Krokar primeval forest in VR
Preserving sites of historical importance in digital form
By designing a VR application of a specific segment of the Krokar primeval forest and a 3D model of the Fridrihštajn Castle for the Public Institute for Culture and Tourism Kočevje and for the archives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, we contributed to the preservation of sites of historical importance and protected areas through the digitization process.
Digitization and a simulated 3D reconstruction of the environment
In any environment, it is the natural and cultural heritage that needs to be constantly preserved and maintained – for the present-day in the physical world and for tomorrow in the virtual world. In line with the tourism 4.0 concept, the latter involves the creation of digital copies of physical environments and the digital representation of their non-existent or missing elements.
Deep in the primeval forests of the Kočevje Region, there are protected areas that are off-limits to visitors. This is why you can view the Krokar primeval forest using a VR solution that offers orientation and navigation through a selected part of the primeval forest, along with videos of selected highlights. The 3D model of the Fridrihštajn Castle shows a simulated reconstruction of the castle that gives you a better sense of its past appearance.
To tread where setting your foot is forbidden or not possible anymore
Virtual reality is a form of computer simulation that allows us to experience an environment as immersively as possible, no matter where we are. This is especially useful for situations that are out of our reach, dangerous or non-existent. In our case, we have a primeval forest that visitors are not allowed to enter (or interfere with), and a medieval castle of which not much remains or parts of it no longer exists.
With this in mind, we developed the Krokar VR experience that allows visitors to Kočevje to “walk” through these remote and inaccessible areas with the help of a 360 VR application. This includes an intriguing animated interpretation of the forest surface processes and a number of informative videos for virtual learning.
When medieval castle walls rise once again before our very eyes
Through the digitization process and additional point cloud processing, we obtained a 3D model of the Fridrihštajn Castle that we converted into its artistic interpretation with the help of representative image material. While the rendition does not reflect the actual castle, it is a good approximation and also includes a lot of additional information about the castle itself.
Point cloud, mesh generation, 3D model
A digital copy of the physical world
Digital display of the missing elements
The world of virtual reality is a great alternative to seeing (and, in some ways, experiencing) everything in the real world that we cannot (anymore) or should not see and experience – in a safe and controlled environment.
