Anna Karenina in Virtual Reality

During my senior year at Wellesley, I continued development on a project started by Professor Thomas Hodge with Aubrey Simonson '19 that was dedicated to bringing a specific scene from the Tolstoy's Anna Karenina into virtual reality. The scene in question (from part 1, chapter 29) took place on a train car that took Anna from Moscow to St. Petersburg. While Aubrey's work on the project concerned setting up the train car for a fully immersive experience, most of my work was involved in converting the scene for web interaction. The full site and web experience can be found here.

My contributions to the project include the following:

• I updated the immersive version of the experience to use the latest SteamVR technology.
• I converted the experience from full immersion to web interactivity using the HTC Vive to WebGL.
• I optimized the experience for web interaction by allowing users to "sit down" in Anna's seat and move about the cabin as well as optimizing performance.
• I added finishing visual details to the experience (e.g. 3D modelling a Reaumur thermometer, adding a snowstorm particle system, perfecting alignments of walls and objects).
• I designed and built a website that included instructions for gameplay, reference materials in the form of images and audio, and a full catalog of the reference materials used to build the project.
• I designed the project website for optimal translation ability, under the assumption that many Russian-speaking users would wish to partake in the experience.