INTERACTIVE 3D COMPUTER GRAPHICS IN A GAME Tania FRAGA University of Brasilia, Brazil ABSTRACT: This paper aims to establish a theoretical framework of aspects related to art and interactive 3D computer graphics in a game. The functional, aesthetical and poetical qualities of morphological research allow the emergence of characteristics inherent of virtual space-time applying it to several fields. The artistic field is the semantic field where the inter-semiotic explorations of diverse languages may happen being convenient for the outline and application of such research. The example used here is the educational game “Brasília e os caminhos do Brasil moderno” (preliminary version). The objective of this game, programmed in Java3D, is not competitive and it will be presented to the public in an interactive stereoscopic installation at Israel Pinheiro Foundation whose building is in construction in Brasilia. To think such a game allowed the creation of a context where the interconnection of diverse cognitive mechanisms aimed the transformation of information in knowledge through enjoyable learning. Twenty cyberworlds form the set of interconnected realms of the game. It is possible to wander through them in a nonlinear way since they have different mechanisms for change allowing diverse journeys at each interaction. The interactors trace their journeys in accordance with their interest while learn facts related to the transfer of the Brazil’s capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia. The cyberworlds are 3D scenes with animations and images of the antecedents and of the construction period. The game aesthetic option used the appearance of the buildings in a way similar to a 3D architect’s sketch, as if one could enter inside a 3D drawing before it is simulated. This approach allowed the creation of ethereal landscapes to present the new city, a city that was a symbol of modernity for Brazilians. It also used concepts from physics such as event tunnels and wormholes as metaphors for some of the methods utilized. Keywords: Interactive computer graphics, Java3D, Games.

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1. INTRODUCTION The functional, aesthetical and poetical qualities of morphological research using computer graphics have allowed the reflection upon certain characteristics inherent of virtual space-time domains. Is it possible to study such characteristics for the establishment of a theoretical framework relating art and interactive 3D computer graphics applying them in games? In search for answers, the educational game “Brasília e os caminhos do Brasil moderno” has begun such inquiry. The game programmed in Java3D will be presented to the public in an interactive stereoscopic installation at Israel Pinheiro Foundation whose building is in construction in Brasilia. The game was developed using the content of the book “Brasília, Brasil e os Brasileiros” (Belloch, 2002) that gave the texts and images which allow the interactors to go deep into the contents of the history related to the creation of Brasilia. It is possible to perceive that Science, Engineering and the resulting technology they are producing are affecting almost all aspects of contemporary human life. As part of this context computer graphics, art, architecture and design delineate a field where a set of exciting new possibilities have provoked changes for those knowledge areas, mixing them with many other areas in unfathomable ways. It follows that a new mode of production is emerging from the seething foam of transformations this situation has allowed. Therefore, when looking for computer graphics applications for art, architecture and design we are trying to set up a frame in a realm where syntax has always been very important but semantics has not have the same importance. The artistic field – architecture and design included in it – is a semantic field where the inter-semiotic explorations of diverse languages happen, thus being convenient for the application of experimental solutions. The field of educational games is very adequate for the design of semantic qualities through intentional

programming, among many choices of other programmed situations. The programming of games allows the connection of many types of cognitive mechanisms – such as perceptions, emotions, affections, imagination, memory, and communication among others – focusing them upon the transformations of information in knowledge through joyful learning (Minsk, 1986, p. 121). Enjoyable situations planned to instigate unusual mental capacities (Baum, 2004, p. 77) integrate similarities, analogies, correspondences and metaphors, establishing inter-semiotic interrelations among diverse languages. The art field being a semantic field seams proper for the acquisition of concepts (Gardenfors, 2004, p 4-7). The game quoted before is an example of the application of such approach. 2. THE GAME The aim of the cited game is not competitive and it has characteristics of rolling playing games such as ”Mist”. To think such a game allowed the creation of the context with diverse cognitive mechanisms, aiming the transformation of information in knowledge through enjoyable learning as stated before. Twenty 3D interconnected realms, called here cyberworlds, form the game’s environment. While journeying through these cyberworlds, it is possible to wander in and out of them in a nonlinear way. The interactors trace their journeys in accordance with their own demands learning facts related to the Brazilian history concerning the transfer of the country’s capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia. The game’s main objective is to motivate the interactors to wander through this space-time of information having a certain amount of free will that allows interesting choices. The computer languages used were Java (Java3D) and HTML. The cyberworlds are 3D scenes with animations and images of previous historical circumstances and facts related with the city’s construction period. Some of the monumental buildings of the Brasilia mall plus

some 3D compositions with information about the interface set up the cyberworlds. At the beginning of the game there are configurations showing the antecedents that culminated with the creation of the city; among the journey there are two puzzles; after going through all the cyberworlds the interactors arrive at the Brasilia mall which has a link to a 3D navigation map, a kind of model of the whole game.

by their deliberate action. The game aesthetic option used the appearance of the buildings in a way similar to a 3D architect’s croquis, as if one could enter inside a 3D sketch of a design before it is simulated. This approach allowed the creation of ethereal landscapes to present the spaces of the new city. The city that inhabits an almost desert region and which became a symbol of identity and modernity of its epoch for Brazilians.

Figure 1: The beginning.

Figure 2: The House of Representatives and the Planalto Palace.

The navigation map is a 3D representation of a mental image of the system. It allows the interactors to access any cyberwolrd they want. The navigation map is available through three different cyberworlds; two of them are hidden links while the third one is easily found at the Brasilia mall at the end of the journey. The cyberworlds interconnect among themselves and have different mechanisms for change allowing diverse journeys at each interaction. There are many cross paths offering diverse possibilities inducing the interactors to look for strategies for discoveries giving them freedom of choices while navigating. Responsive objects compose the environments of the cyberworlds allowing the interactors to change them while wandering through their spaces. Such environmental behaviors expand the cognitive and physical sensation of immersion aiming to provoke emotions such as surprise, curiosity and desire to know more. Audio and visual sensations are also stimulated allowing the interactors to experience the leaning process though joyful means. The stimuli happen while the interactors involve themselves into the game; they do not happen

The cyberworlds are three-dimensional realms with animations and images related to the content treated in them; wire frame objects mix with rendered ones optimizing interaction; the cyberworlds organization do not have realism as criteria but on the contrary their environments were created looking for ethereal sensations. The twenty cyberworlds’ organization used simple rules to create complex sets.

Figure 3: The Justice and Itamaraty Palaces. The game interface borrowed several concepts from physics such as event tunnels, event horizon and wormholes. They worked as metaphors for some of the methods utilized. 3

They are triggered by temporizers or by the interctors presence in their area of influence. An agent called Saci plays different roles when the interactors enter its influence areas (bounding boxes). Saci is an agent based on a mythical being – a trickster – from the Brazilian folklore. Saci is an invisible personage. Like similar personages from Brazilian literature – the whirlwinds from Guimarães Rosa, Monteiro Lobato or Ziraldo – Saci creates havoc; its behavior aims to bring unpredictability and randomness to the interface; sometimes it narrates tales, other times it carries the interactors to different places helping them or slowing them, creating a dynamism and breaking the predictable structure of the game. Saci creates for the interactors a chaotic vision of the game; the interactors know about the Saci’s presence by the appearance of dancing balls on the scene accompanied by its music.

The game happens as virtual journeys allowing the interactors to wander through the cyberworlds while learning facts related to Brazilian history as stated before. When journeying the interactors may or may not access all the information available to them. According with their interest and age they may deepen questions related to the subject or may only wander through the spaces playing with their possibilities. There are some cyberworlds where it is necessary to go through tunnels of information – called here event tunnels – in order to provoke changes. Inside these event tunnels when changing images the interactors hear audio information about facts related to them. At the tunnel’s end, the interactors may be teleported to another cyberworld or access a HTML file with more information about the subject on focus.

3. THE INTERFACE All information for navigation is part of the 3D interface as audio. The mouse allows the interactors to move with help of a very few keyboard keys in such way that it is possible to interact without much skill. Touch screens may substitute the mouse. For selection and links clicks and double clicks are used. The changes among cyberworlds happen through links in objects; through random or programmed action of the agent Saci; after the end of an event tunnel; or after the interactors are 15 minutes in a cyberworld a temporizer is triggered. The temporizer works as an automated pilot. Since the game will be used in installation it is important that it will not be stagnated if an interactor abandons it. The game interface characterizes a pervasive space-time, a fluid and complex environment allowing the establishment of multiple non-linear relations.

Figure 5: Scenes of the game. Topologically the cyberworlds have crossing areas. Anytime the interactors want to deepen their knowledge about one topic they will find data that may be accessed through several portals localized in the panels that form the event tunnels. Thus, these event tunnels become thresholds describing tales or historical facts. The event tunnels intended to keep contents organized in such a form that an issue offered fragmented pieces of information in a progressive way without losing its coherence. Therefore, the interactors may go through a process of enhancement of detail of a topic if they are interested in its theme. Another way to provoke changes, surprises and unpredictable behaviors (Picard, 2000) is to use agents. The agents in this game are very simple.

3.1 Technical description As said before the game was programmed using the computer languages Java (Java3D) and 4

HTML. The technical requirements of this initial stage were defined aiming the realization of an interactive stereoscopic installation but the game was programmed in such a way that it also may be used in a CAVE Java3DTM or with polarized glasses. For this adaptation to happen, it is necessary to change the configuration files environmentStereo.cfg, environment.cfg and the properties file, brasilia.properties. These files define parameters allowing changes on the field of view of the scene, on the clipping plane, on the resolution, on the binocular disparity among others. They are also used for the definition of devices without the necessity to re-compile the code.

The next phase was to build prototypes testing them. For this stage, we used art installations to test stress situations with the presence of great public. After this phase the actual configuration was established and the twenty cyberworlds programmed. 4. CONCLUSION The philosopher and professor Eudoro de Souza used to say that “it was privilege of poetry to contain, real or virtually, in a few lines, much more than the discourse that indefinitely goes on and on, lost in the in-definition of the indefinable” (Souza, 1988, p. 48). If poesy allows strong synthesis, mathematical equations allow much stronger ones. Being a symbiosis of several mathematical applications computer graphics is the tool for the creation of sensorial expression for this synthesis. For artists working with computational codes this fact puts them at the intersection of two universes. One of these universes deals with numeric matrix and equations. Numbers are the ‘matter’ of this universe and there are sets of mathematical transformations that allow one to manipulate this ‘matter’. The main characteristic of this universe is its mutability since it allows combinations and transformations. The other universe is the universe of sensorial and poetic realities, which allows artists to weave relations and to create unusual configurations. When programming computer codes artists may explore immanent sensorial possibilities through sign manipulation in these two universes, an important asset in a cultural milieu impregnated with such codes. Interactive arts have appropriated these new technical possibilities to utilize them, subverting them for use as an instrument for poetic expression and communication. Artists usually interconnect chaotic and unstable fragments giving them coherence through the establishment of new types of orders in such a way that signs proliferate creating morphologies, letting new qualities to emerge and reinventing values. Summing up it is thought provoking to imagine

Figure 6: Event tunnel and puzzle. 3.2 The game architecture Formerly the game design utilized a technical table, a general navigation map, and a storyboard with the specification of the cyberworlds establishing the main components for the game development. Then the former specifications were tested and reformulated, looking for better solutions for the initial hypothesis. At this point, the objective was to attain the best comprehension of the preliminary structure of the game and of all the interconnected situations that could happen.

Figure 7: The navigation map. 5

that artists speculating with scientific concepts may unveil possibilities for different poetic and aesthetic explorations for them.

[12] Souza, Eudoro. Mitologia 1. Brasília: Universidade de Brasília, 1988.

[13] Santaella, Lúcia. Panorama da arte tecnológica in Leão, Lúcia. (org). O chip e o caleidocópio. São Paulo: SENAC, 2005, p. 244-280. [14] Tomas, David. Beyond the image machine. London: Continuum, 2004. 6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Promoter: Israel Pinheiro Foundation. Java Programmers: Fabrício Anastácio, Pedro Garcia, Tania Fraga e Vanessa Almeida. Graphic design: Tania Fraga.

Figure 8: National Teather and the Mall. 5. REFERENCES [1] Anders, Peter. Cybrid principles in Ascott, Roy (ed). Technoetic Arts. UK: Intellect, vol. 2, number 3, 2004, p. 133-145.

7. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

[2] Arantes, Priscila. Arte e mídia. São Paulo: SENAC, 2005. [3] Baum, Eric B.. What Cambridge: MIT, 2004.

is

1. Tania Fraga is a Brazilian architect and artist. She holds a PhD. of the Communication and Semiotics Program at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo (PUC). In the course of 1999, Tania developed a Post Doctoral research project at CAiiA-STAR, UK with a research grant from CAPES, the Brazilian Agency for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. She was Professor and Coordinator of the Graduation Studies of the Art Institute at University of Brasilia, Brazil from 1987 until 2004 when she retired and where she is Associated Researcher. She can be reached by e-mail: [email protected], by phone: +55-11-3214-3011.

thought.

[4] Belloch, Israel e Fagundes L. R. (org). Brasília, Brasil e os brasileiros. Brasília: FIP, 2002. [5] Bohn, David. A Totalidade e a ordem implicada. São Paulo: Cultrix, 1992. [6] Fraga, Tania. Thinking liquid thoughts in Ascott, Roy (ed). Technoetic Arts. UK: Intellect, vol. 2, number 3, 2004, p. 169-179. [7] Gardenfors, Peter. Conceptual spaces. Cambridge: MIT, 2004.

Website: http://www.planeta.terra.com.br/arte/lvpa2002/

[8] Llinás, Rodolfo R.. I of the vortex. Cambridge: MIT, 2002. [9] Machado, Arlindo. Novas figuras da subjetividade in Fragoso, Maria L. (org). >=4D: Arte computacional interativa. Brasília: IdA/UnB, 2004, p. 10-15. [10] Minsky, Marvin. The society of mind. New York: Touchstone, 1986. [11] Picard, Rosalind. Affective computing. Cambridge: MIT, 2000. 6