Hello from Project Mudd! Things have been happening, mostly behind the scenes, but we are excited to show a small snippet of what we’ve found so far. Our project will be more of a digital exhibition focusing around these questions: What is Mudd? What’s in Mudd? What does Mudd mean?
We emailed Facilities to try and get more information about the architecture of Mudd. Unfortunately, we do not have access to cad files of the building, but fortunately, we do now have access to some higher resolution pdfs
We would also like to explore some of the collections within Mudd and digitize some for online viewing. By combining testimonials with architecture with material culture, it’s our hope that we can create an accurate snapshot of what life on Carleton’s campus was like when Mudd still existed.
We’ve also begun gathering the opinions and testimonials through surveys and emails to various students, departments, and faculties.
And lastly, thinking about our final presentation and what form it will take, we’ve considered making the model explorable online using Unity’s Web plugins, creating a space where users can interact with 3D models of some of the items collected in Mudd, and another section that holds testimonials about Mudd, its culture, and its impact on the lives of the people who have worked and played there.
This sounds really interesting and a lot like the Harvey game. Is that your inspiration?
To your list of questions motivating the project, I would add “Where did Mudd come from and why is it going?” which could open this specific building history out to topics of wider significance to other institutions.
As for resources, I would HIGHLY encourage you to watch the Lynda tutorial on SketchUp for architecture, especially the section on Building a House. The techniques outlined in, e.g. Building external walls, and internal walls, openings etc. will save you tons of time and frustrations.
I’d say your first order of business should be to decide on a Level of Detail for your modeling — do you want photorealism, schematic, stylized? The choice should align with your goals for the project and be realistically achievable in the time you have.
Finally, if you are going to do some photogrammetry, two powerful machines in the GIS lab in Goodsell have PhotoScan installed.
Do you intend to record anything using video? Perhaps a video format would be good way to tour the building!
Do you Intend on creating an interior for the building? And if so do you intend on adding photo imagery to the inner walls?
Despite Facilities not having CAD files for this building, I’m almost positive the ArcGIS lab (and Wei-Hsin) has files of 3D models of every building on campus. If your group is determined to create the building, disregard this. But if you’re looking to get high-quality models and reduce the amount of work you all need to do, I definitely recommend approaching Wei-Hsin instead of Facilities.