Projects
Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) is working on a number of projects around the world, in such far-flung places as United Kingdom, Italy, and New Jersey in the US. Our projects may be based in the field, at an excavation, in an archaeology laboratory, museum, university, or cultural heritage institution. Recently CHI has been focused on adapting its core technology, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), for a wide variety of cultural sites and objects.
National Science Foundation
Automated Documentation and Illustration of Material Culture through the Collaborative Algorithmic Rendering Engine (CARE)
The Cyber-enabled Discover and Innovation (CDI-Type1) program of the National Science Foundation awarded a $550,000 grant to CHI in partnership with Dr. Szymon Rusinkiewicz of Princeton University’s Department of Computer Science. The grant enables the Princeton-CHI team to create an open source tool, the Collaborative Algorithmic Rendering Engine (CARE), that will yield accurate rendered drawings from the same photographic data sets that are used in Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). More …
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
21st Century Museum Professionals (21MP) Grant Program
Imaging Technology Pathways for Museum Professionals
With a grant from the IMLS of $255,200, CHI was able to deliver 10 training sessions on Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) across the US, for emerging and established museum professionals. The project resulted in freely available tools and training materials for dissemination to the broader museum community. More …
Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Reflectance Transformation Imaging Conservation School Pilot Program
CHI was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation to fund a pilot program in conjunction with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF). The goal of the pilot program is to produce multimedia content that demonstrates how Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) can be used in the conservation of cultural heritage objects. More …
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT)
A Comprehensive Training Program for 3D Digital Rock Art Documentation and Preservation
Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI), in collaboration with its partner organizations, was awarded a grant from NCPTT to fund the development of a training program for three-dimensional (3D) digital rock art documentation and preservation. The grant provides essential funding to put techniques of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) in the hands of archaeology and conservation professionals through training, video podcasts, do-it-yourself guides, and online materials, in an economical and comprehensive program. More …
Training and Collaboration at the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos
Preserving and Sharing Ancient Treasures With Cultural Heritage Imaging Technology
Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI), the University of Texas at Austin’s Institute of Classical Archaeology, and the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, with support from the Packard Humanities Institute, deployed interactive, 3D imaging technology to preserve and share amazing artifacts from Chersonesos, a world-class archaeological site in Ukraine. More …
Training at the Worcester Art Museum
Museum Conservation Department Adopts Reflectance Transformation Imaging Techniques
Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) provided training for staff members in the conservation department of Worcester Art Museum (WAM). This five-day class included a custom-built light array that uses Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology. More …
UNESCO Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley in Portugal
Partners in Preservation
Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) co-founders Mark Mudge and Carla Schroer, and CHI's imaging director Marlin Lum, worked on site at UNESCO Prehistoric Rock-Art site in the remote Côa Valley in Portugal, where they applied CHI digital imaging tools and technologies to create 3D images based on Reflectance Transformation Imaging captures (RTIs) of two types of prehistoric rock art. More …
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
National Leadership Grant Project
Developing Advanced Technologies for the Imaging of Cultural Heritage Objects
University of Southern California (USC), Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI), and Hewlett-Packard Labs received a prestigious National Leadership Grant from the IMLS to extend Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology to provide three-dimensional (3D), multiple-view RTIs of cultural objects. More …
Donor-Funded Project at CHI
Switzerland 2005: Expedition to the Alps
Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) co-founders Mark Mudge and Carla Schroer, and CHI's imaging director Marlin Lum, adapted Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology to document artifacts spanning millennia of human history from three awesome archaeological collections in Switzerland. More …
