Volunteers around the world are helping create precise 3D digital recreations of objects recently destroyed at the Mosul museum in Iraq. By analyzing hundreds of images of the objects, volunteers, reearchers, and computer software can bring back a 3D version of the shattered artifacts.

Archaeologists, academics, and even tourists upload photographs and video that they have taken of the objects from varing angles. They can then help sort though the images and tag them. After that a computer analyzes the images, matching datapoints and calculating angles to create a 3D point cloud.  As more images are added to the database, the software can create a more exact picture. Other software can convert the point cloud to a rendered image like the one below.

Nirgul Tablet by nFrames on Sketchfab

More models of some of the recreations to date can be found on Sketchfab.com. The point cloud data continues to become more refined, which means the 3D models will also continue to get even better.

As more objects are digitally recreated, it’s possible to imagine a virtual museum where these artifacts can once again be experienced “in person.”