3-D Imaging
3-D imaging is any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the 
illusion of depth in an image. John ffrench, Associate Director of Visual Resources and Richard House, Senior Photographer at the Yale University Art Gallery started the session by talking about a collaboration between the gallery and the Peabody Museum to digitize African art objects. Several years ago the Yale Art Gallery formed a digital photography department to make the gallery collection more accessible for the community. The goal is to digitize objects from the collections, catalog them in TMS, and make them available through the gallery’s eCatalogue, and ARTstor. Just over 1000 objects from the Gallery’s collection have been digitized and are being shared with ARTstor as well as 300 African art objects. For 3-D images, the gallery is using Quicktime Virtual Reality or QTVR to enable users to move around 3-d objects and zoom in on object. The QTVR’s are produced by photographing the object on a turn table with click stops taking an images every 10 degrees. The images are then stitched together using VR Worx, a $90 program that is very easy to use to edit and compile these 3-d objects.
In the future, West Campus may have a larger turn-table room to allow for digitization of much larger objects. QTVR is also used to capture exhibitions and entire rooms in a gallery. This technology was used for teaching several years ago for Art History course. A 3-D replica of an African object from the gallery was produced so students could actually handle the object to better understand the form.
John Eberhart, Critic School of Architecture, discussed how he supports the teaching of architecture with 3-D imaging techniques and a 3-D imaging lab. John noted that the objects at architecture students work with are not precious but are created for teaching students. The imaging lab in the school is seen as a technology sandbox for experimentation used to develop curriculum and courses around new technologies. If a technology or method is popular in the lab, it migrates to design studios. The lab is located in Rudoph building and is open 24/7 to students in the School of Architecture and beyond. Engineering students often use the lab and interesting collaborations are arisen between engineers and architects. The lab contains a canon 10-megapixel camera, a 3D stereoscopic projector to display designs in 3-D, a digital theater with projection screen with a wrap around space to allow for real-time rendering, small photo stand with lights for small objects and study models, and four 3-D laser scanners for creating 2-D renderings of 3-D objects.
A design studio this summer was tasked with redesigning the facade of the Beinecke. The students started with a pattern they created as a 3-D model, then created a wood mold, followed by a copper plate crushed to create the facade. This cooper plate was then laser scanned in with 3-D scanner. Finally a 3-D model was created placing the new facade on a digital image of the Beinecke. One of the main objectives of the class, like many at the school, was to get the designs out of the ocmputer into the physical world as objects. One real advantage of 3-D imaging technologies is that designs are not just computer abstractions but real objects.
For more information about John ffrench’s projects click below:
For more information about John Eberhart’s work, click on the link below:
