Development of an Open Innovation approach through the co-creation of Immersive Virtual Heritage applications
Lesson 4
Module Structure
Theoretical basis for the development of a virtual environment
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Unit 1
Workshop for the development of a virtual environment
Unit 2
Case studies
Unit 3
The purpose of this module will be for students to understand the most useful and interesting facets, initiatives and innovations that are arising from the encounter between new virtual technologies and the world of cultural heritage.
Knowledge needed to independently develop a Virtual Environment.
The unit consists of 6 lessons:
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Unit 1 - Introduction
Fundamental concepts
Theoretical bases I, modeling and CG
Elements of programming I
Theoretical Bases II, lighting and animation
Introduction and history to Virtual Environments
Elements of programming II
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What is a virtual environment?
Lesson 1- Introduction and history to Virtual Environments
There are various interpretations revolving around the concept of a Virtual Environment.
The term originates from the composition of two words:
Environment
The extension and conditions that define a space
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Virtual
Reproduced through electronic technologies
Thus, a Virtual Environment can be thought of as a space generated and simulated through a computer.
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The branch of computer science devoted to this subject is called computer graphics, which, in a broad sense, deals with the ways in which images can be generated through computers.
The disciplinary areas that relate to CG are many, for example: User Interface Design, sprite graphics, vector graphics, 3D modeling, ray tracing and Virtual Reality.
Computer Graphics (CG)
From this we can define virtual environments as:
The set of those technologies and methods that define the properties of a computer-generated space; whether 2d or 3d, realistic or fantasy.
Computer graphics develops intertwined firmly with the history and development of computers. And, as early as the arrival of the first computers in the 1950s there was a need to connect output peripherals to them through which to display content.
Computer graphics began to be theorized in the 1960s when William Fetter generated the first digital image in history: two pilots sitting in a cockpit.
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Developing the first animated CG film was Edward Zajac, who created a minifilm called Simulation of a Two-Gyro Gravity-Gradient Attitude Control for the Bell Telephone Labs company in 1963.
The sequence simulated through a computer the movement of a satellite around the earth while a clock counted the orbits made.
Computer Graphics (CG)
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The 1960s and 1970s saw the birth of a strong collaboration between engineers, computer scientists, and artists that took the name Computer Art.
Computer Graphics (CG) - Computer Art
Artists from the analog world began to see the PC as a tool for expressing themselves and generating content.
Among them we find the works of Knowlton and Harmon who wanted to portray gray-scale objects, animals or people through sets of symbols randomly generated by the computer; for example, we can remember Studies in Perception #1 (Knowlton, Harmon 1966).
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Over time, human-computer interaction also took steps forward; in Sutherland devised Sketchpad through which it was made possible for the user, through an optical pen, to draw directly on the computer.
Another invention by Southerland, together with Sproull, was the first HMD (Head Mounted Display) for VR and AR in 1968.
Computer Graphics (CG)
The 1970s was a period of flourishing development; yes a for technique as well as technology.
For example, one can report Hummingbird in which Csuri used the interpolation technique to transform a chaotic design into a hummingbird through morphing.
The interpolation technique was also essential to the later development of animation.
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Computer Graphics (CG) - 3D Graphics
While the strand of virtual art continued to develop, a current took hold that, in contrast, aimed more at the generation of realistic images than at the creation of abstract forms.
The first three-dimensional images began to be made and rendering and animation functions were implemented; thus, 3D graphics were born.
From here the sperimentations were many; an interesting example was that of Krueger who in 1975 devised VIDEOPLACE, a prototype of a virtual interactive world.
Or, from the same year, Newell's famous model, the Utah Teapot, which, because of the high realistic rendering of the model and lights became a benchmark in the industry.
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Since the 1980s, 3D graphics found fertile ground in advertising, architecture and film through VFX; by the 1990s, 3D graphics would begin to be talked about in the video game industry as well.
Coming to the present day, to faster and faster computers, better and better techniques and a diverse and growing market.
Computer Graphics (CG) - Applications
Cinema
Architecture
Video games
Simulation and training
Art
Thank You!
Giovanni Giuliodori
giovanni.giuliodori@santannapisa.it