Forum Romanum: A 3D Model For Self-Service Educational Purposes

International audienceThe CIREVE (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Réalité Virtuelle) of the University of Caen, Basse-Normandie France has developedan experimental self-service model for educational purposes. It is an interactive 3D model of the forum romanum built from thereconstruction of the entire city of ancient Rome and intended for museums, schools, and universities with educational documentationabout each building.This paper will explain1. The context of the experiment: the reconstruction of the entire city of Rome as it was in the 4th century A.D for scientific andeducational purposes. The interactive model is the work of a research team following scientific methods. Behind the virtual model, thereis permanent access to a database with ancient texts, didactic videos, 2D pictures and a bibliography. The software used is 3DSMaxfor modelling and CryEngine for the interactivity.2. The aim of the experiment: to provide educational actors with an interactive tool to discover different aspects of classical Antiquity.The interactive model must be used in self-service, i.e. without a scientific mediator. Although a scientific mediator can be essential forknowledge transmission, this interactive model can work alone transmitting knowledge through interactive play.3. Constraints of an interactive model in self-service: an interactive model, at the service of the public at large, is different from aninteractive model used by a researcher for scientific purposes or a model used by a scientific mediator. Firstly, it must be fitted witheasily accessible documentation (which replaces dialogue with the scientific mediator). In the experimental model of the CIREVE, thereare two types of documentation: automatic documentation which appears when the user is approaching a building and documentation‘on request’ (similar to that in a guidebook). Secondly, it must be conceived so that the user cannot get lost in the streets, in publicbuildings, in dwellings. Virtual gates must be placed in the virtual model like barriers in a real site. In 3DStudio, these are ‘collisions’.The software must be legally protected to avoid manipulation and alteration in line with intellectual property rights