Virtual reality for cultural heritage monuments – from 3D data recording to immersive visualisation

Recent advances in contemporary Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are going to have a significant impact on everyday life. Through VR it is possible to virtually explore a computer-generated environment as a different reality, and to immerse oneself into the past or in other virtual environments without leaving the current real-life situation. Cultural heritage (CH) monuments are ideally suited both for thorough multi-dimensional geometric documentation and for realistic interactive visualisation in immersive VR applications. Furthermore, VR is increasingly in use for virtual locations to enhance a visitor’s experience by providing access to additional materials for review and deepening knowledge either before or after the real visit. Using today’s available 3D technologies a virtual place is no longer just a presentation of geometric environments on the Internet or a virtual tour of the place using panoramic photography. Additionally, the game industry offers tools for interactive visualisation of objects to motivate users to virtually visit objects and places. This paper presents the generation of virtual 3D models for different cultural heritage monuments and their processing for data integration into the two game engines Unity and Unreal. The workflow from data acquisition to VR visualisation using the VR system HTC Vive, including the necessary programming for navigation and interactions, is described. Furthermore, the use (including simultaneous use of multiple end-users) of such a VR visualisation for CH monuments is discussed.