Space, Place and Digital Media: Towards a Better Simulation of a City that has now Disappeared
Digital media enable researchers and designers to derive better informed processes in solving problems of historical architectural restoration and virtual archaeology. However, recently insufficiencies have been found in the main technologies often applied in such techniques, such as 3D modeling, high-quality rendering and animation. Given these problems, this paper attempts to explore a digital reconstruction procedure for historical architecture and cities using 3D scanning, Virtual Reality cave technology and motion capture technology. This case study is based on a collaborative project in conjunction with the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and the China Times, Taiwan. The five steps involved in this project include data collection and analysis, three-dimensional digital inferences, digital reconstruction of static and moving models, scenario dynamics (by integrating the two kinds of models), and visual-spatial immersion using a VR-cave representation. Finally, a preliminary digital reconstruction procedure is presented.