This Collaboration consists of coordinate data being transferred from a virtual environment to a modified 3D Printer.
An audience member controlling a character within a virtual environment can choose to pick up rocks, fossils, and other objects and drop them anywhere on the map. The coordinates of these moved objects are then sent to the 3D Printer through a series of scripts written in C#, Grasshopper and then interpreted into G-code for the 3D printer. The printer itself has been modified to use a custom gumball machine-like mechanism to drop rocks onto a bed of sand according to the coordinates of the player, effectively mimicking the audience member's movements and position within the virtual space.
Every time an object is dropped within the virtual environment, X and Y coordinates are sent to the 3D printer and the extruder moves to those coordinates. A pre-established "z amount" is also sent to the printer which controls the mechanism inside the extruder allowing for the gap to open and close the right amount in order to let a single rock fall through onto the bed of sand. This allows for the printer to precisely mark the coordinates from the environment on a miniature scale.