Inuit 3D: An Interactive Virtual 3D Web Exhibition
Frank Corcoran, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Canada
Jeffery Demaine, Narional Research Council Canada, Canada
Louis-Guy Dicaire, National Research Council Canada, Canada
Michel Picard, National Research Council Canada, Canada
John Taylor, National Research Council of Canada, Canada
http://vit.iit.nrc.ca

Session: Touching the Virtual

The Canadian Museum of Civilization and the National Research Council of Canada collaborated on the production of Inuit 3D, one of six inaugural Virtual Museum of Canada exhibitions launched in April 2001. Inuit 3D is an interactive exhibition in which visitors navigate through three exhibition halls and interactively examine twelve 3D models of objects from the Museum's collection. An introductory video is presented at the entrance to each exhibition room. Drop down text panels provide information on the objects, as well as on Inuit artists and the Canadian North. To produce the exhibition, three technologies developed for Web applications - VRML, 3D Scanning and QuickTime - were used. While these technologies enable museums to produce interactive web exhibitions, a number of significant technical and web design issues must be considered. The objective of this paper is to present an overview of Inuit 3D including the technical and web issues.