• 💻technical process archive

  • Into Birth

    , 3DGS scanning, UE5 panorama environment, THREE.js web code

  • False Windows

    , photogrammetry 3D scanning, AI image to 3D model, video Mocap

  • 🔎research interest

I create research-based art and design projects, driven by an obsession with individual and collective memory which shaped and shaping during the modernization process in contemporary China and its connections to the world.

At a macro scale, I am fascinated by how collective memory anchors itself in the shifting urban spaces and rural landscapes.

At a micro scale, I'm interested in how individual memory is formed, transmitted, and stored through sensory process and neural mechanisms.

  • 🧪technical experiment

I experiment with technical pipelines bridging the physical and digital worlds to faithfully record, immersively represent, and critically recall memories with individuals and a broader audience.

In the physical world, I collect moments with 3D scanning technologies from photogrammetry, LiDAR, to Gaussian Splatting, alongside 2D recording methods such as illustration, photography, and documentary.

In the digital world, I blend realistic collections with surreal animation and game environments to craft narratives through interactive media, including websites, installations, and VR/AR experiences.

Xinran WU is a research-based new media artist exploring the potential boundaries between individual and collective memory through the lens of neural mechanisms and cultural landscapes. Experimenting with technologies often perceived as isolating, she creates games, films, and interactive installations to foster new forms of intimacy across physical and virtual worlds.

Her research explores the collective memory across the cultural landscape shaped by China's urbanization process, as well as the individual memory formed by the human perception and neural mechanisms.

She technical experiments include recording (3D scanning / documentary / photography) and representation (game / animation / installation), creating immersive and interactive story-telling to critically reflect on memories.

Xinran holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Tongji University with the honor of Shanghai Outstanding Graduate Award. As a former architect, she has studied and practiced in cities and villages among China, Japan and Europe. Her collaborative research and design projects have received several prizes including the UNESCO Global Awards for World Heritage and the Dezeen Award 2024.

She is currently in her master study in Fiction and Entertainment at SCI-Arc, exploring the journey with new media art in Los Angeles.

Contact: wuxinran809@gmail.com | Instagram: @mentha99 | More Info: view CV

Into Birth | 2024
Immersive web-based game

Cooking with
Gaussian Splatting 3D scanning,
Unreal Engine environment / particle VFX,
and THREE.js / html / css coding

/* --- INTO BIRTH --- */
/* --- TECHNICAL PROCESS ARCHIVE --- */

[a. Real-time Scene Capturing]

In the summer of 2024, while celebrating my birthday with at my home, I recorded a video of my families and surrounding living room, and generate a 3D Gaussian Splatting scan model from it.
[AUG 09 2024]

b. Unreal Environment and VFX Setup

A few months later, after moving to the Los Angeles, I reconstructed the whole environment based on the scanned objects and characters while following the guidance of my subjective recalling of the birthday scene.

c. Storyboard for Interactive Experience

The narrative is based on the actual sequence of the birthday: lighting the candles, singing the birthday song, blowing out the candles, and making a wish. Before and after this process, exploration inside the surreal scenes was added to enhance the immersive experience for the participant.

d. Character and Environment VFX

Animation effects were added to the static 3DGS models with Niagara particle system.

Based on the narrative, environment and camera animations were created in UE5 with the Blueprint system.

e. Panorama Walkthrough

The entire walkthrough inside UE was rendered and exported as a panoramic film.

f. 3D Interactive Web Coding

Projecting the panoramic film onto static 3D geometry in THREE.js creates the illusion of movement inside the space.

The interaction controller between user's event and the scene, sound and texts is built with JavaScript, and called along the timeline.

Responsive interaction design is implemented to accommodate different control devices and screen sizes, including mobile, PC, and exhibition-specific setup.