RTI International - News Release - 3.18.1994
Virtual Reality Model of Dresden Frauenkirche Recreates Architectural Masterpiece
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC - For 200 years, it presided over Dresden, a physical symbol of human spiritual and artistic yearning. And it seemed to have guardian angels because even as Allied bombing pounded the rest of the city to rubble, the Frauenkirche remained. But while the Church of Our Lady withstood the bombs, she could not fend off the firestorm that followed.
On February 15, 1945, the soaring bell-shaped cupola collapsed. Now, a computer technology un-imagined at the time of the bombing is being used to help raise a masterpiece of European architecture from the ashes.
Scientists at Research Triangle Institute (RTI), working with IBM Germany, are using virtual reality (VR) to recreate the church. Development of the VR model is being funded by IBM-Germany as part of a project to help rebuild the Frauenkirche. The virtual model will be used to generate enthusiasm for the project and to help raise funds needed to complete the church.
"If patrons can 'walk' into a building before it's built and be inspired, they will feel more disposed to help in the reconstruction project," explains Dale Rowe, director of RTI's Center for Digital Systems Engineering.
The virtual model of the Frauenkirche (was) unveiled on March 16, 1994, in Hanover, Germany, at CeBIT, an international computer industry trade show. Those attending (were) able to don a VR helmet and take a tour of the rebuilt church. RTI technical staff (were) in the IBM booth to demonstrate and discuss VR applications.
"They'll be able to walk around inside the church and appreciate the architectural design and beautiful colors from different vantage points," Mr. Rowe says. "They'll also be able to see and hear the three-story organ that Johann Sebastian Bach once played."
RTI created the VR model from an existing animation model of the Frauenkirche developed by Luc Genevriez, a French artist and designer commissioned by IBM Germany. Starting with a computer-aided design model of the church and using a software modeling package, TDI Image, Mr. Genevriez added colors and textures to the model, creating a very detailed rendering of the church.
"At this stage, each scene took about two and a half hours of computer time to render," Mr. Rowe notes. "RTI's contribution was to speed up this model so that viewers could walk through the computer- generated Frauenkirche in real time."
The RTI team used Silicon Graphics Inc. computers to render the complex images in real time, and IBM computers and software to allow real time interaction between the images and the person taking a virtual tour of the church.
The virtual model of the Dresden Frauenkirche is one of several recent VR projects the Institute has undertaken.
For another project, RTI developed a virtual reality furniture showroom, which was demonstrated at the 1993 North Carolina Furniture Show in High Point. The showroom was part of the Home Theatre collection by American Drew, and RTI received support for the project from the Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center (FMMC) at North Carolina State University (NCSU).
"Architects were already using virtual reality to model building interiors, and a natural extension is for manufacturers of office and institutional furniture to market their furnishings using virtual reality," explains Dr. C. Thomas Culbreth, director of the FMMC at NCSU.
The virtual showroom demonstrated in High Point consisted of more than 100 individual pieces of bedroom furniture and accessories. With the helmet, potential buyers viewed furniture in different finishes and fabrics, selected and placed accessories, moved items of furniture.
VR specialists at RTI are now using the technology for projects as varied as training for the Marine Corps and planning for a new Global TransPark in Kinston, NC.
The VR laboratory at RTI was set up by VR Department Manager Jorge Montoya with the help of Dr. Fred Brooks, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientist who is a leader in the field of virtual reality research.
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