The virtual museum of Stećci

[ES] Los museos virtuales online parecen consolidarse como excelentes plataformas de difusión del patrimonio cultural, especialmente en países con pocos recursos o con dificultades para asumir la conservacion y difusión de su patrimonio. El museo virtual de los Stecci, desarrollado por la Universidad de Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), es un claro ejemplo de cómo las nuevas tecnologías pueden contribuir a valorizar el patrimonio cultural.[EN] The online virtual museums seem to consolidate as excellent platforms for dissemination of cultural heritage, especially in countries with few resources and hard to take conservation and dissemination of their heritage. The Stecci virtual museum, developed by the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) is a clear example of how new technologies can contribute to enhancing cultural heritage.“The research leading to these results is partly funded by the EU Community's FP7 ICT under the VMusT.net Project (Grant Agreement 270404). The publication reflects only the author’s views and the Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. Neither the V-MusT.net consortium as a whole, nor a certain participant of the V-MusT.net consortium, warrant that the information contained in this document is capable of use, nor that use of the information is free from risk, and accepts no liability for loss or damage suffered by any person using this information”.López-Menchero Bendicho, VM.; Rizvic, S. (2014). El museo virtual de los misteriosos Stećci. Virtual Archaeology Review. 5(11):109-112. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2014.4188OJS109112511RIZVIĆ, S., SADŽAK, A., BUZA, E. & CHALMERS, A. (2008): "Virtual reconstruction and digitalization of cultural heritage sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina", en - Преглед НЦД, vol. 12, pp. 82-90.RIZVIĆ, S., SADŽAK, A., AVDAGIC, Z. & CHALMERS, A. (2006): "Maya sun simulation of bosnian gravestone virtual model", en 4th Eurographics Italian Chapter Conference, pp. 171-175.VEMIC, Dejan (2011): Late medieval tombstones (stecci) in the area of Zabljak (Montenegro), MA Thesis in Medieval Studies. Central European University, Budapest

Actors in VR storytelling

Virtual Reality (VR) storytelling enhances the immersion of users into virtual environments (VE). Its use in virtual cultural heritage presentations helps the revival of the genius loci (the spirit of the place) of cultural monuments. This paper aims to show that the use of actors in VR storytelling adds to the quality of user experience and improves the edutainment value of virtual cultural heritage applications. We will describe the Baiae dry visit application which takes us to a time travel in the city considered by the Roman elite as "Little Rome (Pusilla Roma)" and presently is only partially preserved under the sea.Comment: Pre-print versio

El museo virtual de los misteriosos Stećci

The online virtual museums seem to consolidate as excellent platforms for dissemination of cultural heritage, especially in countries with few resources and hard to take conservation and dissemination of their heritage. The Stecci virtual museum, developed by the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) is a clear example of how new technologies can contribute to enhancing cultural heritage.Los museos virtuales online parecen consolidarse como excelentes plataformas de difusión del patrimonio cultural, especialmente en países con pocos recursos o con dificultades para asumir la conservacion y difusión de su patrimonio. El museo virtual de los Stecci, desarrollado por la Universidad de Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), es un claro ejemplo de cómo las nuevas tecnologías pueden contribuir a valorizar el patrimonio cultural

Selective rendering in a multi-modal environment

Visual perception is becoming increasingly important in computer graphics. Research on human visual perception has led to the development of perception driven computer graphics techniques, where knowledge of the human visual system and, in particular, its weaknesses are exploited when rendering and displaying 3D graphics. It is well known that many sensory stimuli, including smell, may influence the amount of cognitive resources available to a viewer to perform a visual task. In this paper we investigate the influence smell effects have on the perception of object quality in a rendered image. We show how we can potentially accelerate the rendering of images by directing the viewer's attention towards the source of a smell and selectively rendering at high quality only the smell emitting objects. Other parts of an image can be rendered at a lower quality without the viewer being aware of this quality difference. By doing this, we can significantly reduce rendering time without any loss in the user's perception of delivered quality

Interactive digital storytelling: bringing cultural heritage in a classroom

Interactive digital storytelling is becoming a popular choice for information presentation in many fields. Its application spans from the media industry and business information visualization, through digital cultural heritage, serious games, education, to contemporary theater and visual arts. The benefits of this form of multimedia presentation in education are generally recognized, and several studies which explore and support the opinion have been conducted. In addition to discussing the benefits, we wanted to address the challenges of introducing interactive digital storytelling and serious games in the classroom. The challenge of the inherent ambiguity of edutainment, due to opposing features of education and entertainment, is augmented with different viewpoints of multidisciplinary team members. We specifically address the opposing views on artistic liberty, at one side, and technical constraints and historical facts, on the other. In this paper, we present the first findings related to these questions and hope to initiate further discussions in this area

GCH 2019, Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, November 6 - 9, 2019

The Graphics and Cultural Heritage research community has vast experience in interdisciplinary research and in seeking technical innovation which has a societal application. As such, in this 17th edition of the Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage (GCH 2019) we placed special attention on the role of this research community for proposing novel research which underpins the safeguarding of Cultural Heritage in the digital age while addressing the social, environmental and economic challenges. Taking place at the heart of the Balkans, in the city of Sarajevo, this year’s event explores the role of computer graphics and other digital technologies in the preservation and provision of access to cultural heritage which might be vulnerable from natural and man-made threats such as climate change, economic hardship, violence and neglect. The programme includes a variety of research contributions that address these pressing needs. Novel methods for the digitisation of artefacts are presented, including open and end-to-end processes for 3D documentation and reproductions, capturing complex materials, introducing multispectral imaging processes and finding compression methods for images resulting from digitisation processes. The analysis and classification of cultural heritage material is also presented, including methods for the analysis of historical films, analysis of cracks on painted surfaces, classification of clay statuettes, retrieval of painted pottery and the exploration methods for annotated datasets. Engagement with virtual environments is presented through research conducted on virtual museums, and Augmented Reality (AR) to engage the public and Virtual Reality (VR) environments to enable them to experience seismic simulations. 3D design research includes the design of ancient garments and the extraction of 3D scenes from bas-reliefs. Community engagement with cultural heritage is proposed through storytelling mechanisms using technologies such as AR, VR and 3D printed replicas

Virtual Reality with 360-Video Storytelling in Cultural Heritage: Study of Presence, Engagement, and Immersion

This paper presents a combined subjective and objective evaluation of an application mixing interactive virtual reality (VR) experience with 360° storytelling. The hypothesis that the modern immersive archaeological VR application presenting cultural heritage from a submerged site would sustain high levels of presence, immersion, and general engagement was leveraged in the investigation of the user experience with both the subjective (questionnaires) and the objective (neurophysiological recording of the brain signals using electroencephalography (EEG)) evaluation methods. Participants rated the VR experience positively in the questionnaire scales for presence, immersion, and subjective judgement. High positive rating concerned also the psychological states linked to the experience (engagement, emotions, and the state of flow), and the experience was mostly free from difficulties linked to the accustomization to the VR technology (technology adoption to the head-mounted display and controllers, VR sickness). EEG results are in line with past studies examining brain responses to virtual experiences, while new results in the beta band suggest that EEG is a viable tool for future studies of presence and immersion in VR

Interaction in eXtended Reality Applications for Cultural Heritage

Digital technologies in the modern era are almost mandatory for the presentation of all types of cultural heritage. Virtual depictions of crafts and traditions offer the users the possibility of time travel, taking them to the past through the use of 3D reconstructions of cultural monuments and sites. However, digital resources alone are not enough to adequately present cultural heritage. Additional information on the historical context in the form of stories, virtual reconstructions, and digitized objects is needed. All of this can be implemented using a digital multimedia presentation technique called digital storytelling. Nowadays, an integral part of many museum exhibitions is interactive digital storytelling. This paper gives an overview of the techniques and discusses different means of facilitating interaction on digital storytelling applications for virtual cultural heritage presentations. We describe the ways in which natural interaction and interaction via eXtended Reality (Virtual and Augmented Reality) applications for cultural heritage are made possible. Users will find the stories told through these applications educational and entertaining at the same time. Through user-experience studies, we measure the user edutainment level and present how users react to implemented interactions