Giant whale to be revived in Metaverse in Shanghai museum
A giant whale, the star exhibit based on a 24-meter fin whale specimen at the Shanghai Natural History Museum, will be restored to life in the world of the metaverse with new technology.
It aims to offer visitors an interactive and immersive tour in the future, and along with it, other rare animal specimens in the museum will also be revived in the virtual world, said the museum and Lenovo, the project's tech developer.
The 24-meta whale specimen, the biggest of its kind in China, is shown in the Shanghai Natural History Museum.
It fits well with Shanghai's strategy to develop the metaverse industry with an expected output of 350 billion yuan (US$50 billion) in 2025 and cultivate applications in the culture, tourism and education sectors.
The virtual fin whale will enhance the technical and interesting nature of the exhibits in the museum, offer a new immersive viewing experience for visitors, and explore a new paradigm for nature education, said both sides.
The 24-meter whale specimen, consisting of more than 200 bones and weighing 3 tons, is the first confirmed "revived" animal in the virtual world, which will debut next year.
The metaverse application covers four layers of creation including positioning, geometric structure, texture representation and semantic information. It adopts technologies like a metaverse content editor, high-precision simulation cloud rendering technology and augmented reality (AR) equipment to model, render and display the specimen.
It will "restore the fin whale's pre-life state and recreate its swimming and playful appearance in the ocean," said Lenovo Group Ltd.
Lenovo, the world's biggest computer maker, is expanding its business to find new growth engines, including the metaverse.
The Shanghai Natural History Museum is embracing innovation in various kinds of exhibitions and nature education and boosting biodiversity, officials said.
