Immersive Environments

This seminar seeks to posit the role of digital media within the broader context of digital practice and to examine the generative capacities of the medium to design and communicate ideas in the virtual realm. The seminar will examine the construction and representation of environments through the integration of form, light, material, color, atmosphere and photography. Investigations will vary in scale from one to one virtual simulations of materials and details, to interior and architectural scales, through to urban and landscape scales. This seminar is aimed at developing foundational skills in still image development with extensive development of topics in lighting design and analysis, material exploration and prototyping, site modeling and scene population, through to photography, compositing and post production. Although the emphasis will be on still image development, there will be extensive use of animation, serialized imagery and iterative workflows to develop dynamic representations of the built environment across a range of perceptual models. Software will be based on a Rhino modeling workflow, with scene management, population, and rendering development in 3dsmax and Vray, and a post production workflow based on After Effects and Photoshop. The course will be a lecture/workshop format with a series of weekly workshops and assignments with a final project review during exam week. Evaluation will be based on project content, proficiency in the media and class participation.Enrollment is limited to 14 students. No prerequisites.