3D Binding Prototype

Description

Built by our developers, Shibo Liu and Imran Asghar, our 3D Book Binding Visualization Prototype is designed to allow users to build/manipulate a codex in a 3D space. Typically, drawings of binding structures take the form of two dimensional line drawings as seen in Figure 1. 

More recently, Dr. Alberto Campagnolo automated prototypical drawings from structured binding descriptions using XML in his thesis: Transforming structured descriptions to visual representations. An automated visualization of historical book binding structures (example seen in Figure 2). 

Figure 1: Diagram showing attachment of text block to the board via a loop. Top shows two sewing stations and bottom shows four.
Figure 1: John A. Szirmai, The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding. Routledge, 2017. or Asghate, 1999. pg. 55

 

Diagram showing unsupported sewing double sequence and supported sewing single
Figure 2: Campagnolo, Alberto. "Transforming structured descriptions to visual representations. An automated visualization of historical bookbinding structures." PhD diss., University of the Arts London, 2015, pg. 346.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an extension of his work, the BSR team wanted to experiment with building a web application that allowed users to describe a book's binding in 3D. Working closely with Alberto Campagnolo, the team built the data model and visualizations of basic codex features which power this application. The result is a prototype that allows a user to:

  • Deep zoom and full manipulation of the book in 3D space
  • Modify a book's size, boards, board lining, spine lining, sewing stations, sewing supports, covering and sewing technique
  • Manipulate the opacity of all features allowing a user to view only certain parts of a binding rather than the whole as desired
  • View an animated link stitch sewing of the binding and export the video
  • Export the current view of the book in PNG or export the entire 3D model in .gLTF

Anyone can access the prototype at: https://obns.library.utoronto.ca/codex/. 

Technical Details 

The 3D Book Binding Visualization Prototype is built using an Angular front end and WebGL for rendering interactive 3D graphics. Code will be made available on the University of Toronto Libraries Github account in 2022.