{"id":12565,"date":"2025-07-16T09:05:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T14:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=12565"},"modified":"2025-07-16T09:05:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T14:05:45","slug":"software-by-uw-stout-professor-students-helps-international-museum-collections-shine-literally-in-3d","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/software-by-uw-stout-professor-students-helps-international-museum-collections-shine-literally-in-3d\/","title":{"rendered":"Software by UW-Stout professor, students helps international museum collections shine \u2013 literally \u2013 in 3D"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
UW-Stout Assistant Professor Michael Tetzlaff, at podium, and students Chloe Ferguson and Luke Denney, gave a presentation about Kintsugi 3D at Research Day, May 6, 2025. \/ UW-Stout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kintsugi 3D used by Minneapolis Institute of Art, other institutions to capture surface details of heritage objects<\/h2>\n

Software developed at University of Wisconsin-Stout is helping museums around the world preserve pieces of cultural heritage for future generations by creating 3D models that accurately capture every detail of the color, texture and brightness of objects.<\/p>\n

Kintsugi 3D is the creation of\u00a0Michael Tetzlaff, an assistant professor of\u00a0<\/strong>computer science<\/strong><\/a>, and numerous UW-Stout students. The software has been used by notable institutions worldwide to create models of artifacts in their collections, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, Norway; the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C; and the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia).<\/p>\n

\u201cDocumenting the art is incredibly important, and we want to get it out in the world however we can,\u201d explained\u00a0Mia Lead Collections Photographer Charles Walbridge<\/strong>, an avid user of the software. \u201cThe Kintsugi project has helped us be able to share more accurate 3D models that we\u2019ve been making in the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kintsugi 3D gets its name from the Japanese art of kintsugi, a method of repairing broken pottery with lacquer and precious metals to create unique pieces that celebrate, rather than camouflage, their fractures. Likewise, the software allows photo professionals to capture true-to-life 3D models of sculptures, paintings and other cultural heritage objects.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
The Kintsugi 3D Viewer software, a part of the project that students Tyler Betanski, Jacob Buelow, Isabel Smith, Victor Mondragon, Kyle Boatwright and Melissa Kosharek worked on. \/ Image courtesy of UW-Stout student team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While existing photogrammetry software \u2013 which combines hundreds of photos from different angles to create a 3D model \u2013 can effectively record many aspects of an object\u2019s appearance, it falls short in capturing the essence of materials and textures, Tetzlaff said. In particular, photogrammetry software struggles with specularity \u2013 the reflectivity of a surface and how it varies \u2013 particularly with objects that are shiny or metallic. Kintsugi 3D solves this problem by creating much more true-to-life renderings, capturing the sparkle of a bit of gold leaf or the depth of a brush stroke in oil paint.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing that our software does is it allows you to process those photographs and then builds a compact representation of what the material of the object looks like so that we can create new, interactive, dynamic 3D renderings where the user can change the viewpoint, change the lighting,\u201d Tetzlaff explained. The resulting 3D models can be rotated by the user, with virtual light playing off the details of the surfaces, whether they are dull or dazzling, giving a much more realistic representation of the item. This is particularly valuable for accurately portraying older objects, whose surfaces may have been damaged or worn unevenly over time.<\/p>\n

These models can be shared widely, helping scholars and the public appreciate cultural heritage objects. And they also serve as a kind of insurance, allowing the objects to live on \u2013 virtually, at least \u2013 if they are damaged or lost.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Kintsugi 3D was used to create these images of “Man from Sudan in Algerian Dress,” a 19th-century sculpture by Charles Cordier. \/ Minneapolis Institute of Art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Software funded with federal, state grants<\/h3>\n

Tetzlaff said the software grew out of work he did as a doctoral student, and it received a significant boost in 2023 thanks to a $75,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant received in conjunction with Mia and Cultural Heritage Imaging, a San Francisco-based nonprofit. This and other funding, including from UW-Stout\u2019s\u00a0Office of Research & Sponsored Programs<\/a>\u00a0as well as a recent grant from WiSys, has helped pay for students to work to improve the software.<\/p>\n

Luke Denney<\/strong>, a computer science major from Byron, Minnesota, who graduated in May, has put hundreds of hours into Kintsugi 3D over the past two years. In fact, he even gave the software its current name, inspired in part by a \u201cStar Wars\u201d character who repaired his helmet kintsugi-style.<\/p>\n

Denney has worked on the software\u2019s loading screen, trying to make it more user-friendly, particularly for those who aren\u2019t programmers themselves. \u201cA big part of this project was user experience design,\u201d Tetzlaff explained. \u201cThere was basically working software that I had developed, but it wasn\u2019t very usable. A lot of the research was working with user experience experts and stakeholders in cultural heritage to figure out what works for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denney shared the work he\u2019s done on Kintsugi 3D at UW-Stout\u2019s Research Day as well as at two other prestigious venues this spring: the\u00a0National Conference on Undergraduate Research<\/a>\u00a0in Pittsburgh and the Universities of Wisconsin\u2019s\u00a0Research in the Rotunda<\/a>\u00a0event in the state Capitol in Madison.<\/p>\n

Denney said the project has been invaluable in preparing him for his future career, in part because working on Kintsugi 3D required him to become familiar with a massive codebase. He expects that skill will come in handy when he begins his job later this year at IBM in Rochester, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

In addition to navigating thousands of lines of code and gathering user feedback to improve software features, Denney said the project helped him learn to solve problems independently. \u201cSomething I focused on more last summer was taking more time before I ask a question,\u201d Denney said. \u201cWhen I\u2019d run into a roadblock and have the temptation to go ask for help, I thought, \u2018Wait, I want to give myself more time to figure this out before asking.\u2019 And most of the time I was successful with that, so that felt really good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
UW-Stout Assistant Professor Michael Tetzlaff, left, and students Luke Denney, at podium, and Chloe Ferguson gave a presentation about Kintsugi 3D at Research Day, May 6, 2025. \/ UW-Stout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Denney is just one of more than a dozen UW-Stout students from a variety of disciplines who have contributed to the software. Among them is\u00a0Chloe Ferguson<\/strong>, master of fine arts in design, Spring Valley.<\/p>\n

Ferguson began working as a user experience designer on the program last fall, gathering data to see what features users wanted from the program. Working on the project has given Ferguson a better understanding of the science behind textures and materials, as well as the rewarding opportunity to work with stakeholders on improving the software, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUser experience is all about considering and analyzing the user, striving to make your content more useful and accessible to them,\u201d Ferguson said, noting the skills she is building now will be directly applicable to her future career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel proud of my work, especially with how directly this program has benefited cultural heritage groups,\u201d she said. \u201cWe regularly meet with our stakeholders at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Cultural Heritage Imaging, which has allowed me to see the impact of my work on these groups firsthand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other students and recent graduates who have worked \u2013 or are still working \u2013 on the project include\u00a0master of fine arts in design<\/a>\u00a0candidate\u00a0D. Magda Hannen<\/strong>;\u00a0game design and development<\/a>\u00a0majors\u00a0Isabel Smith<\/strong>,\u00a0Elliot Duffy<\/strong>,\u00a0Lou Brown<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Augusto Freitas<\/strong>; and\u00a0computer science<\/a>\u00a0majors\u00a0Tyler Betanski<\/strong>,\u00a0Jacob Buelow<\/strong>,\u00a0Victor Mondragon<\/strong>,\u00a0Ian Anderson<\/strong>,\u00a0Zoe Cuthrell<\/strong>,\u00a0Blane Suess<\/strong>,\u00a0Isaac Tesch<\/strong>,\u00a0Nathaniel Willius<\/strong>,\u00a0Atlas Collins<\/strong>,\u00a0Kyle Boatwright<\/strong>,\u00a0Melissa Kosharek<\/strong>,\u00a0Chris Medina<\/strong>, and\u00a0Jacob Sletten<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Kintsugi 3D was used to create this image of a sculpture of dancer Loie Fuller by artist Joseph Kratina, which is in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. \/ Minneapolis Institute of Art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Software draws focus to UW-Stout<\/h3>\n

Walbridge, of Mia, is one of those who meets frequently with the Kintsugi 3D team to provide feedback. He has been part of Kintsugi 3D and related projects for years, having met Tetzlaff when the latter was a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota working on 3D photography and photogrammetry projects at Mia. \u201cIt\u2019s been such a pleasure to continue to work on this with Michael and his team,\u201d said Walbridge, who praised the backing the project has received from UW-Stout.<\/p>\n

Walbridge has worked to get other professionals involved in Kintsugi 3D as well, making presentations about the software and how to use it, including a training visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in April.<\/p>\n

Among the objects from the Mia collection scanned with Kintsugi 3D is a sculpture of 19th-century dancer Loie Fuller by Czech artist Joseph Kratina. In digital photos the bronze sculpture appears to be a yellowish-brown, but it practically comes to life in a three-dimensional scan made with Kintsugi 3D. As a user rotates the image virtually, light plays against the sculpture\u2019s gold patina, and shadows of the dancer\u2019s arms are cast across her voluminous skirt. The software allows users to examine the sculpture in greater detail, giving the impression of walking around it in a well-lit gallery.<\/p>\n