Phat- I am not sure all the “cool kids” are using phat these days, but it is exactly the word I want to use for this TP we used to think about preservation of original, pre-printing press or early printing-press texts. The lesson I learned is another P… Prep! There was a great deal of prep work involved in this TP. The work was not difficult, but we had to be precise with the pictures- background, angle, number, etc. in order to have the best possible product. It highlighted for me that if we want to use 3D imagining to help maintain artifacts and preserve this interface before time decays them beyond readability, we will need to start putting in the work. There is so much printed work in stacks upon stacks (as shown in Alaine Resnais’ film “Toute la Memoire du Monde”), so we need to start prepping these materials and uploading them into programs such as Agisoft.
I used my Mexican alebrije (spirit guide) as my object. I found this to be the perfect symbol/metaphor for this process. Never having heard of or worked with photogrammetry, I needed some guidance into the beyond of digital ether. Taking all of the pictures from different angles, I wasn’t quite sure what I would end up with as a final product, but it was a very good 3D likeness of the actual object. I included the split/splash photo I created on accident because it helped me remember and consider the interface involved. While I was very aware of taking the photos and the end result, I didn’t pay much attention to the Agisoft program once all of the photos started to upload. Although manipulating the program was new and many of the 3D pictures wouldn’t upload (they were corrupted), I found this TP rewarding. So much work went on “behind the scenes” of the compilation, but I only clicked a few menu items to create this image. In reality, it took a great deal of data and pixels and mashing up from the digital realm to help me “cross over” from the visible image (alebrije) to the invisible (Agisoft interface), back to the visible (3D image). Our ancestors and ancients would be proud.
