Project Update: 3D Modeling the Carleton Archives

Progress:

We have made significant progress on our final project over the last week. Starting on Tuesday, we reached out to individuals in different departments to prepare for our 3-D modeling. We were able to borrow a dress form from the costume department in the Weitz, as well as a head bust from the maker’s space. Throughout the week, we were in contact with David Bliss, Carleton’s Digital Archivist & Librarian. Bliss was able to send us a digital database with a variety of items in the archive. As a group, we decided to focus on clothing from the archive, which is why we borrowed the mannequin and dress form. We selected Carleton-related clothing in Carleton’s digital archive, and we sent David the specific items from the database that we wanted modeled. On Thursday, we met in the archives and digitally scanned all of our items. We also worked with Austin, who assisted us by letting us use physical turntables, a tripod, and lighting system for our modeling processes. When we showed up at the archive, our items were ready to model and we spent time making sure that they were displayed properly when we scanned them. We spent all of Thursday’s class taking pictures of the clothing items and 3D scanning them. We put the clothing on the mannequin and bust, and David Bliss gave us the story behind the items as we scanned them. 

Problems (and proposed solutions):

Luckily, we haven’t run into any major issues while working on our project, but have had a few minor dilemmas. For one, we had originally intended on using the maker space’s Schiller bust to 3D model our hats, as we thought it would be perfect for the story we wanted to tell about Carleton’s history. However, the maker space forbids anyone from taking out the Schiller bust. We were still able to get a bust, but it was not as related to Carleton’s history as we had hoped. Therefore, we will likely need to refine and manipulate our models to remove the bust from the final 3D model, leaving only the hats. Another issue we ran into was that the mannequin we used for clothing, such as sweaters, was too big to fit into the light tent and on the automatic turntable. Therefore, for those objects, we had to rotate the turntable ourselves manually, and take individual pictures. We also had to figure out how to produce our own lighting, as we couldn’t rely on the lighting system we used for small items of clothing. Though we were able to scan every item we had checked out, it was a more time-consuming and strenuous process overall.

Additionally, one of the 3D scans had initially not turned out clean. The backside of the plain green hat struggled to render. We suspect this is because the hat is a monotone green color, and has very little texture, meaning the cameras struggled to pick up on it. This however is the only 3D model that doesn’t hold the correct shape, and we expect we might be able to fix it with some different setting or some more pictures.

Tools and Techniques:

We will try different 3-D modeling software to see which produces the best model for us. This includes MetaShape Pro, PolyCam, and Scaniverse. So far we have used MetashapePro on the computers in the Idea Lab (these computers have strong GPUs and are able to create the 3D models quickly). Metashape gives the user a lot of choice in how to design the model and is able to create higher resolution models than the other softwares. This lends itself to prettier models when the vast number of settings are under control. We also used foldio360 to capture our pictures of the smaller items. This app links with a turntable that automatically rotates and captures pictures. These images are nicely spaced and captured from a consistent angle. For larger objects we used a tripod and a manual turn table. We compensated the variety in degree changes by capturing more pictures overall.

Deliverables:

We are doing well time-wise. Our models are complete but still need some refinement to look as ideal as possible. We will finalize our models by Tuesday and we will begin working on the items’ presentation. We also need to spend some time deciding how we will tell our object’s story. We want to answer the question, “what are people going to take from these models?”  We found out that in the past, “green caps” were required for all freshmen at Carleton. It was a sort of hazing tradition instituted by upperclassmen. Freshmen had to wear their green hats at all times when outside of their dorms. These are the kinds of stories and histories that we intend on sharing to create a cohesive overarching theme for our objects. This is something we also plan to work on early this week. 

Personal Messages:

Rafael: I worked with the rest of the group to collect images of the archive items. I then took all of the images and used the computers in the idea lab to generate 7 different 3D models. These models still need to be cleaned up a little but the model and texture are fully generated. All the models look great initially besides one of the green caps.

Dylan: I worked with the group on Thursday to take the necessary images of our objects at the archives. Furthermore, as a humanities-oriented person, I contributed more to the writing and research portions of the project thus far. I worked on the source citation and project update, and I reviewed sources for inspiration for our project. 

Gabriel: I set up the domain for our Digital Humanities website that we will update and work on this week. I worked with the rest of our group to set up and scan the models on Thursday, and also made sure to take a number of photos, documenting our process that I will use when reflecting on our final project. In addition, Max and I reached out to the costume department to take out the dress form and I explored options and checked out a bust from the maker space. Throughout the week, I worked on our project pitch and team charter, and communicated that all of our group members were on the same page and held the same values.

Matt: I have been taking the lead on organizing group meetings thus far. I have also been communicating with group members in our group chat regarding assignment deadlines and which members need to complete which tasks. Last week, I took the lead, along with Gabriel, on writing the team charter. Lastly, I contributed to the source citation document and added relevant information to multiple sources.

Max: I have taken a lead on communicating with the archive’s coordinator, David Bliss, and on coordinating our photogrammetry work. I also coordinated a meeting with the costume shop director to check out the mannequins and did some moving of necessary items. I helped take the photos for the photogrammetry, managing the tripod and turntable for several of the items and I will continue by helping more with writing and analysis through the final stages of the project.