The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Culture Information Service Agency on March 13 released 4,543 pieces of 3D immersive digital data on traditional culture. Clockwise from left are Sinpungnu Gate Pavilion at Suwon Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, items from Bongsudang Hall, 24 styles from the Muyedobotongji (Comprehensive Illustrated Manual of Martial Arts) and holtae (traditional rice thresher) used in the folk game Gimpo Tongjin Durenori. (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

By Park Hye Ri

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Culture Information Service Agency (KCISA) on March 13 announced the free availability of 4,543 pieces of 3D immersive digital data on traditional culture through the ministry's Metaverse Datalab (www.culture.go.kr/datametaverse).

The data can be used to create virtual and convergent content.

Among the data are 3D models of traditional patterns, buildings, weapons and clothing from Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, a World Cultural Heritage in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do Province, and agricultural props from the folk game Gimpo Tongjin Durenori, which displays traditional agricultural culture.

Also included are the 24 movements from the Muyedobotongji (Comprehensive Illustrated Manual of Martial Arts), a training manual from the late Joseon Dynasty, digital representations of people from the Joseon era, and interactions such as responses to door opening and closing created by using motion capture techniques for use in content like games.

The ministry plans to provide additional explanatory materials in English to allow non-Koreans without background knowledge of traditional culture to easily use the data to raise their understanding of such culture.

The digital data can be used through the 3D design tools Marketplace of Unreal Engine and Asset Store of Unity Engine along with Metaverse Datalab. Information on traditional clothing can also be downloaded from the 3D clothing design software Clo.

From 2022, the ministry and KSCIA began compiling the data, and in April last year, they released for the first time over 4,400 pieces of information including those on Joseon government offices, Hanok (traditional homes) and chogajip (traditional thatched huts). As of this month, the data released last year have been downloaded over 700,000 times.

"We hope that a variety of content showing the appeal of traditional culture is actively created using the 3D immersive digital data released this time," said Lee Haedon, director-general of the ministry's Culture Policy Bureau. "We will continuously strive to make traditional culture more appealing to the public and spread it more widely through convergence with cutting-edge technology."

This is the official website of Metaverse Datalab (www.culture.go.kr/datametaverse), which is run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. (Screen capture from Metaverse Datalab's website)

hrhr@korea.kr