VR Experience
AGO Bristol 1775: From Warship to Prison Hulk
AGO Bristol 1775
- 2023
- Released
- Art Gallery of Ontario
A multiplayer museum VR experience that allows visitors to explore the Art Gallery of Ontario's 1775 model of the Bristol in an immersive digital environment. Users can move through the ship freely or follow a guided narrative focused on its transformation from British warship to prison hulk during the Napoleonic era. The project combined curatorial research, advanced 3D scanning workflows, and Unreal Engine 5 rendering to create a high-fidelity model for virtual cultural exhibition.
- Released as a free museum VR experience for Windows PC
- Positioned publicly as a collaboration between VR developers and a museum, with both guided and free-roam modes and support for VR or keyboard-and-mouse desktop access
- Helped deliver a cultural heritage project using Unreal Engine 5 rendering for high-detail museum visualization and interpretation
Challenge
Translate a fragile, high-detail 18th-century cultural artifact, the AGO's 1775 model of the Bristol, into a shared real-time virtual environment that preserved scholarly accuracy while remaining accessible to general museum visitors in VR and on desktop. The CT and photogrammetry source models ran to roughly 90 million triangles.
Solution
Led the Unreal Engine 5 implementation: optimized and integrated the CT and photogrammetry source pipeline, with source models of roughly 90 million triangles, using Nanite and Lumen to hold exhibition fidelity in real time. Built the interactive experience around that pipeline, supporting guided narrative tours and free exploration for groups of up to six with a live museum guide, in VR or with keyboard and mouse on desktop.
Outcome
Released as a free museum VR experience for Windows PC, offering both VR and keyboard-and-mouse desktop access, and positioned publicly as a collaboration between VR developers and a museum showcasing real-time cultural heritage interpretation at exhibition fidelity.
Gallery
Recognition
Press
Exhibitions
- Art Gallery of Ontario · Toronto, Canada · 2023
- VRTO 2024 (Virtual Reality Toronto Conference) · Toronto, Canada · 2024
Contributions
- Led the Unreal Engine 5 implementation of the museum experience
- Optimized and integrated high-detail CT and photogrammetry assets, roughly 90M-triangle source models, for real-time rendering with Nanite and Lumen
- Built and integrated the interactive experience: guided narrative tour, free-roam exploration and dual VR or keyboard-and-mouse desktop access
- Supported multiuser guided flow for groups of up to six attendees with a live museum guide
Collaborators
- Gillian McIntyre, Interpretive Planner, Art Gallery of Ontario (project lead)
- Priam Givord, Project Director / VR Interactive Designer, Priam Givord Studio Inc.
- Priam Givord Studio Inc.
- Art Gallery of Ontario
Subject of the experience is the AGO's 1775 model of the Bristol (originally a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line, designed 1768, completed 1775); the historical narrative focuses on its transformation from British warship to prison hulk holding captured enemy soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815). Visitors explore three decks: Gun Deck, Officer's Deck, and Fo'c'sle / Top Deck. The application has been described publicly as the first multiplayer VR museum visit system supporting a live museum guide, accommodating up to six remote visitors. Project launched late 2023 and was presented at VRTO 2024.
