Virtualizing an Existing Gallery

This is a proof of concept for taking an existing gallery and virtualizing it so that an internet visitor can move about the gallery, look more closely at the art and find out information about the art. This concept would also work with "staged" rooms that would have art hung, be photographed, and then be cleared to be re-hung with different art and re-photographed, etc., creating a series of rooms full of art that the internet visitor could then navigate through.

In this example, you get to tour the first floor rooms of Gallery78, a fine art gallery located in Fredericton, NB.

What is working in this proof-of-concept:

  • the walk-through
  • art in the foyer
  • art in the west gallery room (the one on the right)

To use the interactive photograph, javascript must be enabled in your browser.

In each photograph, there are "hot spots". Many of them simply display additional information when you move your mouse over them. Some of them (such as doors) will change the point of view to what's beyond the door when you click on them.

The result is a self-directed tour of the gallery.

Also:

  • there's a strip at the bottom of each photo that usually provides a "step back" function
  • doors that provide entrance to a room from another room often have a hot spot on the floor in front of them that will change your point of view to that spot
  • the hot spots are not marked on purpose... it tends to draw the user in a bit more, this way

Since this is just a proof of concept, please be aware of the following limitations:

  • only the ground floor has been covered. Gallery78 has much more gallery space than just what is shown, here.
  • the art was shot "on the wall", so there may be image artifacts such as reflections off the glass or inadvertent shadows.
  • the art has not been corrected for colour or contrast range.
  • some of the information about the art may be missing and the format of the text is plain.
  • some of the pop-up boxes may "jitter" (MSIE, only) when you move the mouse. This can be fixed with a simple software tweak in my authoring software.

These photos were taken 24 July, 2009. Many thanks to Gallery78 for their kind co=operation in this project.

Click here to begin the demo