First, the Vista team started by constructing the library building mirroring the real area with the exact dimensions, including all floors, offices, study rooms,…etc. The Vista team constructed the virtual building from the original plans of Bibliotheca Alexandrina using 3D-max software. The furniture and ornamental details were then added, along with cosmetic effects such as trees, reflections, shadows and spot lights, water effects and trees.

 

An outer view for Bibliotheca Alexandrina

 

After finalizing the building model, the team started adding materials to the place, adding the texture to the walls, floors,…etc., to give the actual and real image of the library to the model. The team photographed and edited every part of the library’s walls and floors before adding them as textures to the model to give it a realistic and accurate appearance.

A view of the Reading Area 1

 

A view of the Reading Area 2

 

The team has also added the Bibliotheca Alexandrina museums to the model, including the Awad Museum, the Manuscripts Museum, Shady Abdel-Salam Museum and the Antiquities Museum.

 

The Antiquities Museum

 

Once the model was constructed, the Vista team started to display it on the CAVE system. The 3D-max model used “Open Scene Graph”, which is a file format suitable to be displayed on the CAVE using DIVERSE. The CAVE gives the viewer the exact feeling that he/she is totally immersed inside the model.