SPRING - WEEK 1
Spring Plan:
Week 1 — Baseline Assessment Fix the visual quality of VAT and Postshot 3DGS assets in Unreal Engine. Research Radiance Actors and instancing options for splat rendering. Determine a new direction for Shot 4 based on last term's failures.
Week 2 — Interactive Concept Development Research Dynamic 3D Gaussians for animated and interactive splat possibilities. Evaluate how Gaussian Splats perform on LED volume sets. Begin scoping an interactive concept built around the TouchDesigner MediaPipe pipeline. Refine Gaussian Splat hero asset scale and scene placement.
Week 3 — Shot 4 Scene Planning Plan Shot 4 with a refined pipeline: Gaussian Splat hero asset, new background, corrected ground plane, and improved foliage. Resolve the foreground ground plane texture mismatch. Polish Gaussian Splat asset integration based on Week 2 refinements.
Week 4 — Interaction Prototyping Define the plant exhibit interaction concept — what gestures trigger what, and how the scene responds. Test hand tracking for real-time control of Gaussian Splat and VAT plant parameters via MediaPipe. Begin routing TouchDesigner gesture output to Unreal Engine scene elements. Test TouchDesigner interactions with custom PLY assets.
Week 5 — First Prototype and Pivot Point Complete a first prototype pass of the plant exhibit with gesture-driven scene responses. Evaluate the first half of the quarter and identify what's working and what isn't. Pivot direction if needed based on findings.
Week 6 — Pipeline Refinement Address specific weaknesses surfaced in Week 5: tighten gesture response latency, fix asset instability, and improve TouchDesigner-to-Unreal Engine data flow reliability.
Week 7 — LED Volume Integration Test Gaussian Splat and VAT assets in an LED volume context, assessing real-time performance and visual fidelity. Determine what pipeline adjustments a real LED volume shoot would require. Refine plant exhibit interactions based on the first prototype, tightening response and adding input layers.
Week 8 — Full Polish Pass Optimize assets, nDisplay configuration, and the Unreal scene for LED volume deployment. Integrate MediaPipe face and pose tracking as additional interaction layers in the plant exhibit. Polish the Shot 4 background, ground plane, and Gaussian Splat asset placement ahead of the exhibit build.
Week 9 — Functional Exhibit Deliver a fully interactive plant exhibit: gesture-driven Gaussian Splat scene with VAT foliage responding to hand, face, and pose input in real time. Run an end-to-end pipeline test from MediaPipe input to Unreal Engine output. Record a demo capture for the showcase reel.
Week 10 — Final Deliverables Complete final review and polish across all work. Assemble the showcase reel featuring the plant exhibit demo. Update the executive summary with semester outcomes, pipeline documentation, and next steps.
