Virtual museum
ANCIENT RATTLE
A virtual reality application

COntext

As part of a fourth-year project, we - six students at INSA Rennes - are creating a virtual reality application in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes. Our aim is to highlight an artefact, to understand certain aspects of it that could not be perceived through a museum window. The use of virtual reality allows us to make this experience more playful, to attract a younger audience to the museum.

The artefact

It is a rattle in the shape of a piglet, made in Greece between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. 
It is currently kept in the archives of the Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes, because its main interest, which is sound, cannot be developed without letting the user interact with it, and therefore exposing it to damage.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality is a technology that immerses a person in a digitally created artificial sensory world. It is increasingly being used in various areas of everyday life, including the entertainment, ́education and tourism sectors.

The groups that were able to work on this project in previous years have already completed a similar application on a cat mummy from ancient Egypt.

Projects from previous years
Bastet's secret
Return of the mummy

Our application

Our application centered around this piglet rattle will enrich the visitor's experience through virtual reality, immersing them in different contexts of  discovery, manufacture and use of this artifact.

Discovery

In this scenario, we find ourselves in the shoes of an archaeologist who discovers the rattle in a funerary context. The journey of the rattle is then illustrated by animations on a map, from its origin in Greece, to its discovery in Italy and its arrival at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes.

The manufacturing scene is the most interactive for a user. One can manipulate many utensils, and by following the scenario correctly, succeed in creating a rattle, in the same way as it was done in ancient Greece. Once baked and unmoulded, you can even come and test it. This scene allows us to better understand how this rattle acquires its very important sensory/sound aspect.

Manufacture

Usage

The rattle as an object with religious symbolism

Here, the user is able to use a coin (to be found in the scene) to buy a rattle and use it to gain access to the temple. Once inside, they can walk through a part of the setting and receive explanations on the religious symbolism and the hypothetical use of the rattle in this particular context.

The rattle as a toy and protection for children

In this scene, one can be more active in the use of the rattle, and better see its presumed effects. The mission is to ward off evil spirits, represented by a fog, that are disturbing an infant in its cot. By shaking the rattle several times, the fog is eventually driven away and the infant is calmed.

Usage

USer experience

How to use our application? 

To test the application, the user will need to put on a virtual reality headset and take their controllers (more commonly known as joysticks). Also make sure you have a minimum of space around you to avoid unwanted collisions :))

Once immersed in the virtual world of our application, you can see your joysticks and two red lasers coming out, which will be useful for all the interactive parts of the application, such as pointing and clicking on elements in certain scenes, so as to change the scenery or catch objects.

Le menu principal

When the application starts up, when the user puts on the virtual reality headset, he or she will find himself or herself in a square / crossroads from which all the different scenarios will be accessible in an independent manner. This scene will therefore serve as the main menu for navigating between the scenarios. The user will always have the option, thanks to a navigation button, to return to this main menu if he does not want to finish the scenario he is currently in.

THe team

We are 6 students from INSA Rennes working on this project this year.

Emma Devos

Amélie Eveno

Juan Andrés Gonzalez Arias

Chloé Le Mouel

Alice Phung-Ngoc

Victor Robert-Andrieu

Our supervisors

  • Valérie Gouranton
  • Théophane Nicolas
  • Ronan Gaugne