Subterranean Trades | Metaverse Booklet

UCLA AUD - IDEAS ENTERTAINMENT TECHNICAL SEMINAR, WINTER 2020 LED BY: NATHAN SU

SUBTERRANEAN TRADES

GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

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ENVIRONMENT METAPHOR: THE TEMPLE INTERNET CONDITION: THE DARK WEB

SUBTERRANEAN TRADES GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

In this land, the sun reigns over the halcyon surface and beautifully highlights the imposing Temple, situated in the very heart of the Kingdom. Albeit its prominent location, the lack of doors or windows makes it impossible for the citizens to get inside; the only access to the Temple is through the Dark Canyon, the single place that the never-setting sun cannot reach. Though its existence is no secret, the Dark Canyon is not exactly a tourist destination for the people. Not so much because it is hard to find a way to descend into the Canyon, if not advised by a more experienced traveller, but because of the myriads of stories about it.

The notion of planning does not exist down here; the deeper you descend, the less sense the infrastructure makes. There are no maps or plans depicting the Dark Canyon; one must either know their way around it, or else wander aimlessly. Neon-lights alluringly illuminate the intricate structures, promising wanderers the experiences, products, or services of their deepest desires.

Convoluted circulation, impenetrable doors, and paths leading to nowhere dominate the shadows. But to get to the Temple you have to find your way around the shadows; the serene river flowing in the Canyon is too out in the open to use as a path, exposing oneself to con artists, salacious desires, or illegal and precarious activities.

People do not exactly know what is happening in the Temple. It is rumored that those who enter, never come back. Did they disappear forever, or did they stay there by choice? A place whose entrance is through the Dark Canyon can only be at least equally dangerous, right? But what is this light the Temple is emitting?

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Concept Art: The Dark Canyon A glimpse into the clashing worlds in and out of the canyon, visually connecting their existence through the canyon’s opening.

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THE TEMPLE

Rexbug Idaho Temple The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (n.d.).

[Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/images/rexburg-temple-lds1025212?lang=eng

GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

When considering Temples as a visual metaphor, a common characteristic besides their imposing bodies, is how they are organized in layers. Sometimes these layers refer to physical accessibility. Other times, the layering regards a stratification defined by one’s relationship with God. The most common example are Mormon Temples, whose interior cannot be accessed by those who are not members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Christian Orthodox altars can only be entered by males of that faith, and the Hagia Sophia of the Byzantine Empire is associated with countless of stories about secret crypts, intended only for the most venerated of priests.

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The Plan of the Second Temple of Jerusalem (top left picture) is an example of not just architectural layering of spaces, but also layered access, that gets gradually more filtered as one moves closer to the temple’s core.

Another interesting characteristic of temples is the notion of a confessional and giving one a safe space to admit their sins without repercussions. In stories like that of St Dionysios of Zakynthos (top right picture), we also encounter the right of asylum as an integral part of some temples, as he forgave his brother’s murderer and provided him with shelter within the temple so as to avoid arrest.

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A priest reads inside a confessional (BOTTOM) Emilio Labrador (n.d.). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2019/06/03/california-lawmakers-threaten-violate-seal-confession-find-abusers

Indulgence and Forgiveness (TOP RIGHT) Retrieved from http://www.nyxthimeron.com/2019/01/blogpost_121.html

The Second Temple of Jerusalem (TOP LEFT) Retrieved from http://thehope.tripod.com/Sagiv/theories. html

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THE DARK WEB The parable about the Dark Canyon embodies a representation of the dark web, our group’s assigned internet condition. First established by the US government in the mid 90s, the dark web is a collection of web pages that are unindexed by search engines and use anonymity tools like Tor & VPNs to hide their IP addresses. This is what makes the dark web so popular with illegal activities. The Silk Road was the most famous online black market and the first modern darknet market, best known as a platform for selling illegal drugs. It was launched in February 2011. The arrest of the owner & operator of the site in November 2014 is the perfect example of how detached the real world is from the online simulacrum.

Dark Websites Retrieved from https://www.scoop.it/topic/deep-websites/?

GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

However, the Dark Web is also used for solving mysterious puzzles, secure whistleblowing, or journalistic research.

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Silk Road was the fastest growing online marketplace ever Tristan Pollock (2017, November 2). Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/startup-grind/silk-road-was-the-fastestgrowing-online-marketplace-ever-be5759ab3332

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In the Dark Canyon concept art image, the Temple symbolizes the lesser known ability of the dark web to act as a safe space.

Although this ability exists, the majority of the population refuses to acknowledge that such a noble idea would emerge from the dark web. The Temple connects the surface with the underground, as a symbol of liberation from the preconceived notion that the dark web is only intended for the wicked. The fact that it can only be accessed after navigating the convoluted structure of the Dark Canyon communicates the notion of layered access.

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Injection Mold Making (TOP RIGHT) [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.saqary.com/

Our Kit uses technology as a visual reference and is titled “Bot Station”. When designing each piece, we referred to real and fictional mechanical and electrical technological components of various scales. Imagining a Bot Station as a large workshop that bots can visit to get serviced or updated, each piece is captioned and described in a form of fictional advertisement for bot-specific tasks.

Plastic Injection Molding Process (TOP LEFT) [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www-engineering. blogspot.com/2014/04/plastic-engineering-kya-hai.html

BOT STATION KIT

Untitled (BOTTOM RIGHT) The-French-Monkey (2016, September 6). [Digital Art].

Art Station. Retrieved from https://tfmstyle.artstation.com/ projects/v6PN3

Strange Thing (BOTTOM LEFT) The-French-Monkey (2016, August 2). [Digital art]. Deviant Art. Retrieved from https://www.deviantart.com/thefrench-monkey/art/02-08-16-Strange-Thing-625549533

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Technology Intersection The-French-Monkey (n.d.). [Digital Art]. Behance. Retrieved from https:// www.behance.net/gallery/59396471/Everydays-(November-2017)

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D O W N LO A D O U R L AT EST K I T FO R F R E E !

“BOT STATION”

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GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

MODELLING Prior to modelling our kit, we observed that most of our reference image objects were characterized by repetition of components; linear, radial, or mirrored.

Hence that same technique was employed in our modelling strategy. To achieve scale variation, the smaller objects were designed as add-on or exchange parts for the bots, the medium were mostly seen as body-sized accessories, and the large ones primarily as walk-in chambers or workstations.

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The Dark Canyon Prioritizing the “perfect frame”, everything was modelled exclusively to the camera.

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Welding Booth To finalize kit objects and their texture, all UV maps were unwrapped and re-arranged in an orderly manner inside C4d.

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GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

LIGHTING

To determine the lighting of our concept art, we firstly identified three layers of composition: foreground, middle ground, and background. The foreground is darker, the middle ground grasps the most attention and focus by being well lit, and the background is mainly desaturated. To convey the idea of a canyon, the camera was placed at the bottom, looking up. In order to avoid getting distracted by the “regular� world outside of the Dark Canyon, we used folliage to represent it. That communicated both a texture contrast with the canyon, as well as the idea that sunlight outside of the canyon is ample. Sunlight was only partially reaching the canyon, and the sun size was increased enough to achieve shadow softness.

To convey depth, the Temple in the background was lightly covered with fog. Inside the Dark Canyon, water was used to reflect more lighting. At the same time, one can observe a glimpse of infinite structure beyond the depths of the water. To achieve a sense of scale and inhabitation, familiar elements such as staircases, doors, and neon signs were incorporated.

The neon lights were primarily green and orange; both colors on the same side of the wheel of color, to achieve harmony.

Although the reflections on the Dark Canyon structure work well with the neon lights, using a more worn out material might have assisted in creating a feel of decay, which would be suitable as a visual representation for the dark web. Last but not least, a higher contrast between the lighting of the foreground and the middle ground could have elevated the image even more.

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REALTIME

In our video, we focus on the interior of the Dark Canyon structure as a dark web marketplace, since the idea is implied but not clearly shown in our concept art.

GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

To import parts of our complex 3d models into UE4, we aggressively reduced the polygon count. Wherever that affected our geometry, we strategically modelled basic objects that would be easy to import. Lighting in a real-time engine needs to be careful and deliberate, given how time-consuming baking the lights can be. Once lights are set, UE4 saves enormous time otherwise used for rendering in other engines.

SOUND

Working with different programs for the same project made it clear that the aesthetics specific to each medium (as explained in “Forensic Aesthetics”

by Eyal Weizman) demand that our choice of software is very deliberate, as the capabilities and visual language of each become very apparent and inject a sense of media subjectivity in the visuals produced.

Sound was approached in three layers: atmosphere, Foley, and spot effects. Atmosphere is given through a soundtrack or an ambience sound (such as a humming machine), and immerses the viewer into our world. Foley effects convey actions that are relevant to what we see in our scene, such as footsteps. Spot effects are similar to Foley, but they are meant to catch the viewers’ attention and therefore are placed on top of every other sound (eg we can divert our attention to a flickering light by a sudden introduction of a light buzz).

Auction sound source: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mZ__2XmbvMg&t=62s All other sounds & sound effects dowloaded from: https://www.zapsplat.com/

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Canyon Structure Instead of using the full complex geometry of the structure, we faked depth with fog and texturing.

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Auction Room Simple details contribute to the mysterious ambience by incorporating a fog emitter to partially conceal them.

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Into The Subterranean 00:44:07

GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

Into The Subterranean 00:27:21

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Into The Subterranean 00:39:02

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Into The Subterranean 00:56:16

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Into The Subterranean 01:11:08

GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

Into The Subterranean 01:01:11

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Into The Subterranean 01:04:19

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Into The Subterranean 01:35:23

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In today’s world, where all sorts of alternative realities are an option (virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, extended reality), visualization becomes a necessity, even for the most abstract concepts. Humans are so invested in visual stimuli, have shortened their attention span, and have incorporated digital/mixed simulacra in every aspect of their life; whether that is social media, Google maps, and, as of very recently, the urgency for students and employees across the world to simulate a work/class environment within their living space, as a result of the social distancing practice employed to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

All that simulacra have blurred the borders of where reality is situated. In conjunction with digital realities, our own existence can now be expanded through collective fictions we have created; the same way Harari described the legend of Peugeot in his book “Sapiens”, or the ways through which we can keep existing after death, as discussed over “The Middle Layer” reading by Inferstudio.

Dealing with the concept of the dark web for this project, required the visual translation of a digital space which most people have never visited. Our goal was to fabricate a sense of immersion that would create the illusion of “this is how the dark web must feel like”. Especially using the Silk Road as a reference, which used to exist in the physical world and is already associated with the idea of trade we tried to communicate, was a tool to incorporate a sense of familiarity for the viewer. Whether accurate or entirely made up, the real question is whether the ambience created is convincing enough. After all, this is exactly the challenge designers and architects face when curating the user’s experience in their physical and/or fictional environments.

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SNOW CRASH Our team read and presented in class an excerpt from Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash” (1992). This book is seen by many in the tech industry as a “prophecy” of how the internet, digital technologies, and virtual worlds evolved, as it is describing an immersive environment that situates itself in a virtual space, and yet has its users invested in it (socially and economically), more than they are in their real, dystopian world.

GESTHIMANI ROUMPANI, LIANG YANG, RUOHAN YANG

Taking cues from the reading, we were able to discuss topics such as social classification through social media, other than just someone’s outside appearance. Although one can modify their online persona as they see fit, there might still exist elements that give away where they are situated in the social strata. For instance, sharing articles from untrustworthy sources, political views that have no argumentative basis, or even making spelling mistakes, can pinpoint one within a less educated group. Similarly in the Metaverse, Hiro Protagonist explains how he could classify people based on their avatar choice and resolution.

Another interesting observation was related to the role of architects and designers in the virtual world. In the Metaverse excerpt, we noted the following references: 1. Everyone can build their own house, but they still need a building permit, can bribe the inspector, etc.

2. Safety regulations (egress, emergency exits, etc) need not be followed, as this is a virtual world.

3. The coders had no money to hire an architect to design their main building, the Black Sun. Although most of the architecture language in Metaverse remains the same, architects do not seem to be necessary. However, in our world, architects have already acknowledged the opportunity to be part of virtual spaces, and are examining digital urbanism before technology leaps too far for them to be needed. Jose Sanchez is an Architect / Programmer / Game Designer, and Assistant Professor at USC. He leads the “Plethora Project”, a research and learning project aiming at democratizing the design process by involving audiences in it, through the medium of gaming. Approaches like this not only facilitate the participation of designers in the online simulacra, but even put them at the very front of the line.

Besides all the direct connections that can be drawn between Snow Crash and contemporary media (Google Earth, Second Life, Avatar, etc), the above observations were the ones our team chose to mainly revolve the class discussion around, as we feel they are the most pertinent to our roles as designers and promoters of social inclusion.

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Snow Crash, Page 22 Neal Stephenson, 1992

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