openMVGScript

Hi all,

this fast post regards the FLOSS openMVG. This software is our first choice in documenting archaeological evidences in 3D (via SfM), from the ground level (for Aerial Archaeology we often use MicMac).

Due to the fact that, in the last years, we started to gradually abandon a simple 2D documentation, our use of openMVG increased significantly. For this reason we developed a small script to speed up the use of this software (without its GUI: openMVG-GUI), adding some preliminary operations (like a general quality reduction of the pictures via ImageMagick) and registering some statistics about the whole process. The script is released through the GNU General Public License and it is freely downloadable here. At the same address (on GitHub), you can help us in improving the script. Like always, any kind of help is be greatly appreciated (also simple language translations, since the script is currently in Iatlian). 

Archaeological 3D done with openMVGScript (image quality reduced to 2000 px)

In the next future we would like to use ImageMagick to add a variable to the script, in order to optimized pictures for underwater 3D archaeological documentations, following the methodology we used in some of our past missions.

The process statistics reported by the script

Have a nice day!

Francesco Petrarca, the mocap experiment in Blender

This post is related with the Wikipedia editathon we are organizing for the open source exhibition "Imago Animi", a project derived from the previous experience of "Facce. I molti volti della storia umana".

This time I will write about the experiment in facial MoCap we performed with the 3D model of the FFR (Forensic Facial Reconstruction) of Francesco Petrarca. The poet was indeed one of the five historical personalities connected with the city of Padua, who were the protagonist of a specific session within the exhibition "Facce". Moreover Petrarch is also present in "Imago Animi", due to the fact that its mortal remains were studied by the scientist Giovanni Canestrini, born in Revò, a town very close to Cles (Trentino - Italy), where the exhibition is currently open to visitors.

The image below (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License) is the result of the Forensic facial Reconstruction of Francesco Petrarca, performed starting from the cast of the skull, found in 2005 in the "fondo Canestrini" at the University of Padua.

The FFR portrait of Francesco Petrarca

This cast is the only data available for the FFR, because, as the 2013 recognition on the mortal remains revealed, the skeleton of Petrarch is currently buried with a female skull, dated (with the C14 techniques) between 1134 and 1280 (almost one century before the life of the poet). The aDNA analysis performed in 2004 by Prof. David Caramelli (University of Florence) confirmed this thesis (the skeleton had a male DNA, while the skull a female DNA) [1].

In 2015 Arc-Team has been commissioned to perform the Forensic Facial reconstruction of Petrarca and other historical personalities, in order to prepare the open exhibition "Facce". The work started with the 3D documentation of the cast of the "fondo Canestrini", done (with SfM techiques) by Luca Bezzi (Arc-Team). The cast was previously validated by Dott. Nicola Carrara (of the Anthropological Museum of the Univesrity of Padua), with osteometric measurements based on the drawing published by Giovanni Canestrini on his study about the mortal remains of the poet [2]. Cicero Moraes, the forensic specialist of Arc-Team, later performed the FFR in Blender, with the techniques developed during the years starting from this first post in ATOR: Forensic Facial Reconstruction with Free Software.

Once achieved the final 3D model, we decided to test Blender potentialities in facial MoCap, starting from previous experiences. In this case the idea was a short video in which Francesco Petrarca would have "reciting" one of its poetry and, in particular, the proemial sonnet of the Canzioniere ("Voi ch'ascoltate in rime sparse il sono...").

The video below shows the final result...

... while this video shows the "making of".

For the two open exibitions ("Facce" and "Imago Animi") has been chosen a combination of the previous videos, in order to show also the technique of facial MoCap. The final product, you can see here below, has been performed by Cicero Moraes (Arc-Team) using the facial MoCap tools of Blender, starting from the original video registered by Luca Bezzi (Arc-Team), with the technical help of Dott.ssa Emma Varotto and Dott. Nicola Carrara (Anthropological Museum of the Univesrity of Padua), which recorded the excellent performance of the actor Antonello Pagotto.

This post wants to be also a tribute to all the people involved in the project, for their professionalism and kindness!
Have a nice day!

Bibliography

[1] N. Carrara, L. Bezzi, Lo strano caso del cranio di Francesco Petrarca, in Imago Animi. Volti dal passato, 2018

[2] G. Canestrini, Le ossa di Francesco Petrarca, 1874

The devils boat

This year, thanks to Prof. Tiziano Camagna, we had the opportunity to prove our methodologies during a particular archaeological expedition, focused on the localization and documentation of the "devils boat". 

This strange wreck consists in a small boat built by the Italian soldiers, the "Alpini" of the battalion "Edolo" (nicknamed the "Adamello devils"), during the World War 1, near the mountain hut J. Payer (as reported by the book of Luciano Viazzi "I diavoli dell'Adamello"). 

The mission was a derivation of the project "La foresta sommersa del lago di Tovel: alla scoperta di nuove figure professionali e nuove tecnologie al servizio della ricerca” ("The submerged forest of lake Tovel: discovering new professions and new technologies at the service of scientific research"), a didactic program conceived by Prof. Camagna for the high school Liceo Scientifico B. Russell of Cles (Trentino - Italy).

As already mentioned, the target of the expedition has been the small boat currently lying on the bottom of lake Mandrone (Trentino - Italy), previously localized by Prof. Camagna and later photographed during an exploration in 2004. The lake is located at 2450 meters above see level. For this reason, before involving the students into such a difficult underwater project, a preliminary mission has been accomplished, in order to check the general conditions and perform some basic operations. This first mission was directed by Prof. Camagna and supported by the archaeologists of Arc-Team (Alessandro Bezzi, Luca Bezzi, for underwater documentation, and Rupert Gietl, for GNSS/GPS localization and boat support), by the explorers of the Nautica Mare team (Massimiliano Canossa and Nicola Boninsegna) and by the experts of Witlab (Emanuele Rocco, Andrea Saiani, Simone Nascivera and Daniel Perghem).
The primary target of the first mission (26 and 27 August 2016) has been the localization of the boat, since it was not known the exact place where the wreck was laying. Once the boat has been re-discovered, all the necessary operations to georeference the site have been performed, so that the team of divers could concentrate on the correct archaeological documentation of the boat. Additionally to the objectives mentioned above, the mission has been an occasion to test for the first time on a real operating scenario the ArcheoROV, the Open hardware ROV which has been developed by Arc-Team and WitLab.
Target 1 has been achieved in a fast and easy way during the second day of  mission (the first day was dedicated to the divers acclimation at 2450 meters a.s.l.), since the weather and environmental conditions were particularly good, so that the boat was visible from the lake shore. Target 2 has been reached positioning the GPS base station on a referenced point of the "Comitato Glaciologico Trentino" ("Galciological Committee of Trentino") and using the rover with an inflatable kayak to register some Control Points on the surface of the lake, connected through a reel with strategical points on the wreck. Target 3 has been completed collecting pictures for a post-mission 3D reconstruction through simple SfM techniques (already applied in underwater archaeology). The open source software used in post-processing are PPT and openMVG (for 3D reconstruction), MeshLab and CloudCompare (for mesh editing), MicMac (for the orthophoto) and QGIS (for archaeological drawing), all of them running on the (still) experimental new version of ArcheOS (Hypatia). Unlike what has been done in other projects, this time we preferred to recover original colours form underwater photos (to help SfM software in 3D reconstruction), using a series of command of the open source software suite Image Magick (soon I'll writ  a post about this operation). Once completed the primary targets, the spared time of the first expedition has been dedicated to secondary objectives: teting the ArcheoROV (as mentioned before) with positive feedbacks, and the 3D documentation of the landscape surrounding the lake (to improve the free LIDAR model of the area).
What could not be foreseen for the first mission was serendipity: before emerging from the lake, the divers of Nautica Mare team (Nicola Boninsegna and Massimiliano Canossa) found a tree on the bottom of the lake. From an archaeological point of view it has been soon clear that this could be an import discovery, as the surrounding landscape (periglacial grasslands) was without wood (which is almost 200 meters below). The technicians of Arc-Team geolocated the trunk with the GPS, in order to perform a sampling during the second mission.
For this reason, the second mission changed its priority an has been focused on the recovering of core samples by drilling the submerged tree. Further analysis (performed by Mauro Bernabei, CNR-ivalsa) demonstrated that the tree was a Pinus cembra L. with the last ring dated back to 2931 B.C. (4947 years old). Nevertheless, the expedition has maintained its educational purpose, teaching the students of the Liceo Russell the basics of underwater archaeology and performing with them some test on a low-cost sonar, in order to map part of the lake bottom.
All the operations performed during the two underwater missions are summarized in the slides below, which come from the lesson I gave to the student in order to complete our didactic task at the Liceo B. Russell.

Aknowledgements

Prof. Tiziano Camagna (Liceo Scientifico B. Russell), for organizing the missions

Massimiliano Canossa and Nicola Boninsegna (Nautica Mare Team), for the professional support and for discovering the tree

Mauro Bernabei and the CNR-ivalsa, for analizing and dating the wood samples

The Galazzini family (tenants of the refuge “Città di Trento”), for the logistic support

The wildlife park “Adamello-Brenta” and the Department for Cultural Heritage of Trento (Office of Archaeological Heritage) for close cooperation

Last but not least, Dott. Stefano Agosti, Prof. Giovanni Widmann and the students of Liceo B. Russel: Borghesi daniele, Torresani Isabel, Corazzolla Gianluca, Marinolli Davide, Gervasi Federico, Panizza Anna, Calliari Matteo, Gasperi Massimo, Slanzi Marco, Crotti Leonardo, Pontara Nicola, Stanchina Riccardo

Torre dei Sicconi - Chapter 5 - Drone

If we need a detailed view form above or a high resolution DTM/DSM it's time for our drone.
Watch in the next chapter of our "Torre dei Sicconi" series the UAV flying and working over the walls of the medieval castle ruin.

Enjoy!

Torre dei Sicconi - Chapter 4 - Drone

 

 

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Mandrone WW1 Project

On August 25th and 26th 2016 a team of divers and archaeologists has explored the bottom of lake Mandrone (2.409 m.a.s.l.), Adamello Alps/Italy. Under the direction of prof. Tiziano Camagna, the team has localized and documented the wrack of a boat build there during World War I.

Team-leader Tiziano Camagna was supported by the archaeologists of Arc-Team Ltd. (Cles/Sexten – Italy), Alessandro Bezzi, Luca Bezzi and Rupert Gietl. Massimiliano Canossa and Nicola Bonisegna, underwater-experts from NauticaMare DiveTeam, have realized high-resolution videos and photos.

The main target of the mission was the localization and documentation of the wooden remain on the ground of lake Mandrone. The boat was build between 1916 and 1918 and sank some years after the end of WW1. Pictures and videos taken by the divers will now be processed by the archaeologists in order to extract a detailed 3D model using Computer Vision technologies like SfM (Structure from Motion) and MVS ( Multiple View Stereovision).

Tiziano Camagna first localized the remain in 2003, comparing it with two historical photos published by Luca Viazzi in the volume "I diavoli dell'Adamello - 1915 -1918 La guerra a quota tremila". The first shot is showing Italian mountain troops (Alpini) building a boat near the “Julius Payer” refuge, situated about 800m northeast from lake Mandrone. The second Capt. Castelli rowing on the lake.

The Adamello Alps have been one of the highest war theaters of WW1. In the area around lake Mandrone and the refuge “Città di Trento” we can still find lots of archaeological remains of that period: Trenches, barracks, observation positions and a small military cemetery.

Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops had not only to fight against each other, but primarily against the harsh climate on altitudes up to 3.900 m.a.s.l., 10-12 meters of snow in the winter and temperatures right down to -30°C (-10°F).

Thanks to the support of the wildlife park “Adamello-Brenta” and the Gallazzinis, tenants of the refuge “Città di Trento”, the equipment of our expedition was transported on site with the goods cable lift of the refuge. The team went up by foot, walking about three hours starting at the head of “Genova” valley. On the last stage, from the refuge to the lake, the gear was carried on the back.

In order to facilitate the transport, divers choose light equipment like the sidemount system.

During the dive our photographer Nicola Boninsegna localized a wooden trunk on the ground, a discovery that gives rise to some new research questions, considering the total absence of trees on that altitudes. 

The find will be analyzed soon, in order to get dating and identification of the species.

This mission was also an opportunity for a high altitude test of our ROV prototype (Remotely Operated Vehicle), named ArcheoROV developed by WitLab laboratories from Rovereto, in collaboration with Arc-Team.

Last but not least the team wants to thank the Department for Cultural Heritage of Trento (Office of Archaeological Heritage) for close cooperation.

Arc-Team: Conflict Archaeology Workflow

Since 2011 Arc-Team is working on the field of modern conflict archaeology.
The most recent step was the conclusion of our European Project (Interreg IV), during which we had the possibility to document for the first time on lage area the military remains of both conflicting parties: The Austro-Hungarian Army and the Italian Royal Army.
We've filmed the single steps of archive studies, field work, data processing and tests for future applications of the collected data.
The result is a 4:22 minutes long video clip, which we want to share with you:

Soon we will post also some scientific details and results of the project.

Special thanks to +Michele Mazzurana for his contribution.

See also the related posts: 

• Aerial images and videos of the WW1 trenches along the border between Austria and Italy 

 

• WW1 - Documentation Project: New Data Aquisition Season

 

• The Austro-Hungarian emplacements on top of Mt. Roteck
  
   

The underwater forest of Lake Tovel

As I wrote in a previous post, since 2005 Arc-Team is supporting Prof. Tiziano Camagna and Andrea Forti in their exploration of the underwater forest located in Tovel Lake (in Trentino - Italy). This project gave us some interesting data to test different techniques for underwater archeology, especially in the documentation field (like the use of SfM and IBM in extreme conditions).

I already reported some results of our experiments in this post and today I would like to publish the complete video we used to extract the 3d geometries of a flooded tree, thanks to the courtesy of Prof. Camagna, who kindly gave me the original record.

To help English reader, I translate here the superimposed text in the initial and final sequences:

"The underwater forest of Tovel Lake" (title)

"A landslide, as claimed by the studies conducted in 1992 by Oetheimer, caused the damming of the then envoy in 1597-1598, resulting in rising waters at the present level, submerging the forest located in the northeast of the lake" (intro)

"A photograph of the early '900 shows a tree of considerable size emerging from the water surface. This video shows the same tree today still firmly planted with its roots at the bottom of the lake." (intro)

"The under water forest of Tovel Lake;

people who participated in the making of the video:

Tiziano Camagna, Andrea Forti, Nicola Maganzini, Samuele Sozzi, Nadia Morani and Arc-Team (Cles) - Luca Bezzi and Alessandro Bezzi.

Video recorded with gopro hero 2.

Diving equipment.

Drysuits: Santi, Parisi; Computers: VR3 Delta P, Sunto; Lights: Scubatech, Fa&Me; Regulators: Apeks TXT 200, Interspiro Divator; Scuter: Suex; 

Gas blender: Tiziano Camagna, Andrea Forti

Special thanks to: the Municipality of Tuenno and the Adamello-Brenta Park

Video recorded in 2012" (credits) 

Currently Prof. Camagna started again with the exploration, while we will join him at the end of September (after +Alessandro Bezzi will return from the archaeological mission in Armenia). Soon we will post news and other reports regarding the project. 

Have a nice day!

The Austro-Hungarian emplacements on top of Mt. Roteck

(2390m)

Dolomites / South-Tyrol 

 A case study for extensive survey and documentation on occasion of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WW1 on the Italian front in May 2015.

As reported on ATOR in summer 2013, Arc-Team is pushing ahead the plan of  mapping extensive areas of the high alpine frontline of WW1 from the Swiss border to the Dolomites.

Our approach consists in a very detailed DGPS-survey, terrestrial structure from motion, geolocalized images, archeological description and aerial survey by our drone.

Of course we are basing the whole working process on Open Source Soft- and, where possible , also on Hardware.

Now we want to share the latest version of a presentation, given originally in occasion of the 7th Fields Of Conflict Conference in Budapest (Hungary) in October 18.-21. 2012.

It outlines the characteristics of the high alpine working environment, the nature of the WW1 remains, the challenges to meet, our project strategy and first results.

From drone-aerial pictures to DEM and ORTHOPHOTO: the case of Caldonazzo's castle

Hi all,
I would like to present the results we obtain in the Caldonazzo's castle project. Caldonazzo is a touristic village in Trentino (North Italy), famous for its lake and its mountains. Few people know about the medieval castle (XII-XIII century) whose tower is actually the arms of the town. Since 2006, the ruins are subject to a valorization project by the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Trento (dott.ssa Nicoletta Pisu). As Arc-Team we participated in the project with archaeological field work, historical study, digital documentation (SFM/IBM) and 3D modeling.
In this first post i will speak about the 3D documentation, the aerial photography campaign and the data elaboration.

1) The 3D documentation 

One of the final aims of the project will be the virtual reconstruction of the castle. To achieve that goal we need (as starting point) an accurate 3D model of the ruins and a DEM of the hill. The first model was realized in just two days of field-work and four days of computer-work (most of the time without a direct contribution of the human operator). The castle's walls were documented using Computer Vision (Structure from Motion and Image-Based Modeling); we use Pyhon Photogrammetry Toolbox to elaborate 350 pictures (Nikon D5000) divided in 12 groups (external walls, tower-inside, tower-outside, palace walls, fireplace, ...).

The different point clouds were rectified thanks to some ground control point. Using a Trimble 5700 GPS the GCPs were connected to the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system. The rectification process was lead by GRASS GIS using the Ply Importer Add-on.

To avoid some problems encountered using universal coordinate system in mesh editing software, we preferred, in this first step, to work just with only three numbers before the dot.

2) The aerial photography campaign 

After walls documentation we started a new campaign to acquire the data needed for modeling the surface of the hill (DEM) where the ruins lie. The best solution to take zenithal pictures was to pilot an electric drone equipped whit a video platform. Thank to Walter Gilli, an expert pilot and builder of aerial vehicles, we had the possibility to use two DIY drones (an hexacopter and a xcopter) mounting Naza DJI technology (Naza-M V2 control platform).

Both the drones had a video platform. The hexacopter mount a Sony Nex-7; the xcopter a GoPro HD Hero3. The table below shows the differences between the two cameras.

As you can see the Sony Nex-7 was the best choice: it has a big sensor size, an high image resolution and a perfect focal lenght (16mm digital = 24 mm compare to a 35mm film). The unique disadvantage is the greater weight and dimension than the GoPro, that's why we mounted the Sony on an hexacopter (more propellers = more lifting capability). The main problem of the GoPro is the ultra-wide-angle of the lens that distorts the reality in the border of the pictures.
The flight plan (image below) allowed to take zenithal pictures of the entire surface of the hill (one day of field-work).

The best 48 images were processed by Python Photogrammetry Toolbox (one day of computer-work). The image below shows the camera position in the upper part, the point cloud, the mesh and the texture in the lower part.

At first the point cloud of the hill was rectified to the same local coordinate system of the walls' point cloud. The gaps of the zenithal view were filled by the point clouds realized on the ground (image below).

After the data acquisition and data elaboration phases, we sent the final 3D model to Cicero Moraes to start the virtual reconstruction phase.


3) The Orthophoto

The orthophoto was realized using the texture of the SFM's 3D model. We exported out from MeshLab an high quality orthogonal image of the top view which we just rectified using the Georeferencer plugin of QuantumGIS.
As experiment we tried also to rectified an original picture using the same method and the same GCPs. The image below shows the difference between the two images. As you can see the orthophoto matches very well with the data of the GPS (red lines and red crosses), while the original picture has some discrepancies in the left part (the area most far away from the drone position, which was zenithal on the tower's ruin).

4) The DEM

The DEM was realized importing (and rectifying) the point cloud of the hill inside GRASS 7.0svn using the Ply Importer Add-on. The text file containing the transformation's info was built using the relatives coordinates extracted from Cloud Compare (Point list picking tool) and the UTM coordinates of the GPS' GCPs.

After data importing, we use the v.surf.rst command (Regularized spline tension) to transform the point cloud into a surface (DEM). The images below show the final result in 2D and 3D visualization.

Finally we imported the orthophoto into GRASS.

That's all.

PPT GUI and Blender, an interesting solution to forensics

Since I started to study forensic facial reconstruction, more or less one year ago, I had the opportunity to know a lot of interesting things and people that works in a couple of different fields, but with something related to forensics.

Currently me and Dr. Paulo Miamoto scan a skull using SfM to test the accuracy of the PPT GUI in relation to laser scanning.

This is very important because shows an interest of instituitions  related to forensics science relative to free software.

If is proved that the accuracy of SfM is compatible with the laser scan, it can be an important and revolutionary opportunity to take the accessible technology for a lot of parts of the world that never thought about use it before.

We hope this attempt be well succeded.

Acknowledgements to Mikolaš Jurda and Prof. Petra Urbanová, head of the Laboratory of Morphology and Forensic Anthropology of the Faculty of Sciences, Masaryk University (MUNI); Prof. Rodolfo Francisco Haltenhoff Melani, head of the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and Dentistry of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of São Paulo (OFLAB-FOUSP); and CAPES Foundation, Brasília - Brazil.

Extreme SfM: underwater archaeology

Hi all,

It is long that Alessandro and me wanted to write this post, but for one reason or another, we could not work on it. 

Today I decided to do it in order to answer two questions that people often asked us during conference or lessons:

1) Is it possible to work with SfM/IBM techniques underwater?

2) Is it possible to extract 3D from a movie?

As regards the first question, I can report that since we (Arc-Team) started to work with SfM and IBM (2009), we did also tests underwater and they gave us positive results. This is one of the main reason why we invested so much time on the research in this filed: SfM and IBM methodology, until now, is one of the best solution in archeology, due to its versatility (it can be used for underwater or aerial documentation, in low light conditions or in precarious situation, during mission abroad, etc...). We already underlined this concept when, with the help of Nicolò Dell'unto (Lund University), we compared different methodology to record 3D documentation of archaeological artifacts. The result of this experiment was presented during the ArcheoFOSS 2012, in Napoli (see the related slides and this post). During the workshop "Low cost 3D: sensori, algoritmi e applicazioni", we had the opportunity to better analyze the use of SfM/IBM in extreme working conditions, strengthening our point of view about this methodology (see the related slides). 
The image below is an example of an aerial 3D documentation done with an open source UAV and Python Photogrammetry ToolboX...

Aerial documentation with a KKopter and ArcheOS (PPT)

... while this other image shows the results we achieved using some pictures that Victor Jansa, of TUWA ("Tauchverein für Unterwasserarchäologie"), sent us to do a test.

Test with Victor Jansa's pictures (done with PPT)

In order to answer the second question, I can say that, facing our experience, it is possible to reconstruct 3D models from videos (and I guess this is one of the aims of SfM itself). We did some tests about this topic, getting acceptable result (at least regarding our primary target, which was to have a fast 3D object for further modeling operations). As an example, I can report one of the last post of Cicero Moraes, who used SfM from a youtube clip to get a 3D skull for forensic facial reconstruction aims. The image below is taken from Cicero's photo album:

3D skull obtained with SfM techniques from a movie

For a better explanation of what I wrote above, I think it is worth to show the results of a project we are undertaking since 2005 (trying to support Prof. Tiziano Camagna on his exploration of Tovel's Lake, in Trentino).  During this project we did several surveys, diving in different parts of the lake and especially in the South-West area, where lies a forest which is now underwater. In 2012 Tiziano Camagna and Andrea Forti, despite the low visibility, where able to record a short movie of some of the threes. We used this video for a fast 3D reconstruction, because it was particularly indicated, due to its characteristics: it was recorded for no SfM aims (as you see the movie sequences are not optimal for a 3D reconstruction), it represents the normal turbidity condition of the lake and it was done with an high lens distortion camera (GoPro Hero 2). For such reasons this material was perfect to hardly test SfM and IBM techniques for underwater archeology. In this animation you can see a short part of the movie (from the 15th second  to the 25th), which we used for the 3D documentation...

From "La foresta sommersa del Lago di Tovel" (T. Camagna, A. Forti)

... and here you can see the result:

I hope this post was useful. Soon, when the season will allow us to start diving again, we will go on with tests and experiment related with underwater archeology. I hope to write soon some new report about it.

Converting a video into a 3D mesh and reconstructing a face

The technology of SfM allow you convert, with great precision and quality, some photos into a 3D mesh.

The problem is when you don't have the photos and need to find other ways to reconstruct an object.

Fortunatelly, the Python Photogrammetry Toolbox (SfM) works well in a couple of possibilities, and like you saw in the video above, also with this type of media.

The video downloaded, shows the Budapest Múmia Projekt of the Szépművészeti Múzeum.

This project was a multidisciplinary effort not only to reconstruct the face of the mummies, but the panorama of their past lifes too.

To put the object in the scale, I use other video that show the CT-Scan with a scale at side.

Even working with a low quality reconstructed mesh, the result of the reconstruction was relatively compatible with the oficial bust made by Dr. Kustár Ágnes.

If you wanna see the step-by-step of the process, I created an album and shared it here: https://plus.google.com/photos/115430171389306289690/albums/5856903432134303473

I hope you enjoy.

A big hug and I see you in the next!

The Faces of Evolution - Exhibition of hominids forensic facial reconstructions

May 18th through July 31st, 2013 will happen in the big and beautiful Curitiba city in Brazil, the exhibition The Faces of Evolution.

Near the replicas of skull of hominids will have nine panels with forensic facial reconstructions.

The exhibition will happen now, but the history started here in ATOR some months ago.

The methodology developed to model the majority of the faces was used for the very first time in Alberto di Trento's reconstruction.

On that occasion the Arc-Team presented a paper at the event Giovani Antropology (Italy), where they described the methodology for forensic facial reconstruction using only free software.

Following the events, we initiated Project Taung. If before we had rebuilt a modern human this time we would rebuild a hominid remote, then the Taung Child.

Beyond the Arc-Team Group, has joined the project Prof. Dr. Nicola Carrara University of Padua.

We were able to reconstruct the face of the Taung child fastly, thanks to a methodology developed previously.

We had a largely positive feedback, both personalities linked to forensic facial reconstruction, as those related to 3D modeling, as the creator of  Blender, Mr. Ton Roosendaal.

Several media outlets broadcasted stories (see the comments) on the reconstruction of the Taung child, as the Jornal de Brasilia above.

After the successful reconstruction of hominid remote, we got in touch with the archaeologist Prof. Dr. Moacir Elias Santos of the Archaeological Museum of Ponta Grossa and Prof. Esp. Vivian Tedardi of Rosicrucian and Egyptian Museum in Brazil and we began a series of modeling which culminated in the exhibition the Faces of Evolution, described here.

The Australopithecus afarensis.

The Homo erectus pekinensis.

The Cro-Magnon man.

The Turkana Boy.

The Homo heildelbergensis.

The Homo neanderthalensis.

The Homo habilis.

And last but not least, the Homo floresiensis.


This was a brief description of the exhibition and its history. Now, we expect the event date arrives, while others look for fossils to be rebuilt.

A big hug!