Case Details
Like a lovelorn painter wielding a delicate and meandering brush, EasyAR Mega has painted a "3D love letter map" for the Ming Tombs. Put on the XREAL Air 2 Ultra AR glasses, and the 600-year-slumbering imperial mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty gradually stir to life...
Perch the XREAL Air 2 Ultra AR glasses on your nose, and the red-lacquered gate of the Changling Mausoleum falls into the reverence it deserves. A virtual Ming Dynasty guide, holding a gilded token, steps lightly as if fearing to disturb the dreams of the red walls. Real yellow roof tiles blend with virtual imperial guards of honor, leaving you in a daze, wondering: have I stepped through the crevices of 600 years of moonlight and stumbled into the dawn and dusk of Emperor Yongle’s mausoleum?
Step further to the Stele Pavilion, and before your fingertips touch the cold stone of the stele, a golden dragon bursts forth majestically from the inscriptions, swirling around the imperial stele in a blaze of shimmering light that dazzles the eyes. The scene is a perfect embodiment of the poetic line "A meeting of golden breeze and jade dew". This is no fantasy from a historical drama, but a newly built "time bridge" at the Ming Tombs—powered by EasyAR Mega’s spatial computing technology, it turns imagination into historical reality, equipping the mausoleums with a combination of "ultra-intelligent navigation + real-scene role-playing tour". Visitors view the site with a god’s-eye perspective yet immerse themselves in the moment of the past; time and space fade away, and understanding history becomes as simple and straightforward as having a casual chat.
Spatial Computing Technology? Painting a "3D Love Letter Map" for the Mausoleums
When you hear "spatial computing", don’t just think of cutting-edge tech and hardcore engineering—this technology is, in fact, incredibly tender! It possesses all the delicate brushstrokes of a lovelorn painter, crafting a "3D love letter map" for the Ming Tombs with meticulous detail. Every inch of land, every tiny architectural feature is etched with heartfelt "words", quietly imprinting the exact likeness of the mausoleums into the digital world, leaving not a single detail out.
Workers carry a panoramic camera, wandering along the Sacred Way and through the palace halls, and finish the scanning in a short while. The lens captures the texture of the floor tiles and the curve of the carvings with crystal clarity, which is then used to generate a point cloud map—thus creating a "digital mausoleum" that is an exact replica of the real one. Even the moss in the brick crevices, the old marks on the wall corners, and the carvings on the imperial stone steps are all visible in the virtual space.
As visitors wander the site with AR glasses, the sensors on the glasses act like sensitive antennae, "observing" the surroundings at all times: spotting the golden brick floor of the Ling’en Hall, they align with the "map" to pinpoint the exact location; seeing the incense burner of the five stone sacrificial vessels, they trigger the display of historical scenes of sacrificial rituals.
This precision harbors a gentle fondness of technology for history. It achieves centimeter-level accuracy—the AR exploded view model of the "Everlasting Rivers and Mountains" stone carving clings to the physical object like lovers embracing, with the number of layers of the plinth and the direction of the dragon patterns matching perfectly without the slightest error. Crucially, it is also impartial, taking meticulous care of the entire mausoleum complex. From the mausoleum gate to the Square City and Bright Tower, no matter where visitors go, the AR content firmly "adheres" to reality—whether it’s the layout of navigation signposts or the flawless presentation of guided content. This completely overturns the longstanding flaws of previous AR glasses: the lack of navigation functionality and the awkward drift of virtual content. What’s even more remarkable is that not a single nail was driven into the cultural relics, nor a single device installed on them. The mausoleums retain their original ancient charm, and not a single trace of history is disturbed by modern technology.
Virtual Content: Seamless Adhesion, Bringing History to Life as a Charming Beauty
Previous AR guided tours were like viewing a beauty through a mist—virtual content and reality existed in their own separate worlds, falling into disarray with the slightest movement. But the AR content at the Ming Tombs feels truly tailor-made, adhering seamlessly to every scenic spot, breathing life into history as a charming, graceful beauty full of warmth.
As the main entrance of the Changling Mausoleum, the mausoleum gate stands grand with red walls and yellow tiles. The AR guided tour resurrects a virtual imperial guard of honor, allowing visitors to embark on a royal sacrificial experience amid rows of soldiers and the resounding of drums and music.
At the Imperial Stele Pavilion, abstract written explanations are first transformed into vivid 3D models, recreating the differences between the double-eaved and single-eaved stele pavilions and showcasing the highest grade of the Changling Stele Pavilion. Stepping inside the pavilion, a breathtaking golden dragon soars from the imperial stele and swirls around it; each circle it makes feels like a reenactment of the grand royal pomp of the past, dynamically decoding the imperial power symbolized by the "dragon-patterned imperial stele".
The Ling’en Hall is the "architectural essence" of the Changling Mausoleum—it is the largest existing wooden structure of the Ming Dynasty in China, nearly 10 meters wider than the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. The 60 golden nanmu pillars supporting the roof inside the hall are even national treasures. All 60 pillars were felled from remote mountains in Yunnan, Sichuan and other regions, each about 14 meters tall and 1.17 meters in diameter; the thickest one requires two or three people to encircle it with their arms. Transporting these nanmu logs back then was nothing short of an epic feat—without modern transportation, craftsmen had to use the floodwaters of the rainy season to float the timber downstream, then transport it to Beijing by land. The transportation of a single pillar alone took three years, and the cost was equivalent to the annual living expenses of 200 ordinary households at that time.
Today, walking into the Ling’en Hall, visitors look up to see these nanmu pillars supporting the massive roof, standing tall and straight after 600 years. The faint "golden threads" in the wood grain shimmer in the light. Though the "Everlasting Rivers and Mountains" stone carving and the colored paintings on the beams and brackets inside the hall have worn with time, the exquisite craftsmanship of Ming Dynasty artisans is still evident. EasyAR Mega’s precise adhesion technology reconstructs a 3D model of the hall, making the golden nanmu pillars shine even more brightly. The 3D exploded view of the "Everlasting Rivers and Mountains" stone carving allows visitors to see every layer of detail from the plinth to the relief carvings—even the scroll grass patterns on the plinth and the direction of the dragon scales are clearly distinguishable, as if one can touch the "craftsman’s heart" of the Ming Dynasty artisans.
The star map at the Lingxing Gate is more like a cross-temporal "moonlight date". Look up, and the present sky transforms into the star map of the Ming Dynasty, with AR light spots marking the "Polaris" clearly. It turns out that when Emperor Zhu Di chose the mausoleum site, he deliberately aligned the central axis of the Changling Mausoleum with Polaris. The ancients regarded Polaris as the "imperial star", and this design not only demonstrated Zhu Di’s authority as "the Son of Heaven mandated by heaven" but also implied his hope for the eternal prosperity of the dynasty. The brightness of the star map even adjusts with the sky: it is not glaring at noon and remains clear in the evening. It’s like a sweet display of affection between ancient wisdom and modern technology, working together in perfect harmony.
In front of the five stone sacrificial vessels, a sacrificial animation unfolds—virtual flames ignite the sacrificial artifacts, and the animation demonstrates the entire process of imperial funeral rituals. Watching this scene, one feels as if they have truly stepped into a royal sacrificial ceremony at a Ming Dynasty imperial mausoleum.
In front of the Square City and Bright Tower, "Zhu Di", dressed in a dragon robe, recites the "Poem of Visiting the Mausoleum" he wrote himself, filled with his care for the country and hopes for future generations, like a nostalgic elder. AR overlays his figure with the Bright Tower, making it seem as if the emperor has not gone far, still guarding this "place of tenderness" he chose. At this moment, even the overhanging eaves of the Bright Tower feel warm—no longer just a cold structure, but a carrier of the magnificent past of the Ming Dynasty.
Perseverance in 45°C Heat: Technology and History in a "Love Affair"
In summer, the ground temperature at the Ming Tombs can soar to 45°C, with the sun scorching the red walls hot to the touch—a true "love test" for the technology. Yet this AR guided tour, like a steady lover, maintains its perfect performance no matter how hot the weather gets, entering into a "love affair" with the mausoleums that is set to make AR history.
The photochromic lenses of the XREAL Air 2 Ultra are highly effective at handling strong light. With a single voice command, the lenses adjust their tint according to the light: darkening to block the sun when it’s bright, lightening when in the shade. They allow visitors to see AR content clearly while protecting their eyes—ten times more useful than ordinary sunglasses, and incredibly thoughtful.
EasyAR Mega’s cloud collaboration architecture also helps "cool down" the device: it offloads labor-intensive tasks such as 3D model rendering and data computing to the cloud, leaving the glasses only responsible for display—each component doing what it does best, in perfect harmony.
What warms the heart even more is that EasyAR Mega always cherishes the cultural relics. All AR content orbits around the cultural relics: it narrates their stories, yet never touches them in the slightest, while simultaneously satisfying visitors’ curiosity. It is truly the perfect embodiment of achieving multiple goals at once.
It has opened a door to the Ming Dynasty for us in the most romantic way, turning history from cold words on a page into a vivid, tangible beauty that one can see, touch and be moved by. Perhaps this is the best way to inherit culture: letting the wisdom of our ancestors, empowered by modern technology, cross the river of time and enter the lives of ordinary people in a way that is both sci-fi and down-to-earth.
Empowered by EasyAR Mega’s spatial computing technology, the Ming Tombs have launched China’s first officially operational outdoor AR glass spatial computing guided tour. The XREAL Air 2 Ultra’s photochromic glasses block the sun, and the tour has withstood high temperatures exceeding 45°C during the summer vacation. Spatial computing technology addresses software-level needs such as high-precision navigation and seamless adhesion capabilities. It is precisely with the support of EasyAR Mega’s spatial computing that the technical foundation for understanding the Ming Tombs is laid.
