Utilising 3D Realistic Models in Serious Games for Cultural Heritage

1. Introduction

Nowadays, there are techniques available to create realistic 3D models of practically any object, among which are also cultural heritage assets. These 3D models can actually represent reality in extremely vivid ways. This can be very useful in many virtual reality applications. Realistic textured 3D models can be created using different methods. When based on 3D digitization, these methods may include laser scanning, digital imaging or a combination. In the cultural heritage domain, a 3D model can represent a whole building but also smaller objects, such as exhibits in museums, decorative elements, etc. They are very important media in serious games applications for cultural heritage, because they can help people that are not specialized in this scientific domain, such as tourists, school children, college students, museum visitors and others, to gain experience, expand their knowledge and stimulate their interest. The basic goal of this paper is to demonstrate and evaluate the usage of realistic 3D models created with 3D reconstruction techniques (mainly image-based) in a serious game developed for the Stoa of Attalos monument, in Athens Greece. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: in the next section an overview of the most important implementations of serious games in the cultural heritage domain is presented; then some basic thoughts concerning geomatics and 3D modelling are presented; in section 5 the creation of the 3D models of the objects used for the development of the “Discovering the Stoa of Attalos” application is presented and explained; next the development of the application is described in detail, highlighting the various decisions taken; furthermore, the evaluation of the application is presented, and finally, some concluding remarks and the future perspectives of the project are introduced.