A Digital Time Capsule of Mumbles Lighthouse

My latest project at Mumbles Lighthouse wasn't just about capturing a beautiful landmark; it was an experiment. I wanted to test a new 3D Gaussian Splatting that I discovered online by Youtuber Olli Huttunen. The lighthouse and its surrounding ruined structures—the old engine room, keeper’s cottage, and two searchlight bases—provided the perfect testbed for testing this new workflow.

Using an Insta360 X5 camera, I explored a new method of data capture, filming at multiple angles and heights to gather as much detail as possible. This approach is a direct evolution of the work I’ve been doing with students on our VR for Dementia Care project, where we are also exploring this technology. The ability to create highly realistic virtual environments could be profoundly therapeutic for patients who have a personal connection to Mumbles and its rich maritime history. The Technology After capturing the data (over 60GB worth) on Insta360 X5 camera, I then processed it using a combination of Blender and Varjo Teleport. This workflow allowed me to take the raw 360 camera data, export up to 8 angles per piece of video, giving me thousands of individual frames ready for processing into a Guassian Splat using Varjo Teleport. I was keen to use Jawset PostShot, but have had some teething issues which I need to iron out.

The final destination for this project is arrival.space, a platform designed for shared virtual experiences. By uploading the 3D Gaussian Splats, I have created an environment where users can "walk through" the preserved lighthouse and its grounds. This is can be experienced on a mobile phone, laptop or in a VR headset. Visit the Space at this link: https://live.arrival.space/79440952_9439 Below is a video walkthrough of the final project: