Legends of Catalonia Is An Intriguing New Take On Virtual Tourism For PSVR

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So far we’ve seen virtual tourism take its place in VR largely as a series of idyllic 360 videos, but Legends of Catalonia has some other ideas about how to win the hearts and minds of holidaymakers.

Set to launch on PSVR this Friday, Legends of Catalonia is produced by Virtual Voyagers in partnership with the Catalan Tourism Agency, which encompasses the northeastern region of Spain including cities like Barcelona. Rather than simply getting the viewer to explore pretty places, though, the experience retells famous stories from the region within VR. The aim is to give viewers a sense of the region’s history and culture as a teaser of what to expect in a visit. Check out the trailer below.

One such story is the legend of Saint George who, as you may now, found himself in a deadly brawl with a dragon that earned him his own holiday, Saint Georges Day, which is widely celebrated in Catalonia. Virtual Voyagers brings that story to life in VR. Elsewhere there are interactive minigames and the chance to see Barcelona’s prized Sagrada Familia within VR. The experience even brings Catalan’s famed Michelin star chefs, the Roca brothers, into VR for the first time.

Virtual Voyagers used photogrammetry to capture six different locations across the region and also recorded actor’s performances with motion and facial capture. The impressive Making Of video below showcases the sheer amount of work that went into it.

“The project has been absolutely challenging because of several factors,” Virtual Voyagers CTO Jose Infantes explained to UploadVR. “The first was the short time available to develop an experience like that, especially for a platform like PSVR, that requires extensive optimization and a very a strict QA & publishing process.”

Virtual Voyagers began working on the experience in mid-May, so it had to be flexible in order to pull off what it wanted to achieve in time. Infantes explains that the team traveled all over Catalonia on a tight schedule, whilst also working had to refine and optimize performance capture for PSVR ahead of release. “I can say this is mostly like a rock group picking up the bandwagon for the tour,” he said of the team’s work. “We were about to rent a tour bus for it! I think this can only be done with a very special team.”

Legends of Catalonia is launching on November 2nd on PSVR for free.

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The post Legends of Catalonia Is An Intriguing New Take On Virtual Tourism For PSVR appeared first on UploadVR.

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