Imagine stepping back more than 200 years with a pair of glasses.
It’s not quite Back to the Future but the Army History Unit has introduced a new take on the classic walking tour.
Over two years, Hobart company Handbuilt Creative designed an augmented reality on the five-phase build of Anglesea Barracks – the first of its kind.
Manager at the Army Museum of Tasmania Major Chris Talbot said it would provide a more technological aspect to exhibitions and was a great way to involve children.
3D glasses will soon be provided to the exhibit to add to viewers’ experience.
“You look at a spot and the program starts,” Major Talbot said.
“They’re glasses; you don’t have any physical buttons, so all you’re doing is moving your head to go 360 degrees around a building.
“There’s a narrative on each construction. If you get interested in a particular spot it’ll tell you about the building; when it was built and what it was.”
The program is completely mobile, meaning it isn’t constrained just to Anglesea and can be used at other locations with the same result.
“We’ve got the program running full-time at Anglesea as an exhibition,” Major Talbot said.
“I can take the device to a hall and start the program, it’s not restricted to the barracks.”
To make the details of the program accurate, the company spent time photographing textures of buildings and fences so the reality of the past was properly captured.
“We had a lot of work to do to make sure the information that appeared is 100 per cent accurate,” Major Talbot said.
“It shows the build starting with tents and horses in the very first iteration, and follows through with the actual landscape to the first buildings.”
For future improvements, the Army History Unit plans to incorporate a revolving soldier who will morph through uniforms starting from the colonial era.
They believe this application will better display the operation of machinery, principles on weapons, and provide a clearer historical view.
