Virtual reality at the NHM

Virtual reality trilobite

The Natural History Museum is currently a partner in an exciting virtual reality project. The project, named SICMA (Scaleable Interactive Continuous Media server design and Application), involves a number of partners from the European Union and Switzerland. It is supported by the European Commission under the Advanced Communications Technologies and Services (ACTS) programme of Framework IV. The Museum's role in the project is to develop an exhibition which exists solely in virtual reality, and which can be accessed remotely by other museums. The second phase of the project will allow home owners in Belgium to access the virtual museum via a cable television network.

One of the technologies being used in the production of the virtual exhibition allows real objects to be converted into three dimensional data sets, which can then be manipulated by computer. A digital camera records the path of a narrow laser beam as it scans an object. Data from this camera is used to create the 3D model, which can then be rotated and enlarged on a computer screen as if it were a real object.

To demonstrate the technology, the Museum's Research and Design team have had a number of fossil specimens scanned. You can download the data sets for these fossils from the Museum's server, and then view them using special virtual reality software.

The fossil data sets are in a special format, called Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML). You need a special piece of software to view data in this format. Fortunately this software can be downloaded from various internet sites.

SICMA web site: For more details of the SICMA project, look at the SICMA web site.
Virtual reality fossils!: If you are using Netscape 2.0 and have a plug-in VRML browser, look at these pages.
Download virtual reality fossils: If you have an offline VRML browser, you can download the VRML data sets and look at them offline.
Download virtual reality software: If you don't have any virtual reality software, you should be able to find one in this extensive list of VRML browsers. Note that this list is not maintained by the Natural History Museum.
Pictures of virtual reality fossils: If you don't want to use a VRML browser, but are still interested in seeing the virtual reality fossils, here are some pictures of them.