杏吧原创 Immersive Media Studio Helps Public Access Hidden Corners of Centre Block with Expanded Senate Virtual Tour
For more than a year, Canadians have been able to explore their upper house of Parliament without physically being there, thanks to a collaboration between the Senate of Canada and (CIMS). The Senate Virtual Tour allows anyone 鈥 with the swipe of a mouse or the touch of a screen 鈥 to wander Centre Block and experience the art and architecture of the Senate Chamber and its surrounds.
When rehabilitation work begins on the 100-year-old building and senators move into their temporary home in the nearby Government Conference Centre, the existing chamber will be temporarily shuttered.
Despite this, Canadians will still be able to enjoy its art and architecture on their computers and mobile devices 鈥 particularly now that the Senate has launched phase two of its virtual tour. The expanded version includes the Salon de la Francophonie, an elegant meeting room whose d茅cor reflects the 230 years Canada was a French colony, and the chambers of the Speaker of the Senate, a suite of Tudor-inspired reception rooms and offices which is normally off limits to the public.
鈥淭he Senate Virtual Tour has always been about inviting Canadians and people around the world to explore the Red Chamber first-hand,鈥 said . 鈥淲ith this expansion, we are increasing accessibility and sharing more about the history of our Parliament.鈥
The virtual tour is the work of a unique laboratory within 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism. CIMS specializes in 3-D architectural visualization. Headed by Prof. Stephen Fai, its 30 faculty members and student researchers explore how digital modelling technologies can be harnessed to document heritage buildings, advocate for their rehabilitation and craft immersive digital storytelling experiences that convey the immeasurable value of these historical landmarks.
鈥淥ne thing that we鈥檝e been doing at CIMS for the last 10 years is taking information we gather from reality capture and trying to figure out how to leverage that information in as many ways as possible,鈥 said Fai. 鈥淗ow do you present not only the architecture and the artifacts but the stories behind them in a way that engages your audience?鈥
Engineering master鈥檚 student and project lead, Abhijit Dhanda, explained the team鈥檚 process.
鈥淲e create 360-degree panoramas by taking a series of photographs from a fixed point 鈥 up, down and at various angles,鈥 he said. 鈥淪oftware finds the common points between photos and stitches them into a circular panorama. It wraps this panoramic image onto the inside of a sphere, creating the illusion that the viewer is at the centre of a globe.鈥
When it comes to fine details, the expanded tour is smoother and more elegant than ever, thanks to custom coding and the use of fast-loading animation files. Nearly every painting and sculpture is a feature the viewer can explore further. A simple click brings up background information, an image gallery and, in many cases, a 3D animation.
鈥淲e created those 3D sculptural pans using photogrammetry,鈥 Dhanda said. 鈥淭he basic principle is the same as in surveying. You have a camera taking photos from different positions, using triangulation to calculate the distance to each point on the surface. Using multiple photos at different angles, the software is able to compute exact depths and dimensions and create a 3D model.鈥
PhD student and team lead, Katie Graham, said the project is ultimately about making an iconic Canadian institution accessible to everyone.
鈥淚t allows the visitor to see spaces they would otherwise never get to see,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like an insider鈥檚 look at the Senate.鈥
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