Virtual-reality heritage presentation at Ename

Virtual reality (VR) and multimedia are central components of the heritage presentation programme at Ename, Belgium. These techniques are designed to help the visitor understand and experience the past as revealed through archaeological and historical research. The programme uses different VR approaches to bring to life archaeological remains, standing monuments and elements of the historical landscape for visitors. We named the overall project “Ename 974” to commemorate the foundation date of the first mediaeval settlement. Its major aim is to communicate new insights about archaeology, history and conservation to the general public, paying great attention to scholarly accuracy and by means of multimedia technologies. Among the most important of these technologies are on-site virtual reconstructions, museum multimedia and educational projects. Since 1998, the Ename Centre for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation has served as an international extension of the Ename 974 project. Its goal is to develop new technologies and new standards for heritage presentation. It also coordinates heritage presentation projects and educational programmes for partner sites around the world     

Combining image and model based rendering of an archaeological site

Preservation of cultural heritage through digital technology can only be successful if people can experience sites and reconstructions in an intuitive, yet convincingly realistic manner. A way to get people interested in the past is highlighting the link of the past with the present.

In this paper, an entire pipeline is discussed that augments an existing Quicktime VR object movie of the virtual reconstruction of an archaeological site with images of the site as it exists today. The new images are generated using an image-based rendering approach.