Dr. Karina Rodriguez-Echavarria

Lecturer

Cultural Informatics Research Group,

University of Brighton

3D Digitisation Technologies for

Collection Artefacts

Overview

1. 3D technology introduction and process:

Capture Document Use

2. State of the art developments in 3D technology for cultural heritage

3. Questions and answers

Introduction

3D technology has the potential to enhance the documentation and communication of Cultural Heritage for: Heritage professionals who curate

and/or study this material. The public and/or communities of

interest.

A custom-built laser scanner scans the face of Michelangelo's David.

Is 3D technology a reality?

Long history of the technology within the last 30 years or more. This has been driven commercially by industries such as computer games and cinema.

Nowadays, the technology has reached a level where many sectors are starting to experiment with it.

3D Cinema 3D Television 3D Printers

Basic principle of 3D technology

3D computer applications (software and hardware) that capture, process, and make use of three-dimensional representation of real world information

One eye Two eyes

Depth Information

3D information

Process for using 3D technologies

1. Capture: Acquisition of collections artefacts.

2. Document: Creation of structured information which encodes the contextualising knowledge of the artefacts in ways which:

links to the item and

can be searched

3. Use/Present: Development of novel applications that are built on the collections of digital items.

Capturing 3D content

Several characteristics need to be taken into account for acquisition of 3D content as artefacts have: Different shapes and complexities

Different sizes

Different colours

Different surfaces and textures

Different sources of related information (metadata)

These diversity creates challenges on the technology for the acquisition

Documenting 3D content

Enriching 3D content with descriptive metadata to facilitate access/searching.

Essential metadata should address questions such as: What? Where? Who? How?

Europeana view of object repositories

Using 3D content

Potential applications:

Presentation

Replication

Contextualisation (time, space)

Geographically locating objects

Distributed access

Collaboration

Visualizing changes over the past

Simulation

Presentation

Making 3D objects available to various users.

Different Media: Movies, 3D Games, Virtual Worlds, Web

Lost Quarters of St Joris 1565 Dresden Gallery, Second Life

ReplicateCreate physical copies of the object.

Original Reproductionprocess

Copy

Contextualisation Showing 3D objects within their digitally recreated

context: Space

Time

Related information (metadata)

Example: Debevec Paul. The Parthenon.

Geographically locating objects Positioning 3D objects and related information in

their location using GIS (Geographical Information Systems).

Sketchup, Google earth

Distributed access Access to information from anywhere/anytime.

Via digital libraries in the web. Europeana has planned to include 3D content.

Few repositories at the time.

Example: Aim@shape?

Visualizing changes over the past Present how an object has changed over time until

now.

Supports making interpretations of the past and their understanding.

Example: museum explaining how a site looked years ago.

Roman Baths, Bath UK

Physical simulation Measuring change in an object and studying what is

lost.

Studying how objects change under different conditions in a period of time due to: Weather (climate change),

Decay,

Pollution

Simulate how the physical properties of the objects transform it.

It can support heritage management decisions.

Developments in 3D technology:

3D-COFORM Integrating Project

Tools and Expertise for 3D Collection Formation.

Funded under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013).

Started in December 2008 (will run for 4 years).

Aims to advance the state-of-the-art in 3D-digitsation and make 3D-documentation an everyday practical choice for digital documentation campaigns in the cultural heritage sector.

Official content provider to Europeana.

European Partners Consortium formed by Universities,

Research Institutes, SMEs and cultural heritage institutions.

Sector advisory board collaborates to advice on the relevance of the project’s activities to the sector. Participants members include: UNESCO

National Museums of Berlin, Germany

Louvre Museum, France

CULTNAT, Egypt

Polo Museale of Florence, Italy

Museum of the Imperial Forums, Italy

Prado National Museum, Spain

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Project Activities Research on all technical aspects of

3D, including capture, processing, metadata and provenance, search, research and dissemination to the public and professionals alike.

Research into practical aspects of using the technology in the heritage sector.

The creation of a European Virtual Centre of Competence in 3D digitisation.

3D-COFORM user centred approach

Requirements

DevelopmentTesting/

Evaluating

User

3D-COFORM Business Activities

Research on workflow processes to support mass-digitisation in heritage institutions; as well as investigating the potential of user-generated content.

Training, testing and deployment experiments using 3D-COFORM tools.

Research on methodology for strategy and socio-economic impact evaluation.

IPR issues.

Virtual Competence Centre in 3D This will be established

to promote the role of 3D digital assets within the broader European Digital Library (EDL) context. Functions will include: Providing independent

advice. Acting as a broker in

helping organisations in search of those with competences.

Organising and providing access to a range of tools.

Encouraging and enhancing the potential of voluntary user-created 3D content.

Providing suitable training or consultancy services.

3D-COFORM technology

(Recording of provenance data and standardised data exchange)Processing pipeline Raw data

(Scans and images)

Processing Semantics Searching/Browsing Authoring/Presenting

Repository

Acquisition

3D

ProcessOrigin

CIDOC-CRMOntology

3D Collection

Acquisition Research

Developments towards automatic and user friendly rapid digitisation (in-hand digitisation) of 3D-shape, based on available laser digitisation technology .

Development of Web-based 3D-reconstruction techniques.

Emphasis on 3D shape, colour and reflectance properties.

In-Hand Scanner

In development by ETHZ

Structured-light scanner for digitization of 3D artefacts by manipulation of the artefact in front of the scanner. The manipulation may be manual or "robotic" (e.g. turn table).

Multiview Dome

In development by University of Bonn

Tool to digitise small artefacts (< 20*20*20 cm) with complicated surface materials, like reflective or translucent materials (e.g. metals or gems).

Arc 3D Webservice

In development by KUL Leuven

Tool to transform images into 3D modelsautomatically. Only a digital camera, a PC and accessto the Internet is required.

images © Maurizio Forte

Mini Dome

In development by KUL Leuven.

Tool to digitise small artefacts. This apparatus is a hemispherical structure, with 264 white power LEDs, under computer control. There is one overhead camera, focused on the center of the dome structure to digitise the artefact.

Conclusions

Collections could benefit from developments in 3D technologies.Good documentation increases the

potential use of the digital assets.Research efforts are being made to lower

the cost and expertise required to use 3D digitisation as a practical choice in the heritage sector.

Questions?

Part of this presentation includes research which has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant

agreement n°231809.

Acknowledgment to all project partners.

For more information: http://www.3d-coform.eu