Case Study
The Bandelier Story
Virtual Interpretation
Virtual or electronic interpretation can support, reinforce and promote traditional interpretation. The challenge can sometimes be in recreating environments for which there are few or no actual reference images available. One of our greatest challenges in this regard was the activity we created for Bandelier National Monument.
The Bandelier Story
The National Park Service and the modern Pueblo people wished for others to understand the Ancestral Pueblo heritage and culture.
A small, partially reconstructed exhibit of the ancient Frijoles Canyon ruins helps Bandelier National Monument tell the story of the people who lived there. But there are no photos or even drawings of what the actual Native American homes, environment or people looked like. Everything is based off archeological evidence and stories from modern day descendants. The d’Vinci team needed to use photos of ruins, a small scale model of showing what their community home may have looked like, and pictures of mannequins to piece together these virtual spaces.
Telling the Story
View Bandelier ActivityThe Ancestral Pueblo People activity enables participants to not only get a very real sense of the environment and the ancient community, but also follow along through common activities of the time. Developed for younger children, people of all ages can interact with compelling images that depict a mystical past. This was made possible by combining interpretation and understanding of the time and place with modern digital photo manipulation techniques.
Simulated Environments
Each example below required an extensive amount of digital compositing and drawing to achieve the required result. Visit the Bandelier activity to see the final product in context and in full-size detail.
Example 1:
Frijoles Canyon, Community House, and Gardens
This canyon scene was composited from a number of photos including a model from the Bandelier collection.
Example 2:
Cliff Dwellings
The reproduction of cliff homes seen in the before picture was used as a reference to create the after image, showing what modern archaeologists believe is how the dwellings actually looked.
Example 3:
Waffle-Garden Area
The waffle–type garden scene began with a seedling planter filled with sand. Other photographic images were added and then stylized to fit in context.
Mulitple Scenes
