Megan Baker: Visualizing the Advancements of the Englightements with the Technology of Today


I hope that my project for this class, in showing the technological and economic developments of the Enlightenment through the materials, their makers, and their use of space, will give visitors a way to insert themselves into the world of the Enlightenment. I believe that by showing them the advancements of yesteryear through the new technology of today, they’ll realize that we are at as critical a moment in the development of new technology as the French were in the 18th century. To express this, I would like to develop a 3-D representation of the room, and place 3-D objects within it. I would like to focus on porcelain vases, silver coffeepots, and gold snuffboxes but think this model would (and should) also have information about clothing with 3-D representations of people wearing period appropriate attire in the model, too. Annotating these objects within the room seems like the best and most direct means of explaining the significance, and after our meeting with Sketchfab this week, I feel much more confident about our ability to quickly, accurately, and cost efficiently build a model of the Tessé Room using a combination of Structure, Rhino, and Sketchfab. I’m concerned that Sketchfab doesn’t yet allow videos to be embedded as annotations, which would prevent rotational videos of the objects with audio explanations from being added to the project at present, and although we could link to a video (hosted on YouTube or elsewhere), I’m not sure that would create the kind of seamless user experience that would be best for viewers, so perhaps should be executed in another manner.