My project will be a Web site designed with Dreamweaver 4.0. Supporting documents will be in pdf format and I will use the ScanWizard software to put nineteenth century documents in a more readable form when possible. Both an image and transcription of the original document will be available.

The final stage of my project will be the most technically demanding. I'm attempting to create 3-D renderings of the lost lighthouses similar to those produced by Professor Paula Petrik for her Explorations in Time and Space project. Dr. Petrik used Canoma to create a building that doesn't exist anymore as a tool for historical research. Using one or more photographs the software builds a three dimensional model. According to Petrik, MetaCreations produced the Canoma software until Adobe acquired the company. The Canoma program has been discontinued, but Dr. Petrik suggested eBay or large software distributors as potential sources for purchasing the software. For her experimental project, Dr. Petrik used Bryce 4.1, a terrain generator, to create landscapes and atmospheric conditions. She speculated that the Bryce software might also be able to produce a decent lighthouse.

My on-line research turned up a program called DesignWorkshop as a potential alternative to the Canoma software. This software is available through Artifice and promoted heavily and convincingly on their Great Buildings Web site. Some of the 3-D renderings on that site have a very unreal, boxy look. There are different versions of the DesignWorkshop and Dr. Petrik suggested that if go with that program to be sure get the software that includes texture and bump mapping for a more realistic look.