BERGAMA, TURKEY, July 18, 2013 — Bilkom has launched a project called “History comes to life in 3D” using 3D modeling software and mobile technology from GRAPHISOFT and Abvent.  As a result, the ancient city in Bergama can be explored in 3D, making it possible for visitors to experience a virtual tour of the historic area for the first time.

iVisit Anatolia, a 3D viewing application for tablets and smart phones developed for Artlantis by Abvent, enables users who visit Zeus Altar, the Temple of Athena, the Red Basilica, and Asclepion, the four ancient sites in Bergama, to explore these historic sites in a 360 virtual tour as they looked originally.  Universities, architecture students, municipalities, and Bilkom worked together to launch the project in a mere 2 months.

Under the leadership of architect Ender Aydın, Bilkom’s Digital Life Coach, 12 architecture students from the universities of Dokuz Eylül, Gedik and YaÅŸar and a research fellow met twice in Bergama with the coordination of Bergama Municipality Development and Planning Department UNESCO World Heritage and Area Management during weekend workshops. The 2D drawings of the ancient sites were exported to ArchiCAD and rendered in Artlantis, while the unique panoramas were created using iVisit 3D, Artlantis’s 3D presentation tool.

Stating that they were proud to develop iVisit Anatolia, a software opening the doors of the ancient wonders of Anatolia to both foreign and local tourists, Abvent professionals thanked Bilkom for the “great idea” that built upon a similar cultural contribution they developed for Versailles Palace in 2012.

Moreover, GRAPHISOFT, the leading Building Information Modeling (BIM) software developer for architects, stated its contentment to learn that the 3D modeling of the historic sites in Bergama came to life via its award-winning ArchiCAD software.

The next stage of the project, which started with Bergama will be shaped according to the demands from municipalities and universities.

About Bilkom BiliÅŸim Hizmetleri A.Åž

Having launched its activities in the IT sector in 1984, Bilkom is the distributor of pioneer brands like Apple, Adobe, and GRAPHISOFT in Turkey with the slogan of “your digital life coach”. With its brands and technologies that shape digital life, Bilkom, together with its business partners, directs all sales and support services across Turkey.

About Abvent

Since 1985, the Abvent Group has offered innovative image and design solutions for CAD professionals in the fields of architecture and design.  Abvent develops and publishes Artlantis, a family of stand-alone 3D rendering applications developed especially for architects and designers, ideal for quickly and easily creating high-resolution 3D renderings (Artlantis Render) and iVisit 3D Panoramas, QuickTime® VR Objects and animations (Artlantis Studio). Themed collections of materials, parametric textures, and objects available on CD-ROMs and online round out the innovative product line (Artlantis Media). A recognized leader in preview window technology, Artlantis is the rendering software used by architects, designers and urban design professionals in more than 80 countries.

About GRAPHISOFT

GRAPHISOFT® ignited the BIM revolution with ArchiCAD®, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as the revolutionary GRAPHISOFT BIM Server™, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment, and EcoDesigner STAR™, enabling architects to use ArchiCAD’s building information model (BIM) directly as a building energy model (BEM).  GRAPHISOFT’s innovative solutions have fundamentally changed the way architects around the world design and collaborate. GRAPHISOFT has been a part of the Nemetschek Group since its acquisition in 2007.