Manuscripts, maps, bindings, copper plates and portraits imaged for the ARCHiOx project.

ARCHiOx - Analysis and Recording of Cultural Heritage in Oxford – is a research and development partnership between the Bodleian Libraries and the Factum Foundation. Using technology conceived and developed at Factum Arte, the ARCHiOx project is producing extremely high-resolution three-dimensional scans of objects from across the Bodleian’s collections. The project, which began in 2022, has been funded by The Helen Hamlyn Trust.

The state-of-the-art equipment used for ARCHiOx employs principles specifically designed for the capture of low-relief surface texture. These techniques can be used to record the primarily flat, but texturally rich originals from the Bodleian’s collections in exceptionally high detail. This high-resolution, low-relief capture has been termed ‘2.5D’.

The 2.5D data produced by ARCHiOx can reveal textural details which are difficult to see and hard to record using traditional photographic techniques. Shaded renders visualise the surface texture of an object without colour or tone, while composite images reintroduce colour to these renders to create a highly detailed image which represents the material nature of the original object.

The Bodleian Libraries are also developing tools which allow users to explore the surface data captured via ARCHiOx in Digital Bodleian. These tools include options for switching between image layers, and virtually relighting the recorded surfaces.

To explore these objects in 2.5D, use the “View in Mirador in 2.5D” button in the About panel (under the “information” icon on mobile devices). The objects digitized to date include elaborate embroidered bindings, Japanese woodblock prints, notoriously difficult-to-photograph copper plates, a 1,900 year old wax tablet featuring school exercises, and faint doodles scratched into the margins of medieval manuscripts.

Read more about the technologies and techniques developed for the ARCHiOx project here.