Results

As seen on this website, our project resulted in eight 3D models of Greek artifacts stored at the Perlman Teaching Museum, photographs of the other four artifacts, and research into the context and uses of these objects. As the objects are all connected by geographic origin and decorative/utilitarian designation, we chose to organize them by material (metal or clay), such that patterns in decoration and type can be more easily identified.

We chose to display our models and research on this public platform because much of the point of the project is to increase the accessibility, interactivity, and knowledge surrounding these artifacts. As such, the products of the project are available to anyone, both within and external to the Carleton community, on this page. Though this project might be most interesting to those with an interest in Grecian antiquity and material culture, it also provides insight into Carleton's interactions with different aspects of world history and the extent of its teaching collections.

In order to keep focus on the artifacts themselves, we chose to keep the design of the website fairly simple, highlighting the images and models of the objects as the primary features. The models, embedded through Scaniverse, are fully interactable, while the images allow viewers to see static details of small artifacts that could not be modeled. We have also shared our models, photographs, and research with the Perlman Museum, so that they can use these items to expand their own collection moving forward.

As a result of the problems we encountered with using MetaShape, we were limited in the format types we could produce for the models. Using a more advanced software such as MetaShape, we would have produced models that could be exported in several different formats, including .obj (file format best for sharing), .stl (file format best for 3D printing), and .glb (file format best for online viewing). With Scaniverse, we were able to export each 3D model as both a .ply file and an .stl file, both of which are compressed/smaller versions of other file formats. Though they still offer a large amount of detail and precision in the models, they do limit the different ways in which the models can be viewed and manipulated, and they do not include as much data for the creation of the models themselves. Using these format types was not ideal, however, given the various ways they limit the output of the project and the added complications with embedding these file types. If we were to carry out this project again, we would ensure that we were able to create models using MetaShape, so that the flexibility and quality of file type was preserved. We were able to produce high quality images of each object through use of a Canon RebelT7 ​​camera; these images are currently displayed as .jpg photos, and display each object from many angles, such that a detailed understanding of construction and design can be achieved even without the use of a 3D model.