Chen Wu-Wei
Course Description
This course combines digital visualization technology with contemporary interpretations of the significance of Chinese monuments that identify and recall major events in Chinese history. Students will learn about the history, cultural significance, and scholarly knowledge of the monuments. Selected sites include timber-structure buildings, Daoist temples, and Buddhist art and architecture. Meanwhile, the course will cover immersive narrative knowledge, such as direct modeling for Chinese wooden carpentry structures, artifacts lighting, texturing, rendering, and virtual walk-through animation. Visualization and further utilizations will apply in the lectures and assignments to examine virtual environments’ authenticity and information management of the Chinese monuments. Students will create an immersive narrative using visualization tools to present a chosen monument site with its historical and cultural values in the final group project. Upon completing this course, students will have deepened their knowledge of the emerging field of the digital humanities through both a “digital” and a “humanistic” perspective and how digital humanities can be applied to visualize the history and culture of China.
Dr. Chen integrates the concepts of 3D visualization, interactive info-motion design and digital sculpting into digital heritage contents development. Dr. Chen also hosts digital heritage forums at SIGGRAPH Asia (Macau, Bangkok, Daegu) and invites experts of interdisciplinary areas (museum contents, architecture, urban planning, curation and aesthetics) for sharing.