3D-COFORM (Tools and Expertise for 3D Collection Formation) is an Integrating Project funded for 4 years from December 2008 under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme with an overall contract value of 8.45 M Euros. The Consortium is led by the University of Brighton and comprises of 19 partners to form a world class team on 3D-digisation complemented by an equally prestigious group of Cultural Heritage advisors. The expertise of the groups involved lies in fields as varied as computer graphics, computer vision, databases, archaeology, curatorship, economics and policy. Geographically the consortium is based mainly in Europe, with some partners and many liaisons from around the globe.
The main objective of 3D-COFORM is to advance the state of the art in 3D digitsation and to make 3D documentation an everyday practical choice for the cultural heritage sector. The project will address all aspects of 3D capture, 3D processing, metadata and provenance, search, research and dissemination to the public and professional alike. Hence, the project involves a technical research program complemented by research into practical business aspects: business models for exploitation of 3D assets, workflow planning and execution for mass digitisation, socio-economic impact assessment; and above all the creation of a Virtual Centre of Competence in 3D digitization in Europe.
The University of Brighton’s role in 3D-COFORM
The University of Brighton contribution is led by Prof David Arnold, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Information Science. Brighton technical work on the project concentrates on the areas of: 1) assembly and visualisation of 3D virtual environments for the presentation of heritage content, as well as 2) multi-lingual natural language generation. In addition, Brighton will examine business aspects of deploying 3D technologies in Cultural Heritage organisations, such as testing, training, strategy and evaluating the socio economic impact.
Website: http://www.3dcoform.eu