A Croatian-Dutch cooperation.
The world of applications, VR technologies and smartphones is usually linked with young developers and designers, the millennials who have grown up in step with technology and use it to experience the world around them, developing business opportunities and ambitions, reports Jutarnji List on October 8, 2018.
However, the millenials are not the only ones who know how to develop information technologies. This has been proven by two retirees, one from Croatia and the other from the Netherlands, who, together with the Legame studio, are working on an app which could completely change the tourist experience of Split, and possibly the rest of Croatia.
Guests will soon be able to experience Split in a different way, thanks to the VR technology developed by 3D modellers, in collaboration with the developers from the first Croatian VR studio Legame, which will enable interactive visualisation of the history of selected Split locations.
The VR project involves the Stipan Ujdur, a 66-year-old from Opuzen, a pensioner and an author of the 3D model of the Diocletian’s Palace in Split. Ujdur has been working on 3D modelling for the last eight years. The author of the renderings and animations is Martin van der Meijde from Arnhem, who is also retired, while Ujdur has received help from Ivan Popić from Opuzen.
Ujdur and Popić have reconstructed the Diocletian’s Palace by the 3D modelling of the painting by E. Herbrand from 1912. The reconstruction was based on original designs, floor plans, drawings, paintings and footage of the palace available on the Internet, while Martin van der Meijde dealt with design and programming of photo and video rendering, adding different effects to the virtual space of the palace. The work on the 3D palace lasted for about one year.
The app will be available on Google Play and can be used without a VR headset, although the experience is much better with it. “We intend to make two apps, and each will have 12 locations available for VR 360 tours. One application will be for use only with VR glasses, while the other will only be for mobile phones. So, without VR glasses, it will be possible to see on your cell phone how the chosen site looked like 1,500 years ago. You will be able to see the ships of that time, how they loaded and unloaded the materials, and how the world looked like back then,” explained Ujdur.
Ujdur and his associates will not restrict themselves just to the illustrations of Split, but will also try to revive other famous Croatian cultural heritage sites. “The app should be ready by the end of the year, at least as far as Split is concerned. We have to protect it and then we will offer it to tourist agencies. By the beginning of the next tourist season, everything should be done and ready,” said Ujdur.
Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Vid Barić).
