Take a journey into the Dark Unknown at expoTEES

A space craft lands on a seemingly deserted planet. The craft scans the planet and discovers a giant robot, sat on a huge carved rock throne. As the sun rises, the robot slowly comes to life.

This isn’t a storyline from the current series of BBC One’s Doctor Who. It is in fact a short computer generated animation project, entitled ‘Dark Unknown’, created by University of Teesside student Rich Crowe.

Rich’s project will be featured at the University of Teesside’s expoTEES event, displaying the work of nearly 40 selected final year computing students. Other projects on display at expoTEES include an animated travelling circus and a time-travelling computer game. ExpoTEES takes place on Thursday 26 April from 1.00pm-4.00pm in the Victoria Road Building, Victoria Road, Middlesbrough. It is free and open to all members of the public. Dr Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough and East Cleveland, will be an invited guest at expoTEES.

Rich, 30, from Billingham, is in the final year of a BA (Hons) degree in Creative Visualisation. He is pictured on the attached j-peg with an image of the ‘Dark Unknown’ giant robot in the background and said: “I left my full-time post as a web/graphic designer to gain skills for the animation industry. So I returned to Teesside after living in Leeds for five years, due to the University’s outstanding reputation. During my course I’ve developed amazing new skills such as 2D animation and 3D modelling and used these for several commercial websites. ‘Dark Unknown’ is a prologue to a larger scale idea I’ve been developing.” Michelle Tellam, organiser of expoTEES, said: “We’ll be showcasing talent from all our computing degrees, including Computer Games and Animation. ExpoTEES was held for the first time last year and there was a real buzz from the students when they were describing their projects to visitors, who included representatives of the regional computer games industry. It’s different from other exhibitions, in that it’s interactive and people who are considering computing degrees can talk to students themselves.”

For more details about expoTEES call 01642 342639, or e-mail scm-enquiries@tees.ac.uk

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