Info-Sculpture An 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 ( 2 nd 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: 2 nd Century B.C Height: 195 cms Provenance: Bharanakalyana, Mathura Material: Buff Stone

Kaniska ( 1 st Century A.D)

Kaniska This headless life-sized statue of great Kaniska is the only one statue available in the world. Period: 1 st Century A.D Height: 162 cms Provenance: Etokri Mound, Mathura Material: Buff Stone

Buddha ( 1 st 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: 1 st Century A.D Height: 69 cms Provenance: Katra Kesavadev, Mathura Material: Red Sandstone

Lady Squeezing Hair ( 2 nd Century A.D ) Some More… Visnu ( 10 th Century A.D)

Contd… (Some Terracotta) Mother Goddess ( 2 nd Century B.C) Mother Goddess ( 1 st Century B.C)

Mother Goddess ( 1 st 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 !