Circo Maximo Eperience – AR/VR

A particularly interesting project, that of the Circus Maximus Experience, which I have coordinated in recent months, in consultation with the RTI winner of the prestigious call and with the Superintendent, in an articulated and multifaceted path

https://picpanzee.com/media/2125310767582193541_17311879209

This project focuses on archaeological enhancement through the use of AR/VR/VA technologies,

It has undoubtedly presented many aspects of technical-scientific research and for this reason it is well linked, even emotionally, to my interesting and stimulating experiential path conducted in 2009, a pioneering project of AR markerless to be enjoyed in-situ,entirely dedicated to the enhancement of architectural assets of high historical and archaeological value.  

Application research project, in the field of digital interactive representation, a common area of research and study faced in the arcor a PhD in the field of Science of Representatives and years of academic teaching of subjects related to it.

The project i mention, from the caratterand pioneer, several times over the years mentioned in scientific publications, was developed in the two years 2008-2009, a period in which Augmented Reality took its first fragile steps in areas exclusively aimed at marketing. In addition,  we were beginning to foreshadow applications of a more functional nature of technology, trying to develop, beyond its apparent limits, in an attempt to ennoble it to representative science, having intuited its expressive power and consequently its strong potential. Specifically, with regard to my thematic research, the markerless AR system designed with the above purposes,deepened the application possibility of displaying for the for the first time in Italy both the virtual anastilosis and the digital reconstruction of the Tomb of the Winged Demons in Sovana, thanks to the scientific material provided by the Superintendent in charge, to be displayed thensitu,for the first time in 1:1 scalet rying to ensure even a good real-virtual collision.

The testing of the experience was therefore conducted on the spot, to the particular astonishment of passers-by, who did not hesitate to express enthusiasm and amazement  because of the innovative supersensory effect guaranteed by the new AR technology. https://padis.uniroma1.it/bitstream/10805/1356/1/testo.pdf

The long and stimulating research was structured and consequently achieved the first PhD in Augmented Reality declined in technical – architectural fields. This step was followed by a series of training courses aimed mainly at engineers and architects recognized and accredited by their respective Professional Orders.

Ten years later, most of the model's tracking and export procedures have evolved considerably, gradually simplifying, in a magmatic terrain of international research and comparison, always more sofistic, certainly became  disruptive with the advent of the SDK disclosed by Apple and Google.  Interesting, however, is that the workflow for optimising and exporting three-dimensional models in real has not changed substantially. The research,more and more interesting, in order to be able to better contextualize with the reality in the making, now rather mature, abandoned the only academic contexts finally moves towards the first attempts at massive penetration and is geared towards pioneering developments aimed massively at the tourist enjoyment, now pursued with a tracking technology substantially more advanced and with handheld devices with computational capabilities that allow the creation of multiple experiences. Rome becomes the protagonist of this process of renewal in the European field. It was born in close collaboration with the Capitoline Superintendent the project of the Circus Maximo Experience, which for its complexity and high scientificity involves numerous professionals of origin heterogeneous, exactly how it is desirable to be a visual communication project that must best decline the expressive sintasis of the new interactive visual technology.

Circo Maximo Experience: AR-VR-VA

The project in an urban area is progressive:  

The project to enhance the archaeological area of the Circus Maximus is located within the innovative strand of use of sites with historical and artistic value, with a progressive character, defined by the use of interactive technologies of visualization related to the current paradigm of industry 4.0 innovation.

Eight Experiences integrated into a single AR/VR App

The project concept is articulated in a digital storytelling that involves several experiences aimed at the pursuit of a 'single goal, that of raising the user emotionally to the historical area, interested intervention.

 The user wearing a headset prepared for the housing of a mobile type device, is placed in a position to visualize the historical-architectural evolution that took place in the Murcia Valley, starting from the period protohistoric, dwelling on the Republican, Imperial, Medieval, until the period of the Modern Age. The route is characterized by 8 stations, corresponding to 8 integrated experiences (AR/VR), and each of them allows the visual and interactive inspection of a particular historical period, carefully reconstructed with the valuable contribution of the contribution provided by the Chapter Superintendent.

Comprehensive understanding of the state of places

It is known that the enhancement of a place, its appreciation, and the respect that naturally results, needs the cognitive factor, its in-depth understanding.

For these reasons, the experience as a whole has a main objective: to provide the user at the end of his journey with an exhaustive understanding of the state of the places, completely different and more aware of what is currently it can be denoted simply by looking at static graphic elaborations, the pre-existences of the medieval age, the ruins of the republican/imperial cavea or the carefully arranged finds in the area.

Engagement- edutainment: active user in the enjoyment of each experience

In the process of learning about the succession of building organisms, the neuralgic interventions that have affected the area, the component ofthe edutainment plays a key role, the user is in fact provided with the possibility of an inspection fully active, free and easy visual of each of the various reconstructions, these in fact as a passive user becomes active user of the application. Thanks to the interactivity provided by the visual technology used, which does not involve constrained views, each visitor is able to linger at will and visually inspect the various reconstructed portions, pandering to the personal curiosity and subjective or cultural sensitivities,in a virtuous process resulting from engagement and memorization facilitated what was fully experienced.

Experimental clarification of AR / VR technologies

This cognitive awareness of places, is accompanied by a further process of real technological education of visitors and their knowledge, metabolization of innovative visual technologies, from the most still confused and therefore not properly understood in their expressive potential/limits to the state of the art.

The route thus conceived therefore aims to offer a range of the different fruits currently possible in a large outdoor  area, clarifying the aspects, thanks to the use/experimentation of the different visualization technologies used in the experiences of the path, which therefore becomes formative, if also observed at the same time by this interesting and contemporary optics.

Functional communication direction to the characteristics of each technology

As artistic director, the communication direction that I considered most appropriate is the one that intentionally resorted specifically to VR or AR, according to adoption criteria aimed at enhancing the specific peculiarities that distinguish them, By delegating to VR the most merely descriptive/narrative phases in which storytelling, the emotional factor is a predominant factor, but entrusting theaugmentedreality with the delicate task of overcoming itonly allows digital content to be seen directly in the real world, which isover-imposed to the observed scene and perfectly recorded from the observer's point of view.

The two technologies, apparently similar, therefore fulfill in the project the specific purposes for which they were created, that of ensuring an immersive factor, even detached from the surrounding real spatial context,. typical of VR and to allow maximum exhaustive knowledge of a real place,typical of AR, in a visual process in which the Real data is predominant compared to the Digital data in the observed scene.

Tito's arch materializes fascinatingly under the eyes of the observer, and so it happens for the cavea, or by looking at the entire reconstructions of the Circus in the two most relevant temporal intervals and in medieval/modern periods, but the whole thing this happens by contemplating different rates of digital content in each of these experiences.

In the proactive offer aimed at investigating/offering a range of appropriately differentiated variations, to ensure a greater cognitive and liking stimulus, the project takes a further step forward and in spite of the limited and objective capabilities computational, offers a good immersive factor even in AR,more properly in the experiencesof the Tabernae,which allow you tomove inside them and at the same time observe the external reconstructions of the prospectus, always having the co-existence of the Royal,and thus avoiding the perception of alienation from thecontext, typical of immersive VR.

Case history - AR outdoor markerless  for relevant content

Importantly, the project differs in several technical and executive aspects from what is currently being implemented and it is certainly possible to say that from this point of view it is an interesting case history of two technologies on the national scene. It is an application that really contemplates VR and outdoor augmented reality experiences, which manages a three-dimensional space of large sizes, but does not relegate to that factor. "It's not just an infographic, and therefore solving the objective difficulties that reside in the export in the Real of three-dimensional bodies that are objectively computationally relevant for a mobile-realtime enjoyment. . 

Case history: Stereoscopia in AR

Looking at the design of the application from an exquisitely technical angle, two other factors are highlighted, the first relevant, is that the construction of a sequencing of interactive experiences included in a single smartphone app involves a particular management of software compilation structurally more articulated than that necessary to focus on a single experience and rather innovative factor is the stereoscopic rendering of the experiences of augmented reality in it present.

Concept of the App aimed at ensuring the fluidity  of experiences of use

Having to turn to a large number of visitors, the project appears to be reasonably calibrated in accordance with the actual computational capabilities of thehardware that implements it, with a percentage of the use rate of the CPU, designed primarily to ensure the continuity and fluidity of all experiences, with a good graphic level achieved, avoiding the risk factors arising from a possible stress of the device, as detected by the appropriate load tests conducted to date, during the testing  and tuning phases of the application.

Potential developments following upgrade devices

If  the current device is upgraded, the software platform is built and much of the cognitive know-how, the  necessary pipeline, can be used to enable evolve the project according to directions of refinement conducted on the detail of the contents and their photorealistic rendering.

Below are some tests that aim to define a new pipeline aimed at increasing the photorealism of the digital object, thanks to the new definition of materials and the possibility of making interactive even the light reflections on them, you do not it excludes the possibility of increasing this workflow to date in the research and understanding phase, in the next upgrade, considering Circus Maximo Experience a project worthy of in-depth and research.

Tiziana Primavera

Innovation Manager-MISE

 AR Ph.D.-  AR/VR Senior Specialist - Digital Storytelling Expert

  Interactive XR PhotorealismTechniques Researcher