The two areas chosen for this provisional study were the Milfield Basin in Northumberland and Mid-Wharfedale in Yorkshire, each with a high incidence of rock art. Work around the Milfield basin was intended to test the viability of Desktop VR as a means of portraying and possibly analysing intervisibility. Mid-Wharfedale was chosen to contrast the visualisations of carved stones between wooded and open landscapes. Both areas were to be used to show how well QTVR could provide a sense of space, and how it could represent the relationship of the rock art motifs with entoptic patterns that might be experienced in altered states of consciousness.
Perhaps the best way to judge how well these intentions were realised would be to discuss each of the groups of panoramas in relation to the modes of perception discussed earlier. The final product of this project is the full 'scene' file containing all of the panoramas linked together using 'hot-spots' (a Quicktime plug-in is essential). These are designed to lead the navigator from site to site, emphasising the various aspects of the study. A similar order will be used in this discussion. With the latest version of QuickTime installed, you should be able to view the complete scene in real-time using 'streaming'. For the purposes of this article, the individual panoramas have also been made available separately for faster downloading.
A Quicktime plugin will be required to view all the QTVR movies/panoramas. The complete linked 'scene' file incorporates all the panoramas discussed individually over the next few sections. Click on the 'Show hotspots' button in the bottom left-hand corner of the plugin to see where other panoramas are linked in the scene (also highlighted in a reddish hue).
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URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue8/larkman/8.html
Last updated: Mon Sep 25 2000