“Virtualizing the Stanley: Gaussian Splatting as Educational Gateway to Advanced CGI Techniques” by Olsen
Conference:
Type(s):
Title:
- Virtualizing the Stanley: Gaussian Splatting as Educational Gateway to Advanced CGI Techniques
Session/Category Title:
- Educator's Forum
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Abstract:
Recent technological advances have granted CGI enthusiasts unprecedented ease of access to stereophotogrammetric 3D scanning techniques using consumer-grade camera systems, low-cost processing software, and even smartphone applications. This technological democratization has enabled new methodologies for students to engage hands-on with high-level CGI concepts regardless of their level of previous instruction, giving rise to ‘gateway’ educational opportunities specifically using Gaussian Splatting and Stereophotogrammetry to help students explore and enact complex CGI techniques through easily implementable activities. One of these is my ‘Virtual Stanley’ activity, in which students use handheld cameras and mobile devices to research and 3D capture (via Gaussian splats) specific artworks and their surroundings on display within the extensive art collection at the University of Iowa’s Stanley Museum of Art. In addition to serving as excellent documentation for students to reference outside of the museum setting, these 3D datasets are able to be conceptually redeployed within an array of AR/VR, Virtual Production, VFX, Previsualization, 3D spatial design, and other CGI pipelines. During these activities, a variety of themes emerged, especially regarding the manner in which these technologies enable expanded public and research access, support documentary and narrative storytelling, and serve as advanced visual/data records and preservation references for these inherently fragile/ephemeral cultural artifacts. Key to this specific activity has been exploring these art encounters in conversation with the work of 20th century philosopher Walter Benjamin, especially the ideas espoused within his 1935 essay ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.’ His theories on the nature of an art object’s intrinsic ‘Aura’ and its unique ’Time/Space Presence’ raise a multitude of compelling questions during these technologically evolved mechanical reproduction engagements.
