Virtual heritage: exploring photorealism

One of the main purposes of virtual heritage (VH) is to disseminate the cultural and historic knowledge to end-users. However, in many cases VH projects are motivated towards demonstrating the technical artistry and the power of new technology to attain a certain degree of 'visual fidelity' and accuracy in representation of historical environments. Built heritage is not just the 'form' but inherits different layers of meanings, which cannot be understood by only watching 'photorealistic' representation; instead it requires proper interpretation of 'place'. The paper highlights end-users as an interpreter and emphasizes their unique cultural background to consider in the interpretive process. As a methodology, 'interpretation' is first conceptualized. Notions in 'photo-realism', end-users' engagement, cognition and interpretation is explored by reviewing present discourses. This paper finally urges for a comprehensive interpretive method for VH to prioritize end-users understanding while leaving some open ended questions for future investigation.