In August, our experts from the Cultural Heritage Digitization Competence Center color-scanned gold jewelry at the Reiss Engelhorn Museum in 3D using the autonomous CultArm3D-P scanning system. For the first time, photogrammetric procedures were able to generate high-resolution 3D models of very small objects with highly reflective surfaces, making artful detail of the pieces viewable on large-format, autostereoscopic screens without the need of 3D glasses or other aids.

The CultArm3D-P scanning arm developed at the institute is fully automatic and digitizes both geometry and texture, achieving resolutions up to 20 µm. The objects themselves currently can have diameters down to 50 cm and heights down to 80 cm — the arm circles around them automatically. Another advantage of the CultArm3D-P is its mobility: In just a few steps, it is packed up and can be set back up at another location. This makes it interesting not only to large institutions but also to smaller museums that cannot afford their own digitization centers and so far have had to transport their valuable artifacts over long distances. For those interested, more information about the CultArm3D-P can be found here.

The special exhibit “Java Gold — The Grandeur and Beauty of Indonesia” (German only) starts on September 15 and runs until April 13, 2020 in the Zeughaus building of the Reiss Engelhorn Museum (rem) in Mannheim. The exhibit can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday (11.00 am to 6.00 pm). Open on holidays.

Do you want to learn more about the exhibit? Then click here (German only).

3D results – Project Webpage