Everything is better in 3D

I have discovered the perfect way to decompress after a four-day intensive seminar on 3D photogrammetry:  go to your friend's cabin on a small island in a remote part of Canada. While you take in the fresh air and quiet of nature, you can then reflect on all that you have shoved into your brain in the past week - and feel pretty good about it!

Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, August 2016

The Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) team - Mark, Carla, and Marlin - have done it again, in that they have taken their brilliance and passion for photography, cultural heritage, and documentation technologies, and formulated a successful workshop on 3D photogrammetry that effectively passes on their expertise and "best practice" methodologies. The course was made possible by a Preservation and Access Education and Training grant awarded to CHI by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Thanks also to  the generosity of the Buffalo State College Art Conservation Department who hosted the workshop, our group had a great time delving into the world of 3D documentation. 

Bust of the Roman senator Seneca from the Buffalo conservation department study collection, who served as our trusty subject for image capture "in the round."

According to its Wikipedia page, photogrammetry is the science of making measurements from photographs, especially for recovering the exact positions from surface points. By sticking to a well designed protocol for image capture, as well as tested and proven methods for optimizing photo processing, one can create highly precise and measurable 3D models. Compared to laser scanning, this is as good, if not better, due to its superior metrics and archiving options. And in our world (of conservation), precise rendering in documentation practice paired with long-term preservation is everything. ​CHI has a great explanation of photogrammetry on their site, which explains the technique much better than I can here. 

This technique can be used on sites like archaeological digs or on individual artifacts for high level rendering and photodocumentation; for instance, a dig site can be documented prior to reburial. It can also be used for public outreach and to enhance visitor experience, such as to create a 3D experience of a site or place the public may not be able to enter. It can be used to print accurate 3D models that can be used in conservation practice for loss compensation or custom mount-making, or for important research such as investigating how an object was made or what has happened to it since manufacture. Really, there are many possibilities, and as the technique develops further and more conservators use and refine it, we will continue to discover new applications. 

I share with you a short video of the 3D model we made of the Roman senator bust at Buffalo, so you can get the idea of a "quick and dirty" output. This is literally a video shot with my iPhone of my computer screen as I manipulated a 3D pdf. So don't judge the quality!

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