Page 175 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

TootekoTooteko,247 a Venetian company currently in- volved in the TIM #Wcap Accelerator innovation programme, used 3D printers in combination with wireless technology to o er heritage dissemination adapted to blind or sight-impaired visitors (D’Agnano et al., 2015).248 Examplessuch as the ground plan of the cathedral or the façade of the Sforzesco castle, both in Milan, were used, based on digital modelling, to pro- duce the rst 3D prints embedded with tactile sensors that sent the information to earphones through which information about the particular monument was provided. This audio-tactile system consisted of buttons that activated the headphone commentaries, though a digital ring was also designed which, when used by blind people to read each replica by touch, recognised the points of interest and activated the same commentary. Tooteko was specially designedto be placed in situ at each of the monuments, making them accessible to visitors of this kind by enhancing the tactile experience with additional resources. So far it has also been tested at the basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice and during 2015 at the monument of the Ara Pacis Augustae in Rome. There is a version with a video guide for smartphones or tablets for the general public [online resource - video].249Church of the Castello di San Martino dall’ArgineThe importance of 3D technologies to cultural heritage has been stressed on various occasions, such as at the event La Rivoluzione dello Spazio 3D, which showed the results achieved by Fab Lab Imprimatvr-lab250 in the use of 3D printing to reassemble gures from one of the chapels of the church of the Castello di San Martino dall’Argine (Mantua, Italy). The aim of this project251 was to use low-cost resources such as data acquisition techniques and free software to create digital models and 3D-printed copies. They focused on sculptures of two putti that were part of the decoration of the chapel andwere missing their heads and some limbs. Taking as a basis other complete putti in the decorative scheme, the necessary information was gleaned to produce digital models from which two new heads were obtained. The new heads were made from polymer, and were modi ed to t the incomplete gures perfectly. The resulting e ect was of visual unity in the chapel’s sculptural decoration, and this non-invasive and totally reversible technique that respects the original materials proved to be a valid means of reinte- grating losses.Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke (Leicester, United Kingdom)Models of landmark architectural buildingshave been one of the most popular interpretive resources for several centuries as they are highly educational on account of their tangibility. Recent advances in scanning, modelling and 3D printing techniques have made it possible to cre- ate extremely accurate physical models simply. The Digital Building Heritage Group252 used 3D printing to produce a model of the church ofthe Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke, which was destroyed in the sixteenth century. This collegiate church was founded in 1353 by Henry of Grosmont, rst Duke of Lancaster,and boasts an important past, as it housed a relic from the crown of thorns which attracted pilgrims. The little that remains of this medieval church is preserved in situ in the Hawthorn Building of De Montfort University (Leicester, United Kingdom), which was erected on the site.This important link between the university building and the medieval church spurred the establishment of a new heritage centre which displays a 3D-printed model based on digitised archaeological studies. Standing 50 centimetres tall and printed in resin-bonded powdered gypsum with many of the detailed parts in 3D-printed nylon, it is a sectional model of the main chapel that allows visitors to appreciate the church’s interior in detail.AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2017175The use of digital technologies in the conservation, analysis and dissemination of cultural heritage