Virtual Hibeh

It’s been a while since my last update, so I thought I would post a short follow-up of the last few months and share some of the final images from the virtual experience. I added a few additional details, such as the ceiling vultures soaring towards the sanctuary. Beginning with the ceiling piece photographed by the Ranke expedition, I filled in the missing information by referencing the ceiling at Dendera Temple 7.https://www.flickr.com/photos/34589923@N02/5523603858Ceiling at Dendera Temple 7, sourced from Ruth Hallam: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rhallam/5523165911/in/photostream/The transition from my home computer to the machine in the lab didn’t go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. I was using a Nvidia GTX 1080ti which flew with the graphics. However, when I began testing in the lab I realized the hardware, an Alienware equipped with a GTX 960, was causing frame drops in various areas. To fix this I had to reduce the overall poly count of the scene (primarily from the surrounding vegetation). Below are a few images from the final version of the temple and surrounding environment. Having a larger space to walk within was definitely beneficial. Teleporting posed a few challenges to those trying the Vive for the first time. I found that people were trigger happy with the teleporter, as a result, they kept hopping to the roof (they seemed a little distressed when I mentioned they would have to through themselves off to get back to the ground level). Accidental travel to the roof has become so common that I might remove the navMesh from the upper level entirely.

Unreal

Kristian Howald

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