VR in the garden: The Labyrinthe of Versailles revisited

摘要

The Labyrinthe of Versailles, which included 39 fountains based on Aesop fables, existed among the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles from 1665 until 1775 when it was destroyed and replaced by the Bosquet de la Reine. A virtual reality reconstruction of the Labyrinthe in the form of an app (“Labyrinth of Fables”) for desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone, and subsequently for the Oculus Rift immersive headset, was released in 2014. Since then a number of changes and improvements, intended to move the reconstruction towards the ultimate goal of a historically accurate and fully 3D experience of this beautiful and intriguing garden as well as to address user feedback on the ease of use of the app, have been developed and are described herein. These include: the use of photogrammetry techniques to introduce a number of new 3D objects; improved forms of vegetation in the hedges and increased use of trees to provide a greater sense of the place; a new treatment for one fountain that was previously inconsistent with that of the rest; the introduction of a new mode of user interaction allowing the visitor to stroll through a fully developed Labyrinthe as a complement to the original game mode; and the capability for the user to “jump” from place to place throughout the Labyrinthe. Some of the limitations that arise due to the desire to make the Labyrinthe experience available to users with a variety of devices with a wide range of capabilities and power as well as the resulting conflicts with the goal of a historically accurate, fully 3D, reconstruction are also discussed.