Project VRPROTO

Increase Scientific Production of Quality and Oriented to Intelligent Specialization. This multidisciplinary project boosts scientific research in SMA, transforming the knowledge acquired into economic value through the production of innovative tourist content. It fits into axes 1,3,6,8,10,11 of the 2014-2020 PO AZORES and is part of the Research and Innovation Strategy for Intelligent Specialization of the Autonomous Region of the Azores – RIS3 AZORES, competing for funding in one of the axes priorities: Tourism. It is in accordance with the guidelines of the Strategic and Marketing Plan for Tourism in the Azores and aims to contribute to making SMA a destination of excellence for nature tourism, promoting:

1. the island through a Virtual Reality Prototype that will be given to the “House of Fossils”;
2. the “Fossils Route”, allowing sustainable tourist use of the valuable geological/paleontological and biological heritage that differentiates this island from the rest
3. field expeditions to Santa Maria to obtain new data on the distribution of fossil species.

In addition to all the scientific knowledge that will result from this project, the main objective is the construction of a Virtual Reality Prototype that will tell the geological history of the internationally relevant deposit of Pedra- que-pica, located on the island of Santa Maria. The virtual reality computer application prototype involves a sequence of subtasks, namely:

1) an initial research of 3D modeling with Aerophotogrammetry technology (obtained using drones) and processing of Cloud points conversion to FBX;

2) Development of the Virtual Reality project for the Pedra-que-pica outcrop involving: a) Bilingual creation of motion graphics; b) 3D modeling; c) Texturing; d) lighting; e) animation; f) rendering; g) composition;

3) Creation of 360° movies involving a) Editing; b) rendering;

4) Creation of a desktop navigation application, with polygon and texture conversion + APP. This computer application will be designed to be user-friendly and will consist of glasses (rift-glasses) connected to a computer, allowing a total immersion in the user's 3D virtual reality, allowing him to watch and interact with the 4 million years of History of “ Stone-that-stings”. Its portability allows its use in Azorean schools, if the Regional Government considers the idea interesting.

You will get the following results:

1. The knowledge of the geology, paleontology and biology of Santa Maria is used for the production of tourist content and a computational application for the “Fossils Route”+“Centers Route” of Science.”
2. A Virtual Reality prototype about the “Pedra-que-pica”, a deposit of international relevance, will be delivered to the Science Center “Casa dos Fósseis”, free of charge;< /li>
3. Several scientific articles and science books;
4. Increase in the scientific collection of the “House of Fossils”:
5. 3 workshops “Paleontology in Atlantic Islands” to be held in Santa Maria;
6. Several oral communications at international congresses.