Rosalie Yu recreates her sweet treats in hyper-realistic detail with a grand project called a Ritual of Habits. She’s creating a virtual reality experience — and a 3D printed facsimile — of 256 desserts (and counting).
Art and technology blend together like a fluffy mousse in a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) experience created by artist Rosalie Yu. The designer has spent two years documenting desserts and sweets from all angles to create 3D scans of them.
As part of the A Ritual of Habits project, Yu recreated a VR world of sweets. The project serves to invigorate the senses through an augmented reality experience as well as 3D printed objects. You can see the entire collection hosted on her Sketchfab page.
According to Yu, the project originated from habit – as the title suggests. She and her family are fans of sweets and desserts. Following her grandfather’s death, she began to document the sweets that were being eaten by her family.
“I’ve been fascinated by the history of Dutch sugar plantations in colonial Taiwan and the decadent representation of sweets in Dutch still-life paintings,” Yu explained.
“Photogrammetry enabled me to reflect on the global history of sugar alongside my own personal history and habits.”
The Process behind a Ritual of Habits
Currently working out of Brooklyn as part of a residency, Yu tends to take up to 50 close-up photos of a pastry or dessert.
Afterwards, she uses the Agisoft PhotoScan to create the 3D model. She follows this by digitally sculpting the scan using the ZBrush tool. Once finished, Yu uses the ARKit and Unity to create the VR experiences.
For 3D printing, Yu fabricates the 3D models using a Formlabs Form 2 SLA printer. She then painstakingly paints the models to look even better than the real thing.
This isn’t Yu’s first venture into VR, however. Indeed, she has built on her passion for art and technology. Her other works include live 3D maps of cities as well as 3D self-portraits.
There are however limitations, as she admits.
“The way a chemical image takes shape on photo paper is similar to the software’s process of stitching photos, connecting a point cloud, and reconstructing a mesh in 3D space,” she says.
“You can’t immediately see the results of photogrammetry, just like traditional photographs that had to be developed in a dedicated space like darkroom. There is something magical and lonesome about both of these expansive processes.”
The A Ritual of Habits offers a fully immersive experience of the sweet treat. The sound was created by sound designer Matthew Dougherty.
Source: The Verge
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