New Media Events

Tech Savvy Day

Tech Savvy day is a yearly showcase of student works accompanied by a lecture series. See poster below.

STUDENT ARTWORK

New Media Student Artwork page

COURSES

Digital Imaging and 4-D Design - ARTS 104
Web Art I - ARTS 267 - AY1 Web-Based w/Lecture-80%+ onWeb
Web Art II - ARTS 301
Advanced Web Art - ARTS 403
Video Art - ARTS 204
Three Dimension Modl/Animation - ARTS 205
Internship in Art - ARTS 498
Directed Study in Art - ARTS 499

Academic Catalog:
http://catalog.bridgew.edu/

 

Field Trips

Periodic field trips to The Cave Project at Brown University, Pixelerations FirstWorksProv a showcase of multimedia artworks in Providence RI, and List Art Center and MIT museum in Boston.

Photos from Henry Elliot's prototype shop in Sumerset, MA. Above: electric car designed on 3D software, then later manufactured by him and his son.	Henry welcomed three sections of ARTS 104. Above: Henry showing an aerodynamic part for the electric car.
CNC machine with Rhino software to create tools (molds) for fiber glass parts.	Students asking questions about the design.

 

BSC students on fieldtrip to Brown University's CAVE project.

 

FACILITIES

Moakley 305, the New Media computer lab, equiped with a teaching station and overhead video projector hosts twelve apple computers for student use. Each of this computers contains Adobe CS3 (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash), Final Cut Express and Maya. Students have access to six video cameras and three microphones, our last addition is a 3D printer by Z-Corp, which creates color models of powder and glue that harden with superglue. This printer is available for students, faculty and out of campus users.

Printed models in fragil state		Super-gluing 3D printed models

ABOUT THE FACULTY

Magaly Ponce holds a Master of Fine Arts M.F.A. degree from Syracuse University and mantains an international exhibition record.

COLLABORATIONS

Display Marine Biology + New Media Art
Last fall Professor Carol Carson approached Professor Magaly Ponce regarding basic technology advice on a project focused on humpback whales, an endangered marine mammal that feeds in the waters off New England. The focus of this project is to create a catalog of behaviors for this species of endangered baleen whale. A vital part of the ethogram is the collection and integration of video recordings that depict the various behaviors observed for humpback whales. To collect this video material, Professor Carson trains BSC students to act as research assistants

This semester, BSC students enrolled in the foundation course “Intro to Digital Imaging and 4D Design [ARTS 104]” helped edit 90 hours of videotapes collected from whale watching trips.  Students were responsible for identifying the different whale behaviors and for clipping the individual files that will later be used to create the ethogram. 

Another component of the ethogram is the use of a 3D computer model of a humpback whale that depicts each of the described behaviors. A BSC student created this model last fall and is awaiting a skeleton that can later be animated by students enrolled in the 3D Modeling and Animation course [ARTS 205]. Also, this digital 3D model of a humpback whale was our first successful 3D printed object produced in the 3D printer.  Our 3D printer combines millimetric layers of powder and glue to form an object that is then solidified with a coating of glue. The whale model that is on display is also wrapped by an image of whale texture to create an accurate depiction of the animal.  The object’s texture was created by another image and “wrapped” around the humpback model.

 

Display IT + Chemistry + New Media Art
Professor Frank Gorga from the Chemistry department and Prof. Ponce proposed purchasing a 3D printer for campus wide use. This two-year process resulted in the acquisition of a Zcorp 450 printer, housed in Moakley 305 [New Media satellite lab for the Art department—The Art department’s New Media lab.] The12 state of the art computers use Maya 8 software to create the original image.

Maya files are exported through and imported into Z-Edit (another software application) that converts a hollow model into a solid object. Z-Edit corrects any faulty geometry and prepares files to be sent to the Z-Print software, which sends the printing instructions to the 3D printer.
The instructions build the object’s geometry from the bottom up through millimetric layers of powder and glue. The accumulated layers of powder and glue produce a 3D object immersed in powder. After drying, the excess powder is vacuumed off the model and the powder is reused for other objects. The model is then moved to a de-powdering station, where it is coated with liquid superglue. The object absorbs it and hardens as it dries.
Finally the 3D printer sends back a detailed report of powder and glue used in building the model, as well as the time it took to build it. This data allows us to calculate the value to approximately $8.00 per cubic inch

 

Display Sculpture + New Media

 

Professor Joan Mullen was interested in incorporating 3D generated computer modeling into her Three Dimensional Design course. Professors Mullen and Ponce designed an introductory demo for students, which involved creating polygons (spheres, cubes, cones) and modifying their shape using the Maya software. After one class, students learned to digitally manipulate forms and they created complex shapes. These forms are then modeled in clay. A rubber mold is made of the clay form and multiples are created in plaster. Working collaboratively, the class creates an exciting wall installation of three-dimensional forms modeled after their computer images.  The 3-D imaging program allows the students to create and manipulate complex three-dimensional forms. This experience enhances their perception of form.  In the future, students will be producing forms with the 3-D printer.

Last Modified: February 24, 2011