3D Printing and Immersive Visualization for Improved Perception of Ancient Artifacts

This article investigates the use of 3D immersive virtual environments and 3D prints for interaction with past material culture over traditional observation without manipulation. Our work is motivated by studies in heritage, museum, and cognitive sciences indicating the importance of object manipulation for understanding present and ancient artifacts. While virtual immersive environments and 3D prints have started to be incorporated in heritage research and museum displays as a way to provide improved manipulation experiences, little is known about how these new technologies affect the perception of our past. This article provides first results obtained with three experiments designed to investigate the benefits and tradeoffs in using these technologies. Our results indicate that traditional museum displays limit the experience with past material culture, and reveal how our sample of participants favor tactile and immersive 3D virtual experiences with artifacts over visual non-manipulative experiences with authentic objects.

[1]  R. Klatzky,et al.  Haptic classification of common objects: Knowledge-driven exploration , 1990, Cognitive Psychology.

[2]  Maria Economou,et al.  Worth a Thousand Words? The Usefulness of Immersive Virtual Reality for Learning in Cultural Heritage Settings , 2009 .

[3]  Christian Heath,et al.  Accounting for new technology in museum exhibtions , 2005 .

[4]  Lucy Suchman.  Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication , 1987 .

[5]  Isaac Record,et al.  Using 3D Printing to Enhance Understanding and Engagement with Young Audiences: Lessons from Workshops in a Museum , 2017 .

[6]  Massimo Bergamasco,et al.  Beyond virtual museums: experiencing immersive virtual reality in real museums , 2010 .

[7]  Peter Willemsen,et al.  The effects of head-mounted display mechanical properties and field of view on distance judgments in virtual environments , 2009, TAP.

[8]  N. Magnenat-Thalmann,et al.  Virtual Worlds and Augmented Reality in Cultural Heritage Applications , 2005 .

[9]  Stephen Todd,et al.  Rediscovering and modernising the digital Old Minster of Winchester , 2016, Digit. Appl. Archaeol. Cult. Heritage.

[10]  Gavin MacGregor,et al.  Making sense of the past in the present: A sensory analysis of carved stone balls , 1999 .

[11]  L. Suchman.  Plans and situated actions , 1987 .

[12]  Peter Willemsen,et al.  Does the Quality of the Computer Graphics Matter when Judging Distances in Visually Immersive Environments? , 2004, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[13]  Frederick P. Brooks,et al.  Feeling and seeing: issues in force display , 1990, I3D '90.

[14]  Dew Harrison,et al.  Digital Media and Technologies for Virtual Artistic Spaces , 2013 .

[15]  Kate Ellenberger,et al.  Virtual and Augmented Reality in Public Archaeology Teaching , 2017, Advances in Archaeological Practice.

[16]  Fabio Bruno,et al.  From 3D reconstruction to virtual reality: A complete methodology for digital archaeological exhibition , 2010 .

[17]  Gunnar Jansson,et al.  Can a haptic force feedback display provide visually impaired people with useful information about texture roughness and 3D form of virtual objects , 1998 .

[18]  Lin Li,et al.  A project-problem based learning approach for appreciating ancient cultural heritage through technologies: Realizing mystical buildings in Dunhuang Mural , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE).

[19]  Chee Kai Chua,et al.  Rapid Prototyping:Principles and Applications , 2010 .

[20]  D. McNeill.  Hand and Mind: What Gestures Reveal about Thought , 1992 .

[21]  Hunter G. Hoffman,et al.  Physically touching virtual objects using tactile augmentation enhances the realism of virtual environments , 1998, Proceedings. IEEE 1998 Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (Cat. No.98CB36180).

[22]  David Kirsh.  Comparing Tangible and Virtual Exploration of Archaeological Objects , 2010 .

[23]  M. Spinks.  Doing internet research: critical issues and methods for examining the net , 2001 .

[24]  Adrian Bowyer,et al.  The intellectual property implications of low-cost 3D printing , 2010 .

[25]  Nicole B. Ellison,et al.  Measuring Internet Audiences: Patrons of an on-Line Art Museum , 1999 .

[26]  Bob G. Witmer,et al.  Judging Perceived and Traversed Distance in Virtual Environments , 1998, Presence.

[27]  Ravin Balakrishnan,et al.  Reaching for objects in VR displays: lag and frame rate , 1994, TCHI.

[28]  G. Lakoff,et al.  Philosophy in the flesh : the embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought , 1999 .

[29]  Hiroshi Ishii,et al.  inFORM: dynamic physical affordances and constraints through shape and object actuation , 2013, UIST.

[30]  Ceren Kayalar,et al.  Augmented reality based user interfaces to assist fieldwork on excavation sites , 2008 .

[31]  L. Quéré.  Cognition in Practice , 1996 .

[32]  Maria Economou,et al.  Exploring the suitability of virtual reality interactivity for exhibitions through an integrated evaluation: the case of the Ename Museum , 2007 .

[33]  Arthur I. Karshmer,et al.  Proceedings of the third international ACM conference on Assistive technologies , 1998 .

[34]  Tracy Brown,et al.  The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience , 2002, Cybern. Hum. Knowing.

[35]  Jeonghun Ku,et al.  A Data Glove with Tactile Feedback for fMRI of Virtual Reality Experiments , 2003, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[36]  Mariano Alcañiz Raya,et al.  Learning in serious virtual worlds: Evaluation of learning effectiveness and appeal to students in the E-Junior project , 2010, Comput. Educ..

[37]  Andrew W. Fitzgibbon,et al.  KinectFusion: real-time 3D reconstruction and interaction using a moving depth camera , 2011, UIST.

[38]  Antonio Frisoli,et al.  The museum of Pure Form , 2003 .

[39]  Krzysztof Walczak,et al.  Building Virtual and Augmented Reality museum exhibitions , 2004, Web3D '04.

[40]  Ryad Chellali,et al.  Depth Perception within Virtual Environments: A Comparative Study Between Wide Screen Stereoscopic Displays and Head Mounted Devices , 2009, 2009 Computation World: Future Computing, Service Computation, Cognitive, Adaptive, Content, Patterns.

[41]  D. Norman.  The psychology of everyday things , 1990 .

[42]  Stephen Brewster,et al.  Impact of haptic 'touching' technology on cultural applications , 2005 .

[43]  Chiuhsiang Joe Lin,et al.  Evaluation of Visually-Controlled Task Performance in Three Dimension Virtual Reality Environment , 2009, HCI.

[44]  Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco,et al.  3D Virtual Dig: a 3D Application for Teaching Fieldwork in Archaeology , 2012 .

[45]  Colin Ware,et al.  Reevaluating stereo and motion cues for visualizing graphs in three dimensions , 2005, APGV '05.

[46]  David Kirsh,et al.  Thinking with external representations , 2010, AI & SOCIETY.

[47]  Kirsten R. Butcher,et al.  Using digitized objects to promote critical thinking and engagement in classrooms , 2017 .

[48]  Robin Wolff,et al.  An evaluation of two simple methods for representing heaviness in immersive virtual environments , 2013, 2013 IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI).

[49]  Lynette A. Jones,et al.  Tactile and Haptic Illusions , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

[50]  R. Krauss.  Why Do We Gesture When We Speak? , 1998 .

[51]  D. Kirsh.  Problem Solving and Situated Cognition , 2009 .

[52]  Helen Petrie,et al.  Haptic virtual reality for blind computer users , 1998, Assets '98.

[53]  Sarah Kenderdine.  Rhizome of Western Han: an Omnispatial Theatre for Archaeology , 2012 .

[54]  P. Benner.  The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition: Book Review , 2010 .

[55]  Ming C. Lin,et al.  inTouch: interactive multiresolution modeling and 3D painting with a haptic interface , 2000, Proceedings IEEE Virtual Reality 2000 (Cat. No.00CB37048).

[56]  Brent G. Wilson,et al.  Situated Cognition in Theoretical and Practical Context [Book Chapter] , 2000 .

[57]  Martin White,et al.  Multimodal Mixed Reality Interfaces for Visualizing Digital Heritage , 2007 .

[58]  Thomas H. Massie,et al.  The PHANToM Haptic Interface: A Device for Probing Virtual Objects , 1994 .

[59]  Despina Michael,et al.  Comparative Study of Interactive Systems in a Museum , 2010, EuroMed.

[60]  E. Hutchins.  Material anchors for conceptual blends , 2005 .

[61]  J. Gibson.  The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception , 1979 .

[62]  D. McNeill.  Gesture and Thought , 2005 .

[63]  Antonio Frisoli,et al.  A new option for the visually impaired to experience 3D art at museums: manual exploration of virtual copies , 2003 .

[64]  Steven K. Feiner,et al.  Collaborative mixed reality visualization of an archaeological excavation , 2004, Third IEEE and ACM International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality.

[65]  D. McNeill.  Hand and Mind , 1995 .

[66]  Carlo Camporesi,et al.  A framework for immersive VR and full-body avatar interaction , 2013, 2013 IEEE Virtual Reality (VR).

[67]  Helen J. Chatterjee,et al.  Touch in Museums: Policy and Practice in Object Handling , 2008 .

[68]  Antonio Frisoli,et al.  The Museum of Pure Form: touching real statues in an immersive virtual museum , 2004, VAST.

[69]  G. Lakoff.  Philosophy in the flesh , 1999 .

[70]  Hunter G. Hoffman,et al.  Physically touching and tasting virtual objects enhances the realism of virtual experiences , 1998, Virtual Reality.

[71]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Hearing Gesture: How Our Hands Help Us Think , 2003 .

[72]  Jeremy Huggett,et al.  Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology 1993 , 1995 .

[73]  Allison Woodruff,et al.  Revisiting the visit:: understanding how technology can shape the museum visit , 2002, CSCW '02.

[74]  Eugene Ch'ng,et al.  Visual Heritage in the Digital Age , 2016, Springer Series on Cultural Computing.

[75]  Panayiotis Koutsabasis,et al.  Empirical Evaluations of Interactive Systems in Cultural Heritage: A Review , 2017 .

[76]  Sandra H. Dudley.  Museum materialities: objects, sense and feeling , 2009 .

[77]  Eric D. Ragan,et al.  Studying the Effects of Stereo, Head Tracking, and Field of Regard on a Small-Scale Spatial Judgment Task , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

[78]  Frank P. Schulte,et al.  Seeing Size and Feeling Weight: The Size-Weight Illusion in Natural and Virtual Reality , 2007, Hum. Factors.

[79]  Teenie Matlock,et al.  Smashing new results on aspectual framing: How people talk about car accidents , 2012 .

[80]  R L Klatzky,et al.  Identifying objects by touch: An “expert system” , 1985, Perception & psychophysics.

[81]  K. Hetherington,et al.  Museums and the Visually Impaired: The Spatial Politics of Access , 2000 .