Nostell Priory Dolls’ House 3D Animation
Photogrammetry | 3D Modeling | Digital Animation
The Nostell Priory Dolls’ House 3D Animation involved the Priory’s 18th century dolls’ house which was being restored and placed in its own, new exhibit with in the house. Curators sought a 3D digital animation which would reconstruct the dolls’ house digitally and provide animation which displayed how the house’s doors, which are now separated from the main structure, would have slid open and closed. The digital animation, presented as bookends to a wider video presentation, is now currently displayed as part of the dolls’ house exhibition.
National Trust, Nostell Priory
The Nostell Priory Dolls’ House 3D Animation, as part of a video presentation within the exhibit, illustrates to visitors how the doors once slid open and closed.
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Challenge
Curators at Nostell Priory wanted a realistic recreation of the historic and fragile dolls’ house in digital form. The intended animation would be a way to exhibit the movement of the object which was no longer available.
Solution
Photogrammetry (or the creation of a 3D model by lacing a series of photographs together) was chosen as the modeling technique because this would provide a much more realistic looking model and picture-perfect textures.
Because of its size and fragile nature, photogrammetry of the front and sides was carried out and the back and top had to be reconstructed with 3D software. Furthermore, because of the intricacies, the interior was represented by placing a 2D image over the front of the model rather than modeling it in 3D.
Innovation
The innovative technique of photogrammetry made it easy and affordable to recreate the artefact digitally and provide a unique storytelling device for Nostell Priory to feature along with the exhibit. Though it’s becoming more popular, as an offering from digital media providers photogrammetry is still quite a niche skill and something even more rare among companies specialising in visualisations for heritage.
