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Eva Pietroni, Alfonsina Pagano
Claudio Rufa
CNR, Institute of Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage Monterotondo St. Rome, Italy
[email protected];
[email protected]
E.V.O.CA. srl Rome, Italy
[email protected] necropolis of Cerveteri, and n.5 Monte Michele tomb, in Veii. In this paper we are going to focus only on the first venue since we realized a VR installation with gesture based interaction interfaces. The marvelous funerary goods, found inside the tomb, are preserved and exhibited in the Gregorian Etruscan section of the Vatican Museums (fig.1). They can be enjoyed through the showcases but the experience is purely aesthetic, limited to the observation and analyses of their formal aspects rather than extended to the comprehension of their intrinsic meaning.
Abstract—In this paper we focuses on the virtual reconstruction of the Regolini Galassi tomb in Cerveteri, one of the most famous of the Orientalising period. In the framework of the Etruscanning project a VR application has been realized for permanent use in museums, based on new, low cost and mark-less natural interaction interfaces. The choice of natural interaction is not a purely technical solution for input. It strongly influences the perceptive impact of the real time exploration, the embodiment, the objects’ selection and manipulation metaphors, the combination of media, the narrative contents length and the user experience. The evaluation of the public feedback conducted in occasion of some exhibitions allowed us to verify the gesture grammar we were developing and to improve the interfaces step by step. What came out is that the current version makes extremely easy and natural the kind of interaction and this translates in a longer time of fruition, more pleasure and a better impact in terms of learning. Particularly in the paper we are going to describe the evaluation conducted in occasion of two editions of Archeovirtual (Paestum), held in 2011 and 2012, were we presented two different versions of the application. The finale one won the First Award in the Natural Interaction category and the First Public Appreciation Award in the 2012 edition. Keywords— virtual reconstruction, natural interaction, user experience inquiry, gesture grammar, self-learning
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ETRUSCANNING PROJECT AND REGOLINI-GALASSI TOMB
Fig. 1. The Regolini-Galassi room at the Vatican Museums.
The Etruscanning project focuses on the investigation of new digital visualization techniques to re-create and restore the original context of Etruscan tombs. The project aims – through the cooperation of museums and research organizations from 3 European countries1 – at digital acquisition, digital restoration and 3D reconstruction of Etruscan tombs and object collections and their presentation to the public through innovative VR systems. These solutions are proposed in various temporary exhibitions in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and for permanent use in Italian museums. Two important archaeological sites have been taken in consideration: the Regolini-Galassi tomb, in the Sorbo
On the other hand, today the Regolini-Galassi tomb is completely empty and not accessible to the general public, as it is in a private ownership. It can be visited only on demand for study purposes (fig.2). The tomb dated around 675-650 BC and it hosts two very important characters [2], a princess and a warrior. It is one of the richest and most famous tombs of the Orientalising period - an age when the circulation of knowledge and ideas among the Etruscan princes and the Mediterranean cultures became stronger [14]. The outstanding quality of the objects of goldsmithry and their remaining together after been excavated – which is exceptional for that time – make the Regolini-Galassi tomb one of the most important and well-known Etruscan graves [13].
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Allard Pierson Museum; University of Amsterdam; CNR-ITABC; Visual Dimension bvba; National Museum for Antiquities in Leiden; Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren; Musei Vaticani; Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia; E.V.O.CA.srl, CNR ISCIMA.
978-1-4799-3170-5/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
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ΙΙ.
VIRTUAL RECONSTRUCTION AND EMOTIONAL IMPACT: STORYTELLING AND SOUNDSCAPE.
In the final 3D visualization, we tried to create a deep emotional involvement, using dramatic light and shadows and colour correction, while simulating the profile of a man from nowadays transposed in a night of the VII century BC. When he enters the tomb the voices of the dead start, telling stories about their identity, culture and their objects. The princess and the warrior speak not from the past but from today, knowing our world, but nevertheless seen from their point of view as rulers of an Etruscan city-state, with aristocratic authority, but welcoming the people to the exhibition, just as they welcomed so many people in their lifetime. The "soundscape" greatly increases this feeling: it evokes the past and the contemporary culture. We used Supercollider as generator of synthetic sounds (cymbals, little bells, bass drum) taking advantage of granular synthesis, and we also recorded “live” melodic instruments: Bass flute and Alto flute, as a similar timbre is documented in the Etruscan world, especially connected to religious ceremonies. Sounds were then combined with noises remembering the meaning of each object: water, wheels of the chariot, horses’ gallop, fire and so on. In this way each object, when selected, reveals its own story and the universe of sounds enhancing its symbolic value. All the fragments were related and connected by a similar style. In the free exploration of the grave, when no stories are activated, there is a delicate musical pad, not boring if the application is left passive. We believe that it is fundamental to find a stronger collaboration between humanities, cognitive sciences, art and technology and between the museums and the research domains: that to improve the communicative impact of digital applications and level of engagement of museum audience.
Fig. 2. The Regolini-Galassi tomb at Cerveteri, in its present state of conservation.
Through a virtual reconstruction we had put back together the tombs and the funerary goods, entities that remained separate since their discovery in 1836, when the objects were immediately removed from their original location. Starting from an accurate 3D digital acquisition through integrated technologies (scanner laser, digital photos, photogrammetry), we tried to reconstruct a 3D model of the tomb as it could be when it was closed, at the half of the VII century B.C, with its funerary goods contextualized inside it and digitally restored. This process was not so easy because we had to re-interpret many discordant historical literary and iconographic sources (Grifi 1841, Canina 1838, Hamilton 1841), since the tomb was not well documented at the moment of the discovery and all the drawings and maps of the context were realized after the removal of the objects. Thus, we had to test different reconstructive hypothesis and choose the most reliable one. So doing, the virtual representation became also a good tool for interpretation (fig.3), [12]. The final goal of a virtual reconstruction is indeed the cognitive, perceptual and communicative enhancement of the cultural object that translates it into a wider and deeper exchange with visitors.
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GESTURE-BASED INTERACTION
The starting point of the project was the consideration that, despite this great potential, a basic limit of most Virtual Reality (VR) applications reproducing cultural sites (developed by the scientific community) is that they often fail to fire up the attention and the involvement of museums’ public. One of the reasons is that visitors still have problems in managing common input devices for interacting inside VR environments: mouse, joystick, keyboard, or console are not natural interfaces and require time to become familiar [11]. That is why we focused part of our research on the development and experimentation of gesture-based interaction. This latter constitutes a new paradigm in humancomputer interaction: it goes beyond the Windows graphic and interaction interface, based on icons, menus and pointers (WIMP) born in the 1970's in Xerox laboratories and that still constitutes the dominating paradigm in the user interface of operative systems such as Mac OS and Windows. In this project we deal with interaction based only on body movements that does not require any traditional devices, like mouse, joystick, keyboards, touchpad, Wii, light pen, etc.. The exploration of the 3D space and the access to contents are possible simply moving in the space in front of the projection,
Fig.3. Editing in Unity 3D of the virtual reconstruction of the Regolini-Galassi as it could appear in the VII century BC, with the re-contextualization of its funerary goods.
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A. First version of the application The first version does not need the skeleton recognition, as the user is not required to perform gestures. The user walks on a real map of the grave placed on the floor, onto which some “hotspots” are attached. When he goes to a hotspot and stays, the camera automatically moves in the virtual world to that position and then the storytelling begins from the objects that are all around, following a pre-determined sequence. Each hotspot has 3-5 “speaking” objects, each one with a story fragment. The order in the choice of the hotspot activation is free, so every sequence can be activated. While the active user is guiding the system, other visitors can sit down all around the area, watching at and listening to the cultural contents in a passive way - always with the opportunity to be engaged in the active exploration. This version of the application is something between an interactive movie and a VR exploration, controlled by NI interfaces. Person had only to walk in front of the projection: neither gesture was required nor selection possibilities were given. The results were good: not only this solution made the interaction amazing for the public; it allowed people of every age and every “technical” skill to enjoy the virtual contents (Fig. 9). In occasion of its the presentation at the APM of Amsterdam, in the context of an exhibition dedicated to the Etruscans, we could verify that the medium time of interaction for each user was about 12 minutes (the total amount of narrative contents is about 22 minutes); a very good result according to our expectations (fig.4), [1].
in the most natural way. The diffusion of new low cost sensors and mark-less systems favored by the video-game industry is an interesting opportunity to explore and apply this approach also in the field of VR applications for Cultural Heritage, especially inside museums - where it is still new and unusual and where visitors want to learn and experience a cultural content very quickly, through a simple and involving interaction which pull them inside a story. Natural interaction radically re-configures boundaries between natural and artificial worlds. The crucial point is the capability, even if still at pioneer level, to establish relations and, therefore, communications between natural and artificial entities basing on perceptive-sensorimotor dynamics, instead of symbolic codes: gestures, images, sounds, a reciprocal exchange of signals in time and space. Inside a VR environment user feels spatially embodied in the system; this embodiment is greatly enhanced by the use of natural interaction interfaces and constitutes a new frontier of the communication and learning processes. Some of the authors of this paper presented a deeper theoretical discussion on Gesture based interaction (origin, definition, taxonomy) in another paper of these proceedings titled: “NICH: a preliminary theoretical study on Natural Interaction applied to Cultural Heritage contexts”, so please refer also to that writing for a preliminary theoretical approach. The public has the possibility to explore the virtual Regolini-Galassi tomb, come closer to the artifacts, and listen to narrative contents by voices of the prestigious Etruscan characters buried inside. That is possible by moving in front of the projection and using gestures. Interesting research focused on the definition of a new grammar of gestures have been done and it will continue in the next years, allowing more and more complex but natural interchanges and connections between real and virtual worlds. Many tests and evaluations on public have been necessary, made both by APM and CNR. We presented different versions of the application in occasion of many temporary exhibitions (Amsterdam and Leiden 2011, Archeovirtual in Paestum 2011, Science Festival in Genoa 2012, Archeovirtual 2012, Italy in the Future in Tokyo 2013) to test the reaction of the public. The same we did in our laboratories involving colleagues and friends and testing their behaviors. After this preliminary activity we had to improve something in the interfaces. The final goal was to develop the best solution for the final permanent installation in the Vatican Museums. There are two main version of the application: the first one, simpler, was realized in 2011 in three-four months; the second one, more complex, is the result of a longer experimentation on the public that allowed us to improve the interface, enhance the embodiment and the gesture grammar step by step. This latter is now accessible, as permanent installation, at the Allard Pierson Museum of Amsterdam and at the Vatican Museum (Gregorian Etruscan section) where it has been publically presented on the 4th of April 2013 (fig. 6b). Two different versions were implemented in Unity3D, using the first generation of Kinect sensor.
Fig. 4: First version of the VR application: installation and scheme of the interactive space (in collaboration with E.V.O.CA.).
B. Second version of the application In the following months we wanted to go further and so we implemented a second version based on the skeleton recognition and on a grammar of simple gestures. As in the first version, no calibration is needed, as the system is able to adapt automatically to the user's size. That condition determines a great advantage in museums as it facilitates an immediate alternate of users. The second version is no longer based on an interactive map of the tomb on the floor, with automatic movements of the camera. On the contrary the user is left completely free to walk through the 3D model and rotate his point-of-view in every direction, using his arms. We have also implemented a “selection mode” that opens very interesting possibilities.
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The screen (full HD, 16:9 ratio) has been divided in many viewports, two of them are the most important: the larger one (4:3 ratio) is for the immersive visualization and 3D exploration; the second one, on the right, is a dynamic menu of the objects placed around the position occupied by the user in the 3D space. This second viewport is useful for the selection’s function. The objects’ selection in the 3D space should work through a vector projected by the hand that hits the desired object. Because of the sensors of first generation like Kinect have still problems of noise, depending on environmental conditions (infrared light, direct sun light, reflecting and refracting objects....), and also in consideration of the narrow space of the tomb (less than 2 mt. wide), it would have been very difficult for the user to select objects directly in the 3D space. On the contrary, in this menu they are presented aligned and the selection is very easy (fig.5). The different functions are activated through various hotspots on the floor, among which the user is required to move (fig. 6): 1. Hotspot Languages: choice of language, Italian, English, Dutch; 2. Hotspot Exploration: free exploration, (using arms for translation and rotation on xyz axes); 3. Hotspot Selection and Storytelling: in this position the visitor is asked to use his right hand and to move it over the objects on the right, making the storytelling start from the object he has chosen. Each object has a dedicated camera and spotlight; sometimes it is animated while speaking, coming in front of the eyes of the visitor. 4. Hotspot Start: a short tutorial is given to the user in order to teach him how to interact inside the 3D space. This section includes also a short historical introduction about the tomb.
3.
Text messages suggest what the user has to do, according to the hotspot he is occupying.
Fig. 6. Second version of the VR application, scheme of the interactive space (in collaboration with E.V.O.CA.).
According to the authors’ experience in laboratory, testing the interface on colleagues and friends, this solution appears the best compromise, suitable for every kind of public: the user can immediately understand how it works without any frustration, feeling much more embodied in the 3D space. Moreover he can find a balance between active interaction and relax, listening to the stories. We noticed that the most difficult moment was the beginning of the experience, as somebody needed some seconds to understand the relation between hotspots and gestures. The project is quite pioneering and the application of gesture-based interaction in the heritage domain is still in an experimental phase. We need to study more on evolving grammar of gestures that can be easily used and memorized by the public. Indeed gestures need to be really intuitive, responsive and well designed by the authors as not all people have the same perception, coordination and awareness of their own movements. Moreover, when asking a visitor to interact using gestures, we need to take in consideration which are natural gestures for him/her based also on nationality and culture.
Fig. 5: Interface and main viewports of the second version of the application.
In order to support the user and give instructions about the gestures grammars we adopted the following solutions: 1. The tutorial is activated by walking and till arriving to the "Start" hotspot on the floor; it asks to emulate a pose for each gesture, as showed by a figure (the pose is accompanied by a short caption explaining the gesture). Following then the instructions the user is guided from the outside until the entrance of the tumulus. 2. A "Help" pose can be performed to recall the grammar of gestures in every moment (fig.8).
Fig. 8. Gesture grammar implemented in the II version of the Regolini-Galassi VR application.
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The use of natural interaction can produce less precise input, in comparison with traditional interfaces (mouse click, keyboard, joystick....) but this limit does not generate frustration in the visitors, on the contrary it encourages people to try, explore and learn until they obtain good results.
[4]. In this case, the Etruscanning project partially considered AttrakDiff protocol. Finally, all these methodologies can be easily matched together and supported by direct interviews or focus group – exactly what Etruscanning did in occasion of two moments of UX investigation, both at Archeovirtual, editions 2011 and 2012.
IV. USER EXPERIENCE (UX) EVALUATION User experience activities turn to be real and effective means of investigation for the digital cultural heritage (DCH) domain. Experiments in laboratories – either real or virtual may certainly give support to the study of specific aspects of a digital product, both in the production phases and after its mise en scène. On the other hand, holistic surveys, directly on the field, show better results in terms of reliability and completeness of data, especially when investigating learnability, utility, usability and “ability” to involve the audience. Up to now, a detailed grid of indicators for a good UX evaluation has been hard to find, since there are many different dimensions to consider when choosing the evaluation approach – like starting goals, methods, target of reference, location and granularity of desired data. Moreover, nothing really explicative has been done that has taken into account all of the complex variables that are incident to a DCH product. Nevertheless, recently some evaluation studies conducted in the same DCH domain have showed different approaches and methods when analysing the success of a digital product. Several authors as Forte et al. [3], Carillo et al. [1], Pescarin et al. [9] [10], Micheal et al. [8] have focused their researches on certain aspects of UX, building up ad hoc usability tests, e.g. “Cognitive Walkthrough” methods, or considering degree of immersion, or again behavioural and social aspects. This variety in the evaluation strategies is quite unsurprising as each project aims at gaining always-deeper feedback from real users while working on new challenging trends of the DCH field. In line with this, more and more ways of experiencing a digital product are being studied, e.g. through natural interaction environments, interactive interfaces, augmented reality tools and smart mobile solutions. Thus, UX evaluation has to face also the rapid technological developments of digital assets, including in its “work package” the study of a new grammar of interaction mode. That is what happened for the evaluation of the Etruscanning project. However, there are certain aspects of UX that evaluators are interested in measure (UX indicators), taking advantage of certain procedures and techniques for collecting data (UX methods). When investigating the users’ behaviour, we can identify methods for emotional assessment and methods of standard (general) assessment. The former consider objective emotional data raised through e.g. “Think-aloud” protocol, used for reporting real-time verbal emotions by tester, and “Observation” protocol, used for monitoring person’s facial, gestures or tone of voice to identify emotions. Of this group, the Etruscanning project took advantage of both strategies. The latter, instead, employ fixed layouts of investigation to be fulfilled by tester, e.g. “AttrakDiff” by Hassenzahl [5], “Software Usability Measurement Inventory” (SUMI) [6] and “The Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction” (QUIS)
C. Archeovirtual context Archeovirtual (www.archeovirtual.it) is the biggest international exhibition of virtual archaeology projects and virtual museums, organised in Europe since 2006. Hosted in Paestum, Italy, within the Mediterranean Expo of Archaeological Tourism (BMTA), the annual exhibition goes under the direction of the Italian National Research Council (CNR ITABC) and, from 2011, it is co-organised by V-MusT Network of Excellence. It stands as a unique opportunity to show many different projects, applications and installations about Virtual Reality and Cultural Heritage while leaving visitors free to “travel” around the world, entering ancient sites and monuments, listening to several stories coming from the past and from the future. The four-days exhibition is also an occasion for developers to directly face the audience’s impact towards their projects. For this reason, from 2011, the V-MusT and the CNR collaborate together for the implementation of a UX evaluation campaign which interest, every year, specific UX indicators. The 2011 edition (November 17-20, 2011) saw the Etruscanning project exhibited in its first version. The user could explore in real-time the Regolini-Galassi tomb and its objects reconstructed in 3D, listening to the voices and stories of the two owners buried in it. The users moved in the 3D space while walking on a physical map of the tomb with clear hotspots (fig.9). The Etruscanning application was placed at the end of a long corridor, in a dark and quite isolated area, which gave to the environment an almost sacred atmosphere.
Fig. 9. Picture representing a tester using the natural interaction interface, playing with the floor map and watching at the story displayed.
The 2012 edition (November 11-18, 2012) presented Etruscanning 3D Reloaded project. It was provided of a single dark room in the bottom side of the exposition area. As previously described in section III.B, the second version of the
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application offered three navigation modes to the user: a “Start” Mode, with practical textual instructions about how to move; an “Explore” Mode, which naturally associates the move with gestures; an “Object-Selection” Mode that implies the factual selection of an object and the listening to its story. For each mode a symbol was designed, which is integrated in the visual interface at the upper left corner in most views. These symbols were also printed out and attached to the ground in front of the screen in the interaction area in the same order. The user could swap the modes by physically walking from one symbol to another and, according to single occasions, decide which one to use (fig.10).
results arose from 13 observations, 7 interviews and 34 written surveys collected. The audience participating in UX evaluation were primarily attending Archeovirtual 2011 as school groups; that is the reason why 71% of users aged between 20-35. The analysis of data yielded some preliminary interesting information about the Virtual Reconstruction of the Regolini-Galassi Tomb. For example, about the immersion level experienced by users, the arrangement of the installation space, the environment, and the context into which the installation was placed had a definite impact on the user’s sense of it. Indeed 58% of testers said they felt a high level of immersion (39% medium immersion, 3% low immersion. From a content point of view, users agreed that the information provided by the application was clearly structured and easy to understand. Indeed 70% found the content to be accessible and referable to users’ level of knowledge of such historical topics (fig.11a).
Fig. 10. Picture representing a user playing with the application at Archeovirtual 2012.
D. Edition 2011: goals and results The 2011 edition of Archeovirtual aimed at exploring more on social and behavioural aspects of users while interacting with Etruscanning, starting properly from the study of interaction’s rules between system and user, going through indicators of sense of presence and sense of immersion in virtual environments till arriving to how all these affect the learning benefits of the audience. It is important to notice that in this first version the aesthetic impact of the application, in terms of quality of the light, the shaders and the camera effects, was not so good as in the final version because the project had still few months of life and many activities were still in progress. UX evaluation took advantage of three investigative tools such as observation sessions - to evaluate the general visitor’s behaviour and the effectiveness of interfaces - written surveys - to provide quantitative data about audience’s expectations and experiences – and direct interviews - to obtain more qualitative and detailed responses about the above mentioned data. Important to affirm that this attempt of UX evaluation partially failed due to the lack of strategy in facing the multidimensional complexity of studying and comparing digital applications which use different devices and metaphors and offer different UXs [9] [10]. Considering the first release of the Etruscanning project,
Fig. 11a. Graphic representing the content results of UX respect to the application at Archeovirtual 2011.
The majority of testers also found the installation quite adequate as for what concerns usability units. They considered Etruscanning project easy to use and interact with, with 67% rating the usability as highly simple, and 50% also rating the usability as undemanding. Thus, the ability of the developers to create a digital product that was both usable and comprehensible for a range of audiences is quite revealed. Unlike this outcome, few users found the application difficult to interact with: 10% found it complicated and 17% said it was challenging (fig.11b).
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participants as it helps significantly to learn how to use the interface. Nevertheless, the relatively long textual instructions here included were criticized because they lead to skip these. Few functions were wished to be added to the project, like direct investigation of objects inside the tomb when the user is close to it without switching to another mode; more interaction opportunities with the selected objects (fig.12a).
Fig. 11b. Graphic representing the usability results of UX respect to the application at Archeovirtual 2011. Fig. 12a. Graphic representing the usability results of UX respect to the application at Archeovirtual 2012.
This preliminary UX evaluation of Etruscanning played an important role in the further developments of the application. Generally speaking, results said that content appeared innovative, well structured and captivating. These comments were directly linked to the positive aesthetical experience had by users who considered the project for its pleasant interfaces, inviting and creative in the design and motivating by the environment.
Concerning learnability aspects of the entire installation, within the written survey half of the participants mentioned that it took some time to understand how to use the application. Within the interviews only 10% stated that it took some time to learn. In contrast to this personal estimate of the participants, during the interview it was observed that in the beginning many advices by the evaluators were required, in order to explain how to use the whole system. After a first learning phase, most participants could easily apply the gestures according to the interaction concept (fig.12b).
E. Edition 2012: goals and results Differently from the previous UX evaluation campaign, the focus of the 2012 edition was mainly on few interaction’s aspects that take place between system and user. Specifically regarding interaction, the evaluation investigated questions that address various aspects of the holistic2 term of UX such as utility (Does the application support functions that are desired by the users?), learnability (How easy is it for the users to use the application at the first time they encounter it?), efficiency (Is the workload for the interaction with the application kept to a minimum?) and stimulation (Does the virtual museum captivate the user?). For the elevation of data a combination of two methods was chosen, which collected information provided directly from both the parties: developers and users. Direct interviews and questionnaires have been essential tools in order to capture ground truth data on expectations in terms of realisation, interaction and graphic computer interface (GUI). About the Etruscanning 3D reloaded, 24 written surveys and 10 interviews could be conducted. In both groups, a main part was represented by experts - either from the CH domain or the ICT sector - with around 42% within the written survey and 40% within the interview. Analyzing data, it was possible to interpret utility of such kind of application as highly positive. Within the written survey a majority of 92% found all available functions useful. Similar reaction was captured within the interviews. The “Start” mode with the initial instructions was welcomed by the
Fig. 12b. Graphic representing the learnability results of UX respect to the application at Archeovirtual 2012.
Efficiency evaluation saw a relatively large consent. Within the written survey 79% rated the time to reach their goals as adequate, but still 13% criticized slow system reactions. Within the interview a similar result emerged. For 20% it took either too much time to reach their goals or always. It means that a natural interaction interface that requires too much time to understand which gestures adopt for navigating is frustrating by some participants. Furthermore, it was pointed out that for someone, it needed too much time to access an object of interest (fig.12c).
2
Here intended with the meaning of emphasizing the importance of all the features characterizing the user experience and the interdependence of its parts, e.g. emotional reactions, personal interest, trained attitudes, social background end so on.
Fig. 12c. Graphic representing the efficiency results of UX respect to the application at Archeovirtual 2012.
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Stimulation features provided by the interaction with the application, instead, resulted positive on average. For more than a half of participants the natural interaction represented a totally new experience within the written survey. Within the interviews 80% pointed out that it was a new experience for them to interact with such a “surrounding” installation. They mentioned that the type of interaction was special for them. Moreover, the immersive and natural atmosphere was appreciated (fig.12d).
Pierson Museum of Amsterdam, (Wim Hupperetz and Christie Ray), VisualDimension (D. Pletinckx), E.V.O.CA. srl (C. Rufa and Massimiliano Forlani), Vatican Museums (M. Sannibale, Curator of the Etruscan Gallery), Sopraintendenza Archeologica dell’Etruria Meridionale; V-MUST partners and all Archeovirtual staff; Bianca Gockel, trainee at CNR ITABC, who has helped to process data. REFERENCE [1]
[2]
[3] Fig. 12c. Graphic representing the stimulation results of UX respect to the application at Archeovirtual 2012.
In definitive, the Etruscanning 3D Reloaded supports a relatively high level of stimulation with its immersive environment as well as thanks to that new way of interaction. Firstly, in the beginning of the application, it is difficult to understand the gestures. Therefore, the intuitiveness of the gestures needs some further investigations. It could be interesting to develop different sets of gestures for navigating and compare their intuitiveness within a usability test, for example. In this sense, the “Wizard of Oz” method might be suitable. With this, it would be even possible to let users think of their own grammar of movements. Secondly, the instructive part at the start hotspot is welcomed by the users but contains too much text. Here it might be interesting to integrate demonstration videos instead of text. Again the selection mode also needs to have some improvement as the users do not understand immediately what to do and it takes too much time for some persons to access an object. When the menu is not available during walk mode, it might be good to blend it out or grey it out, as it cannot be accessed. Another interesting option might be to remove the menu and let the user select an object by directly pointing at it inside the tomb. However, this would have been very difficult for the user because of the very narrow corridor and the overlapping of the objects in the zaxes. Even more possible interaction with the object e.g. like turning or zooming is important to some parts of the users. Despite in the coming years the gesture based interaction will be improved, also in accordance with the technological advancement of the sensors, the Etruscanning project shows clearly how promising is this domain: it won the First Award in the Natural Interaction category and the First Public Appreciation Award at the 2012 edition of Archeovirtual. Up to now, it is the unique interactive digital application at the Vatican Museums. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
We would like to thank staff and colleagues who contributed to this work and specifically for Etruscanning 3D: Allard
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