Activists in Ukraine have begun using 3D scanning to create digital copies of the country’s heritage sites at risk of being destroyed by Russian forces.
随着俄罗斯的炮击使玛丽波尔和哈尔基夫等城市的部分扁平化，乌克兰志愿者现在正朝着在遭受同样命运之前将国家的地标永生化。作为一部分后备乌克兰主动性，大约有6,000名用户已经使用了一个移动扫描应用程序来存档3D模型和历史遗迹，以维护他们为子孙后代进行保护。
“通过这项技术,有可能为everyday citizens to go out there and create quite literally a digital backup of their cultural heritage at a level far exceeding anything that was possible just a few years ago,” Tao Thomsen, co-creator of Backup Ukraine,告诉业务内部人士。“在您的眼前看到它，就像您可以触摸它一样。我认为，这比仅仅看图像产生了更大的情感影响。”
“We’re looking into how we can use this as an educational tool as well. How can we use this to drive empathy, not just in Ukraine, but in every country in the world?”
The cultural cost of Russia’s war
Under the 1954 Hague Convention, heritage sites are deemed to be civilian by nature, and as such, countries at war are obliged to avoid deliberately damaging or using them for military purposes. These rules were reinforced by aUN resolutionin 2017, which made the destruction of such landmarks a war crime, after a series of联合国教科文组织ISIS在伊拉克和叙利亚摧毁了世界遗产。
Yet, despite the rules introduced to protect such sites, there’s evidence to suggest that the security of Ukraine’s aren’t being respected by advancing Russian forces. Not only has Russia engaged in indiscriminate bombing since its invasion began, but it has reportedly started to ‘Russify’ occupied territories, amid普京总统的主张乌克兰的历史并不鲜明，值得保护。
联合国教科文组织has also managed to quantify this destruction, announcing that 29 religious sites, 16 historical buildings, four museums and four monuments in Ukraine were flattened or partially destroyed in March 2022 alone. The destruction of these sites, which included the Holocaust Memorial Centre near Kharkiv, has since prompted an international effort to help protect Ukraine’s remaining artifacts.
联合国教科文组织总干事奥黛丽·阿祖里（Audrey Azoulay）在战争开始时说：“我们必须维护乌克兰的文化遗产。”“作为过去的证词，也是国际社会有责任保护和保存未来的和平与凝聚力的催化剂。”
“支持”乌克兰遗产
汤姆森和他的团队听到有关遗产遗址被摧毁的谣言，得出的结论是，俄罗斯可能“故意破坏[乌克兰]文化的物质基础”，因此他们迅速采取行动。为了防止该国的古迹永久丢失，汤姆森和公司。已经建立了备份乌克兰，这是一个档案，志愿者可以上传其3D模型。
To make the initiative accessible to everyday Ukrainians as possible, Backup Ukraine’s organizers have built it aroundPolycam，一种移动激光雷达扫描应用程序，允许用户快速创建尺寸精确的3D模型。
Initially, Thomsen says that Ukrainians were hesitant to risk going outside to take part, but his team of contributors has now expanded significantly from the 150 volunteers he started with. While the initiative began as a way to preserve cultural heritage, he adds that many users have started to utilize it to document events on the ground, and provide an insight into the damage caused by Russia’s war.
The initiative is being carried out alongside the Danish National Committee of UNESCO, Blue Shield Denmark, Polycam and the Vice Media Group. For now, Backup Ukraine is only open to volunteers authorized by its organizers, who are discouraging contributors from scanning near conflict zones or without permission, but continuing to enlist wherever they can.
Those based in Ukraine and interested in contributing canfind out more about Backup Ukraine here。
通过3D扫描存档
While Backup Ukraine is no doubt working towards a worthy cause, it’s far from the first initiative to harness the power of 3D scanning for archiving applications. During 2017, when ISIS was busy causing havoc across Syria and Iraq, theDubai Future Foundationmanaged to3D print replicas of artifactsdestroyed by its forces.
On a wider scale, projects like扫描世界还试图通过建立一个由社区主导的可下载模型的“开源博物馆”来使所有人都可以使用。到目前为止，该小组已经建立了一个免费的数据库，其中包含20,000多个STL文件，并继续扩展，与Google艺术与文化合作to grow its collection of 3D printable art in July last year.
实际上，文物的3D打印变得如此普遍，以至于Cubicurehas even developed anSLA 3D可打印象牙替代品, which can be used to restore damaged historical objects. Using its ‘Digory’ material, researchers have already managed to repair a 17th century coffin, without needing to use any real ivory.
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Featured image shows a bust being scanned using the Polycam app. Photo via Backup Ukraine.
