Mystery Vase 3: Falling in Love with 3DF Zephyr

The Quest continues; but, this time in a surprising new direction with an entirely new product to me.

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting 6 selected cadets at our 3D ThinkLink Lab Immersion Class.  The cadets joined us from Youth Challenge academies from 3 states.  In the four days they were with us they explored a variety of 3D visualization techniques.  These included 360 degree video rotation and 3D scanning using 2 different scanners and 3 different scanning applications.

Here is a sample of just some of their accomplishments. Cappasity Platform

We will fully discuss their experiences in a later post; but, first I want to discuss something we did NOT have at that time.   And, that is a wonderful product called 3DF Zephyr.  The smaller of the two in this image is a 3D object created from the larger object using 3DF Zephyr and partially printed on a Z450 full-color printer..  Unfortunately, the printer is prone to errors in mid-print.

3DF Zephyr Capture and Partial Print

But, even a partial print has its uses.  Note how both the OUTSIDE and the INSIDE were faithfully captured by 3DF Zephyr!

3DF Capture - Partial Print from the inside view

 
As we have said, 3D Visualization exists in many different formats that delivers a 3D experience at different levels.  All are useful when trying to focus on developing observational skills.  But, the real power begins with the creation of a 3D object that is viewable in ever direction.  3D scanners can create these types of objects, as can design programs.  But, programs are hard to learn and scanners have their own set of challenges.  Both are well worth pursuing; but, what I am about to show you is a method that has a great deal of promise for an easier way to bring 3D objects to life.

My first experience with trying to turn 2D images into 3D objects was in 2011 with an Autodesk product called 123Catch.  While it showed promise, it produced less than spectacular results.  Autodesk discontinued the product and replaced it with ReCap 360.   Here is a blog article I posted in 2012 that demonstrated 123Catch using a toy firetruck.

123Catch 2D to 3D with Fire Truck

As you can see from the above demo, the concept was promising though the results were poor.

It's been a long time since I revisted 2D to 3D and things have REALLY changed!  I've created a short video that demonstrates my attempt to create a 3D object from a series of 2D photos of the Mystery Vase.   have to warn you that I am guilty of using the term "AMAZING!" in super abundance in this video; but, there are no better words to describe my whole experience using 3DF Zephyr.  And, especially so when the final mesh was revealed.

As is apparent, I am a real fan.  In the next few weeks, months and years I hope to present this marvelous tool in dozens of tutorial videos discussing how it can be used to teach observational skills in every classroom subject to demonstrate clearly that 3D goes well beyond STEM in education.


But, on a personal note, working with the vase in 3DF Zephyr had a profound affect on me.  The process of checking the masking on each image had a very pleasant by-product.  I think of myself as a person that instinctively loves to observe things in detail.  But, going through each image making sure that the aauto-masking features didn't miss anything, I began to develop a deeper appreciation for the person(s) that created and painted this small little artifact.  There is something innocent and charming about it that became more and more apparent as I wokrf through the images.  By the time I saw the final rendered object I was in awe of the 3DF Zepher team and my little vase.  Then, the ironly hit me.  Here I was... bringing a possibly ancient Italian artifact new life in the form of a vibrant new 3D object for anyone to see and print using the work of modern Italian artists that created one of the pleasant programs I have ever used.

That's pretty cool.

Mystery Vase 02: Viewing in Cappasity

While seeing the Mystery Vase in a rotating ideo is helpful, it can't beat actually being in control of the rotation when it comes to being able to really pay attention to the details of the object.  We can add this capability by using a wonderful platform called Cappasity.  I has turned our standard video into a 360 degree view that we can control.  As, importantly, it allows us to zoom and pan on the object to get an up-close view to truly enhance our observational experience.

Please come check back to this page as more will be added as we reflect on the best ways to use this powerful tool.  We'll also explore how we can improve on the basic video underlying this Cappasity 360 view.  The goal will be to remove, as much as possible, any reflections that get in the way of our being able to see each detail without distraction. 

But, even with the current reflections, new details are emerging that might help us to decipher some clues that could tell us if it's of recent or ancient origins.  To help us deveope our observational skills, we'll explore details in the form of a series of questions or exercises.   Here is the first:

How does this 360 degree view help us better determine the overall condition of the object?

The best way to walk through this adventure is to become involved.  It would be great to see your responses to the questions posed in the comment section of each post.

HINT:  Try viewing this page on your phone or tablet.  The zoom capabilities with a touch screen interfqce are amazing!

Stay tuned... more to come!

Mystery Vase 01: Introduction to Observation

Our goal is to demonstrate how 3D visualization can be helpful in every subject area and every classroom.  In particular, we want to demonstrate how we can develope better observational skills using 3D visualization.

Perhaps, a fun way to begin our quest is to introduce a family mystery and seek to solve that mystery using 3D visualization tools.

The Mystery Vase - Background

The vase we are using for this demonstration was inherited by my father-in-law.  Both the husband and wife of the family from which it was inherited were educators.  Henry Draper was a superintendent of the Washington, DC school system and his wife, Elizabeth Draper was a school principle.  During the summers, they would organize trips for teachers.  Hentry Draper's obituary states that he made over 27 trips to Europe.  He died in 1945 and she passed away in 1979;

They adoped a son, Richard, who became an artist.

An Internet Search

Before revealing the vase in question, we'll first do an internet search of known ancient Italian vessels.

     LINK - GOOGLE SEARCH OF IMAGES

This is a typical example:

 

The Mystery Vase - Still Image

Now, let's take a look at the Mystery Vase.  If you double-click on the vase you can view it in full resolution.

Mystery Vase

While the vase appears to be old and the Draper's did travel to Europe many times, including Naples just as the first World War began, our search of images of ancient vases from Italy shows much more ornate designs with finer detail than this one.  In fact, this looks a bit crude by comparison.  And, it only shows a head, not a full body as do the others.  So....

• Is the inherited vase a genuine ancient artifact?   
• Is it really old or simply made to look old?  
• Is it the work of a modern budding artist who was exposed to actual ancient art?  

This is the mystery we will try to solve.  And, we will do so using 4 different ways of viewing the vase:

• Still Imaging
• Standard Video
• 3D 360 degree visualization that the viewer can control using the Cappasity Platform
• 3D Object capture with full control in all axis directions using a 3D viewer.   

Observation Level 01:  Still Imaging
Exploring the image above,  see what observations you can make that argue for the vase being genuinely old or a modern creation made to look old.  In particular, pay attention to the craftsmanship and detail that supports either finding.  If presenting this question to a class, having students come up with at least 5 observations arguing for each conclusion might be a great start toward solving the mystery.  So, let's try that exercise for ourselves.\

Observation Level 02:  Standard Video

For this opening article, we'll add another observational tool.   Here is a video of the vase spinning on a turntable.  For the best use of this observational too, try the Full-Screen view.

What we have added by looking at the vase using video is a full 360 degree view.  We're not limited to a single perspective.  Again, to help us hone our observational skills, let's try to come up with 5 additional observations arguing for each conclusion or refining the initial observations.

Being able to see the object from all sides is very helpful; but, we can't control the spin with normal video.  We can't stop and ponder a particular view.  And, that is where Cappasity comes into play.

In the next blog article, we will demonstrate how using Cappasity's ability to control our 360 degree 3D view of the vase improves our observational opportunities.  And, we'll discuss what it takes to create a video that makes a good Cappasity capture.

The mystery continues... Stay tuned!