eCorpus: the 3D editing tool for researchers and curators

ECorpus lets you store, annotate and share your 3D models. It uses DPO-Voyager as a 3D viewer and metadata editor, and features a user rights and modification history manager.

The development of eCorpus was initiated as part of the eThesaurus consortium. The project involved the digitization of six works of medieval goldsmith's art, held by the Musée Sandelin in Saint-Omer and the Palais des Beaux-arts in Lille.

Digitizing objects

You can digitize your objects yourself or have them digitized by any third party contractor.

Digital models derived from photogrammetry include information relating to the object's geometry in the form of a mesh, as well as information relating to its visual appearance as described in a PBR (Physical Based Rendering) model, which describes the optical properties of each point on the object: color, reflection, specularity, roughness, etc.

This information can be used to create a digital duplicate of the original object, as done in Holomouseio.

eCorpus features

Complete

eCorpus allows you to link data directly to each 3D object through enriched annotations annotations: title, abstract and article that can include multimedia content (videos, images, links, etc.).

You can then orchestrate this data, alongside your 3D objects, to create animated scenes (called "Towers"), ideal for showcasing your 3D objects in a museum or educational setting. It also facilitates collaborative research thanks to collaborative features and export capabilities.

Viewable via browser

eCorpus software is fully accessible via a simple web browser. So you can easily connect to any machine and show or even share your catalog of 3D objects by creating a new account for a third party.

Open but secure

The application architecture works by deploying independent instances, with the databases compatible with each other, but entirely separate. The majority of use cases concern entities that already have a content management solution, such as Omeka S. eCorpus data can be integrated and searched within these solutions.

Open source

eCorpus is distrubuted under the Apache-2.0 Open Source license, so that users have full ownership of their data and environment. Development happens on GitHub with regular development activity and a clearly identified team.

Structure

Each entry in the database has a data structure organized in a reference JSON file, with related data files (3D objects, textures, articles, images, videos, etc.).

This organization provides a high degree of flexibility: exported data can be used as they are independently of the server on which they are stored and its underlying features.

The scene description file enables the management of models with multiple levels of detail (LOD), as well as the translation of different metadata.

Each entry in the database is therefore an assembly of sub-elements, and each of these can include multi-resolution models, offering optimized geometry loading by the customer, limiting data loading to required chunks.

Content mediation and distribution

eCorpus lets you distribute 3D objects and metadata in two different configurations.

• On the one hand, by integrating the Voyager viewer into a web page or application, you can directly request the latest version of the 3D object from the server, according to its distribution rights. This is the easiest way to present results on institutional sites, by email or via mobile applications. The latest developments in Augmented Reality mean that objects can be displayed directly in this format using the AR Kit on Apple 8 or Android, without the need to install a third-party application.
• On the other hand, when an Internet connection is not possible (off-site installations, for example), eCorpus lets you create applications running on a local database, exported in advance from the online platform. This allows you to work asynchronously and add data without an Internet connection.