INSITU

The “Muzeum@Digit” Museum Digital Conference was held in 2017 for the fifth time, organised by the National Centre for Museological Methodology and Information (OMMIK) of the Hungarian National Museum.

In keeping with its original concept, the focus of Muzeum@Digit in 2017 was again digital renewal, innovation, and the presentation of trends and experiences, with great emphasis on the recently adopted Public Collection Digitisation Strategy (Közgyűjteményi Digitalizálási Stratégia, KDS). In addition – among other things – the digitisation of exhibitions, media education, cultural statistics, audiovisual archives and the topic of digital data assets were also on the table.

As a related event of the conference, which was organised for representatives of the Hungarian and international museum profession, Tripont, together with its professional partners, set up on site a working INSITU digitisation lab processing items from the collection of the Hungarian National Museum.

Summary of the equipment presented

With its novel technological solutions, the Treventus ScanRobot® makes possible the high-speed digitisation of 80% of bound or bindable holdings. A scanning speed of up to 2,500 pages/hour approaches the processing speed of sheet-fed scanners.

The pneumatic control borrowed from robotics and the gentle page turning with air make possible the safe and fast digitisation even of old books, up to those of the 18th century. The stable imaging process offered by the ScanRobot® ensures that it can be used under average office working conditions, in changing light, even over several shifts, without interruption.

In the digitisation of more delicate books with aged bindings, a great advantage is that the book only has to be opened to 60°, so more delicate copies can be handled without damage during the workflow. The sheet scanner integrated into the technology makes it possible to scan the book's special fold-out pages, its cover, or possibly torn-out pages in a single workflow.

The ScanRobot® can digitise almost every type of book, from publications of only a few pages up to volumes with a spine 15 cm wide.

The most effective element of the Treventus system is the ScanGate™ post-processing software, which processes the image files of the ScanRobot® scanner automatically, in almost real time, into two-layer searchable, editable PDF files.

The operator running the software is responsible for the quality control of the files and for any corrections. According to the set parameters, ScanGate™ automatically performs page cropping, text-area selection, straightening, image selection, background homogenisation, and the creation of the processing and final versions.

In addition to the images of the ScanRobot®, ScanGate™ efficiently converts the images of any digital imaging device – camera, planetary scanner or sheet scanner – into searchable, editable content of uniform quality.

An integral part of the system, Treventus OCR Solutions produces, without intervention, the searchable, editable PDF layer from countless languages, even in the case of Gothic typefaces.

The process – from selecting the holdings to be digitised, through allocating the appropriate equipment and staff, to directing and tracking the processes – is organised by the ScanFlow™ software.

Searching the digitised holdings and using them is most efficient with the Nainuwa™ electronic library system.

The digital files uploaded to the Nainuwa™ library can be text, images, gigapixel images, text containing images or images containing text, video, or even audio files. The files uploaded to the library can be grouped into so-called collections, for example by content, by access rights or by time period.

The framework of the Nainuwa™ library is now available in Hungarian too. Full-text search is aided by a filter system available on the basis of metadata. The search conditions can be refined with the conditions familiar from the usual complex web search.

The Nainuwa™ framework is also optimised for mobile devices, so we can comfortably carry out searches and use the content even on our mobile phones. The incredibly fast display system and real-time zooming in and out further increase usability.

With the function developed for displaying large images we can examine images and documents almost with a magnifying glass, without burdening our device by downloading the document.

The spectacular display of results greatly helps orientation and the selection of the right result. This fast and efficient display system almost puts the original document in our hands. The hits found in a given volume can be listed simultaneously, page by page or by page pairs.

The search system highlights each specific hit in the text with coloured marking against its surroundings.

Our hits can be put to use with several practical functions. With the usual “copy-paste” function we can copy out a given piece of text, and/or with the cropping function we can cut out details – images, figures – from the document, and then download them in editable form to our own device. Depending on the library owner's settings, it is also possible to download the result pages and entire volumes.

In Hungary, at Muzeum@Digit, the flagship of all digitisation, Phase One's iXG100 medium-format camera system specialised for cultural heritage digitisation is featured for the first time.

The iXG 100 offers the highest (100-megapixel) resolution and flexibility, so it is suitable for capturing large objects such as drawings and maps, as well as smaller objects such as books, manuscripts and even collections of parchments. The iXG 100 Achromatic makes it possible to take images beyond the RGB range in the NIR or even the UV range, greatly helping research into the origin and material composition of artefacts.

The 4:3 aspect ratio sensor maximises the captured area and is suitable for the most common object formats. The robust construction and quality of the iXG, together with the operating warranty for 1 million exposures, ensure reliability and durability even in the most demanding yet high-volume reproduction applications.

The Phase One iXG camera system has Schneider Kreuznach RS 72mm iXG and Schneider Kreuznach 120mm RS-iXG lenses, which make it possible to maintain sharpness and detail across the entire field of view, from the smallest macro objects to large maps.

The dynamic range of around 15 stops (>85db) and the 16-bit Opticolor+ calibrated colour space meet the requirements of the most demanding FADGI and Metamorfoze standards. The HDMI live image (1920x1080 25p/30p, 1280x720 50p/60p) makes the positioning of artefacts and the checking of shooting conditions in the field of view safe.

The motorised focusing can be controlled and continuously monitored with the Capture One CH software, and the shooting parameters are set and the capture is controlled with the software.

The Capture One CH software offers wide-ranging options for processing images; for automating colour temperature, rotation, cropping, positive-negative inversion, save variants, and other image-editing processes.

At the Muzeum@Digit conference event held at the Hungarian National Museum on 28-29 November 2017, representatives of the Hungarian and international museum profession and other visitors interested in the technology were able to view the digitisation equipment used and distributed by Tripont.

During the conference, the INSITU digitisation lab set up on site processed collection items designated by the Hungarian National Museum. Tripont's professional partners delegated representatives to the event, thus providing a platform for asking questions directly of the international professional manufacturers.