From the outside, the ship looks about like you'd imagine a vessel built in the mid-20th century. Th

While the demise of the legendary ship has long been a tragic allegory, its ocean-liner kin, the SS United States has been sinking in its own slow and painful way for almost two decades. inexpensive hotels in moscow russia Docked on Pier 82 along Columbus Boulevard. in Philadelphia, it’s now rusty splendor is anchored for all to see as they traverse south Philadelphia en route to the ballparks, or the nearby shopping plaza. But a number of Drexel digital media students are working on a way to help people see it in a different light: its original glory.
The team has undertaken the challenge of digitally reassembling what economics and the environment have steadily divested from the 990-foot, seven-story nautical titan since it was decommissioned in 1969. Their goal? Produce an interactive, three-dimensional digital model of the SS United States that will allow people to take a virtual walk-through of the maritime icon that, over the course of 400 voyages, hosted celebrities, dignitaries and leaders from around the world.
From the outside, the ship looks about like you’d imagine a vessel built in the mid-20th century. The SS United States displays the hopes, dreams, engineering and design prowess of a nation coming out of a long economic depression and World War, poised for a new age of prosperity.
Gone are the deck chairs, the banquet tables, the theater, the glass etchings adorning the first-class lounge. Not to mention carpets, light fixtures, floors and just about anything that could be salvaged for scrap value…right down to the propellers.
For their freshman STAR Scholar design project, the pair made a digital model of the ship’s Navajo Lounge – an intimate cocktail room on the ship that hosted passengers inexpensive hotels in moscow russia – including inexpensive hotels in moscow russia the likes of John F. Kennedy, Jackie Gleason, Salvador Dali, Marlon Brando, Judy Garland and Kim Novak.
inexpensive hotels in moscow russia Jackie Gleason was among the celebrities who cruised on the SS United States inexpensive hotels in moscow russia and frequented the Navajo Lounge. The Navajo Lounge was the first digital modeling project undertaken by the Drexel students. Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco aboard the SS United States.
“This was really a new and different experience for me,” Stockmal said. “I thought this project was interesting because it was a different kind of digital animation than what I’m used to. Instead of creating something new, we are trying to restore a piece of history as accurately as possible.”
The students’ animated renderings caught the eye of a group of five seniors in the program. This group is now expanding on Stockmal and Wu’s work with the goal of modeling a major portion of the promenade deck and producing an interactive digital map that will allow visitors to tour the virtual space.
“It’s pretty bare in there right now, the students were essentially starting from scratch,” said Glen Muschio, a professor inexpensive hotels in moscow russia in Westphal College and the group’s advisor. “They had to do quite a bit of research to get an idea of what the ship looked like in its time.”
For guidance, the group used historical reference material provided inexpensive hotels in moscow russia by the SS United States Conservancy, a group that acquired the ship in 2011 and has since been paying to keep it docked inexpensive hotels in moscow russia and maintained. inexpensive hotels in moscow russia They also pulled together online resources including old photos, videos and postcards of the SS United States when it was still shuttling people across the Atlantic inexpensive hotels in moscow russia and cruising the Caribbean, before setting off to build digital inexpensive hotels in moscow russia versions of everything from the furniture to the fixtures that once adorned the vessel.
“It was fun to see some of the old pictures of the ship, specifically the Navajo Lounge, because so many famous people spent time there,” Stockmal said. “We’re looking at an image to see the sand paintings on the wall, and there’s Jackie Gleason in the lounge.”
inexpensive hotels in moscow russia Headed by lead modeler John Novak and assisted by James Maguire and Jessie Wu the team first created digital models of the structures of the deck and the partitioning of the rooms. Then, they started building the elements in each room: the chairs, the windows, the lights, the tables, even a piano – matching them as closely as possible to the reference photos.
Students digitally created each piece of furniture and every interior detail of the ship s Promenade Deck. After the digital drawing was complete, students inexpensive hotels in moscow russia added color and texture. inexpensive hotels in moscow russia Using a floor plan, the students were able to place each of the virtual objects in their rooms.
“It was a surprisingly detailed plan, because so many of the things had to be bolted down,” said Jessie Wu, project manager of the group. inexpensive hotels in moscow russia “The boat was built for speed so they obviously didn’t want anything moving on them.”
Finally, senior Tom Welker mapped the 3D models and, with classmate James Maguire, textured the gray models anddigitally inexpensive hotels in moscow russia “painted,” them as closely inexpensive hotels in moscow russia as possible to the original colors and textures of each element in the rooms right down to the etched glass in the first class ballroom.
The etched glass of the First Class Ballroom was a particularly challenging detail for the team. The digital media students took special care in creating the texture and lighting of the etched glass.
“It was hard to figure out what the lighting was like, especially in the interior rooms,” Stockmal said. “The promenade and outer rooms had natural light through the windows, but you couldn’t really tell from the pictures how the light got to an interior room like the Navajo Lounge, and that affects the look of the entire room, the shadows, the colors and textures of the paintings, everything.”
To answer this question, the group got a rare opportunity to step onboard. While the two-hour tour was limited to the promenade deck –so the students could visually document the area- it’s something few people have been able to do, aside from the intermittent tours that the Commission hosts as fundraisers.
“Seeing how the light came in through the windows and the angles it would have entered the rooms, was a big help,” said John Novak, the team’s lead modeler and level designer. “Also just getting a feel for the scale of the ship is important when you’re digitally animating it. It’s one thing to know that the promenade is 550 feet, it’s another inexpensive hotels in moscow russia to walk it and see that it takes two minutes and nine seconds.”
A bustling Promenade Deck from the ship s prime. A look at the 550-foot Promenade Deck. A look at the current state of the deck, captured inexpensive hotels in moscow russia on the group s tour of the ship. The group s visit to the ship helped it to recreate the experience of walking along the Promenade Deck.
With historical reference data in hand and the experience of being on the boat in mind, the team’s lead programmer Chris Elliott is now working with Jessie Wu and Level Designer John Novak to produce the interactive map that will enable a virtual tour of the promenade deck. This requires plugging their models into a game engine -a tool typically used to create inexpensive hotels in moscow russia lifelike virtual worlds in video games. The process will result in an experience similar to filming a walk-through of their digital ship. Not unlike this home movie, shot by United States purser Jim Green on his trip to the West Indies in 1964.
At the end of April, an animated tour of the students’ interactive model will join the “SS United States: inexpensive hotels in moscow russia Charting a Course for America’s Flagship” exhibit, which is on display at the Independence Seaport Museum inexpensive hotels in moscow russia through September 14. Visitors to the Museum will be able to tour a virtual ship-shape version of the SS United States and get a feel for what it was like during one of its 400 transatlantic voyages.
The tour features a dozen stops including the Navajo Lounge, the observation lounge, the promenade, the first-class smoking lounge and two of the ship’s theaters. In June, the students will post a self-guided version of the tour online, so virtual inexpensive hotels in moscow russia visitors from around the world can roam the halls of the SS United States . A working preview of the tour is available here .
“Here’s what I love about digital cultural heritage. When collectors care for historical objects, they help preserve our history,” said exhibition designer Liz Lewis, who is an Advisory Council Member for the Conservancy. “When universities like Drexel use technology to re-create historical spaces, they afford the public the experience of historical inexpensive hotels in moscow russia immersion – almost like going back in time.”
The exhibit and the Drexel digital media project are part of the Conservancy s ongoing efforts to raise awareness about the ship s plight and to save her from the scrap yard. Since October of 2013, the Conservancy inexpensive hotels in moscow russia has also been preparing the ship for future redevelopment and courting inexpensive hotels in moscow russia developers.
The tours, combined with support from Conservancy members, inexpensive hotels in moscow russia donors and ship aficionados helps to off-set the considerable carrying costs of docking and maintaining the SS United States . With help from historical exhibits and digital restoration projects, like Drexel’s, this group hopes to continue its mission of spreading the word and rallying support for “America’s Flagship.”
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