Museums are about to change forever

[@14wilshere]

As Robin Williams says to Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting "“Michelangelo? You know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations. Him and the pope. Sexual orientation. The whole works, right? I bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling. Seeing that."

[@firstlast2636]

Ass

[@CigarAttache]

Truth. I was awe struck

[@planetvegan7843]

Smells like B.O.

[@neonity4294]

That's another point for virtual museums though. If you want the experience the actual chapel you need to travel to europe, book an accommodation etc. A virtual chapel couldn't offer the same impressions, but would be accessible with some vr gear.

[@marcobelli6856]

@@neonity4294I would make digital art for VR. What is the point of making a digital copy of the Sistine chapel? You just need a modern Michelangelo and you can make him realize a digital chapel that is 1000 times better than the original since in VR he isn’t held back by money or gravity or other costruction problems. They should make a digital cathedral so big that you cannot replicate in real life than it would make sense

[@michaelwhite9513]

As I age and my health fails, I can not tell you how much I appreciate your channel and others about the ancient world. I have been a casual student of history since I started learning the responses to the Latin Catholic Mass as a kid in the 50's and class in high school in the 60's To be able to enjoy the new discoveries and new understanding of our ancient ancestors.

[@sariahmarier42]

I'm an artist and often take photos of my pieces for work. It always holds true that no photo or representation ever holds a candle to seeing the actual painting or textile sculpture in real life. So while I'm glad to witness the accessibility of museum collections via media, I know that nothing will be able to replace the experience of being present in the room with them.

[@LucisValorian]

This sums up exactly what i was thinking. There is just something magical about seeing the works of a sculptor in real life. One thing that will never get replaced by digitalization will be museums.

[@sayuas4293]

No, digital models will not replace the value of seeing the real thing with your own eyes

[@saradavis6581]

Those PS2 graphics are not cutting it hahaha

[@sakhalnakhash1123]

I most likely will never have the opportunity to view them myself. Or, what if something like the Bagdad Museum happens? A copy may be all that's left.

[@10z20]

I think he knows that, it's an advertisement for something secondary, a substitute. He's not lying about anything.

[@uselessDM]

I don't know about that. I was at the sistine chapel for example and it's not the greatest experience to be honest. You are there with a million people and the paintings are actually pretty high up there and kinda hard to see and you can't really spend much time there. Some sort of high resolution VR experience would probably be nicer if you actually want to look at the paintings in detail. But I wouldn't say that goes for everything of course, but I don't think the real experience is always the best in every case either.

[@Ely-zf4yt]

This is true but at least it will be more convenient for people who don't have enough money to travel, or for digital preservation of artwork. I just hope it isn't used in the future to justify getting rid of the real thing.

[@2smokindukes]

As many have said, it’s no substitute for the real thing, but it will get better and better, and this is definitely one of the best patreon member perks available anywhere.

[@savage.4.24]

I just got to the part where you said you have started your own. Its wonderful! I wanted to say thank you. I love art and to learn but cant afford to travel. I would love to though. This is truly a good human deed ❤

[@neilterry1726]

A lot of negative comments, and I share some of their concerns, but it seems to me they are misplaced. After all, the people complaining are still here, watching a channel that is essentially a personalized, narrated digital museum trip. This will never replace the instinctive human desire to see the Real Thing, true! And it should not aim to. BUT it can be a great additional resource, that allows so much more focus and detail than even hours of entertaining videos ever could, and be better at it than any book could be. So many times I've watched a Told in Stone video, and wanted much more information, detailed pictures, or narrative focus on just a small item or portion of the subject matter of the video.....and that is what a well built online museum could provide, better than any wikipedia page, printed encyclopedia, museum website, or most other resources that are easily available currently. This isn't a "replacement", it's a tool to expand the reach of static places, a way to extend the magic and deepen the knowledge of the subjects of the videos that this channel already provides in video narrative form. Seems like a lot of work, but without modern technology it would not even be possible, and it looks like a good use of the technology to me, with a lot of potential. A few well placed easter eggs alone could be hours of fun.

[@tobymdev]

Constructive criticism: The models look shoddy at best, and definitely isnt worthy of a paywall. Theres visible shadows distorting the colors, holes in objects that shouldnt have them, clear deformities and texture artifacting, the materials are basic and lack detail, etc... On the other hand i love the idea and would suggest using other scans publicly available that have a much better quality.

[@Coin_Tales]

Exciting update! The presence of Rose number [318] embodies the spirit of collaboration within our creative garden here at Cointales. Let's keep cultivating this shared space together! 🌹🌷🌼 Thank you for being a vital part of it! 😊💖

[@michaelporzio7384]

Museums have to walk a tightrope between serious scholarship and public appeal. They have to appeal to the general public to produce revenue as well as keep credibility with academia to get grants. That part of museums, physical and virtual, will not change. Best of luck with the new venture, Garrett you are able to be informative and entertaining. Oh, have a happy Ides of March (as contradictory as that sounds)

[@marktoth4379]

Do they? Do they really HAVE to do all of that…?

[@marktoth4379]

“No sir, I don’t like it. Not one bit”! My bad! I’ve been wanting to use that quote ever since I rediscovered it.

[@No-one91910]

​@@marktoth4379they gotta pay the bills somehow

[@louisjov]

Ever since I played the first Assassin's Creed game, I've been convinced that with the right funding behind it, using technology to make meticulously historically accurate virtual worlds that can be explored in VR or video games, these virtual worlds can make history more accessible than ever

[@jaysho5461]

Not just the past, but the representation of the present will be invaluable to the future. Watch Dogs 2, The Division, GTA 4&5, True Crime: New York etc. Imagine if we had model of Rome from 200AD that survived until today. Video games can be just that for future generations.

[@grunkster]

@@jaysho5461I never thought of it this way!! Thanks for the new perspective!

[@victorkong82]

This has been occurring for decades now through theme parks and living-history museums. We simply need to remove the intellectual stigma of theme parks being for children only and treat them as the academic, artistic they are able to become in order to make them credible for scholarly pursuits.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Oh yes, why being in a virtual recreation of the modern museum when you can be in the virtual recreation of the whole ancient city where everything is in its original context (to the best of our knowledge)?

[@handlehaggler]

Using 3D software to recreate these place as accurately as possible and then hopefully using AI to simulate everyday life of the local people of that time based on what we/AI know about them. This is something rockstar and gta iv is doing and it COULD translate to something like OP is saying but i think capital interest will stop that from happening to the extent and magnificence of which it could

[@arnoldcohen1250]

In the future, the benefit would be complementary and supplemental to seeing the real thing. Those who cannot travel due to age, finances, health or preferences would enjoy this as a substitute. To those fortunate to travel or have traveled this could bring back memories or fill in all the exhibits you walk by as you go to the most famous items in your time limited visit. It could also prepare you before a visit and let you choose what you really want to spend time on in the museum rather than what your guide or guide book tells you to see! I could see this as large screen projections as a back drop to lectures in history, literature, etc. at university to painlessly introduce art and sculpture at the same time. Great stuff!!

[@17hunter00]

This appeals to me as a way for people to virtually create their own museum as a collection of things they've witnessed in person. That way over years of travel around the world you can virtually revisit the pieces knowing you were there in person and made the scan yourself. I don't think seeing things in person can ever be replicated.

[@colbystearns5066]

I don't see this ever replacing people's desire to see the real thing. Being able to see this incredibly rare golden bust of Marcus Aurelius (one of six known gold busts ever made by the Romans) when it was on display at the Getty Villa in person was truly special and it wouldn't be the same if I merely saw a digital copy of it no matter how HD that copy is. It could prove very useful for educational purposes but there will always be a demand to see the physical/tangible artifacts in the flesh. Your gallery does look really cool though! Good luck with that!

[@bulletbill5977]

I worry it won't matter what demand exists. The push us for increasingly digital interactions. Museums as a subscription. Far more easy to manipulate inconvenient history that way.

[@safetinspector2]

And a few years ago there were people that said buying clothes online would never replace going to a department store. And that no one would want to read books that aren’t made of paper.

[@Language_Guru]

Most people do not have the time or money to visit every museum or archeological site they might like to visit. For them (including me), digital galleries are at least an enjoyable and feasible alternative.

[@colbystearns5066]

@@Language_Guru I definitely see the value in it, making ancient history more accessible to more people no matter where they live, I also think people will still find value in the tangibility that comes with seeing the real thing up close.

[@ericwilliams1659]

I agree but with a caveat. When camera technology and display technology equal the resolution of the human eye. Then things will change. Except for people who want to say, "kiss the blarney stone" or "throw soup on the Mona lisa."

[@rogertwitchell8197]

I spent some time in your "Pantheon" museum, looking around. I should mention that I've made POV-Ray models of the Pantheon and a hybrid of the Basilica Nova and the Baths of Diocletian that seem lighting-wise at least mathematically near-perfect vs. normal video card generated material, as POV-Ray can uniquely produce via radiosity etc. So it took some time for your more normal graphics to work for me, and it clearly wasn't supposed to be a literally perfectly accurate rendering of the Pantheon. The photographically accurate obelisk of Constantinople was what really pulled me in, with its erosion, text and all. But after some time, especially with that curious background sound loop, I started getting some of the feel I think you were trying to convey. The brain started compensating for any visual inaccuracies detail-wise to deliver the overall experience which you intended. That unique sound really helped! Those less capable of nitpicking others' renderings to pieces would (especially after some time) I think be likely very impressed. Then when you look up the photographic in-person imagery available online of what you're showing that likely starts completing things and one ends up really wanting to be near the then-obvious amazingness of the original actual physical things. One thing making that POV-Ray Pantheon model of mine has done is make me really, really want to spend some good quality time in the Pantheon on a moonlit night (which would of course be illegal for a tourist), and made me realize that the more I study the original, the more very complex is truly is (interesting details everywhere). Considering how hard good radiosity is to generate CPU (or GPU) cycles-wise, giving your virtual museum truly authentic lighting detail would also make the service completely unaffordable. So bravo to an excellent work, a really good, positively interesting approach! The scanned models of physical objects are a truly fantastic tour de force, that's what makes the jaw drop a tad and can generate true awe. While a somewhat later building but still completely Roman in its own way, a model of the Hagia Sophia with its extra ground-floor complexity would make an even greater virtual museum space! Congrats!

[@jstrandquist]

I have to agree with a lot of other commenters when I say that there's still no substitute for actually being in front of the real thing. There's a strong sense of wonder involved in looking at 2,000+ year-old artwork, tool, or building and thinking "Someone made this. Someone used this. Someone admired this, or lived here, or worked here, or any and all of the above." There's an immediacy and a connection with the past involved in that realization that would be very difficult if not impossible to recreate with a virtual copy, no matter how faithful. For that reason, I think there is and should always be a place for physical museums, despite their flaws. That said, I think there will be some value and use for virtual museums. For providing access to those who can't make the trip, for reference before or after a visit, for scholarly work, for showing objects not currently on physical display-I think these are all worthwhile goals, but at that point a virtual museums starts to become closer to a particularly immersive and glossy catalog, rather than a substitute for actually going there.

[@DivertissementMonas1664]

What makes you believe you are looking at the real thing in a museum? You are just as likely to be looking at an 'authentic' copy 🧐

[@Michelle_Wellbeck]

Virtual Museums reminds me of Educational Software from the 90s, DK Eyewitness series etc. Definitely a really fun way I spent my alloted "computer time".

[@QuantumHistorian]

This whole video felt like an ad rather than the usually informative and entertaining content. And that was before I hit 4:30 and saw that it was, indeed, an ad. Raging on about the advantages of virtual museums for 4mins before disclosing your close vested interested in it is borderline dishonest

[@nickm8882]

He’s selling out. Disappointing.

[@CosmicMapping]

@@nickm8882I mean, I don’t like it either, but is it really “selling out” if you’re promoting your own project? lol

[@maxwellspiegel5985]

I have to respectfully disagree with your notion of being "borderline dishonest". While he indeed promoted his own work in the video (Which I don't think is a bad thing to do) he made a lot of good points in regards to virtual museums. If done right, virtual museums can be a great additional piece to traditional museums. It may never replace being there, but it can help enhance the experience at home.

[@KuursKat]

I love clicking a ToldInStone video and immediately hearing a harp and chisels

[@caracallaavg]

Slaps as hard as Mark Felton's intro

[@MiNick79]

This is absolutely amazing. There are so many people who will never be able to travel to a museum to see great works of art, making virtual museums where a majority of people can view works of art that they would normally never be able to is truly remarkable.

[@Scutum-ky2fx]

I think this is a good example of something to do. Well done! It will however not replace the real thing, but it is an inexpensive way to see things and can help provide better understanding of history. I feel KZbin is exactly the same in comparison. It has allowed for people to grasp history better than they could have before like your good self and got me into reading. I commend you for this and it is certainly a niche. I would highly suggest making a larger than life museum that is almost like an artefact archive but with meaning and understanding so people can either go simple or incredible detailed on an era and area of history. Keep up the good work!

[@kilroy1976]

Finally, a museum I can't get thrown out of.

[@briteness]

The rise of digital "museums" may actually increase the numbers of visitors to traditional museums. As higher numbers of people are able to experience artifacts from the past in a virtual way, their interest will be kindled to go visit the real thing. For instance, next week I am planning to visit Graceland in Memphis, where Elvis lived. If I had not watched a bunch of videos about the place (not virtual spaces one could wander around in yet, but perhaps that will come), it is quite possible I would have let this old idea slide; the digital experience only increased my desire to go there. It is not a competition; the two complement one other.

[@anders630]

A lot of museums can only have a fraction of their collections on display, with digitlization there are no such spacial limits.

[@Norsilca]

Absolutely. People are reacting to this like they're about to tear down museums and replace them with this. But this just adds ways to experience these artifacts.

[@highlanderwins3328]

Last time I was this early, the Elgin Marbles were still in Athens.

[@HypervoxelRBX]

Weak joke

[@rorywest4937]

Last time i was this early, the Buddhas of Bamiyan weren't blown up 😢

[@davidpetersen1]

🤣🤣

[@Seventeen_Syllables]

I had a look around. I've also scanned through the comments and noticed some about how it does not recreate the authentic museum experience. This is true, but I have a different point of view. I have been around the world, visited museums and galleries of all sorts. Now I'm old, and don't want to travel anymore. For me it's good because I can fill in the blanks based on my experience. Maybe it is not ideal, at least not for everyone, but I believe there will be an audience for this format.

[@Hoakaloa]

I live in Hawai'i and have decided to reduce my air travel as much as possible. So, virtual experiences will become more important and valuable to me. Mahalo.

[@Michelle-Eden]

When I worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art I was once asked by a tourist if the works of art were real. "Of course they are," I said. "If they were fake, where do you think the real ones would be?" "In the basement," came the reply. That said, the Sardis Column is mostly painted cement.

[@mh8704]

This will be wonderful for anyone who for whatever reason cannot go to museums and can’t travel. Also, digitalized artifacts allow us to really zoom in on details that I have a hard time seeing in a museum display. Thanks!

[@joanreynolds955]

I usually can’t see much through the Plexiglass.

[@emmycantbemeeko]

Yes! Some things I prefer to see in well-done digital collections than in most in person exhibits, especially things like clothing or jewelry that have many minute details. Several feet back and/or behind glass, many of these are lost.

[@jaytothej]

Trying to zoom in with a Macbook was not a great experience - it was either 1000x or back to 1x, then it crashed my computer.

[@joe42m13]

Not everyone can just fly the family to another continent for a few weeks to see all the sights. This is an amazing innovation to provide global access for potentially billions of people who would *never* see these incredible works otherwise.

[@avnostlga]

Don't knock the Idaho Potato Museum. Worlds largest potato chip on display there. At least what's left of it. And the creepiest singing potatoes you can imagine! Nice collection of potato diggers too.

[@LN997-i8x]

Some of my favourite museums have been the creepy, weird ones.

[@JackMooo]

I don’t have enough money to see the British Museum, so I’ll definitely be using this.

[@jeffreywilliams3421]

This is really awesome, congratulations on being part of such a great project

[@user-tm8jt2py3d]

Virtual relics are pretty limited in impact, and "reframed" realities has been the thing that keeps me away from museums lately. I'll check this out to support the channel, but this is all very depressing imo.

[@mrjoe5292]

If you can't see the possibilities in something like this then I don't really know what to say. In fact I find it a little ironic, given that the vast majority of your own knowledge and experience of the great works of the world is mostly replicas that you've experienced. That's true for everyone, and it's not a bad thing, in fact things like photography have spread art and knowledge across the world and allowed people who would otherwise never have experienced things to have had at least some type of experience. I mean could you imagine living in a world where the only way to know what the Eifel Tower of the Florence Cathedral look like would be to go there? People will always want to see the real thing, and they always will. To look at something that will improve people's ability to experience works of art and history and increase access to knowledge and see it as depressing isn't something I can wrap my head around. The only real danger I see is in museums replacing the actual relic with a virtual one, for whatever reasons, which I'd be against. But I can't see people ever not wanting to experience the real thing. I can't imagine a time where people wouldn't want to see the Bayeux Tapestry and settle for just a digital version.

[@malkomalkavian]

I think they are assuming that the digital copies of history will be easily edited to suit the narratives of the powerful, where physical objects have always been quite hard to fake. I may be wrong about their fears

[@takitakitosteheso]

How can cheap digital copies be even compared to real artifacts or called the "future of museums"? Looking at those 3D models is as exciting as just finding the photos of the artifacts on Google - incompareable to seeing the real thing.

[@shesh2265]

Guys he explicitly says "this technology will compliment traditional galleries"

[@kathy6803]

I think a lot depends on the artifact. Imagine having all the pages of the book of Kells to look at; that's better than the one that a real museum can show you. And virtual experiences can be quite memorable. I love this!

[@mariahamilton5305]

The Ashmolean has a whole basement full of casts, so crowded that you have to book a (free) tour to see them (and all bags are left at the stairs). Allegedly a wildly gesticulating guide once took a finger off a cast...!

[@victorkong82]

I'm going to paste a lecture from my favorite theme park and experience designer/architect Joe Rohde on the historic nature of museums and the innate superiority of a sensory physical environment: "When museums first became public institutions (the kind in England and America), that was done with a paternalistic urge to discipline, education and lift the masses; there's an underlying disciplinary vibe of lines, containment, standing everywhere, and looking at everything - very disciplinary. There's an 18th century premise, which is tragically flawed, that if people just understand something, they'll care about it - which is utterly upside-down from the way the human creature is designed. That only works for scientists, and not even all scientists - most scientists only study things they care about. The value equation tends to be upside-down so the push is very cognitive, very information-biased, very, 'If you only understood this, you'd think it was cool because then you understood it, and then you'd be excited,' - instead of, 'This is really exciting, you should care about it and then learn what you'd like to learn.' So you have the disciplinary format of standing, walking in lines, and regarding. The historic nature of museums once upon a time being the only air-conditioned building a person would ever be in is not very different from peasants going into a church. I think the actual physical format needs to be much more modeled on the living room than a school - it needs to be a place where I feel comfortable, socially comfortable, doing what I want to do with couches and tables and chairs instead of barren rooms, rooms, rooms. You have to make emotional appeals first: beautiful first, then sensible - and people now desire the ability to touch things and be engaged with things, and tactility will always be a weapon against the virtual world. You're not going to engage people by telling them that something is important. Lastly, the learning isn't really happening in the museum, there's not enough follow-up or relationship after you leave to connect with the actual learning process, which is a post-experiential processing period which occurs four months after a visit to the museum where you start making meaningful information linkages. Facilitating the post-visit process is a valid place for mobile devices, which will help own the discovery when it does happen. We need to walk away from the 19th century thing, but NOT walk into the 20th century thing, which is an astringent, modernist, minimalist, stripped-down, icy, intellectual, anti-physical philosophy - it's just spare and arrogant and elite, and the worst way to talk to people. People want to be in a place that's redolent with narrative, redolent with texture, redolent with associative functions. Right now, it's too architecturally driven - all icy, metallic, thin, spare, bodiless, masculine, mechanical bad. Human bodies navigate in organic space, they navigate by reference to texture, by reference to articulation, by reference to color and angle of light and they navigate by reference to representation imagery, and that is a psychological fact. None of the early 20th-century architectural theorists are right - Mies van der Rohe, Corbusier - they're wrong. You're not going to change the way people are by forcing them to inhabit white boxes. They want to live somewhere with reference to color, to texture, with poetry, with complicated articulations, and they will explore that place because it implies that exploration is rewarded with discovery."

[@awtizme]

Did anyone really ask for this? Clearly some effort's been put into it, but if this is the future of museums then count me out. This "virtualisation" of experiences only makes them more solitary, fleeting, and removes the tangible connection and memories made when you see and feel these things for yourself. I can already search up pictures and videos of almost any historical artefact or place I want for free in seconds, but I go to museums to see them with my own eyes, and to see them with other people in real life.

[@dziban303]

Who asked for it? the venture capitalists behind the saganworks site asked for it.

[@tuomasronnberg5244]

That is fine and all, but what if the museum is on another continent? I see these as a complimentary way of seeing the exhibits, not a replacement.

[@losmenez]

Booomerrr

[@theeccentrictripper3863]

That's perfectly fine, so long as we don't enter a world where the real artifacts are stowed away forever and the only interaction we have with them is in a virtual environment. It's already horrifying to think that in our guilt we would cede some of humanity's most precious treasures to governments known for corruption and even destruction of relics; if that became orthodox practice in archaeology and in museums it would be like death for me. The Museum of Us (Formerly the Museum of Man) already made a point of removing all mummies from display over sensitivity issues and the next best collection is quite the drive away, it's madness and we really ought to stop it in its tracks. Your project looks quite interesting, clearly a lot of work went into it.

[@kellysouter4381]

I don't have any guilt.

[@theeccentrictripper3863]

@@kellysouter4381 Nor do I

[@robertewalt7789]

I don’t know, I have been to the Louvre, British Museum, NYC’s Museum of Modern Art, other major and not so major museums. But which is better, to have a quick view of the Mona Lisa over the crowd, or a website’s explanation of why it is so famous. And not everyone can go to Paris, London, NYC.

[@TheKeksadler]

I remember a few years ago encountering a fully 3D-scanned Museum in VRChat called the Hallwyl Museum. While I'm sure it is even more beautiful in person, since it is located in Sweden, it would be very difficult to visit said museum. In much the same way, I think virtual museums can be great to improve accessibility for many around the world. While it will never replace the real thing, I believe it will be a great tool going forward. I wish you the best in your endeavor in creating a virtual collection.

[@IsengardMordor]

Despite being able to see much virtually, i would love to see the items in person. Its Just not the same

[@codrinvechiu2832]

it could be close to in person experience if they did it in the highest resolution possible

[@SleepyPotterFan]

I agree up to a point. I actually think Assassin’s Creed has always been underrated in this regard. I think it reached its zenith with Origins and Odyssey specifically, but the series has always been pretty unique in immersing you in at least the spirit of a place. And I’ve used a few of the virtual apps to view artifacts and the city of Rome. But I really don’t think there’s much concern about technology bringing an end to people wanting to physically be present around artifacts and trying to find the immersion of history. It certainly doesn’t stop me. I appreciate the opportunity to experience things I can’t physically visit, but I’ll still have these places on my bucket list to visit.

[@grumbogee1772]

omg i work next to that alligator museum.

[@cameronforbes2649]

sounds like a fun street!

[@Danny_Cruz]

Dude that is fucking awesome, what a cool idea :D So many people will appreciate this, man, and for someone like me (who isn't rich), this is a great option :)

[@Danny_Cruz]

Also I don't think people got the sarcasm man, but it's ok :) And to everyone else, less than half of you will probably ever see half of these works in real life, if any at all!

[@TexRenner]

As VR is perfected virtual museums will become more acceptable to students of history. Victorian ideas about tramping all over creation to stand on or near the spot thus-and-so stood when whatever happened will become old-fashioned and those sites will be protected. The Sistine chapel doesn't smell like it did when Michelangelo had his scaffolding set-up. Or, maybe, antiquities will become a Disneyland attraction for those with the means.

[@wecouldbefree]

This is amazing!! For those that cant afford to travel to all of these incredible museums and collections around the world this is absolutely important, and altho I do agree on some level with the discourse around the value of seeing artifacts and object with one's own eyes, I absolutely wouldnt discount all the effort and thought thats gone into this! On behalf of your ever informed public: thank you, truly 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️🙌

[@ethanmcginnis8768]

You are kicking assss bro keep it up I love this stuff

[@sanda5587]

Awesome video! So excited for the future of museums in VR & AR -- while I may never get to go to many of the places I'd love to see, the idea of being able to hold, turn over, & "zoom in on" countless artifacts and 3D environments is just amazing -- honestly can't wait 😊

[@redcat9436]

I want to see artifacts with my own eyes. A virtual museum isn't much different than looking at a book.

[@classiclife7204]

Digitization continues not to be the solution to our problems. It's a thing, and it's already a thing long-established - every museum has had a website for years. However, people will still want to be in the presence of the real thing. When they stop wanting that, that's bad news for digitized collections, which will then have to justify their existences. "Here are the digital versions of the things you don't care about." See the paradox?

[@zarrg5611]

The issue is that I go the museums specifically to draw the artefacts as a way to practice. The historical educational aspect is obviously important but Museums can serve other purposes as spaces.

[@pedenharley6266]

I love exploring historic ships, and I am very excited about the progress being made in recreating Titanic and other long gone ships in an immersive digital format. However, I also really appreciate your on location videos.

[@johnandersen8998]

This is great before one goes to see and experience the actual. You really have to experience the “pilgrim” effort and when there the temperature, smells, sounds,” there is a memory to smells, temp etc” to permanently stay with you. I’d definitely use virtual before going. Question: will travel books be on the chopping block?

[@gregoryheelan]

Congratulations, and thank you for all your hard work! I plan to sign up and join Patreon to support your museum.

[@John_Fugazzi]

What a great development this is. Not everyone can travel the world to see its museums. When personal computers were first becoming widespread, I thought this might be a possibility, but I'm amazed it's already here.

[@tucksiver8763]

I've been working in this space for years. It's exactly how you say.

[@Tearshia]

I love this. Some people, for economic or health reasons, can't visit a museum in person. This is a perfect way to let those people experience it.

[@mike44456]

Visiting a museum is a fun experience. Yes I can view great paintings in high detail online, and read a lot about them, but do I? No, but I'll go to museums all the time. I like the idea of organizing your research and publications in an explorable setting, and agree it can allow for more perspectives, more works exhibited, etc., but seeing the real thing is irreplaceable.

[@coopernoble6139]

There’s just something about the real physical proximity to the historical objects in question and the sense of place you get when walking amongst them that cannot be supplanted

[@jimboslicereal]

Seeing art with the plain eye will never be beaten. But great workas always. Thank you!

[@dougmartin7129]

Interesting idea. It would have to be extremely detailed. My thing of interest is up close and personal. I want to study paint texture, tool or hand marking . Egyptian wall painting that show the pencil, for lack of another word, sketches of the preliminary layouts.

[@malcolmcurran6248]

Agree these virtual exhibits would have to show very great detail to begin to make it interesting. It's always the process of how these objects are made...in the minutia, such as "pencil" ( I believe the Egyptian artists used kohl same as their eyeliner same thing really) or chisel marks, impasto, small fine details and anomalies of in the works themselves that can be most interesting and often go under appreciated. And enough time to contemplate them properly without being distracted or swept away by hovering swarms tourists only looking through their mobile phones who may as well be visiting a virtual museum anyway and who probably aren't really "seeing" much in the deeper more complete sense that people like Thoreau spoke of anyway. And curiously Henry David came up with a novel form of graphite combination used in the pencils made in his family's pencil factory and would have been appreciated I'm sure by the tomb artists working in the Valley of the Kings.

[@Ozymandias1]

Last year I went to a computer museum where they had put the computers in rooms that resembled various eras. I had lived in those days and used some of the computers myself back then and the setting of the museum it looked like those times. But it didn't feel like them. A younger person than me who hadn't lived through those times would have gotten a more detached impression as me. So when I visit a museum of more ancient history or a historical building with the furnishings of the time I wouldn't feel was experiencing those times. Reading a book from someone who has lived through those times gives me more of a sense of how it must have been back then. Books connect people through the ages. It's more interesting to me than watching some artifacts for a past era, whether they are from 20 years ago or 200 years ago or 2000 ago.

[@marcusfiore6355]

Wow, I love this! What an excellent and engaging merging of culture and technology! Beautifully executed!

[@guidofoc7057]

Great project, I think it is a great way to organize all your content and make it available in a structured way to your audience. Thanks!

[@big_narc]

Pretty cool. I've been playing around with Polycam for the past year or so, just because it's interesting for me to capture certain rooms or items in my life that aren't around anymore or have changed dramatically

[@kenycharles8600]

I went to Gilcrease Museum in the Osage Hills in the Osage Nation in Osage County in Oklahoma with my brother and sister and brother-in-law many years back. There was a collection of miniature paintings or maybe better described as paintings in miniature. One painting I remember in particular was smaller than a postcard in width and height. There were several players around a poker table playing poker in a room. You could count the poker chips on the table and read the hands a couple of the players were holding. The details in miniature stopped me in my tracks, speechless. One thing that digitizing those images would do is show the strokes of the three-haired brushes used in painting this most finely detailed masterpiece. I was wishing I had a magnifying glass. I'm also wishing I could remember the painter's name. It makes me want to hunt for it in the digital realm now, to see if someone has already put it out there for me to find. Great idea !!! I can't find the image I mentioned on line. And Gilcrease Museum is currently being remodeled and enlarged.

[@Teh-Penguin]

With detailed 3D scans and high quality 3D prints we can both have museums full of artifacts without appropriating anything. Excited for that future.

[@Amynon1660]

These is fantastic and I'm really excited about the potential, but sir, your simulation absolutely must have a mode that uses videogame-style "mouse-look" controls. Having 'Q' and 'E' or left-click-drag controls for looking around is entirely unheard of in first person perspective video games and has been for the last 25 years because it's so far below mouse-look in terms of usability and comfort. The free cam stuff that click-and-drag look controls allows is AWESOME for getting up close and inspecting stuff, but a first-person mode would be infinitely better for casual strolling.

[@chrisbelos2834]

high-res scannings is how the science was able to read the burnt or very fragile dead sea's scrolls. this technology is also helping the greeks rebuilding the Partheon with the original marble pieces. it's non-intrusive and the scans can be shared amongst scientists and archeologists around the world. One day in the future, we'll be able to use the technology to do underwater archeology and finds lost cities across the mediterranean shores

[@joe42m13]

It's also amazing how laser mapping technology has made it possible to find lost cities in the central american wilderness.

[@m.e.345]

I would really recommend everyone to visit Europe at least once in their lives.. and I think ideally in the off-season when it is not so crowded. There are places there where you will pause and reflect on centuries of history and lives lived.. and they will move you in a way that a computer image can't.

[@volvok7749]

Prop for the undertaking! I don't believe, however, that it is much different from earlier printed catalogs, evolution rather than revolution. I assume most people visit museums because they want to see the real thing.

[@HistoricalPerspectiveRBr]

Digital technologies have been gradually and slowly enhancing and complementing museum materials. However we are decades from them making any fundamental change. The fact that the project here apes the most old fashioned conception of a museum collection (individual 'masterpieces' you walk around) shows how much of a hold that experience has on the psyche, and why that element is unlikely to be displaced by technology. Much more radical things are possible but they will arrive slowly.

[@pepperspray7386]

digital things can be modified to fit narratives, a casting at least stays unchanged after it's made. you have seen the damage done to antiquities by religious/government censors, what would stop them when it's made much easier? instead of a chipped away face or crotch on a statue which would have to be explained, a modified digital copy could instead be used where the face or crotch were never there to begin with.

[@petersumerauer]

Great idea! As years ago a curator of a history museum said: "If it is not in the internet, it does not exist for the public." But there's a but: Be careful with european copyright laws. Often museums do not permit the commercial use of their 'property'. Which it is in some legal aspects, because they are doing a lot of care-taking around the objects. Some artifacts wouldn't be here in our present, if not stored in a museums magazine over a hundrets of years.

[@kidmohair8151]

I think you have an excellent idea here. particularly for those of us whose travelling days, may be, or, are over. I don't know how I feel about the exclusive access part. but I do understand that this will have entailed a substantial up-front cost, that you have every right to recoup. I wish you luck in your 21st century take on the less democratic aristocrat collectors of the 18th and 19th centuries.

[@MI-gn9lg]

This is rad and it reminds me of the views by painters like Giovanni Paolo Panini or Hubert Robert, which rearranged Grand Tour greatest hits in new configurations.

[@TheBritalianJob]

A key element to virtual museums taking off will be interactivity. The Assassins Creed historical tours do this inadvertently by their nature of primarily being games. It proves the concept can work. But for them to be financially viable in their own right and to create them to the fidelity needed to do them justice historically would require a big buy-in from investors, along with a business model that gains enough traction with consumers.

[@ryancampbell1252]

I live about 20 miles from that Idaho museum.

[@stevenobrien557]

Wow! Cool story bro 👍

[@Scutum-ky2fx]

A thing to note I think curators, digital and non should start doing is allow for a mixture of simplistic and highly detailed. Archival and display. There should be a simplistic style of room or viewing and if people wish for more of this, they can access a far more highly detailed room. This can be very doable in digital but if it was in real life, id highly suggest for museums of all to give public access to their archives.

[@tylermegehe]

I think this is a great idea. This will provide access for everyone. Especially for those who are disabled and have limited mobility.

[@sandwichgroper]

This is a fantastic idea. It’s not the same as seeing it in real life, but nobody is going to stop you from doing that if you are lucky enough to have the opportunity. It seems rather mean spirited and ungracious to focus on the fact that it isn’t the same thing. Really, we already know that.

[@WinstonSmithGPT]

What a great step forward in keeping history in sync with the world we live in today.

[@JerjerB]

Thank you for these videos.

[@jamesdean8427]

Can we just take a moment to comment on how stacked this guy is? I never knew...

[@donaldauguston9740]

Sounds wonderful! Congrats on such an innovative idea.

[@merlinkater7756]

I like the idea! From a glance i can already tell the quality of these scans are a far cry from their real life counterparts in terms of resolution, but i like the idea of being able to see these things it 3D next to each other, which can give a sense of scale. A gallery of pictures can't do that.

[@huwhitecavebeast1972]

I can't say all items should be returned. I think it depends on who will be the best steward of that item. But if we can return items with certainty they will be properly cared for, they should be returned to origin. Remember when ISIS destroyed all those artifacts? Some were copies but plenty were real. Let's not let that happen again.

[@RlsIII-uz1kl]

Cemetaries historical places and things are going to become very profitable and proved some truly Amazing experiences.

[@alexissixela6914]

You can never replace seeing something in person with your own eyes... This is something everyone knows... It's why we travel... Fuck a virtual museum.

[@DrVuilnisbak]

while this is an imperfect substitute for the real thing, i support your venture, in the hope that one day the virtual experience will comparably rival the in-person experience. big fan of your channel and the study of the classics

[@Pho7on]

Oh man, I really want to see the statues and columns in their full, original color. :O

[@audiho]

I think this video is amiss in overlooking other modern historical and digital dives--like Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego... it's probably the only material I encountered that gave "Eastern history" as much time as Western. That was the 90s, and it was great, but it didn't revolutionize anything.

[@RasmusDyhrFrederiksen]

Looking very much forward to it.

[@SageThyme23]

Surely you must recognise that you would much prefer to have gone on that trip you just went on and seen all these things in real life rather than put on a VR headset and walk around some scans of them? The desire to go and see things with your eyes will never go away even when you can't even tell the difference. By the time someone is old enough to put on a VR headset and go to your museum they will have already have seen virtual copies of everything in it a thousand times. seeing a new virtual copy isn't going to do anything more.

[@davidpetersen1]

Meh.. just another NFT sorta thingy. But I'm glad you have a nice hobby and that you get to travel and actually see these artefacts for yourself.

[@useruseruser501]

Not at all like nfts. It's more similar to a free video game that also has paid content you can experience.

[@davidpetersen1]

@@useruseruser501 yes,, "a sorta thingy".. I didn't say it WAS an NFT. Now, go finish your cereal before it gets soggy.

[@Zephyriia]

Love this idea, could you add walk and running speed in the free cam mode? i want to feel the slow immersive entries as well as being a 5 yr old running across the museum floor

[@Yezpahr]

That's an awesome project you're starting there.