Info-SculptureAn effort towards heritage preservation

Introduction

History of any nation needs to be preserved. Indian artifacts and sculptures are very rich in their values & varieties.

Indian temples have engraved sculptures which depicts many social messages.

Monuments and artifacts are in constant danger of destruction due to Natural calamities, war & terrorism.

There is need for Archiving & Reconstruction of damaged sculptures.

Info-Sculpture is an effort of IIT-Kanpur with Media Lab towards this direction.

Objective

The objective behind this work is to

Record and archive morphological features of heritage artifacts from past culture,

Process those features using modern software tool and to create a knowledge based information system,

Exploring the potential of 3D vision for application in heritage or as an input to virtual reality environment and

Geometric modeling for reconstruction and regeneration of artifacts.

Methodology includes

Point clouds capturing using digital optical scanner,

Point cloud processing,

Digital modeling

Prototyping

These things are done with high-end application software, deploying reverse engineering ,rapid prototyping etc,

Methodology

Instrument Used

ATOS Optical Digital Scanner

Digitized model(using optical scanner)

Solid Model

Artifact

Steps Involved

Artifact

Digitized model

Solid Model

Project Progress

In first phase of the project , we have digitized some valuable artifacts in National Museum ,Mathura.

Some Sculptures From Mathura Museum

Yaksa (2nd Century B.C)

Yaksa

This is a statue of colossal size representing a corpulent male figure of Yaksa . He is holding a mudgar in his right hand.

Period: 2nd Century B.C

Height: 195 cms

Provenance: Bharanakalyana, Mathura

Material: Buff Stone

Kaniska(1st Century A.D)

Kaniska

This headless life-sized statue of great Kaniska is the only one statue available in the world .

Period: 1st Century A.D

Height: 162 cms

Provenance: Etokri Mound, Mathura

Material: Buff Stone

Buddha(1st Century A.D)

Buddha

Buddha is seated in padmasana on a lion throne under under the bodhi tree. On either side of the main buddha figure are shown two Caurl bearing male attendants.

Period: 1st Century A.D

Height: 69 cms

Provenance: Katra Kesavadev, Mathura

Material: Red Sandstone

Lady Squeezing Hair (2nd Century A.D)

Some More…

Visnu (10th Century A.D)

Contd… (Some Terracotta)

Mother Goddess (2nd Century

B.C)

Mother Goddess (1st Century B.C)

Mother Goddess (1st Century A.D)

The database of artifacts in digital form can be used in future modification work and replication.

The technology under study will allow artists, sculptors, archaeologists, and researchers to view, analyze, and even reproduce artifacts digitally.

The models thus created can form archives, which could be manipulated at any time to view, edit or fabricate.

This work will be a permanent record for our heritage and future generations interested in research and study of history and archeology will be benefited immensely from this work.

Effect on Society

Thanks !