Updates on My Digitization Thesis

Since my last blog post a lot of digitizing and process has happened. Progress on my thesis "The Process of Creating Accurate Reproductions of Fragile Objects: The Fabrication of 3D Facsimiles with Limited Resources" includes downloading the ScanStudio software, scanning the parts of the book, aligning them together and doing research on the book binding.

The ScanStudio software, as seen below, gives the digitizer access to scanning the 3D object, cleaning the scans and fusing the parts of the scan together to create a complete model.

Figure 1. Screenshots of ScanStudio 
Upper Left: The scanning screen on the ScanStudio software supplies options including the number of scans per sessions, the contrast of the object being scanned, the range and time frame of the scan. What the scanner is viewing is presented in the middle of the page and the digitizer can drag and click the section the digitizer wants the scanner to focus on.
Upper Right: After a piece of the object is scanned, the digitizer can use the trim tool to delete sections of the scan that are extraneous or unneeded.
Lower Left: After, at least, two pieces of the object are scanned and trimmed, the digitizer can align them together. Three pins are necessary to combine the images. As seen in the image above the red pin is placed in the same place - underneath the chin of the face – in both scans.
Lower Right: After all the pieces are stitched together the digitized object will look whole but include some missing data from shadows or the dark coloring.

Other updates include researching the history about the book. What I found includes the book's title and the binder was known for this type of binding. The title of this book was found to be Sentiments and Similes by William Shakespeare. Henry Noel Humphreys bound the book and used papiermache, terracotta and silk to form these intricate bindings. Papiermache was learned to be created from three different methods. The one method that most likely was used to create this binding was using a panel or blank sheet of softened papiermache and a mold.

Figure 2. Front cover of Sentiments and Similes by William Shakespeare and bound by Henry Noel Humphreys with profile of Shakespeare – papier-mâché. 

All other progress was made in writing all of these findings down and setting up my appendices. Next steps include aligning the rest of the scans of the back cover and edges together to create a complete model with the help of Mike Buffalin. After this I will start my print test and create an exportable model. I also began designing the poster for the end of the year symposium. I cant wait to give you all another update and when I do I will probably be completed with the model and print of Sentiments and Similes by William Shakespeare.