Immersive experience of current and ancient reconstructed cultural attractions

Abstract

Manual and automatic reconstruction of cultural assets are well-established fields of research. Especially with the recent introduction of methods such as KinectFusion even low cost sensors can be employed to create digital copies of the environment. However, experiencing these 3D models is still an active issue considering the wide variety of interaction devices for immersive Virtual Reality. The balance between system mobility and freedom of interaction is still a challenge: either the user's view is totally covered through digital data, what complicates the intuitive interaction with the virtual world enormously, or projection-based installations are used which are usually stationary. In our paper we focus on creating a low-cost, fully immersive and non-stationary Virtual Reality setup that allows the user to intuitively experience cultural heritage artifacts. For this purpose we explore and analyze recent devices such as the Oculus Rift HMD, the Microsoft Kinect and the Leap Motion controller.