The National Museum’s Digital Image Processing Lab (LAPID) is a pioneer in Brazil in the use of 3D technologies for heritage research and preservation. It was created almost twenty years ago from an informal partnership between researchers from the paleontology and egyptology fields. Over the years, the laboratory has expanded its activities to cover other areas of the museum as well.
Deploying techniques such as computerized tomography, surface scanning and 3D modelling, LAPID has become responsible for the digitization of items from the National Museum collection, from mummies to whale skeletons.
These replicas, which first served mostly for research purposes, have become important public documents after the fire that, in 2018, destroyed a large part of the Museum’s building and collection. Some of them can be seen in the laboratory’s Sketchfab accounts. Their exhibition is, often, the only way to provide access to what has been lost.
Currently, LAPID is collaborating in the reconstruction of the National Museum by means of digitizing internal areas of the building as well as recuperated artifacts. This documentation enables the survival of material heritage in the form of volumetric references that allows for its recognition and restnoration.
The replicas will be published in an online database that will make it possible for researchers to interact with them virtually, preserving original artifacts from the wear of direct contact.