PERCRO

La piazza è un luogo di incontro, di confronto e di discussione, nel quale si creano nuovi rapporti o si rafforzano i rapporti esistenti tra le persone e il luogo stesso. Muoversi dentro una piazza consente di conoscere 'fi sicamente'la realtà nella quale stiamo agendo. La rappresentazione digitale di una piazza obbliga, invece, a dematerializzare la realtà e ad operare in una sua traduzione virtuale che consente di vivere l'esperienza di trovarsi in un luogo pur non essendoci. Tale esperienza non può sostituirsi al rapporto individuale che ...

MUBIL is an international research project aiming at establishing a novel learning framework based on Virtual Environments technologies in order to disseminate the content of libraries archives, especially ancient manuscripts. The project, lead by the Gunnerus Library of Trondheim, Norway, and participated by the NTNU (Norway) and Scuola Sant'Anna (Italy), has the secondary objective of testing the extent to which distinctive features of Virtual Environment, such as immersion and interaction, impact on the involvement of the public, especially youngster, and therefore on the efficacy of the transmission of content, such as old books, traditionally challenging to disseminate to such a public. The framework includes three different levels of development, described in this paper, and is expected to establish a methodology for the evaluation of the achieved results in the last stages of the project, ending in October 2013.

ABSTRACT: In this paper we present the results of a multimedia project dealing with the virtual reconstruction and the immersive visualization of the urban development of the town of Livorno, in the Italian region of Tuscany, on the 400th anniversary of its promotion to the rank of City. The project involved the realization of a 3D model of the town in ages, aiming to show its evolution and development in time. The results have been demonstrated in the context of a dedicated exhibition, making use of an immersive stereoscopic installation ...

In this paper we present the philosophy underlying the application of the Information Landscapes concept to the dissemination of cultural content, the tools which compose the authoring framework we have setup and a selected set of case studies which illustrate the potentialities of such a means to distribute knowledge over the Web. The case studies will be discussed on the basis of design, usability and educational considerations. Keywords: Information Landscapes, Virtual Environments, 3D Web, Interaction, Immersion

This paper presents the work related to the 3D reconstruction of the scene depicted in the famous Piero della Francesca's fresco "The Resurrection". The work has presented many challenges due to the fact that deliberate alterations to a mathematically correct perspective were introduced by the artist in order to visibly underline the contrast between the divine plane (Christ resurrected) and the human plane (a group of soldiers witnessing the scene). The reconstructed 3D model has been used in an interactive application enabling the virtual visit of the scene as seen from relevant viewpoints corresponding to the different perspectives and to details of the depicted figures. The application also allows to change in real-time the lighting conditions of the scene in order to compare the virtual illumination with the one present in the fresco so as to illustrate possible alternatives about the debated original collocation of the artwork.

This paper presents the concept and the work in progress of SONNA, a research project aiming to analyze the impact of social networks, web 2.0 and interactive multimedia as tools for learning. The overall architecture, the technical details of the platform and the storyboard of two samples interactive web-based serious games are also presented, highlighting challenges and current issues.

The paper describes the multimedia museum installation realized on the occasion of the restoration of the Polyptych of Simone Martini, introducing objectives in terms of communication, fruition and documentation, presenting design and architectural solutions, and discussing the obtained results against the set objectives, demonstrating also the adaptability of the developed concept to other contexts.

A didactic project based on computer technology and advanced computer graphics combined with an active classroom experience is presented. The final purpose is the creation and the test of a new authoring tool for building 3d interactive environments inside a narrative context. In the paper we will describe our didactic project, the current technology implementation and the final interactive application realized.

He was a visiting scholar to Free University Berlin and KAIST, Korea. His research interests include educational technology and artificial intelligence in education. He has published more than 60 articles in international and national journals and peer reviewed conferences, and authored/edited four books. He has been responsible for or taken part in more than ten national key projects and international projects with Germany, Korea, USA, and Canada. He serves as a member of the editorial board of three international journals and has been on the program committee of ten international conferences, and was invited to give speeches in a dozen of international or national conferences. He won the 20th IAAI (

In this paper we present a Digital Serious Game set in a medieval alchemical laboratory, aimed at disseminating the ancient knowledge of medicine distillation contained in the famous Adam Lonicer's Kreuterbuch (1569) treatise. The application is based on interactive Virtual Environments and available on multiple visualization technologies, ranging from simple touch-based tablet up to immersive environments such as CAVEs or Oculus Rift. The game comes as the latest development level of a larger international multidisciplinary project meant to explore novel methodologies to raise the awareness about ancient books, in particular the collection of the Gunnerus Library of Trondheim, with a special attention to the public of youngsters.

Virtual Environment technologies are becoming increasingly important, carving out place in several sectors like training, learning, entertainment or industry, thanks to their adaptability for different contexts. In the Cultural Heritage field, they have been mostly used to reconstruct and represent lost archaeological patrimony, or to create virtual tours of ancient cities and sites. However, these technologies have now also entered museums and cultural institutions, contributing in changing the concept itself of Museum as institution and its relation with the public, supporting an approach more centered on engagement and participatory experiences. This is particularly true in the case of topics commonly intended as "specialistic", difficult to approach and understand for general public, such as those related to scientific, anatomical and medical collections. The use of VEs and, in general, also of simpler but carefully designed ICT tools (such as institutional websites) can become an important tool to raise awareness and knowledge about these matters. In the present work we describe our experience, focused on a small Anatomy Museum of the University of Pisa, in which we have conducted a study on visitors, and consequently developed asset of interactive tools, aiming at increasing engagement and improving the educational experience, attempting at reducing the gap between the general public and the communication of scientific and medical topics.

This paper presents the design and the architecture of an educational 3D application enabling reading books in Virtual Environments exploiting an Interactive Digital Storytelling paradigm, in order to disseminate culture using an entertaining approach particularly suitable for young people. We also present two case studies using this approach: the first one is related to the Lonicer’s Kreuterbuch, a XVI century medicine manuscript; the second one is a book composed by three fables written by Lev Tolstoy. The paper presents also a preliminary usability test in order to evaluate the suitability of such an approach in terms of engagement and comprehension.

This paper presents a real time 3D walkthrough application based on interactive VR technologies, designed and realized with and for secondary school students in order to raise their awareness about their local heritage, in particular the Medieval Walls of Grosseto, Tuscany, one of the rare examples in Italy of defensive walls remained nearly intact to this date. After detailing the learning methodology used in the classroom experiences, the paper thoroughly presents the strategy used to realize the resources needed to build the 3D model of the old town and the final application, built with an interactive digital storytelling approach.

The presentation of cultural heritage information is typically addressed with the use of web pages eventually integrated with specific visualization of 3d models that complete the textual information. The problem with this type of information is its extent, its complexity and the connection between the various concepts. This paper presents an Information Landscape system for the fruition of this type of information through a virtual environment, available both for desktop and immersive visualizations.

The simulation of realistic surgical procedures requires specialized optimized algorithms for the models of organs and tissues, which should comply both with accuracy of results and run-time computation. This paper provides a general survey of methods and approaches used for the simulation of soft tissues in Computer Assisted Surgery, discussing the technological challenges to achieve realistic simulation of deformation. An application example is presented, referring to the simulation of a gastroenterology procedure, the abdominal paracentesis for the treatment of ascites.

In this work we present a new method for the fruition of artistic works that is integrative to the traditional museums' presentation. The work has been organized as an interactive Virtual Environment in which the user can navigate. The whole environment has been organized for the best fruition. Animation and interaction effects have been inserted for facilitating navigation. In what follows, the principal adopted solutions are shown as well as the organization of the environment and the interaction system.

In this work we present a Virtual Reality Platform for the presentation and the navigation of artistic paintings. We have investigated the employment of computer graphic technologies as an instrument for the "ripresentation" of pictorial works. A particular attention has been paid to the modelling aspects, to the performances constraints and to the architectonic design. In the following we shall present some of the issues we encountered during the realization and we will discuss some of the design principles we adopted together with the constraints imposed by the system.