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As an example of the technology and a peek of what I could create within a short time frame, I set out to incorporate the DeGrazia Madonna, a variety of Mother Mary statues, and the Erma Bombeck Rose Gallery exhibit from 2022 into a virtual reality (VR) experience on the Quest. As a simple art exhibit, I added UI panels for each of the statues and wall clings to describe the piece and recorded voice-over audio. The Rose Gallery was created in Blender, the wall clings were photographed and turned into usable textures, the DeGrazia Madonna was turned into a 3D model using Meshroom, and "The Juggler of Notre Dame" stained glass was modeled in Blender and textured painted from a photograph. The wind/water mill was modeled in Blender based on a course. These assets and models found on Sketchfab were used to create a simple environment in Unreal Engine 5.

Attributions:

• "Assai vivace" by Dee Yan-Key
• "Spring Birds Loop with Low-Cut (New Jersey)" by hargissssound
• "Saint Mary of Antioch" by Geoffrey Marchal
• "Statue of the Cloister Mother Mary" by Northern Heritage Network
• "The Virgin Mary with Child and Saints" by Computer Vision and Reverse Engineering Lab
• "Virgin Mary Clay Statue" by FilippoViciani
• "DeGrazia Madonna" by DeGrazia, M.
• Erma Bombeck Collection

I had the opportunity to assist with the "Juggler of Our Lady" exhibit at the University of Dayton Roesch Library by incorporating two pieces of technology. One aspect of this was a television displaying a looping slideshow to provide context to and display an animation. Near this television, we mounted an iPad to an old lectern to display hand-drawn storyboard panels of a different animation of the same story. Although both displays used RevealJS, a wonderfully easy-to-use presentation framework, the iPad also incorporated a pan-zoom library so the attendee could interact with the panels. I also developed a basic engagement tracker for the iPad display, recording sessions. These displays were easy to integrate into the exhibit and can be easily modified for future exhibits.