last year I was approached by the Sikh Museum Initiative (SMI) and commissioned to produce a series of interactive 3D exhibits for an exhibition that was exploring the history surrounding the Anglo Sikh Wars that took place in 1845. The exhibition would take place at Newarke Houses Museum in Leicester from 11th March to 4th June 2017 and include a series of 7 expert lectures, outreach events and children’s activity sessions.
My role in the project included working with the SMI team to design the layout of the exhibition space as well as the initial branding and marketing material. I designed a concept for a logo which was further developed by an amazing artist called Kam Singh Samra from Birmingham, his visual design was not only distinctive but was the linchpin for the whole project.
Use of 3D Visualisation to design the space
It became apparent very early on that designing an exhibition to fit in the physical space is very difficult, especially when you are going to be doing most of the work remotely. Therefore in our first visit to the Newarke Houses Museum, the rooms were surveyed to ensure accurate measurements. Read More
Taran3D joined with the Sikh Museums Initiative to recreate one of the 4 Charaina (Body Armour plates) of Guru Gobind Singh ji worn by him in the battle of Bhangani in 1688
The first phase of this project was unveiled at the Third Dasam Granth Seminar in California, USA on 9th April 2016. It featured an interactive digital recreation of one of the 4 armour plates, which features Gurbani from the Akaal Ustat, written by Guru Gobind Singh ji.
“The ability to recreate and share these artefacts in digital form and make them available via modern technology will give future generations of Sikhs access to pieces of history which are either lost or inaccessible”
Taran Singh, 3D Artist
The plate in question is the most damaged of the 4 and missing parts of the pattern were recreated by taking similar sections of the pattern and gurmukhi letters from undamaged parts of the armour.
The whole armour was created from scratch in 3D using low quality catalogue photos. The Gurmukhi was painstakingly hand painted digitally and each component of the gold koftgari pattern was created and then pieced together to make up the full pattern.
We believe given access to the actual artefacts, we could create more accurate and better quality digital representations that can be used to preserve and educate future generations.
The second phase will involve completing the other 3 plates of armour and creating a touch screen based exhibit.
