The Virtual UCF Arboretum

The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project (2016 – present) is a Virtual Nature model annotated to work as an educational simulation. Constructed as a large open world, using sparse GIS data sets required for information fusion and domain expertise to achieve accuracy and realism, the data are visualized with photorealistic accuracy to match the real environment. The ambient bioacoustics are accurate representations of insects, amphibians, and birds found in the environment. All photorealistic 3D plant models are botanically correct, and each is dispersed using actual plant population data to simulate realistic dispersion and densities. The 100 hectare (247 acres) virtual model was constructed in the Unreal game engine. The virtual environment is unique because it integrates a complementary website with a digital media plant atlas that includes facts and concepts, which allows individual users to pursue deeper inquiry at the moment of personal encounter and curiosity.  

How to use:  The Unreal Engine model can be used on any VR ready PC, with graphic cards comparable to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, or more powerful. Once you download and install it, users can select the Escape key to open the Help Menu. Use the arrow keys to move around the open world, and at any plant where the cross hairs turn bright green you can click with the mouse to open the plant atlas and read facts and concepts about that plant. 

For more information, contact: http://mariacrharrington.org/

Credits: The Virtual UCF Arboretum project is an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) collaboration between The Harrington Lab in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media, in the College of Arts and Humanities, and the UCF Arboretum in the Department of Biology, in the College of Sciences, and the Landscape and Natural Resources team at the University of Central Florida.    

The Harrington Lab Digital Media Team

The Primary Creators and Contributors for the Unreal Engine model:

Dr. Maria C. R. Harrington: Assistant Professor, Director of the Project

Zachary Bledsoe: Undergraduate Research Assistant: Team Lead, Environmental Artist, 3D Artist and Modeler, Unreal Engine Production Pipeline Lead, August 2017 – August 2018

James Miller: Undergraduate Research Assistant: Lead Developer and Programmer, Unreal Engine, January 2018 – August 2018.

Chris Jones: Undergraduate Research Assistant: Lead 3D Artist and Modeler, Environmental Artist, and Unreal Engine, October 2017 – August 2018.

Thomas Pring: Undergraduate Research Assistant: Programmer, Unreal Engine, HTC Vive, January 2018 – August 2018.

Kellie Beck: Undergraduate Research Assistant: Arboretum Content Liaison, Graphic Designer, WordPress, January 2016 – August 2018.

UCF Arboretum Team

Dr. Patrick Bohlen: Director of Landscape and Natural Resources and Arboretum

Jennifer Elliott: Assistant Director, Natural Resource and Arboretum Programs

Ray Jarrett: Coordinator of Urban Forestry and Land Management Programs

Amanda Lindsay: Senior Biologist

John Guziejka: Biologist / Urban Forester

Rafael Pares: Media Producer

Creative Works as Principal Investigator:

Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2020). Augmented and Virtual Reality Dioramas and Arboretums for Museum XR Exhibition Engagement and Learning Design as a Lightning Talk. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual MuseWeb conference MW20: MW 2020. Los Angeles, CA. March 31 - April 4, 2020.

Harrington, Maria, C. R.  (March 27, 2020). Immersive, Interactive, Multimodal Augmented and Virtual Reality Museums Exhibits: Making Knowledge Accessible through Authenticated Information and Story.  In Proceedings of The Florida Digital Humanities Consortium (FLDH) 2nd Annual Conference.  Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. March 27, 2020.

Harrington, Maria, C. R. (January 22-25, 2018). Improving Psychophysical Well-being and Performance in Isolated, Confined, and Extreme Environments with Head Mounted Virtual Reality Photorealistic Simulations of Earth Based Natural Environments. In Proceedings of the 2018 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop  HRP RESEARCH: THE GATEWAY TO MARS, Galveston, TX.

Harrington, Maria, C. R. (January 31-Febuary 2, 2018). Successful Emergent Team Formation Methods and Process at UCF Digital Media, using Webcourses Discussion Feature and Ideation Techniques. In Proceedings of the 2018 Sunshine State Teaching and Learning Conference, St. Petersburg, FL.

Harrington, Maria, C. R. (November 10, 2017). The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project: Work-in-progress Demonstration of a STEM Teaching Resource, the Website, and Virtual Reality Flowers and Plants. In Proceedings of the Plants Beyond Limits Conference, University of Central Florida, Department of Biology, Orlando, FL.

Harrington, Maria C. R. (November 3-4, 2017). Ripples in a Pond: How Virtual Reality may be a Tool of Impact for the Humanities. In Proceedings of the HASTAC 2017, UCF, Orlando, FL.

Harrington, Maria C. R., Bohlen, P., Beck, K., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T., Elliott, J., Jarrett, R., Lindsay, A., and Guziejka, J. (2016- 2018). The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project Website (Version 1.0) Launched October 2018. Available from UCF: https://arboretum.ucf.edu/virtual/

Harrington, Maria C. R., Bohlen, P., Beck, K., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T., Elliott, J., Jarrett, R., Lindsay, A., and Guziejka, J. (2016- 2018). The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project Website (Version 1.0) Launched January 2019. Published on PBS LearningMedia

Legal Notice: Terms of Service: Privacy: Upon downloading or using this software, the RECIPIENT agrees to the following terms: This software was developed by and is the property of Maria C. R. Harrington and will be used only for non-commercial, educational or research purposes. Any use of the software will cite Dr. Maria Harrington and The Harrington Lab at The University of Central Florida in any publications, presentations, or other public disseminations.  By downloading the software, the RECIPIENT agrees not to sell, lease, license, copy or otherwise transfer software to any person or organization for the purpose of producing or marketing products for general sale or to conduct research activities that result in any sale, license, lease or transfer of the software provided. The University of Central Florida and its employees, agents, faculty, staff and students (“University of Central Florida and Associated Parties”) shall have no obligation, expressed or implied, to supervise, monitor, review, maintain, provide support services, or otherwise assume responsibility for the use of this software. The University of Central Florida expressly disclaims any and all warranties (express or implied)  in conjunction with this software, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, warranties of non-infringement or non-violation of any kind whatsoever (including but not limited to non-infringement of any kind of intellectual property) and any and all other warranties.  The RECIPIENT hereby agrees to accept the software “as-is."  In no event will the University of Central Florida and Associated Parties be responsible to the RECIPIENT for any damages, including but not limited to direct damages, indirect damages, incidental damages, consequential damages, exemplary damages of any kind, lost goodwill, lost profits, lost business and/or any direct or indirect economic damages whatsoever regardless of whether such damages arise from claims based upon negligence, tort (including strict liability or other legal theory), and regardless of whether the University of Central Florida and Associated Parties were advised or had reason to know of the possibility of incurring such damages in advance.  The University of Central Florida expressly retains all rights, benefits, and immunities of sovereign immunity under section 768.28, Florida statutes.