Portfolio

Mattathias (Max) Needle's Portfolio

Here, I share some samples of my work in science communication and design. All images (2D and 3D) are original work except for the Unity logo which is used in the pipeline image.

I manage www.virtualfieldgeology.com (this website). Although this particular page is my portfolio, you may explore other pages of this website to view some of my work in virtual field geology.

Explaining my Ph.D. lifestyle and research to a 7th grader

Here are images of a comic book that I included to my pen pal through the program Letters to a Prescientist. The comic book was accompanied by text, so some of the images below (e.g., the instruments) have no apparent context.

Structural Geology Query Toolkit

Some of the images below are from my publications on the Structural Geology Query Toolkit. The menu for this website will also assist in navigating to information about this work.

Needle, M. D., Mooc, J., Akers, J. F., & Crider, J. G., The Structural Geology Query Toolkit for digital 3D models: Design custom immersive virtual field experiences, 2022: Journal of Structural Geology, 163, 104710. [link]
Needle, M. D., Crider, J. G., Mooc, J., & Akers, J. F., Virtual field experiences in a web-based video game environment: open-ended examples of existing and fictional field sites, 2022: Geoscience Communication, 5(3), 251-260. [link]

Workflow for the Structural Geology Query Toolkit

A breakdown of information represented by polygonal meshes

Adjusting parameters within Unity using our software kit

Using our prefabricated rock hammers to embed 2D information in your games

Images from a custom mapping exercise

Whaleback Virtual Field Excursion

Explore this virtual field excursion, the Whaleback, the flagship game produced with the Structural Geology Query Toolkit.

Click on image to go to itch.io site to have the virtual field experience

Structural Geology -- employing multiple design techniques for a single figure

I created this graphic (for my dissertation) with several programs.

Mesh was generated in Rhino3D, a CAD program.
The mesh was outlined in Procreate, for which I used a stylus and my iPad to hand-draw the outline.
North arrow and scale bar were generated in CorelDraw, a vector graphics program.
Stereonets were generated in Rick Allmendinger's Stereonet 11 and subsequently edited as SVGs in CorelDraw.

Geologic fold: The follow is a polygonal mesh derived from point-cloud data of a fold created with structure-from-motion photogrammetry. I've extracted orientation data from the mesh to generate pi-plots -- the black boxes represent the orientation of the fold's axis.

Paleontology

My undergraduate research included two different studies on burrows: One made by an ancient amphibian and another made by a dinosaur that was digging for mammals. Here is an image from the latter publication for which I used a classic stippling technique to illustrate the fossilized burrow.

You can see the journal article here:
Simpson, E. L., Hilbert-Wolf, H. L., Wizevich, M. C., Tindall, S. E., Fasinski, B. R., Storm, L. P., Needle, M. D., 2010, Predatory digging behavior by dinosaurs: Geology, v. 38, no. 8, p. 699-702.

Stippled illustration from Simpson et al. 2010

Rutgers Geology Museum

During my time at the Rutgers Geology Museum, I was the in-house graphic designer. Below are a few samples of my work.

Fun map for visitors (public) on Rutgers Day. This map was received at our outdoor booth and was intended to guide and excite potential visitors to the museum nearby.

Cartoon of some of the main attractions at the museum. Initially, this graphic was a banner for the website that I created. The user could hoover their mouse over a character and their would be an accompanying animation.

Da Vinci Science Center -- Medieval Science Camp

I developed two summer camps for the Da Vinci Science Center. Below are some excerpts from my "Alchemist's Cookbook," a workbook that guided campers through science activities. The weeklong camp had an overarching theme of tracking a dragon that was attacking villages, and the campers learned about chemistry, biology, and engineering in order to "gear up" for a final showdown with the dragon.

Exercise incorporating "playing" glasses.

Map on which students tracked the dragon flight paths, which ultimately produced a symbol that was used to solve another puzzle.

The dragon, redrawn from a photo of a venomous snake

Press

The following are links to some press coverage of my work in science:

Virtual Field Excursion Research

EOS Magazine -- "The Rise of Gaming-Based Virtual Field Trips"
Geographical (UK) -- "Breakthroughs in Virtual Field Trips"

Paleontology

Smithsonian Magazine -- "A Mammal's Worst Nightmare"
NBC News -- "Earliest Burrow of Four-Legged Animal Found"

This is an invited talk I gave at Central Washington University. The talk was broadcasted live on Nick Zentner's Youtube channel.

Other Science Related Cartoons

I was commissioned to illustrate a commemorative sticker for the 50th anniversary of the U. of Washington's Quaternary Research Center.

A cartoon I drew to accompany a colleague's Ph.D. defense presentation.