Computer Arts Laboratory

/ Carl W. Vilbrandt / Associate Professor

• Introduction:

  The Computer Arts Lab is dedicated to developing computer mastery. Skill and craft in the computer arts is acquired in the practice of using and applying computers in new, creative and challenging ways requiring close and insightful observation. Computer arts are analogous to industrial arts or martial arts.

  Computer arts are developed through exploration, observation, engineering and invention that invokes emotion and thought, and augments the physical and spiritual nature of things. To truly be a master of computer arts, you must be a master of your computer hardware and software tools, and that is most effectively done by modification or creation of your own hardware, software tools. The Computer Arts Lab develops the students computer arts' skills by using the latest developments in computer science, whenever possible, in collaboration with other University of Aizu Computer Labs. Computer Arts Lab students are computer renaissance persons, challenged to be or form a technical team of computer scientists, software engineers, hardware engineers and knowledgeable experts for the purpose of creating new and unique computer applications. The students are asked to select or design new computer applications and take responsibility for the incremental implementation of their selection or design. Computer masters are computer programmers, scientists, engineers, inventors, users and visionaries.

• Scope:

  The wide angle view of the Computer Arts Lab is very focused on its primary duty and obligation in achieving a high level of computer mastery from its students. To achieve this goal, the Computer Arts Lab program includes the free and open design and implementation of computer hardware and software under the GNU++ license.

• Methods:

  The program is divided into projects that meet the general objectives above. The projects will be divided into tasks and micro managed and implemented by University of Aizu faculty, students, local and international businesses, and governmental organizations. Each project will seek separate funding from local, national and international sources.

• Current Projects:

1. The Aizu History Project is a virtual heritage site of history and culture in the Aizu region of Japan. The project uses multimedia techniques to create a real time interactive Aizu History virtual environment, including Saigo Tanomo character animation. 3D architectural models and animations of the Golden Hall of Enichiji, Sazaedou and some parts of Kogamachi-dori have been created. http://www.fire.csua.ucla.edu/~jan/ah/menu.html http://www.cs.ucla.edu/~jmg/private/sazaedo/sld001.htm http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/~cwv/menu.html

2. The GNUbook Project initiates environmentally and economically friendly computer hardware design schemes under the GNU++ license agreement with industrial partners NEC, AVIO, and Hartec. http://www.gnubook.org

3. The Synthetic CAD Project is developing a hybrid synthetic CAD system using wire frame, polygonal, CSG, functional, and voxel representations, requiring computational grids and clusters. http://www.hyperfun.org

4. Aizu Digital Valley Farming Project promotes development of a computational grid using high speed networking and Linux clusters in the Aizu Valley. http://cal05.u-aizu.ac.jp/~cwv/adv/

Refereed Proceeding Papers

1. Vilbrandt, Carl W., Goodwin, James M., and Goodwin, Janet R., Computer Models of Historical Sites: Sazaedo - From the Aizu History Project. 1999 EBTI, ECAI, SEER & PNC Joint Meeting (Electronic Buddhist Text Initiative, Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, Scholars Engaged in Electronic Resources, Pacific Neighborhood Consortium), editor: PNC Secretariat, pp.489--502, EBTI, PNC, Simon Lin, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, June 1999.

   The Sazaedou model is a part of the Aizu History Project, a World Wide Web site exploring Japanese history by examining the Aizu region of northern Japan. Currently under construction, the project can be viewed at: http://www.fire.csua.ucla.edu/~jan/ah/menu.html. Our projects primary goal is to provide educational resources in Japanese history and culture, especially for university students. In particular, we employ multimedia techniques to create interactive environments in which users themselves may direct and control the learning process. In addition, we provide examples of multimedia interactive techniques for the creation of interactive learning models and for classroom and research presentations. We use three-dimensional modeling techniques to recreate historical sites that have been destroyed, as well as to preserve sites and objects that might face destruction in the future, and to understand their features more thoroughly. For example, our model of the Enichiji Golden Hall made use of archeological remains to recreate a building originally constructed in the ninth century and destroyed in medieval times. The Sazaedou model, on the other hand, preserves the construction data of an existing building and can be used in reconstruction of the building if it is ever dismantled or destroyed. Work currently in progress on user-driven spatial exploration methods such as VRML, will enable students to quote ``visit" historical sites and examine them at their own pace.