Why digitize cultural heritage
Photogrammetry of cultural heritage published on the Internet is a way to, hopefully, preserve detailed digital copies of various types of monuments and antiques forever. It is also an opportunity to show them to a wider group of people who would otherwise never see the originals. Moreover, in the case of objects recognized as world heritage, it is actually showing them to the world.
Who digitises cultural heritage
Institutions and organisations caring for cultural heritage cannot usually preserve everything digitally. This involves high costs, time and the involvement of a large group of people. So they focus on what is most important and valuable. And although thanks to new technologies they are able to eternalise more and more monuments in digital form, there is still a fear that they will not protect everything for future generations.
The role of enthusiasts in the digitisation of cultural heritage
Therefore, in my opinion, the digitisation of cultural heritage must also involve ordinary people, enthusiasts who are interested in modern technology and will be happy to learn photogrammetry or laser scanning in order to help digitally preserve monuments forever in their free time. Of course, if you work with enthusiasts, they usually do not have the appropriate experience, expertise or equipment to take on large projects. But they don’t have to. I see their role as complementing the activities of institutions and organisations. These people can often even independently scan various small cultural heritage objects, perhaps not so unique and impressive, but still important for future generations.
How anyone can create a digital copy of a monument
An example of such a project of digitizing a small object, which can be implemented by anyone, is an antique stone horse statue that I scanned in one of the temples in Vietnam. In fact, I didn’t even scan it there, because I only took photos there. So I did what almost every other tourist does, except I didn’t take one or five photos, but over 500, from different angles. I used a hand-held GoPro 11 camera to take photos. I had no lights, no tripods, I only had one GoPro. Moreover, if I didn’t have it, I would use my phone’s camera and achieve a similar result.
The rest of the work is appropriate processing of the photos on the computer into a three-dimensional scan. But I already did that after returning from Vietnam. I used Agisoft Metashape software to convert the photos into a 3D model. And so, in a few quite simple steps, in several dozen minutes, one three-dimensional image was created from several hundred two-dimensional images, which can now be viewed on the Internet.
Interactive 3D model of a stone horse statue in Vietnam
The model I created is very detailed, and at the same time, as a file, it is very light. It’s only about 25 Megabytes. Like many of my other models, I’ve put it on Sketfab to make it freely available online.
In my opinion, Sketchfab is a great place to publish photogrammetry of archaeological finds and cultural heritage, because it is easy to use, offers unrivaled quality of models and you can publish there for free. What’s more, sketchfab already has people involved in digitising cultural heritage and people interested in viewing them. Additionally, the creators of sketchfab organize a weekly competition for the best models from the history and cultural heritage categories, motivating creators and appreciating their works. Some of my own work has been feaured there.
High quality model in just 2h
As you can see, the effect of my work is of very good quality, although I used very basic photographic equipment. In addition, the entire process of collecting photographic material took about 20 minutes, and processing the photos into the final 3D model took slightly over 1.5 hours. It wasn’t anything particularly difficult or challenging and I’m sure it could be done by anyone with basic training in terrestrial photogrammetry. You don’t have to be a specialist to deal with photogrammetry and digitisation of heritage, especially at such a basic level. You just need to be interested in technology and master some new skills. Besides, where do these specialists who deal with it professionally and work on huge projects come from? Very often they start out as enthusiasts. That’s how I started too. Now, I do it professionally and I have also developed a few on-line courses for Archaeologists and other Digital Heritage professionals to help them master photogrammetry.
Mariusz Milka, Specialist in underwater, terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry