Navigating Immersive and Interactive VR Environments With Connected 360° Panoramas

Emerging research is expanding the idea of using 360-degree spherical panoramas of real-world environments for use in 360 VR experiences beyond video and image viewing. However, most of these experiences are strictly guided, with few opportunities for interaction or exploration. There is a desire to develop experiences with cohesive virtual environments created with 360 VR that allow for choice in navigation, versus scripted experiences with limited interaction. Unlike standard VR with the freedom of synthetic graphics, there are challenges in designing appropriate user interfaces (UIs) for 360 VR navigation within the limitations of fixed assets. To tackle this gap, we designed RealNodes, a software system that presents an interactive and explorable 360 VR environment. We also developed four visual guidance UIs for 360 VR navigation. The results of a pilot study showed that choice of UI had a significant effect on task completion times, showing one of our methods, Arrow, was best. Arrow also exhibited positive but non-significant trends in average measures with preference, user engagement, and simulator-sickness. RealNodes, the UI designs, and the pilot study results contribute preliminary information that inspire future investigation of how to design effective explorable scenarios in 360 VR and visual guidance metaphors for navigation in applications using 360 VR environments

Beacon Virtua: A Virtual Reality Simulation Detailing the Recent and Shipwreck History of Beacon Island, Western Australia

Beacon Virtua is a project to document and virtually preserve a historically significant offshore island as a virtual reality experience. In 1629, survivors of the wreck of VOC ship Batavia took refuge on Beacon Island, Western Australia, followed by a mutiny and massacre. In the 1950s the island became the base of a successful fishing industry, and in 1963 human remains from Batavia were located. The fishing community has recently been moved off the island to protect and preserve the site and allow a thorough archaeological investigation of the island. Beacon Virtua exposes users to the history of both the shipwreck survivors and the fishing community. The project uses the virtual environment development software Unity to present a simulation of the island, with 3D models of buildings and jetties, photogrammetric 3D reconstructions of graves and other features, 360° photographic panoramas, and information on the history of the island. The experience has been made available on a wide range of different platforms including via a web-page, as part of an exhibition, and on head mounted displays (VR headsets). This chapter discusses the features included in Beacon Virtua, the storytelling techniques used in the simulation, the challenges encountered and solutions used during the project

Translating 2D art into Virtual Reality and comparing the user experiences

Recent advancements in virtual reality on the hardware and software front have made high-quality virtual reality experiences both cheaper, and easier to obtain. This paper explores how virtual reality changes the way a user experiences art and if virtual reality is suited as a medium for expressing art. Based on two existing artworks, we have created VR versions using a game engine, and conducted a user study to get a comparison of how the experience of the traditional artworks differ from the VR versions. The artworks have been created in 3D using algorithmic modelling techniques

"The Fantasy that Never Takes Place": Nostalgic Travel in Videogames

This article explores the correspondence between a pensive mode of play and a nostalgic address in 1990s and early 2000s videogames. Conceiving of the wish to dwell within the game as a longing for radical alterity serves as a theoretical extension of rhythmanalysis for thinking about the porous boundaries of the game text. The article seeks to expand the established discursive and conceptual function accorded to stillness as a form of play. It discusses three ‘nostalgic gestures’ that stall the game’s action: the glance from foreground to background; the shift from the game to paratextual materials; and the drift of attention out the window or away from the gaming context altogether. Gaming’s promise of exotic transport activates a “fervor of the possible,” a melancholic identification with the world beyond which invests game spaces with the capacity for hopeful discovery, verging on a wish to remove oneself from the flow of time altogether

La scenografia degli stucchi del Serpotta rivisitata. La materia e la forma

The material that lies beneath the smooth shining surface of the stuccoes of the Serpotta family who used to work in Sicily from 1670 to 1730, has been thoroughly studied in previous papers, disclosing the deep, albeit empirical, knowledge of materials science that guided the artists in creating their masterpieces. In this work, attention is focused on the solid perspective and on the scenographic sculpture by Giacomo Serpotta, who is acknowledged as the leading exponent of the School. The study deals with some particular works of the artist, the “small-scaled plastic theatres”, so-called “teatrini”, which he made for the San Lorenzo Oratory in Palermo. On the basis of archival documents and previous analogical photogrammetric plotting, integrated with digital solutions and computer-based technologies, the study investigates and interprets the geometric-formal genesis of the examined works of art. Knowledge of the material composition of the stuccoes, along with the ability to accurately reproduce their shapes, give interesting possibilities to provide a complete reading of the works of art damaged by deterioration or theft.La materia che si nasconde sotto le levigate e lucenti superfici degli stucchi della famiglia dei Serpotta, che operò in Sicilia tra il 1670 e il 1730, è stata ampiamente studiata in precedenti lavori, rivelando la profonda, se pur empirica, conoscenza della Scienza dei Materiali che guidava gli artisti nella realizzazione dei loro capolavori. In questo studio l’attenzione viene posta sulla prospettiva solida e sulla scultura scenografica dello scultore palermitano Giacomo Serpotta, riconosciuto come il principale esponente della Scuola. L’indagine si concentra su particolari opere dell’artista, i cosiddetti “teatrini plastici”, da lui eseguiti per l’Oratorio di San Lorenzo nel centro antico di Palermo. Sulla base di documenti di archivio e rilevamenti stereo fotogrammetrici analogici pregressi, integrati con tecniche di acquisizione dati di ultima generazione, lo studio presenta elaborazioni digitali che hanno permesso ricostruzioni virtuali a video di elementi scultorei non più esistenti. La conoscenza dei materiali che compongono le opere in stucco, insieme alla capacità di riprodurre con precisione le forme, offre interessanti possibilità di fornire una lettura completa delle opere d’arte danneggiate dal deterioramento o dal furto

THE DIGITAL RESTITUTION OF LOT 3317: USING UNDERWATER IMAGE BASED MODELLING TO GENERATE VALUE IN VIRTUAL HERITAGE EXPERIENCES

The intent of this paper is to demonstrate the cultural value that Virtual Heritage experiences can generate. As a proof of concept, game resolution assets were optimized from high polygon image based models (IBMs) and rendered in real-time, within a Head Mounted Display (HMD). The case study of lot 3317 was chosen to facilitate heuristic explorations pertinent to the history of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Canada. This case study explores methods in creating and validating heritage values, while valourizing assets as a cultural resources for use in the future. While at the same time, challenging the current spatial dynamics by conceptually reducing the distance between the viewer and the flooded landscape. In addition to demonstrating the cultural values generated through the veneration of lot 3317, the paper aims to provide a model for optimizing and post processing meshes produced through Under-Water Image-Base Modelling