Julian Flores, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

1. “Botafumeiro and Portico de la Gloria” virtual;
Enhancement of the cultural heritage by
interactive applications
Julián Flores
Instituto de Investigaciones Tecnológicas
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.
Julian.flores@usc.es

2. Santiago de Compostela
 Way of St. James.
 The Cathedral of Santiago.
 Top for the Spanish/European Romanesque Art
 One distinctive element of the liturgy is the use of a giant censer
called “O Botafumerio”
 Its main element is Portico de la Gloria (1188)

3. I
Index
 Botafumeiro
 Tradition
 Interactive visualization system.
 Portico de la Gloria
 Portico de la Gloria
 Instruments of the Portico

4. “O Botafumerio”
 It is singular in the Christian liturgy.
 Giant censer “O Botafumeiro”
○ M = 53 Kg
○ h = 150 cm
 It is tied to a rope that hangs from the
centre of the transept of the arms of
the cathedral.
○ L = 20 m
 it is pulled through the transept of the
cathedral, basically describing a
pendulum movement.
○ V=70km/h

5. “Os Tiraboleiros”
Tiraboleiro: From Latin Turifer-Turibulum,
producer-carrier the censer.
 A team of 12 men called “Os Tiraboleiros”
pulls the supporting rope in a pumping
cycle in order to increase the energy of
the system and, consequently, the angle
of oscillation.
 The team is guided by the Tiraboleiros
leader; Armando Raposo .

7. “Virtual Simulation”
 Our goal is to develop a simulator of the liturgy of the
botafumeiro.
 In the simulator the user will take the role of the Tiraboleiros.
 Visualization and interaction
 Solving the dynamics of the Botafumerio.
 Visualization of a virtual model of the Cathedral of Santiago
 Developing an interface (HCI) to simulate the pumping process of the
tiraboleiros

8. Dynamic of the botafumeiro
Pumping parametric amplification of a pendulum movement.
 No-lineal equation
 Complex analytical resolution
 Numerical Methods (century XX)
 The “traditional solution” is obtained by observation. The traditional
pumping process maximize the energy transfer to the censer .
 The number of pumping cycles is 17 for a 82º of angle.
 Mathematical solution

9. Visualization System
 NAVE architecture
 3 Screens (12m2)
○ 1 center y 2 sizes with 120º
○ 1024x768 Resolution
○ Stereoscopic Passive vision
 Coordinates by a cluster of 3 PC's
○ 2 Graphics client
○ 1 Host/client Graphic
 Management the interface
 Sound Coordinate the system
 HARDWARE
3 PC´s Estándar
Core 2 Duo T6400 1GB RAM
NVIDIA GFORCE 7600GT PCI Express 256 RAM

10. Graphics Engine
•SOFTWARE- LAB Engine
• OpenGL 2.1
• Direct X 9.0c
• 3D The model
• 1.000.000 of Triangles
• 1GB of textures
• Smoke of the censer. Particle system running in the GPU

11. Interface
 It has to be used by more
than 50.000 users per year
 Industrial interface
 Elements:
○ Four ropes 4.
○ Hydraulic pumping system.
○ Pumping sensor.
○ Acquisition system-Pc

12. Virtual Show-Video

13. I
Index
 Botafumeiro
 Tradition
 Interactive visualization system.
 Portico de la Gloria
 Portico de la Gloria
 Instruments of the Portico

14. Pór tico and Instruments.
18m*11m

15. Plan of Restauration:
Restoration plan was designed and coordinate by:
• Fundación Barrie
• Cabildo de la Cathedral
• Ministerio de Cultura.
The project try to develop an set of applications which help to
spread the importance of the conservation of the cultural
heritage focus on the Portico. Technology of Information and
communication.
• Portico virtual
• Instruments of the portico VR.

16. Application has to show:
Meaning of the Pórtico
• Importance and artistic value
• Heritage conservation awareness
• Supplement Information
For user
• Guided support system
• Used by the museum staff.
• Usable by any user
• Cathedral Museum (Santiago Cathedral Crypt)

17. •Application: Content Creation
• 3D model (Starting point)
• Laser Scanning (University of Cottbus)
• NO color information
• Simplification and optimization of the original geometric mesh
• Order of magnitude (points) i ~ 1.5x108 9x106
• Textured work
• Photographic Study of the Portico de la Gloria
• 1 TB of documentation
• Inclusion of Relevant Information
• Result of new research
• Overlays, texture transitions, audio, etc..

18. LEVEL OF DETAIL
Malla Original LoD 70%

19. Comparación Real - Virtual

20. Application information summary:
•11 are established areas of interest, historical or Cultural significance
•The application users can view and explore demand
• Speech relating to each of the zones.
• Significance of each area, historical Considerations
• Conservation and restoration of the monument
• Content "dynamic“. According to advance the work of restoration
and conservation, the new information obtained will be phased
in gradually implementing
•Two ways to "visit“.
• The user can explore at will the various points of interest
• Automatic Mode is touring all areas of interest while listening to
a continuous speech.
• Visit "on-rails". Video capture of the automatic touring.

21. Shell of Information:
• Polychromic

22. Architecture
Sistema de
Distributed Computing (Client-Server) Visualización
(Servidor)
•Client
• Application "Display“
Sistema de
• Image Generation Control
•Server (Cliente)
• Control Application
• Control System
• Customer

23. •Application: Software Design-Client
•Display
• Dynamic camera
• Allows wide range of perspectives
• Animations generated in real time for transitions between
points of interest
​
•In each area of interest trigger "special events":
• Computer graphics, highlight some element of the
monument, etc.
• Transition between current and original state polychrome
•LoD System / Dynamic Load
• Textures
•Open Source Tools
• Ogre3D

24. Application: Software Design-Server
•Application "System Control“
• Touch interface
• Intuitive
•Sound management of the application
• Language Selection
• 5 Languages
•Visiting Mode Selection
• Interactive / Auto
•Control point of view
• Zoom
• Orbital Camera
•Developed with Microsoft tools
• WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)
• .Net Framework 4.0
• XAML / C #

26. Video Pórtico

27. Instruments of the
por tico VR.

28.  Intuitive way of working
 Focused on non-experts
 Accessible to users that are unfamiliar with
new technologies
 Attractive presentation
 Intended for public exhibition in a museum
 Robust
 The materials must be robust and not easily
breakable as they are intended to be handled by
many people

29.  Use of a tangible interface
 “The most intuitive way of handling an object is
actually handle it with our hands”
 The user manipulates an object and its virtual
representation is moved in line with the movement of
the real object that the user is handling.
 Prototypes
 WIImote
 Augmented Reality patterns
○ A cube with patterns in each face
○ One pattern interface

30.  Only one pattern
 Reduces occlusion problems
 Easier to operate
 Tangible interface: Disk with an attached pattern
 Circular shape, similar to
the Pórtico one.
 Easy to manipulate
 Avoids occluding the pattern
with the fingers while
manipulating

32.  Two modules application
 Pattern detection
○ Captures the webcam image
○ Finds the pattern within the
image and computes its
geometric transformations
 Information display
○ Displays 3D models
○ Plays the right sound for each
moment in the presentation
○ Controls the application logic

33.  Elder/instrument selection mode
 Allows to travel along the tympanum
and select de elder/instrument to
visualize
 Instruments visualization mode
 Visualization of the instrument while you
listen an explanation about how the
instrument was and how it was
reconstructed
 Language selection mode
 You can choose between 5 different
languages
 General explanation mode
 Shows the 24 Elder in their positions
and plays a explanation of the museum,
the restoration and the Pórtico de la
Gloria itself.

34.  Constructed from sketches, drawings and pictures of the real
reconstructions by López Calo

35.  Video Instrumentos

36. Results-Conclusion
•High number of visitor
•+160.000 visitors during 2010
•Great perception
•Users
•Museum staff
•New Installations
•Berlin (Instituto Cervantes)
•La Coruña (Foundation Barrie).
•Lisboa