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ARCHEOVIRTUAL 2009

New General Edition Update

Three days in Sevilla

ARQUEOLOGICA 2.0

Welcome!

We’re just back from Italy where we exhibited the Medieval Dublin Project at the ArcheoVirtual exhibition. We were there to showcase the original First Schools Edition of the Project and then some of the features on the new interface for the forthcoming DVD. We found some interesting work being done in other countries and met some other exhibitors and professionals in the field. Medieval Dublin was very well received once again, and we can’t wait to show off the new material properly when current development is complete.

There were 11 projects chosen for the exhibition and we met with most of the exhibitors. Daniel Pletinckx, who unfortunately wasn’t able to attend, was exhibiting his TIMEFRAME HARELBEKE project which has some great functionality in moving through time on a 3d model. Next door to him were CULTNAT, the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage in Egypt. They were exhibiting their VIRTUAL MYTHS OF LUXOR AND DENDARA - a project displayed in high resolution over 3 screens. Realising we had a love for innovative timelines, Mohamed Farouk told us about the Culturama project in which they’ve pioneered a display using 9 interactive screens, showing different aspects of Egyptian history from the Pharaonic period to modern times. This is the first of its kind in the world. We look forward to finding an excuse to visit Egypt at some stage in the future!

Further down the hall was the impressive VR tour of Santimamine’s Cave from the North of Spain, Beside this, Athanathios Sideris from Greece was showcasing some great Virtual Reality from the ‘Foundation of the Hellenic World’ in Athens. He also gave a very interesting talk at the workshop on Friday morning, discussing the differences between ‘interpretive’ and ‘documentary’ VR. Athanathios noted that as part of his project, they often built several versions of reconstructed models, according to the different theories and hypotheses of the academics and experts.

Other notable speakers at the workshop included Alfredo Grande, president of SEAV in Spain, who discussed the need for a new language and standards to define Virtual Museums and Virtual Archaeology. Last June, we spoke at the inaugural ARQUEOLOGICA 2.0 conference in Seville which was organised by Alfredo. We’re delighted to hear that the conference is being held again this year and look forward to what will be on offer then.

Sofia Pescarin from CNR ITABC gave an interesting talk on the Virtual Museum of Giotto’s work in the Chapel of Scrovegni. Maintenance, management and marketing of these spaces seemed to be an issue, in that once a Virtual Museum is launched, the job has only really begun.

We also met up with Eva Pietroni, who gave a presentation of her interesting Flaminia Project. Eva was impressed by our new interface and content. CNR had a lot of interesting projects on display at the exhibition, not least the virtual museum of Iraq; a massive undertaking with countless 3D artefacts and interactive maps. Davide Borra from No Real gave a compelling talk during which he showed a colour-coded view of the Vendicari Tower in the Ancient Harbour of Noto, with different colours denoting the level of dialogue and historical validity in creating each element. The models span different phases throughout the tower’s history and this was an interesting treatment in that it showed what is purely factual and what is added to give more realism or interest. Davide also showcased some innovative and interesting ways of displaying his model using stereoscopic displays and the magic cards often used in augmented reality 3D.

Overall, the exhibition was a great success. Many thanks are due to Sofia, Eva and all the team at CNR ITABC for all their hard work. There was an impressive spread of people from all over the world and we found there was great interest in our project, with people very eager to see what we have in store for the new edition.

We also managed to take in the amazing site and museum of Paestum which has the best preserved Greek Temples and Art outside of Greece, and we stopped by Pompei on our way back north.

Now that we’re back, we’re rendering like crazy to get our shots finished for the new videos - we’ll upload some screen shots soon.

Arrivederci…....