WORKSITE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE APPLICATIONS Sjm Tech

Jorma Ferino

info@sjmtech3d.com www.sjmtech.net

How Virtual Reality, Gamification and 3D Visualization has been used in cultural heritage applications

Some teenage passions are so engaging to turn into a real job in adulthood. The consequence of falling in love with video-games might be a spiritual addiction that is quite difficult to cure, which is why lots of “console” boys and girls feel obliged to choose a forced path towards self-production first and to the business world next. Eventually, some of them agreed on the fact that “turning” reality into a playable 3D world was actually pos sible, and that this could be done with goals “higher” than the game as an end in itself; a 3D modeling process of both the present and the past that allows players to personally live history, narrating the universe of our own cultural heritage in an original, innovative way. In Sardinia, this intuition has taken root and is currently undergoing a great moment of development and success, with one of the most diversified offers of projects and working groups. Among those, our team is actively engaged in the promotion of the archaeological herit age of the Island, promoting the cooperation with managers of the main Sardinian cultural sites. We have set up a group that works on three completely different mission statements: while one deals with Virtual Reality Technology, the other two take care of the marketing and design sectors, as well as the spatial planning and development. Three entities united by the same love for video-games.

Our team is active in the region, and proposes to cultural heritage managers a business model that consists in producing 3D historical reconstruction of the most important Sar dinian monuments in order to increase their attractiveness, to the advantage of the surrounding area, too. These reconstructions based on the integration with laser-scanner and photogrammet ric surveys technologies, 3D modeling, and Virtual Reality, are processed according to the gamification rules, offering a playable prehistory and history, suitable for everyone. Our strategy consists of a process of co-designing the Cultural Heritage, thanks to the co operation between our team, local stakeholders and specialists such as archaeologists, art historians, and experts in museum management. The goal is to obtain a detailed vision of all the distinctive features of the artifacts taken into account, granting the scientificity and, consequently, the eligibility for reconstruction. The descriptive accuracy of the envi ronment in which the artifact is inserted is just as important for the success of the technological processing. Represented in their maximum splendor, the sites create a new relationship between the management and use of the archaeological site or of the artifact: the user becomes the main actor, and gets totally involved in the exploration of the area, interacting and “play ing” in first person not only with a simple object, but with the era that produced it. The result is the total involvement of the player. The possibility to apply this system to countless fields derives from the fact that it can be used for entertainment, for educational, or promotional purposes, as well as for accessibil ity reasons. The case studies that benefit from these applications are growing in number: first of all, there has been an increase in the number of visits, generated by the viral spread of con -

tents and by enthusiastic visitors’ referrals, people who become spontaneous popularizers of apps and softwares. Furthermore, thanks to the Virtual Reality System, the increased attendance involves people with disabilities, too. In the end, this technology, applied to cultural assets, is a new form of communication that can help and do good to different territories, just like our beloved Sardinia, that keeps on fighting to show an out-of-season tourist image not necessarily related to its beaches and that would offer new stories for a public that few other medias could afford, giving life to an enormous growth for the local economy.

MEGALITHIC WALL This is one of the most iconic projects. With techniques and graphic quality typical of video-games, this work offers archaeological exploration an extraordinary educational and commercial strength, which allows a greater and larger audience to discover our cultural heritage. The archaeological site represented spreads over about 350 m in length, over looking a cliff extended towards the inner region of the Island, at the end of an area called “Sa Mandra”. It could belong to a time span that goes from the Neolithic until the Byzantine Age. This work combines scientific research with survey techniques typical of video-games and Virtual Reality. The 3D software faithfully reproduces the Megalithic Wall and the surrounding natural environment, made of areas of thick, dense vegetation, and areas of sparse vegetation. Situated on a basaltic plateau, it allows a real time, first-person immersive exploration of the surface.

Thanks to a series of information labels (that can be activated by the player) placed on the relevant sectors of the reconstructed “monument”, you can collect information about the history and the archaeological details of the site. The application also offers a map that helps Users orient themselves in space. The 3D product can be used through a touch screen or a computer with gamepad controller and has also been published in two mobile versions: the first uses an interactive visualiza tion with aerial view; the second uses a first-person immersive visualization thanks to a VR headset.

FURTHER PROJECTS The further projects we are currently involved in are carrying out a reconstruction and 3D interactive experience of ancient Sardinian monuments, such as the Nuraghe in Barumini rebuilt as it was in the Nuragic era, 3D reconstructions of elements that no longer exist as a Punic dwelling and merchant vessel, as well as an educational video-game set in the Imperial era of the ancient Roman city of Nora, entirely rebuilt in 3D. These projects have been developed to be interactively used through Virtual Reality installations, 3D apps for smartphones and tablets, multimedia systems as touch screen tables or surfaces, or in per manent or temporary multimedia exhibitions.