ViRS Museum

- Virtual Roman Shipwreck Museum -

A journey under the sea About the TECHNOLOGIES

This page shows how all the virtual activities of the ViRS Museum (did you miss them? Go to The VISIT section) can really be implemented with the state-of-the-art technologies.

For each suggested item (projector, headphones, motion sensors, vr headset and so on) an exact cost is always indicated. If possible, two options are proposed as well, one relating to the high-cost solution and one to the low cost one.

Starting with the basics 1. PROJECTIONS

1.a. Projections without motion sensors

Projections without motion sensors are the simplest kinds of technologies present in ViRS Museum. They feature an easy data acquisition and processing, which varies depending on the content of the projection. There can be:

• real actors in real sets, in the case of:
  • first storytelling corridor: Marcus and Livia's presentation inside their villa;
  • room about the construction of the ship: Marcus, Livia and seamen building the ship, in the Roman-like port;
  • second storytelling corridor: Marcus and Livia's farewell, in an undefined marble/stone place by the sea;
  • Captain Marcus' cabin: Marcus' movements while answering the children's questions asked by means of a tablet;
  • 360° immersive theatre; all the projections that will be synchronized to recreate a 360° full immersive experience about the sinking of the ship;
  • last Captain Marcus' speech; Capatain Marcus, floating in the water leaning against a piece of wood, asks the VR-players to recover his wedding ring;
  • last storytelling corridor: Livia alone, home, watching the sea in the exact setting portrayed in the 'Farewell' corridor, as promised to her Marcus.

• or plain nature, without actors, in the case of:
  • cloud videos in all the rooms and corridors that feature the presence of ceiling projections of sky (Port room, Navigation Room, Storm corridor);
  • calm sea video in the Navigation room, where visitors have to briefly walk on calm sea before going up on the wood and glass real reconstruction of the ship;
  • storm video in the Storm corridor, on the floor, on the ceiling and on the walls;
  • underwater video in the Underwater room, where every 15 minutes a shark or a manta crosses the ceiling over the visitors.

(All the other projections that were not mentioned above are part of the following section, related to 'Motion sensor projections').

1.b. Motion sensors projections

In the case of motion sensors projections, the data acquisition of the setting/background and of the characters/animals (in the first case, the crew of the ship, and in the latter option, the fish) remains the same as in the previous section, related to simple and plain projections.

In ViRS Museum, visitors can interact with motion sensors projections in three areas:

• in the Navigation Room: on board of the wood and glass real reconstruction of the ship, visitors will be surronded by two projections on the sides of the ship (precisely, on the two walls, one on the left and one on the right), in order to continue the spatial projection of the ship to give a bigger and more real sense of spatiality. Seamen in the foreground will cross these animations: motion sensors will detect if a visitor approaches to one of them, and in this case, will start a brief scene (a line or a joke directed to the visitor, for example);
• in the Underwater Room: fish escape of the fish dynamically created by means of the "Fish-making' virtual activities; these fish are placed in an environment similar to the one really existent along the Albenga coast, that will be shown on all the four walls of the room;
• in the Underwater Room: another fish escape similar to the previous one, but made with default fish and placed on the floor of the room.

The following section shows and explains the different kinds of technologies suggested for the creation of the two previous types of projections.

Buying suggested items (1/3) PROJECTORS

Low-cost: Epson EH-TW7300, with 4K technology, contrast ratio of 160000:1 and 2300 Lumens, + compatible Support for ceiling mounting.
Epson EH-TW7300: 1,895.64€.
Support: 156.65€.

High-cost: Optoma EH505E, with 5000 Lumens, full lens shift, RoomView® compatible, CMS (Colour Management System) + compatible Support for ceiling mounting.
Optoma EH505E: 3,441.53€.
Support: 81.25€.

Buying suggested items (2/3) MOTION SENSORS

Low-cost: Orbbec Astra Pro, a device that brings depth sensing to a connected computer, for providing computer vision that enables face recognition, gesture recognition, human body tracking, three-dimensional measurement and environment perception.
$149.9.

High-cost: Open Pose: software hosted on GitHub that can use any plain webcam to track in real-time the human body, face, and fingers of many persons with very high accuracy.
Free for personal use, $25,000/year for commercial use.

Buying suggested items (3/3) DOME CAMERAS

LEFTEK 5MP 3.6MM P2P Pan/Tilt IP, with 5 megapixel camera, color: 0.005Lux, viewing angle 100° and range and pan speed: 355 ° continuous rotation.
95.59€.

Projectors + Motion sensors + Dome Cameras DISPOSITION

In this section a disposition of projectors, motion sensors and dome cameras is armonized and placed in the context of the biggest room of ViRS Museum, the Underwater Room.

Necessary articles:

• 12 HD dome cameras on the ceiling, connected to a central computer where OpenPose is running for the body tracking.
• 12 projectors immediately near the dome cameras, to project the ceiling with sands and escaping fish
• other 12 projectors (+ 4 for the corners) are placed to project moving fish on the walls. The central computer is connected to the Fish-making game (whose technology is presented in the following section).

The same dynamic applies to the other room that features projectors with motion sensors: the trio 'projectors + motion sensors + dome cameras' (+ a central computer, of course) must be positioned, therefore, also in the Navigation Room.

A matter of touch screens FISH-MAKING

Low cost: GeChic 1503E 15.6 inch FHD 1080p Portable Monitor: full HD 1920x1080 and an excellent 'hands-on' mobile display, light-weighted and extra-slim.
$249.99.

To minimize the expense, the touch screen should be mounted on a simple piece of furniture made of wood or plastic. No chair should be provided, as the game is done from standing.

High cost: MagixKiosk™: can be adjusted easily into four form factors (good for children and for visitors in wheelchairs).
Slim and robust.
32’’HD high brightness LED display.
Up to 40 simultaneous touch point detection.
8319,29 €.

Audio, fans, nebulizer and more SYNCHRONIZATION

The 360° VR immersive experience without headsets needs outstanding projectors, loudspeakers and special effects made by hidden fans.
For a total number of approx. 10 projectors.

RoomView

Creston RoomView ® is a software that allows to synchronize, turn on / off, monitor, manage and control up to 250 projectors simultaneously from one computer.
Free of charge for up to 25 projectors.
5,000$ for more.
Other software that guarantees multimedia synchronization are available on the market, but this is free under 25 projectors, the maximum number that goes beyond that estimated for this room.

Audio (ceiling)

Built-in speakers that are hidden on the ceiling and on the walls, flat and white like them so that they mimetize and can let projections pass over them.

Low-cost: Apart CMX20DT: a two-way built-in loudspeaker that produces a deep and warm sound ideal for speech and music, with thin edge grille with neodymium magnets in order to create an easy and discreet installation.
94€.

Audio (walls)

Low-cost: Indiana Line Tesi Q.
190€.

High-cost: Bose ® Virtually Invisible 591.
622,22€.

Moreover, regarding special effects, little hidden fans also suggest the presence of the wind, while nebulizers can spray water to simulate the fall of sea wave drops.

Information layers: text and images AUGMENTED REALITY

The user interface of this experience is designed according to a user centered design (UCD) approach in order to make it easy to use and intuitive. The AR interface superimposes an information layer over the images captured by the tablet camera. It includes the 3D models of the reconstructed artifacts (helmets or armors), text (historical information about them) and images (Roman soldiers with full-armors and helmets).

This AR experience is marker-based: it uses a two-dimensional pre-defined screen placed near the artifact (helm or armour) in order to help guide the camera pose estimation process.

The workflow is divided in three fundamental steps:

1. Capturing the video input from the camera;
2. Adding the 3D graphics to the scene;
3. Showing the augmented frames as a video stream.

Data acquisition + processing VR TREASURE HUNT

Mapping from underwater images is difficult due to inconsistent lighting conditions, the change of refractive index and the color loss due to the limited penetration distance of certain wavelengths.

Strobes and underwater lights, because of the depth (42 mt) are thus suggested for photogrammetry with cameras protected by cases.

Metal tags can be used as Ground Control Points (GCPs) for georeferencing the project and help the software to find and match identical points in different images.

Suggested use of:

• RealityCapture (4,000€);
• Metashape (3,499€);
• IMAGINE Photogrammetry (integrated collection of software tools).

In particular, RealityCapture is the state-of-the-art all-in-one photogrammetry software solution which automatically extracts accurate 3D models from a set of images and / or laser-scans.

Workflow:

1. scanning the imagery (creating a digital version);
2. image alignment / automatic calibration;
3. solving the orientation parameters;
4. triangulating the images;
5. calculating a polygon mesh;
6. colouring, texturing.

VR Authoring

This is a key step in the definition of the VR treasure hunt: it is the moment in which arises the prototyping of virtual reality environment for the game, among with the building and the reconfiguring of the VR space.

• Unity 3D ($1500): a real-time 3D development platform and most used tool for VR development, that has a direct VR mode to preview the work in an HMD.
• Unreal Engine (UE4) ($3,000): Tools that scale from simple to extremely detailed scenes, environments and characters; Frequent updates for the latest hardware and software including also our HTC Vive.
• Blender (open source).

Devices

4 HTC VIVE VR headsets. It has been chosen this device because it is the state-of-the-art for what regards VR headsets and because in the controller it has one big button to grab and release objects (rocks, the ring, woods).
739€ + 140€ for each controller.

4 Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones, which are light (approx. 200 gr), with bluethooth (essential condition, with four blind people walking), adjustable also for children and with up to 20 hours of autonomy. They also completely suffocate sounds from external areas.
379€.

Not really a virtual activity 3D model ship

Softwares are also necessary for one of the analog/traditional experiences: the little touchable 3D model of the ship.

Steps:

1. 3D Modeling / CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software: creation of a 3D model of an object;
   • Free: Blender, Autodesk 123D.
   • Priced: AutoCAD (2141€/year), 3D Studio Max (2049€/year), Rhinoceros (Windows: 995€, Mac: 695€).
2. Slicing / CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing) software: conversion of 3D model in mechanical controls, which allow the 3D printer to understand how it should move;
   • Free: Slic3r, Cura.
   • Priced: Simplify 3D (149$ or 134€).
3. Client software: it is the 3D printer control software used to give printing instructions and to set the machine.
   • Free: Repetier-Host, Printrun.