Robert Alexander’s “Audification Explained” Featured on BBC World Service
Sonification is the conversion of data sets to audio files. Robert Alexander II is a Sonification Specialist working with NASA, who uses satellite recordings of the sun’s emissions to discover new solar phenomena. The Duderstadt Center worked with Robert to produce a short video explaining the concept of data audification.
The Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory (MIBL) was established in 1986 as part of the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences in the College of Engineering. Located on the University of Michigan’s North Campus, the MIBL serves to provide unique and extensive facilities to support research and development. Recently, Professor Gary Was, Director of the MIBL reached out to the Duderstadt Center for assistance with developing content for the MIBL website to better introduce users to the capabilities of their lab as construction on a new particle accelerator reached completion.
Gary’s group was able to provide the Duderstadt Center with a scale model of the Ion Beam Laboratory generated in Inventor and a detailed synopsis of the various components and executable experiments. From there, the Stephanie O’Malley of the Duderstadt Center optimized and beautified the provided model, adding corresponding materials, labels and lighting. A series of fly-throughs, zoom-ins, and experiment animations were generated from this model that would serve to introduce visitors to the various capabilities of the lab.
These interactive animations were then integrated into the MIBL’s wordpress platform by student programmer, Yun-Tzu Chang. Visitors to the MIBL website are now able to compare the simplified digital replica of the space with actual photos of the equipment as well as run various experiments to better understand how each component functions. To learn more about the Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory and to explore the space yourself, visit their website at mibl.engin.umich.edu.
Shredding Stars: Stars are consumed by a black hole
The Museum of Natural History will soon be the host of several animations produced by the Duderstadt Center covering an array of space-related subjects. From understanding the behavior of black holes, to demonstrations of the life cycle of stars, Stephanie O’Malley, digital artist of the Duderstatdt Center, has created the animations in collaboration with Matthew Linke, the planetarium director, Lydia Bieri, professor in mathematics, and Kayhan Gultekin, an assistant researcher in astronomy.
Kicked out black holes: The gravitational pull of a black hole can cause multiple black holes to merge together. This spinning motion then causes the merged black holes to be kicked out of orbit.
The Museum of Natural History houses a vast collection of natural history objects ranging from local birds species, to larger mammals, to the skeletons of mammoths. The museum is located on campus and provides educational opportunities and exhibits open to both the campus and the wider community. The planetarium is located on the top floor of the museum. Since 1958 the planetarium has put on informative shows about astronomy for visitors. A full-dome screen is used to immerse guests in the night sky, and throughout the year staff put on seasonal star talks using the dome to visualize what the sky looks like at that time of the year.
The collaboration between visualization artists and scientists produced well-researched visualizations on an array of astronomy topics. These animations are unique in that much of what has been visualized stems from raw data in many cases. Nobody has ever photographed these events actually occurring in space and they are largely hypothetical in some cases. These animations are scheduled to be projected on the museum’s full-dome screen and used as a tool in classes to better acquaint students with concepts discussed in class. They are also being featured for a short time in a separate exhibit outside of the planetarium space.
Those familiar with Saturday Morning Physics lessons may recognize some of the animations, as they were shown recently during Lydia Bieri’s spot discussing gravitational lensing and gravity waves (Click here for the link to the video).
Gravitational Lensing: A gravitational lens refers to a distribution of matter (such as a cluster of galaxies) between a distant source and an observer, that is capable of bending the light from the source, as it travels towards the observer.
The animations created were each part of National Science Foundation funded grants. They were created in After Effects and 3D Studio Max, using a special plugin (Domemaster 3D camera shader) for Full Dome Planetarium warping (this is what gives single frames of an animation the correct distortion to be projected onto the planetarium’s curved ceiling). Frames were then rendered at 1200-4k pixel resolution to accommodate even very large planetariums looking to feature these animations.
Robert Alexander is a Design Science Ph.D. Graduate and member of the Solar and Heliospheric Research Group. Working with NASA, Robert aims to use data audification to teach us something new about the Sun’s solar wind and is using mixed media coupled with unique interaction methods to pull viewers into the experience. The Duderstadt Center worked with Robert to put his research into video form:
The 3D Production Pipeline: Teleporter Troubles Animation
In the Fall, students were invited to participate in an immersive year-long course on 3D animation called The 3D Production Pipeline. The course was co-taught by Elona Van Gent (Stamps School of Art & Design) and Duderstadt Center’s Eric Maslowski, Steffen Heise & Stephanie O’Malley. Students with varying levels of experience constructed their concept, characters, storyboards and renderings, tirelessly working together to create a short animated feature called Teleporter Troubles, which follows the (mis)adventures of Wesley, a shy, smart blogger who is convinced he can use a teleporter to make an important date— meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time.
Concept art of Wesley, star of Teleporter Troubles
By combining the talents and resources of The Stamps School of Art & Design and the Duderstadt Center, students were able to create high-quality work in an innovative and collaborative space using state-of-the-art technology. To begin their process, students first drew concept art (what they imagined theircharacters, sets, and props would look like), many using Wacom tablets to capture the gesture and style of hand-drawing. From there, they used Maya for modeling the individual components, ZBrush to add detail to the models, and 3D Studio Max to put it all into motion! In 3D Studio Max, students adjusted the ‘rigs’ of their components to make them move and behave as they wanted. A rig is the skeletal structure of an animated object (much like the connected parts of a marionette puppet) that animators manipulate to create the desired posture or facial expressions of their characters. Because the class required copious amounts of teamwork to create one animation, students and professors used TeamLab, an online resource for file sharing and messaging, allowing students to upload their work and discuss their ideas in one convenient place online. The use of this software enabled students to animate professionally and communicate efficiently. (For more details on the teamwork involved and the exhausting creative process of animating, visit Play Gallery’s post on the project.)
Teleporter Troubles was created over the course of a year by the following team of students:
Zoe Allen-Wickler, Ashley Marie Allis, J’Vion Armstrong, Ashley Boudrie, Stephanie Boxold, Anna Jonetta Brown, Jaclyn Caris, Emily Cedar, Annie Cheng, John Foley, Paris London Glickman, Molly Lester, Rich Liverance, Lonny Marino, Olivia Meadows, Thabiso O Mhlaba, Maggie Miller, Kaisa Ryding and Sarah Schwendeman.
