Ionian Village (IV) is a Greek Orthodox Christian camp in Greece where teens and young adults venerate the relics of saints, walk in the footsteps of the Apostles, and visit significant sites of Greek history and culture.
Going to Greece
The camp director, Father Evagoras Constantinides, and Skenderis discussed at length the potentials of turning Ionian Village into virtual reality experience.
It was agreed that a virtual reality (VR) tour would provide kids in the U.S. with a more comprehensive understanding of the location abroad before signing up.
Skenderis is then flown to Greece in order to personally capture hundreds of high definition, 360-degree photos of the campus in order to build the full VR tour.
Equipment and process
Skenderis used a special combination of an ultra wide lens along with a gyroscopic tripod head in order to create the panoramic images.
By marking the spots where his carbon fiber tripod was placed during the day, he was able to return to the same spots in order to grab night shots.
Using a combination of software techniques, Skenderis was able to create time-lapse 360 photos that automatically turn the campus from day into night while you look around (see below).
Added buttons allow for reading more info
Camp Director, Father Evagoras was excited to have the opportunity of allowing attendees read more about each spot.
Skenderis took the “Read More” idea a step further by allowing campers to actually click on a mural inside the campus’ main chapel and read about the history of the saint.
Overall, the process went extremely smoothly and great friendships were made while staying on camp grounds during the summer excursion.
The virtual tour is available on the campus website.