Author: george papagiannakis

LIFEPLUS is an EU funded project that commenced in March 2002 and was successfully completed in November 2004, under the scientific coordination of Prof. Nadia Magnenat-Tlahmann from MIRalab-Switzerland and the administrative coordination of Prof. Panos Trahanias from FORTH-Greece. The goal of LIFEPLUS is to push the limits of current Augmented Reality (AR) technologies, exploring the processes of narrative design of fictional spaces (e.g. frescos-paintings) where users can experience a high degree of realistic interactive immersion. Based on a captured/real-time video of a real scene, the project is oriented in enhancing these scenes by allowing the possibility to render realistic 3D simulations of virtual flora and fauna (humans, animals and plants) in real-time. According to its key mobile AR technology, visitors are provided with a see-through Head-Mounted-Display (HMD), earphone and mobile computing equipment. A tracking system determines their location within the site and audio-visual information is presented to them in context with their exploration, superimposed on their current view of the site. LIFEPLUS extends existing AR systems and provides key new technologies to render lively, real-time animations and simulations of ancient virtual life (3D human groups, animals and plants). Link...

In this article we present a general classification of the different approaches that might be employed to constitute a visual representation of a cultural heritage item, including the ones featuring the use of traditional tools as the ones exhibiting the inclusion of modern 2D and 3D digital technologies. In order to establish a coherent taxonomy, specific elements characterizing such approaches will be discussed and employed to assist the definition of a general conceptual framework that will enable the classification of the possible design choices according to their specific characteristics. Finally, a selection of modeling and simulation techniques which are specifically related to the creation process underlying the virtual representation of heritage items by means of modern visualization technologies will be explored alongside the main areas of preferences linked to the major actors active in the cultural heritage...

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of- the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are...

This paper presents an innovative 3D reconstruction of ancient frescos-paintings through the real-time revival of their fauna and flora, featuring groups of virtual animated characters with artificial life dramaturgical behaviors in an immersive, fully mobile Augmented Reality environment. The main goal is to push the limits of current Augmented Reality (AR) and virtual storytelling technologies and exploring the processes of mixed narrative design of fictional spaces (e.g. frescos-paintings) where visitors can experience a high degree of realistic immersion. Based on a captured/real- time video sequence of the real scene in a video-see-through HMD setup, these scenes are enhanced by the seamless accurate real-time registration and 3D rendering of realistic complete simulations of virtual flora and fauna (virtual humans and plants) in a real-time storytelling scenario based environment. Thus the visitor of the ancient site is presented with an immersive and innovative multi-sensory interactive trip to the...

CHESS (Cultural Heritage Experiences through Socio-personal interactions and Storytelling) is a project, co-funded by the European Commission, that aims to integrate interdisciplinary research in personalization and adaptivity, digital storytelling, interaction methodologies, and narrative-oriented mobile and mixed reality technologies, with a sound theoretical basis in museological, cognitive, and learning sciences. The principal objective of CHESS is to research, implement and evaluate both the experiencing of personalized interactive stories for visitors of cultural sites and their authoring by the cultural content experts....