Joshua Case Undergraduate Dissertation 2016/17

Displaying the Digital Ossuary with a Realistic Lighting Model in Virtual Reality

Supervised by S.Maddock

Abstract

The Rothwell Ossuary is a 13th Century Charnel Chapel which houses disinterred bones. Being only one of two places left in situ (its original place), it has great archaeological importance. Spaces such as these are commonly scanned as point clouds and displayed as 3D computer models. However, these models can have noisy data, with pieces missing or melded with other objects.

Computer models of sites like these are of great importance, as such, this project will take a model of the ossuary and design a lighting system to showcase it in. It will be adapted for virtual reality to give users the experience of being in the ossuary, and can showcase unity's abilities to deal with 3D models, especially in a real-time setting for the purposes of demonstrating the experience to the public, or researchers, alike.

The project succeeded in recreating the ossuary as simpler model, organised much like it would have been in the 13th century. This model has been placed in Unity with a realistic lighting solution , and is navigable in virtual reality using the Oculus Rift and Rift Touch.