Lessons learned from reconstruction of a virtual Grotto - from point cloud to immersive virtual environment

Virtual heritage extends its role in cultural heritage domain, and recent development of three-dimensional (3D) acquisition technologies and virtual reality (VR) is clarifying its outlook. There are many issues and factors that affect the success of virtual heritage application such as realism, immersion, sense of presence, exhibition context, or storytelling. Influence of these factors needs to be studied on actual virtual heritage practices. In this paper, we review four virtual heritage projects on Seokguram Grotto, which is one of the most popular subjects of virtual heritage applications in Korea. All Seokguram Grotto models in four projects were built using 3D scanning technology. Two of them were used in VR applications; the others were rendered offline for films. We discuss several key characteristics and implications from our experiences. As shown through this review, the influencing factors of virtual heritage applications have been much enhanced owing to technology development. They are closely interrelated and should be collectively considered in the design of a virtual heritage project from the early stage.