19th-century press comes to life on Steam through VR experience built by RIT faculty and students

Rochester Institute of Technology students are using a new technology to capture an old experience. Their virtual reality app simulates printing on a 19th-century cast iron hand-press that once belonged to British designer William Morris.

The 19th-century Printing Press Experience VR is free on Steam, a digital distribution platform, where users can purchase, download, and play video games. The app teaches students, scholars, and anyone interested in printing history and graphic design to print on the digital “twin” of the Kelmscott/Goudy Albion printing press housed at the Cary Graphic Arts Collection at RIT.

The Cary Collection curator, Steven Galbraith, sees a growing role for virtual reality technology in libraries and museums.

“Simulating a rare artifact like the Kelmscott/Goudy Press helps expand teaching and research possibilities to more people,” Galbraith said. “It triggers imagination and curiosity.”

The Kelmscott/Goudy Albion printing press draws visitors from around the world to the Cary Collection, Galbraith said. People travel to see the 1891 press owned by Morris, a leader of the British Arts and Crafts movement and founder of the Kelmscott Press. Frederic Goudy, an American type designer and typographer, later acquired the press and shipped it to New York. (The Cary Graphic Arts Collection also includes The Frederic W. Goudy Collection.)

Students and faculty from RIT’s 3D digital design program gamified the hand press using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, a 3D graphics software tool for use with HTC Vives Virtual Reality hardware.

The student-centered project illustrates RIT’s integrated approach to technology, the arts, and design, and the benefit of collaboration. Galbraith and Shaun Foster, RIT professor of 3D digital design, have worked together for a decade on various historical and interactive projects involving RIT students.

“Creating novel uses for access to archival and historical objects for learning is an interest of mine,” Foster said.

New developments in interactive gaming technology make it possible to simulate the physical process of putting paper on the press, inking a brayer, and rolling it over the set type. The app enables the user to turn the “rounce” handle and pull the bar to make a printed impression and virtually print a proof sheet from The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, the most famous book published by William Morris’ Kelmscott Press.

“Books such as the ‘Kelmscott Chaucer,’ as it is more commonly called, influenced generations of fine-press printers who expanded the art of the book and aspired to the highest design standard,” Galbraith said.

The VR experience includes haptic feedback in the controller to mimic sounds and tactile pressure of inking a roller or pulling a handle, for instance. The software also features diegetic interfaces as a new element within virtual reality that enables pop-up credits and prompts, Foster said.

“I think that while the app will stand on its own, what's even more important is that it has a lot of leading proof-of-concept technology and interactive design built into it that is significantly ahead of its time,” Foster said.

Epic Games credentials confirm Foster’s place at the forefront of his field as an artist and an educator of rapidly changing 3D digital design technology.

Several RIT students contributed to the project in its various stages of development. Boyu Xu, a 2018 graduate from RIT’s media arts and technology MS program, built the initial 3D model of the Kelmscott/Goudy press for the Cary Collection. (His 3D press can be seen on SketchFab, a platform for sharing 3D and augmented reality experiences.)

Between 2021 and 2022, other RIT students rebuilt the 3D model for use in virtual reality, and Aidan Grant, a 2023 graduate of the 3D digital Design program, built the interactive experience.

“My job was basically to take the model, trim it down because it was ultra-high definition, and make it interactive in VR to guide a user through it,” said Grant, a virtual reality software engineer at TRU Simulation, located near Tampa, Fla.

Grant built a spectator screen within the program to engage onlookers. It allows them to manipulate the virtual camera to see through the headset in use or independently explore the scene. (Grant provides a technical breakdown at Aidan Grant - VR Historical Printing on their ArtStation portfolio.)

Epic Games featured Grant’s project in the 2023 Unreal Academic Partner Student Showcase and in its student sizzle reel. The annual showcase highlights some of the best student-made games using Unreal Engine software.

Another RIT student—Hunter Ostrander, a 2024 graduate from the 3D digital design program—added final details to the app, including additional menus, sound effects, and optimizations. Foster and Grant consulted about the app prior to approaching Steam.

To see Grant’s animated video of the Kelmscott/Goudy press, go to Work - VIRTUAL CARY COLLECTION

The Cary Graphic Arts Collection has a special connection to the Kelmscott/Goudy press, which it bought at auction at Christie’s in 2013. In addition to Morris and Goudy, Melbert B. Cary Jr.—the namesake of RIT’s special collections library—owned the press from 1932 to 1941. Cary was the director of Continental Type Founders Association and proprietor of the private Press of the Woolly Whale.