VR for monuments and sites: how to make it work

Virtual reality for monuments and sites: How to make it work

Daniel Pletinckx

Visual Dimension bvba Belgium

V-MUST is funded by the European Commission under the Community's Seventh Framework Programme, contract no. GA 270404.

V-MusT.net

•  Virtual Museum Transnational Network

•  European Network of Excellence on Digital and Virtual Museums (2011 - 2015) (http://www.v-must.net/ )

•  In the domain of museum technology –  bring together museums, research and companies

–  apply the available knowledge and technology to the cultural heritage (CH) domain

–  improve the way ICT is used in the museum and CH domain

•  Partners –  18 core partners

–  50+ associated partners

V-MusT partners

•  Research Centres –  CNR (National Research Council of Italy)

–  APRE (Italy) –  CINECA (Italy)

–  INRIA (National Research Institute on ICT, France)

–  STARC (Cyprus Institute) –  Foundation of the Hellenic World (Athens)

–  CultNat (Egypt)

–  Fraunhofer IGD (Darmstadt, Germany)

–  Societad Espanola de Arqueologia Virtual (Sevilla)

V-MusT partners

•  Museums –  Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam

–  Hellenic Cosmos, Athens –  Musea of the Imperial Fora, Rome

•  Universities –  King’s College London, UK –  University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

–  University of Brighton, UK

•  Companies –  VirtualWare

–  Visual Dimension

V-MusT focus and scope

•  V-MusT is about –  Fitness for use

–  Affordable technology

–  Sustainable implementation (maintenance, updating, robustness)

–  Portability, re-use & exchange, re-purpose

•  Not only about technology but also about –  Methodology & design guidelines

–  Appropriate communication processes

–  Trained experts

•  And about INTEGRATION in the CH/museum domain –  Link research with public presentation

–  Provide insight in the workflow to obtain QUALITY

–  Support the domain => Competence Centre

The old museum

Bologna archaeological museum

3D Virtual museums

•  What does 3D offers to virtual museums? –  Digitise existing buildings and objects

–  Recreate and visualise the past –  Digitally restore museum objects

–  Explore virtual spaces

–  See evolution in time until today

•  Monuments & landscapes are essential part of virtual museums •  Provide context of museum objects

•  Provide a visual reference framework for 2 people out of 3

Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna

Opening of new city museum, Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna


S3D theatre, Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna (with Apa movie by CINECA)

Apa the Etruscan

Apa depicted on the Certosa situla, Bologna archaeological museum

Apa the Etruscan

Image by CINECA from Apa film at Palazzo Pepoli (Bologna city museum)

Apa the Etruscan

Images by CINECA from Apa film at Palazzo Pepoli (Bologna city museum)

Apa the Etruscan

Image by CINECA from Apa film at Palazzo Pepoli (Bologna city museum)

Apa the Etruscan

Fresco of medieval Bologna, Vatican


Etruscan history of Bologna, Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna

Ename museum

Ivory object (real: left, 3D:right) from Ename museum, Belgium

Ename museum

TimeLine room at Ename Museum,Belgium

Ename museum

VIRTEX: Interactive replica of a museum object

Ename museum

Virtex story: virtual reconstruction of the use of the object

Ename museum

Virtex story: VR visualisation of the origin of the object (Ename abbey in 1065)

Ename TimeFrame

Ename TimeFrame (inaugurated in 1997, new version in 2013)

Ename TimeFrame

4D visualisation of evolution of the Ename abbey site (1065)

Ename TimeFrame


Sustainable historical reconstruction

•  Reconstruction of •  Buildings and man-made structures

•  Objects •  Animations

•  Landscape

•  Use of high-end software packages •  Independency of software packages

•  Concatenation of different software packages •  Use of standards

•  High-level documentation of process and data

Procedural modelling

ArchiCAD model of buildings and terrain

Procedural modelling

Depiction of the early Ename abbey (around 1100) in Viel Rentier (1275)

Object modelling

Blender model of building crane

Object modelling

Blender model of ferry boat

Object modelling

Painting of Dutch ferry boat (Salomon van Ruysdael, 1649)

Object modelling and animation

Animated Blender model of medieval chariot and horse

Object modelling and animation

13th century depiction of medieval chariot and horse (Viel Rentier)

Landscape simulation

Procedural landscape simulation in Vue (1085)

Workflow

•  Analysis and interpretation of all sources •  Design of buildings and landscape features

•  Procedural modelling (ArchiCAD)

•  Geo-referenced

•  Conceptual model of vegetation and man-made structures

•  Conversion to Blender (through .obj) •  Adding free form modelling/animation/re-texturing

•  Conversion to Vue (through Collada) •  Adding vegetation/man-made terrain features

•  Rendering to still images/animations

•  Interactive annotated 4D model/TimeFrame

Workflow

Reconstructed buildings and terrain features in ArchiCAD

Workflow

Import in Blender through .obj format / retexturing

Workflow

Top view map in Photoshop

Workflow

Separation of terrain types in layers in Photoshop

Workflow

Creation of height maps through painting in Photoshop

Workflow

Scaled height maps in Photoshop (16 bit TIFF)

Workflow

Terrain types and applied height map (Vue)

Workflow

Procedural texture maps depending on terrain types (Vue)

Workflow

Definition of vegetation per terrain type (Vue)

Workflow

Terrain without vegetation (Vue)

Workflow

Terrain with water and vegetation after population (Vue)

Workflow

Terrain with vegetation, buildings and (animated) objects (Collada)

Workflow with complex terrain

•  Import of terrain model (LIDAR, maps, …) •  Creation of original terrain (Photoshop, …) •  Creation of the “virgin” 3D terrain model •  Design of buildings and features on terrain •  Creation of terrain changes through height maps •  Check if everything fits

Egmont castle

Aerial view of Egmont castle site in Zottegem, Belgium

Egmont castle

Procedural landscape simulation in Vue of castle site in Zottegem, Belgium (1640)

How to make it work

•  Commissioned •  Single project

•  Output for visualisation •  No budget for multidisciplinary approach or re-use

=> Low quality, unaccessible 3D asset

•  Integrated in research (archaeology, museums, …) •  3D is part of research process (for example through Blender)

•  Recording of metadata/paradata

•  Multidisciplinary data input •  Creation of 3D asset = investment

=> High quality, re-usable 3D asset

Re-purpose & re-use

•  Re-purpose •  Transmedia approach (publication, website, app, museum setup, …)

•  Maximise the value of digital museum assets •  Create different output (e.g. pre-rendered vs. real time visualisation)

•  Example: Culturama system in Unity => recreating optimised landscape through Unity landscape module

•  Re-use •  Use of the data in other ways by 3rd parties (e.g. games) •  Repository to offer data/metadata/paradata

•  Crowd sourcing

•  V-MusT NextGen Virtual Museum Exhibition •  Jun – Dec 2014, Amsterdam, Rome, Sarajevo, Alexandria

Culturama 3D system

Real-time interactive 3D visualisation on panoramic screen (CultNat)

Repository for digital heritage

•  Maximise the use of museum assets •  Digital museum assets = investment •  Repository

•  Metadata = documentation of the object

•  Paradata = documentation of digitisation & interpretation processes •  Exchange with other museums

•  Use outside cultural heritage (film, games, arts, …)

•  IPR = fees for owner & repository owner

•  Main target: temporary exhibitions

Conclusions

•  Sustainable landscape reconstruction •  Use of widely used but focused software packages

•  Concatenation by use of open, standardised formats •  Documentation of digitisation/creation process

•  Documentation of interpretation process

•  Documentation of procedural aspects •  Transmedia approach => maximise re-use/re-purpose

•  Long term storage in digital heritage repository

Thank you!

[email protected] [email protected]

skype: daniel.pletinckx

VR for monuments and sites: how to make it work

Technology

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