The name "GigaMesh" refers to the processing of large 3D-datasets and relates intentionally to the mythicalSumerian kingGilgamesh and his heroic epic described on a set of clay tablets.[10]: 115 The central element of the logo is thecuneiform sign𒆜 (kaskal) meaning street orroad junction, which symbolizes the intersection of thehumanities andcomputer science. The surrounding circle refers to the integralinvariant computation using asphericaldomain. The red color is derived fromcarmine, the color used by the Heidelberg University, where GigaMesh is developed.[citation needed]
In 2017 GigaMesh was tested by theDAI at anexcavation in Guadalupe, nearTrujillo, Honduras for immediate visualization of in-situ acquired findings with different 3D-scanners including a comparison with manual drawings.[18] Since then GigaMesh is permanently used by the excavation team,[19] their feedback led to numerous changes to theGUI, improving theuser experience (UX). Additionally online tutorials are published having a focus on tasks required to compile excavation reports.
TheScanning for Syria (SfS)[20] project of theLeiden University used GigaMesh in 2018 for 3D reconstruction of molds of tablets lost inar-Raqqa,Syria based onMicro-CT-scans.[21][22] As a follow-up project theTU Delft acquired further Micro-CT-scans for virtually extracting clay tablets still wrapped into clay envelopes, which are unopened for thousands of years.[23][24]In May 2020 the SfS project won theEuropean Union Prize for Cultural Heritage of the Europa Nostra in the category research.[25][26]
A first version (190416) for Windows was released in preparation for presentations about new functions shown at the international CAA 2019.[27]
Thecommand line interface of GigaMesh is well suited to process large amounts of 3D-measurement data within repositories. This was demonstrated with almost 2.000 cuneiform tablets of theHilprecht Collection of theJena University, which were processed and digitally published as benchmarkdatabase (HeiCuBeDa)[28] formachine learning as well as database of images including 3D- andmeta-data (HeiCu3Da)[29] usingCC BY licenses.[30] A baseline for period classification of tablets was established using aGeometric Neural Network being aConvolutional Neural Network typically used for 3D-datasets.[31][32] In 2023, an extension of the dataset was published containing extracted images of cuneiform characters, cuneiform lines and individual annotated cuneiform characters. The annotations are made available together with the renderings with metadata as CSV and a knowledge graph (RDF). These developments were created in the context of the DFG project "Digital Edition of Cuneiform Texts from Haft Tappeh" in Mainz. The acronymMaiCuBeDa is derived from the project location.[33] This provided the first results for the localization of cuneiform characters and their wedges, which show that MSII rendering improves the recognition quality for photos.[34][35]
TheLouvre showed GigaMesh based rollouts of anAryballos from the collection of theKFU Graz representing the use of digital methods for research onpottery of ancient Greece within the CVA project, which had its 100th anniversary in 2019. Renderings of the rollouts were on display in the second half of 2019 in the display case namedL’ère du numèrique et de l’imagerie scientifique (the digital era and scientific imaging).[36]
Version 191219 supportsTexture maps common for 3D-data captured using photogrammetry. This allows processing and in particular unwrapping of objects acquired with Structure-from-Motion widely used for documentation ofCultural Heritage and in archaeology.[citation needed]
In April 2020 the source code was published onGitLab and the license changed fromfreeware to theGPL. Version 200529 allows for the first time to apply the MSII filter using the graphical user interface to visualize the smallest details like fingerprints.[39] The DFG fundededition of texts fromHaft Tepe project[40] is using MSII filtered renderings of tablets in the so-calledfat-cross arrangement of side views.[41]
GigaMesh is increasingly being used in areas that have methodological overlap with archaeology, such asgeoengineering for the analysis ofseashells.[42]
Primarily thePolygon File Format is supported and used to store additional information from the processing. This is not possible with the — additionally supported —Wavefront OBJ due to its specification. It is possible to export meshes in theglTF fileformat. The marking of interpolated points and triangles by filling voids in the triangular grid represents meta-information to be captured, e.g. in the context of theNational Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in Germany. Other metadata such as inventory numbers, material, andhyperlinks ordigital object identifiers (DOIs) can be captured. In addition, there is the ability to calculate topological metrics that describe the quality of a 3D measurement dataset.[43]
^Hämmerle, Martin; Höfle, Bernhard (2017-12-05), "Introduction to LiDAR in Geoarchaeology from a Technological Perspective",Digital Geoarchaeology, Natural Science in Archaeology, Springer International Publishing, pp. 167–182,doi:10.1007/978-3-319-25316-9_11,ISBN9783319253145
^abHubert Mara (2012),Multi-Scale Integral Invariants for Robust Character Extraction from Irregular Polygon Mesh Data, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Library,doi:10.11588/heidok.00013890
^Reindel, Markus; Fux, Peter; Fecher, Franziska (2018), "Archäologisches Projekt Guadalupe: Bericht über die Feldkampagne 2017",Jahresberichte (in German), vol. 2017, Zürich, Switzerland: SLSA, Schweizerisch-Liechtensteinische Stiftung für archäologische Forschungen im Ausland,doi:10.5167/uzh-158145
^Fecher, Franziska; Reindel, Markus; Fux, Peter; Gubler, Brigitte; Mara, Hubert; Bayer, Paul; Lyons, Mike (2020), Burkhard Vogt und Jörg Linstädter (ed.), "The ceramic finds from Guadalupe, Honduras: Optimizing archaeological documentation with a combination of digital and analog techniques",Journal of Global Archaeology (JOGA), Bonn, Germany: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Kommission für Archäologie Aussereuropäischer Kulturen, pp. § 1–54–§ 1–54,doi:10.34780/joga.v2020i0.1009,ISSN2701-5572
^Mara, Hubert (2019-06-06),HeiCuBeDa Hilprecht – Heidelberg Cuneiform Benchmark Dataset for the Hilprecht Collection, heiDATA – institutional repository for research data of Heidelberg University,doi:10.11588/data/IE8CCN
^Mara, Hubert (2019-06-06),HeiCu3Da Hilprecht – Heidelberg Cuneiform 3D Database - Hilprecht Collection, heidICON – Die Heidelberger Objekt- und Multimediadatenbank,doi:10.11588/heidicon.hilprecht
^Mara, Hubert; Bogacz, Bartosz (2019), "Breaking the Code on Broken Tablets: The Learning Challenge for Annotated Cuneiform Script in Normalized 2D and 3D Datasets",Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR), Sydney, Australia, pp. 148–153,doi:10.1109/ICDAR.2019.00032,ISBN978-1-7281-3014-9,S2CID211026941{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
^Bogacz, Bartosz; Mara, Hubert (2020), "Period Classification of 3D Cuneiform Tablets with Geometric Neural Networks",Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Frontiers of Handwriting Recognition (ICFHR), Dortmund, Germany, pp. 246–251,doi:10.1109/ICFHR2020.2020.00053,ISBN978-1-7281-9966-5,S2CID227219798{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
^Hubert Mara, Timo Homburg (2023-08-29),MaiCuBeDa Hilprecht – Mainz Cuneiform Benchmark Dataset for the Hilprecht Collection, heiDATA – institutional repository for research data of Heidelberg University,doi:10.11588/data/QSNIQ2
^Stötzner, Ernst; Homburg, Timo; Mara, Hubert (2023), "CNN based Cuneiform Sign Detection Learned from Annotated 3D Renderings and Mapped Photographs with Illumination Augmentation",Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV), Paris, France, pp. 1672–1680,arXiv:2308.11277,doi:10.1109/ICCVW60793.2023.00183,ISBN979-8-3503-0744-3{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
^Brandes, Tim; Huber, Eva-Maria (2020), Behzad Mofidi-Nasrabadi (ed.), "Die Texte aus Haft Tappeh – Beobachtungen zu den Textfunden aus Areal I",Elamica: Contributions on History and Culture of Elam and Its Neighbouring Regions (in German), no. 10, Hildesheim, Germany: Franzbecker, pp. 9–42,ISBN978-3881208802{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
^Zhao, Yumeng; Deng, Bozhi; Cortes, Douglas D.; Dai, Sheng (2023), "Morphological Advantages of Angelwing Shells in Mechanical Boring",Acta Geotechnica, vol. 19, no. 3, Springer, pp. 1179–1190,doi:10.1007/s11440-023-01962-w,S2CID259731305
^Homburg, Timo; Cramer, Anja; Raddatz, Laura; Mara, Hubert (2021), "Metadata Schema and Ontology for Capturing and Processing of 3D Cultural Heritage Objects",Heritage Science, vol. 9, no. 91, Springer,doi:10.1186/s40494-021-00561-w,S2CID236438045
