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GMU:Immersive Essays/Lucas Gortemaker

2020-04-04T20:52:08Z

Lucas Gortemaker: Museum of Fear

Last Christmas holiday I bought the book “The mysterious stranger” by Mark Twain in a second hand store in Wroclaw, Poland. The story is about three boys living in a Austrian village in 1590. A mysterious stranger visits the boys. The stranger turns out to be Satan. In the middle of the book Satan takes the boys on a journey through the violent history of the “progress” of the human race. Satan mainly focuses on violent events and stories from the Bible. Although this piece is written more than a hundred years ago, it feels as if Satan takes the boys on a VR-experience. I thought that was really and I knew I wanted to something with this. Unfortunately I am not (yet) skilled enough to make a very realistic experience. That is why I decided to make a VR-tour in a museum and to work with 2D-images (mostly paintings) and the actual text. The tour starts where it ends: in the Austrian woods in 1590. Right before the boys are about to see the future they fall into a hole which brings them back to their own time. I had several problems in doing this project. I tried to turn the 2D images into 3D-objects, but this didn’t really work the way I hoped. I am not extremely excited with the end result. I still really like the idea, but I think the end result could have been a bit more interesting and challenging. I am planning on continuing working on this project when I have time.

Text from “The mysterious stranger” by Mark Twain
Published 1995 by Prometheus Books
Twain, Mark, 1835 – 1910
The mysterious stranger / Mark Twain
Originally published Harper & Brothers, 1916
One day, a little while after this, Satan appeared again. We were always watching out for him, for life was never very stagnant when he was by. He came upon us at that place in the woods where we had first met him. Being boys, we wanted to be entertained; we asked him to do a show for us.
“Very well,’’ he said. “Would you like to see a history of the progress of the human race? – its development of that product which is called civilization?”
We said we should.

So, with a thought, he turned the place into the Garden of Eden, and we saw Abel praying by his altar; then Cain came walking toward him with his club, and did not seem to see us, and would have stepped on my foot if I had not drawn it in. He spoke to his brother in a language which we did not understand; then he grew violent and threatening, and we knew what was going to happen, and turned away our heads for the moment; but we heard the crash of the blows and heard the shrieks and the groans; then there was silence, and we saw Abel lying in his blood and gasping out his life, and Cain standing over him and looking down on down at him, vengeful and unrepentant.
Then the vision vanished, and was followed by a long series of unknown wars, murders, and massacres. Next we had the Flood, and the Ark tossing around in the stormy waters, with lofty mountains in the distance showing veiled and dim through the rain. Satan said:
“The progress of your race was not satisfactory. It is to have another chance now.”
The scene changed, and we saw Noah overcome with wine. Next, we had Sodom and Gomorrah, and “the attempt to discover two or three respectable persons there,” as Satan described it. Next, Lot and his daughters in the cave.
Next came the Hebraic wars, and we saw the victors massacre the survivors and their cattle, and save the young girls alive and distribute them around.
Next we had Jael; and saw her slip into the tent and drive the nail into the temple of her sleeping guest; and we were so close that when the blood gushed out it trickled in a little, red stream to our feet, and we could have stained our hands in it if we had wanted to.
Next we had Egyptian wars, Greek wars, Roman wars, hideous drenchings of the earth with blood; and we saw the treacheries of the Romans toward the Carthaginians, and the sickening spectacle of the massacre of those brave people. Also we saw Caesar invade Britain – “not that those barbarians had done him any harm, but because he wanted their land, and desired to confer the blessings of civilization upon their widows and orphans,’’ as Satan explained.
Next, Christianity was born. Then ages of Europe passed in review before us, and we saw Christianity and Civilization march hand in hand through those ages, “leaving famine and death and desolation in their wake, and other signs of the progress of the human race,” as Satan observed.
And always we had wars, and more wars, and still other wars – all over Europe, all over the world. “Sometimes in the private interest of royal families,” Satan said, “sometimes to crush a weak nation; but never a war started by the aggressor for any clean purpose – there is no such war in the history of the race.”
“Now,” said Satan, “you have seen your progress down to the present, and you must confess that it is wonderful – in its way. We must now exhibit the future.”
He showed us slaughters more terrible in their destruction of life, more devastating in their engines of war, than any we had seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLztUniNshs&feature=youtu.be

GMU:Immersive Essays

2019-11-04T12:51:40Z

Lucas Gortemaker: /* Student works */

Lecturer: [https://www.uni-weimar.de/kunst-und-gestaltung/wiki/Jörg_Brinkmann Jörg Brinkmann] 
Credits: 6 [[ECTS]], 4 [[SWS]] 
Date: Thursdays, 15:15 – 18:30 
Venue: [[GMU:Performance Platform|Performance Platform]], Digital Bauhaus Lab (Room 001) 
First meeting: Thursday, 17.10.2019, 15:15

==Description==

While looking at online platforms like YouTube or Vimeo you might have come across videos that could be described as video essays. A video essay is a piece of video content that, much like a written essay, advances an argument. Video essays take advantage of the structure and language of film to create a thesis statement. While the general concept has its roots in academia, it has grown dramatically in popularity with the beginning of online video sharing platforms.

As a relatively new media form, video essays have yet to conform to any structural guidelines. At first glance a video essay could be described as an online video which cuts together footage from one or more films in order to reveal new insights about them. But when looking further you realise, that it doesn’t always have to be about the original content. Footage from different sources can also be used to illustrate an argument that is not directly concerned with the meanings or intensions the original material is referring to. This is also what makes this form of analytic framework interesting. There aren’t any rules, or rather there is no firm set of such rules. Video essayists tend to make up the rules as they go along.

In the course we want to take the concept of a video essay and translate it to an immersive environment. How can we work with found footage like pictures, film, sound, 3D objects or text for example in a virtual space, created with the help of VR-glasses like the HTC Vive ? How can we illustrate an argument in a 3-dimensional world based on found footage? The practical part will be an Introduction to the game engine Unity 3D and an introduction to working with HTC Vive VR-glasses. Furthermore, students will work on their individual immersive essays that will be presented at the end of the semester.

==Registration==

Send an e-mail until October 8th to joerg.brinkmann@uni-weimar.de. Please include the following information: 
 
Subject/title of your e-mail: 
Immersive Essays 
 
Content: 
– your full name 
– program and semester 
– matriculation number 
– describe in a few sentences why you want to take the course 
– If you have any material about your creative work online or digitally available, please send links or attach files to the email 
 
Criteria for passing: 
In order to successfully participate you will have to develop and document your own project on the GMU Wiki. Also, regularly attend to the sessions and participation is mandatory. 
 
Please read carefully: 
If you don’t apply on time or don’t get accepted, you can’t participate in the class

==Criteria for passing==
In order to successfully participate you will have to develop and document your own project on the GMU Wiki. Also, regularly attend to the sessions and participation is mandatory.

==Student works ==
* [[/Hsiao Pei Kao/]]
* [[/Maxi Götz/]]
* [[/Eirini Kokkinidou/]]
* [[/Yasir Saleh Muhammad/]]
* [[/Kristin Jakubek/]]
* [[/Lucas Gortemaker/]]

==Syllabus==

===17.10.2019===
introduction

===24.10.2019===
no class

===31.10.2019===
reformation day holidays

===08.11.2019===
no class

===14.11.2019===
class

===21.11.2019===
no class

===28.11.2019===
class

===05.12.2019===
no class

===12.12.2019===
class

===19.12.2019===
class

===26.12.2019===
christmas holidays

===02.01.2019===
new years holidays

===09.01.2019===
class - midterm presentation

===16.01.2019===
class

===23.01.2019===
class

===30.01.2019===
class

===06.02.2019===
last class

===VR TOOLBOX===

'''Dropbox folder with our class material''' 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3lbhjzw8wsl6g53/AADCkg7UI8y1qGMhzvCjALIVa?dl=0 

'''Software''' 
Unity 3D - cross-platform game engine 
https://unity3d.com/de 

Blender - open-source 3D modeller with many features 
https://www.blender.org 

Autodesk FBX Converter – convert OBJ, DAE, and 3DS files to or from multiple versions of the FBX format 
https://www.autodesk.com/developer-network/platform-technologies/fbx-converter-archives 

Meshmixer - "Swiss Army Knife" for 3D meshes 
http://www.meshmixer.com 

MeshLab - open source system for processing and editing 3D triangular meshes 
http://www.meshlab.net 

MakeHuman - open source tool for making 3D characters 
http://www.makehumancommunity.org 

Open Broadcaster Software - free and open-source streaming and recording program 
https://obsproject.com 
 

'''Online Tools''' 
Mixamo - Rapidly create, rig and animate unique characters 
https://www.mixamo.com 

NormalMap-Online - create a normalmaps directly inside your browser 
http://cpetry.github.io/NormalMap-Online/ 

Freesound - collaborative database of Creative Commons Licensed sounds 
https://freesound.org 

Abstract/Technical/Synthetic Sounds (under Packs are several Free ones) 
https://glitchmachines.com/ 

Some Glitchy Fx Sounds 
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xEROZN9QJvdf26D-hOzlK4D2IfxzxZSO?usp=sharing 
 

'''3D Models (for download and use)''' 
http://www.myminifactory.com 
http://www.sketchfab.com 
http://www.thingiverse.com 
http://www.turbosquid.com 
http://www.lincoln3dscans.co.uk 
 

'''Unity 3D Tutorials''' 
Tutorials from the Unity 3D page 
https://unity3d.com/de/learn/tutorials 
Brackeys Unity 3D Tutorials 
https://www.youtube.com/user/Brackeys/videos 

'''Unity 3D Assets''' 
Standard Assets 
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/essentials/asset-packs/standard-assets-32351 
Free HDR Skyboxes 
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/sky/free-hdr-sky-61217 

'''Blender Tutorials''' 
Blender Beginner Tutorial Series by Blender Guru 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjEaoINr3zgHs8uzT3yqe4iHGfkCmMJ0P 
 

Interface and Navigation 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT2mtoDnSzM 
 

Modeling - Creating a kitchen (ignore part 2) 
https://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/create-a-realistic-kitchen-part-1-of-2 
 

Modeling - Modeling a simple character 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiIoWrOlIRw 
 

Materials - Basic properties of materials 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AHxuoYyJJk 
 

Texturing - Applying textures to an object 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gRUUeFteQg 
 

Rigging - Rigging a character 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGvalWG8HBU&t= 
 

Animation - 12 Principles of Animation 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDqjIdI4bF4 
 

Animation - Animating a bouncing ball 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUocrcIQfp4 
 

Different (aesthetically) interesting Tutorials for Blender (2.8) 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuNhGhbemBkdflZ1FGJ0lUQ 
 

[[Category:WS19]]
[[Category:Werkmodul]]
[[Category:Fachmodul]]
[[Category:Jörg Brinkmann]]