Report: Digital Design Lab Research 1994-95

Report: Digital Design Lab Research 1994-95

The Digital Design Lab (DDL) is a center for research activities based on the premise that computer-generated "virtual space" will become an environment for meaningful human experience. The architect already knows that a well-designed 3D environment can deliver a compelling sense of place, of "being there," but the electronic media industry is only now discovering that a user's involvement with a computer-generated 3D space can heighten the impact of the content found there. It is already clear that virtual worlds are becoming a popular medium for entertainment and social interaction (3D immersive CD-ROMs, Virtual Reality arcades, multi-user dungeons, etc.) but we will increasingly see 3D worlds used for educational experiences and business transactions, and indeed, the first such systems (admittedly early prototypes) are already appearing on the World Wide Web.

With this in mind, the SILO (Spatial Interfaces for Learning Online) project at the DDL has studied the possibility of replacing the standard computer interface, the "flat" 2D desktop metaphor popularized by the Macintosh, with 3D architectural environments which are navigated by the user. The goal is to develop interfaces that are intuitive and easy, and provide efficient access to the rapidly expanding and constantly changing digital worlds of hyperlinked multimedia content which broadband networks will soon bring to every home and office.

One such DDL project is a software invention which uses spatial references as navigational cues, for the set-top box of future interactive TV systems. This interface, which deals with the emerging challenge of quickly scanning the content of 500 TV channels, was filed for patent protection this year by the University's technology group, the Columbia Innovation Enterprise.

Other DDL activities include testing and evaluation of advanced software and hardware, and the development of World Wide Web electronic publishing sites.

Another DDL project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and in collaboration with the Art History Department, was the development of a 13-minute computer-animated video explaining the sacred geometry and physical construction of Amiens Cathedral. This video was selected by the SIGGRAPH computer graphics organization to be included in their reel of the best animation of 1995 and shown in Los Angeles at the SIGGRAPH '95 conference. The Amiens project was a landmark event in another sense; since the rendering of 22,000 video resolution frames, in a short period of time, was beyond the capacities of the GSAP labs, it forced the DDL to link up with other departments at the University that use similar technology. Through the generosity of the School of Engineering and the Center for Telecommunications Research, the DDL was able tap the computing power of many remote machines including several graphics "super computers" to handle the rendering load.

The DDL has also become the site of QuickTimeVR development. This new technology promises to bring the illusion of "virtual reality" to low-end computing, by allowing the user to experience a computer-generated space in real-time, with 360-degree rotational freedom at nodes on a grid superimposed on the plan. Because of its cost-effectiveness, its intuitive navigational controls, and its satisfying three-dimensional "immersive" quality, QuickTimeVR should quickly become a favorite output technology for design studios and architects in general.

Over the course of 1994-95, a significant number of GSAP students and faculty published on the World Wide Web by learning HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and developing their own "homepages" or online magazines. The DDL developed its own home page (http://www.arch.columbia.edu) which will soon incorporate VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), the three-dimensional follow-up to HTML. By allowing 3D models to be moved and rotated in real-time over existing Internet connections, the VRML computer language will usher in a new era of on-line three-dimensional electronic publishing.