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It has been a long<\/span>–<\/span>held <\/span>desire for the CHDS to offer a 3D Digitisation service<\/span>, and although not 100% there yet, we are several steps closer. Back in 2021<\/span>, Connor <\/span>Wimble<\/span>t<\/span>t<\/span> did an <\/span>internship <\/span>with us <\/span>look<\/span>ing<\/span> into the feasibility of offering <\/span>3D <\/span>for the Heritage Collections. You can find out more by reading his blog here.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With the fantastic <\/span>uCreate<\/span> facilities located <\/span>in the same building, it seemed sensible to <\/span>see how we could <\/span>make best use<\/span> of their equipment<\/span>, particularly after they purchased a <\/span>Rigster<\/span><\/a> Arago back in 20<\/span>22. <\/span><\/span><\/span>However, the <\/span>uCreate<\/span> MakerSpace<\/span> is located in<\/span> a student facing area of the building<\/span>, and <\/span>in order to<\/span> be able to have <\/span>Collections<\/span> material in this space, we had to get an agreed set of Conservation & Security <\/span>arrangements in place first. This required <\/span>collaboration between the Senior Management Team, Conservation, <\/span>uCreate<\/span> Team and the CHDS.<\/span> Once we had documented the procedures<\/span>, we then organised training for the Photography team with Conservation<\/span> for the packing and transportation through the building, as well as best practice handling<\/span> when working in the room & what collections had been cleared for use in the space (based on environmental readings for the room).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Next, which collection to start with? As luck would have it, we were coming to the end of a major project digitising the Lyell Notebooks, and as we had finished ahead of schedule, had some budget remaining to work on his Geology specimen collection. Working with the Project Curator, Pamela McIntyre, we identified a selection of specimens that we could use for training with the Photographers in the new kit and software, and testing the new workflows. We block booked the room for 3 days and started on our first small 3D project.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We hope to be able to offer a 3D service for our Heritage Collections very soon, and if interested, please email <\/span>digitisation@ed.ac.uk<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I will hand over to Juliette Lichman to discuss the experience of the 3D training and getting up to speed with new equipment and software\u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Susan Pettigrew, Digitisation Studio Manager<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With our<\/span> training in packing and transportation of the collections in mind,<\/span> Malcolm, <\/span>George<\/span> and I<\/span> set to work<\/span> bringing the first <\/span>batch<\/span> of geology specimens <\/span>(and <\/span>additional<\/span> studio equipment) <\/span>down to <\/span>Makerspace <\/span><\/a>on the first floor of the Main Library. For this project we were working with the Arago Rigster<\/span>, a piece of kit which aids in the creation of photogrammetry models by automating the process and mapping out the capture area on the software. This enables the photographer to easily specify which parts of the object they would like to capture, and<\/span> identify areas with any issues to be adjusted and re-captured.<\/span> You can see the Rigster in action here.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n W<\/span>e ensured that the kit<\/span> and software<\/span> was correctly launched and <\/span>proceeded<\/span> to carefully manipulate the <\/span>space<\/span>, moving the stationary lights in<\/span>to<\/span> the correct <\/span>positions<\/span> and using the larger<\/span> turntable<\/span> plate<\/span> for our geology specimens.<\/span> <\/span>\u00a0<\/span> When we had completed both sides of the <\/span>geology specimen, we exported our files as RAWs, <\/span>and then made <\/span>Tiffs and JPGs after image QA checks<\/span> and any required adjustments<\/span>. The next step was to create a 3D model with all the data we had captured. For this we used Reality Capture. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span> The turntable plate with the markers <\/span>w<\/span>as<\/span> very important<\/span> in this process as we <\/span>can<\/span> accurately <\/span>determine<\/span> the distance between the points, thus allowing the software to calculate the size of the <\/span>model. This step <\/span>was<\/span> crucial for us to be able to place the two halves together at the end<\/span> correctly<\/span>.<\/span> We <\/span>encountered<\/span> some models towards the end of the project that had issues with this step, so we <\/span>came up with<\/span> alternative ways of defining distance<\/span>, however these were not <\/span>nearly as<\/span> accurate<\/span>.<\/span>
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<\/span>For the purpose of creating the<\/span> clearest images of the geology specimens, we <\/span>hit <\/span>them with as much light as <\/span>possible <\/span>from continuous light units <\/span>on both sid<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span> of the object as well as on-camera flash<\/span>.<\/span> The latter <\/span>moved with the <\/span>Rigster\u2019s<\/span> robotic arm, ensuring that tricky areas such as <\/span>the <\/span>space<\/span> above and below <\/span>the object <\/span>were lit well<\/span> \u2013 particularly useful for the irregular spaces and crevices on the edges and undersides of the objects<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> For the shinier objects we did not use the flash to <\/span>tr<\/span>y<\/span> and mitigate the specular reflections, as this could cause issues further down the line.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
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<\/span>To create a full 3D <\/span>model<\/span> we would need to photograph the top and the bottom<\/span> of the object<\/span> as two separate <\/span>parts<\/span> called \u201cchunks\u201d<\/span> (or components)<\/span>, then<\/span> manually combine them in <\/span>3D modelling software later. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
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<\/span>We soon discovered that there were many variables that could be adjusted via the <\/span>Rigster\u2019s<\/span> capture <\/span>software.\u00a0<\/span> For a good starting point we set the <\/span>Rigster<\/span> to shoot four \u2018loops\u2019 around the object at varying elevations, to capture as many angles as possible of the object. This would help us <\/span>later<\/span>,<\/span> when<\/span> it <\/span>came <\/span>to manually building the 3D models. On a few occasions the camera\u2019s focus had missed its target and certain spots had to be captured again, but generally the automated system worked very well.<\/span> We currently <\/span>don\u2019t<\/span> have the <\/span>pre<\/span>–<\/span>scan<\/span> option<\/span> enabled but hope to in future as thi<\/span>s <\/span>will help to <\/span>identify<\/span> depth of field issues. Some tricky areas required <\/span>a<\/span>dditional<\/span> shots<\/span> to make sure we had everything in focus.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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<\/span>This was a complex piece of software but with <\/span>an excellent workflow produced by Susan we managed to get several finished models create<\/span>d. <\/span>We imp<\/span>orted <\/span>the 2D photographs and align<\/span>ed<\/span> the images<\/span> creat<\/span>ing<\/span> a \u2018Point Cloud\u2019<\/span>. <\/span>N<\/span>ext<\/span> we create<\/span>d<\/span> the \u2018Mesh<\/span>\u2019,<\/span> which is a polygon rendering. After that you create a \u2018Texture\u2019 which is the photographic overlay<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
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