The Weaver's House

Tag: virtual reality

  • Lights, camera, weaving!

    Lights, camera, weaving!

    a man and a woman in medieval costume

    During the winter season, although there are no open days, there are still signs of life in The Weaver’s House! Most recently the house was a location for an exciting filming project.

    working the replica loom

    Mark Webb, University of Leicester and Weaver’s House member, worked with PhD students from Warwick University Department of Visualisation and a camera team from Herbert Media to film late medieval weaving, using the Weaver’s House replica loom. This is part of the development of a virtual reality model of Spon Street and its associated medieval crafts. Professional re-enactors Ruth Gilbert and Tim Jenkins were filmed doing weaving and winding quills in costume of the period circa 1500.

    man and woman on the loom

    The whole process, including setting up a ‘green screen’ environment for video and preparing the loom, took three days. Two other Spon Street crafts will be filmed in the next few months – tanning and dyeing. Eventually the results will be fed into an overall model of medieval Spon Street, recreating a multi-sensory experience including sights, sounds and smells. We can’t wait to see the completed project!

    three people stand in front of a green screen

     

  • Come and Poke around…

    Come and Poke around…

    Unless you have been living on a desert island or a cave over the past few weeks, it’s likely that you are aware of the phenomenon that is Pokemon Go.

    The cute creatures have been around since the ’90s in one form or another, but have received a massive resurgence in popularity since the release of the augmented reality game. Players use their smartphone to interact with the free-to-play game, which integrates with real world locations, and that’s where the connection with heritage properties comes in.

    The Weaver’s House is right next to a Pokestop.

    Pokestops and Pokemon Gyms are generally located at real world places of interest, which means that they are easy for players to access. Many people are discovering interesting features of their neighbourhood through playing the game and visiting places they wouldn’t usually go. BBC – Pokemon Go: Churches encouraged to welcome visiting players.

    A Drowsee outside The Weaver's House
    A Drowzee outside The Weaver’s House

    If you are already on a mission to catch ’em all, why not pop by on an Open Day. You can visit the Pokestop next door and explore The Weaver’s House too. Will you find a Lapras by the loom, or a Goldeen in the garden? Or perhaps a Charmander with your coffee and cake – our tearoom is ready for action on Open Days for some real life refuelling!

    Don’t forget this September we’ll be open for TWO days for Heritage Open Days, along with lots more brilliant local attractions.

  • Laser beams meet timber beams

    Laser beams meet timber beams

    On Monday 21 March, some curious symbols and devices appeared in the Spon Street area.

    Black and white chequered squares and number 25 on a sign in Spon Street.
    One of the symbols on Spon Street.
    A tripod with a white ball on top
    What is this mysterious item?

    A group of PhD students from the University of Warwick were engaged in laser scanning the medieval buildings of Spon Street. The team was led by Mark Webb from the Department of Archaeology, University of Leicester and Alan Chalmers, Professor of Visualisation at the International Digital Laboratory, University of Warwick.

    A man uses a tripod to scan a medieval church
    Laser scanning outside St John’s Church on Spon Street
    White spheres placed outside the church
    The white spheres are uses as anchor points to join the scans together.

    Together the team will use the scans to create a virtual reality, multi-sensory model of late medieval Spon Street. We were very excited that The Weaver’s House was to be included in the project!

    A group of people standing outside
    The team on site at The Weaver’s House.
    White spheres balance on furniture inside The Weaver's House.
    White spheres inside The Weaver’s House.
    A man using a tripod to laser scan a small medieval house.
    Laser scanning the house.

    It will take many weeks for all the scans to be meshed together but we have been given a preview of how the scans will start to take shape.

    Side view of Weaver's House constructed from laser scans
    Laser scan of The Weaver’s House.

    We’re really excited to see the project progress to its next stage and will hopefully be able to bring more news on it soon!