Leading archaeologist Olivér Gábor wanted to visualize the history of Pécs for a long time. He contacted me in 2012 to talk about a virtual reconstruction of Sopianae at the end of the IV. century AD. We wanted to show not just the grand and luxurious side of the city, but also the everyday life of the average citizen. The visitor should walk freely in the virtually reconstructed city, discover the scenes in his/her own pace.
The work started in the end of 2013 with collecting the available data, publications, photos, drawings.
21 objects, coins, glasses, samian wares, iron tools destined for showcasing both in the permanent exhibition and in the reconstruction were photographed from all angles to aid the 3D modelling process.
Out of 8 possible scenes a palace, a city house with bath, and a square with a granary and shops were chosen for the first round.
Visitors can control a virtual time traveler, walk and look around like in an fps video game. In the vicinity of a featured artifact an outline indicates that it is clickable, if done so the screen changes to a showroom with the enlarged object and it’s description.
Characters were based on real life people.
There were 258 models, 323 textures, 233 materials made for this project, all from scratch.
client: Directorate of Baranya County Museums
leading archaeologist: Olivér Gábor
reconstruction: Ádám Németh
building models: Ádám Németh
object models: Ádám Németh, Péter Király, Béla Kotroczó, Ákos Halász, Attila Mucska, Rudolf Béres, Csaba Borbély, Endre Számel
music: Kevin MacLeod http://incompetech.com
Contact me: info atsign virtualreconstruction.com
Made with Unreal Engine 4
An interview with the curator, and usage of the application: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlVgrMwaWKk
How long has it taken you to do it? I’m starting with a similar VR project with Blender and Unity but it’s very basic yet. Could you give me some advice or help to get such a realistic reconstruction?