Kjeld photographs Denmark's cultural heritage with his 3D camera

Cultural Heritage Preservation with 3D Cameras

Kjeld Thrane works on everything from schools to churches, where he creates copies of buildings that are given new life in the digital world.

"It's so frustrating when you first think you should have made a 3D copy when a building is destroyed. Why not start now when we have the technology?" says Kjeld Thrane. (Photo: © Alex Horan, DR)

By Alex Horan ([email protected]) 40 min. ago

If you've recently passed by Varpelev Church, you may have noticed a man with a very advanced camera.

The camera was live – it rotated around itself, 360 degrees, and stopped frequently to take pictures from every angle, before the man moved the camera about half a meter and started again.

The man with the advanced camera is Kjeld Thrane, founder and owner of Web-Thrane.

Kjeld Thrane creates 3D scans of buildings, so they can be stored permanently and brought to life in the virtual world – and this is especially useful if the worst happens.

- It preserves cultural heritage, and it ensures that it can be rebuilt as accurately as possible if, for example, it burns down. Just like Notre Dame or the Stock Exchange, which will be difficult to rebuild, exactly as they were, explains Kjeld Thrane.

Read also: Making a 'digital twin' of Notre-Dame: Microsoft wants to strengthen Europe's cultural identity ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/skal-lave-digital-tvilling-af-notre-dame-microsoft-vil-styrke-europas-kulturelle ) Kjeld Thrane shows his 3D copy of Varpelev Parish Church, which can be seen in the background. (Photo: © Alex Horan, DR)

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Cultural Heritage and Much More

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Kjeld Thrane has recently created a "digital twin" of the parish church, which has stood for nearly 1,000 years.

Green church benches, ceiling paintings in the church, even the smallest café – it all was captured by Kjeld Thrane and his camera. And with a 3D copy of the parish church, the church can live on for a long time.

- Those who come in 50, 100 years, will be able to see the development of the building, and through texts that I add, they can get answers to why the building looks the way it does, explains Kjeld Thrane.

- Because it is digital, I can also update the 3D scan. That means that the story can be the old story, the cultural heritage. But it can also be the new cultural heritage.

When Kjeld has to create a digital twin, he sets the camera, which operates through laser scanning, on a tripod. With the help of a program on his iPad, he sets the camera in motion. The camera spins around and takes multiple pictures at multiple stops, so all angles are captured.

The process can be seen in the video:

The program can automatically place 4K images into a 3D world. The more images taken, the more that can be seen in the digital world.

When the scanning is complete, a comprehensive, interactive map of the building is uploaded to the internet, where one can walk around in the virtual world, as if one were actually there.

It is not an easy task to create a digital copy of a real building – a church like Varpelev Parish Church can take three days of hard work for Kjeld Thrane. But the result is worth it. For Kjeld, it is important that he does something to preserve the Danish cultural heritage.

* This is what the 3D scan looks like when zoomed out completely. (Photo: Screenshot from web-thrane.dk)

* Here is Kjeld Thrane's 3D scan of Varpelev Parish Church from the inside. Here, one can use the arrow keys to move around and click on the colorful markers, which contain historical facts. (Photo: Screenshot from web-thrane.dk) 1 / 2 Sådan ser 3D-scanningen ud, når man zoomer helt ud. (Foto: Screenshot fra web-thrane.dk) 1 / 2 Her ses Kjeld Thranes 3D-scanning af Varpelev Sognekirke indefra. Her kan man bruge piletasterne til at bevæge sig rundt og klikke på de farverige markører, der indeholder historisk fakta. (Foto: Screenshot fra web-thrane.dk) 2 / 2

- It's so frustrating when you first think you should have made a 3D copy when a building is destroyed. Why not start now when we have the technology? For me, there is only one way forward when it comes to preserving cultural heritage – and that is digital, explains Kjeld Thrane.

The parish priest of Hårlev-Varpelev-pastorate, Mads Jacob Iversen, shares Kjeld's idea of preserving cultural heritage through 3D copies.

- We think it's a great way to present the church's interior. We are proud of the building work that stands, and we want to preserve the church as long as possible for future generations, says Mads Jacob Iversen.

- We must also follow the times. But it is obviously always better to experience it in real life.

Kjeld Thrane, who is a trained professional photographer, has in fact added an extra layer to the 3D scanning work at Varpelev Parish Church.

3D camera captures all details in 4K resolution. (Photo: © Alex Horan, DR)

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One, Two, Three, Four Dimensions

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Kjeld has an extra thing in his arm – he adds in fact an extra detail in what he calls 4D.

- I add an extra dimension that is called either education, storytelling, or security, explains Kjeld.

All information about, for example, the church's entrance or altar can be clicked on in the digital world. It can be both historical information, but it can also be something else.

Kjeld has in fact created several scans of schools, including Karise Afterschool, which is a special afterschool. Here, Kjeld learned that the young people with diagnoses are more comfortable starting at the afterschool if they know how the building looks.

- I want to help young people have a good experience. Suddenly, it became something else – an educational tool. That I can certainly live with, says Kjeld Thrane.

Whether it is to scan a school, a cultural heritage site, or something completely different, it is clear to Kjeld why he does it.

- I have it really, really good with helping people and being part of preserving cultural heritage and much more for future generations, if the worst possible scenario were to happen, says Kjeld Thrane.

Here is the overview when Kjeld has scanned a building. Each square or circle marks a place where Kjeld has 3D scanned. (Photo: © Alex Horan, DR)

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