Electric Turnip
  • Blog
  • Stories
    • Story 000
    • Story 001
    • Story 002
    • Story 004
    • Story 007 - Unfinished
    • Story 008
    • Story 010 - BattleWagon
    • Story 012
  • Images
    • Adventure Caddie concept gallery
    • Page Design Gallery
    • Older Work
  • 5FEAT Video
  • Videos
  • Game Experiments
    • Climb
    • Super Shapetoy
    • TurboGarbageTruck
    • 031 - Best Games - Enchanter
    • 033 - Shader Test
  • Contact

124

3/16/2015

0 Comments

 
There are a lot of great digital tools available now that let creators work in rapid, iterative ways. We owe a lot of the progress made in the last 40 years to the humble “undo” command.

The undo feature of most software is second nature. We roll our fingers across Ctrl-z like we pick lint from a shirt. Removing a minor misstep from digital work is mundane. There are usually several levels of undo and redo and we can walk back and forth through the past at will. This ability has advanced human creativity explosively. Attempting and testing new ideas in visual arts, music, literature, science, engineering, medicine, frankly every industry touched by a computer, comes at very little risk. Undo isn’t an eraser. Undo is the freedom to make mistakes while appearing to all the world like you’ve made none.

Like most tools, there is a downside to undo. The ease of undo can sometimes make us forget that every creation has an end point. Usually several end points, laid out in intervals along the path toward a finished work.Even the most well thought out workflow passes the point of potential undo. There are barriers that need to be crossed when digital information is converted from one form to another. Separate instrument tracks need to be mixed into a single recording before you can present it as a song. Visual effects need to be blended into filmed footage, and the footage must be edited, before it can be presented as a movie.

When someone works with physical materials, the understanding that changes can be irreversible is inherent. If you tear paper or cut wood while creating something new, that change is permanent. Almost everyone has, at least some, experience with computers, and almost everyone has used undo. There is a rampant perception that digital creation tools, like photoshop, contain within them a turbocharged version of undo that allows those in tune with it to access a world of infinite malleability. The truth, of course, is that at some point along the way wood gets cut, metal gets melted, paper gets marked, and digital files get converted. The process is always one way, and undo is not possible. When undo is so readily at hand for everyone, the belief that creators can revert changes and modifying anything without limit, usually follows. Most creators will understand the limits of their tools. Unfortunately, their clients rarely will.

Educating clients, calling out the points of no return in the production process, has never been my strong suit. People never like to hear that something can’t be done without significant difficulty. Significant difficulty usually translates into more time and more money. This can make it uncomfortable to raise the issue. Of course that usually means eating the time and cost when a client requests late stage changes. Changes past the point where undo was ever useful. There is also the problem of creator ego. It’s nice to be able to just say “OK” and turn around the changes as requested, making you look like a master of your craft. In the end, it would probably be healthier for everyone if clients could be gently educated to the cold hard facts of production. You can measure twice and cut once, but after you cut, there is no undo.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    June 2012
    October 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    November 2010
    October 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    Adventure Caddie
    Best Games

    RSS Feed

Owen McManus
  • Blog
  • Stories
    • Story 000
    • Story 001
    • Story 002
    • Story 004
    • Story 007 - Unfinished
    • Story 008
    • Story 010 - BattleWagon
    • Story 012
  • Images
    • Adventure Caddie concept gallery
    • Page Design Gallery
    • Older Work
  • 5FEAT Video
  • Videos
  • Game Experiments
    • Climb
    • Super Shapetoy
    • TurboGarbageTruck
    • 031 - Best Games - Enchanter
    • 033 - Shader Test
  • Contact