Anestis Koutsoudis

A dynamic web-based 3D virtual museum framework based on open data

Continuous developments in the web and computer technologies along with an increasing availability of game engines contribute to an expansion of techniques that bridge culture and education with gaming. In addition, open linked data technologies pave the way towards the semantic web of the future by exploiting the abundance in data availability. In this work we present an innovative and content-dynamic web-based framework, which relies and exploits the rich content of distributed web cultural resources and supports the creation of custom virtual exhibitions for cultural and educational purposes based on gaming technologies.

Realistic Simulation of Cultural Heritage

One of the most challenging problems in the simulation of real environments is to generate worlds that appear realistic and more attractive. It becomes increasingly challenging when the simulated environment focuses on minors students, because the young generation has high demands on simulation systems due to their experience in computer gaming. Virtual museums are among the most important simulation environments, which present cultural and educational content for everyone. Their purpose is to enrich the users experience by allowing an intuitive interaction with the museum artifacts and to offer knowledge with the most pleasant ways. This paper focuses on the aspects of realistic simulations in the development of virtual 3D environments for Cultural Heritage applications. This study includes aspects regarding some of the most high-tech image effects, applicable artificial intelligence methods, powerful game engines, how real object can be reconstructed realistically and how all those features may be combined to produce realistic, pleasant, productive and educative environments.

Delphi4Delphi: Data Acquisition of Spatial Cultural Heritage Data for Ancient Delphi, Greece

For Digital Cultural Heritage, 3D modeling is an essential practice for the identification, monitoring, conservation, restoration, and enhancement of archaeological objects from artifacts to monuments. In this context 3D computer graphics can support archaeology and heritage policy, offering scholars a “sixth sense” for the understanding of the past, as it allows them to almost relive it. In addition, current trends for 3D video gaming (serious games) and scientific storytelling provide a variety of new approaches towards new, enhanced, and realistic experiences of the past. The research project “Digital Enterprise for Learning Practice of Heritage Initiative FOR Delphi” (Delphi4Delphi) targets most of these issues. In particular, it focuses on educational, research, and social implications of digital heritage, through the use of modern technologies such as digital optical documentation, geographical information systems and georeferencing, big data, video and interactive content production for education, virtual and augmented reality, cyber archaeometry, and Cyber-Archaeology. This chapter presents an overview of Delphi4Delphi in relation to the issues of acquisition, curation, and dissemination of spatial cultural heritage data.

Applying conformal geometry for creating a 3D model spatial-consistent texture map

The aim of this research is to achieve spatial consistency of the UV map. We present an approach to produce a fully spatially consistent UV mapping based on the planar parameterisation of the mesh. We apply our method on a 3D digital replica of an ancient Greek Lekythos vessel. We parameterise the mesh of a 3D model onto a unit square 2D plane using computational conformal geometry techniques. The proposed method is genus independent, due to an iterative 3D mesh cutting procedure. Having now the texture of a 3D model depicted on a spatially continuous two dimensional structure enables us to efficiently apply a vast range of image processing based techniques and algorithms.