Title: Roman Triclinium and Pompeii Bar
Audience: Bucknell University students
Date: Fall 2024
Software Utilized for the Project: Blender, Adobe Aero, Photoshop
About the Project: After taking a course on virtual and augmented reality (AR) in my instructional design program, I have been interested in applying small-scale AR in my practice at Bucknell University.
In the summer of 2024, a Classics professor expressed interest in recreating scenes for her Archaeology of Food course in the fall. Her first request was a Roman triclinium, which is a dining room with couches as Romans ate while lying down.
We met to discuss what she wanted and she provided me with a number of image references. I kept her informed on my progress as I learned Blender well enough to create the furniture. I struggled most with creating the headrests as they were a challenging shape to build.
Once I had the couches and table built, I placed them in Adobe Aero with the wall, which I took from a museum image. As the wall could easily get in the way of students being able to explore the couches and tables, I added a little interactivity with a button that could remove or replace the wall.
The last step was adding food to the table. The professor provided images of the kinds of food Romans would eat. I was able to download some from Sketchfab.com, although I was encountering large file sizes and materials errors when I brought them into Aero, which detracted from the learning experience. I was able to create some of my own food and plates in Blender and use some of the downloaded foods that were not causing issues.
Implementation of this experience went well. One student reported being very happy to explore what they were learning about in class in this way and not just through 2D images in their textbook.
I have also created a second experience for the class which will be implemented later in the semester. This is a recreation of a recently excavated bar in Pompeii. The counter contains numerous clay pots that would have been filled with various foods. The paintings are the actual paintings from the excavated site, which I was able to pull from images online, form into the correct shape in Photoshop, and apply to the counter in Aero.
I hope these examples and students’ reactions to them will lead to more opportunities for 3D modeling and AR experiences at Bucknell University.