The Saturna Project will be a Drupal 6 site
Posted by: mark in Saturna Project on February 21st, 2009
The Saturna Project website is going to run on Drupal. There are a several reasons we decided to use Drupal, one of the major ones being that it's open-source, so there's a great online support community. Another reason is that it's easy to create templates so new stories can be added to an existing Saturna site and blend in with the existing stories about the FAB and the Spanish exploration of the island. In addition to that, other communities can easily build their site, using their heritage buildings or stories as a focus, and they don't need to have a vast knowledge of computer code.Visit the Drupal.org site to learn more.
Team Visit to Gordon Miller’s Studio
Posted by: suyon in Saturna Project on February 13th, 2009
Our team is extremely lucky to have experts like artist Gordon Miller and historian Robin Inglis on board for Saturna Project. This clip is from our team’s visit to Gordon Miller’s studio. Thank you for sharing your profound knowledge and experience with us as well as your amazing hospitality, Gordon, Dale and Robin!
click image below to play video
The Magic of Maps
Posted by: aerlyn in Saturna Project on February 9th, 2009
Spanish and English explorers based their claims to trade and territory on rituals of possession and on maps. Mapping involved taking compass bearings, measuring latitude, (guessing longitude), and lowering lead lines to get depth soundings. Much of the work was done from smaller long boats, sent out from a mother ship to explore the contours of a coast previously unknown to Europeans.
As you would expect, a significant part of the Saturna Project involves maps as well. Our team has been very involved with finding good sources, developing animations and using them to illustrate stories of the early European explorations. They’re pretty useful today too, whether you’re looking for the Lamb Barbeque or just a place to pull up your kayak.
Narvaez' Map
Along with Google Earth and online historical map sites, there are serendipitous finds too. One map came to us from Rick Stringfellow, a producer with Electronic Arts, who was here at MDM teaching a design course. It turns out that many years ago he purchased an early map of Canada in a small shop in England and has now made it available to our project. Thank you Rick!
Storyboarding for Three Multimedia Pieces
Posted by: suyon in Saturna Project on February 5th, 2009
Aerlyn and I have been working on the storyboard of the three multimedia pieces that will be a significant part of the Saturna Project website and the installation inside of the Fog Alarm Building (FAB). We started using the slideshow program, “ProShow”, to visualize our storyboards.
Each of the three multimedia pieces will be approximately 1:30 min long incorporating video, photography, paintings, interviews, and 3D models. They will cover the subject matter of “The FAB”, “introduction/general history of Gulf Islands focused on Spanish Explorers and their legacy”, and “life on the Santa Saturnina”. Our main storytelling approach for these clips is to connect the past and the present, bringing history alive online and in the FAB.
Santa Saturnina
Posted by: stephen in Saturna Project on February 4th, 2009
Modelling of the Santa Saturnina began last week with me setting up a cage frame for reference. Thanks to Gordon Miller I was able to get my hands on his plans for this ship.
Once this step was completed I deliberated on whether or not to use nurbs surfaces or simple poly modelling. After some experimentation I decided on the poly approach and so I began work on the hull.
Once the basic shape of the hull was finished I moved onto other details such as the keel and rigging on the Santa Saturnina.
In the past few days the model is looking more and more like a ship of that era. With better texturing and some tweaking I expect a great model of this mysterious ship. Here are a few more screen shots of the ship in progress.
Longboat Model Animation
Posted by: josh in Saturna Project on February 4th, 2009
Longboat Test SpinThe image above is a link to a quicktime vr of our Longboat model to be used in the Unity simulation. The model was created in Sketchup and was based off of drawings we acquired from artist Gordon Miller. The quicktime file itself was made with Artlantis Studio. To view it, click on the image, then click and drag on the image to rotate it. Loading time may take a few moments.
Longboats were stored on the main boats and were used for charting and as a means to get onto shore.
The current plan is to have this model along with the model of the San Carlos available on the website displayed in an interactive and informative way.
Saturna’s Fog Alarm Building
Posted by: mark in Saturna Project on February 2nd, 2009
The FAB is Saturna's Fog Alarm Building, the most photographed building in the Gulf Islands. Located on Saturna Island's East Point, in sight of the San Juan Islands, it's one of the best places in BC for terrestrial whale watching - which means you can see the whales from land, not that you can see land whales.Saturna's rehabilitated fog alarm building
Also visible from East Point is the aptly named "Boiling Reef", making the narrow passage around the island and out to sea even more difficult to navigate. Not only has East Point seen a great deal of history and fascinating stories pass by and over it for centuries, but the lighthouse and the FAB saved lives and ships for decades prior to automation and then the use of GPS.
East Point had a diaphone fog alarm, a Canadian invention that forces compressed air through a pipe similar to how an organ creates music. Each fog alarm along the coast had a distinctive rhythm so ships' captains would know exactly which fog alarm they were near.
The original lighthouse building on East Point is gone, but the local community stepped in to save the fog alarm building from being demolished. What I find so great about the FAB rehabilitation project is that the aim is not simply to preserve a building, but to take a heritage building and give it a modern purpose, turn it into a focal point for community and tourist interaction, connecting the past with the island's very vibrant present.
The Saturna Project
Posted by: aerlyn in Saturna Project on January 31st, 2009
Our project, which will deliver an interactive website and materials to create an installation in the Fog Alarm Building on Saturna Island, is off and running. We are most fortunate to have the support of a number of historical experts and community activists. People like Robin Inglis, from the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Gordon Miller, a painter who specializes in the ships of the early Spanish and English explorers, as well as Saturna Island residents, architect Richard Blagborne, Senator Pat Carney and the head of our own Masters of Digital Media program, Gerri Sinclair. The Saturna Project will focus on creating 3D models of the Santa Saturnina, the Spanish ship which gave its name to Saturna Island, and the second European ship to be built on this coast. These elements will make the web pages come alive, along with other layers featuring interactive maps, interviews and more historical detail. The project will provide an interactive experience for potential cultural tourists to the island as well as a way for those who have already made a visit, to go online and stay connected with friends and events there. Beyond the island itself, our goal is to create a template that other small communities across BC could use to promote their own history and economic development, through heritage tourism. With mills closing, and losses in the forestry and mining sectors many communities need to find ways to encourage alternative kinds of economic activity. Our team has a lot to learn and (digital) ships to build, --so there will be more news to report soon.The Saturna Project team meets with Robin Inglis and Gordon Miller
