Category Archives: Portfolio

About Building Virtual Worlds

Building Virtual Worlds is the class at Carnegie Mellon started by the late great Randy Pausch that brings people from all majors together to create immersive virtual reality worlds.
Students are either modelers, painters, scripters, or “intangibles” and are arranged in groups of 4 for 2 weeks during which they create their 3D worlds. They are then regrouped to do it again 4 more times during the semester.

I’ve taken this class twice because, despite the gargantuan workload, it is an incredibly fun class, and a great experience working with others to create great things. In 2001, I was a modeler, meaning I created all the 3D objects that make up the virtual worlds, and in 2002, I was a painter, which means I created all the colors and textures that bring detail to those objects. I also did some animation, and created most of the start screens for the worlds I worked on.

 

 

lenticulars

A lenticular is a two-dimensional image that changes based on viewing angle.

A computer program cuts multiple pictures into fine slices and interlaces them together into one image. When a lenticular lens is placed over the image and properly aligned, it bends light to focus on different parts of the image depending on the angle of the viewer. The result is seeing a different image depending on where you are in relation to the artwork.
diagram of how it works
Lenticulars have often been used in advertising, but I’ve recently been playing with the process a great deal for my own art.

[flickr]set:72157604700821617[/flickr]