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User Story

Interactive Institute Swedish ICT

Scanning the sarcophagus with the FARO Edge ScanArm.

3D DOCUMENTATION Museum visitors in Stockholm will soon be able to explore a real Egyptian mummy in a virtual autopsy that combines

three scanning technologies for a ground-breaking new level of realism.

Since archaeologists rst dared to enter the pyr-

amids, the public have been fascinated by the

exploration of relics from ancient Egypt. Now

visitors to the Museum of Mediterranean and

Near Eastern Antiquities Medelhavsmuseet

in Stockholm will be able to virtually peel away

the layers and actually look inside real mummies

that have been carefully guarded for more than

4'000 years.

The experience will be powered by Inside Ex-

plorer, a tool developed by Interactive Institute

Exploring inside a mummy

Swedish ICT. Thomas Rydell, Studio Director at

Interactive Institute, heads the team of visualisa-

tion and interaction software specialists behind

the project. He says "The 'Inside Explorer' sys-

tem is already in use in a number of museums,

but the textural detail of the mummy exhibit due

to open in early 2014 is unprecedented."

The mummy was taken to a hospital for a

Computer Tomography (CT) scan, which provid-

ed volumetric information of the inside of the

mummy. But CT scans do not provide sufcient

surface detail. This is where FARO stepped in

to help.

A FARO Edge ScanArm was used for the

3-day mummy scanning session, which was con-

ducted by members of the Interactive Institute

team and Autodesk: "We are software engineers

and not measuring experts but we were able

to use the FARO hardware almost immediate-

ly," says Rydell. "FARO came in to help us get

started and to check a few things that we might

have otherwise missed." The members of

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INTERACTIVE INSTITUTE SWEDISH ICT

Interactive Institute Swedish ICT is an experimental

IT & design applied research institute dedicated to

the creation of ground-breaking user experiences.

The institute with a staff of 60 aims to develop

expertise in interaction design, visualization, user

behaviour, sound design, games and entertainment.

The mummy project is a collaboration between Inter-

active Institute Swedish ICT, Norrkping Visualization

Center C, Center For Medical Imaging and Visualiza-

tion (CMIV), Medelhavsmuseet, Autodesk and FARO.

WWW.TII.SE/PROJECTS/INSIDEEXPLORER

The mummy ready for a CT scan at CMIV hospital in Sweden.

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"We are software engineers and

not measuring experts, but we were

able to use the FARO hardware

almost immediately."

THOMAS RYDELL, DIRECTOR OF

INTERACTIVE INSTITUTE C-STUDIO

the team were swapping roles all the time

and taking photogrammetric images, "so the ease

of use and mobility of the FARO device was a huge

enabler," explains Rydell.

Now, with the mummies safely locked away to

protect them from UV or physical damage, post pro-

cessing is underway. Autodesk reality computing

software is being used to create detailed textured

meshes from the regular 2D photos and the cloud-

point data.

The volumetric data from CT scanning and the tex-

tured mesh data from the surface scanning will then

be combined in Inside Explorer, Interactive Institute's

own real time rendering software, creating an accu-

rate digital representation of the mummy. Museum

researchers or visitors will then be able to use simple

gestures to explore the mummy as a whole, zoom in to

see ne detail or go below the surface. "Thanks to the

3D scans of the surface, we have the possibility to get

enough surface resolution to establish a powerful and

realistic rst impression," says Rydell.

Users can also remove the sarcophagus, peel

away the layers and explore the inside of the exhibit.

SUMMARY

Interactive Institute and collaborators used

a FARO Edge ScanArm to add surface real -

ism to a stunning new interactive museum

exhibit featuring Stockholm's collection of

Egyptian mummies.

WWW.MEASURING-ARMS.FARO.COM

FOUR GOOD REASONS

1Ease of use: Everyone on the

team got involved hands-on

in the scanning and we are

not metrologists. So the fact

that we got such good results

proves how easy it is to use a

FARO ScanArm.

2Service support: In all my

interactions with FARO I was

impressed by their helpfulness

and service commitment. It

made this whole project pos-

sible, and straightforward.

3Resolution: The interactive

illusion comes to life because

of the highly accurate surface

information provided by the

FARO Edge ScanArm.

4Mobility: We had to take the

mummy to a hospital in Stock-

holm for the CT scans but theFARO ScanArm can easily be

transported and positioned where

you need them.

Thomas Rydell, Director of Interactive

Institute C-Studio:

"You see the tissue and the skeleton things which

doctors and researchers have been able to look at for

a long time but this project brings it all together

for the general public."

As other museums begin to develop their own

3D- interactive exhibitions, FARO will be supporting

the trend with easy to use, fast and exible tools.

www.tii.se/projects/insideexplorer

Interactive Institute Swedish ICT