Martin is a cultural critic, poet, printmaker, digital ceramicist, installation artist, as well as the first Professor of Digital Creativity at De Montfort University.
Session Title: Layered Leicester
The Virtual Romans was a collaborative project between the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University, the University of Leicester and Leicester City council exploring aspects of life in Roman Leicester through the creation of digital models of buildings and artefacts. AI programmed characters populate the space, and live out their lives in this environment.
Gareth Howell and Dave Everitt are currently developing web and mobile-based delivery of aspects of this project, working with Roman artefacts from the Jewry Wall Museum collection to create 3D models , which will be ‘placed’ virtually in Leicester, to be discovered and interacted with. The project is now expanding to include multiple layers from Roman times to the present day on a locative platform.
The project will use Empedia and the Layar Augmented Reality Browser to develop a locative, experiential way to interact with the objects, creating options for game – play and storytelling. Whilst the project is currently in the early stages of development, it is envisaged that the discovery of and interaction with virtual objects in the city will encourage participation and engagement with the physical artefacts held at the museum. Possible interactions with the objects may include: visualisation of the 3D objects through the Layar Animation API; machinima fly-throughs of key buildings in the virtual environment; links to contextual information about the object and location; the possibility of ‘collecting’ virtual artefacts and clues, introducing game – play; the use of animated avatars as guides to the city, developing a narrative, story-based experience.