Playing with CloudCompare to compute roughness models at different levels to try and tease out more letters of a particularly eroded early medieval inscription on rough granite. Natural crystal structure is too noisy to gain more detail from depth mapping and AO. Trend surface might also work.
Thanks Corey!
Maybe I might be suitable for your list? I really should post more often…
It's Orwellian, isn't it. Sharing used to be fun :-(
Yes. Well done for getting PCV. Some techniques work better than others depending on rock type (and roughness), slope, and other morphological conditions.
If you get any decent results I’d be interested to see them.
When the PCV colouring is displayed the depth or ‘accessible’ areas can be adjusted. Scroll left-hand options down and you can change colour scale (eg Viridis) and gate values with the sliders. Very powerful tool useful for microwear up to landscapes.
I haven’t published my methods widely, only within individual papers about specific sites. The difficult juggle when you’re a freelancer! Open a mesh or point cloud in CC and look for the PCV button. Uncheck the ‘only Z axis’ option. Keep defaults to start. Look at result.
Yep! Been doing that for 20+ years. Very useful. Also try using Blender to do ambient occlusion (AO), or CloudCompare to do PCV analysis or depth mapping. Give me a shout if you need any help - it’s my specialism.
I can hear his voice saying that. Before the obligatory glass of Averna whether you wanted one or not. Congratulations, Gabe!
Scaniverse on high detail mode. But the results aren’t great. No real detail. Phones don’t have enough RAM and have thermal restrictions for on-device processing. At the moment at least.
Very sad that Dr Andy M Jones from Cornwall Archaeological Unit has died. I'd worked and co-authored a couple of papers with him. He was constantly working on projects, his brain always fizzing with ideas and connections. We planned some "one day" Cornish rock art projects. Must make them happen.
Dear all, I am extremely sorry to inform you that Dr Andy Jones died earlier this week after an illness.. Many members will have known Andy as manager of the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, as well as a long-standing and much respected trustee and leader for CAS.. People who love archaeology in Cornwall, in our Society, and beyond, will miss him greatly. Many of you will have known Andy and his gentle, kind manner personally. Or you may have appreciated his driving passion for examining prehistoric life, not just in Cornwall but throughout the South-West, and much further afield. You may have read his remarkable report on the Whitehorse Hill cist, high on the northern downs of Dartmoor, and his numerous other ground-breaking publications. Perhaps you joined one of his exciting CAS investigations: field walking for flints in cliff-top fields or excavating iconic sites, like Trethevy Quoit. You may have enjoyed hearing talks given by either Andy himself or by one of the many high-profile speakers Andy invited to talk to CAS, using his extensive academic contacts. His loss will be felt widely, throughout Cornwall and far beyond. Our thoughts are with Andy's family, with Anna, Freya and Oscar. Pete Herring, President of the Cornwall Archaeological Society
Some very sad news from Cornwall. Our thoughts go to Andy’s family and friends.
Polycam - but the subscription isn't as cheap as it was, and it requires network access for cloud processing. Otherwise I just use the camera on max settings (48MP on my iPhone Pro) using the ProCamera app (stores photos in a folder - not camera roll) and process manually with Metashape.
Thanks for that link. I had a good explore earlier. Lots of "Anglia et Cornubia" maps too. Wish the BL was doing this kind of work!
Some thoughts on 3D structured light scanning (SLS) for archaeologists and heritage folks. tom.goskar.com/2025/09/02/e...
But... but... don't you want 10% off your first purchase? Before you've even decided if there's anything that you want to buy?
Looking forward to exploring it when it's ready!
Enjoy! If you get a chance to visit Nesebar, it's a wonderful little town. Between Burgas and Varna. The stark contrast between the old and new towns is interesting too.
Could use carbon fibre? Some great sounding mandolins and fiddles out there made from it. Let me know if you want a bowl back mandolin scan too :-)
Just tried Perplexity's AI Deep Research tool. It made up a great looking report answering my queries about literacy levels of early medieval British stonemasons. It literally made it up, including imaginary quotes from imaginary manuscripts. It didn't use the sources I gave it either. Fail!
It’s a data processing week this week. Creating a very high resolution model of an inscribed stone to analyse every bit of its surface, including some tantalising but faint markings. The fans are revving up on my main computer. My office needed warming up anyway…
Yes. It’s looking good in its new location, and crucially, safe from flooding. I have it a gentle clean today before recording it. A cold but interesting day. Many days of data processing and enhancement and poring over the results lay ahead.
Wow - it's been a while since I last saw them! I did a monument condition survey in the WHS in about 2003 I think. Hope the rain stays away for you.
Today it's back to eroded inscriptions; tracing, and teasing individual letters out of coarse granite. Tomorrow sees me heading out for some fieldwork to clean and record another inscribed early medieval stone that also has some ogham. Will post some images once the project has been delivered!
We've lit the fire. Keeps the damp at bay!
Very satisfying work though! We'll never get all the answers. And we'll certainly know more than we did before. Updated description and interpretation will be added to the Historic Environment Record, with imagery, for public access.
