Virtual Reality Cylinder Seal

Cylinder seals, as used by the Babylonians, are beautiful things. They are carved with the inverse of a linear design, so that when rolled across wet clay they will create a strip relief. But they are hard to create, because they involve making an inverse carving. With modern technology, we could carve a cylinder seal by looking outward from the inside, carving the surface around the 360 degrees of the cylinder, but working from underneath the surface. In this project you will create software tools to allow an Oculus Rift user to carve a cylinder seal from the inside, then generate the input to a 3D printer that will make the actual cylinder.

Idea arose from a discussion with Fred Baker. He wants to use it himself in a film production proposal, and wants to retain all intellectual property in the idea of using cylinder seals in virtual reality, so not suitable for group project at this stage.