Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
To make the location-based AR an immersive experience, we displayed 3D
objects, 2D images and artistic video films to augment the reality of a village
landscape.
To enhance the immersive experience we decided to use the Unity gaming
engine in an AR settlement based on image-recognition. The reconstruction of a 3D
complex scene (the prehistoric house) benefited from special graphical effects (such
as lighting). The experience is similar to that produced by a video game. Metaio's
SDK integrates with the Unity3d.
Our experiment benefited from the use of mobile devices which favor the
mobility of the user, the enhancement of the exploratory AR experience (as a mix
of art and science), and the wide scale implementation of open-air AR projects. The
experience and its immersive effect can be further enhanced by using mobile devices
with larger display screens, e.g., tablet PCs.
The Layar platform exploited in the first stage of our Art-chaeology experiment
allows for rapid development and the testing of the technology, while Metaio's
technology and the Junaio browser provides advanced functionalities and the option
of authoring complex AR applications. Furthermore, this platform allows the
creation of video textures and linking of different AR channels in order to create
complex story-based scenarios.
The application developed provided an interactive and engaging way of transmit-
ting historical information.
Finally, our method and technology also had an educational impact on the
viewers. The process of explaining the real environment with multimedia augmen-
tations and the use of art as a vehicle for the transmission of information had a
noticeable educational effect, especially on children.
The method proposed in this chapter, namely of exploiting the potential of aug-
mentations in a fractal-like analysis, also demonstrated its pedagogical efficiency
whenappliedtotheVadastra Primary and Secondary Schools, during the course of
two campaigns in conducted in 2012 and 2013 (Fig.
15.16
).
15.12
Conclusions
The present paper offers an argument in favor of the importance of augmentation
as an evocative instrument, in a mixed strategy combining art and science, as art-
chaeology. It also presents the fractals as a possible augmentative process in this
hybrid strategy.
From the point of view of visual art, the augmentation is an additive method that
enriches a picture in a rhetoric manner. Artistic reconstructions of the experiments
in the form of re-enactments also produced a powerful immersive effect when
immaterial heritage was presented in its original contexts. And finally, colors and
textures created artistic compositions of great aesthetic and immersive value.
