Available for free via SteamVR, the Realities VR experience takes users on a variety of photorealistic virtual tours through some of the most astonishing locations on Earth. On top of the apps well-curated catalogue, a regular stream of free DLC has teleported us to exotic locations such as Castle Hohenrechberg in southwest Germany, Death Valley in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the Cologne Cathedral in Köln, Germany; all of which captured using state-of-the-art photogrammetry techniques.
At the end of 2018, Germany’s last Coal Mine will end its operations – marking nothing less than the end of an era. Authors ventured into Germany’s industrial heartland, the Ruhr area, for a final descent more than 1200m below ground, scanning the tunnels of Prosper Haniel to preserve this piece of industrial history in volumetric & photorealistic VR for the generations to come.
Starting in lofty heights on the coal preparation plant, users have to find their way to the mining site, passing through the coal mixing dome and lamp storage before descending to the underground train station and from there to the info point and finally, the mining site.
Slightly more linear than our previous pieces, you’ll be guided on your way into the mine way by a ‘Kumpel’, a former miner, manifesting as point cloud.
Presentation video can be found here.
Glückauf! Is produced together with German public broadcaster WDR (with whom we already collaborated for the Cologne Cathedral) and is the high end, volumetric part of an ambitious cross media VR project about Germany’s departure from coal mining. The web VR & 360 parts can be checked out here: https://glueckauf.wdr.de/
Source: Kyle Melnick, VRSCOUT, Realities
