Mixed Reality App Recreates the Historic Battle of Gettysburg
This represents one of the potentially high-impact use-cases for immersive technologies. VR and AR could be used to bring the past to life in a free-viewpoint and interactive experience that you would never get with 2D media streaming.
One of the latest such uses is “Gettysburg: A Nation Divided” which deploys immersive 360-degree scenes to take viewers into the cataclysmic Battle of Gettysburg which was fought in the town by the same name in Pennsylvania.
The three-day battle was one of the bloodiest in the American Civil War. To mark its 157th anniversary, the studio QuantumERA released the Civil War mixed reality recreation as an AR app that has been designed to immerse users right in front of the historic battle. The Battle of Gettysburg marked the turning point of the Civil War and cost a total of 96,000 lives on both sides within 72 hours.
Gettysburg: A Nation Divided uses a combination of augmented reality (AR) and animated 360-degree scenes to render the battle in a mixed reality experience.
Users will be able to peer through the Confederate and the Union ranks and even explore ten key battlefield locations. The whole mixed reality experience is narrated by Scott Eastwood, the actor and son of the legendary Clint Eastwood.
The AR app immerses uses into the chaos and mayhem of the battle and they are able to experience it from the perspective of both the Union and Confederate troops through fully-animated 360-degree animations.
To use this app, you will use your smartphone as 360 way-finders to explore the 10 key locations of the battle that are scattered across the expansive massive battlefield. Each of the way-finders will give you extra details like the locations of every army as well as the commanders who were in charge of the armies. You will also discover some hidden battlefield artifacts and golden coins that you can use to rank up in the immersive experience from the Private rank to the General which adds a playful component to the rather tense historical setting. The app will also give you details and information on the individual tactics employed by commanders in the battle.
Apart from the details of the battle, Gettysburg: A Nation Divided also offers information on the people who were affected by the conflict including women, soldiers and African Americans. All the characters come to life through animated archive photos and tell their stories in the augmented reality experience.
Even Abraham Lincoln is featured in the experience. Lincoln delivers the famous “Gettysburg Address” in the mixed reality experience but as a digital avatar. This was a historical speech in which the US president had called on his country to rally together for a common future.
You can use the app almost anywhere, whether at home, at school or in the public parks. However, if you head to the actual location of the battle in Gettysburg, you will enjoy the AR rendering of the battle at the same locations where it was fought more than a century and a half ago.
Gettysburg: A Nation Divided is available on Apple Store and Google Play.
https://virtualrealitytimes.com/2020/07/05/mixed-reality-app-recreates-the-historic-battle-of-gettysburg/https://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Gettysburg-A-Nation-Divided-600x337.jpghttps://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Gettysburg-A-Nation-Divided-150x90.jpgAugmented RealityTechnologyThis represents one of the potentially high-impact use-cases for immersive technologies. VR and AR could be used to bring the past to life in a free-viewpoint and interactive experience that you would never get with 2D media streaming. One of the latest such uses is “Gettysburg: A Nation Divided” which...Sam OchanjiSam Ochanji[email protected]EditorVirtual Reality Times - Metaverse & VR