About a break in publications, and about Ukraine.
For several months I did not publish anything here on the site, although it would seem that I should first of all be active here. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is russia’s war against Ukraine that began in February, which, let’s say, changed everything. This war affected both my family and my friends in Ukraine. I will not talk about this for a long time, I will only note the most important thing – I believe that any decent person in the world cannot but support Ukraine in its unequal and heroic struggle against the aggressor, and one cannot step aside from this, remain silent and go aside. I call on everyone not to leave the Ukrainian people in this struggle for the future of all free people around the world, and to provide Ukraine, its defenders and its refugees, with all the help you can. That’s all for now.
Now back to the Roman project.
Gradually I returned to work, and during these months I made some progress both in recreating new areas of the Eternal City, and in improving and replacing those objects and buildings that were already present in the project.
First of all, I invite you to check out our new video on YouTube, which reflects the current state of our renovation of Rome, and is the trailer for a series of new videos that are planned soon:
About the current progress of the Rome project in 3D
The most obvious and significant change this year was the addition of the southeastern area of the City, which was located around the Baths of Caracalla. The streets and the most significant buildings are recreated in detail and with all possible care. First of all, this is Via Appia with its famous burials, including the tomb of the Scipios. The baths themselves have also undergone significant processing (the first version of their reconstruction was created by us back in 2009).
Another important undertaking was the creation the new 3D reconstruction of the Circus Maximus, which was also recreated from scratch, taking into account all the new relevant data. Particular attention is paid to the realism of textures and elaboration of details.
All new results will be enlightened in several coming video stories. In addition, even these new models will continue to be updated and refined in order to bring them even closer to reality.
To do this, one of the priorities is the development of new tools in order to raise the project to a qualitatively new level. First of all, this concerns realistic coloring of sculptures and architectural decoration. Here are some examples of our recent results:
About plans, about virtual application
I am often asked about the plans and prospects of projects, about its ultimate goal, about the possibility of implementing interactive applications.
At the moment, I can say for sure only one thing – I will be engaged in this project as long as I can, and as long as I exist. It is the top priority in my life. I really want to get an idea of what the Eternal City really looked like, and walk along its streets, even if it’s virtual. I am very glad that I already have an audience that is also interested.
I really want to present my reconstruction of Rome as an interactive application with which you can all walk along the streets of the City. I want to make it based on one of the popular game engines, in the form of desktop and mobile applications. I am researching and testing these features. Several times I took on this business and then put it off again, because the development of such an application is too huge and difficult task, much more difficult than I originally planned. I am not going to abandon this and continue to study the tools I need, and at the same time recreate the remaining areas of Rome in 3D (less than 50% left).
Therefore, for now, I will be sharing news with you mainly in the form of posts, images and videos. Our team is small, and only two are directly involved in 3D modeling, and for the last year and a half I have been working with 3D modeling alone (Sergey is still a member of the team, he just took a break due to his busyness with other projects, and I really look forward to his return). Therefore, I ask you to treat the progress of our project with understanding.
You can help our cause by sharing our posts and videos on social media, and you can also support us on Patreon, where I will hopefully resume posting exclusive content soon.
Our Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/historyin3d
Thank you for your attention and stay with us!
4 Comments
Well done! I thought of recreating full model of Rome in 3D myself back in year 2001 already, but the virtual modelling tools at the time and my insufficient skills then, were not up to the task yet. I even cherished the idea of all roman empire 3D territories and cities to be recreated and visited, sometime in future. I am glad that technology of today has advanced enough, that our common dream becomes real. Keep going. You do great job! I am looking forward to the time, when I will be able to walk the streets of your city too.
They should make this for Quest 2 and/or Quest 3.
🙂👍🏻♥️ []^ ]
It’s unbelievable how magnificent and beautiful Rome was and still is. This is really the best reconstruction I have ever seen. If your intention is to provide your excellent model to game engineers, please contact Ubisoft – I believe that it would be great and breathtaking to play Assassin’s Creed situated in Ancient Rome.
I recently found your site and am amazed at the quality of your work. I too am looking forward to seeing the entire city completed. Can I ask if you have considered including Nero’s Domus Aurea for reconstruction in 3d? Or indeed one of my personal favorites (Although not in the city itself) Hadrian’s Tivoli Villa, which would look incredible at the level of detail of your work. Co gratulations on an excellent project and keep up the good work.