Star Carr: Life after the Ice
XR Stories has collaborated with the Department of Archeology at the University of York and the York Museums Trust to create a new interactive exhibition for The Yorkshire Museum.
Star Carr: Life after the Ice is an interactive mural created to give visitors a glimpse into the lives of the people of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) settlement at Star Carr in North Yorkshire.
The exhibition provides an unique insight into the lives of the people of Star Carr as they hunt, travel, worship, relax and play. A motion sensor enables the experience to respond to movement in front of it, with animals and birds startling and passing humans greeting the viewer.
Running on an infinitely variable loop with day and night, seasonal cycles and different weather conditions, the piece provides viewers with a sense of both everyday events and special, rare moments. For example, deer are often seen moving in the woods, whereas wolves and bears may be seen only occasionally after many hours and multiple cycles.
The experience incorporates procedural generation, simple AI and performance capture technology to make an archaeological reconstruction feel like a living place.
XR Stories provided motion capture support, using the Vicon performance capture system installed in its immersive technology lab. The team recorded the body motion of performers acting out historically accurate activities such as flint knapping and leather tanning. These recordings were then applied to the digital characters that visitors can see moving around as part of the installation.
Categories: Heritage, Technology