NA SENDA DA IMAGEM A Representação ea Tecnologia na Arte

implementation in Section V, the results in Section VI and
some conclusions in Section VII are also provided.
II. PREVIOUS WORK
Virtual Reality is still a new and innovative
technology, which is a very useful tool in a wide range of
application areas, mainly in those fields related to the
visualisation of abstract concepts and ideas, places that are
not accessible or no longer exist in the present, and objects
that should be examined from different and unique points
of view. Cultural Heritage is becoming an important
application field for Virtual Reality.
The first applications in the Cultural Heritage field
appeared during the 90s, mainly focused on the 3D
modelling of archaeological sites. During this first stage,
the archaeological Virtual Reality projects were just a
display for the advanced computer graphics technologies,
forgetting in many cases the historical aspects. Only
recently, cultural institutions have been included as
content providers.
The development of the Virtual Reality technologies,
human-computer interfaces, interaction techniques and
other displays has improved the efficiency and use of
Virtual Reality, providing more natural and objective
interaction modes. That has encouraged educational
institutions, museums and other cultural institutions to
apply these technologies as well.
There are two main issues that should be emphasised
when talking about the visualisation and representation of
Cultural Heritage and archaeological sites: historical
validation and accuracy in the representation. In order to
visualise Cultural Heritage, it should be digitalised and
simulated using computer graphics techniques. Virtual
archaeology refers to the use of 3D computational models
of old buildings and instruments using digital interface
technologies that generate immersion sensation or
interaction with the content.
Implementing detailed models of key places allows
the users to explore environments as they were in the past,
from surprising points of view. Moreover, each visitor
could define the way he wants to visit a place, with a
personalised guide talking in his own language. These
interfaces augment the value of the displayed material,
providing the historical context.
One of the main attractions of a virtual model is the
implementation of avatars in the scene so that the user can
imagine properly the size of the objects, as well as the
context of the scene, can facilitate the tempora l
orientation, augment the historical information and give a
visual impression of history.
The main advantage of an interactive 3D avatar is the
generated illusion to the user of the existence of a person
to interact with as if it was a real person. This includes a
radical change in order to gain fluency in the relation with
the computer system. There are different levels of
complexity concerning the avatars. If the 3D virtual
character has the real-time speech capacity, the impression
of dealing with a real character is improved.
Following, selected Virtual Heritage applications of
complex heritage buildings similar to Igartubeiti are
presented.
1) The Real-Time Virtual Reconstruction of Notre-
Dame Cathedral is based entirely on 3D architectural and
photographic data, features an accurate reconstruction and
a 3D multi-user Virtual Reality rendition of the site,
accessible to the public from anywhere in the world. The
focus of this project is to reconstruct the building in as
much detail as possible.
2) The Siena Cathedral simulation is an immersive
virtual environment that allows the visitors to virtually
explore the site, to experience its architectural, cultural
and historical information. A virtual guide, in traditional
clothes, talks to the visitor giving explanations about the
Cathedral. The presentation is done in real-time on a
stereoscopic large-screen projection. In order to achieve a
high degree of immersion, the visual representation is
complemented by sounds and background music.
3) The Peranakans are descendants of an early Chinese
community that settled in the Malay Archipelago around
the 17th Century. This unique community developed
distinct customs, cuisine, and even their own language.
This project is a Digital Heritage venture which employs
3D modeling techniques in order to integrate a virtual
avatar tour guide with realistic Peranakan heritage objects.
The main research objectives include the recreation of
a high-quality 3D scenario of a complex digital heritage
environment, capable of real-time rendering using Virtual
Reality technology; and the development and use of
transparent and intuitive context -specific, and userfriendly
interaction techniques.
From the variety of projects and topics we have
presented one can easily see that cultural heritage is a fast
growing area of virtual reality applications. Using all the
existing technologies in 3D modeling and reconstruction a
large number of monuments, museums and sites are
represented through virtual replicates over Internet, on
CD-ROM, and through immersive periphericals such as
HMDs and CAVEs.
However, large and complex populated building are
still not widely simulated in their integrality due to their
complexity, lack of historical references and high
computational requirements.
III. OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the project is the
implementation of a Virtual Reality system for different
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