Reflective Blog Post #6

Alice K Cutter
Mon, 17 Oct 2022 20:35:18 +0000
Week 6, blog post, Reflective Blog Post

Attempting to make a model of an object instead of simply viewing one in an exhibition enhances our understanding of the object. It forces you to look at it from all angles and make sure that you are accurately capturing them. In photogrammetry, texture is super important.

Being able to model texture is what differentiates a 3d model from a picture. While both show the object, 3d models are able to be zoomed in on and inspected from many angles. Because of this, it’s a lot easier to inspect the surface of the object. When exploring the Virtual Hampson Museum’s Head Pot, it was super interesting to be able to zoom in and look at all it’s angles. In the 3d model you can see how deep the groves go over the eyes. You can look at the ear cartilage holes from both sides and see that they do go all the way through the ceramic. These nuances would be left out if the object was only on display and not able to be acessed through 3d imagery.

Moving from a passive to active modeler makes me understand how important the context surrounding an object is. It’s one thing to look at the image but if you are going to model it’s important to capture the details and be able to tell a full story. While creating the model of the well I am filled with questions. Where exactly was my object (a well) found? Who made it? What does it look like from all sides? What does this say about the culture that it came from? I realize that even if I was to put this on a website I’d want to give as much context for it as I can. I’d like to try and emulate the Smithsonian website. They do an amazing job of providing background information on their virtual objects.

As the project progresses, I’m excited to continue to learn more about the object and to continue developing my Digital Humanities skills.