Category Archives: 3D modeling

First Steps in the Student Innovation Fellowship

  October 1, 2015 , , ,

My name is Saif Ali. I am a freshman Physics major at Georgia State University, so this is my first year as a SIF (Student Innovation Fellow). I will provide a short auto-biography of myself so that you, the reader, know whose work you are reading. I place my heritage in the country of Bangladesh where my family was born and raised, but I was born here in Atlanta which means I am first-generation American. I graduated from Woodstock High School in the Spring of 2015. At that point, I already knew I was going to GSU, but I was not aware of the SIF program. I became aware of this through the Honors College and immediately knew this is the place I wanted to be. Being exposed to this kind of academic atmosphere is the best way I can start my path to a career in science where research is the main focus of the job. I am mostly involved in the 3D 1928 Atlanta project. This project involves a team of four researchers and four builders who are re-creating 1928 Atlanta in an Oculus Rift setting. My assignment is researching Peachtree Street, also referred to as Whitehall Street during that time. I have accumulated a significant amount of photos that are from that era, but there are predictable problems that I have run into. I have found pictures that are dated around or on 1928, but I have also found many pictures of Atlanta from the 1930s. I … Continue reading

SIF Digital Humanities Projects Highlighted at GSU Scientific Computing Day

  September 20, 2015 , , , , , ,

Last week, GSU held its first Scientific Computing Day, a one-day symposium to foster interactions and collaborations between researchers at Georgia State University. The event provides researchers on the frontiers of computation research to present their work and exchange views with a multidisciplinary audience. As one might imagine, SIF collaborators have much to contribute to such an event, and the SIF was well represented, particularly in the digital humanities section of the conference, which was dominated by SIF-affiliated projects. A panel, which included Brennan Collins, Joe Hurley, Robin Wharton and previous SIF fellow Robert Bryant, discussed “How Technology Will Shape the Future of Humanities Research.” The panel’s presentation drew heavily on SIF-funded projects, including 3D Atlanta, 3D Modelling, and a variety of mapping projects.  SIF’s also contributed to the day’s poster-session, where Sruthi Vuppala and Dylan Ruediger presented a poster on “Digital Critical Editions of Medieval Texts: the Hoccleve Archive and the Digital Humanities.”  

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Expanding 3d Atlanta through Geospatial research

  September 17, 2015 ,

As the new school year kicks off so too does the ambition and drive to continue our projects as SIF moving with that same force. A now year long standing process, the 3D Atlanta project has really begun to take form, with now a prototype that wows people. As the details and content is added to the interactive 3d game engine, Unity, and the technical side of the project proceeds at a slower pace due to its tedious and time consuming nature, the research group is moving ahead. As a part of the research team on this project, the purpose and mission has been to scour the internet or any other resources available to find any useful images or interesting facts of the surrounding area during the time (1930s). This has been a large task and as each researcher had previously taken off on their own journey for wholesome historical content, we began to note how chaotic and unruly all these files, images, articles, and data can be hard to manage. Through this struggle, I began to use a very well known tool, Google Maps. Through This I have been able to create layers of each time period and since the interactive environment is based on geographic accuracy to the time period, I began to place the images, if possible in the exact location where the image was taken, or the place of which the article was written about. Since this method the team has begun to realize how useful … Continue reading

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Undergrad Innovation

  March 22, 2015 , , ,

This week I was asked a question when coming up with elements for a project proposal for 3D Atlanta along with Krisna, Alex, Robert, and Dylan: “What has the 3D Atlanta project done for your undergraduate experience?” And while I tried to keep it short (not really) for the proposal, I realized just what this question was asking me. You see, I tend to think of my progress in certain year frames. In 11th grade, I started learning Photoshop and basic design principles of drawing and illustrating. By 12th grade, I had a good knowledge of html. By last year, I had good knowledge of css and started working on Javascript stuff, as well as had a great knowledge of Python through my 2310 class. And now this year is all about execution and applying what I know, especially within 3D modal contexts for the 3D Atlanta project. I find myself looking back and realizing how fast and far everything went. It seems like an exponential curve of innovation. I went from making boxes move on a screen to dealing with dynamic layers of interactive material. And now, thanks to 3D Atlanta and my math classes, I’m starting to look into stuff I thought I wouldn’t touch until the end of days as a college student. Things like projection matrices, raytracing, and other 3D concepts. I find myself reading papers from Disney research in zurich about complicated algorithms and equations that I can start to understand now. For pete’s sake, … Continue reading

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3D Atlanta Updates & Other Tidbits

  March 1, 2015 , , , ,

Hey Guys! Couple of new updates to share with everyone about the 3D Atlanta Project! First off–in two weeks we should have 3 completed models of architecture to show off! Which is pretty exciting! Wasfi, Nathan, and I are hard at work getting them ready! The other SIFs are currently working on compiling their historical research into interactive pieces. What I mean by that is this: If they find something on Coca-Cola from the 1920s that is relevant but maybe we don’t have enough information to fill up,say an entire booklet, we can simply hang up a flier on a building’s wall that a player can interact with. So the question then–is what is this interactivity supposed to look like? After Discussing a lot of different options, we came up with the simplified point-and-click idea. The point-and-click paradigm is well known and intuitive. We aren’t trying to create a new paradigm of interactivity–rather utilize pre-existing paradigms of interactivity to change a paradigm of educational interest and engagement. So–“Point-and-click”–which some of you might be familiar with from the ubiquitous mystery search games that are all over app stores and Steam, or from certain classics from Sierra or Lucas Arts in the 90s (Secret of Monkey Island, Quest for Glory, etc.) and perhaps the more well-known Myst series. In our environment–although it is a full 3D environment from a first-person perspective–the point-and-click interface simply means than when the player’s cursor,(which can be controlled from a mouse, or if the object is simply … Continue reading