Livia's villa is a very important suburban roman villa, connected to the history of one of the most famous imperial families. It belonged to Livia's (Augustus' wife) family since the late republican age, then it had a new important architectural phase during Livia and Augustus life and lived until constantine age (IV century BC). It was built on a hill near Prima Porta, at the IX mile of via Flaminia, in a dominating position along this important roman consular road and near the Tiber river.
This project was born re-using most part of the original contents developed for the “Virtual Museum of Ancient via Flaminia” (2008-2010, Roman National Museum of Diocleziano's Thermal Baths, Rome; developed by CNR ITABC: www.vhlab.itabc.cnr.it/flaminia). Starting from digital acquistion on the field we modelled in 3D both the archaeological landscape and site and the 3D reconstruction of how this context could be in the past.
We try to combine different paradigms in the application: virtual reality, cinematographic techniques, virtual set, natural interaction interface.
The user can follow a guided tour along a predefined path and, in specific points, access to narratives.
The user can stop in every moment and is free to explore the space all around, looking up, down, left and right and accessing another level of information (metadata, interpretative sources used for the reconstruction, degree of reliability of the reconstruction....).
The gesture-based VR installation is a single-user application developed in Unity3D and using kinect sensor for motion capture. It is intended to be placed in a museum for involving visitors in a multisensorial and emotional experience where perceptive aspects and storytelling play a fundamental role. Natural interaction pushes visitors' active participation, young people but also elders as it does not require any technological skill. The user acts inside the virtual environment using only gestures and body movements, in the most natural way. It has been developed by CNR ITABC and E.V.O.CA..s.r.l..
CNR ITABC, Italy, itabc.cnr.it
E.V.O.CA. srl, Encoded Visions on Canvas, evoca.org
Roman National Museum,
Diocletian's Bath,
Soprintendenza Speciale ai Beni Archeologici di Roma
ARCUS S.P.A.
V-Must.net
Contact: eva.pietroni@itabc.cnr.it
