Understanding the CIMS Streams of Inquiry: Digitally Assisted Storytelling
The digitally assisted storytelling (DAS) stream at CIMS builds upon our digitization and modeling streams by creating an engaging platform in which the 3D models, point clouds, and other digital media created at CIMS can be viewed and/or interacted with. This stream encompasses everything that is done with a digitized asset or model after its creation besides fabricating it (you can read more about fabrication in our DAF blog). A variety of projects fall under the DAS stream of inquiry. Examples of DAS projects include games, virtual and augmented reality experiences, videos and animations, websites, and tools.
Digitally assisted storytelling has taken many forms at CIMS, and all of our DAS projects vary wildly from each other. The element they all share is that they give context to 3D assets, so the asset can become more than a model on a screen. DAS projects are often built around some kind of existing data: a building model, point cloud, or images which have a story to be told. Using the data, we decide what kind of user experience would best suit the story and the audience.
Storytelling at CIMS can be traditional, like in the NAC@50+ project, where the story of the NAC becoming a national historic site is narrated and accompanied by interactive elements. Storytelling can also be more user driven, in the case of the Senate Virtual Tour, the user is exploring the building on their own, meaning each user will have a different experience depending on their decisions. Some storytelling projects are more practical, and are created as tools to help existing projects. Projects such as Streamable Assets or the Viewshed Analysis application exist to aid in visualization, but can also tell a story about the project itself through the visualization of a building or area throughout time. Streamable Assets is an application that is being built to help architects and designers share their 3D designs with project stakeholders. The goal is to make 3D models accessible to all parties on a project; some of whom may have little to no experience in 3D software, but would like to be able to interact with the models in a way that would not be achievable with an image or video. The Viewshed Analysis application was built as a tool to aid in future developments within the City of Ottawa. It is able to import a model into a location in the city and analyzes the building position to check whether it would block any of the protected views within the city.
Our projects often begin in Unreal Engine (a program used for creating video games) for a number of reasons. Along with there being existing knowledge of the software in the lab, it is an extensive platform that can be used to create a wide variety of games, applications, and animations, and is compatible with all of the datatypes CIMS normally works with, such as building information models, point clouds, and 360 degree images. Depending on the needs of the project, we may also choose to work with the Unity game engine, or a similar alternative.
Video based projects are edited in Adobe Premiere Pro, and 2D animations, such as those seen in the Urban Futures project, are created using Adobe After Effects and Illustrator. Our 3D animations can be made using a variety of software. The Carleton Digital Campus project was made using Twin Motion to create a 360 degree tour of the Carleton campus due to its strengths in architectural visualization for 360 video. In other projects, Autodesk Maya or 3DS Max have been used to create 3D animations as these programs are especially useful when creating a complex 3D animation with many moving parts.
This month we will be putting a spotlight on a few of our digitally assisted storytelling projects, and dive further into the details of the planning, software, and workflows.