Finding My Tribe at the ATRIUM 3D Models Training School 2025

It is a hard lesson to learn but “being lazy and impatient” is a trait ONLY for the gifted. This is the take home lesson from the ATRIUM 3D Models Training School 2025 in the Czech Republic. The one week training took place between the 15th to the 19th of September 2025 and was hosted at the Institute of Archaeology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno.

As the instructors, David, Tomáš and Vojtěch, explained how we would take photos of a given selected part of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul onsite that cold Tuesday morning, we listened carefully and recalled all that we had learned in theory the previous day. Monday was dedicated to learning and understanding the concepts behind photography and photogrammetry. With the use of presentation slides and illustrations with actual cameras, the participants learned how to take photos at a given site- in theory.

Tuesday was then the practical part of the photo taking which then came with an assignment to capture a small section of the Cathedral which we can use to learn how to produce a 3D render. This had us excited as for some, this was the first time that they get to fully experience capturing and rendering of a site.

Based on a random allocation, I got to be on a team with John and Marco- two individuals who immediately accepted that we were going for a complex shape and not just a slate on one of the walls. As we walked around the Cathedral, we each know we had not found what we are looking for until we arrived at the statues. There were free standing statues that, after much debate and a voice of reason from Vojtěch, we decided to let go of the idea to use as a test subject for beginners.

We then tracked back to an ecclesiastical heraldry achievement (crest) that we passed at some point. This was found near a door and under a small roof. It featured a number of components which came out of the casting in 3D.

With much enthusiasm, the three of us agreed that we will use that as our area. Vojtěch looked on and assisted as we worked though planning of the complexities of the position of the ecclesiastical heraldry achievement (crest) - the limited area to take photos, the funny lighting which was caused by the shadows from the roof, the intricacies of the ecclesiastical heraldry achievement (crest) with many differently shaped and positioned components.

The list went on however, Vojtěch shared that we can have a “fall back plan”- just in case we failed to pull off the 3D render of the ecclesiastical heraldry achievement (crest). We were then to pick a second site that we would capture and use as Plan B. A visit from David confirmed that we were biting more than we could chew but he re-assured us of the lessons we would learn from the experience- good or bad.

So, we went ahead and took the photos- a total of 248 of them. Looking back, in retrospect, it was a bit excessive. However, since the three of us took turns to take photos, we were oblivious to the true number of photos taken. We therefore felt the pain after as we would work with the images on RealityScan as most key steps required a render which took time considering the millions of points that were created from the photos.

The team spent the Tuesday afternoon and evening working on the model and victory was ours. The rendered image came out looking astonishing- to us, it was one of the best thing we ever saw. Surely when one looked at the properties of the 3D render, there were some areas that could have used more details- that is for next time as this time, we were the happiest photogrammetry team ever.

Works on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday saw us finalising the 3D render, exporting it and fixing little bits in Blender and preparing it for export to a 3D viewing platform. Afterall, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” (George Berkeley). We went all out and showed off our hard work to the public through Sketchfab.

Below is a showcase of the original work named Project 1, a back-up of the work named Project 2 and a backup of the back-up of the work named Project 3. Only a team of like-minded people will agree to capture three sites just in case one did not work and still work out all three. It takes a village… Thanks to the tribe.

• Project 1: the ecclesiastical heraldry achievement as rendered by John Kanyingi. https://skfb.ly/pBvEG

• Project 2: a wall inscription which was next to the ecclesiastical heraldry achievement as rendered by Marco Brunello https://skfb.ly/pBvvx
• Project 3: another wall inscription from the opposite end of the church as rendered by Martha Mosha. https://skfb.ly/pBwor

Acknowledgements:

A visit to this School was made possible with the funding provided for participation. A big thank you goes out to the funders. A vote of thanks goes to the tribe members, John Kanyingi and Marco Brunello, who allowed for us to capture and render out three different projects. This was a great learning opportunity.

Thanks to all the instructors for their patience and shared skills as we learned a lot from all of them. A special thanks goes out to David Spáčil, Tomáš Chlup and Vojtěch Nosek who were with us every day and at each of our learning steps. Thanks to Zuzana Kopáčová and the behind the scene team, we appreciate your administration assistance.

Lots of gratitude goes to all other participants within the School, who are also a part of the tribe, including; Akinbowale Akintayo, Areti Michalopoulou, Barbara Ritterová, Daniela Galazzo, Emre Resuloglu, Judit Garzón Rodriguez, Katarína Hladíková, Maria Sotomayor Chicote, Miguel Carrero-Pazos, Oksana Hrytsiuta, Orsolya Gyurka, Paraskevi Gavra, Paulina Staszkiewicz, Valeria Carrillo Garza, and Yin Min Myat.

Final thanks are to the Institute of Archaeology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno and the people of Brno.