Ideas for My Contribution to the Final Class Project

I am most interested in using my background skills to aid in the “peopling” aspect of our class project. At the same time, I would be willing to help teach other students how to use software tools that I am familiar with for their individual contributions. Likewise, I would also be willing to help integrate smaller mini-projects into a single multimedia website.

Idea #1: 3d representation of ceremonial (or day-to-day) clothing/costumes for people and/or animals
- Programs to use: Maya or SketchUp
- Would require creating or obtaining basic 3d models of Incan peoples and llamas (to which the costume elements would be added)

• These shouldn’t be too detailed
• Could be generic and slightly cartoony (to avoid issues of ethnographic portrayal)

- Could be broken up into:

• 3d models of the costume pieces

1. Uncolored at first
2. Examples: animal pelt worn around the shoulders, headdress made of feathers

• 2d textures of the costume colors and patterns

1. Would be used to color the 3d pieces
2. Example: jaguar spots, pattern of multi-colored squares

- Costume elements could be generated by looking at fragments of textile artifacts from the area and attempting to extrapolate possible designs (like in Redknap’s paper)
- Or, costume elements could be generated by looking at ceremonial costumes that are still used today

Idea #2: 3d representation of temples (could be huacas) within and outside the city of Cuzco
- Programs to use: Maya or SketchUp
- Could be broken up into:

• 3d models of the temple architecture

1. Uncolored at first
2. Example: long, narrow corridor with supporting columns

• 2d textures of the temple materials

1. Would be used to color the 3d architecture
2. Different textures for different times of the month (snow-dusted or not)
3. Example: repeating, offset stones

- Final results could be peopled with the 3d models from Idea #1 (and Idea #3)
- First person shooter (FPS) camera could be used to navigate the final product

• Models could be imported into a game engine for additional features such as:

1. Ambient noise (talking, music, crunching of footsteps, fire crackling)
2. “Drunk” effect (lots of high contrast colors and motion blur)

Idea #3: Motion capture of a ceremonial dance (or ritual path) applied to a 3d character
- Programs to use: Motion Capture Software from SIG lab
- Would require at least one person (the mocap model) to learn and perform the dance moves or ritual path

• Could videotape a demonstration by native peoples to use as reference
• Could try and extrapolate steps by looking at existing video footage
• Could try and extrapolate steps by reading through existing written documentation

- If learning dance moves or ritual paths proves to be too difficult, record daily activities instead

• Farming movements (digging, planting)
• Feeding animals
• Conversational gestures

- Motion capture data could be applied to the 3d models from Idea #1

Idea #4: 3d representation of known Ceque huacas
- Programs to use: Maya or SketchUp
- Use images of existing huacas to create 3d approximations
- Same person could be in charge of both the structure and color of these models, since many huacas (like stone pillars or carvings) don’t have intricate colors or textures