In the forecasts of 2019, the trend of the VR AR MR and AI sector was growing strongly; due to the pandemic events, real growth in the following two years has largely exceeded expectations. The possi-bility of interacting remotely by VR AR and MR modes during the pandemic was one of the solutions that made possible to overcome distances and barriers. As part of the 3DLAB Sicily project financed by the Sicily region and aimed at enhancing the resources of the cultural heritage of the territory, the De-partment of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Catania (DICAR) participates in developing VR, AR, MR by a research team pertaining to the disciplines of design and representation, for the study of some UNESCO sites. The acquisitions of the models have been started using active and passive sensors for various cultural heritage; the case studies range from protohistoric archeology to medieval military architecture to the Baroque of the Val di Noto. The aim of the project is the creation of 3D navigable models for VR and AR viewers, or for two and three-walled VR caves that have been built as part of the same project. Below are the procedures, considerations and evaluations for the first results obtained.
The Rock Church of San Micidiario of the Pantalica Site and 3DLAB VR/AR–Project
This work gives the first results of a research project funded by the Sicily region, aimed at the creation of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) models, in the context of some country of the terri-tory of Sicily with UNESCO listed monuments. This project sees the collaboration between some universities on the island and some partners who produce software and automated robotics systems and AI. Below are the first results of the workflow produced for the creation of 3D models of one of the three rock churches of the necropolis of Pantalica: an Unesco site. It also describes the pro-cess underway to get to the creation of VR and AR models to be used with three different levels of immersive reality: normal commercial viewers, different types of Oculus viewers, or in special virtual rooms Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE), already existing or created within the project.