Spatial Heritage Review Issue #3, January 2024
This month: BBC + Minecraft, digital anime pilgrimages, thoughtful AR teleportation, easy Sketchfab scrollytelling, & much more!
Hey! I hope you’re having a great start to the month.
As for me in January, I delivered a webinar about 3D + storytelling (slides here for anyone interested), joined the IIIF 3D Group summit in Washington DC (more about that here), and continue my weekly top 10 collections of cultural heritage 3D (n.b. you can subscribe to these too, if you like).
As always, please share feedback & suggestions by leaving a comment on any post. Story suggestions for next month are always welcome, just drop me a message at nebulousflynn@substack.com.
Main stories below with masses more for you to explore in the Issue #3 Store Room.
Best,
Tom
Interactive Games
On 16th of January BBC Earth in collaboration with Minecraft Education released the Planet Earth III Minecraft World which features “ immersive landscapes, animals and game-based learning resources, inspired by stories in the latest landmark series from BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit”
More info, via BBC Studios Press and Becky Keene
Virtual Visits / Tours
I love this: a VR Chat world that uses photogrammetry to recreate the historic village of Bibury in England, the setting for the Japanese manga Kin-iro Mosaic. The concept is intended to "recreate the experience of an anime pilgrimage in VR." While not directly comparable, it does make me wonder how the cultural sector might be able to generate such enthusiasm for virtual visits. Link via nobel choco
Augmented Reality
The simplest use of augmented reality is probably rendering a 3D model on top of or ‘in’ you local space - but what does that mean exactly, aside from a demonstration of some clever technology? Even without a lot of additional context, some ‘AR teleportations’ just feel more poignant than others.
A good example is the featured experience featured here in which digitisation expert Ian George transports Pentre Ifan (Ifan’s/Evan’s Village) dolmen back to the quarry in Pembrokeshire, Wales, from whence it originated. Extended video by Ian George.
Virtual Reality
AI powered contextual information for a virtual environment is accessed via a walkie talkie in this video demonstration of BRINK Traveller - seems pretty neat to me! Via Gabrielle Romagnoli.
Software / Hardware
Gaussian splat visualiser and editor SuperSplat v0.13.0 is live! Via Will Eastcott.
Digitisation & Spatial Initiatives and Projects
Gynaikes, Mulieres: Mujeres, Dones, Emakumeak, Mulleres de Grecia y Roma, “An innovative project that seeks to disseminate, through the use of 3D virtualization, the legacy of women in the Classic Mediterranean, favouring diversity, inclusion and gender equality in a world that is still predominantly male” 3D galleries via 3D Stoa.
Tutorials, Learning, & Resources
It has long been a personal wish to be able to easily convert annotated Sketchfab 3D models into “scrollytelling” (imo one of the most accessible ways of interacting with 3D) but I have lacked the coding chops to make this possible.
Luckily for me, Skecthfab API expert Klaas Nienhuis has written an in depth guide on just how to do this - check out this video summary and if you like this kind of thing, I can recommend subscribing to Klaas’s Newsletter, too.
3D Printing
As part of a £4.5m revamp, the Tullie Museum has commissioned a series of 3D printed artefacts, and very handsome they are too. Digitisation/3D by Archaeoptics and colour treatment by Adam Parsons. Article | video.
Miscellaneous 3D
“Bring some color into these grey winter months by taking an interactive tour of 9 beautiful new orchid #3D mode” link via Smithsonian 3D
Events
Upcoming events:
February 26/27
“Scientific Conference – The restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris: experiences and perspectives for the Arabian Peninsula” link via Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
March 21-24 2024
XR4Heritage, online. INVISIBLES, Augmented Art Festival highlighting the unseen in history. 2024 theme: unknown and forgotten African heroes. More info.
April 8-11 2024
Archiving 2024, Washington, DC, USA | More info, both via Roberta Morehouse
May 21-31
Rijksmuseum, 2and3D Conference, Amsterdam | More info.