Piloting Photogrammetry in the UNT Digital Library

Building on the 3D scanning and model hosting already developed at the University of North Texas Libraries (UNT), members of the Digital Projects Unit (DPU) piloted a technique new to its digitization lab: photogrammetry. Previous methods of 3D scanning used in the DPU focused primarily on capturing the geometry of an item. While these are useful technologies for many types of objects, they fail to capture many external features of an item such as its color and texture. DPU members recognized that certain holdings of three-dimensional items at UNT would benefit from a 3D scanning method that would also capture such external characteristics. Photogrammetry uses photography to build photo-realistic three-dimensional models complete with the color and texture of the item. There are currently several methods and software available for generating these 3D models. DPU members used special collection holdings at UNT, largely from the Texas Fashion Collection, to test several of these methods. This presentation will focus on these methods for model creation as well as metadata description, uploading, and viewing of the models in the UNT Digital Library.