Augmented Reality Brings Historical Figures to Life

What comes to your mind if you think of time traveling? Austin Powers? Doctor Who or maybe the Terminator? There are loads and loads of books and films on the topic. In each one the main characters find themselves in another time period, have some adventures but always end up out of trouble. 

With our augmented reality installation, you can meet face-to-face with historical characters that come to life on a large video wall. 

A poet Gabdulla Tukai, Yemelyan Pugachev, Catherine the Great (or Catherine II), Syuyumbike the Queen, Peter the Great, a theologian Shigabutdin Marjani… what do such diverse figures have in common? All six were chosen for the installation as each of them made an invaluable contribution to the development of the economy or culture of Tatarstan. 

How does the magic work? To get lifelike moving images of virtual characters, we made a video shooting with professional actors wearing costumes and make-up corresponding the time period in a Chroma key pavilion (on a solid green background). The footage was color-corrected and the images of the historical figures were specially cut from the video for further work with them. 

The augmented reality module developed by the United 3D Labs programmers combines the image obtained from the video camera, which is located under the video wall, with virtual historical characters. 

In the standby mode, you can see the characters walking around on the video wall. 

As soon as a visitor of the complex stands in front of the video wall, a range sensor determines his or her exact location and we can see the virtual characters approaching from the edge of the video wall. They don’t just move closer to you, you can interact with the character, for example, Catherine II graciously extends her hand, so everyone can kiss the hand of Her Highness; Yemelyan Pugachev suddenly tries to swing the visitor with a whip. Moreover, here you have a chance not only to experience such most spectacular moments but also to keep a memory of them as the camera automatically takes pictures. Having finished the interaction, the character walks away and then the next one appears. 

You can find all the photos taken by the program on the tablet next to the video wall and send them to your e-mail or post on social networks such as Facebook and VK for free. 

Also, any user can print his or her photos for a fee. If you are up for this, you need to go into the Museum ticket office and buy a token. Next, it should be put into the coin slot of the printing machine, which is located near the cash register, then select the photo you like and click on the "print" icon. So, you’ll get the photo in a flash. 

All the photos, printed or sent to e-mail and social networks, have the Museum logo, the name of the character presented in the photo and a short story about him or her. 

If you happen to visit the "City panorama" Museum in Kazan be sure to come see this installation, we promise you will have only positive emotions.