Glossary

Asset

When we use the term asset, we are referring to any file or resource used in a digital project. This includes 3D models, textures, audio files, scripts, scenes, and prefabs. Assets are the building blocks of digital exhibitions, encompassing both artwork content and exhibition infrastructure elements.

Blender

A widely-used open-source 3D creation software used for modeling, sculpting, texturing, animation, and rendering. Unity natively supports the import of Blender’s .blend files into the Unity software.

Browser-Based

Applications or experiences that run directly in a web browser without requiring additional software installation. Browser-based exhibitions are highly accessible as they only require a compatible web browser to experience.

Camera Effects

Techniques that modify how the virtual camera captures and presents a scene. These can include depth of field, field of view adjustments, camera shake, and other effects that influence how the audience perceives the digital environment.

Character Controller

A component in Unity that handles character movement in 3D environments, functioning as the audience’s avatar or player character.

Cloud Server

A remote computing resource accessed via the internet that provides storage, processing power, and service delivery without requiring local hardware. When used in the DETAIL pilot projects, cloud servers stored exhibition content, managed multi-user experiences, saved visitor interaction data, and enabled scalability to handle varying audience sizes, while also potentially extending exhibition longevity beyond the limitations of local hardware and platforms.

Digital Exhibition

A curated collection of artworks presented primarily through digital platforms. Unlike traditional gallery exhibitions, digital exhibitions exist in virtual environments and can be experienced through various devices including computers, mobile phones, and virtual reality headsets.

Digital Platform and Platform

A software or hardware environment where digital content can be experienced. In the context of DETAIL, platforms include web browsers, virtual reality headsets, mobile devices, and desktop applications. The choice of platform influences how an exhibition is designed, built, and accessed by audiences.

Discord

A communication platform featuring voice, video, and text channels. Discord is popular with gaming communities and is readily adapted to handle live-streaming and video calls.

Efficiency

DETAIL uses the definition of efficiency borrowed from software development, referring to how well resources like processing power, memory, and network bandwidth are used. Efficient code and asset management are essential for creating digital exhibitions that run smoothly across various devices with different capabilities.

Emulator

Software that enables one computer system to behave like another. In the context of digital exhibitions, emulators can run older software on newer systems, potentially extending the lifespan of digital exhibitions beyond their original platforms and preserving experiences for future audiences.

Firebase Server

A cloud-based platform provided by Google that offers various services including real-time database functionality. In digital exhibitions, Firebase can be used to store and synchronize data between multiple visitors, enabling shared experiences.

First Person

A perspective in 3D environments where the visitor’s viewpoint is from the eyes of the character they control. First-person navigation is commonly used in digital exhibitions to create an immersive experience similar to walking through a physical gallery space.

Game Design

The methodology of creating interactive digital experiences. In digital exhibitions, game design principles are often borrowed to create engaging navigation systems and interactive elements that enhance audience engagement with artwork.

Game Engine

Software that provides developers with core functionalities for creating interactive digital applications, particularly games. Game engines typically include rendering engines for 2D or 3D graphics, physics engines for simulating physical properties, sound systems, scripting capabilities, and other tools that streamline development. For DETAIL, Unity was the primary game engine used.

Godot

An open-source game engine for creating 2D and 3D games and interactive applications. Godot is a popular alternative to the Unity platform as its open-source status could potentially result in greater long-term sustainability as it is not dependent on a single company.

Guardian

A boundary system used in virtual reality headsets (particularly Meta/Oculus devices) that establishes virtual perimeters corresponding to physical space limitations. The Guardian system helps exhibition visitors avoid physical obstacles while immersed in VR by displaying visible boundary markers when users approach the edges of their safe movement area, balancing immersion with safety considerations.

Hub and Spoke

A design layout where a central area (hub) connects to multiple separate spaces or rooms (spokes). This design allows visitors to return to a central location before exploring different parts of the exhibition, providing a clear structure for navigation.

Instance

A single, independent occurrence of a digital object or entity within a virtual environment. This could be a specific visitor’s avatar, or the version of an artwork experienced by that visitor.

Iterative Design

A design methodology based on a cyclical process of prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining. Digital exhibitions typically evolve through multiple iterations as developers implement and test features, incorporating feedback from curators, artists, and audiences.

Kinaesthetics

The study of body motion and the perception of one’s own movement. In digital environments, kinaesthetics addresses how users perceive and control their movement through virtual spaces, influencing navigation design and interaction patterns.

MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

This term is borrowed from product design and refers to an early version of a product with just enough features to be usable by testers. In digital exhibition development, creating an MVP allows teams to test core functionality and gather feedback.

Navigation

The system by which visitors move through and orient themselves within a digital exhibition environment, encompassing controls, pathways, wayfinding elements, and transition mechanisms.

Nesting

The practice of placing one element inside another. In digital exhibitions, nesting might involve placing artwork displays within rooms, rooms within buildings, or interactive elements within artwork containers.

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)

Free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming. Within the DETAIL project, OBS was used to create documentation, livestream opening events, and create video tours of the exhibition for promotional purposes.

On-Rails

A guided experience where the visitor has limited control over navigation, following a predetermined path similar to a theme park ride. On-rails sections in digital exhibitions can focus visitor attention on specific artworks or narrative elements.

Optimization

The process of modifying a digital application to improve its performance, particularly by reducing file sizes, load times, and resource usage. Optimization is crucial for digital exhibitions to ensure smooth experiences across different devices and internet connection speeds.

Post-Processing Effects

Visual effects applied to a rendered image after the initial rendering pass. These can include bloom, color grading, depth of field, motion blur, and other effects that enhance the visual quality and atmosphere of digital environments.

Persistent

Persistent data or objects remain consistent across visitor sessions in a digital exhibition. They are usually maintained through server-side storage. In persistent digital exhibitions, visitor actions can have lasting impacts on the environment that future visitors will encounter, enabling collaborative experiences where audiences collectively shape the exhibition over time.

Prefabs

In Unity, a prefab is a reusable game object stored as an asset that can be inserted into multiple scenes. Prefabs act as templates, maintaining connection to the original so that changes made to the prefab asset are applied to all instances. DETAIL uses prefabs for recurring exhibition elements.

Randomized Texture

A technique where a texture (visual surface appearance) is selected randomly from a predefined set each time an object is created or modified. This creates visual variety and can make digital environments feel more dynamic and less repetitive.

Scenes

In Unity, a scene is a container for environment and gameplay elements. Scenes can represent different rooms, levels, or areas in a digital exhibition, and moving between scenes is one way to transition between exhibition sections.

Scope Creep

The gradual expansion of a project’s requirements beyond its original objectives. In digital exhibition development, scope creep can occur when additional features or customizations are requested during development, potentially impacting timelines and resources.

Shaders

Programs that run on a GPU rather than a CPU, typically used to calculate rendering effects on graphics hardware. Shaders determine how surfaces appear when rendered, controlling properties like color, texture, transparency, reflectivity, and other visual characteristics in 3D environments.

Skeuomorphic

Design elements that mimic the appearance an d behavior of real-world counterparts. In digital exhibitions, skeuomorphic design might include virtual gallery walls, frames, pedestals, or other traditional exhibition elements recreated in digital space.

Spatialized Audio

A 3D sound simulation technique that positions audio sources within a virtual environment, allowing sounds to appear as if they’re coming from specific locations relative to the listener. In digital exhibitions, spatialized audio enhances immersion by tying sound elements to their visual counterparts, enabling auditory wayfinding and creating more naturalistic experiences as visitors hear artwork audio growing louder as they approach specific pieces.

Templates

Standardized, pre-configured project structures that can be customized for specific needs. In DETAIL, templates provide starting points for different types of digital exhibitions, offering pre-built functionality for common exhibition requirements like artwork display, navigation systems, and user interfaces.

TyranoBuilder

A visual novel engine that allows creators to develop interactive narrative experiences with minimal programming. TyranoBuilder creates browser-compatible visual novels, making it suitable for narrative-driven digital artworks. These projects cannot as of publishing be natively imported into Unity.

Unity

A cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies that allows creators to build 2D and 3D interactive applications, games, and experiences. Unity provides tools for visual development and scripting, and supports deployment across multiple platforms including mobile devices, web browsers, desktop applications, and VR/AR devices. DETAIL was primarily developed using Unity.

Unity Asset Store

An online marketplace where developers can find and purchase assets for their Unity projects, including 3D models, textures, scripts, and other resources. The Asset Store can help exhibition developers quickly implement common features without creating them from scratch.

User Experience and User Experience Design

User Experience (UX) refers to all aspects of an end-user’s interaction with a system or application. User Experience Design is the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and the product. When creating digital exhibitions, UX design focuses on creating intuitive navigation, clear information architecture, and meaningful interactions with artworks.

Virtual Camera

A simulated camera within digital space that defines the visitor’s perspective within that 3D environment by controlling what is visible for that visitor on their screen. Virtual cameras can be pre-programmed to move along certain paths, allowing for a curated experience of a digital environment.

Version Control

A system that records changes to files over time so specific versions can be recalled later. In collaborative digital projects like DETAIL, version control systems like Git help teams track changes, coordinate work, and maintain different versions of the codebase. This allows multiple developers to work on the same project simultaneously without conflicts.

WASD

A common control scheme for navigating 3D environments on a keyboard, where W moves forward, A moves left, S moves backward, and D moves right. This control scheme is often used in first-person digital exhibitions to allow users to move through virtual spaces.

Web-Embed

The process of incorporating content from one website into another, typically using inline frames (iframes). When creating digital exhibitions in Unity that feature browser-based art, embeds were used as a workaround instead of re-creating the project.