Proposal

Immersive Digital Environments for Applied Use

Luke Mazza

Immersion is an aspect of media arts that many digital artists seek to utilize in their projects, especially in those that are interactive. Anyone wishing to involve their audience in their vision completely, in the process eliminating the 4^th wall, can find a healthy understanding of immersion useful. One technique for triggering immersion in an audience/user is to create an environment that is as close to indiscernible from the real world of that person that they feel present in that environment. While there is much more to immersing a user/audience, (control, willingness of participants, atmosphere, etc) fabrication of realistic environments is worth having an understanding of. As a case in point one might wish to recreate a forest in a game world. In order to carry out such aspirations an artist must have a thorough understanding of the real world surroundings they intend to replicate, pursuing the essential knowledge that is required to digitally simulate a leaf on a tree found in Thailand, for example.

For this project I hope to investigate methods commonly used for creating digital environments for applied applications, as well as come up with some of my own. I will focus on producing a computer generated mock up of a particular natural landscape, ultimately appropriate for interactive purposes. The user/viewer will use visual cues as well as an accurate sound-scape to immerse their selves in this environment. After selecting a setting to simulate, the necessary research involving that place will be conducted as well as that relating to software and techniques that might be useful in accomplish this. Ultimately, I hope that this will lend greater understanding to others and myself as to the relation between environmental realism and immersion.

The full thing can be had here