British Library
This fall, we were thrilled to bring our CultArm3D technology to the iconic British Library in London for the very first time. Thanks to the incredible support of Tony Bhalla from Dtek and Tony Grant at the British Library, this event offered an exciting opportunity to showcase the capabilities of our system.
Over five workshops, we demonstrated the CultArm3D’s advanced functionality to curators from numerous museums as well as photographers from the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography. Held within the British Library’s digitization studios, these workshops provided a unique environment for hands-on learning and in-depth exploration of our 3D digitization technology.
Our sessions included live digitizations of two fascinating objects: a small replica of Eduardo Paolozzi’s Newton sculpture and an ancient Egyptian shabti figurine. This gave our participants the chance to see how our system adapts to different materials, shapes, and textures.
Shabti Figurine in 3D-Viewer
Each 2.5-hour session guided the participants through the complete CultArm3D workflow, showcasing the technology’s autonomy and precision. We began by capturing the objects from multiple angles, with the CultArm3D automatically merging the top and bottom views to create a cohesive model. Next, we demonstrated the automatic focus masking feature, which ensures that only the sharp regions of the individual images are used in the reconstruction, eliminating any manual postprocessing. Finally, we invited the participants to inspect the resulting high-resolution 3D models and also presented them with downscaled versions for online presentations, interactive displays and AR/VR applications.
Throughout the event, we held in-depth discussions with attendees about their insights and experiences. Together, we explored various technical and practical aspects of 3D digitization, including safety protocols for handling delicate artifacts, common challenges and workarounds as well as best practices for deploying 3D models in museums and archives.
Our visit to the British Library was a fantastic experience, thanks to the curiosity and expertise of everyone involved. The event highlighted the growing interest in 3D digitization tools within cultural institutions, and we are excited to see how these connections will continue to grow. We are now planning a follow-up event in spring 2025 and we look forward to returning to the British Library to further engage with the UK’s cultural heritage community.