Deconstructing Virtual Angkor

Angkor is a city in Cambodia. This digital project is about bringing to life the heritage as it was during the peak of the Khmer empire, in around 1400 CE. I’m going to break this work into three broad parts:

(1) Sources

Contrary to most other projects that exhibit a site or heritage, Virtual Anchor started with the implementation of the characters rather than the architecture. More precisely, the project creators first 3D model was that of an elephant. Then, for the artifacts, they primarily used 3D scans of statues from museums and galleries across the world. To render the experience more real, they even added the sound of birds chirping as well as thunder. It is the Sanskrit and old Khmer inscriptions that offered the inventors of the project a glimpse into the economic and social life of the city at that time.

(2)Processes

In order to make the elements of the project manageable and readable by the machine, they had to use LiDar for scanning, and the models imported as DEM files. They also used a system called GIS so as to make an annotated map of city show the locations of different things in the city.

(3) Presented

This wonderful digital project(which can be found here) is indeed a virtual reality as it is extremely detailed and there is a lot of animation. There are 3 main applications in Virtual Angkor which were merged in Unity: (1) Simulation of a 24 hour cycle at Angkor Wat. (2) An iterative, navigable, and interactive virtual map extending to almost 3000 km square. (3) A virtual reality experience where one can use a VR head set and walk around the city, looking at different regions from many angles.

One question that occurred to me while delving into this project is how much more are its makers going to improve it; it already looks pretty advanced and refined.