3D Interactive Tectonics
Background
We are creating a series of Unity3D interactive visualizations (games) for teaching and learning about Earth. Our first Unity3D game on Plate Tectonics (available online and for download from the ARTEMiS Games website) includes 3D world maps of global tectonic data (volcanoes, earthquakes, and seafloor age); animation with world examples of the Wilson Cycle theory of basin evolution; and 3D visualizations of the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent over the last 200 million years.
The plate tectonics visualizations are part of our Visual Earth project, for which we collaborate with Prof. Taylor Perron from MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) and other geologists. Visual Earth: Plate Tectonics will be used in EAPS’s signature class 12.001 Introduction to Geology in Fall 2012.
Visualizations
The interactive 3D modules of “Visual Earth: Plate Tectonics” (interface snapshot below) are created in Unity3D and use graphic assets created in Maya (3D models), Illustrator (maps, interface elements), Photoshop (paleo maps), and After Effects (animation). Click on the image below to try Visual Earth: Plate Tectonics online.
Unity3D development by Brian Deans-Rowe
Data and paleo maps and animation by Krista Shapton
Additional maps and interface design by Betsy Skrip
Produced and directed by Violeta Ivanova



