Dragoş GHEORGHIU | Livia ŞTEFAN
(Doctoral School National University of Arts, Bucharest, Romania)
Keywords: heritage, Augmented Virtuality, immersion
Abstract:
The VR reconstructions in the contexts of material and immaterial heritage seek hyper-realistic graphic representations which try to approximate as closely as possible the perceived reality.
It is our opinion that the current state of virtual reconstructions is not sufficient for capturing the authentic atmosphere of a site which can be augmented with “insertions” from real life to enhance the state of immersion in the virtual medium.
For this purpose, in the case of some prehistoric and Roman monuments, we experimented with a Mixed Reality (MR) approach (with 3D reconstructions, Unity3D applications, and multimedia hotspots), in which the inserted “real” (e.g. video footage of technological operations’ re-enactments filmed at the partially reconstructed monument sites) was introduced in the virtual reconstructions of those monuments, augmenting the virtuality and thus helping the imagination of the observer to complete the virtual reconstruction with the lacking data. For instance, in the case of the virtual reconstruction of a complete Roman villa rustica several hot-spots were introduced leading to films depicting technologies existent at the time (metal, glass, ceramics and textile works), shot within a real life reconstructed fragment of the building.
From an educational point of view, the method was innovative and effective as the insertion of the re-enactment with real characters in the virtual context proved appealing to the younger generation, and enhanced the learning process in educational experiments carried out both in the rural communities, where the archaeological experiments took place, and in urban environments. The human actions performed in the virtual reconstructed context allowed a better understanding of the functionality of the analyzed monuments and the memorization of the data with historical and technological value.