The Etruscanning project: Gesture-based interaction and user experience in the virtual reconstruction of the Regolini-Galassi tomb

In this paper we focuses on the virtual reconstruction of the Regolini Galassi tomb in Cerveteri, one of the most famous of the Orientalising period. In the framework of the Etruscanning project a VR application has been realized for permanent use in museums, based on new, low cost and mark-less natural interaction interfaces. The choice of natural interaction is not a purely technical solution for input. It strongly influences the perceptive impact of the real time exploration, the embodiment, the objects´ selection and manipulation metaphors, the combination of media, the narrative contents length and the user experience. The evaluation of the public feedback conducted in occasion of some exhibitions allowed us to verify the gesture grammar we were developing and to improve the interfaces step by step. What came out is that the current version makes extremely easy and natural the kind of interaction and this translates in a longer time of fruition, more pleasure and a better impact in terms of learning. Particularly in the paper we are going to describe the evaluation conducted in occasion of two editions of Archeovirtual (Paestum), held in 2011 and 2012, were we presented two different versions of the application. The finale one won the First Award in the Natural Interaction category and the First Public Appreciation Award in the 2012 edition.