3D Models can be a valuable addition to the classroom. Anthropology students can view and compare bones and physiological structures that might be difficult to obtain or too frail to pass around. Archaeology and history students can view pottery, sculpture and landmarks at a level of detail hard to capture by photos. Engineering and art students can rapidly model prototypes. Biologists can capture models of plants and animals for study.
Our Services
Capturing a 3D Model
Our department focuses on the virtualization of objects. Adobe 123D Catch can be used to create 3D models of objects varying in size from a thimble to a building. We currently specialize in objects up to 2 meters high and 2 meters in breadth.
You can drop off your item at our office in the Faculty Center at the Melville Library after filling out the request form and receiving confirmation.
We will both capture and clean up the model for upload to your course site. The file will be provided to you on a flash drive or through Google Drive depending on the size of the file and your convenience.
Capturing a 3D Model Yourself
Adobe 123D Catch is free for PC, iPad and iPhone and open to the public. You can find lots of resources and tutorials on how to scan a model by yourself using materials as simple as a camera or a camera phone, a stage and some newspaper. For more information, check out the website: 123dapp.com/catch
You can follow along on their Quick Start Guide or look at our tutorial for the browser version of the software. After you create the file and upload it to the 123D Gallery, you may embed or share the 3D viewer for your file on your site.
CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE: 3D Printing
If you wish to have the file 3D printed for use in your course presentations, fill out the form [currently unavailable] with your information and specifications. Large models can be sized down although detail will be lost.
More information will be available later.
Other Resources
There are a variety of resources already freely available. The Smithsonian has digitized historical artifacts that they believe are most beneficial for education, research and conservation purposes. They have even preserved locations such as the Liang Bua cave in Indonesia known for the discovery of the fossil species Homo floresiensis.
If you are an art history professor, the Google Cultural Institute’s Art Project has high quality 2D scans and photographs of paintings and sculpture.