Abstract
The authenticity of museum displays has been a hotly debated topic for many years. While digital visualisation methods are now commonly employed in a range of humanities contexts it is increasingly recognised that there is a need to ensure that such work is intellectually and technically rigorous. Faced with this challenge researchers Drabsch, Howells and O’Donnell were asked to digitally re-colour a high-definition 3D scan of the 2600-year-old faded timber sarcophagus of Mer-Neith-it-es and to produce an educational animation for museum display at the new Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney. Authenticity for the recolouring required extensive collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team of Egyptologists, scientists and museum curators. Enquiry into, and experimentation with, the technology required to discover the hidden story on the sarcophagus’ faded surface resulted in the development of novel tradigital methods. The tradigital process of recolouring the sarcophagus’ decorative elements was developed over the space of three years. The hieroglyphs and decorative elements were identified using the colour enhancement plug-in D-Stretch. These were registered and checked with the Egyptologists and any remaining pigments in these areas were analysed and identified. Employing a range of 2D and 3D software each decorative element was then remade and reapplied, using a process of blending and masking to integrate the new hieroglyphs into the natural textures and undulating surfaces of the timber structure. The animation was designed to be viewed in conjunction with the sarcophagus, allowing viewers to judge the authenticity of the display for themselves.
Presenters
Andrew HowellsSenior Lecturer, Visual Communication Design / Natural History Illustration, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Luke O'Donnell
Technology Development and Design Officer, School of Creative Industries, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Bernadette Drabsch
Senior Lecturer, Visual Communication Design, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
