The archaeology is one of the sciences that is experimenting a bigger evolution of here the emergence of the techs 3D. They are developing a lot of solutions that permit to recreate objects, rooms, situations. To abridge, could apply these new technicians at two big groups: the direct apps of the 3D at the traditional archaeology and, of other band, the nicknamed virtual archaeology devoted predominately at the divulging.

The first group is the direct applications of 3D to the techniques of traditional archeology. It is, in fact, a complement to the excavation documentation that helps the overall understanding of the deposits. To the traditional maps, photographs and drawings of plan and elevation of the sites and pieces are added new tools that help research.

Video of the Photogrammetric Lift made by 3iDem of the “Naveta of the Tudons”

In this first group could talk of the advance at the direct documentation of the deposits. We talk of representations stratigraphic of the deposits at 3D splitting of models photogrammetics or with scanners of the floor before uncover the excavation. With this can view the willingness detailed of an excavation previously and after the task of field to reconstruct continuums the details and improve the posterior survey. This group it affects directly at the scientific work and what facilitates is the survey and discussion among the professional archaeologists.

Video of the Photogrammetric Lift excavation Campelles (by Bruno Parés)

Secondly, within the direct applications of traditional archeology, we find pieces of restoration. Restoration is also taking advantage of new techniques. What was previously done directly on the remains found can now be done virtually, so it can be achieved by rebuilding a piece of ceramics as it would be at the moment, say, a face in from a photogrammetric study of bone remains. We have many applications in this field and in 3iDem we have already done this kind of task with subsequent 3D printing that allows us to compare the original with the restored model with our techniques

Examples of dishes restoration of the Monastery of La Murtra by 3iDem for the Museum of Badalona. Left photogrammetry of the original, reconstruction right (3D printed afterwards)

 

A second large group of applications are all those that help outreach and understanding for a non-specialist audience. They would be what is called Virtual Archeology and they understand different possibilities that open to museology and education.

Magnificent photogrammetric restitution work by Centcelles of the Archaeological Museum of Tarragona

These representations call for important prior work. You need to set the specific time to recreate (the sites are very long in time), then collect the archeological information obtained using the methods described above, and finally do the 3D reconstruction work that requires a large collection of information and very powerful programs and hardware for its development. We recommend that you look at the links we have put from the Ullastret and Roman Barcelona sites in 3D. These reconstructions are also used to make some of the modern video games that are used in places of the past.

http://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/arqueologiabarcelona/pla-barcino/barcino3d/

http://patrimoni.gencat.cat/es/historias/ullastret-3d-caminar-por-una-ciudad-iberica-de-hace-2000-anos

 

At 3iDem we are convinced that this is a future field. We are determined to contribute and put our sand into the work we do on a daily basis.

We often find that everything that is associated with the 3D world is viewed as technological; maybe as a design product in some cases, but away from art at all times. At 3iDem we think that artwork and 3D technology can be complementary. In some cases, they may give rise to new expressions that have not yet been developed, in others they may be useful for their dissemination. We must keep in mind that technologies are tools and that these are in the hands of artists can lead to new unknown expressions so far. At the risk of looking like pedants, we must first establish that we can understand that it is art, or a work of art.

Art is a constantly evolving being, because it is a living being. Their forms, manifestations and categories also need to be interrelated with the living beings who interpret them. Art itself should be separated from the aesthetic experience, since the vision of a landscape or a bird in the countryside would also be an aesthetic experience, but it is also necessary to avoid considering art as any aesthetic manifestation.

So where are we now ?. The concept of art in the West changed from art subject to rules to the current concept where art would be the production of beauty. Beauty that did not exist before the work and because of the created condition separates it from the things that are beautiful like the landscape or the bird that we have mentioned before.

 

Leaving aside the theoretical concept of art, we think that the aesthetic experience of what is created defines the work of art. Therefore, we will look at several ways in which 3D technology can serve the art world. The importance of escaping the concept of “fashion” must be emphasized, which means that it is nowadays abused to make sense of the term “3D”. Let’s say an example of a marketing venture where some Japanese coffee shops associate ephemeral art with the cream of coffees. To sell the concept they are called “3D coffee” thus gaining notoriety that they play with the expectations of the public, but in fact what they do is far from 3D.

A proven case of new technology applied to the art world that has helped to enrich it is photography. At the end of the nineteenth century it was an amazing new technique, which merely limited to reproducing reality, but as the technique was experienced and dominated by more and more artists it became recognized as an artistic form more by individuals, galleries and collectors. In fact, in 1910 the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo (New York) was one of the first museums to include photography in the art collection. This implicitly brings us the answer to the question: If you involve technology or machines in the process of creation does this devalue the value of work? Well, we think it is not. Achieving technical skill by artists to assimilate these new tools is just as important as gaining manual skills to make more traditional works such as sculpture or painting.

And on the other hand, limited-series art reproduction with 3D printing technology (in which 3idem is specialized) is not similar to when an artist makes limited copies of a statue with a mold made in the lost wax ?. Perhaps the fear is that the public will not find a piece of art because it is not made “manually”, but this is like comparing paintings to photography. They are different techniques and can be radically different in the results.

Let’s say a sculptor decides to learn how to sculpt 3D sculptures and learns how to work directly with a 3D sculpture design program such as the 123D Sculpt, 3DsMax, or Blender to give just three examples of the many. He can act directly as if it were a block of clay or a stone.

Once ready, you can print it on the material that suits you best, given the versatility of 3D printing. It can even play with colors with printers like the ones we have at 3idem.

Another case is to make scanners directly from the artworks and to make reproductions of them. In this case the artist can work directly with his hands the material that suits him and then the scanner is made to make the limited series. We would come here with a combination of traditional and new techniques.

Beyond these implications, there are current works based on 3D printing that are quite interesting and noteworthy. So, we would highlight works such as those of Eyal Gever (http://www.eyalgever.com/) who creates digital 3D models of objects, simulates violent shocks and choosing a frame from the simulation as one 3D printing. It can really capture moments that only movement gives.

The search for the expression of the displacement of time and space is also proposed by the ART + COM collective in their project “the invisible shape of things past” where by recording the position of a camera at the time of making a recording goes the way of things as captured by the camera, then 3D printing the result.

Other artists make three-dimensional objects from sound waves, seismographic records, or other data that has a certain emotional content. Another approach would be, for example, that of Sofie Khan, who draws on faces and bodies scanned in 3D and prints them by breaking them as if a classic sculpture could be treated (http://www.sophiekahn.net/)

As we see, experimentation, new forms and trends are being born with 3D printing technology. If you want to experiment you can count on 3idem to print your works, it will surely be rewarding and rewarding !!!

 

 

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