3D Modeling Lab:  Featured 3D Modeling Projects

Archaeology and Astronomy

Two projects  that involve research into the spatial relationships between man made architecture and celestial bodies over time are the "Four Dimensional Analysis of the Curia and Comitium at Rome" and the "An Archaeoastronomical Investigation of the Island of the Sun".

Four Dimensional Analysis of the Curia and Comitium at Rome

The Curia and Comitium project is being lead by Chris Johanson in conjunction with Diane Favro(UCLA, Arts and Architecture).  It began as a UCLA Graduate Division Summer Mentorship project, in which Chris Johanson used the facilities of the Visualization Portal and the 3D Modeling Lab to analyze the spatial relationship between the sun at various times of the year and reconstructed monuments of the Roman Republic, specifically in the area of the Senate House(Curia), and the Popular Assembly(Comitium).

This project has led to a series of presentations, to the submission of an article for journal publication, and to related avenues of research for Chris Johanson's dissertation work.  It is currently in development.

An Archaeoastronomical Investigation of the Island of the Sun

The Island of the Sun project is lead by Dean Abernathy, working in conjunction with Charles Stanish (UCLA, Anthropology) and Chris Johanson.  They developed a model and time dependent  visualization of the Island of the Sun, which is located in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia.  Using vrNav and a solar visualization plugin written by Chris Johanson, Charles Stanish was able to point out the precise location of actual solar marks on the horizon line.  Using this information he was able to triangulate and find the location of an important sacred site.

This project has also attracted the attention of David Dearborne (Lawrence Livermore Labs, Astro-Physics), who has donated highly accurate satellite imagery and initial code to aid in future calculations of the real time data.  ATS programmers are also working on developing a visualization plug-in for vrNav to show the location of celestial bodies in relation to architectural monuments or markers.

Model Used to Test vrNav Astronomical Plug-in

For additional information on this Archaeoastronomy project please go to Research Activities.