] discussion on copyright law for photographers
- [http://www.luminous-landscape.com/ The Luminous Landscape] - photography techniques and camera reviews
- [http://photoinf.com/ Photography Composition Articles]
- [http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/VQ_P3_2_EN.html Instant Memories] — the origins of amateur photography
- [http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/VQ_P2_7_EN.html In the Eye of the Camera] — The limits of photography in 19th century
- [http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom/photographic-processes/index.cfm Daguerreotype to Digital: A Brief History of the Photographic Process] From the State Library & Archives of Florida. Category:Arts Category:News Category:Photography ja:写真 th:การถ่ายภาพ

Pottery

Pottery is a form of ceramic technology, where the clay is formed into vessels, generally with utilitarian purposes in mind. The production of pottery is a process where wet clay is shaped and allowed to dry. The formed clay, or piece, may be "bisque fired" in a kiln to harden it, and then fired a second time after adding a glaze or a piece may be once fired by applying appropriate glaze to the dry unfired clay and firing in one cycle.

Types of pottery

Aesthetic and artistic considerations have often been part of the formation of the pottery vessels, however modern mass production techniques have replaced the traditional role of pottery with mechanized reproduction, which has in turn caused the potter to be more focused on the aesthetic than the utilitarian in industrialized nations. Traditionally, different world regions have produced different types of clay, also called bodies, with the potter digging clay out of natural banks in his own 'back yard.' In modern times, potters will often combine different clays and minerals to produce clay bodies suited to their specific purposes. Pottery that is fired at temperatures in the 800 to 1200 °C range, which does not vitrify in the kiln but remains slightly porous is often called earthenware or terra cotta. Clay formulated to be fired at higher temperatures, which is partially vitrified is called stoneware. Fine earthenware with a white tin glaze is known as faience. Porcelain is a very refined, smooth, white body that, when fired to vitrification, can have translucent qualities. Complex extremely high-fired ceramics, where the glaze and body fuse completely, are generally referred to as "products of ceramic technology." Ceramic technology is used for items such as electronic parts and Space Shuttle tiles.

Techniques

Space Shuttle).]] A person who makes pottery is traditionally known as a potter. The potter's most basic tool is his or her hands, however many of their tools have been created over the long history of pottery, including the potter's wheel, various paddles, shaping tools (or ribs), slab rollers, and cutting tools.

Forming techniques

There are three basic categories of forming techniques used in pottery—handwork, wheel work, and slipcasting. It's very common for wheel-worked pieces to be finished by handwork techniques. Slipcast pieces tend not to be, as that negates one of the prime advantages of casting. Handwork methods are the most primitive and individual techniques, where pieces are constructed from hand-rolled coils, slabs, ropes, and balls of clay, often joined with a liquid clay slurry. No two pieces of handwork will be exactly the same, so it is not suitable for making precisely matched sets of items such as dinnerware. Doing handwork enables the potters to use their imagination to create one-of-a-kind works of art. These methods are often referred to as "handbuilding". art.]] The potter's wheel can be used for mass production, although often it is employed to make individual pieces. The process of making ceramic ware on the potter's wheel is called "throwing" or "turning." A ball of clay is placed in the center of a turntable, called the wheel head, which is turned chiefly using foot power (a kick wheel or treadle wheel) or a variable speed electric motor. Oftentimes, a disk of plastic, wood, or plaster is affixed to the wheel head, and the ball of clay is attached to the disk rather than the wheel head so that the finished piece can be removed easily. This disk is referred to as a bat. The wheel revolves rapidly while the clay is pressed, squeezed, and pulled gently into shape. The process of pressuring the clay into a radial symmetry, so that it does not move from side to side as the wheel head rotates is referred to as "centering" the clay—usually the most difficult skill to master for beginning potters. Wheel work takes a lot of technical ability, but a skilled potter can produce many virtually identical plates, vases, or bowls in a day. Because of its nature, wheel work can only be used to initially create items with radial symmetry on a vertical axis. These pieces can then be altered by impressing, bulging, carving, fluting, faceting, incising, and other methods to make them more visually interesting. Often, thrown pieces are further modified by having handles, lids, feet, spouts, and other functional aspects added using the techniques of handworking. Pottery that is thrown on the wheel is often finished in a process known as trimming. The thrown piece is first allowed to dry to the leather-hard state then it is returned to the potter's wheel, usually with the rim down. The piece must be re-centered to allow trimming of the foot of the pot to create a smooth and well-defined surface. There are two related techniques that improve repeatability of wheelwork. A jigger is a mould that is slowly brought down onto the outside of an object, while it is being turned on a wheel. A solid mould is used to form the inside of the piece. Similarly, a jogger is used to shape the inside of a piece, pressing the outside against a solid mould. Although these techniques have been in use since the 18th century, they are usually considered minor "industrial" methods by modern studio potters. There is contention among potters over whether a "jigged" piece can be considered "hand-produced." Slipcasting is probably the easiest technique for mass-production, especially for shapes not easily made on a wheel. A liquid clay slip is poured into plaster moulds and allowed to harden slightly. This slip can be formulated to mature at a variety of temperatures. Once the plaster has absorbed most of the liquid from the outside layer of clay the remaining slip is poured back into the storage tub, and the piece is left to dry. Finally, the finished piece is removed from the mould, "fettled" (trimmed neatly), and allowed to air-dry. This method is commonly used for smaller decorative pieces such as figurines, which have many intricate details. In the United States, moulds and their slipcast pieces are primarily an industrial product, and are usually called "ceramics" to distinguish them from other pottery.

Decorative and finishing techniques

ceramics.]] Additives can be worked into moist clay, prior to forming, to produce desired characteristics to the finished ware. Various coarse additives, such as sand and grog (fired clay which has been finely ground) give the final product strength and texture, and contrasting colored clays and grogs result in patterns. Colorants, usually metal oxides and carbonates, are added singly or in combinations to achieve a desired colour. Combustible particles can be mixed with clay or pressed into the surface to produce texture. Shredded fiberglass can be used as an additive to improve tensile strength in the finished piece. However, the resulting clay contains sharp fibers, is hard to work with and must be carefully handled. Throughout history, potters have used a mixture of coloured clays as a distinctive decorating technique. In traditional studio pottery in Great Britain, these techniques were known as agateware. The name is derived from the agate stone, which shows bands of colours. In Japan, various techniques for combining coloured clay on the potter's wheel are jointly known as "neriage." An analogue of marquetry can also be made, by pressing small blocks of coloured clays together, and using the resulting mosaic to create distinctive patterns. The Japanese term for this technique is nerikome. Agateware and the other varieties of 'mottled' ware are made by combining two or more colours or varieties of clay into one completed piece. Different colours of clay are lightly kneaded or slapped together before being formed into a vessal or decorative item. This method is most commonly used for handbuilt pieces. Coloured clay can also be added to a base clay after it is centered on the wheel. Although in principle any clays can be combined, differing rates of drying/shrinkage and expansion in firing create structural difficulties. It is best to select a light neutral clay body, and then add a colourant to separate portions of the same body. The different coloured clays can then be joined without significant structural problems. Members of commercial clay 'families' often have a similar chemical composition and a similar shrinkage rate, and can be used together. Burnishing, like the metalwork technique of the same name, involves rubbing the surface of the piece with a polished surface (typically wood, steel, or stone), to smooth and polish the clay. Finer clays give a smoother and shinier surface than coarser clays, as will allowing the pot to dry more before burnishing, although that risks breakage. metalwork To give a finer surface, or a coloured surface, slip can be coated onto the leather-dry clay. Slip produced to a specific recipe is sometimes called an engobe. Slips or engobes can be applied by painting techniques, or the piece can be dipped for a uniform coating. Many pre-historic and historic cultures used slip as the primary decorating material on their ware. Sgraffito involves scratching through a layer of coloured slip to reveal a different colour or the base clay underneath. If done carefully, one colour of slip can be fired before a second is applied prior to the scratching or incising decoration. Often slips/engobes used in this process have a higher silica content, sometimes approaching a glaze recipe. This is particularly useful if the base clay is not of the desired colour or texture.

Glazing and firing techniques

Glazing is the process of coating the piece with a thin layer of a glassy material (often a mix of dolomite, frit, silica/flint, feldspar, sodium borate, clay and whiting plus metal oxides or carbonates). This is important for functional earthenware vessels, which would otherwise be unsuitable for holding liquids due to porosity. Glaze may be applied by dusting it over the clay, spraying, dipping, trailing or brushing on a thin slurry of glaze and water. Brushing tends not to give very even covering, but can be effective with a second coating of a coloured glaze as a decorative technique. With all glazed items, a small part of the item (usually on the base of the piece) must be left unglazed, else it will stick to the kiln during firing. Glazes can be formulated to melt within the kiln at various temperatures called cones and denoted by a small triangle and a number, which run upwards from cone 1 at 1154 °C and backwards with a preceding 0. Cone 06, for example, is a lower temperature than cone 1 at approximately 999 °C. Glazes formulated to melt between cone 09 (~923 °C) and cone 01 (~1137 °C) are often referred to as "low fire", while glazes which melt between around cone 6 (~1222 °C) and cone 12 (~1326 °C) are called "high fire". Those which melt in the intermediate range are called "mid fire". The temperature within the kiln is often identified using small triangular Pyrometric cones of carefully formulated chemical mixtures which melt within a specific temperature range and begin to bend slightly—hence the term "cones" being used to denote temperature. Some clays and glazes are oxygen-sensitive, most notably those containing iron and copper, and will change colour depending on the presence of oxygen during the firing. Kilns can either be "oxidized" by opening a port to allow oxygen into the interior or "reduced" by closing off the kiln from outside air to attain colors as desired. A number of various firing techniques can be used in addition to normal glaze-firing. Most of these involve heating the kiln to a high temperature and then delivering an amount of dry chemical into the kiln's interior. Sulfur is commonly used, as are various salts or ashes. Such substances will stick to pieces within the kiln and melt onto their surfaces, often resulting in a mottled texture which has a distinctive "orange peel" feel. Colors generally depend on what chemical is added to the kiln. These techniques can have very unusual and frequently unexpected results whether used on an unglazed piece or in combination with normal glazing. Wood firing is an

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