VIRTUAL MUSEUM NET N MAGNA GRAECIA Pier Augusto Bertacchini, Eleonora Bilotta, Giampiero Di Blasi, Elvira Di Bianco, Pietro Pantano Evolutionary Systems Group University of Calabria
The project! The Virtual Museum Net of Magna Graecia project is financed by the POR (Programma Operativo Regionale) - 2000/2003.! Scientific coordinator of the project is prof. Pier Augusto Bertacchini, a full professor of General Psychology at the University of Calabria
The Evolutionary Systems Group! The project is realized in collaboration with the Evolutionary Systems Group (ESG).! ESG is an interdisciplinary group of professors, researchers, PhD students. In the past years Evolutionary Systems Group was a pioneer in the experimental use of New Information and Communication Technologies for Museums. 1994 - Antimuseo Aristofane An archaeological database about findings and images of the ancient Magna Græcia colonies 1997 - Il museo nell era digitale A CD Rom on the role of museums in digital age
The objectives! The project was born to realize a virtual museum system that promotes an overview of the Calabrian archaeological heritage through the most recent and innovative technologies.! The project has a secondary aim: the creation of a net among universities, schools, museums and other organizations.
The paradigm! The technologies of Information and Communication will allow: " the knowledge of the Calabrian archaeological heritage, through an unitary image and without the disorganization that has always characterized the fruition of Calabrian Culture; " the exploitation of the resources of the territory; " the development in tourist field and in technological industry. KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGIES EXPLOITATION DEVELOPMENT
Web Site! The system foresees the access and the visit of a Web Site.! The innovation of this Web Site concerns: " virtual immersive visits to archeological sites and museums, " three-dimensional reconstructions of archaeological finds.! The user can access to didactic and informative materials (texts, photo and video) regarding the virtual visit. The virtual visits will be supported by Quick Time VR system.! The user can access to the archaeological find and its virtual reconstruction, with the possibility of an interchangeable view of the 3D model and the real object.
Web Site interface: the draft
The territory! The system will be articulated in four access levels of information about Calabrian territory.! The first level contains geographic information about eight Calabrian archaeological areas.! The second level contains the documentation (photos, videos, texts, and so on) about some archaeological sites and museums.! The third level contains information about important non-archeological areas.! The fourth level contains documentation about some cultural and tourist areas.
The net! The virtual museum system will be on:! a central pole, the server, where all geographic information, all documentation and the indexing of the information will be contained. The central pole will be a center for didactics, formation and technological transfer.! more peripheral poles that will have the possibility to benefit in remote the system, to insert and/or to update the data contained in the system.! The net will allow the communication among the poles through news, e-mail, cooperative job and so on.
3D Reconstructions! The development activity of the project foresees three-dimensional reconstructions of some finds of Calabrian Magna Graecia.! Actually a theatre, a temple, a house, an agora, the bronze statues of Riace, and the character Pythagoras have already been reconstructed.! Other virtual reconstructions will be: an Olympic stadium, ancient walls, some mathematical machines.! An athlete, Euclide and Archimede will also be 3D reconstructed.
3D Reconstructions IT Y Locri: theatre Greek theatre: reconstructions of the frontal and back side
3D Reconstructions Agora: reconstruction Temple: reconstruction House: reconstruction
3D Reconstructions IT Y The bronze statues of Riace reconstruction Character Pythagoras reconstruction
Video! In the development activity of the project the realization of some documentary videos is foreseen.! Videos will be based on the history of the following important colonies: Sibari, Crotone, Locri and Reggio Calabria).! A video entitled Colonization and culture in Magna Graecia" has been realized using the techniques of Computer Graphics.! In this video real actors interact in virtual environments.
Video Video: the actors interact in the real and virtual environments
The Virtual Theatre! The realization of a Virtual Theatre for didactics aims is in progress.! In particular, the design of this "artificial" environment leads the final user to interact with Greek and Latin matters in an unconventional manner.! The Virtual Theatre contains 3D Greek masks. These virtual masks are created on Menander s models and are animated to reproduce human facial behaviors.
The Virtual Theatre: Mask Modeling! We realized an authoring system to model and animate Greek masks. Moving some vertices of a basis model it is possible to model several Menander s masks.! The basis model has been created in an external software (3D Studio Max) and imported in our system. The mask of a girl [Bernabò Brea, 2001] and the corresponding model in the authoring system The mask of a slave [Bernabò Brea, 2001] and the corresponding model in the authoring system
The Virtual Theatre: Mask Animation! In this system it is possible to select eight standard facial expressions (neutral, anger, surprise, sadness, fear, joy, disgust, attention) for every modeled mask, as well as to create and save small alterations in these expressions. The standard facial expressions in the authoring system
The Virtual Theatre: Mask Animation! In the system it is also possible to synchronize facial movements with speech on a time-line.! The audio files are pre-recorded by an actor. The text can consist of theatrical Greek or Latin comedies (for example Miles Gloriosus by Plauto).! The key-frame indicating a facial expression or the starting of the speech is shown through a little red point.! A red line indicates the progress of the speech in the animation.! Speech simulation is performed by a pseudo-random movement of the mouth mask.! Moreover it is possible to activate the noise function [Perlin, 1997] to perform small movements of the head and eyes. The timeline panel indicating the audio file sequence
Virtual Reconstruction of two Greek Masks Oûlos neaniskos, a young with flowing hair [Polluce, II century. p.c.] kólax, the coaxer [Polluce, II century. p.c.]
Scientific papers! Bertacchini, P. A., E. Bilotta, S. Battiato, G. Di Blasi, A. Talarico and A. Tavernise. 2006. "Reconstruction and Animation of Theatrical Greek Masks in an Authoring System". Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques SIGGRAPH2006, Boston, Massachuset. Submitted.! Bertacchini, P. A., E. Bilotta, A. Dell'Accio, E. Di Bianco and P. Pantano. 2006. "Virtual Museum Net of Calabrian Magna Graecia". Proceedings of EVA 2006, Florence, Italy, April 3-7.! Bertacchini, P. A., E. Bilotta, E. Di Bianco, G. Di Blasi and P. Pantano. 2006. "Virtual Museum Net". Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), Springer, vol. 3942, pp. 1321-1330.! Bertacchini, P. A., E. Bilotta, E. Di Bianco, G. Di Blasi and P. Pantano. 2006. "Virtual Museum Net". Proceedings of Technologies for E-Learning and Digital Entertainment: First International Conference, Edutainment 2006, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, April 16-19. Z. Pan, R. Aylett, H. Diener, X. Jin, S. Göbel, L. Li (eds.).! Battiato S., P. A. Bertacchini, E. Bilotta, G. Di Blasi, G. Gallo and P. Pantano. 2005. "3D Facial Animation for Virtual Theatre". Proceedings of the European Mathematical Psychology Group Meeting conference (EMPG2005), Padua, Italy.! Bertacchini, P. A., E. Bilotta, E. Di Bianco and P. Pantano. 2005. Sistema Museale Virtuale della Magna Graecia. Atti del convegno Matematica, Arte e Industria Culturale, Cetraro (CS), Italy.! Bertacchini, P. A., E. Bilotta, R. De Amicis, E. Di Bianco and P. Pantano. 2005. Virtual Museum System of Magna Graecia. Proceedings of EVA 2005, Workshop Knowledge Media Design for Museums, Florence, Italy.! Tavernise, A., L. Gabriele and P. A. Bertacchini. 2005. Simulazione di agenti in un teatro Greco. Proceedings of the Second Italian Workshop of Artificial Life, Rome, Italy.
National and International Projects Other national and international projects are related to the Virtual Museum Net of Calabrian Magna Graecia:! NETConnect - Connecting European Culture through New Technology - is a CULTURE2000 project sent to the European Commission. The aim is to support a culturally interconnected European continent through the use of new technologies. Starting from three archaeological sites (Calabrian Magna Graecia, German Glauberg and Polish Biskupin sites) and their surrounding landscape as scenarios, the aim is a connection among European sites to provide the basis for an European network.! SUD ARTE is a PIA ( Pacchetto Integrato di Agevolazioni, is a national Italian program for the local entrepreneurial development) NETWORKING project sent to the Ministero delle Attività Productive. Three Italian regions are involved: Calabria, Campania and Puglia. This project proposes the implementation of a digital platform that gives tourist and cultural information. This platform will allow the user to choose own holidays using Web.
Web & E-mail Web http://galileo.cincom.unical.it E-mail Prof. Pier Augusto Bertacchini Prof. Eleonora Bilotta Dr. Giampiero Di Blasi Dr. Elvira Di Bianco Prof. Pietro Pantano pa.bertacchini@unical.it bilotta@unical.it gdiblasi@unical.it e.dibianco@unical.it piepa@unical.it