Assignment 2/3 Report VR museum

KIT724 Assignment 2/3 Report 

Virtual Reality Project Themes ——16th Century Merchant Shipping Museum

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 
2. Description of the application
3. Interaction Design
4. Technical Development
5. Descriptions of 3D Models
6. References

1. Introduction

Museums play an important role in the inheritance of human culture. Historical relics show the wisdom and cultural characteristics of the ancient society, as well as the educational, material and spiritual values of the people at that time(Ershad-Langroudi,2022). A recent survey of museum professionals shows that museums recognize the potential of  Virtual Reality(VR) technology. (Shahab et al. 2022).

The application innovatively sets up a 3D ship as the exhibition site of cultural relics in a VR environment and displays the digital twin model of cultural relics on the ship, which is from the sunken merchant ship in the 16th century. This application provides users with an interactive sense of presence. Visitors can "enter" a 3D space to experience the distant world by using VR wearable devices and are also able to interact with the actual scale exhibits.

In VR museums, the accessibility and explosiveness of exhibits are beyond traditional museums(Zidianakis et al.2021). This has changed the way museums record, preserve and display cultural heritage.When the exhibits can be touched, visitors will have a better "sense of presence" experience, and this will not cause loss and damage to the physical cultural heritage (Zhao,  Forte and  Kopper 2018）

2. Description of the application

The background of this exhibition is that archaeologists found a 16th-century sunken merchant ship in the Mediterranean, which was loaded with goods from Egypt and Greece and headed for Europe. After archaeologists' submarine operations, some works of art from Greece and Egypt have been salvaged. These works are being displayed to tourists as VR museum exhibits.  

The application introduction of a diver model in the scene represents the archaeologist increasing the sense of substitution of tourists, and giving the slogan "Touching History"(Figure 1).

Figure 1. The exhibition  concept map design

At the same time, some wrecks of sunken merchant ships, sailors' weapons and daily necessities are also displayed. All these scenes are designed to let tourists experience this historical moment from multiple perspectives.

3. Interaction Design

This application uses a variety of interactive methods to provide exhibits and also increase interest. First, when users log in to the environment, they will hear the background sound of ocean waves.

A touch light switch. Tourists can control the intensity of ambient light by touching and pulling the trigger with their right hand(Figure 2).

Figure 2 Touch light control switch

In addition to walking in the scene, visitors can also use the rocker on the handles to move, choose to press the X button on their left hand to start the remote transmission function and instantly move to the designated position(Figure 3).

Figure 3 Remote transmission function

Touching the exhibits, grasping was possible by pressing auxiliary keys on the left or right hand. After release, the exhibit stays in its current position(Figure 4).

Figure 4 Interactive exhibits type I

Touching the exhibits, grasping was possible by pressing auxiliary keys on the left or right hand. After release, the exhibits will fall according to gravity. Visitors can also throw out exhibits, which will increase interest.

Figure 5 Interactive exhibits type II

Further prospects may include introductions of exhibits both in text and audio, and interactions with other users in the museum.

The storyboard below describes how users interact with exhibits and museums through the application (Figure 6):

Figure 6. Storyboard

4. Technical Development

The application is developed on Unity 2022.1.13f1 version. The running device is Quest or Quest2. Users can walk around in a virtual room, and touch or grab artwork using left and right handles. High transparent walls are erected around the deck to prevent tourists from moving overboard and falling into the water(Figure 7).

Figure 7 High transparent walls

The large sculptures are set up with a collision system to avoid tourists moving into the interior of the sculptures(Figure 8).

Figure 8.collision system on sculptures 

5. Descriptions of 3D Models

1. Ship 

https://assetstore.unity.com/publishers/24603

2. Diver &  Submarine 

     

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/vehicles/sea/steampunk-submarine-diver-...

3. Horn

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/tools/horn-for-free-103209

4. Greek Vases

https://assetstore.unity.com/account/assets

5. Greek Statue

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/greek-statue-190814

6. Headless statue

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/exterior/creepy-headless-statue-1...

7.Jade tableware

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/vertex-color-coffee-props-143778

8. Egyptian Statue of a Male Figure

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/egyptian-statue-of-a-male-figure-...

9. Egyptian  Cat Statue

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/historic/egyptian-tomb-cat...

10.Viking Axe

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/weapons/free-pbr-viking-axe-96770

11. Spartan Sword

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/spartan-sword-229365

12. Antique binoculars

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/tools/antique-binoculars-108080

13. Anchor

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/industrial/hall-anchor-193318

14.Treasure Set

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/interior/treasure-set-free-chest-...

15.Round-shot

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/historic/colonial-ship-704...

16.Another visitor

 

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/viass-free-character-pack-14...

In addition to 3D models, the following resources are also used in this project

17. Sky

  https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/landscapes/free-island-col...

18. Sea

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/water/stylize-water-...

19  Ocean wave background audio 

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/audio/sound-fx/nature-sound-fx-180413

6. References

 Ershad-Langroudi, A.: Protective Material Coatings For Preserving Cultural Heritage Monuments and Artwork. Bentham Science Publishers (2022)

Shahab, H, Mohtar, M, Ghazali, E, Rauschnabel, PA & Geipel, A 2022, ‘Virtual Reality in Museums: Does It Promote Visitor Enjoyment and Learning?’, International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, pp. 1–18.

Y. Zhao, M. Forte and R. Kopper, "VR Touch Museum," 2018 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), 2018, pp. 741-742, doi: 10.1109/VR.2018.8446581.

Zidianakis, E, Partarakis, N, Ntoa, S, Dimopoulos, A, Kopidaki, S, Ntagianta, A, Ntafotis, E, Xhako, A, Pervolarakis, Z, Kontaki, E, Zidianaki, I, Michelakis, A, Foukarakis, M & Stephanidis, C 2021, ‘The Invisible Museum: A User-Centric Platform for Creating Virtual 3D Exhibitions with VR Support’, Electronics, vol. 10, no. 3, p. 363.