A Digital Reconstruction of a Historical Building and Virtual Reintegration of Mural Paintings to Create an Interactive and Immersive Experience in Virtual Reality
Source abstract
Abstract
Nowadays, virtual reality technologies and immersive virtual reality (VR) apps allow people to view, explore, engage with and learn about historic monuments and buildings, historic sites, and even historic scenes. To preserve our cultural heritage for future generations. it is essential that damaged and dilapidated historic artefacts are accurately documented, and that steps are taken to improve user experiences in the areas of virtual visits, science and education. This paper describes an approach to reconstruct and restore historic buildings and mural paintings. The work process uses digital models that are then inserted into an interactive and immersive VR environment. Windows-Mixed Reality is used to visualize the said VR environment. The work method was applied at a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), thereby creating a virtual three dimensional (3D) rendering of the architectural structures of the St Augustine Church in La Laguna and its murals. A combination of topography and terrestrial photogrammetry was used to reconstruct its architectural features, and the digital imaging tool DStretch® to recover its murals. The resulting 3D model was then inserted into an immersive and interactive VR environment created using the cross-platform game engine Unity. One of the greatest challenges of this project revolved around recovering the dilapidated and virtually nonexistent mural paintings using DStretch®. However, the final result is an immersive and interactive VR environment containing architectural and artistic information created within the video game engine Unity, which thereby allows the user to explore, observe and interact with a cultural heritage site in real time.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: 3D Surveying and Cultural Heritage · Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications · Conservation Techniques and Studies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Higher School of Engineering and Technology, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
Artwork Analysis and Documentation Service (SADOA-SEGAI), Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
Department of Techniques and Projects in Engineering, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
References (66)
Show source-provided references
1. 4D Reconstruction and Visualization of Cultural Heritage: Analyzing Our Legacy through Time
2. The Return of the Siegesburg -3D-Reconstruction of a Diappeared and Forgotten Monument
3. Liarokapis, F., Petridis, P., Andrews, D., and de Freitas, S. (2017). Multimodal Serious Games Technologies for Cultural Heritage. Mixed Reality and Gamification for Cultural Heritage, Springer International Publishing.10.1007/978-3-319-49607-8_15 ↗
4. Learning Cultural Heritage by Serious Games10.1016/j.culher.2013.04.004 ↗
5. Gaitatzes, A., Christopoulos, D., and Roussou, M. (2001, January 28–30). Reviving the Past: Cultural Heritage Meets Virtual Reality. Proceedings of the 2001 Conference on Virtual Reality, Archeology, and Cultural Heritage—VAST ’01, Glyfada, Greece.10.1145/585009.585011 ↗
6. Development of a Virtual Museum Including a 4D Presentation of Building History in Virtual Reality10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W3-361-2017 ↗
7. Woods, E., Billinghurst, M., Looser, J., Aldridge, G., Brown, D., Garrie, B., and Nelles, C. (2004, January 15–18). Augmenting the Science Centre and Museum Experience. Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques in Austalasia and Southe East Asia—GRAPHITE ’04, Singapore.10.1145/988834.988873 ↗
8. Virtual Reconstruction of Paintings as a Tool for Research and Learning10.1016/j.culher.2013.06.003 ↗
9. Reintegración Virtual de Lagunas. Las Pinturas de La Sala de Los Reyes de La Alhambra de Granada
10. Methods for 3D Digitization of Cultural Heritage10.1016/j.culher.2006.10.007 ↗
11. Burgos, M., Castaneda, B., and Aguilar, R. (2019). Virtual Reality for the Enhancement of Structural Health Monitoring Experiences in Historical Constructions, Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-99441-3_46 ↗
12. Laser Interference-Based Techniques and Applications in Structural Inspection of Works of Art10.1007/s00216-006-0974-4 ↗
13. Technical Photography for Mural Paintings: The Newly Discovered Frescoes in Aci Sant’ Antonio (Sicily, Italy)10.14568/cp2015001 ↗
14. Practical Notes on Ultraviolet Technical Photography for Art Examination10.14568/cp2015006 ↗
15. Multispectral Imaging System Using 12 Interference Filters for Mapping Pigments10.14568/cp2015005 ↗
16. Mora, P., Mora, L., and Philippot, P. (2003). La Conservación de Las Pinturas Murales, Universida Externado de Colombia.
17. Ferrer Morales, A. (1995). La Pintura Mural: Su Soporte, Conservación, Restauración y Las Técnicas Modernas, Universidad de Sevilla.
18. Del Pino, C. (2005). Pintura Mural. Conservación y Restauración, S.L.. CIE Inversiones Editoriales Dossat-2000.
19. Assessment of Fresco Detachments through a Non-Invasive Acoustic Method10.1016/j.jsv.2004.07.011 ↗
20. Non-Destructive EDXRF-Analysis of the Golden Haloes of Giotto’s Frescos in the Chapel of the Scrovegni in Padua10.1016/S0168-583X(03)01165-0 ↗
21. Artwork Diagnostics with Fiber-Optic Digital Speckle Pattern Interferometry10.1364/AO.32.006236 ↗
22. Harman, J. (2018, November 26). DStretch Slide Show Index. Available online: http://www.dstretch.com/DStretchSlideshowIndex.html.
23. Harman, J. (2018, November 26). DStretch Help. Available online: http://www.dstretch.com/DStretchHelp.html.
24. Harman, J. (2018, November 26). Using Decorrelation Stretch to Enhance Rock Art Images. Available online: http://www.dstretch.com/AlgorithmDescription.html.
25. Abrigo Con Arte Rupestre de El Tablazo II (Diezma, Granada). Revisión Con DStretch de Los Motivos Pintados
26. Aplicación Dstretch Del Software Image-J. Avance de Resultados En El Arte Rupestre de La Región de Murcia
27. Ariztía, A., and Bordachar, M. (2017). Protección Constitucional Del Patrimonio Cultural Intangible. [Master’s Thesis, Universidad de Chile].
28. Virtual Historical Reconstitution of the Main Altarpiece of the Espírito Santo Church, in Évora: Application of Web-Based Infographics to Cultural Heritage10.14568/cp2015034 ↗
29. Robles, L.G., and García, V.Q. (2015). Nuevas Tecnologías Para Difundir El Patrimonio Cultural: Las Reconstrucciones Virtuales En España. E Rph Rev. Electrón. Patrim. Hist., 150–173.
30. Virtual Tours and Informational Modeling for Conservation of Cultural Heritage Sites10.1016/j.culher.2017.08.007 ↗
31. From 3D Reconstruction to Virtual Reality: A Complete Methodology for Digital Archaeological Exhibition10.1016/j.culher.2009.02.006 ↗
32. Cultural Heritage Interactive 3D Models on the Web: An Approach Using Open Source and Free Software10.1016/j.culher.2009.11.011 ↗
33. El Mundo Virtual En La Restauración. Aplicaciones Virtuales Para La Conservación y Restauración Del Patrimonio
34. La Restauración Virtual: Teoría y Práctica
35. Ioannides, M., Magnenat-Thalmann, N., and Papagiannakis, G. (2017). Mixed Reality and Gamification for Cultural Heritage, Springer International Publishing.10.1007/978-3-319-49607-8 ↗
36. 3D Preservation of Buildings—Reconstructing the Past10.1007/s11042-017-4654-5 ↗
37. Laing, R., Leon, M., and Isaacs, J. (2015, January 22–24). Monuments Visualization: From 3D Scanned Data to a Holistic Approach, an Application to the City of Aberdeen. Proceedings of the 2015 19th International Conference on Information Visualisation, Barcelona, Spain.10.1109/iV.2015.91 ↗
38. 3D Surveying and Modeling of Archaeological Sites. Some Critical Issues10.5194/isprsannals-II-5-W1-145-2013 ↗
39. Augmented Reality Applications for Cultural Heritage Using Kinect10.1186/s13673-015-0040-3 ↗
40. Autodesk (2019, September 11). Drone Photogrammetry-Introducing Autodesk® ReCapTM Photo. Available online: https://blogs.autodesk.com/recap/introducing-recap-photo/.
41. An Enhanced Procedure for the Analysis of Organic Binders in Pompeian’s Wall Paintings from Insula Occidentalis10.1186/s40494-019-0254-1 ↗
42. Digital Image Enhancement with DStretch®: Is Complexity Always Necessary for Efficiency?
43. The Hidden Paintings of Angkor Wat10.1017/S0003598X00101176 ↗
44. Raykovska, M., Bevan, G., Vasilev, I., and Tenekedjiev, V. (2016, January 20–22). An Application of Colour Decorrelation Stretching to Faded Frescoes in a Late Medieval Church. Proceedings of the Poster Presented at the 36th Symposium on Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art and Archaeology, Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens, Greece.
45. Knife-Wing Imagery on El Paso Polychrome: Using DStretch to Reveal Obscured Ceramic Designsnt Details
46. Lost Colours: Photogrammetry, Image Analysis Using the DStretch Plugin, and 3-D Modelling of Post-Firing Painted Pottery from the South West Iberian Peninsula
47. DStretch® and Egyptian Tomb Paintings: A Case Study from Beni Hassan
48. UNESCO (2018, November 27). San Cristóbal de La Laguna-UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Available online: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/929.
49. Cultania (2018, November 27). Cor Ignis: El Renacimiento de la Iglesia de San Agustín-Cultania. Available online: http://cultania.com/cor-ignis-el-renacimiento-de-la-iglesia-de-san-agustin/.
50. Rodríguez, M. (1986). La Pintura En Canarias Durante El Siglo XVIII, Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria.
51. Arquia-Fondation (2019, November 24). Mediateca San Cristóbal de La Laguna. Available online: https://fundacion.arquia.com/es-es/convocatorias/proxima/p/ProximaRealizacion/FichaDetalle?idrealizacion=2220&idparticipacion=6210.
52. Aparicio Resco, P. (2018, November 27). La Reconstrucción Virtual de la Iglesia de San Agustín de La Laguna (Tenerife)—PAR—Arqueología y Patrimonio Virtual. Available online: https://parpatrimonioytecnologia.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/la-reconstruccion-virtual-de-iglesia-san-agustin-de-la-laguna-tenerife/.
53. Blender-Foundation (2019, November 24). Home of the Blender Project-Free and Open 3D Creation Software. Available online: https://www.blender.org/.
54. Aplicación de DStretch-ImageJ a Imágenes Digitales Del Arte Rupestre de Patagonia (Argentina)
55. Petroglyphs as Paintings The Application of Digital Image Enhancement to the Study of Årsand 1, Hordaland, Western Norway
56. “Interpreting” Polychrome Paintings Using DStretch
57. Computer-Assisted Photographic Documentation of Rock Art. Coalition CSIC Thematic Network on Cultural Heritage
58. Colella, M. (2019, October 29). I Cavalieri Della Forra Di Paspardo. I Dipinti Dell’età Del Ferro Nell’arte Rupestre Della Valcamonica. Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, Capo di Ponte. Available online: http://www.simbolisullaroccia.it/archivio/2010/2010_pitture_paspardo_Colella.pdf.
59. The Colours of Rock Art. Analysis of Colour Recording and Communication Systems in Rock Art Research10.1016/j.jas.2014.06.023 ↗
60. Alley, R.E. (1996). Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document for Decorrelation Stretch Decorrelation Stretch, JPL Publication. Version 2.2; ATBD-AST-06.
61. Análisis Macro y Microespacial Del Abrigo Inédito de Puerto Baterno (Agudo, Ciudad Real) y Su Inserción Dentro Del Arte Rupestre Esquemático de Los Montes de Ciudad Real, Valle de Alcudia y Sierra Madrona
62. LIII. On Lines and Planes of Closest Fit to Systems of Points in Space10.1080/14786440109462720 ↗
63. Simplified Calculation of Principal Components10.1007/BF02287921 ↗
64. Karhunen-Loève Analysis of Historical Time Series with an Application to Plantation Births in Jamaica
65. Animaciones Virtuales Aplicadas a La Difusión Del Patrimonio Inmueble. La Villa de Ágreda (Soria) Virtual Animations Applied to Diffusion of Architectural Heritage. The Village of Agreda (Soria)10.4995/var.2014.4187 ↗
66. Gutiérrez Calvache, D., González Tendero, J.B., and Fernández Ortega, R. (2009). Primera Aplicación de D-Stretch-ImajeJ. Mejora Automatizada de Imagen Digital En El Arte Rupestre Cubano. Rupestreweb, Available online: http://www.rupestreweb.info/dstretch-cuba.html.