A museum in Lincolnshire, UK, has made available highly detailed 3D scans of many of their works.
The Collection Museum and Usher Gallery worked with artist Oliver Laric to produce the scans, sponsored by the Contemporary Art Society’s Annual Award.
Why do this? They explain:
The project aims at making the collection available to an audience outside of its geographic proximity and to treat the objects as starting points for new works. All models can be downloaded and used without copyright restrictions.
In all there are 74 objects listed, each of which provides not only a full 360 degree online viewing, but also the ability to download the models and, if you’re up for it, 3D printing.
The models include a variety of artworks and artifacts from the full range of human existence. Some, like the bust of Tennyson shown above, are incredibly detailed. This particular model is 30MB in size and as you can see in this nasal closeup, is highly accurate. The size of the files may cause issues for some slicing software, so we recommend simplifying the model to fit your equipment’s capabilities.
Some of the models are entirely suitable for easy 3D printing, as they may have limited overhangs and more-or-less solid shapes, while some would be quite challenging to 3D print, such as 47MB “The Hunter and his Dog” by John Gibson, which incorporates a lot of overhangs and thin sections.
We’re entirely pleased by the approach taken by the museum, since most museums who’ve undertaken 3D scans do not release the models for 3D printing. The Collection Museum will no doubt be happy to learn that 3D printing enthusiasts around the world will learn a bit more about their collection by examining and 3D printing these models.
Suggestion: We think prints of these models will likely look best if done in white, grey or a light brown. Enjoy!
Via Lincoln 3D Scans
