Mass Extinction

What? Mass Extinction is an interactive geological rock wall and augmented reality application designed for a museum exhibition setting. Each layer represents a different geological time period and each dark brown line, a different mass extinction in Earth’s history. Users are encouraged to step into the shoes of a geologist doing field work. Using a tablet, users can excavate the wall, searching for 7 clues of mass extinction that serve as AR object targets. When found, the targets trigger hidden AR content (3D models, animations, or diagrams) to appear on the tablet. Users can also read more written information corresponding to each object.

How? This 6’ x 6’ rock wall is carved by hand out of foam. The AR application built with ARKit in Unity features a scan mode with orange user interface elements to indicate users must search for clues. When an object target is found, the UI elements turn black, a score count begins, and users have the option to touch the screen to toggle and scroll for more information.

Why? Mass Extinction seeks to bridge the gap between the academic scientific community and the general public. It uses interactive technology to communicate complex research and make it more accessible, digestible, and fun. The exhibit aims to educate users about geology, Earth's history, the causes and impacts of mass extinctions, and about creatures that existed throughout time.

Created in collaboration with Dylan Dawkins, Mingna Li, and Emily Lin. Inspired by the work of Dr. Michael R. Rampino, professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at New York University. 

Mass Extinction was exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History and the ITP Spring Show 2019.

ITP Spring Show 2019

The Grand Gallery - American Museum of Natural History 2019

AMNH 2019

AMNH 2019

Mass Extinction Team

ITP Spring Show 2019

ITP Spring Show 2019

ITP Spring Show 2019

RETURN TO PORTFOLIO

Production Process

Since my focus was fabrication, the majority of the process documented here shows how the physical wall was created. However, sprinkled in are progress shots of the AR development and visual design.

WALL PLANNING

To get a sense of the scale, we used butcher paper on the wall to start planning the size of our rock wall. It was important that the interactive was large enough to feel realistic and immersive. We settled on making it 6 ft tall. However, we knew it would also need to be portable, so I suggested we fabricate it in sections that can be pieced together and taken apart at will. We considered using PVC pipe or other materials for the structural integrity. However, with some research and advice from a theatre set designer, I learned that EPS foam would be the perfect material for us. It is dense enough to hold itself up given a substantial footprint, but light enough to transport, and most importantly it is malleable. It can be carved and painted so well it can transform into something that looks completely unlike foam.

We ordered 13 blocks of EPS foam at a size of 1’ x 1 ’x 3’.

EARL AR TESTS

Dylan began testing object tracking in AR. Instead of using an image target, the camera of a mobile device would be able to recognize 3D objects. We felt that with our wall being so sculptural that this would be the most effective way to spawn AR content.

INITIAL FOAM CARVING TEST

While waiting for the final foam to arrive, I practiced craving on smaller pieces.

cutting foam with x-acto knife

glue coating

after painting

ancestor shrew first carving

FOAM STACK ARRIVES!

We made a sketches to plan out what objects to carve into the wall and which layers of Earth’s history to represent. We wanted to make sure that the layers were in the accurate order and that fossils or artifacts embedded in each one truly came from the time period we would be indicating. We projected a digital sketch onto the wall to get a sense of the sizing for each object.

T-REX CARVING

I started with the T-REX skull knowing it would be ambitious and wanted to get a head start. It demonstrates the carving process well. I began by sketching onto the foam. Then I carve away using box cutters, heated wire cutters, sandpaper, and even my hands. Once the carving is to my liking, I used Hot Wire Foam Factory all-purpose coating. This powder acts sort of like a cement once water is added, it covers the foam and dries hard, giving the foam durability and a very rock like texture.

VISUAL DESIGN

For one of the AR components we wanted to create a taxonomy tree to illustrate the lineage of the shrew that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs. All placental mammals descend from this ancestor. I created a traditional taxonomy tree but created animal silhouettes in the graphic style chosen by Emily. I envisioned the tree to grow from a fossil of the shrew on the wall and extend beyond the physical layers to illustrate that these create exist in our current geological time period.

Mammal taxonomy tree.

Designed by Maya Pruitt

The mammal tree appears in AR. This panel can be toggled on if users want to read more information.

Designed by Emily Lin.

AR TEST

Dylan used the dino feet that I carved as an AR object target. It gave us an idea of how a device’s camera would pick up the material and colors. This test also allowed us to play with the scale of the taxonomy tree.

FINAL TOUCHES

Documented here are more photos of the wall over time. Every item was hand carved as well as the wall texture itself. Not all objects embedded in the wall would become object targets, but we wanted them to have just as much detail so users could not tell the difference. This would encourage more of a searching action and was meant to mimic that scientists will not find all the answers right away.

After carving, the wall was coated. Once dried the pieces could be gessoed and then finally painted. We wanted the wall to feel realistic to the touch but decided on a more whimsical color scheme. The colors are based on real rock colors like clay and sandstone, but making them bold allowed the layers to feel more distinctive and catch the eye.

sometimes work gets messy!

Emily gessos

rock layer reference

Schematic Package

Once our ideas were finalized and approved from the conceptual package, it was time to shift gears to creating a schematic package.

This would provide a more detailed plan of execution including:

• User-flow diagrams

• Systems diagrams

• Drawings for fabrication

• Schedule of work broken down for each team member

• Cost summary

• Visual design

SCHEMATIC PACKAGE DECK

Working calendar, timeline, task sheet, bill of materials, and resources are compiled here.

We decided to have our team members play to their strengths, so the division of labor became as follows:

Dylan - AR

Mingna - Sound/Video

Emily - Graphic Design

Maya - Fabrication

Conceptual Package Post-Mordem

Our presentation went well and validated our current concepts! There was some concern that we were being too ambitious, but we feel up for the challenge. Our biggest decision was to focus mainly on the AR rock wall for this course. (The VR could be a possible side project for Dylan and I in our other VR-based class)

Below was some feedback we received:

Re: Conceptual Package Presentation 3/7/2019

General feedback for all groups: 

• Think about spatial design, creating transformative moments (soundscape)

• Creating a narrative journey/cumulative installations vs. installations that stand alone

• How do you onboard museum- goers?

FOR US: 

• Bring in the scope

• Can you make it more tangible?

• Include Rampino’s voice?

• Think about lighting and sound design (big bang planetarium project dome using theatrical lighting  → digital vs. analog mechanisms)

• Focus on your metaphors: what is the tablet exactly for AR, is it a “lens”?

• Interesting to talk about the atmosphere, exploring the “invisible” thing

• Do you want to provide a physical takeaway?

• Liked rockwall the most 

DECISION: AR rock wall is the focus!

Conceptual Package Presentation

In class we presented our final conceptual package to our professor, Brett, the class, and some guest critics involved in museum exhibition design. We narrowed our idea down to an interactive AR rock wall paired with a VR experience.

FINAL CONCEPTUAL PACKAGE DECK

Continuing Conceptual Package Development

We showed our first conceptual package to Brett, who gave us the following feedback. As expected our biggest critique was to take our pool of 10-12 ideas and focus it to 1-3 truly executable things.

FEEDBACK:

• Don’t need brainstorm section in the conceptual package

• **Add section with the research and the researcher (Keep pics of his work and add pic of him) 

• Think about the tech we’d like to work with (Projection mapping, AR, animation (2D or 3D))

• *digging through time & jumping rocks are strong ideas

• Sketches are awesome! - Don’t need to colorize them 

• Globe is hard to do physically → could make it flat or curved

• **can def fabricated the rock wall or the stackable time 

• THINK OF SCALE: Could do more than one of these ideas, but maybe metaphors can be turned into “cheapies”, Shrink down, do a panel, do an animation

• Physical volcano, can do dramatic lighting, could project to do the non-physical part

• Choose earth’s adventure could scale down → app, share your earth, compelling as small thing

• games:

  • Evolution has to be shown through time...show that time scale, look up interactives about evolution: Spore, diff choices lead to diff abilities 

  • Don’t press the button could be scaled, but education/payoff is smaller

• Describe what about the mood board relates to the project (magical lighting, walking through, tactile, experiencing ) Keep at the end to see how the sketches pair with the mood board part.

• Clarification

  • Message: overall message of the exhibit

  • goal/takeaway: talk about that for EACH concept...tie back the experiences to the learning goals

  • DO THIS then you KNOW THIS

MARCH 7TH WE PRESENT OUR CONCEPTUAL PACKAGE

• 20 min presentation, Make pdf version, send to him before the night before for feedback **Everyone must speak

Conceptual Package Version 1

In the making of museum exhibitions, we learned that after brain storming comes the narrowing of ideas. Brett asked us to prepare a conceptual package that would synthesize our research and propose our plan for production. For our first version we presented tons different ideas in order to get feedback on which would be the the most feasible to pursue.

Below is an outline of our conceptual package components, as well as an initial slide deck.

CONCEPTUAL PACKAGEV V.1

MAIN INTERACTIVE IDEAS:

1. Interactive rock layers (AR, stackable sandbox with projections)

2. Narrative (ancestor shrew → mammal descendants, volcano → dust → no light → dino → dead)

3. Dark room/Mass Extinction experience (projections, VR)

4. Geological timeline (jumping rocks, Globe - to show areas of geological evidence or illustrate different time periods)

5. Games: choose what happens to the earth, build an animal to survive extinction

What is the research?

1. Geology & rock layer analysis

2. Mass Extinction → Dust clouds and volcanic eruption

3. Space: astrophysical Galaxy

4. Connection between dark matter and volcanoes and asteroids

Message

1. What is our focus? 

   • Scale of “deep time” & “deep space”

   • The experience of a mass extinction: what does it feel like?

   • We could include some of Dr. Rampino’s more speculative theories, but we will specifically focus on geological evidence and how it relates to specific events that are agreed upon (i.e. mass extinction via comet, dust cloud)

2. What is the takeaway for others?

   • Mass extinctions are cyclical due to earth’s orbit in space that triggers both asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions

   • Without the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, we would not exist. “We are here by chance” - Rampino

   • A more holistic understanding of our earth requires the consilience of science. Where separate disciplines intersect is where we discover a better picture of how the world works.

Audience

1. Who? 

   • Families 

   • All ages

   • Anyone who is interested in science and history

2. What type of museum?

   • Science/Natural History Museum

Goals

1. How awesome and necessary it is to show this

   • This exhibit is necessary because it is a tool to learn about and reflect upon why the earth is the way it is. Through our interactive, we will capture abstract concepts, such as the universe’s timeline, mass extinctions, and how we humans came to exist. 

   • Although the next extinction will not occur for millions of years, we hope to convey the idea that Earth is a special place to live and worth taking care of. While things like dark matter, asteroids, and volcanoes are out of our control, there are daily things we can do to protect the earth we have.

Sketches/Visualizations (can be shown as Renderings of interactive design form, digital illustrations, 3D models, can include notes on interactive components & materials)

Written Description 

Written version of interactive design

Prior Art Examples/references

• OpenSpace

• mammal infographic

• Interactive style

• How to understand how long 65 million years is:

Goal: What we hope users get out of the experience

In honor of the shrew that survived mass extinction, we deemed our team name: Ancestor Shrew

Ancestor Shrew doodle by Dylan.

Meeting with Dr. Mike Rampino

We arranged a time to meet with Dr. Rampino and were invited to visit his office. He was a delight to talk with and explained his research very clearly. He also showed us different examples of geological materials. It was extremely helpful in our early idea forming process.

Below are some images from Dr. Rampino’s office:

Link to my notes.

We asked Dr. Rampino what he would suggest we focus on, which was really helpful in framing the important aspects of his research. One of my other big takeaways was that although mass extinction has a dark undertone it also allows for evolution and rebirth. Without the extinction of the dinosaurs, humans wouldn’t exist.

Aspects to possibly focus on:

1. Cycle connection between mass extinction & dark matter (the disturbance) 

2. The ways mass extinction takes place (internal - volcanoes vs. external - asteroid impact)

3. Geological time scale (deep time, deep space)

Playful Communication of Serious Research begins...

OFFICIAL TEAM: Dylan Dawkins, Mingna Li, Emily Lin

After forming our teams, we began emailing potential researchers (a total of 9 to increases our chances). While waiting for replies, we started brainstorming possible interactives for the ones we were most interested in.

Organized chart for contacting potential research collaborators.

We were particularly excited about Dr. Mike Rampino and his studies of volcanoes and mass extinction! We expanded our brainstorming for his research just for fun.

Only a couple hours after reaching out to Dr. Rampino, he replied and said he would be willing to work with us. What luck!