Examples in Use

Digital Archiving & VR Contents for the Palace Museum, Beijing, China

The Palace Museum located in the Forbidden City in Beijing not only posses numerous art objects but also administers the entire Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City was constructed in the early 15th century and was the political, economic, cultural and military centre for 500 years spanning the Ming and Qing dynasties.  It was designated a World Heritage site in 1987.
Up until a few years ago, The Palace Museum faced the same challenge experienced by many museums and heritage sites– how to keep cultural assets on display for the public while preventing deterioration.  The curators decided to explore the possibilities of digital archiving technology as a measure to realise both preservation and presentation of cultural assets. 

Subsequently, a partnership was formed with the Palace Museum and Toppan Printing Co., resulting in the inauguration of The Palace Museum Digital Institute in October 2003.  The aim of the Institute was to preserve, accumulate, and exhibit the Palace Museum's cultural assets utilizing state-of-the-art digital archiving technology on site in Beijing, China.

At the official inauguration ceremony of the Institute, the fruit already born by the project was unveiled to the public, in the form of the Virtual Reality contents, "Forbidden City: The Emperor's Palace". 

This was the first milestone of the Institute, and since then work has been carried out on creating a digital archive of all of the artefacts in the museum as well as more VR contents programmes, the next of which is due for completion in 2010.

From Forbidden City: The Emperor's Palace
ⒸThe Palace Museum Digital Institute

Toshodaiji Virtual Reality Contents

Buddhist Temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Toshodai-ji in Nara (Japan), is currently undergoing large-scale repairs and restoration work.  Fortunately, with the cooperation of Toppan Printing Co., Ltd and Sharp Electronics, a virtual reality LCD theatre has been installed within the temple for the duration of the restoration project, enabling visitors to explore and experience in an interactive manner, the grandeur of the entire temple area including detailed temple structures and architecture. The theatre screens images of both the exterior of the temple as well as the giant Buddha which it houses using a computer graphics virtual reality application developed by Toppan.  Visitors may view the VR contents via an LCD projector which uses Sharp’s latest LCD technology.   This means that not only can visitors “virtually” visit the temple even during the repairs project, but it also stresses the significance of the restoration project to the public. 

•Background
The large-scale repairs project centred around Toshodaiji’s Main Hall (the Kondo) began at the temple in May 2000.  The large seated Buddha which is a National Treasure, the Yakushi Nyorai or Healing Buddha statue, and the Thousand Armed Kannon statue have all been temporarily removed and will undergo major restoration work.  The main hall itself has been enclosed in another temporary structure so that the entire structure inside may be dismantled and restored. 

Toppan has created a virtual reality high-definition software which gives the viewer a virtual tour, as if they are actually walking through the main hall and viewing the exceptional Buddha statues and architecture. Before the temporary structure enclosing the Main Hall was erected, a DVD version of the application was played in the cafeteria of the complex.

In 2001, after the temporary structure had been completed, Toppan and Sharp installed a theatre within the structure itself where the virtual reality software could  be screened. This way, visitors are able to sense the atmosphere of the Main Hall throughout the entire restoration period.

The ‘Toshodai-ji Main Hall LCD Theatre’ consists of a rear projection type theatre where the software is played through a DVD player onto a large screen using an LCD projector. 

Toppan produced the virtual reality application as part of the METI’s (Ministry of International Economy & Industry) Contents Market Environmental Improvement Project (Pioneering Archive Film Development Assistance).  The DVD version enables the viewer to feel as if they have entered through the main gates, walked toward the Main Hall, gone inside and then viewed the various statues housed in the hall before heading to another hall, the Miedo. (Visitor access to the Miedo is strictly limited to 3 days a year, however, within a virtual reality environment many more people can visit the Miedo and experience the beauty of the famous screen paintings inside).

The Heisei restoration project at Toshodai-ji began in January 2000 and is estimated to take approximately 10 years to complete.  The virtual reality software will continue to be screened at the theatre for the duration of the restoration project.  This VR contents was awarded the First Digital Archive Award by Digital Frontier Committee Kyoto, 1999.