“FACCE. I molti volti della storia umana”, an open source exhibition

It's been more than one year since the conclusion of the Taung Project and many things have happened. Today I want to post something related with one of the most important derivations of this project: the exhibition "FACCE. I molti volti della storia umana" (en "Faces. The many aspects of human history"). The event is organized by the Anthropological Museum of the University of Padua, from an idea of Dott. Nicola Carrara, and it is a cooperation between the Museum, the University, Arc-Team and Antrocom NPO (the same actors of the Taung Project). I will not go into details of the exhibition, due to the fact it is still a work in progress being its opening planned for October 2014, but I post the preliminary presentation we did during the European Academic Heritage Day 2013 ("Down the Rabbit hole", backstage of knowledge production).

 As you ague form the title, the main topic of the exhibition is the human face, which, in the words of the French photograper Gisele Freund, is also the "the only part of the body to be exposed naked to the first comer." Actually the thematic sessions planned for the event are six:

1. "Guardiamo in faccia la diversità umana" (en "Let's face human diversity"), which is dedicated to human evolution and will take advantage of the forensic facial reconstructions of the principal actors in the phylogenetic human three, preformed by the Brazilian digital artist +Cícero Moraes.

2. "Una faccia, una razza?" (en "One face, one race?"). This section will show the division of mankind into races proposed by various authors in the 700-800, which will have more deleterious effects in the first decades of the 1900s. Nowadays, thanks especially to human genetic studies, we can say that the division of Homo sapiens into races is just a cultural and social construction, without any sense in biology.

3.  "Una faccia, un destino?" (en "A face, a fate?"), in which the main topic will be physiognomy, analyzed from the artistic aspects of the XVI century till the pseudoscientific approach in the XIX century criminology in connection with phrenology, another famous pseudoscience, well-accepted in the same period.

4. "Con quella faccia un po' così" (quote from the popular Italian song "Genova per Noi" of the singer Paolo Conte), a session in which will be proposed different forensic facial reconstructions of historical personalities connected with the city of Padua.

5. "Ma che faccia fai?" (Italian popular expression). This part of the exhibition will be dedicated to human facial expressions.

6. "Dalla faccia alla maschera: il volto simbolico" (en "From the face to the mask: the symbolic aspect"). The final session will take advantage from the contribute of the Museo Internazionale della Maschera, Amleto e Donato Sartori and will show the symbolic aspect of the face: the mask.

The contribute of Arc-Team to the exhibition, in addition to the forensic facial reconstructions that will be created by our expert (+Cícero Moraes), will cover the touristic fruition of the event through scientific interactive installations mainly based on Computer Vision (from Augmented Reality to Facial Recognition and Motion Capture). In the presentation you can see some of the projected prototype, as well as some sources of inspiration (e.g. the movie "A scanner Darkly") some examples from the software we will use (e.g. Openframeworks). 

As you probably guessed from the title of this post, the main peculiarity of this event will be the fact that it can be considered an "open source exhibition", maybe the first of its kind, due to the fact that all the produced material will be released under the therms of the Creative Commons Attribution, which is a license approved for free cultural works. Moreover open techniques will be used also to collect material for the exhibition itself, with specific crowedsourcing campaigns, while part of the budget will be probably collected wit crowdfunding. I will have time to post more news about these last two topics, by now I just hope that you'll enjoy the presentation below (like always, to navigate just click on the image and use the spacebar to browse the slides).

For a better visualization, click here

Scientific publications with Blender 3D and free software

Despite the enjoyment that the nerds have to share knowledge openly and informally by internet through websites, blogs and social media, is of fundamental importance  the production of scientific publications in qualified journals.

Thus it offers for those interested in developing research in the same field the ability to use the knowledge and even cite who wrote them.

A few days ago, we finally had our protocol forensic facial reconstruction published in a journal of dentistry. Through a partnership with the Laboratory of Anthropology and Forensic Dentistry, USP (OFLAB-USP Brazil), we ( me, Dr. Paulo Miamoto and Dr. Rodolfo Melani) described step by step the process of scanning a skull with photogrammetry and how reconstruct the face with free software.

This is an innovative technique and most importantly, totally open and free. All software used is free of cost and with source available to those who wish to study them, adapt them or even improve the code. Evidently the person must have  available a computer and a digital camera to be able to apply it. Of course, this individual must know the anatomy of the face and learn to use the programs described, but for the first case usually the interested person already have the professional training and for the second we have on our sites a wide range of tutorials and references.

For those who want to access (free of charge) the document, a PDF, it can be downloaded here: http://www.portaldeperiodicos.unisul.br/index.php/JR_Dentistry/article/view/1993

Fortunately the article above was not the only publication that involved our staff and the use of free software.

 This time, in partnership with the Center for Information Technology Renato Archer (CTI) and archaeologist Dr. Moacir Elias Santos, we have published a paper that was presented at the 6th International Conference on Advanced Research in Virtual and Rapid Prototyping (VRAP 2013) in Leiria, Portugal. Dr. Jorge Vicente Lopes da Silva and Paulo Henrique Junqueira Amorim (InVesalius developer) traveled to the "little land" to present the work. At the end he had been printed and made available for access (upon payment of US$ 20.00) at the following link:

http://www.crcnetbase.com/doi/abs/10.1201/b15961-107

NEW: Read it at Google Books: http://books.google.com.br/books?id=alliAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA585&hl=pt-BR&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false 

This paper was not the only fruit of scientific partnership with Dr. Moacir Elias Santos, we also wrote an article about the history and facial reconstruction of the mummy Tothmea, which is in and Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, in Curitiba-PR.

The article entitled "The Tothmea's mummy project: from history to the forensic facial approximation" describes since the arrival of the mummy to the United States, her donation to the Museum Rosicrucian Brazil and finally her facial reconstruction, with the massive use of software free.

The magazine (#2) has been already diagrammed and will soon have its printed version, it (probably) will cost € 10.00 on the site:

http://hathorstudiesofegyptology.blogspot.com.br/

We also have the panels and presentations in Portuguese and Italian, all with emphasis on the use of the software.

Many of the works are listed on my Lattes resume (a Brazilian system of resumes) in: Abstracts in Annals of Congress:

http://bit.ly/NFsgWU (Google Translator)

As we see the use of free software is not only possible but effective and practical to be applied in day-to-day of professionals related to archeology, dentistry and 3D computer graphics. Not forgetting the many other areas that can use the improvement offered by these solutions. When formally published, the results open the possibility of rich and interdisciplinary bibliographic production making these tools go to the barn prime of scientific rigor... the universities.

See you in the next post!

Digital Archaeology at Lund University

This year, as usual since 2011, +Alessandro Bezzi and me taught some lessons during the course "Archaeology and Ancient History: Digital Archaeology, GIS in Archaeology" at Lund University, held by +nicolò dell'unto. We used the opportunity to update the presentation with which we always start the first lecture. Here below you can see its last version, done with impress.js (just click on the first slide and us the spacebar to navigate).

For a better view, click here

The main topic is digital archeology (or "computational archeology", as it is also known in Italy). 

Initially we define five main operations that are common to any archaeological project: data acquisition, processing, management, analysis and sharing. The first three steps refer to the documentation work-flow, while the last three actions are related with the real research process (of course data management is in common with both of the phases).

Thereafter we analyze each step, starting with data acquisition, which is mainly based on hardware devices. During this operation are normally registered two elements, points and pictures, in order to virtually recover what the archaeological excavation is destroying. With points and pictures it is possible to document objects (artifacts and ecofacts) and actions (basically the archaeological samplings), and their elaboration or, in some cases combination, allows the researchers to record lines, polygon, 3d surfaces and real volumes, to register also the most complex elements of the archaeological record (layers, structures, etc...).

On the contrary of what happen with data acquisition, data processing is mainly based on software. Nowadays it can be divided into two orders of operations: standard procedures (raw coordinates elaboration, 2D photomapping, 2D vector archaeological drawing) and advanced techniques (3D restitution, volume calculation and 3D modeling). The very first and basic step to visualize recorded data is to elaborate the raw coordinates, registered with a total station or a RTK GPS, into a GIS readable code (e.g. CVS or WTK). Combining points and pictures is also possible to create georeferenced photomosaic, using a photomapping techniques (e.g. the metodo Aramus, the Khovle method or the newest Corte Inferiore method). Once obtained a complete georeferenced photomosaic it is possible to use a GIS to draw over the raster level, using one or more vector layers and to connect them with a database. Advanced techniques of documentation are more directly related with 3D and can be based on different methodology to extract morphological, topological and metric informations from one or more pictures (e.g. SvR, SfM, IBM, 3D photogrammetry, etc...). With these informations it is possible to calculate the real volumes of the elements of the archaeological records and use this data to reconstruct the depositional and post-depositional processes, using, when necessary, 3D modeling. Normally, during the different work-flows that can be involved in data processing, many kind of informations are elaborated with raster, vector and voxel graphic in 2 (x,y), 3 (x,y,z) or 4 (x,y,z,t) dimensions. The final aim is to set up a system which is able to handle such a variety of data and this system is the GIS.
In fact GIS software, combined with DBMS, are extremely useful during the data management phase, exactly for their capacity to handle different kind of informations (as many as are the disciplines or sciences which help archeology in its task). The use of such instruments helps to optimize the research, especially in comparison with the traditional techniques, not only during data management, but also during the more delicate stage of data analysis (when most of the cognitive processes are involved).
Among other things, in this fourth step, it is more evident the importance of using open source software and tools to maintain a continuous control on every single process of a study that can lead to the elaboration of new theories. Of course, not all the the analysis are equally sensitive under this aspect: for the simplest researches (anastylosis, building techniques, basic geomorphology, etc...) it is not strictly mandatory to know the source code of the applications, also because in these cases the main examinations are done directly by humans. On the other hand, for more complex studies (landscape archeology and Cost Surface Analysis, statistics, advanced geomorphology, etc...), it is very important to have a complete access to  the formulas and algorithms used by the software in order to keep an human control and do not completely delegate to the computer, among difficult quantitative calculations, also more delicate qualitative investigations (in which the human operator is still essential). In this way it is possible to correctly study all the different informations collected during the archaeological research, considering, at the same time, future integrations (GIS is an open system under a temporal point of view). The last goal of data analysis is to share results with the (scientific and non) community, which is the best way to improve the archaeological discipline itself, especially exploiting the potential of internet.
This lead us to the final step of an archaeological project (data sharing), which can follow different channels, like traditional publication, e-publication (e.g. webgis), exhibitions, etc... The most important thing, at least for scientific disclosure, is to grant a public access to all the informations used for the study (not only the filtered data, but also the raw data), in order to propose new hypothesis and (at the same time) give the all the necessary elements to verify them (no dogma, no authority principle).
To summarize the meaning of this contribution, considering archeology as a science (empiric approach) and a humanity (speculative approach), we can see how computational archeology helps to improve the scientific (empiric) approach, which is often underestimated, granting a more objective data acquisition and processing respects traditional techniques, especially during the critical phase of the archaeological excavation. In fact, unlike scientific experiments, the archaeological excavation is unrepeatable, being the most destructive approach of the discipline (and, at the same time, the most important).

PS

All the screenshots were done with ArcheOS. Some of them are related with really old projects, slowly we will replace them with more updated images...

QGIS 2.2.0 Valmiera and worldfile

QGIS 2.2.0 Valmiera has been released!
In my opinion, one of the most interesting news is the possibility of exporting an image with WORLD FILE from print composer.

I think this new option is very useful and simplifies the workflow in Aramus, Khovle or Corte Inferiore methods for the photomosaic creation.

Good job!

Denis 

Camera tracking in Blender 3D: Small tests and possible applications

Camera tracking is a fabulous technology that allows us, through a real footage, capture the movements of the camera and create a digitized version in Blender. Besides the camera, we can also captured landmarks, thus we can make a composition of virtual + real footage elements. It offers a lot of possibilities, ranging from putting a flying saucer over a city linked to the use in retail advertisements, such as those where prices appear, usually with an explosion or earthquake.

When we cross that tracking technology with photogrammetry, we can expanded more the range of possibilities. In the video above is a good example, because the ball and oranges placed beside the bust, make a lot of the spectors stay confused. What is very common, because those elements were digitized (scanned in 3D from photos) under the same lighting conditions used in that video.

The terrain itself was scanned using photogrammetry shortly after the video was recorded. The pictures were taken with the same camera, the 3D might be used up for subsequent animation, because the light was consistent with that presented in the recorded scene.

The tracking technology is not just to capture the movements of a camera. We can also capture a point or set of points for use in various types of material, such as facial animation.

The video above shows a proposed activity in one of my classes taught in a production company here in my town (Sinop-MT, Brazil). The objective was to test the tracking  and apply the animation on the face of a reconstruction of an young Egyptian of the Roman period. By doing so, the movements would be much more natural than simply animate a face manually.

We take the opportunity and tested the 3D facial tracking to replace the head of the individual filmed by another team member.

Above we have an example of tracking to capture the key points for the animation of a humanoid.

Remembering the Past: The video above was made to be presented in a lecture that I ministered at Latinoware 2010. At that time Blender did not have native tracking system and we had to solve this by using the Voodoo (freeware). To create the material I had the help of two people, Daniel Ludvig, the owner of the producing which I minister the classes today and Teo Macedo, art director, he is the same person appearing in the picture and video above. Thank you all!

Capturing the camera is not difficult for those who know the equipment. Apart from good referrals, we must bear in mind the data of the equipment used in the recording, as the aperture and the CCD.

If you want to venture into this world, I recommend watching the material presented in Blenderguru: http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/introduction-to-camera-tracking/

The high point of this link is that it offers downloads of the video used in the tutorial, you can start to test the technology without filming anything for now!

Archaeological drawing symbols in QGIS

QGIS style tools for vector layers allow us to build custom symbols for archaeological drawings (plans and sections). In this post I will present some preliminary examples of customizable styles for graphically representing hachures and soil texture (clay, silt, sand and so on). For each, the .qml style files are downloadable from http://www.uselessarchaeology.com/ (section programming): you can put them in your QGIS project and/or add to QGIS style manager for testing and modifying.

Using vector styles makes the drawing more automatic and fast, because is no more necessary to draw manually each individual symbol. Furthermore, vector styles enable to change quickly the size of symbols when the scale changes: in such way there is no need to scale any single object.

The bulding of a new style is managed by QGIS style window: with button “Add symbol layer” is possible to make a new symbol joining 2 or more individual symbols. All symbols settings (dimension, angle, offset, etc.) can be changed in the same window.

Hachures

In plans, the edges of holes and ditches and the differences in level are represented with hachures. They are composed by an isosceles triangle and a line: the triangle marks the highest part of the feature, where the slope begins; the line represents the length and direction of the slope, with the end of the line showing the bottom of the slope. I created 3 different styles of hachure for point layers (hachure_pn), linear layers (hachure_ln) and polygon layers (hachure_pl).

For representing the differences in level, for example at the top of wall, I create a shapefile of points connected to an attribute table with two numeric columns named “angle” and “length”: the first column records rotation angle of hachures, the latter records the length of hachure's lines (where lines are not required, the column value will be always “0”). Then I draw points in the place where there are differences in altitude, I load hachure_pn style, I rotate each points with “Rotate Point Symbols tool” (in advanced digitizing toolbar) and I write the line length I desire in attribute table.

All settings are customizable: from “Marker – Advanced – Rotation field” you can set attribute columns for angle; from “Vector Field Marker” you can set attribute columns for angle and length; from “Simple marker” you can set triangle dimensions and offset: usually I give an offset that is half of triangle dimension for fitting the point to the line.

Hachure_pn style can be used also for linear or polygon features.

If I have to draw a scarp, I create a linear shapefile and I load hachure_ln style. It's possible to modify dimension of triangles, space between symbols, width of line, etc. changing parameters in QGIS style window.

For representing a ditch or a hole, I create 2 polygon shapefiles, one for top perimeter of the feature, one for the bottom limits. The top polygon is drawn by hachure_pl style and the bottom polygon is filled by white color: in the layer tree the bottom polygon must stay over the top polygon for covering the hachure's lines that exceed the slope. Like above, dimensions, space between symbols, offset and so on are editable in QGIS style window.

Soil texture

I post some examples of archaeological layers filled with symbols representing soil components: clay, silt, sand, silt-sand.

You have to pay attention to the settings of the these styles. Many symbols are set in map units and not in absolute measure (i.e. millimeters) to better fit the variation of scale during the display. For printing, all style settings must be changed according to the plot scale; for this purpose printing tests are recommended. Finally, I suggest to export in .svg format and modify the layout in Inkscape for adjusting the last details.

In future I hope to post other examples of archaeological styles. But if you have other ideas or you want to contribute with your personal QGIS archaeological styles, we could create a shared library of archaeological symbols for QGIS.

Denis Francisci

QuantumGIS and OpenJump: Photomapping with more pictures (Corte Inferiore method)

Hi all,
i would like to share a new method to realize georeferenced 2D-photomosaic. Thanks to the new version of OpenJump (r3856), now it is possible to export the GIS-view to any kind of resolution (no more block to 3800 width-pixel). Just set in the oj_linux.sh file (OpenJump bin folder) the allowed memory in the line 24

JAVA_MAXMEM=${JAVA_MAXMEM--Xmx2048M}

with 2048M my computer can export GIS-view till the value of 6905 width-pixel. More memory gives more resolution.

This is the videotutorial:

and this an example: