707 Virtual Museum

Audubon Prints Exhibition:

During the summer of 2003, the University of Pittsburgh Library began preparations for a major exhibit of historic John James Audubon prints. The prints comprise the Double Elephant Folio Edition (1827-1838) and will be on display from September 18th through December 5th at the Frick Fine Arts building. Details regarding the exhibition are available on the web site of the University Art Gallery. The stewards of the collection face a daunting task in displaying the prints, however, and VISC is applying 707 methodology to meet the challenge.

The problem:

Wall space is limited and the 435 rare, restored prints are very large, earning their "double elephant" moniker. Only 62 of the prints can be displayed simultaneously. While this represents a significant number of the prints, officials from the University Library would like to find a way to display the remainder of the prints using technology. One of the reasons the prints have had such an impact on viewers is because of the drama captured within them. The birds are life size and shown in their natural settings with vibrant colors and stunning detail. Any alternative method of display will have to preserve, to the greatest extent possible, the size and drama of the prints.

The solution:

Lyle Seethaler of the Visual Information Systems Center has been working to solve this problem using an open-source virtual reality environment pioneered by Pitt doctoral student Jeffrey Jacobson. The environment is called CaveUT and is based on game-engine software. Lyle, an undergraduate at Pitt's School of Information Science, has made this project the focus of an independent study. Able to project highly customized virtual environments onto different sizes and numbers of display screens, CaveUT is well-suited to the construction of a virtual museum. The core development principles of Project 707 are flexibility, portability, and affordability. The virtual museum is a fine example of these principles in action.