Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Spotlights
March 12, 2021
Seti I: preserving a 3000-year-old tomb with RealityScan
Factum Foundation set out to create a complete and accurate record of the 3000-year-old rock-cut tomb of Seti I through photogrammetry, laser scanning, and an innovative 3D printing process, with RealityScan at the core of the project.
The rock-cut tomb of Pharaoh Seti I (1290–1279 BC) is the largest and most important of its kind in the Valley of the Kings, the famous royal burial ground near Luxor, Egypt. In 1817, more than 3000 years after the pharaoh’s death, the Italian circus strongman Giovanni Battista Belzoni discovered the tomb, triggering an intense fascination with a monument that was built to last for eternity.
Since its discovery, the tomb has suffered serious decay due to ill-conceived attempts to preserve it, and the ravages of tourism. In 2016, Factum Foundation undertook the task of preserving the tomb through digitization and production of physical facsimiles, similar to the way the tomb of Tutankhamun has been preserved and presented to the public. For this task, Factum Foundation leaned on its sister art studio, Factum Arte.
Groundbreaking study and assessment has already taken place on the data from the tomb of Tutankhamun, and Factum Foundation wished to provide the same opportunity for the tomb of Seti I. Digital preservation and reproduction of facsimilies also offer a chance to repatriate portions of the tomb that have previously been distributed to museums throughout the world.
The result of Factum Foundation and Factum Arte's efforts is the most complete and centralized collection of the tomb of Seti I in the world, perfect for study and dissemination.
Preservation and conservation
Since its discovery, the tomb has suffered serious decay due to ill-conceived attempts to preserve it, and the ravages of tourism. In 2016, Factum Foundation undertook the task of preserving the tomb through digitization and production of physical facsimiles, similar to the way the tomb of Tutankhamun has been preserved and presented to the public. For this task, Factum Foundation leaned on its sister art studio, Factum Arte.
Groundbreaking study and assessment has already taken place on the data from the tomb of Tutankhamun, and Factum Foundation wished to provide the same opportunity for the tomb of Seti I. Digital preservation and reproduction of facsimilies also offer a chance to repatriate portions of the tomb that have previously been distributed to museums throughout the world.
The result of Factum Foundation and Factum Arte's efforts is the most complete and centralized collection of the tomb of Seti I in the world, perfect for study and dissemination.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Documentation methods
The production of physical facsimiles requires high-resolution 3D geometry, but the organizing of digitized portions requires larger scale and lower-resolution data to facilitate placement of the portions in context. To accomplish this, the team used a combination of an ultra-high resolution (Lucida), photogrammetry, and traditional terrestrial laser scanning.
Because of the complex differences in the data types, RealityScan was the perfect application for combining everything into one cohesive dataset.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Initial field work
The chambers of the tomb were scanned and photographed in Luxor in May 2016. The sarcophagus and various objects from the original tomb were documented at the Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. More than twenty wall fragments removed after the tomb’s discovery in 1817 by Giovanni Battista Belzoni were examined and registered in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection), and the Louvre Museum.
The burial chamber, the sarcophagus, and the fragments were documented using the most suitable combination of high-resolution technologies for recording each object. These techniques include close and long-range 3D laser scanning, high-definition color composite photography, and short and mid-range photogrammetry.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Photogrammetry process
Photogrammetry played an important role in the recording the tomb of Seti I. Photogrammetric imagery was captured inside the tomb, providing critical information for color-matching and understanding the unfinished walls.
Multiple images were taken with a constant diffuse light-source using a DSLR camera and following a clearly defined protocol, and with significant overlap between each image. The multiple images were processed using RealityScan, where the results came close to matching the best results from more expensive 3D systems.
The imagery provides higher-resolution geometry than the underlying point cloud, which requires extremely fine detailing. Unlike the process of creating 2D elevations, architectural plans, or virtual environments which require high-resolution textures, milling and 3D printing require fine geometry. Traditional laser scanning does not provide a high enough resolution for this process.
Laser scanning process
Despite the heavy influx of tourists following the tomb´s re-opening in November 2016, Factum Arte successfully completed a 3D survey of the tomb using a FARO Focus 130 Terrestrial Laser Scanner. The data obtained with this system provided information about the general geometry and spatial dimensions of the tomb. These provided the framework to which all other data could be added to provide provenance to the scan and photo data.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
High-resolution scanning with Lucida
With the context and general geometry captured by the photogrammetry and laser scan data, the Lucida collects the fine detail integral to the reproduction process. However, limitations on mobility and adaptivity left the roof, ground, and 30% of the wall area unscanned, requiring that area to be filled in with other data.
Processing
The laser scan data was processed and registered in the FARO SCENE 3D Point Cloud software to generate a E57 point cloud. The photographs were processed in Lightroom to achieve ideal exposure, clarity, and coloration.
Next, the data was imported into RealityScan for the bulk of the processing. The images were divided by room, and each section was imported into unique components and aligned individually. Once all the rooms were processed, all the components were registered together using the laser scan data as a scaled base.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Once the project was successfully aligned, a high-resolution model of each individual wall in each room was created using the photogrammetry and laser information to allow for finer geometry on the smaller details.
Each high-resolution wall mesh was exported to OBJ format and cut into sections for the 3D printing process.
Lastly, the team used RealityScan's built-in Ortho Projection tool to create depth maps of each wall. These depth maps are used by the CNC routing machines as a topographic map of how deeply to excavate the material in each section across the panel.
The Seti I sarcophagus and walls feature intricate carvings that are not only beautiful to look at, but give us insights into the culture of the times. Reproducing these carvings as they exist in real life, with the same depth, feel, and coloration, can give researchers valuable data that they can't get from photos alone.
However, the tomb's carvings weren't always on flat surfaces that could easily be reproduced with 3D printing, but often on uneven rock surfaces or curved shapes, as with the sarcophagus. In addition, many of the original colors in the tomb had faded or disappeared altogether due to lack of effective preservation after the tomb's discovery.
Factum Arte’s fabrication of the Seti I tomb required multiple methods of creating both the 3D surfaces and the 2D textures including elevated printing, routing, 3D printing, and elastic printing.
Each high-resolution wall mesh was exported to OBJ format and cut into sections for the 3D printing process.
Lastly, the team used RealityScan's built-in Ortho Projection tool to create depth maps of each wall. These depth maps are used by the CNC routing machines as a topographic map of how deeply to excavate the material in each section across the panel.
Recreation
The Seti I sarcophagus and walls feature intricate carvings that are not only beautiful to look at, but give us insights into the culture of the times. Reproducing these carvings as they exist in real life, with the same depth, feel, and coloration, can give researchers valuable data that they can't get from photos alone.
However, the tomb's carvings weren't always on flat surfaces that could easily be reproduced with 3D printing, but often on uneven rock surfaces or curved shapes, as with the sarcophagus. In addition, many of the original colors in the tomb had faded or disappeared altogether due to lack of effective preservation after the tomb's discovery.
Factum Arte’s fabrication of the Seti I tomb required multiple methods of creating both the 3D surfaces and the 2D textures including elevated printing, routing, 3D printing, and elastic printing.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Elevated printing
For the flatter surfaces, the team turned to a novel technique known as elevated
printing, developed by Océ Technology (now part of Canon Production Printing) through a research project called Project Eiger.
Elevated printing can create full-color textured prints with a maximum size of 2.44 x 1.19 meters and a height up to 5 mm. To create these prints, the team used the depth maps exported from RealityScan combined with depth maps exported from the Lucida scanner.
As the depth of the wall carvings in the tomb of Seti I sometimes exceed 5 mm, the research and development department of Océ Technology created an experimental slicing algorithm just for the Seti I project, and modified the print processes to create monochrome prints with the required relief while maintaining accuracy.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Factum produced a monochrome printing of the tomb of Seti I, and added color later. The Océ prints were created as negative molds of the walls of the tomb from which casts were taken. Had Belzoni had access to this non-contact technology, the walls of the tomb might retain their original color today.
Most of the tomb has been carved into boards of polyurethane using CNC routing machines. Like the elevated printing, the routers were guided by depth maps exported from RealityScan combined by depth maps exported from the Lucida scanner. To route a 1x1 m panel in 3D at a resolution of 250 microns takes approximately 120 hours.
The walls were routed into panels of approximately 1 x 2 m that are then joined together. Once complete, these panels were assembled to form complete rooms. These were then cut into irregular-shaped sections that can be transported to exhibitions and bolted together with invisible joints for display.
Routing
Most of the tomb has been carved into boards of polyurethane using CNC routing machines. Like the elevated printing, the routers were guided by depth maps exported from RealityScan combined by depth maps exported from the Lucida scanner. To route a 1x1 m panel in 3D at a resolution of 250 microns takes approximately 120 hours.
The walls were routed into panels of approximately 1 x 2 m that are then joined together. Once complete, these panels were assembled to form complete rooms. These were then cut into irregular-shaped sections that can be transported to exhibitions and bolted together with invisible joints for display.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
3D printing
The remaining portions of the exhibit were 3D-printed using a resin-based system. The meshes used for printing were created in RealityScan at the highest possible resolution and then reduced to the ideal polygon count for printing without detail loss. These meshes were then cleaned and prepared in an external program before being printed in-house. The objects rounded out the exhibition with the routed and elevated printed panels.
Elastic printing
The preparation of an elastic printing media was a direct response to practical need. Factum Arte’s flatbed digital printer can overprint in perfect register but it cannot print a detailed and focused image onto an uneven surface.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
A layered mixture of three different materials was developed and used for printing: two thin layers of ink-jet ground backed with an acrylic gesso, and an elastic, acrylic support. The mixture was built in seven layers rolled onto a slightly textured silicon mold. The result was an ultra-thin, flexible, slightly elastic material suitable for inkjet printing with pigmented ink.
The "skins" can be printed in sheets that are 1.5 meters wide and up to three meters long, minimizing the number of joints in the final facsimile. The skins have a short "working life" and must be applied to the 3D printed model right away to ensure they stretch and fit the surface in the correct way.
The "skins" can be printed in sheets that are 1.5 meters wide and up to three meters long, minimizing the number of joints in the final facsimile. The skins have a short "working life" and must be applied to the 3D printed model right away to ensure they stretch and fit the surface in the correct way.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Exhibition
When everything was ready, the culmination was an incredibly impressive exhibition that debuted at the Antikenmuseum in Basel, Switzerland. A full catalog of artifacts, tomb facsimiles, educational content, and interactive areas came together to educate museumgoers not only on the tomb, but on the rediscovery and fabrication of the replica artifacts.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Additional details, including panels and artifacts now being held in museums throughout the world, were all painstakingly scanned and brought together with the tomb. This is the first time since its rediscovery that the tomb can be seen as a complete exhibition.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
Lastly, the tomb illustrates the meanings behind the hieroglyphics and ritual artifacts found throughout the exhibition. Imagine getting to learn about the ancient Egyptians in a setting like this, with artifacts you can touch and handle, plenty of information on the purpose of each item, background on the discovery and extraction by Belzoni, and all of this available to you over 3000 km away from the tomb's current resting place in Egypt.
Exhibitions such as these showcase what is possible if you have the inspiration, technical knowledge, and equipment at your disposal.
Exhibitions such as these showcase what is possible if you have the inspiration, technical knowledge, and equipment at your disposal.
Courtesy of Factum Foundation
About Factum Foundation
The Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2009 in Madrid. It works alongside its sister company, Factum Arte, a multi-disciplinary workshop in Madrid dedicated to digital mediation in contemporary art and the production of facsimiles. The foundation was established to demonstrate the importance of documenting, monitoring, studying, recreating and disseminating the world’s cultural heritage through the rigorous development of high-resolution recording and re-materialization techniques. To learn more about their efforts with the Seti I tomb, see the foundation's technical paper The Sarcophagus of Seti I — Re-materialisation.
The Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2009 in Madrid. It works alongside its sister company, Factum Arte, a multi-disciplinary workshop in Madrid dedicated to digital mediation in contemporary art and the production of facsimiles. The foundation was established to demonstrate the importance of documenting, monitoring, studying, recreating and disseminating the world’s cultural heritage through the rigorous development of high-resolution recording and re-materialization techniques. To learn more about their efforts with the Seti I tomb, see the foundation's technical paper The Sarcophagus of Seti I — Re-materialisation.
Download RealityScan
RealityScan is free to use for students, educators, and individuals and companies with an annual gross revenue below $1 million USD.Above the $1M threshold? Visit our licensing page to find out about your purchasing options.
Download the launcher
Before you can install and run RealityScan, you’ll need to download and install the Epic Games launcher.
Install Epic Games Launcher
Once downloaded and installed, open the launcher and create or log in to your Epic Games account.
Having trouble? Get support, or restart your Epic Games launcher download in Step 1.
Install RealityScan
Once logged in, navigate to the RealityScan tab in the Unreal Engine section and click the install button to download the most recent version.