True Replicas: the objects

Together with Archeologist Steven Jongma of Delft Heritage, I sellected 5 objects excavated in Delft. They all date back to the 17th century, are made of porcelain and are manifactured in China, probably Jingdezhen. This kind of porcelain was made specially for the export marked, following the 'western taste'. Some are broken and restored, some are broken and just put together.

'Klapmuts': A-2-21, excavated in 1972

'Klapmuts': A-2-21, excavated in 1972

cup, DL 88 V15

cup, DL 88 V15

'Klapmuts' OLD 74-1-1, excavated in 1974

'Klapmuts' OLD 74-1-1, excavated in 1974

Bowl, V4/7, excavated in 1986

Bowl, V4/7, excavated in 1986

Bowl, V4/7, excavated in 1986

Cup with relief, OKL 3

Cup with relief, OKL 3

True Replicas @ DROOG

True Replicas

The two projects presented here examine how 3D prototyping and virtual techniques can be utilised to bring the stories of our heritage back into daily life.

3D prototyping are emerging technologies that offer new possibilities to render physical objects into digital data and vise versa, such as 3D-scanning and -printing. With Augmented Reality one can add virtual layers of contextual information on to an object, that can than be discovered using an application on a smartphone or tablet.  With Augmented Reality, objects are enriched and transformed into information carriers that can enrich the story of an object beyond the walls of a museum, archive or a library. Bringing the story of our heritage to our kitchen tables.

The underlying questions we seek to answer with these projects are; What is the meaning stored  in  all these historical objects? How does the story behind an object change our perception and appreciation of that object? What is the relevance of these objects in our increasingly digital and virtual society? How are these stories relevant to us today? Augmented Reality and 3D prototyping offer opportunities to investigate answers to these questions.

Smart Replicas

Smart Replicas is a research project pivoted on the junction of design, heritage and technology.  'Smart Replicas' are replicas of historical objects made useable again by combining 3D scanning and printing techniques with ‘traditional’ ceramic techniques. Smart Replicas are not just copies though. Smart refers to intelligent  enrichedment of objects with innovative virtual technologies that enable the object to carry information, so that outside of the museum they provide stories about its origin and history. And of course still serve their original intent.

In this show we present the initial prototype of a Smart Replica based on a seventeenth-century teacup from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.  This object was chosen not only for its great beauty but also because we have a wealth of contextual data about its history. The replica can be scanned with an iPad on the table to discover its history.  These stories are shown through the tablets camera in 3D animations placed around the object. One can navigate through the animations by moving the camera around the object and by tapping and swiping the timeline shown in the animation.

Smart Replicas is a project of Studio Maaike Roozenburg in collaboration with Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Delft Technical University and digital agency LikeFriends.

Smart Replicas is supported by  the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam Museum, Zeeuwsmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Mareco Prototyping, InEdition|Grafic Design, Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds, Sunday Morning at EKWC, Atlas of Mutual Heritage and Stichting DOEN.

Exploring Replicas

With Exploring Replicas, we are researching these technologies, aiming to stretch the boundaries of traditional notions of the replica as an autonomous object based on a historical source. The goal of the project is not to make the most literal copy of the original, but to analyze, communicate and enhance those qualities of the historical source that are most meaningful for us now. These replicas allow us to articulate specific qualities of the historical source, and to isolate and communicate them through their reproduction.

Exploring Replicas is a project in collaboration with Monuments & Archaeology Department City of Amsterdam, Delft University of Technology and the Royal Academy of Art with the support of Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

With special thanks to: Prof.dr. Jerzy Gawronski, Ron Tousain, Dr.Ir. Jouke Verlinden, Yvo van Os, Bart Vissers, Lotte de Reus, Kotryna Valečkaitė, Sander Pliakis, Irene Neels en Jorinde Smitser.

 

Processing scans into 3D models (take 1), Kotryna Valečkaitė

Comparison of image processing software 1

Directly after receiving the scans on Tuesday we jumped into processing them into 3D models. To keep it clear we used “Hagrid”(obj. 5) as an example for all of the programs.
As noted in the previous post, this process has multiple steps and in order to gain the highest level of detail, a lot of tweaking is necessary.
The usual procedure goes as follows:
(0. Changing the .ima or .dcm files into program compatible format. Most of our scans were made in .dcm format which was not compatible with multiple programs: so far we tried RenameMaster, which did not work)

1. Loading the .dcm or .ima files into a 3D processing program. These file formats actually contain only 2D information: the sections of the object. In other words, the 3D model is an interpretation of multiple sections and therefore steps between them might be visible, if the resolution is not high enough.
2. Selecting threshold and filtering the right information. Depending on the program this step might be automatized. If not, it might be very heavy on your computer. Therefore, a device with a good graphics card and 16GB RAM is advised (it would work on 6 or 8GB RAM, but it goes slow and tends to crash often).
3. Loading the 3D file into a volume renderer to get an editable mesh (.stl). 

To begin with, we started with Seg3D. This program did not want to read .dcm files, thus we only worked with test files, which were in .ima format. The interface was clear, but to extract minuscule details it needed a lot of filtering and playing with histograms. That was extremely hard on our computers (6-8GB RAM, 2.0-2.03GHz) and took over an hour to get a decent file. Moreover, the final result is given in .nrrd format which later has to be translated to .stl with the help of ImageVis3D. The file looked rather detailed in Seg3D, but the final .stl was worthless.

Later on, we received a tutorial from an past student of our supervisor Maaike. It suggested using DeVide. Unlike the previous program this one works on the basis of visual programming. Thus all of the steps can be easily retraced. This program can directly export to .stl reducing the possibility of getting a very rigid mesh, like with Seg3D. Unfortunately, the program did not want to work on our computers.
After this failure we contacted one of the researchers in the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. He adviced to try out the following programs:

1. 3D slicer (open source)
2. Avizo (paid, evaluation copy available after contacting the firm)
3. Mimics (paid, evaluation copy available after contacting the firm)

The first of the list (3Dslicer) proved to be very user friendly (although it did not read the .dcm files). The information is collected automatically after choosing a preset and is quite precise. One can also select if to smooth the surface: both outputs are interesting in form, with the edgy one as an expressive interpretation of a kitschy object of the past. If used for the final product, more mesh post-processing is necessary



To be continued…

Objecten selecteren: Kammen

De derde en laatste groep die we geselecteerd hebben voor dit project zijn kammen. Een echt dagelijks gebruiksvoorwerp (luizen werden ermee bestreden) waar er veel van zijn opgegraven en die wonderschoon zijn in hun detaillering, materiaalgebruik (hout, been, ivoor, hoorn), slijtage en verval. Echt (technisch) uitdagende objecten voor de 3D scanner en ze bieden de mogelijkheid experimenten te doen met combinaties van ‘historische’ en high tech materialen in een design object.

Kammen uit de collectie Monumenten en Archeologie Amsterdam

Kammen uit de collectie Monumenten en Archeologie Amsterdam

KAT-34-9: kam in ivoor1625-1675

LU-6: kam in ivoor 1500-1650

PH-20-13: kam in Buxus 1525-1550

ANJ-1-46: kam in been

HE-3-1 kam in been

ANJ-1-3 kam in been, nagel paardenhoef 1625-1750

objecten selecteren bij Monumenten en Archeologie Amsterdam

Samen met archeoloog Ron Tousain ben ik gaan spitten in de archeologische collectie van Amsterdam, om te bepalen welke vondsten interessant zouden kunnen zijn voor dit project.  Objecten en Objectgroepen die in het bijzonder interessant  zijn  om verder te bestuderen en tot nieuwe ‘ontwerpen’ uit te werken. Naar aanleiding hiervan  is een ‘longlist’ van objectgroepen samengesteld.

De eerste groep bestaat uit vroeg industrieel aardewerk. Dit is het echte ‘niets aan de hand’ dagelijkse en onopvallende gebruiksgoed van de 19^e eeuw. Juist dit aardewerk is alleen uit opgravingen ‘over gebleven’ en komt nauwelijks voor in museale collecties. Op deze opgegraven voorwerpen zijn goed de sporen van productie, gebruik, slijtage en afdanken terug te zien. Deze sporen wil ik een hoofdrol laten spelen in nieuwe ontwerpen.

De tweede groep bestaat uit gerepareerd gebruiksgoed, uit willekeurig welke periode. Juist in de vindingrijke, aandachtige en vaak arbeidsintensieve manieren waarop mensen in het verleden gebruiksgoed repareerden is hun liefde voor bepaalde voorwerpen af te lezen. Daarnaast toont dit ook heel mooi wat de waarde van voorwerpen was en dat de arbeid die gestoken werd in de reparatie blijkbaar op woog tegen de kosten van een nieuw schoteltje, kam of kopje. Deze reparaties vormen een interessant uitgangspunt om in 3D scans en 3D prototypen te ‘vangen’ en te tonen.

De derde en laatste groep zij kammen. Een echt dagelijks gebruiksvoorwerp (luizen werden ermee bestreden) waar er veel van zijn opgegraven en die wonderschoon zijn in hun detaillering, materiaalgebruik (hout, been, ivoor, hoorn), slijtage en verval. Echt (technisch) uitdagende objecten voor de 3D scanner en ze bieden de mogelijkheid experimenten te doen met combinaties van ‘historische’ en high tech materialen in een design object.

 

objecten in de collectie van Monumenten en Archeologie Amsterdam

database objecten Monumenten en Archeologie Amsterdam

Students Technical University Delft test 3D Structure Sensor

Last week the Minor Augmenting Prototypes at The technical University Delft took of.
Audrey Loef (Architecture), Rosan Foppen (industrial Design), Ingmar Klappe (Architecture) and Senna Meij (Industrial Design) did take up the challange to make a 3D model of a 17th century teatable at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, using the just developed Structure sensor. Their project can be followed at their blog
The reconstruction of this table will be part of the content of the prototype of the Smart Replicas of the 17th century Japanse teacup.

LikeFriends is looking for a motion gfx / ux designer

We’re excited to be working with Studio Maaike Roozenburg in bringing SmartReplica’s to life. (www.maaikeroozenburg.nl or http://smartreplicas.blogspot.nl/). As per direct (this september at the very latest) we’re looking to bring to the team a talented motion graphics designer / 3D animator. If you’re a great C4D modeler and animator, and you have a natural interest in UX, gaming and technology, you’ll love working on this project.

You’ll be working closely with our creative directors and developers in creating the AR interface and 3D content for the project. This will be an iterative process; you need to be able to quickly generate and try out new ideas, and be able to tolerate throwing most of them out. We’re looking to develop various interactive scenes that the user can play, explore, and dig into, using their physical phone as the main means of navigation. So the way we tell our story is more game-like than film-like. Your lighting and rendering skills are of less importance in this than your modelling, animating, technical and creative skills.
At the end of the project we hope to ship a fully functional prototype. If we’re succesful this prototype will become the basis for a series of museum exhibits as well as a range of consumer facing products.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, shoot an email to jasper@likefriends.nl. We look forward to having you on the team!

Discovered in Delft, a collection of cups on show in Museum Prinsenhof Delft

The first edition of Smart replicas, Discovered in Delft, a collection of cups is part of the newly opened Museum Prinsenhof Delft. The four porcelain cups and the design process are on display in the section: The future of ceramics.

The Museum has been opened by King Willem Alexander on may 23th and is now open for those interested in Delft, ceramics, innovation and national history.

about Discovered in Delft, a collection of cups: www.maaikerrozenburg.nl
visit Museum Prinsenhof Delft: http://prinsenhof-delft.nl/

17th century Nodular cup

 

Discoverd in Delft, a collection of cups

Smart replicas is teaming up with LikeFriends!

Studio Maaike Roozenburg is pleased and honoured to announce a new partner joining the
Smart Replicas team: creative agency LikeFriends. Their expertise in bringing digital
content to life will be of significant importance in making replicas truly ‘smart’. Creative
Director Jasper Mittelmeijer: “We love this idea of using technology to turn the museum
inside-out: making historical objects and their stories break through the museum walls and
back into everyday life.”

LikeFriends will strengthen the interdisciplinary team of Studio Maaike Roozenburg,
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Delfts Technical University and the AR(Lab) of the Royal
Academy of Arts. With the addition of LikeFriends we’re bridging the gap between
museological heritage and science and the commercial creative industry.

The team at LikeFriends will focus on information architecture and interface design for the
new prototype we’re creating. This prototype will consist of a fully AR powered Smart
replica of a beautiful 17th century teacup, ordered from Japan by the then mayor of
Amsterdam. A magnificent example of Asian-European trade, packed with stories of
mystical Japanse porcelain, sea voyages and extravagant tea parties.
If you’d like to get involved or want to follow the process of examining and constructing
this new Smart replica please check:

http://www.likefriends.nl/blog/LikeFriends

replica in porselein van kop-en-schotel Meissen

replica in porselein van kop-en-schotel Meissen

Smart Replica's in Design Column #4 in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Op dit moment is een deel van het project Smart Replica's te zien als onderdeel van Design Column #4 in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. U bent allen van harte uitgenodigd!
Design Column #4 

Smart Replica's op Object: de eerste test op publiek!

Tijdens Object Rotterdam is van 5 t/m 10 februari de eerste 'kitchen review' van het project Smart Replica's gepresenteerd aan het publiek. Een druk bezochte beurs, die ons veel feedback en positieve reacties heeft opgeleverd. Daarnaast een artikel van Jeroen Junte in de Volkskrant en van Gabrielle Kennedy op Design.nl http://www.design.nl/item/smart_replicas

hierbij een impressie

micro prototyping by Mareco Prototyping

voorbereidingen voor OBJECT Rotterdam

de eerste 3D prints van de zeven kop-en-schotels in Nylon in micro prototyping met dank aan Mareco prototyping!