CGIncunabula

2023
drawing of knight-fish placed outside with AR

We have begun transforming woodcut images from renaissance era natural science books into three dimensional objects and spaces.

This is a collaboration with the Reynolds-Finley Historical Library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The library has over 20,000 rare books, manuscripts, journals and pamphlets pertaining to the history of medicine, science, and health care, dating from the 1300s through the mid-1900s.


2D and 3D computer graphics and AI tools are being used to map colors and shapes onto geometry so that these spaces and objects can be placed as virtual objects in our spaces and experienced at scale, instead of only on the page.

Additionally, AI tools allow us to start imagining these spaces beyond the edge of the frame, or with alternative renderings.

original image
extending image with AI
extending image with AI
extending image with AI
exploring AI-generated variations

(Work in progress)

Collaborators:

  • Matt Lewis, Assistant Professor, Design/ACCAD/TDAI, OSU
  • Anna Kaetz, Assistant Professor, Reynolds-Finley Historical Library, UAB Libraries
  • Dorothy Ogden, Associate Professor, Technology & Technical Services, UAB Libraries
3d ar ai art spaces