3D summer school 2024

3D Imaging and Modelling for Cultural Heritage

Institute of Classical Studies, Senate House, University of London

July 1–5, 2024. Senate House MakerSpace

Tutors: Vera Moitinho de Almeida (CODA, University of Porto) & Gabriel Bodard (University of London)

This in-person course will introduce participants to a range of 3D technologies, from photogrammetry to 3D design software, for the imaging, modelling and analysis of ancient artefacts and buildings. We offer a mix of practical and theoretical sessions, including advice on imaging both portable objects and outdoor monuments. Drawing on expertise and partnerships of the Institute of Classical Studies and nearby cultural institutions, this course is suitable for students, archaeologists, teachers and anyone with an interest. No previous technical experience is required.

Before the workshop:

1. Watch at least the first batch of pre-recorded video tutorials prior to the start of the summer school
2. Bring your laptop, ideally with a mouse (which is better than trackpad for 3D editing)
3. Bring a camera or other photographic device (phone, tablet), and a USB cable to download photos to your computer
4. (NB if you use an iPhone or iPad, make sure you know how to save photographs in JPG format. See e.g. WikiHow; Lifewire.)
5. Download and install the free trial version of Agisoft Metashape
6. Make a free account on Sketchfab.com
7. Make a free account on Sketchup for Web
8. Optional: Download and install MeshLab (windows) or MeshLab (mac)
9. Optional: Make a free account on Tinkercad

Programme

Monday July 1

• 10:30 MakerSpace open
• 11:00 Welcome and introduction to MakerSpace
• 12:00 Introduction to Ehrenberg collection (Rosario Rovira Guardiola, ICS)
  • 12:30 lunch break
• 14:00 Photogrammetry practice
  • 15:00 coffee break
• 15:30 Photogrammetry practice
• 17:00 Keynote lecture (in person only): Kimberly Meehan (UCL), Merging and sharing 3D scientific imaging data
  • 18:30 Join us for a pint with the speaker!

Tuesday July 2

• 10:00 Space open for practice
• 11:00 Sketchfab Introduction
• 11:30 Photogrammetry practice
  • 12:30 lunch break
• 14:00 MeshLab demo and exercise
• 15:00 Photogrammetry, Sketchfab or Meshlab practice
  • 16:30 Session ends

Wednesday July 3

• 11:00 Field trip: Outdoor photogrammetry St Pancras Gardens (weather permitting) (Directions)
  • 12:30 lunch break
• 14:00 3D modelling with SketchUp
• 15:30 Discussion of 3D documentation and metadata
  • 16:30 Session ends

Thursday July 4

• 10:00 Space open for practice
• 11:00 3D printing overview (Ultimaker Cura) (BCN3D Stratos) (CraftWare)
• 11:30 Tinkercad exercise
• 12:00 3D modelling practice
  • 12:30 lunch break
• 14:00 Archaeological site modelling and geophysics (Emlyn Dodd)
• 14:15 3D modelling practice
• 15:00 Discussion of 3D imaging and modelling ethical responsibilities
• 15:30 3D modelling practice
  • 16:30 Session ends

Friday July 5

• 10:00 Space open for practice
• 11:00 3D modelling practice and discussion, project reports
  • 12:30 lunch break
• 14:00 Practice and closing discussion
  • 16:00 coffee break
• 17:30 Digital Classicist seminar. Chiara Palladino (Furman University), Representing ancient landscapes digitally: the what, the how, the why. (Youtube)
  • 19:00 Join us for a pint with the speaker!

Video tutorials

Overviews (watch before the summer school)

• 3D approaches and methods (10 min) (slides) (Gabriel Bodard)
• Types of 3D scanning and imaging (10 min) (slides) (Alicia Walsh)
• Non-3D imaging methods (15 min) (slides) (Gabriel Bodard & Alicia Walsh)
• Types of 3D object (20 min) (slides) (Gabriel Bodard)
• 3D modelling and visualisation (22 min) (slides) (Gabriel Bodard & Alicia Walsh)
• Best Practices in 3D: documentation, sustainability and access (20 min) (slides) (Alicia Walsh)
• Ethical considerations in 3D practice (Part I) (27 min) (slides) (Alicia Walsh)
• Ethical Responsibilities and 3D Methods in Cultural Heritage (Gabriel Bodard, Paula Granados García, Tala Rahal, Andrea Wallace)

Photogrammetry (watch before Monday/Tuesday)

• Theory of photogrammetry (12 min) (slides) (Alicia Walsh)
• Photogrammetry software options (8 min) (slides) (Alicia Walsh)
• Photography for photogrammetry (3 min) (Alicia Walsh)
• Photogrammetry Metashape basic workflow (11 min) (Alicia Walsh)
• Metashape interface demo (10 min) (Alicia Walsh)
• Introduction to outdoor photogrammetry (10 min) (slides) (Alicia Walsh)
• Outdoor photogrammetry field demo (3 min) (Valeria Vitale & Gabriel Bodard)

Postprocessing and Analysis (watch before Tuesday)

• Aligning and merging chunks (12 min) (Alicia Walsh)
• MeshLab. Intro to 3D analysis of 3D models (slides) (Vera Moitinho de Almeida)
• Editing your model in Meshmixer (11 min) (Alicia Walsh)
• Making Monsters in Meshmixer (EXTERNAL: presentation by Valeria Vitale 2017; start at 0:59:56)
  • (cf. Vitale 2018, below)

3D printing (watch before Wednesday)

• Introduction to 3D printing (18 min) (slides) (Gabriel Bodard)
• Timelapse video of 3D printing Nefertiti bust (from Youtube) (EXTERNAL)
  • More cute timelapse 3D printing videos: Dragon; Morgantina and chocolate vase

3D Modelling with Sketchup Web (Watch before Wednesday/Thursday)

NB the tutorials and materials below were designed for the free SketchUp Make 2017, which has recently been discontinued. They should work fine, with only occasional, minor adaptation with SketchUp Web.

• Introduction to Sketchup and some simple actions (19 min) (Gabriel Bodard)
• Sketchup walkthrough of building (9 min) (Alicia Walsh)
  • Full handout (by Valeria Vitale)
  • PDF with photographic and other documentation for the Ekklesiasterion
  • Textures for the Ekklesiasterion exercise (zip format)
• Sketchup walkthrough of building roof (4 min) (Alicia Walsh)
• Sketchup walkthrough of texturing (4 min) (Alicia Walsh)
• Sketchup walkthrough of importing objects (4 min) (Alicia Walsh)
• Longer tutorial at SunoikisisDC
• (for reference only) Full walkthrough of Ekklesiasterion model in Sketchup (for reference only) (42 min) (Coré Ferrer-Alcantud)

Advanced 3D modelling exercises (optional)

• Choose one of the buildings listed in the Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Essex and try to create a model using the resources available.
• Mycaenean Tomb beneath the Middle Stoa; see especially Figure 1 and Plate 1a as the basis for your model.
• Try one of the buildings listed in Vitruvius - The 10 Books on Architecture (e.g. Temples; Villas; “the Greek House”; [ambitious!] Roman Theatre)

Other resources

Previous keynotes

• Valeria Vitale, Missing, incomplete, biased. Priceless. The key role of documentation in the representation of historical buildings, from drawings to 3D models (2021)
• Chiara Piccoli, Visualizing and experiencing past cities in 3D: Methods, opportunities and challenges (2021)
• Andrea Wallace, Digitisation, Intellectual Property, and Restitution: Exploring (more) equitable approaches to digital cultural heritage management (2020)
• Matthew Nicholls, Virtual Rome - a digital model of the ancient city (2020)

Other presentations

• How to Make Your Scans Look Great on Sketchfab (by Thomas Flynn)
• 3D printing and intellectual property session in SunoikisisDC (Tom Flynn, Dinusha Mendis, Alicia Walsh, 2021)
• Blender tutorial in SunoikisisDC (Vasiliki Lagari, Chiara Piccoli, Alicia Walsh, 2021)
• Rethinking 3D Visualisation: From illustration to research tool (Valeria Vitale 2016)
• Digital Tools for Classical Archaeology & Architecture: Combining Total Station Drawing & Photogrammetry in Fieldwork Documentation (Jari Pakkanen 2019)
• The Application of Photogrammetric 3D Modeling to Roman Domestic Space (Kelly McClinton 2019)
• Research-based 3D reconstructions of built heritage environments (Luca Brunke, 2023)
• 3D Imaging: From remote sensing to photogrammetry (Emlyn Dodd, Stephen Kay, Vera Moitinho de Almeida, 2024)

Tutorials and resources

• Dan Pett’s photogrammetry drive folder (includes a lot of images and a few other resources, for playing around with photogrammetry)
• Digital Lab Notebook (from Cultural Heritage Imaging)
• Youtube channel: Archaeological Documentation
• Meshroom tutorial
• MeshLab (from Visual Computing Lab, ISTI-CNR)
• Pure3D - An Infrastructure for the Publication and Preservation of 3D Scholarship
• ArchAIDE project aimed to create a new system for the automatic recognition of archaeological pottery from excavations around the world.
• Principles and visualisation standards from 4D Labs

Further reading

• Julie Anderson & Daniel Antoine. 2019. “Scanning Sobek - Mummy of the Crocodile God.” In Porcier, Ikram & Pasquali (ed.), Creatures of Earth, Water and Sky - Essays on Animals in Ancient Egypt And Nubia. Sidestone Press. Pp. 31–37. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338014932_Scanning_Sobek_-_Mummy_of_the_Crocodile_God
• Anna Bentkowska-Kafel & Lindsay MacDonald. 2017. Digital Techniques for Documenting and Preserving Cultural Heritage. Arc Humanities Press.
• Bodard G., Granados García P., Mathur D., Rahal T., Wallace A., et al. 2024. "Ethical Responsibilities and 3D Methods in Cultural Heritage." White paper. REQUEST FOR COMMENTS. Available: https://github.com/SAS-DHRH/EthicalResponsibilities3D/raw/main/drafts/Ethical-Responsibilities-3D-Approaches-to-Cultural-Heritage-0.5-RFC.pdf
• Hugh Denard. 2012. “A New Introduction to the London Charter.” In A. Bentkowska-Kafel, D. Baker & H. Denard (eds.) Paradata and Transparency in Virtual Heritage, Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities Series (Ashgate). Pp. 57-71. Available: http://www.londoncharter.org/introduction.html
• Historic England. 2017. Photogrammetric Applications for Cultural Heritage Guidance for Good Practice. Available: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/photogrammetric-applications-for-cultural-heritage/heag066-photogrammetric-applications-cultural-heritage/
• Historic England. 2018. 3D Laser Scanning for Heritage: Advice and Guidance on the Use of Laser Scanning in Archaeology and Architecture. Available: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/3d-laser-scanning-heritage/
• M. Lo Brutto, D. Ebolese, and G. Dardanelli. 2018. 3d Modelling of a Historical Building Using Close-Range Photogrammetry and Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS). Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-599-2018
• Dinusha Mendis, Nordemann J., et al. 2020. Intellectual Property Implications of the Development of Industrial 3D Printing. European Commission. Available: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/e193a586-7f8c-11ea-aea8-01aa75ed71a1
• Vera Moitinho de Almeida. 2023. “Contributions of 3D digital methods and techniques to the study of ancient pottery”. In Myths, Gods, and Heroes. Greek vase collections in Portugal / Mitos, Deuses e Heróis. As coleções de vasos gregos em Portugal (vol.2). R. Morais, R. Centeno, D. Ferreira (eds.). Câmara Municipal de Santa Maria da Feira - Museu Convento dos Lóios; Reitoria da Universidade do Porto; Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto; Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra. Pp.269-291. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pz0eiaRKZl77lcDFC7EjbAKgHPqZWUg7/view?usp=drive_link
• Mathilde Pavis & Andrea Wallace. 2019. "Response to the 2018 Sarr-Savoy Report: Statement on Intellectual Property Rights and Open Access relevant to the digitization and restitution of African Cultural Heritage and associated materials." Available: https://zenodo.org/record/2620597
• Chiara Piccoli. 2018. “3.2.2 Procedural Modelling” (pp. 55–50) & “3.4 The scientific value of 3D reconstructions” (pp. 67-87). Visualizing Cityscapes of Classical Antiquity: From Early Modern Reconstruction Drawings to Digital 3D Models. Oxford: Archaeopress. Open Access at https://bit.ly/2mmSkg4
• Felwine Sarr & Bénédicte Savoy (2018). "The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage: Toward a New Relational Ethics." Available: https://restitutionreport2018.com/sarr_savoy_en.pdf
• Hannah Scates Kettler. 2021. “Linked Open Data for 3D Models and Environments.” In edd. Bond, Dilley, and Horne, Linked Open Data for the Ancient Mediterranean: Structures, Practices, Prospects. ISAW Papers 20. Available: http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/isaw-papers/20-5/
• Davide Tanasi. 2019. "Best Practices for 3D Digital Recording and Global Sharing of Catacombs from Late Roman Sicily." Studies in Digital Heritage 3.1. Pp. 60.82. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.14434/sdh.v3i1.25290
• Valeria Vitale. 2016. “Transparent, Multivocal, Cross-disciplinary: The Use of Linked Open Data and a Community-developed RDF Ontology to Document and Enrich 3D Visualisation for Cultural Heritage.” In: Bodard/Romanello, Digital Classics Outside the Echo-Chamber: Teaching, Knowledge Exchange & Public Engagement. London: Ubiquity Press. Pp. 147–168. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bat.i
• Valeria Vitale. 2018. "The Monster in Your Pocket." In ed. Bridges/al-Ayad, Making Monsters: An anthology of classical monsters. Futurefire.net Publishing. Pp. 107–120. Available: https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/9287/
• Valeria Vitale. 2023. “Ceci n’est pas un temple. Visual secondary sources between representation and documentation.” In: Palladino C. & Bodard G (eds.), Can’t Touch This. London: Ubiquity Press. Available: https://doi.org/10.5334/bcv.b