Due to the fact that the Forbidden City in Beijing is probably one of the most fascinating places on Earth, the Palace Museum and IBM have made a partnership in order to recreate the Chinese imperial palace in the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, in a 3D universe. The result of this project is that anyone that owns a computer can very easily tour the museum from anywhere in the world.
Once you have installed the application, you have two possibilities: you may enter the Forbidden City as a guest, or take the time to register and gain access to additional features. The registration is free of charge and follows a rather simple procedure.
The LooksAll the features in the Virtual Forbidden City are accessible through the main window, the commands panel being situated on the right side. The application uses very common principles, like the View button for example, that allows you to change your perspective: self, first person, third person and birds eye, but also let’s you manually zoom in or out, or by using the mouse scroll button. By pressing Ctrl + O, you will be accessing the settings window that provides support for changing the resolution from the Graphics panel.
The modifications are saved for the next session so, for improved performance, you may use the other options in the Graphics panel, like choosing to see only the nearby objects and adjusting the shadow detail. If you want to use your own audio selection, you can deactivate the default music from the Audio panel.
The WorksConsidering that the Forbidden City is a huge place, the Map feature is designed to help you find the locations you are interested in. The map provides a scheme of the entire construction and displays your route through the city, for the current session. If you press the Detailed Map button, you will be able to see significant places, activities, scenes, buildings, artifacts but also visitors. That is extremely helpful if you want to find your friends.
Still, if you don’t want to randomly visit the museum, you can choose to take one of the several tours. The Tour Guides provide general information about the places you are seeing but if an object gets your attention, just click on it and you might see additional data. All this information can be added to your Scrapbook, which is basically the part of the application that stores your personal settings.
At registration, you have the possibility to choose your character appearance, but you can change it anytime through the Scrapbook panel. The same area allows you to store your friends’ contact information. When you visit a place inside the Virtual City, the location is automatically saved in your Links panel so you can always know were you have been in the Virtual Forbidden City. One of the most amusing features is the fact that you can take pictures and add them to your Photo gallery inside the Scrapbook, or send them to a friend by email. For each picture, you may input a caption and the date and location will be automatically added. This way, you will be able to store all your experiences inside the 3D City.
The great part is that the visit also has an interactive side. You may interact with the Tour Guides and the Attendants of each scene in order to receive information but you may also chat with other people. Still, my favorite interactive part is represented by the traditional activities that you can perform. Within the Virtual City, you can help characters practice archery, train fighting crickets or play Weiqui. Each activity is thoroughly explained and it can be repeated for as long as you like.
Of course, you don’t have to tour the museum by yourself: for each activity or tour, you can choose to invite your friends. If you are not sure which is their exact username you may always use the search feature that is able to find users but also documents, like pictures.
It seems that the developers’ goal was to create a strong community of people that are fascinated by this amazing construction. That is why, once you have become familiar with all the details, you have the possibility to lead a tour. All you have to do is add attendants and press begin. This way, you can provide a unique experience to other visitors by presenting your favorite places.
The GoodThe Virtual Forbidden City is the perfect way to improve your Chinese culture knowledge not only by reading, but also by experiencing and interacting with other persons. The 3D representation gives you a very real space and time feeling. Not only will you be able to take a relaxed tour, but it will also be private and you won’t have to wait in line.
The BadAlthough the application seems to be encouraging the development of a community of the Forbidden City enthusiasts, the forum discussions are mostly in Chinese, which makes it very difficult to follow if you are a foreign visitor.
Even if the graphical aspect of the Forbidden City is extremely beautiful, I cannot help a wave of regret about the fact that there are places one cannot access because the representation is limited to a certain historical period. Of course, the perfect Virtual Forbidden City should also contain the exhibitions held in the museum, but considering the size of the place, this may be actually impossible.
The TruthFrom my point of view, each famous museum should have its own virtual representation. Of course, nothing is better than reality but, at least for immense places like this one, a live tour for a couple of hours usually leaves many question marks and regrets. That is why I consider the idea of the Virtual Forbidden City the best I have seen in a long time.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
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(4/5)
