DAVAO CITY - Locked up at home? Go visit a museum in Davao, virtually.
On August 18, Museo Dabawenyo released a link to explore the museum for free through the 360°-3D Virtual Tour produced by Davao Pacific Impact.
The virtual tour gives the visitor a visual walkthrough of Davao City’s history. The launch of the virtual tour was just in time for the city’s week-long celebration of the Kadayawan Festival.
“Our team decided to utilize the opportunity while we were at home to think of how we can still be productive and be of help,” said Naty Peña, founder and director of Davao-based startup company, Davao Pacific Impact.
Peña said their group started in real estate to allow clients to view the property in their smartphones or computers anywhere. However, due to the crisis, the group decided to offer their service for free to Museo Dabawenyo to support Davao City’s tourism industry which was affected by the health crisis.
“We noticed that some art galleries and museums are closed, so we decided to offer our service for free to Museo Dabawenyo is our way of supporting the tourism of our city during Kadayawan and let Davaoeños and people elsewhere visit the museum online without leaving their homes,” Peña said.
Gosi Sim, co-founder of the Davao Pacific Impact said “viewers can expect a realistic and immersive experience virtually. With the 3D walkthrough feature, they can walk around space as if they are actually there.”
“We have an auto-walkthrough feature or the guided tour which automatically moves the guest through the space based on the 3D snapshot flow of the highlight reel and it lasts until everything is shown,” Sim said.
Guests can stop the tour at any time or stay as long as they want. The virtual tour shows paintings, photos, sculptures, and other artifacts, with buttons that viewers can zoom in and click to learn more about each art piece.
Sim said taking the virtual tour was more convenient, and safer compared to traveling to the museum.
“And there are a lot of possibilities here, we can also add tags for informative facts, videos, pictures, and links to connect to source documents and articles as well,” he added.
However, Sim said the feeling of being able to see the surface of an artifact could not be replaced.
Virtual tour “limits the close inspection to the artifacts, the feel of its texture, and such details as the surface, wear or craftsmanship are lost in relationship to the whole when seen on screen,” he said.
Romhel Peña, chief technical officer of the group, said it took them four days to complete the project.
“The time it takes in scanning a property will vary based on the total area and the complexity of its structure. The total estimated time in doing image/data processing, customization, publishing online and integration is around four to seven days, he said.
The 3D Virtual Tour for Museo Dabawenyo is available online until December 31, 2020.