3d Colour Scans for Object Assessment

Abstract

Digital heritage technologies are radically changing the way we engage with material culture and are negotiating new ways of knowing and understanding the object. Realising the importance of digital technologies and new interdisciplinary possibilities, the E-curator project has been undertaken by UCL Museums and Collections with the goal of applying two state of the art digital technologies: 3D colour laser scanning and e-Science technologies. This project captures and shares very large three-dimensional scans and detailed datasets about museum artefacts in a secure computing environment. This paper presents our investigation about the use of 3D colour scanning for museum object assessment.

On virtual auras

“…https://www.labsphere.com/labsphere-products-solutions/materials-coatings-2/targets-standards/diffuse-reflectancestandards/diffuse-reflectance-standards/ (accessed 14/3/18) 4 specular (as opposed to diffuse) reflections are mirror-like reflections of light from an object's surface, where the amount of reflected light seen by the viewer is highly dependent on the position of both viewer and light source; objects which exhibit strong specularity tend to show sharp, bright highlights Spain, about 1500-25, 47.cm diam, The Courtauld Gallery, London, Gambier-Parry Bequest, 1966 That isn't to say that digital models don't have utility. The E-Curator project (Hess, Millar, Ong, MacDonald, Robson, Brown & Were, 2008;2009a) and subsequent work by Mona Hess (2015) has shown the potential for 3D scanning technology for professional CH purposes, and there are clear advantages to working in the digital realm. Interrogating a virtual model does not require handling of friable objects or accessing objects in storage or on public display.…”

Simulated-3D visualisation of artefacts using a portable electromechanical object rig

“…The extent of this applicability, however, still remains relatively unexplored for humanities, despite the fact that advances in 3D technologies offer new opportunities to record cultural artefacts with higher precision (Hess, 2008), in every detail, and with the ability to 'examine' without compromising the fragile and often impermanent nature of these objects.…”

Semantic annotation services for 3D models of cultural heritage artefacts

“…representations raise from a museum perspective. The discussion in this Chapter differs from previous related articles [21,22,110,111,152,191,207,208], because the main aim of the 3D scanning process described here is to generate a test-bed of 3D content that can be used to apply, test and evaluate a rich set of annotation services. This work focuses also on the workflow to streamline the generation of multiple 3D and 2.5 D representations of each object.…”

“…3D scanning techniques are commonly used to overcome the limitations of 2D data representations and to capture 3D digital models that can be accurately analysed, measured and compared. 3D data acquisition tools such as laser scanners can be used by museum institutions to document their collections precisely in topology and colour, to generate high-fidelity three dimensional surrogates for preservation and archival purposes [110]. Although 3D laser scanners have been used previously to digitize museum artefacts, from small potteries to large statues [21,22,110,111,152,191,207,208], these previous research have focussed on the value of 3D representations from a curatorial perspective.…”