Bryce Haymond

MFG 201

History of Creativity: 1500-Present

Professor Brent Strong

April 10, 2006

The Creativity of

The Sistine Chapel

Virtual Reality Tour

“Creativity is a way of thinking and doing that brings

unexpected and original ideas to fruition”1

I searched for quite a while this semester trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my creativity project. I didn’t want to do another hum-drum paper like last semester; I wanted to do something that might actually make a difference and impress those that viewed it. I wanted something that was truly big “C” creativity.

After weighing the alternatives, I decided to recreate the Sistine Chapel from the Vatican, in 3D or virtual reality. I thought that this would accomplish the goals of big “C” creativity.

Big “C” Creativity

I believe that my project has achieved big “C” creativity because I believe it fulfills all four elements that are important for a work to be creative. These arethat it must be uniqueand have value, intent, and an implementationexcellence and continuance.

My project has novelty and is unique because it has never been done before to my knowledge. I searched for something similar, but could not find it. There are plenty of websites and books which show the paintings within the Sistine Chapel, but none that could show it in a 3D way, as if you were there. Even the Vatican’s own website only shows the paintings as separate pieces, and includes only one small rotational Quicktime VR (virtual reality) of the room which doesn’t show detail of anything.

I believe my project is valuable for a number of reasons. First, it is valuable to a wide range of people. It is valuable to people who may never get a chance to go to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel. This project could serve as a sort of virtual visit for them. It is valuable to people who may have been to the Sistine Chapel, but can serve as a reminder or souvenir of that event, or a way to study or enjoy it more thoroughly. It is also valuable to educators, like Dr. Strong, who could use this virtual tour to teach more clearly the art inside the Sistine Chapel. Some of the best works of Michelangelo are housed there, and by using this tour, one could have a greater sense of the scope and magnificence of Michelangelo’s works as well as other artists. It is valuable to art aficionados who could virtually visit the chapel at any time to enjoy the wonderful works of art there. Second, my project is valuable because it is easily deployable. I created the virtual tour in a file format called Extensible 3D (.x3d) which is the successor to the Virtual Reality Markup Language (.vrml) that has been used on the internet for many years. X3D improves on the weaknesses of VRML and makes the virtual experience more real. With my project in this format, I could easily set up a website that would allow anyone in the world to view the virtual Sistine Chapel, in just a few minutes time. Thirdly, it allows anyone the ability to see and enjoy perhaps the “greatest art work ever completed.”2

My project had intent. I spent a lot of time trying to think of the best way to accomplish creating a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel. What would be the best format? What program could I use to create it? Did I know the program or would I need to learn it? How could I make it so others could easily enjoy it? Where would I get the material and pictures in order to build it? How could I display it for Dr. Strong and others? These questions and many more went through my mind during the process. I had to constantly rethink and rework my process because of multiple obstacles. Finally I was able to create this creative work because of my strong intent to do so.

I believe my project also exhibits implementation excellence and continuance. The quality of the virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel is the best that current technology will allow. Quality was one of the most important factors that I considered while building it. I wanted people to be able to see the detail in the paintings. This caused some problems while building the scene, however, because of texture size limitations within the programs and hardware I was using. I tried several different X3D viewers until I found one that would be compatible with the high-quality and high-resolutions textures that I would be using. I also had continuance in this project, working on it for several weeks in a row. I had to reconstruct each wall of the room separately from photos of the paintings and then apply them as a texture in 3D. This took a lot of time and work.

Integration with History

I think my project ties into class concepts very well. Not only does it display some of the best works of art from the Renaissance, which we studied this semester, it displays them in a new and unused way that only technology today can provide. Like our disclosure says:

One of the purposes of the class is to teach you to use the material presented in class to compare and contrast with topics other than the one specifically referenced. You should also make connections between subjects (especially those in class) which might not otherwise be contemplated.3

I have connected the art from the world of yesterday, to technology of the world today. And since technology is definitely a form of creativity, using it in this new and unique way is creative.

Helping Me Be Creative

This project has helped me be creative because it has taught me how to be creative. I have had to go through the process of being creative and, in that process, I have learned more about how to be creative in my other endeavors. Like so many things, in the process of doing, one learns how to do. More than anything, I have learned that creativity takes time. A significant amount of time must be dedicated to a subject to be creative in it. Like Aristotle said, leisure time is the key to creativity. This was a very hard part of this project, becauseschool and work take a large amount of my time; I had to organize myself carefully to allow some time to be creative in this project. If I want to be creative in my endeavors, I know that I must be prepared to spend the time working towards it.
Notes:

  1. Brent Strong and Mark Davis, History of Creativity – In the Arts, Science, and Technology: Pre-1500, pg. xiii.
  2. Brent Strong and Mark Davis, History of Creativity – 1500-Present, pg. 35.
  3. MFG 202 – Winter 2006 class disclosure statement.