- Title
- Mer-Neith-it-es 3D animation
- Creator
- Drabsch, Bernadette; Howells, Andrew; O'Donnell, Luke
- Relation
- [installation] Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney, Sydney N.S.W. ( )
- Relation
- https://fastlab.soci.org.au/project/05167972-6a8b-4c03-b262-dda985366cc2
- Resource Type
- moving image
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- In 2018 the discovery of a partially preserved mummy inside a faded 2600-year-old sarcophagus at the University of Sydney’s Nicholson Museum gained international media attention. Senior curator, Dr. James Fraser, immediately gathered a cross-institutional team of researchers with the goal of revealing more about the occupant, a priestess of the temple of Sekhmet, Mer-Neith-it-es. UoN’s School of Creative Industries researchers Drabsch, Howells and O’Donnell, were asked to digitally re-colour a high-definition 3D scan of the sarcophagus and produce an educational animation for museum display. The mammoth task was undertaken with the assistance of archaeologists (USyd), Egyptologists, radiologists (Macquarie University) and a team of scientists from Sydney Analytical, who helped to determine the original pigment colours through FTIR reflectance spectroscopy (infrared), Raman spectroscopy and pXRF analysis. The ongoing research project is being funded through a Small Research Consultancy established with the University of Sydney. It is pushing the boundaries of scientific illustration into new domains, as Drabsch, Howells and O’Donnell explore, through their practice, the question of whether it is possible to digitally replicate the hand drawn aesthetic of the ancient Egyptian artists by combining traditional line drawings with the latest digital technology. The team are utilising traditional research methods such as historical research, comparative iconographical studies and collaborative discussions along with practice-based methods such as storyboarding, colour enhancement, digital rendering and animation, using a suite of software packages, such as D-Stretch, Substance Painter, Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender and Premiere Pro. The process is iterative in nature, with many creative problem-solving moments, technical challenges and dead ends. The final animated outcome will tell two narratives: the first focuses on current research relating to the scanning and re-colourisation of the sarcophagus; and the second explores the iconographical elements of the coffin, illuminating Mer-Neith-it-es’ name, the protective goddesses, sons of Horus and the Anubis tableau. There have been many successes and challenges during the course of the research project, however, through experimentation the team have evidenced that the combination of traditional skills, such as hand-drawn scientific illustrations, with the latest digital techniques, can provide an accurate and visually appealing aesthetic suitable for cutting-edge museum display. The animation of the digitally recoloured 3D model will be the first of its kind in the field of museum displays and it will be on permanent display in the new Chau Chak Wing Museum at Sydney University.
- Subject
- digital artefact re-colourisation; digital humanities; digital rendering; 3D animation; museum studies; recorded/rendered works; transdisciplinarity
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1493655
- Identifier
- uon:53614
- Language
- eng
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