Recreating a medieval urban scene with virtual intelligent characters: steps to create the complete scenario

Authors

  • Ana Paula Cláudio Universidade de Lisboa
  • Maria Beatriz Carmo Universidade de Lisboa
  • Alexandre Antonio de Carvalho Universidade de Lisboa
  • Willian Xavier Universidade de Lisboa
  • Rui Filipe Antunes Universidade de Lisboa ; MIRALab, University of Geneva, Switzerland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2017.6557

Keywords:

virtual archaeology, digital archaeology, cyber-archaeology, cultural heritage, 3D reconstruction, 3D data interoperability

Abstract

From historical advice to 3D modeling and programming, the process of reconstructing cultural heritage sites populated with virtual inhabitants is lengthy and expensive, and it requires a large set of skills and tools. These constraints make it increasingly difficult, however not unattainable, for small archaeological sites to build their own simulations. In this article, we describe our attempt to minimize this scenario. We describe a framework that makes use of free tools or campus licenses and integrates the curricular work of students in academia. We present the details of methods and tools used in the pipeline of the construction of the virtual simulation of the medieval village of Mértola in the south of Portugal. We report on: a) the development of a lightweight model of the village, including houses and terrain, and b) its integration in a game engine in order to c) include a virtual population of autonomous inhabitants in a simulation running in real-time.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Ana Paula Cláudio, Universidade de Lisboa

BioISI - Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculdade de Ciências

Maria Beatriz Carmo, Universidade de Lisboa

BioISI - Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculdade de Ciências

Alexandre Antonio de Carvalho, Universidade de Lisboa

BioISI - Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculdade de Ciências

Willian Xavier, Universidade de Lisboa

BioISI - Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculdade de Ciências

Rui Filipe Antunes, Universidade de Lisboa ; MIRALab, University of Geneva, Switzerland

BioISI - Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculdade de Ciências

MIRALab, University of Geneva

References

ds Max (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from: http://www.autodesk.com/products/3ds-max/overview

Anderson, E.F., Mcloughlin, L., Liarokapis, F., Peters, C., Petridis, P., & Freitas, S. (2010). Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review. Virtual Reality, 14(4), 255–275. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10055-010-0177-3

Antunes, R. F., & Magnenat-Thalmann, N. (2016a). Human crowd simulation: what can we learn from alife?”. In Artificial Life Conference 2016 (pp. 38–45). New York, NY, USA: MIT Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7551/978-0-262-33936-0-ch012

Antunes, R. F., & Magnenat-Thalmann, N. (2016b). Bio-inspired virtual populations: adaptive behavior with affective feedback. In 29th International Conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents (pp. 101–110). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2915926.2915929

ArcGIS (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http://desktop.arcgis.com

Arteria3D (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http://arteria3d.myshopify.com

AutoCAD (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http://www.autodesk.com

Basterra, P. S., & Pintado, J. A. (2015). Forum Renascens (Los Bañales de Uncastillo, Zaragoza): Archaeology of Architecture of the Roman forum in the service of the dissemination through the Virtual Archaeology. Virtual Archaeology Review, 6(12), 109–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/var.2015.4166

Blender (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http:www.blender.org

Bogdanovych, A., Rodriguez-Aguilar, J. A., Simoff, S., & Cohen, A. (2010). Authentic interactive reenactment of cultural heritage with 3D virtual worlds and artificial intelligence. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 24(6), 617–647. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/08839514.2010.492172

Capurro, C., Nollet, D., & Pletinckx, D. (2014). Reconstruction of the interior of the Saint Salvator abbey of Ename around 1290. Virtual Archaeology Review, 5(11), 34–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/var.2014.4174

Carpetudo, C., & Lopes, G. (2015). The old parish church of Montemor-o-Novo in the 16th century-a manuelino example and its virtual reconstruction. In Digital Heritage 2015, (pp. 729–730). http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2015.7419614

Ciechomski, P. H., Ulicny, B., Cetre, R., & Thalmann, D. (2004). A case study of a virtual audience in a reconstruction of an ancient Roman Odeon in Aphrodisias. In 5th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (VAST 2004), (pp. 47–56). http://dx.doi.org/10.2312/VAST/VAST04/009-017

CityEngine (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http://www.esri.com

Darmas, D. (1509). Livro das fortalezas situadas no extremo de Portugal e Castela por Duarte de Armas, Escudeiro da Casa do Rei D. Manuel I. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/digitarq.arquivos.pt/viewer?id=3909707

Daz3d (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http://www.daz3d.com

Dylla, K., Frischer, B., Muller, P., Ulmer, A., & Haegler, S. (2009). Rome Reborn 2.0: A case study of virtual city reconstruction using procedural modeling techniques. In 37th CAA Conference 2009, (pp. 62–66).

Fita, J., Besuievsky, G., & Patow, G. (2017). A perspective on procedural modeling based on structural analysis. Virtual Archaeology Review, 8(16), 44–50. http://doi.org/10.4995/var.2017.5765

Frischer B., Abernathy D., Guidi G., Myers J., Thibodeau C., Salvemini A., Muller P., Hofstee P., & Minor, B. (2008). Rome Reborn. In ACM SIGGRAPH new tech demos (SIGGRAPH'08), Article 34.

Gillespie, S. D. , & Volk, M.(2014). A 3D model of Complex A, La Venta, México. Digital applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 1(3), 72–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2014.06.001

Gutierrez, D., Fricher, B., Cerezo, E., Sobreviela, E., & Gomez, A. (2005). Virtual crowds in a digital Colosseum. In Virtual Retrospect 2005, (pp. 82–87). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2007.01.007

Heigeas, L., Lucianiz, A., Thollotx, J., & Castagnéz, N. (2013). A physically-based particle model of emergent crowd behaviors. In Graphikon’03, (pp. 5931–5939). http://artis.imag.fr/Publications/2003/HLTC03/crowd_Graphicon.pdf

Kennedy, S., Fawcett, R., Miller, A., Dow, L., Sweetman, R., Field, A., Campbell, A., Oliver, I., McCaffery, J., & Allison, C. (2013). Exploring Canons and Cathedrals with Open Virtual Worlds: The recreation of St Andrews Cathedral, St Andrews Day, 1318. In International Congress on Digital Heritage, Vol. 2, (pp. 273–280). http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2013.6744764

Macias, S. (1996a). Mértola Islâmica: Estudo Histórico-Arqueológico do Bairro da Alcáçova, Séculos XII-XIII. Campo Arqueológico de Mértola.

Macias, S. (1996b). Islamic quarter. Accessed on 30-05-2016: http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;pt;Mon01;9;en

Martínez, S., Lopes, V., Torres, C., Palma, M. F., & Macias, S. (2009). XXII Mértola Islâmica. A madina e o arrabalde. Campo Arqueológico de Mértola. Accessed on 13-06-2016: https://comum.rcaap.pt/handle/10400.26/2130

Mixamo Fuse (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http://www.mixamo.com/fuse

Musialski, P., Wonka, P., Aliaga, D. G., Wimmer, M., Gool, L. V., & Purgathofer, W. (2013). A survey of urban reconstruction. Computer Graphics Forum, 32(6), 146–177. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cgf.12077

Muller, P., Wonka, P., Haegler, S., Ulmer, A., & Gool, L. (2006). Procedural modeling of buildings. ACM Transactions On Graphics, 25(3), 614–623. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1179352.1141931

Maim, J.,Haegler, S.;Yersin, B.,Muller, P.,Thalmann, D., & Van Gool, L. (2007). Populating ancient Pompeii with crowds of virtual humans. In 8th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage – VAST2007 (pp. 26-–30).

OpenTopography (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http://opentopo.sdsc.edu/datasets

Rodrigues, N., Magalhães, L.; Moura, J. P, & Chalmers, A. (2014). Reconstruction and generation of virtual heritage sites. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 1(3-4), 92–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2014.06.003

Rua, H., & Gil, A. (2014). Automation in heritage – parametric and associative design strategies to model inaccessible monuments: the case-study of Eighteenth-Century Lisbon Águas Livres Aqueduct. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 1(3–4), 82–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2014.06.002

Saldaña, M. (2015). An integrated approach to the procedural modeling of ancient cities and buildings. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 30(Suppl. 1), i148–i163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2014.06.002

SecondLife (2016). Retrieved from http://secondlife.com

Trescak, T., Bogdanovych, A., & Simoff, S. (2014). City of Uruk 3000 B.C: Using genetic algorithms, dynamic planning and crowd simulation to re-enact everyday life of Ancient Sumerians. In Conference on the Simulation of the Past to Understand Human History (SPUH 2014).

Unity (2016). Retrieved in January 2016 from http://unity3d.com

Downloads

Published

2017-07-26

How to Cite

Cláudio, A. P., Carmo, M. B., de Carvalho, A. A., Xavier, W., & Antunes, R. F. (2017). Recreating a medieval urban scene with virtual intelligent characters: steps to create the complete scenario. Virtual Archaeology Review, 8(17), 31–41. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2017.6557

Issue

Section

Articles