Thanks to special lenses lenticular printing technology makes an image “deeper,” so that it seems that one can dive into the picture. Furthermore high resolution, high-grade color specification and picture size – the images are about 60x80cm – also enhance the illusion of depth.
Professor Sergei Stafeev, Dean of Department of Natural Sciences, says: “Lenticular images are usually created using two methods. The first one is when one puts a plastic micro-lenticular screen on a photo printed on a piece of paper. However before that it is necessary to combine slips of two images accurately. The second method is based on pictures printed by the ultraviolet printing machine. We chose the second one…”
To make images of the six battleships researchers used their models exhibited in Central Naval Museum. Those who even once visited the museum know that the large models up to 2 meters are very accurate replicas of the real ships. As for now, ships “Svetlana,” “Admiral Ushakov,” “Nickolas I,” “Buinyi,” “Oslyabya,” and “Borodino” are presented in Aurora Museum’s hall among the exhibits related to the Battle of Tsushima, which is the last one in the open enfilade.
The specialists started with stereoscopic panoramic shooting using a special slider rented from their Greek colleagues. To make photos a camera moved alongside horizontal yards and made shots from different angles. Vasilii Trushin, researcher at ITMO’s Design and Multimedia Center, who worked with this equipment, was guided by Andreas Sarakinos, a representative of Hellenic Institute of Holography.
"We have fixed a camera to a slider which consisted of modular yards and a tripod, and a smartphone or a tablet to control movements of the camera. Before that we determined the shooting parameters and required number of photos, which depends on the characteristics of the ribbed surface of the lens used to make images three-dimensional. Making only 25 photos was enough to construct a lenticular image. And the next step was UV printing," commented Mr. Trushin.
ITMO University’s FabLab is already equipped with an ultraviolet printer. However, as professor Stafeev noted, the experts had to use another device because the size of the ships’ images was too big for the FabLab’s device.
This is not the only project made by opticians in cooperation with researchers at the Design and Multimedia Center in the field of Art&Science. The partners plan to present a joint exhibition for St. Petersburg residents and guests in September. The visitors will have a chance to look at architectural compositions of churches and warships in an unusual way: the exhibits will be holograms, lenticulars and 3D models.
ITMO U’s Art&Science cluster moves with the times – new technologies have become an integral part of social life and culture. They can be applied not only for digitalization of existing art items, but also for a new, modern representation of the cultural heritage. ITMO’s researchers and engineers are always interested in looking for nontrivial and relevant multimedia solutions for museums and theaters.
