A longer post will follow with details, but I’m so pleased with the results I’m putting some stuff up right now. In my first year seminar class on digital antiquity which just ended, we’ve been experimenting with 123D Catch to make models of materials conserved at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (thanks Terry & Matt!). Our end of term project was to take these models, and think through ways of using them to open up the hidden museum to a wider public. We wondered if we could get these models onto people’s smartphones, as a kind of augmented reality (we settled on Junaio).

The students researched the artefacts, wrote up a booklet, and had it printed. They made the models, taking the photos, cleaning up in Meshlab, making videos and all the other sundry tasks necessary to the project. We ran out of time though with regard to the augmented reality part. By the end of term, we only had one model that was viewable on a smartphone. Today I added the rest of the materials to our ‘channel’ on Junaio, and tested it on the booklet.

It was magic. I was so excited, I ran around campus, trying to find people who I could show it to, who would appreciate it (nothing kills a buzz like showing off work to people who don’t really appreciate it, yet smile politely as you trail off…)

More about our workflow and the tacit knowledge necessary to make this all work will follow. In the image below, a model sits on the booklet on my desk. Handsome devil, eh?

https://twitter.com/electricarchaeo/status/195532484673404929