I saw this post the other day from Autodesk. They have created a new plugin called “Project Helix” which will allow users of 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design to import Cloud Point Diagrams (.ptx files). Now this is interesting to me because it involves two programs and disciplines that I am very interested in but do not know how to use at all!
I have been attempting to learn 3ds Max for about a year. That program is pretty daunting and I keep putting it aside for too long. When I try to jump back in I have to learn all over again. Recently I have been going by Direct Dimensions in Owings Mills, MD. This a premiere laser scanning company that is at the top of the industry. They describe themselves: “Direct Dimensions, Inc. (DDI) provides unique solutions to complex modeling and manufacturing problems. We specialize in the on-site application of digitizers, laser scanners, and the conversion of complex three-dimensional data into 3D computer models.” I must say that with all the historical projects they do it is right up my alley.
I was there yesterday and I found that they have about Four Programs they use inside their workflow. Pointools, Solidworks, Z-Brush, it is a little scary. Their team is made up of mostly hungry 20 somethings who seem eager to put the time in the office. I am hoping that Plugins like this for 3ds Max will allow me to learn a workflow that can actually be in one program! This is unfortunately not reality. I am using only the lowest level of modeling in Sketchup. I still need Kerkythea and GIMP to give me any hope of having realistic models.
One promising thing that I did learn is that 3dx Max 2011 can directly import files from Sketchup. At the very least I can now skip the modeling portion in 3ds Max and jump directly into Rendering and Animation. This is a big step for me and I expect everyone will start seeing some high quality stuff in the near future.
I read a really fun post over at Gamesradar entitled, “The Top 7 Historical Figures Defamed by Video Games.” Most of the references were obscure or really bizzare. A lot were Asian warlords. Go ahead and check it out. It got me thinking about the time I wasted playing the game Caesar in Elementary School. I have a feeling this was a really key moment for me in starting to like Ancient History.
I was brought onto this game after I had mastered Sim City. I had created the ultimate city and was now ready for a new challenge. Let’s create a city in Ancient Rome. I had a blast. I wasted countless hours developing the ultimate city state. With a little help from some online gaming websites I had figured out the perfect formula.
Soon I branched out to other games like Sid Meier’s Civilization. I am currently working with Rob Cloutier, a 3d designer who worked on the game. Please visit his website www.3dhistory.com to see some of his work. He’s very talented. Civilization took the history angle to a new level. Now I was starting multiple cities and managing entire military campaigns. Beneath the framework of fun, a lot of educational building blocks came into place. You had to elevate from the stone age to the bronze age, by discovering certain aspects of science. You could only progress in your building by collecting more natural resources. Pretty tremendous all around.
Eventually you can find a way to reshape a lot of the historical landscape. I actually conquered the planet Earth with the United States. It was pretty awesome. USA! USA! USA!
Shawn Graham at Electric Archaeology has taken this to a new level. Many of these games allow for modification of your own campaigns. Shawn has added campaigns to Civilization IV and Caesar IV and began using them as teaching tools for his students. He believes that he can edit parameters of the game to help teach his students different aspects of Roman History.
“I want to use Caesar IV as a simulation to explore Roman economics. The idea is, I’ll get my students to play this scenario, and in playing it, it highlight/contrast game mechanics with the current understanding of how the Roman economy works (if you think modern economic thought is dry, you ain’t seen nuthin’ till you’ve read the ancient version… gaming economics ought to be way more fun for my students!)”
As great as it is to use Video Games to teach history, it is also fun to just ride around cause havoc. My friend Doyle just bought Red Dead Redemption. The game is Grand Theft Auto set in the Wild West. I played for about 10 minutes and was immediately hooked. Correlating with all 3d history, video games give us not only a chance to see the past, but to interact with it. Due to the lowering attention span of our youth and the increasing amount of technology in schools, I would not be surprised to see video games being used as a teaching tool 10 years from now. Educational games are already out there, let’s just bridge the gap.
All of this has gotten me wanting to play some games. I am going to dust off my copy of Age of Empires!
I found an excellent post from the Official Google Sketchup Blog that tracks the excellent work being done by Michael Hathorn, a High School Teacher from Hartford, VT. He has taught his class the basics of Google Sketchup through the recreation of their own town. Hathorn gave them the assignment of telling the history of individual buildings and recreating them for Google Earth. The Video below gets in depth on the project as well as their website.
There are a lot of great quotes that really illustrate exactly why I like to use Sketchup. Hathorn says that he will go around the town with his students and they will point out buildings they are excited to recreate. The seniors in High School think it is “cool to sketch it up.” Each student knows that they are preserving their city’s history while learning a fun, free program. One student’s quote really hit home, “I can go on any computer in the world and see something I created.” That is something you can sell to students. Their classwork is going to put into an international database. Anyone can see it. Truly empowering.
I recommend anyone interested in Sketchup in the classroom check it out. There is some words on using it with Geography classes as well as Design and Production classes.
3d History Blog is going to be partnering up with CyArk again to help do something meaningful. On Tuesday March 16th, 2010 the Royal Kasubi Tombs in Uganda were destroyed by a horrific act of arson. For those who don’t know…from http://www.kasubitombs.org
“Situated on Kasubi hill, within Kampala, Uganda, the Kasubi Tombs site is an active religious place in the Buganda Kingdom. To the Baganda the Kabaka is the unquestioned symbol of spiritual, political, and social state of the Buganda nation. As the burial ground for the previous four Kabakas, therefore, the Kasubi Tombs is a place where the Kabaka and others in Buganda’s complex cultural hierarchy frequently carry out important centuries-old Ganda rituals.”
As one of the most active religious centers of the Kingdom the destruction of these tombs was devastating. Thankfully, a little over a year ago the team from Cyark traveled to Africa to scan and preserve this UNESCO Heritage Site. In conjunction with their team I am going to create a 3d Model to help better the process of them recreating their sacred site.
Updates will most certainly follow
Heritage-Key.com has proposed another topic for their ongoing Blogger’s challenge. This time it is “What is the future of tourism.” Feel free to take a look at their initial post here, but I feel this clip will set me up nicely:
“Going on holiday these days just isn’t as simple as picking the best package deal and jetting off to the sun – it’s a delicate process of placating the wallet and the conscience, while at the same time selecting an experience that’s going to at once be both fun and stimulating.
With these considerations in mind, which are the most innovative and enticing options out there for travellers looking to indulge in a spot of cultural tourism? Are particular new destinations about to usurp the traditional travel hotspots, by offering new thrills and unseen attractions? Or should we all just be satisfied spending our vacations making the most of the abundant heritage treasures on our doorstep?
What’s the future of tourism?”
I have left the United States….once. Montreal for my spring break Sophmore year of college. I did not take any culture in. I did not do much other than enjoy the lower drinking age. I have been around most of the East Coast and have gone out to the Rocky Mountains a few times visiting family. Have I ever truly been a tourist? I don’t think so.
I think to truly be a tourist you really need to be a fish out of water. Someone needs to be able to look at you/talk to you and just know, that person does not normally belong here. Going around the United States I shared something in common with everyone. We are all American and despite what a lot of people like to pretend, I think most of America is really alike.
I had my first opportunity this past summer to leave the country….for real (barely driving over the border of Canada doesn’t count). My uncle is an international pilot for Delta and had the opportunity to bring me along on one of his trips. Cairo, Egypt. The Pyramids, King Tut, the Nile, the Great Sphinx….everything. The only catch was that I had to fly standby. “Shouldn’t be a problem,” he said. “The loads are really light, you’ll probably get to sit in first class.” I was confident and excited. I took the bus up from Washington, DC to New York City for the flight. At 10:30 pm I found out that the flight was overbooked and I was not going to Cairo. I was crushed.
I was stranded in Manhattan that night. I was able to call a friend of mine and crashed at his place. I spent the next day wandering the city. This was my first time in New York City alone. I spent the next few days exploring. I went to a few museums. I saw all the sites that people talk about. Even a few “hidden gems” that only the locals know. It all didn’t matter. I was ready to be on vacation. I was ready to be a tourist!
I wanted to stand in the crazy streets of Cairo and look over the horizon and see the pyramids. I wanted my own picture standing in front of the Great Pyramids. Maybe even ride a camel. This was lost.
A lot of of the thrill of being a tourist is knowing that every moment could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to Cairo. That might have been my chance. As someone who works in 3d visualization and technology, some people think that in the future we might be able to mimic the experience of being at these sites, or even feel like you are there. I really don’t know how it will be possible to imitate the heat of the desert sun while standing under the mammoth size of the Great Pyramids. If they figure it out…congratulations Scientists.
Cultural Experience is something that can bind us together. There are plenty of places around the world that have been identified as Iconic symbols. Wonders of the World that people will remember for a lifetime. The Grand Canyon, Mt. Everest, the Great Barrier Reef, Machu Piccu….the list of Famous sites is very long. With globalization and the internet we learn more about brand new attractions everyday.
Global Tourism allows everyone to share that one singular moment of awe. There is a book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” for a reason. Life is about experiences. Walking around the antithesis of your normal surrounding is one of the main reasons for traveling. Money comes and money goes, people save, and even if it is one trip, everyone dreams of that experience. I do not think that Tourism will really change. Traveling has ALWAYS been expensive. Somehow college students find away to travel across Europe with a backpack and a fistful of dollars every year. There is something deep inside us that craves new experiences. Curiosity and desire finds a way to take over.
Recently I had Justin Barton, Production Manager for Cyark, answer a few questions about himself and Cyark. As you might have noticed, I talk quite a bit about Cyark and have been partnering with them on some volunteer projects. I am about to jump into one of the best yet; helping to restore the Kasubi Royal Tombs in Uganda. Expect this to be a new featured portion of 3d History Blog with more short interviews to come.
What is CyArk?
CyArk is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. We partner with service providers (surveyors, engineers, architects, etc.) and heritage professionals (site authorities like the National Park Service, university researchers, conservators, etc.) and help the two work together to provide accurate digital preservation data that can be used to create professional deliverables such as architectural drawings and structural analyses as well as public dissemination deliverables such as virtual tours, videos, and immersive panoramic photographs.
What is your mission?
Officially, our mission is:
CyArk is a non-profit entity whose mission is to digitally preserve cultural heritage sites through collecting, archiving and providing open access to data created by laser scanning, digital modeling, and other state-of-the-art technologies.
I am the Production Manager. I oversee aspects of field data collection as well as the production of final deliverables that meet (a) CyArk’s standards for accuracy, collection, and control, (b) acceptable content for public dissemination, and (c) any specific needs/requests outlined by our partners.
What were you doing before you joined Cyark?
I’ve been with CyArk in some capacity since 2005. Before that I was an undergraduate in Anthropology at UC Berkeley. It was there I met the former Director of R&D who was teaching a course at UCB on how to digitally capture and represent place. It was after graduating in May 2005 that I did my first field work with CyArk over the summer in Peru. Later, in December, I was officially contracted to be a member of the deliverables production staff. Even when I “left” CyArk from 2006-2008 to pursue my MA in Field Archaeology at University College London, I was still involved with CyArk. I did occasional telecommute work for website maintenance and my MA research focused on using laser scanning in heritage to monitor erosion. That research work was then contributed to the CyArk archive and again I worked with CyArk to produce many of the deliverables found on the webiste. It was in 2009, after my return from the UK, that I came back to CyArk full time and entered the position of Project Manager (which was recently transitioned into Production Manager).
You can find a lot of Justin’s work at www.cyark.org and follow him on twitter @amen_ra
I have spent the past week deciding exactly what I wanted to say about the Association of Ancient Historians 2010 Conference. Ultimately I feel two different ways: impressed and disappointed.
The level of scholarship and minds in that lecture has was impressive. Professors from over 50 different Universities were represented and I meant some extremely interesting people. The topics of each session were broad, but the research papers were typically not. Many of the speakers got down to the detail on many issues I have been interested in for sometime. Garrett Fagan’s paper, “Watching the Fighters” tapped into the carnal reasons why the Romans loved watching Gladiators and how we are not so different today.
During the Warfare in the Ancient World session, William Murray and Philip de Souza both tackled new approaches to Ancient Mediterranean naval warfare. The accepted opinion for centuries has been that ancient ships were used for ship to ship combat. Both men proposed different ideas. Murray claimed that large ships were used for sieging harbors and defending trade route as set pieces. De Souza believes that the ships were mainly troop transports and supplied light infantry for raiding villages through the ship’s oarsmen.
Of course I gravitated towards many of the more palatable topics. Gladiators and Warfare are easy subjects. Although I did enjoy some of the more nuanced papers. “The Patronage of the Intellectuals in the Court of Diocletian” by Byron Nakamura explained how Diocletian, despite not being an educated emperor like Marcus Aurelius; actually employed intellectuals in his court to advise him and increase his favor in the Senate. The Session on Ancient Macedonia explained the differing opinions on comparing the Argead monarchy to either a tribal ruling power to a more traditional Dynastic lineage.
I was most impressed with everyone’s depth of knowledge and fluency in Ancient languages. I received numerous handouts in Ancient Greek and Latin. I only speak English. All the participants happily perused all of the literature and could follow along with the slides. I spent a lot of those portions checking NBA Playoff scores on my Ipod Touch. After a conversation with a Seth Bernard, a graduate student from UPenn, I found out that all true historians must know at least 2 Ancient Languages. As well, its apparently not that hard. Maybe for someone who goes to UPenn. I really came away wowed by the same people I was being taught by in College.
At times though I was truly disappointed. Multiple times I heard a presenter refer to themselves as a “Luddite.” A Luddite is defined as “One who opposes technical or technological change.” Said presenter would continue to put their head down for the next 30 minutes and read directly from their research paper. Meanwhile, the 9′x12′ screen above them remained blank and I was left staring at a dark stage and a semi-interesting lecturer. It might be easy for a scholar of Ancient History to deny the great tools that can add to an already impressive piece of research. I on the other think that it is a major waste. If I knew I was to have the paper monotonely read to me, I would have preferred to have read it myself. The most captivating presentations for me, were the ones that actually utilized Images and slides to help strengthen their paper. Provide visual aids to make the topic feel more alive. Someone had a presentation about deciphering one stone slab from a Sanctuary. Ultimately the topic was boring and sort of pointless. The catch was, I got to see the stone slab and take a stab at deciphering it myself. I did not have to take her word for it. Which is what a lot of these presenters would have liked me to have done. Powerpoint is not hard to learn, and a picture is worth a 1,000 words.
I was also disappointed that the History building I studied in was not nearly as nice as the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building at the University of Utah. I spent 4 years studying in The Francis Scott Key Building at the University of Maryland. We had one small lecture hall and a few different classrooms that were less impressive than those at my high school. My senior year the second floor got a flatscreen TV that welcomed us to the building. Francis Scott Key was the head building for the whole Arts and Humanities School. Whenever I would visit the Business Building at Maryland I was envious of all the bell’s and whistles. The Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building had two wonderful Auditoriums along with a deli/snack bar, TVs, lounge areas, and beautiful classrooms. I loved my professors in Ancient History at University of Maryland (Dr. Holum and Dr. Eckstein), but our facilities were not the best.
Ultimately this conference was a major success. I met some really interesting people and got to talk a little about my blog. Everyone seemed interested and I think there really is an audience for use of 3d in History. Even if someone is a Luddite, they still think recreating destroyed monuments and recreating cities is still pretty cool. A lot of people suggested I go back to Grad School. I do not know if I could ever have the time, intelligence, or bank account to move forward. I am not ruling it out! I still think I have a future assisting historical scholarship.
I really respect what the Association of Ancient Historians is doing. I was glad to be a part of their conference and I hope to attend again next year.
Check out that picture. That is from the Sistine Chapel Virtual Tour. I found this while reading the The History Blog and might I say this is spectacular. Created by a team from the University of Villanova, they had 2 years and unprecedented access. From tons of pictures and painstaking effort an amazing 3d recreation of the Sistine Chapel is in front us of
Honestly I have never seen the inside of the chapel. I have never been to Europe and really all I have seen is the picture God reaching out, ya know the famous part at the top of the building. I try to prop up 3d History in the realm of recreation. This is what is so amazing about sites like this. This is history that is still available for us to see today. If somehow war was to hit Italy and this building would be destroyed, that would be an ungodly tragedy.
Being Catholic myself, some people try to say that you shouldn’t need huge buildings and fancy churches to worship God. Oddly enough though, stepping foot in buildings like this you really can sense the presence. The high ceilings and the beautiful artwork puts your mind in a different place. I am set to be married this summer at the Basilica in Baltimore. The Basilica has some beautiful domes that were actually designed by Latrobe. Not being a Gothic style cathedral it really is going to add something spectacular to the ceremony.
Buildings like this should be able to be preserved forever. Thanks to projects like this by the team from Villanova this is one more piece of history we can hopefully save.
This is certainly one of the places everyone needs to see, but for now the 3d tour can make due.
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One thing that I has really changed my commute to work over the last two years has been listening to podcasts. For my first year out of college I exclusively listened to music or sports talk radio. Living in the DC area it started to get really old hearing about the Redskins every day (GO GIANTS).
I got a Ipod Touch for Christmas and this really changed a lot of things for me. I started using Itunes for the first time and noticed the section for podcasts. Since I had started listening to talk radio this was right up my alley. I got addicted quickly to a lot of sports podcasts.
What I really love to listen to during sometimes hour and a half commute are history podcasts. My current favorites are The History of Rome by Mike Duncan and Hardcore History by Dan Carlin.
The History of Rome is weekly podcast about 20-30 mins that is a Chronological History of the Roman Empire. Mike Duncan has a degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Western Washington University. Mike has a great voice and his podcasts are well constructed. He throws in some jokes time to time and is not afraid to throw his own opinion in on different issues. You can check his podcast out on his site .
Hardcore History with Dan Carlin is one of two podcasts Dan does. His first is Common Sense. That one is filled with his political ramblings of which he feels are completely independent. He is a little crazy and that can come across. His opinions remind me of Michael Savage. I don’t agree with probably 50% of what he says, but a lot of it can be pretty provocative. Hardcore History on the other hand is probably my favorite podcast. It comes out probably once every month or two and it usually lasts anywhere from one to two hours. His topics are very different every time but he comes at it with great perspective and usually picks often not discussed topics. His last few topics were Magellen’s travel around the world (extremely interesting), the Apace, the Eastern Front of WWII, and society’s addiction to slavery. Every time this pops up new in Itunes I am actually looking forward to my commute so I can listen to it.
There are tons of podcasts out there and it is a great way to get some knowledge during your commute. The Teaching Company has some excellent series that you can purchase or…..download using BitTorrent. But of course I would never recommend that. Or support it. Or frequently do it.
Lasting for something 3d history related, here is a interview with Bernard Frischer. I have mentioned him before but here is his bio
Bernard Frischer is a leading digital humanist and the author of six printed books, three e-books, and dozens of articles on virtual heritage, Classics, and the survival of the Classical world. He is currently Director of the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory, whose mission is to apply 3D digital tools to simulating cultural heritage artifacts and sites as heuristic instruments of discovery. The lab was one of the first in the world to use 3D computer modeling to reconstruct cultural heritage sites. Frischer has overseen many significant modeling projects, including “Rome Reborn,” the virtual recreation of the entire city of ancient Rome within the Aurelian Walls.
Definetly a recommended listen
Over at Heritage Key there is a little contest going on revolving around the new concept of repatriation of the Rosetta Stone. Everyone is supposed to post on it and the winner gets some books. A little background on the Rosetta Stone from Heritage Key’s Website
This Ptolemaic era Egyptian stele – created in 196 BC and discovered by the French in 1799 at Rosetta in Egypt – was instrumental in the deciphering of hieroglyphic writing in 1822 by the British scientist Thomas Young and the French scholar Jean-François Champollion. Since 1802 it’s been on display at the British Museum in London, which was granted possession of the artefact after it was captured by the British Army in 1801.
So here’s my take.
Current request have been made by Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquitie to have the Rosetta Stone returned to Egypt. Egypt is opening a brand new museum to house all of their artifacts as we speak. The GEM, or Grand Egyptian Museum will be home to Tutankhamun and many more artifacts more important to Egypt’s history than the Rosetta Stone.
I feel that the Rosetta stone is more important to the rest of the world’s understanding of Egyptian History than to Egypt’s. Containing Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Classical Greek this item was the key to the rest of the world understanding these languages. This was a project completed by non Egyptians. If anything Egyptians should be ashamed that a lot of their place in history is due to the work of foreigners. What make this even more comical is that this stone dates back to when Egypt was being run by a foreign dynasty, the Ptolemys. Everyone likes to forget that Cleopatra is a Greek name.
Dr. Hawass has been quoted,”"If the British want to be remembered, if they want to restore their reputation, they should volunteer to return the Rosetta Stone because it is the icon of our Egyptian identity.” This whole concept is hilarious. I think that the ICON of your Egyptian history are those three big buildings sitting outside of Cairo.
With the Rosetta stone being in England it gives the rest of the world a much better opportunity to see it every year. Many more tourists frequent the British Museum than the Egyptian Museum (very imaginative names). You can preserve your Egyptian history having your items outside of your own borders. Unfortunately for Egypt, their country has been under foreign domination and pressure since they lost power to Julius Caesar. They have no great pieces of history to show off.
If I was Dr. Hawass I would be more worried about all the Mummies and Sarcophogi that are littered around museums in the United States and Europe. THERE IS AN ENTIRE TEMPLE INSIDE THE MET. That is what makes me crazy. I was in the Met and turned a corner and there was an entire Egyptian temple. It is just sitting there.
Yes this piece of history is very important. I find it hard to believe that we never would have figured out those hieroglyphics without it. The British museum has be holding this item for over 200 years and has preserved it’s history just as well as anyone. Maybe if they asked for it back sometime in the first 150 years. Then maybe they might have a shot.
This item is a historical icon for EUROPEAN accomplishment in deciphering a language that it’s own country was not even able to do. Egypt should be thanking the countries that allowed Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion to bring new light on their own history.
Dr. Hawass already has plenty of things to fill up his shiny new museum and this granodiorite slab is not going “bring the room together.” Focus on items from when your nation was one of the greatest in the world, not one that sheds lights on all of it’s shortcomings since then
http://heritage-key.com/blogs/malcolmj/ancient-world-london-bloggers-challenge-3-should-british-museum-return-rosetta-stone-
