Lab Projects

Cravens Collection Virtual Museum

Cravens Collection exhibit

The Cravens Collection globe display in Buffalo, NY.

The Cravens Collection Digital Museum project, led by Laura Harrison and Access 3D Lab, is focused on increasing the accessibility of cultural heritage, facilitating object-based research with linked open data, and mobilizing the pedagogical value of museum collections with 3D technologies. During a lifetime of global travel, Annette Cravens collected over 1100 objects from cultures around the world that date from 4500 B.C.E to the modern era. Obejcts from the collection were documented with Access 3D Lab's handheld structured light scanners and laser scanners, and processed at the lab using Artec Studio 12 and GeoMagic Wrap software.

 The Cravens Collection is on permanent display at the  in an exhibit called The Human Aesthetic. Access 3D Lab has partnered with the University at Buffalo’s Art Galleries, to create a digital museum that will allow users to explore the collection in the context of the globe and open storage displays.

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Open storage cabinets allow researchers in to view the entire collection in the exhibition space. 

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Access 3D Lab's 3D scanning project builds on the Cravens Collection display design by  allowing users to view scanned objects from all angles, and increasing global access to the collection.

The Human Aesthetic exhibition space is designed with open storage cabinets to give visitors access to the entire collection, and a clear globe display, which allows visitors to view objects from all angles. The Cravens Collection Digital Museum project builds on these ideas, by using 3D scanning technology to document objects from all angles, and using open linked data archiving to increase the global reach and public accessibility of the collection.


The Cravens Collection Digital Museum Project is promotes the global public accessibility of 3D data and models by using standardized data formats and web publishing to facilitate interoperability and integration of structured data. In addition, public audiences can easily access 3D models of objects from the Cravens Collection on