New Printing Tech Allows the Blind to Touch Priceless Paintings
Visitors aren’t touching the original paintings themselves, exactly. They’re touching an extremely high-resolution replica of each painting. The exhibit at Madrid’s Prado Museum, called Hoy toca el Prado, or Touch The Prado, is the product of a new printing process invented in Spain called Didú. Developed by a printing studio called Estudios Durero, Didú produces physical objects a bit like a 3D printer would—except using a completely different chemical process.
The process begins with a high-resolution photo of the painting. The employees at Durero select textures and features that make sense to enhance for the blind. In this aspect, small details, which may appear insignificant at first sight, can be fundamental in understanding the composition or the theme developed in each image. After around forty hours of work on each image, the volumes and textures are defined and printed with special ink. Then a chemical method is applied that gives volume to the initially flat elements. On these, the real image with the original colours is printed, at a suitable size so that it can be touched and reached with the hands.
Touching the Prado. Didú from Estudios Durero on Vimeo.
0 comments:
Postar um comentário