{"id":275,"date":"2020-09-18T11:54:37","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T11:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/?p=275"},"modified":"2022-01-29T15:46:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T15:46:48","slug":"ar-application-explores-spanish-colonial-paintings-and-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/ar-application-explores-spanish-colonial-paintings-and-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"AR Application Explores Spanish Colonial Paintings and Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KarenUniversity of Miami art history students have access to an augmented reality (AR) application to explore Colonial Spanish paintings and architecture, thanks to a collaboration between IDSC and the College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

Building on the University’s partnership with Magic Leap, this advanced AR application opens the door to virtual studies of the large collection of Colonial art at Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de la Merced Chapel at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Miami.<\/p>\n

“The La Merced Chapel is home to an extraordinary collection of donated art, and I have taken prior classes there to study the paintings,” said Karen R. Mathews, Associate Professor of Art and Art History. “Through the Provost\u2019s initiative and funding from the College of Arts and Sciences, this leading-edge research project allows us to bring the Chapel to students on campus, as well as audiences around the world\u2014an important consideration in the time of COVID, when so much learning is done virtually.”<\/p>\n

Located in Allapattah, a neighborhood to the NW of downtown Miami, the Chapel reflects the dream of Corpus Christi’s long-time pastor, Father Jos\u00e9 Luis Men\u00e9ndez, to recreate the spirit of an old Peruvian church. Construction began in 2005 on La Merced Chapel, which houses an expanding collection of 200-plus works from throughout South and Central America, and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

\"La
\n\"La
\n\"ChrisUM Art students and IDSC professionals began collaborating in 2019, and the AR application was completed during the spring 2020 semester, despite the disruptions related to COVID-19. “We used drones and LiDAR laser scanning technology to map the Chapel\u2019s interior and exterior, while collecting high-resolution photos of the paintings,” said Chris Mader, IDSC Director of Software Engineering. “Next, we used Magic Leap’s platform, along with the gaming engine Unity, to create a detailed interactive experience.”<\/p>\n

Mathews added that the AR application creates an immersive experience with detailed information on five of the Chapel’s paintings, as well as its architecture. “By clicking on points of interest, you can open an audio and a text block\u2014an ideal approach for students and adults with different learning abilities,” she said.<\/p>\n

Unlike a virtual reality (VR) experience, the AR app allows the students to control their interactions with the Chapel and its artwork. “You can walk around a model of the exterior of the Chapel, and zoom in to see the interior and the paintings. You can select a painting, take it out of the Chapel, and place it on a wall in the real-world room you’re currently in to see it life size, or bring out another painting for comparison. There is so much educational potential in this application, which offers a different way to appreciate great art.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"VR<\/p>\n

\"Laexterior point cloud captured using LiDAR<\/small><\/p>\n

Mader said the project demonstrates IDSC’s ability to produce an end-to-end interactive digital experience. “We have been creating three-dimensional maps, models, and reconstructions models for a variety of purposes,” he added. “We are also developing a course for the School of Communications that uses 3D for storytelling.”<\/p>\n

“We come to IDSC with ideas,
\nand they say, ‘Let’s go!'”<\/h3>\n

\"AminThe art history AR application is just the latest collaboration between Mathews and the IDSC team. The IDSC Software Engineering team includes Amin Sarafraz, PhD, a Research Assistant Professor of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering whose research interests include Machine Learning, Photogrammetry, and Computer Vision. “We have worked together for more than four years, on a variety of projects relating to the Digital Humanities,” Mathews said. “For example, they created a new algorithm to remove distortion from aerial drone photos and obtain crisp, clean outlines of architectural structures. The knowledge and experience of IDSC’s data and computing professionals has been fundamental to our success. We come to IDSC with ideas, and they say, ‘Let\u2019s go!'”<\/p>\n

\"Retablo,<\/p>\n

RETABLO
\nThe retablo at Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de la Merced Chapel is created in the Andean baroque style,
\nwhere the local flora and fauna of Peru are accompanied by Christian iconographic elements.
\nRetablos were developed to aid those who could not read the Bible, nor understand the Latin mass.<\/small><\/p>\n

Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de la Merced Chapel<\/strong>
\nAugmented Reality Tour<\/p>\n

Art Historical Content Created By
\nSpring 2020 ARH 2700 Students<\/p>\n

TOOLS
\nMagic Leap 1 Creator Edition
\nUnity 2019.2
\nMaya 2020.1
\nBlender 2.8
\nAdobe Illustrator
\nAdobe Photoshop
\nLeica RTC 360 Laser Scanner
\nNikon DSLR Camera
\nSenseFly Albris Drone<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Miami art history students have access to an augmented reality (AR) application to explore Colonial Spanish paintings and architecture, thanks to a collaboration between IDSC and the College of Arts and Sciences. Building on the University’s partnership with Magic Leap, this advanced AR application opens the door to virtual studies of the large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,53],"tags":[110,105,104,112,102,70,111,106,103,107,108,113,109,114],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1342,"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/1342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idsc.miami.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}