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Research Methods for the Digital Humanities pp 195–210Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Virtual Bethel: Preservation of Indianapolis’s Oldest Black Church

Abstract

This chapter offers a basic introduction to the principles behind three dimensional (3D) imaging, modeling and representation of spaces and objects, and how these can be used in research, and teaching and learning. The guide is based on a local heritage community-based research project involving a team of researchers from Media Arts and Information Science at Indiana University. The team used 3D modeling to create a virtual representation of the oldest black church in the city of Indianapolis, Bethel AME Church. The project establishes a virtual representation of the church’s sanctuary, which has been repurposed as part of a hotel. The aim is to create a virtual learning space that engages students in learning about the history of church, local African American history, and how to use archives.

Keywords

  • Black Church
  • Virtual Learning Space
  • Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
  • Digital Humanities Projects
  • Community engagementCommunity Engagement

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Fig. 11.1
Fig. 11.2
Fig. 11.3

Notes

  1. 1.

    Nick McGill, “Indy’s Oldest Black Church Get ‘Digital Restoration’,” last modified February 23, 2017, http://fox59.com/2017/02/23/indys-oldest-black-church-gets-digital-restoration/.

  2. 2.

    James J. Sosnoski, Patricia Harkin, and Bryan Carter, Configuring History: Teaching the Harlem Renaissance Through Virtual Reality Cityscapes (New York: Peter Lang, 2006).

  3. 3.

    Alison Landsberg, “Digital Translations of the Past: Virtual History Exhibits,” in Engaging the Past: Mass Culture and the Production of Historical Memory (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015): 147–176.

  4. 4.

    Rachel Davidson and Tyler Jackson, “Project Progress Video,” last modified February 2017, https://vimeo.com/209509528.

  5. 5.

    Zebulun Wood, “New Frontiers Proposal Video,” last modified October 2016, https://vimeo.com/187085145.

  6. 6.

    Fien Danniau, “Public History in a Digital Context: Back to the Future or Back to Basics?” BMGN: Low Countries Historical Review 128, no. 4 (2013).

  7. 7.

    Kyriacos Themistocleous, “Model Reconstruction for 3D Vizualization of Cultural Heritage Sites Using Open Data from Social Media: The Case Study of Soli, Cyprus,” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 14 (2017); Belen Jiménez Fernández-Palacios, Daniele Morabito, and Fabio Remondino, “Access to Complex Reality-Based 3D Models Using Virtual Reality Solutions,” Journal of Cultural Heritage 23 (2017).

References

  • Danniau, F. “Public History in a Digital Context: Back to the Future or Back to Basics?” BMGN: Low Countries Historical Review 128, no. 4 (2013): 118–144.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, R., and Tyler Jackson. “Project Progress Video.” Last modified February 2017. https://vimeo.com/209509528.

  • Jiménez Fernández-Palacios, B., Daniele Morabito, and Fabio Remondino. “Access to Complex Reality-Based 3D Models Using Virtual Reality Solutions.” Journal of Cultural Heritage 23 (2017): 40–48.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Landsberg, A. “Digital Translations of the Past: Virtual History Exhibits.” In Engaging the Past: Mass Culture and the Production of Historical Memory. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGill, N. “Indy’s Oldest Black Church Get “Digital Restoration.” Last modified February 23, 2017. http://fox59.com/2017/02/23/indys-oldest-black-church-gets-digital-restoration/.

  • Sosnoski, J., Harkin, Patricia, and Carter, Bryan. Configuring History: Teaching the Harlem Renaissance Through Virtual Reality Cityscapes. New York: Peter Lang, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Themistocleous, Kyriacos. “Model Reconstruction for 3D Vizualization of Cultural Heritage Sites Using Open Data from Social Media: The Case Study of Soli, Cyprus.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 14 (2017): 774–778.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, Z. “New Frontiers Proposal Video.” Last modified October, 2016. https://vimeo.com/187085145.

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Online Resources, Inc. for 3D scan of Bethel’s sanctuary: Without the Scan of Bethel Sanctuary we would not have had an ideal reference of the space to rebuild for VR. JD Schaumburg of Online resources recalls the amount the day of scanning: “5 hours of scanning and it took about 3 hours of computer crunching time to merge the High Res files to the low res files. Yes we can upload the High Res scans to the IU box. They are about 1 GB to 1.5 GB for each scan, and we have 8 total scans.” Online Resources can be found at http://www.onlineresourcesinc.com/. We’d also like to thank Advanced Visualization Lab (AVL), UITS, IUPUI. Without the AVL team we could not have compared Unreal and Unity Game engines. In the end, both engines are entirely capable of Digital Preservation of spaces for Virtual Reality. Thanks for your wisdom and advice Mike, Jeff, Chauncey. Tyler you are at the heart of this project’s success. Advanced Visualization Lab can be found at https://rt.uits.iu.edu/visualization/avl/.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, USA

    Zebulun M. Wood, Albert William, Ayoung Yoon & Andrea Copeland

Authors
  1. Zebulun M. Wood
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  2. Albert William
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  3. Ayoung Yoon
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  4. Andrea Copeland
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zebulun M. Wood .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Levenberg Services, Inc., Bloomingburg, NY, USA

    lewis levenberg

  2. Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Tai Neilson

  3. The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

    David Rheams

Appendix: Hardware and Software

Appendix: Hardware and Software

Hardware:

HTC Vive Virtual Reality Kit

Compatible PCs

Surphaser—3D Scanner (property of Online Resources, Inc.)

Software:

Retopologizing of the Scan

Pixologic Zbrush

3D Modeling Software Used

Autodesk Maya

3D Unwrapping Software Used

Autodesk Maya & Headus UV Layout Pro

3D Texturing Software Used

Adobe Photoshop

Physically Based Rendering Texturing Software Used

Allegorithmic Substance Painter & Designer

Game Engines Used

Epic Unreal Engine

Unity Game Engine for comparison

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Wood, Z.M., William, A., Yoon, A., Copeland, A. (2018). Virtual Bethel: Preservation of Indianapolis’s Oldest Black Church. In: levenberg, l., Neilson, T., Rheams, D. (eds) Research Methods for the Digital Humanities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96713-4_11

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