Next event:
ERINN SAVAGE – Performance
Tomorrow 15:00 GMT

MSc Heritage Visualisation

Heritage Visualisation is a specialist pathway of the MSc in Visualisation. MSc Heritage Visualisation aims to develop the knowledge and skill sets required to deliver and conduct digital documentation of world heritage sites and to create a unique opportunity to combine heritage with state of the art digital technologies, including 3D laser scanning, digital reconstruction of historic sites and artefacts, and interaction and visualisation using virtual and augmented reality.

This pathway enables students to understand the process of creating original 3D datasets of cultural objects and sites, to reconstruct and present immersive visualisation with interactive narratives, and provide a novel approach to foster multi-disciplinary study.

Students explore a rich range of ways in which modern digital technologies can allow us to appreciate the past in different ways, and this year’s cohort is no exception – from storytelling with digital games or augmented reality and papercraft, to exploring the use of audio in digital heritage environments.

Digital Staffa - Audio and Visual Patination

A preview of the interactive prototype. The model of Fingal's cave was created by Shona Noble as part of previous work with the HARPS project. In this play-through, user audio is uploaded by clicking on the seashell and speaking into the computer microphone, and are seen as "sound bubbles" (headphones recommended)

The initial planning of the interactive experience

This short video shows some of the initial storyboarding and design concepts in the planning stages. In the background is an excerpt of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture plucked on a violin and auralised using Impulse Responses taken from Fingal's Cave. The hexagonal, geometric shapes of the distinctive columnar basalt of staffa inspired the design. Textures of patina on bronze also informed the design and colour palette.

Creating the User-Interface

The design for the user interface was inspired in part by the hexagonal basalt columns of Fingal's Cave, but also by the concept of "Patina" and how this manifests on bronze materials

Design planning

Due to the nautical theme of the subject matter, initial planning for the design of the interactive experience was based on matter such as seashells, rock formations and other associated objects

Cave interior

Initial storyboarding - stylistic interpretation of the interior of Fingal's gave, where user uploads can be displayed and experienced

The Library Cave Opens: Final Project

The Library Cave Opens is a short video game-like experience about Hungarian-British explorer and archaeologist Aurel Stein's stay at the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas near Dunhuang, China. Here, in 1900 a Daoist monk, Wang Yuanlu, discovered a sealed cave containing tens of thousands of manuscripts, paintings and secular documents dating from before the 11th century. The find comprises one of the most important discoveries for Chinese scholarship and today forms the basis of an entire field, Dunhuang Studies.
This interactive experience tells the story of how Stein, with the help of his Chinese assistant, Jiang Xiaowan, convinced Wang Yuanlu to part with 29 cases of artefacts which were subsequently deposited in the British Museum. The project was a prototype exploring how the video game medium could be utilised to reach wider audiences and spark conversation about the dubious acquisition practices of early Western explorers.

Created in Unity 3D, modelled in Blender & 3D Studio Max.
For a full list of resources used in the project please click here.

The title page of the Android AR app 'As Above So Below'

Assembled Goblin Ha' paper craft

Assembled Paper Craft model of Yester Castle

Paper Craft design of Goblin Ha' - designed using principles from Origamic Architecture

Paper Craft Design of Yester Castle, featuring the upstanding 15th century tower, 14th century curtain wall and the original entrance to the Goblin Ha'

Image Targets designed for As Above So Below

Using Image Targets to track content onto the paper model

Hearing an Extract from Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field

The Tomb of James II King of Scots

For annotations please view model in full screen. This model depicts a historical interpretation of what the tomb of James II of Scotland (1430-60) may have looked like. James II was King of Scots from 1437 until 1460 when he was accidentaly killed by an exploding cannon. He was buried in Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. The tomb was likely destroyed by an invading English army during the Anglo-Scottish wars in the 1540s. James was perhaps the first succesful king of the Stewart dynasty. At the time of his death he had the popular support of his nobles having won a civil war against the powerful Douglas family earlier in his reign. He married Mary of Guelders, a relation of the powerful Duke of Burgundy and was succeeded by a male heir in his son James. The tomb was modelled in 3ds Max based on historical research on Scotland and royal European tomb building in the 15th Century. Submited as part of a Masters Thesis in International Heritage Visualisation.

Alexander III of Scotland Hammered Penny

For annotations please view model in full screen. This penny was produced in Scotland between 1280 and 1286 during the reign of King Alexander III (1249-1286). Coinage had been produced in Scotland since the capture of English silver mines by King David I in 1138. Coins at this time were made by rolling out a weight of silver into a sheet and cutting it into discs. These were then placed on a small anvil bearing the king’s head design and struck with a steel punch bearing the cross design. This coin is of the 2nd recoinage of Alexander III’s reign and was issued from 1280 until his death in 1286. The recoinage of 1280 came at same time as English recoinage, replacing the recoinage of 1250 following his inauguration. The economic improvements during Alexander’s reign led to a boom in minting and his coins are among the most common medieval Scottish coins that can be found today. This model was created using photogrammetry before being optimised with the modelling software blender. Submited as part of Masters Thesis for International Heritage Visualisation.

Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum Front Tower 3D Model

3D model of the front tower of the Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum. Modeled with Autodesk's 3d Studio Max and textured with photos taken on site. Submitted as part of an assignment in the MSc in International Heritage Visualisation at the Glasgow School of Art.