By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Photography has begun on what will eventually be a 3D model of Liberty Bell 7 online as part of a virtual Cosmosphere.
"We're going to do a lot of work, taking 1000 photos and bringing a crew in to do a digital scan for us," said Nathan Meyer, VP of Education and Strategy for the Cosmosphere. "We can turn that artifact into something that people can view, hopefully all over the world."
For those who need to teach STEM fields virtually, the hope is to give them something to work with.
"In a time where schools and society needs a little bit of a relief, that's part of our goal right now," Meyer said. "To try to give back a little bit with some of the stuff we have right here in Hutchinson."
Creaform is a company that will create a precision 3D image of Liberty Bell 7 that the Cosmosphere can use.
"They do a lot of work with the aerospace industry," Meyer said. "They're going to take a laser scan, which basically means there's going to be millions and millions of points of data, very high accuracy. They'll turn that into what's called a mesh and they'll have all of the details in this digital file. We'll add some of our pictures and add the color and the texture back and you'll have a 3D replica, a digital replica of that craft."
A sneak peek of the project, including a time-lapse of the scanning will be available on the Cosmosphere's social media next week.