Virtual Roman Leicester: A Digital Recreation of 'Ratae Corieltauvorum' 210AD

Submitted by Ann on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 15:45

Virtual Roman Leicester A pioneering research project to recreate Roman Leicester with an interactive virtual world is unveiled today at the official launch of Phoenix Square film and digital media centre in the city’s emerging cultural quarter. Members of the public will see a showcase of a range of IOCT - Institute of Creative Technologies - projects including taking an interactive on-screen tour round Roman Leicester 210AD; which takes them inside some of the 3D buildings including the Merlin Works Baths, Mithraum, the Temple of Jupiter and the Basilica and Forum.

Using a skill known as architectural forensics, and working with archaeologists from the University of Leicester, Dr Douglas Cawthorne and Researcher Assistant George Watson have brought to 3D life, buildings known to have existed in the city, the first tage of the 'Virtual Roman Leicester' project.

Dr Cawthorne said: "This project seeks to digitally recreate Roman Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum). The first stage, currently underway, is creating highly accurate digital models of the known buildings and artefacts."

He adds: "This will lead on to populating the town with virtual 'Romans'. These characters will be programmed with all the social, cultural and environmental factors that would have influenced the lives of the actual people of the period (roughly 1st to 4th centuries AD). A game-like element will give users the opportunity to enter virtual Roman Leicester to observe, trade and interact."

Video: Virtual Roman Leicester

A project from the Art and Design faculty, De Montfort University, Leicester. Funded by Professor Andrew Hugill of the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT) at DMU and carried out by Dr Douglas Cawthorne of the Leicester School of Architecture and Mr George Watson of IOCT and advised by the University of Leicester Archaeological Services Unit.

Virtual Roman Leicester is not only a user interactive exploratory environment but also demonstrates the recreation of long vanished buildings from very minimal archaeological evidence using a technique Dr Cawthorne has described as 'Architectural Forensics'. The technique has suggested new interpretations of the means of construction, the history and use of the Roman buildings and has also indicated potential areas for further investigation.

In case of the Merlin Works Roman Baths, the digital reconstruction has indicated the probable scale and visual appearance of the building and reveals a complex small building with many of the attributes of a provincial and probably military bath house of this period.

This 'architectural forensics' is closely related to 'procedural modelling'; as just 0.01% of Roman Leicester is there to work with, researchers had to use other roman architecture sources as reference model. "If we know the diameter of a column base we can have a pretty shrewd guess what the column itself was like," Dr. Cawthorne says.

We just can't wait to go and see Virtual Roman Leicester (and while we're there anyway, the 'non-virtual' Roman Leicester too). But if you prefer Ancient Egypt over Roman Britain, you should definitely give King Tut Virtual a try! For NPC's - non-player characters, the programmable characters Dr. Cawthorne mentions - you'll have to wait for the upcoming Stonehenge Virtual (see here for a preview).

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About The Author

Ann Wuyts (follow me: e-mail or

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Last three pieces by this author:

Unique Iron Age Hoard goes on display at Ipswich Museum | Royal Artefacts - Including King Tut's Golden Trumpet - Returned to Egyptian Museum Cairo | SCA releases full list of treasures missing from the Cairo Museum

Ann 'Vint' Wuyts (on Google+) is looking after the Heritage Key community and avatar health & entertainment. She is slightly fascinated by everything to do with 3D technology and what's commonly defined as 'Web 2.0'. When she grows up, Ann - eventually - wants to be a mummy. Favourite game: Buzzword…

Comments

Ann:

Some additional technical information: the 3D engine is apparently Unity3D (Unity game engine), something we're experimenting with too. For those fascinated by terrain maps - Stonehenge Virtual crew? ;) - definitely read the 'Virtual Roman Leicester' blog.

I firstly converted the GIS spot elevations into CSV file of xyz data. Then I used the handy toposurface feature in Revit to produce a relatively accurate geometric surface model. I'm not sure what interpolation algorithm(s) Revit uses to "fill in the gaps" between the spot heights but in the absence of any software with GIS functionality I think this method will prove to be accurate enough for our purposes.

I then exported this geometric model into 3DS Max and added the manmade surface features - banks, ditches etc. I then applied a planar UVW map and used the infinitely useful and free Texporter addon (available here: http://www.cuneytozdas.com/software/3dsmax/) to produce what is essentially a heightmap of the terrain. After fiddling around with the levels a bit with photoshop Ive produced what, fingers crossed, is a heightmap than can be imported into Unity although I havent yet tried this because the delivery of the Unity license has been delayed.

Follow them at http://romanleicester.blogspot.com/.

Mon, 23-11-2009 15:00

Andrew William Barrett:

Hi Douglas and George,

Very impressive and interesting article on Roman Leicester, especially as you selected the year 210AD. I am very interested in the Severan era and offer Roman soldier presentations with particular detail on the early 3rd Century. I have full 3rd Century armour/clothing/equipment which is authentic and you would probably agree shows some interesting changes from the earlier 1st/2nd Century types. I have worked with schools and museums in particular Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall and other locations. It is quite rare to find acurate representations of Roman soldiers of this era, I take great care to fill this apparent void of knowledge to show something a little different from the comparitevily well known examples of 1st Century Roman military history. I saw your piece in the Leicester Mercury and was thrilled to see the early 3rd Century date, wouldn't it be good if I could team up with you and arrange some presentations at the University and even have a pictorial representation of what I have recreated. I have some pictures to send you as a reference should you wish to see them which will give you an idea of what my character looks like. The alias name I use is ANTONINUS SEVERUS - which fits in well with the Emperors of the late 2nd/3rd Century. I am also local, living in the Newtown Linford area ( Just up the road from Ratae ) I would be pleased to hear from you so I can send you my additional picture/past events etc...Unfortunately this link doesnt cater for attachments!

Look forward to your reply,

Best regards,

Andrew Barrett ( ANTONINUS SEVERUS )

Wed, 25-11-2009 18:51

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