Tutbury Castle : Recovering a period site

Abstract

This paper proposes a method for virtual reconstruction of a ruin in three dimensions, using a number of sources. The case study that accompanies this paper shows an example of the virtual restoration of Tutbury castle in Staffordshire UK which aims to represent it as accurately as possible following previous studies on the history of the castle and archaeological digs. Autodesk Maya is used to assemble the reconstruction of the castle and try out theories where more ambiguous sources replace primary evidence, this is then rendered in Epic's UDK game engine, then displayed in a video fly-through as well as a format suitable for viewing on a website. The project successfully recreates Tutbury Castle's past architecture more accurately than previous representations using ambiguous sources including period paintings, period floor plans, archeological and topological as well as written first hand description as evidence. This could easily be repeated on other ruins with the same successful results, creating a visual documentary of the country's heritage. Using evidence from a number of sources Using 3D games technology to bring evidence together in a realistic, efficient and controllable manner.