lego

Not too bad a capture of the little lego scientist! (Click picture for the 3D version.) Take a look at the 123D site more generally and try out the capture and manipulation programs.

VInce Rossi’s and Adam Metallo’s presentation yesterday suggested some real possibilities for using 3D scans of art-historical artifacts. Laser scanning might be a tool that makes some of the ways of knowing of conservators open to a larger audience. (I’m thinking of the view of the cross-section of the Buddha, and the close examination of tool marks.) The opportunity to do an object tour provides some new ways to encourage close looking, or looking from different points of view. It makes me wonder what kinds of objects might be most usefully visualized in this way.