digital.DTHG
The research project “Im/material Theatre Spaces – Augmented and Virtual Reality for Theatre” has been successfully completed after 2.5 years. This publication summarises the findings of the project and provides insights into the interdisciplinary, practice-oriented research work. Download publication (pdf 8 MB)
Continue reading “Final publication of research project “Im/material Theatre Spaces””
After two intensive research years, the project leaders Franziska Ritter and Pablo Dornhege take a look behind the scenes, draw a summary and glimpse into the future. In doing so, they are asking themselves the same questions that they have posed to their partners in the current project.
Continue reading “Insights and Outlook – Interview Franziska Ritter & Pablo Dornhege”
Norbert Richter has been head of the workshops at the Chemnitz Theatre since 2007. For many years, he and his team have been the „digital engine“ at the theatre and are contributing their know-how to the upcoming renovation of the theatre and the move to the interim venue in the Alte Spinnerei. Continue reading ““Eliminate the existing mental patterns!” – Interview Norbert Richter”
Christian Buschhoff, who oversees the renovation efforts at Luisenburg festival, and Fabian Schröter, the technical director, talked to project leads Franziska Ritter and Pablo Dornhege about digital tools used to plan renovations and virtual construction rehearsals. Continue reading ““There is added value through the results that we derive from digitalisation” Interview with Christian Buschhoff and Fabian Schröter”
In June 2022, the 61st stage technology conference of the DTHG took place in Ulm: with an extensive program of presentations, panel discussions, round tables and lectures, the theatre landscape was finally able to celebrate its industry meeting live again. 71 companies and more than 1,100 guests were on site, got to know each other and exchanged ideas. Continue reading “Presentation at Bühnentechnische Tagung Ulm”
Complex building projects, new buildings and renovation projects for theatres and cultural venues bring great communicative challenges for all involved. Not everyone is trained to read floor plans and many find it difficult to translate a plan drawing into a three-dimensional image. To what extent can digital technologies such as augmented reality be used to support communication on models, on drawings and in real space and to present complex architectural transformation processes in a comprehensible way?
Together with the Luisenburg Festspiele in Wunsiedel we outlined an easy-to-use, „augmented“ presentation format: Using a tablet, smartphone or AR glasses, users can present three-dimensional content on a drawn floor plan or a physical terrain model, for example the current planning status or variants of a stage design. The physical-real objects serve as anchor points for the overlay of digital three-dimensional content. The presentations can be prepared in advance by the presenters and contain a wide range of information. Similar to the slides of a PowerPoint presentation, the presenter and viewer can then click through the different 3D models. The developed application consists of two related components: On the one hand, this is the WebXR editor, in which the „slides“ are compiled and prepared, and on the other hand, the WebXR viewer, which can be called up online to display the presentation. This browser-based and device-independent use allows the same content to be played out in different ways.
Both applications were designed in such a way that they are not only specific to this subject area, but can also be transferred to other areas: Thus, with this application, we were able to develop parallel adaptations for the topics „Augmented Reality in Event Technology“ and „Digital Twins of Theatre Technology History“.
The technical basis for the application is the new WebXR standard, which allows three-dimensional content to be displayed on a wide variety of devices, whereby the type of display depends on the technical capabilities of the hardware. This browser-based and device-independent use allows the same content to be played out in different ways.
Open source code on Github
WebXR editor (backend): https://github.com/digitaldthg/Web-XR-Editor-Backend
WebXR viewer (presenter): https://github.com/digitaldthg/Web-XR-Editor-Presenter
Link to the project
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/mixed-reality
Even though the development of the platform within the research project has been completed, the servers will remain online for the time being and our cooperation partners and the digital.DTHG team can continue to work with the application and gain important experience. We also discuss further questions with external stakeholders and outline further use scenarios. Such use cases include, for example, interactive presentations with school classes (for example for theatre education), site and building overviews for the safety briefing of new staff or also the communication of tourist information for an interested public (for example in the outdoor area of a venue).
This leads to an extension of the desired functionality, for example, an option for georeferenced tracking is needed for outdoor use. The development of new applications also expands the circle of possible users. This shows that a further development of the application is also interesting for actors outside the theatre landscape and that independent and usable products and communication tools can be created on the basis of the prototypes.
The solutions we developed as part of the research project “Im/material Theatre Spaces” (2019-2022) serve as sustainably transferable concepts due to their prototypical model character. The gained insights and developed model solutions were published on various channels and are made available to the entire cultural landscape for free and flexible use.
Licenses
For this purpose, all software developments created in the research project appear under an open source license (GNU GPL, MIT License, etc.). If partial components subject to licensing (plug-ins, copyrighted image and sound documents, etc.) were used in the overall work, we make the newly developed code components available as open source without the components subject to licensing. In the code documentation, we refer to the license-required subcomponents.
Open source code of prototypes and sample solutions
We primarily use Github as a platform for publishing source code: https://github.com/digitaldthg. Some of our projects are hosted on the DTHG web server due to very high data volumes.
Interactive user manuals of complex constructions and systems
Highly complex equipment is used in the event sector and on theater stages. The technologies and products used are so diverse that their operation cannot be taught comprehensively in training. In addition, assembly and operating instructions available as paper documents are often too unspecific and – especially in the working environment on stage – impractical to handle. At this point, digital instructions can support the work of stage technicians and create a decisive added value by increasing the readability of digital 3D models.
As a basis for a practical examination of the requirements of such assembly aids and for discussion with the various stakeholders and dialog partners, we created a first functional prototype for the AR-supported assembly of a curtain rail. The instructions – in the form of an interactive website – guide the user through the assembly in ten simple steps after an overview of all required parts used and tools. A short accompanying text (theoretically also possible in several languages) describes the procedures and points out pitfalls. The individual construction steps are stored as three-dimensional animations and can be sequentially triggered, whereby the viewing angle and zoom factor can be determined by the user.
Open source codes on Github
https://github.com/digitaldthg/Web-XR-Digitale-Aufbauanleitung
Link to the project
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/augmented-reality-in-event-technology/
The current situation shows how important digital teaching and learning formats currently are and will be in the future at universities, but also in training and learning situations in the theater and event sector. In cooperation with teachers and learners of the Theater and Event Technology and Management course at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences, we have developed prototypical new teaching and learning tools in virtual reality. In a practice- and project-oriented approach, we developed and tested specific scenarios and tried out new ways of learning. The result is a series of digital, interactive training units.
Individual articles on the developed prototypes
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/virtual-training-tools/
Open source code on Github
https://github.com/digitaldthg/BHT-VR-Prototypes
Link to the project
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/virtual-training-tools/
This subproject is dedicated to the challenge of making theater heritage visible and finding new virtual forms of mediation that do justice to “theater” as an immaterial art form in its entirety. The use cases arise both in the context of exhibitions / in the museum or in teaching situations in training or studies.
In the digital.DTHG team we designed the requirement profile for an augmented reality application based on 3D learning materials and developed a feature set. For this purpose we partly used existing material (e.g. digital reconstructions of historical theater architecture like Shakespeare’s Globe) and the results of other subprojects (e.g. the cloud machine from the Großes Schauspielhaus). In some cases, we have also digitized entirely new objects, including, for example, a wind machine including sound.
Open source code on Github
https://github.com/digitaldthg/Web-AR-Canon-Timeline
Link to the project
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/canon-theatre-technical-history/
Virtual reconstruction of theater architecture as an immersive experience
On the occasion of the 100th stage anniversary of the Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin, the goal was to bring the no longer existing predecessor building “Das Große Schauspielhaus Berlin” and its stage art back into public awareness. The VR project “An Evening at the Großes Schauspielhaus – Virtual Reality Time Travel Berlin 1927” opens a digital experience window into the past: the history(s) of the theater, its architecture and its art can be spatially experienced in the here and now. The special feature of this project: historical objects from the Stadtmuseum Berlin and other archives are integrated into the virtual narrative. In this way, the digital exhibits such as posters, props or stage-technical apparatus convey theater-historical knowledge in a poetic way.
Link to Steam / Download VR Project
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1535360/Opening_Night_at_the_Groen_Schauspielhaus__Berlin_1927
Links to the open source code
https://digital.dthg.de/data/Unity-VR-Grosses-Schauspielhaus_WithoutAssets.zip
2.6GB Unity project without assets
https://digital.dthg.de/data/Unity-VR-Grosses-Schauspielhaus_Assets_Audio.zip
4.8GB Assetfolder: Audio and FMod
https://digital.dthg.de/data/Unity-VR-Grosses-Schauspielhaus_Assets_Models.zip
1.9GB Assetfolder: 3D Models
https://digital.dthg.de/data/Unity-VR-Grosses-Schauspielhaus_OtherAssets.zip
700MB Assetfolder: all other assets
Link to the project
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/bringing-theatre-heritage-to-life/
Cocreative performances in analog-digital interstices
The central field of investigation in this subproject is the relationship between physical reality and virtual space and interaction processes between spectators and musicians/performers. With the development and realization of the VR performance “Spatial Encounters” we explored the extent to which the linking of a real/physical space with a digital/immaterial space can be used as a design tool, thus enabling new spaces of experience. The aim was to explore cocreation processes in the context of artistic stagings and performance spaces, with a focus on musical experience.
A web-based XR application we developed, controlled by a local server, serves as the software foundation for the performance. Mobile VR glasses (e.g. Meta Quest 2) can access a shared virtual space via the integrated browser. This is where the live performance takes place: One or more musicians, a visual jockey as “Master of Virtual Scenography” and up to nine visitors meet in an equal dialogue. On an open space of about 150 square meters, the audience is immersed with mobile VR glasses into a virtual scenery, which is played, designed and experienced together during the following 20 minutes. The users move freely in these digital landscapes and generate visual effects and sculptures through their encounters and spatial relationships.
Open source code on Github
Server: https://github.com/digitaldthg/Web-XR-Spatial-Encounters-Server
Client: https://github.com/digitaldthg/Web-XR-Spatial-Encounters-Client
Link to the project
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/hybrid-real-stages/
Complex building projects, new buildings and renovation projects for theatres and cultural venues bring great communicative challenges for all involved. Not everyone is trained to read floor plans and many find it difficult to translate a plan drawing into a three-dimensional image. To what extent can digital technologies such as augmented reality be used to support communication on models, on drawings and in real space and to present complex architectural transformation processes in a comprehensible way?
Together with the Luisenburg Festspiele in Wunsiedel we outlined an easy-to-use, „augmented“ presentation format: Using a tablet, smartphone or AR glasses, users can present three-dimensional content on a drawn floor plan or a physical terrain model, for example the current planning status or variants of a stage design. The physical-real objects serve as anchor points for the overlay of digital three-dimensional content. The presentations can be prepared in advance by the presenters and contain a wide range of information. Similar to the slides of a PowerPoint presentation, the presenter and viewer can then click through the different 3D models. The developed application consists of two related components: On the one hand, this is the WebXR editor, in which the „slides“ are compiled and prepared, and on the other hand, the WebXR viewer, which can be called up online to display the presentation. This browser-based and device-independent use allows the same content to be played out in different ways.
Both applications were designed in such a way that they are not only specific to this subject area, but can also be transferred to other areas: Thus, with this application, we were able to develop parallel adaptations for the topics „Augmented Reality in Event Technology“ and „Digital Twins of Theatre Technology History“.
The technical basis for the application is the new WebXR standard, which allows three-dimensional content to be displayed on a wide variety of devices, whereby the type of display depends on the technical capabilities of the hardware. This browser-based and device-independent use allows the same content to be played out in different ways.
Open source code on Github
WebXR editor (backend): https://github.com/digitaldthg/Web-XR-Editor-Backend
WebXR viewer (presenter): https://github.com/digitaldthg/Web-XR-Editor-Presenter
Link to the project
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/mixed-reality
In this subproject, methods and tools were sought for conducting Virtual Bauprobe – building rehearsals that do not take place physically in the theatre and on stage, but can take place in virtual space and independent of location. How can VR technology be integrated as a visualization, design, construction and communication medium in one’s own work process at the theatre?
For this purpose, we developed the workshop format “How to go Virtual” in order to test possible applications in an uncomplicated way with theaters and venues on site. Together with our cooperation partners, the focus was placed on practice, both in trying out existing applications and programs, as well as in developing theatre specific usage scenarios: for example, adapting a stage design to a different venue, presenting construction variants, or visualizing a spatially particularly complicated design.
The result of the collaboration was a series of workflows and methods that are now being made available to the theater community as guides and tutorials:
Workflow 1 – Sketchfab / Zoom “Semi-Virtual Pre-Rehearsal”
https://digital.dthg.de/workflow-1/ (german)
This scenario uses the free internet platform Sketchfab to present models. Here, meetings can be presented via screen sharing in a video conferencing tool or made available time-shifted for illustration via a link across different end devices. This scenario does not allow live editing of the Virtual 3D Model during the meeting, but is convincing as a starter scenario due to its easy accessibility and implementation for all production participants.
Workflow 2 – Mozilla Hub’s “Bauprobe for Everyone
https://digital.dthg.de/workflow-2/ (german)
This scenario uses the free Internet platform Mozilla Hubs with the associated editor Spoke. Meetings can be held simultaneously in the virtual room via various end devices with several participants. This scenario does not allow live editing of the virtual 3D model during the meeting, but is convincing as an entry-level scenario due to its easy accessibility for up to 30 people.
Workflow 3 – Virtual Bauprobe with VR sketch
https://digital.dthg.de/workflow-3/ (german)
This scenario uses the paid plugin VR-Sketch for the program SketchUp. Meetings and build rehearsals can be conducted in Virtual Space via VR headsets simultaneously with multiple participants from different locations. This scenario enables live editing of the virtual 3D model during the meeting and also offers many other possible applications.
Link to the project
https://digital.dthg.de/en/projects/virtual-stage-rehearsal
Digitization is making its way into almost every field and, with virtual reality, is developing a thoroughly useful tool for planning, organizing and meetings. The listed programs are starting points for spatial design work in VR and allow an easy entry into the virtual world.
Continue reading “Quickly recommended: Which software for 3D planning and working in VR?”
WebXR – what is that actually and how does it work? We use this technology for several of our digital.DTHG prototypes – here we explain what it is.
Complex renovation projects for theaters and cultural venues pose major communication challenges for everyone involved. To what extent can XR technology be used to digitally support work processes and enable communication between all those involved?
Continue reading “The augmented planning table – XR models for transformation processes”
The project managers Franziska Ritter and Pablo Dornhege present the project “Im/material Theatre Spaces” as an online session from the ditigal.DTHG lab after one year of project duration. Continue reading “Video BTT_digital Session: “Im/material Theatre Spaces””
At the BTT – the Stage Technology Conference, the most important trade fair and further training event for the theatre and event technology sector of the Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft (DTHG), we will be giving on 28. & 29. October digital a first insight into our projects. Continue reading “digital.DTHG at Bühnentechnischer Tagung”
An interdisciplinary kick-off workshop entitled “IM/MATERIAL THEATRE SPACES” took place in spring 2019 at the TU Berlin under the direction of Franziska Ritter and Pablo Dornhege.
Continue reading “Kick-off workshop and prototype development”