The Forbidden City Chinese 3D

IBM and the Museum of the Forbidden City in China have three years to complete this virtual replica of the imperial palace in Beijing. But attention is also an interactive virtual community, with tools similar to those of social networks. Here is the presentation of this project and a making of video.

For three years, engineers, programmers and developers IBM meticulously recreated the palaces of the Forbidden City to offer a virtual tour on the Web, called Beyond Space and Time (the site is in English and Chinese).

The project team conducted a rejoinder in 3D and on the Web, architecture and objects of the old palace. As mentioned in Wikipedia, the construction of the Forbidden City, was "ordered by Yongle, the seventh emperor Ming, and carried out between 1407 and 1420. This palace, a scale unmatched - it covers an area of 720,000 m2 - is part of the palace's oldest and best preserved of China. Nowadays, it became a museum that preserves the imperial treasures of ancient Chinese civilization. "

"The rich cultural heritage of Imperial China is now accessible to all through a virtual world created by IBM and the Palace Museum," said Henry Chow, Chairman, Greater China Group, IBM. "This initiative enables online experience a level never seen and that includes rich content of lessons, stories, as well as social networking applications and functionalities that are representative of what will be the next generation of applications 3D Internet. "

"What makes me proud is that IBM has opened a treasure for all and cultural heritage, until now accessible to few people," he added.

With Beyond Space and Time, users can discover a virtual world, perfectly faithful to the original. Moreover, rather than visit the Forbidden City alone, the "virtual tourists" can see and interact with other users and even bots!

If it is possible to be only a spectator this virtual world, you can also choose to participate in tours and activities to discover the important aspects of the culture of the Qing.

Visitors to the Forbidden City virtual are able to select tours that correspond to major historical subjects and the history of the Forbidden City, for example, The Dragons of the Forbidden City, Imperial Gardens or Animals Symbolic of the Forbidden City.

Visitors to the Forbidden City virtual may also engage in various activities with their avatars and play an active role in the culture of the time. For example, avatars may take part in "games" such as archery, cricket or even play the old game of Weiqi, known now as the game of GO!

Applying Virtual Forbidden City is free and is available in Windows Vista / XP, Mac OS X and Linux.