Hidekazu Hirayu, Japan | ISBN: | Submitted: Jul 28, 1998

Construction of UNESCO World Heritage "Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama" by Virtual Reality

We constructed a digital version of Shirakawa-go, a village in Japan that was registered as a World Heritages in December 1995, using Virtual Reality technology. Shirakawa-go is an agricultural village located in a mountain basin in the northern area of Gifu that has a unique method of constructing houses. This construction method is roughly translated from the Japanese as 'hands clasped in prayer' and refers to the special eaves used in the houses of this area. There are 60 houses on 45.6 hectares. These houses are unique in that they have special thatched roofs. We used the methods talked about in the following to make a Virtual Reality version of Shirakawa-go.

There are many obstacles in making a complete computer graphic version of Shirakawa-go. To overcome these obstacles, we based our virtual reality project on photographs as well as information about distance derived from these photographs. We first took photographs from an altitude of 300 meters in order to get an overview of all of Shirakawa-go. Then Shirakawa-go was divided up into several areas and pictures were taken from an altitude of approximately 50 meters. Finally, we took pictures at ground level from 3 different spots. With this image data, we rendered Shirakawa-go into 3D. The user begins by looking at Shirakawa-go from a viewpoint based on the 300 meter high aerial photograph. Here the user can choose a direction or height from which to look at a rough overview of the village. Then, if the user decides to go closer to the village, the user can look at the VR version of the village that is based on the pictures that were taken from an altitude of 50 meters. The image from this view is more detailed than the rough overview mentioned above. Finally, the user is able to walk through the VR version of the village that is based on the ground level pictures. All of this occurs automatically and the transfers between the images are smooth and uninterrupted. This system also makes it possible to walk through and look at parts of two of the most important houses in the village. These houses, called Tajima and Wada, are excellent examples of the special houses. This is not merely a walk through these two houses, it is also possible to look at the way that the pillars in the house are joined together.

In the future, we also plan on adding an option which allows the user to specify a time and date and see the position of the sun change accordingly. The direction that the houses in Shirakawa-go face is strongly influenced by wind patterns. In the future, we plan to construct a simulation system where the user has the option of changing things such as the height and shape of mountains. Doing this changes wind patterns. The change in the wind patterns causes the direction that the houses in Shirakawa-go face to change. As a result of this, the user will be able to see the actual landscape of Shirakawa-go change.

[more information]
http://www.virtualheritage.net/library/archive/37hirayu.htm

[other authors]
Ryugo Kijima, Scot Thrane Refsland, Takeo Ojika, Kenji Yajima, Munemoto Hirako

[keywords]
Virtual Reality, Computer Graphics, 3D modeling, Heritage