Bernard Frischer
Bernard Frischer is a digital archaeologist who writes about virtual heritage, Classics, and the survival of the Classical world. He received his B.A. in Classics from Wesleyan University (CT) in 1971 and his Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Heidelberg in 1975. From 1974 to 1976, he had a two-year Prix de Rome fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, where he studied Roman topography and archaeology, worked in the Fototeca Unione as a photographer and topographer and served two summers as assistant professor in the Academy's summer program on Roman topography. He taught Classics at UCLA from 1976 until 2004, when he became a Professor Emeritus. In the fall of 2004, he moved to the University of Virginia, where he directed a digital humanities research center and was Professor of Art History and Classics. In 2013, he became Professor Emeritus at Virginia and he moved to the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University, where he directed the Virtual Heritage track. Virtual Heritage is a new field studying ways of applying the new 3D technologies to research and instruction in fields such as anthropology, art and architectural history, and conservation science. He retired from Indiana University on December 31, 2023 and was made a Professor Emeritus. He is now devoting himself to research and writing.
He was a guest professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1992), the University of Bologna (1993), and Beijing Normal University (2009) and in 2001-2002 held the post of Professor-in-Charge of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa (inducted in 1970), a Fellow of the Michigan Society of Fellows (1971-1974), a Fellow (1974-76), Resident (1996) and Trustee (2009-2012) of the American Academy in Rome. He also won research fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (1981-82, 1996-97), the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, (1997) and the Zukunftskolleg at the University of Konstanz (2010-11).
From 1996 to 2003, he directed the excavations of Horace's Villa (Licenza, Italy) sponsored by the American Academy in Rome, and from 1996 to 2004 he was founding director of the UCLA Cultural Virtual Reality Laboratory. The lab was one of the first in the world to use 3D computer modeling to reconstruct cultural heritage sites. In 2008 he started the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory (https://vwhl.luddy.indiana.edu/).
Through his labs and with the help of many technical and scholarly collaborators, Frischer oversaw many 3D modeling projects, including “Rome Reborn,” the digital recreation of the entire city of ancient Rome within the Aurelian Walls, the "Digital Hadrian's Villa Project," and the "Uffizi-Indiana University 3D Digitization Project."
In 2004, Frischer made one of the first 3D digital reconstructions of an ancient statue—the lost portrait of the philosopher Epicurus. In 2006, he directed the project to create the first digital model of a statue in the Vatican Museums, the Laocoon statue group (www.digitalsculpture.org/laocoon/). In 2011 he was one of the first to use photogrammetry to create state models of sculpture and entire cultural heritage sites. In 2016 he started the project to digitize in 3D the classical statues in the collections of the Uffizi Gallery (www.digitalsculpture.org/florence/).
In 2017 and 2018 he published two articles critiquing Edmund Buchner’s theories about the Horologium Augusti and proposing a new interpretation of the relationship between the Horologium and the nearby Ara Pacis Augustae.
In the 2010s he founded two online, peer-reviewed journals in the field of digital archaeology. He is now co-editor-in-chief emeritus of one of them: Open Access journal Studies in Digital Heritage (www.studiesdh.org).
In 2022, Frischer founded Flyover Zone, Inc., an ed-tech company based in Bloomington, Indiana. He currently serves as its CEO. The company's mission is to commercialize products and services using 3D digital technologies to present cultural heritage sites and monuments to the general public. The company has marketed two streaming services: a Virtual Museum with an extensive collection of interactive 3D models of classical sculptures; and Yorescape, its platform for virtual tours that take you across space to see ruins in countries like Egypt, Greece, and Italy and back in time to see the ruins spring to life in computer reconstructions. The same experts who work with the company's 3D modeling team to recreate the ruins also help to craft the scripts which are recorded and can be heard at each stop of a tour. For more information, see www.flyoverzone.com
In 2005 he was given the Pioneer Award of the International Society on Virtual Systems and Multimedia. In 2009, he was the recipient of the Tartessus Lifetime Achievement Prize from the Spanish Society of Virtual Archaeology.
Supervisors: Prof. Viktor Poeschl, Prof. Frank Edward Brown
He was a guest professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1992), the University of Bologna (1993), and Beijing Normal University (2009) and in 2001-2002 held the post of Professor-in-Charge of the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa (inducted in 1970), a Fellow of the Michigan Society of Fellows (1971-1974), a Fellow (1974-76), Resident (1996) and Trustee (2009-2012) of the American Academy in Rome. He also won research fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (1981-82, 1996-97), the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, (1997) and the Zukunftskolleg at the University of Konstanz (2010-11).
From 1996 to 2003, he directed the excavations of Horace's Villa (Licenza, Italy) sponsored by the American Academy in Rome, and from 1996 to 2004 he was founding director of the UCLA Cultural Virtual Reality Laboratory. The lab was one of the first in the world to use 3D computer modeling to reconstruct cultural heritage sites. In 2008 he started the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory (https://vwhl.luddy.indiana.edu/).
Through his labs and with the help of many technical and scholarly collaborators, Frischer oversaw many 3D modeling projects, including “Rome Reborn,” the digital recreation of the entire city of ancient Rome within the Aurelian Walls, the "Digital Hadrian's Villa Project," and the "Uffizi-Indiana University 3D Digitization Project."
In 2004, Frischer made one of the first 3D digital reconstructions of an ancient statue—the lost portrait of the philosopher Epicurus. In 2006, he directed the project to create the first digital model of a statue in the Vatican Museums, the Laocoon statue group (www.digitalsculpture.org/laocoon/). In 2011 he was one of the first to use photogrammetry to create state models of sculpture and entire cultural heritage sites. In 2016 he started the project to digitize in 3D the classical statues in the collections of the Uffizi Gallery (www.digitalsculpture.org/florence/).
In 2017 and 2018 he published two articles critiquing Edmund Buchner’s theories about the Horologium Augusti and proposing a new interpretation of the relationship between the Horologium and the nearby Ara Pacis Augustae.
In the 2010s he founded two online, peer-reviewed journals in the field of digital archaeology. He is now co-editor-in-chief emeritus of one of them: Open Access journal Studies in Digital Heritage (www.studiesdh.org).
In 2022, Frischer founded Flyover Zone, Inc., an ed-tech company based in Bloomington, Indiana. He currently serves as its CEO. The company's mission is to commercialize products and services using 3D digital technologies to present cultural heritage sites and monuments to the general public. The company has marketed two streaming services: a Virtual Museum with an extensive collection of interactive 3D models of classical sculptures; and Yorescape, its platform for virtual tours that take you across space to see ruins in countries like Egypt, Greece, and Italy and back in time to see the ruins spring to life in computer reconstructions. The same experts who work with the company's 3D modeling team to recreate the ruins also help to craft the scripts which are recorded and can be heard at each stop of a tour. For more information, see www.flyoverzone.com
In 2005 he was given the Pioneer Award of the International Society on Virtual Systems and Multimedia. In 2009, he was the recipient of the Tartessus Lifetime Achievement Prize from the Spanish Society of Virtual Archaeology.
Supervisors: Prof. Viktor Poeschl, Prof. Frank Edward Brown
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Papers on Digital Heritage by Bernard Frischer
This paper reports on version 2.0 of the model. In this version, all the scan models deriving from Gismondi's physical model were deleted and replaced by procedurally generated models using the CityEngine software developed by Pascal Mueller. Version 2.0 was released in 2008.
It may be noted that version 3.0 of the model was released in 2018. Version 4.0 in 2023. These versions continue to use the same procedural models of the Class II features described in this paper.
See www.flyoverzone.com for information about the virtual tour called "Flight over Ancient Rome" that utilizes version 4.0 of the Rome Reborn model.
The entire book, edited by Kevin Garstki, can be downloaded here: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vh9t9jq
during the day of Augustus’ birthday (September 23, according to Buchner) the shadow of the obelisk proceeded down the equinoctial line of a hypothesized horizontal sundial inscribed on a monumental pavement to or toward the center of the
Ara Pacis. The research project sponsored a new geological core bored through the meridian discovered by Buchner; it developed and utilized two new independent surveys of the meridian fragment discovered by Buchner under the building at Via di Campo Marzio 48; and it also created interactive computer simulations of this area of the ancient city and of the apparent path of the sun in the sky during the period 9 BC to 40 AD. The major conclusions reached by the research project are that: (1) Buchner was wrong to postulate that the Horologium Augusti had a Flavian phase—its date is Augustan; (2) Buchner was correct to postulate a solar alignment
between the Ara Pacis and the obelisk, but he erred in detail—the alignment concerns not the equinoctial line of a hypothesized horizontal sundial but the axis of symmetry of the Ara Pacis; (3) Buchner’s positioning of the meridian and obelisk should be corrected; and (4) once these corrections are made, Buchner’s theory that the shadow of the obelisk reached the center of the Ara Pacis on Augustus’ birthday is not confirmed. Two independent tests confirming the results obtained from the computer simulation are included in appendices.
The author considers the latest version to be a work in progress, which he intends to submit for publication in the future. He invites readers to send him comments and suggestions at bfrische@indiana.edu
This paper reports on version 2.0 of the model. In this version, all the scan models deriving from Gismondi's physical model were deleted and replaced by procedurally generated models using the CityEngine software developed by Pascal Mueller. Version 2.0 was released in 2008.
It may be noted that version 3.0 of the model was released in 2018. Version 4.0 in 2023. These versions continue to use the same procedural models of the Class II features described in this paper.
See www.flyoverzone.com for information about the virtual tour called "Flight over Ancient Rome" that utilizes version 4.0 of the Rome Reborn model.
The entire book, edited by Kevin Garstki, can be downloaded here: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vh9t9jq
during the day of Augustus’ birthday (September 23, according to Buchner) the shadow of the obelisk proceeded down the equinoctial line of a hypothesized horizontal sundial inscribed on a monumental pavement to or toward the center of the
Ara Pacis. The research project sponsored a new geological core bored through the meridian discovered by Buchner; it developed and utilized two new independent surveys of the meridian fragment discovered by Buchner under the building at Via di Campo Marzio 48; and it also created interactive computer simulations of this area of the ancient city and of the apparent path of the sun in the sky during the period 9 BC to 40 AD. The major conclusions reached by the research project are that: (1) Buchner was wrong to postulate that the Horologium Augusti had a Flavian phase—its date is Augustan; (2) Buchner was correct to postulate a solar alignment
between the Ara Pacis and the obelisk, but he erred in detail—the alignment concerns not the equinoctial line of a hypothesized horizontal sundial but the axis of symmetry of the Ara Pacis; (3) Buchner’s positioning of the meridian and obelisk should be corrected; and (4) once these corrections are made, Buchner’s theory that the shadow of the obelisk reached the center of the Ara Pacis on Augustus’ birthday is not confirmed. Two independent tests confirming the results obtained from the computer simulation are included in appendices.
The author considers the latest version to be a work in progress, which he intends to submit for publication in the future. He invites readers to send him comments and suggestions at bfrische@indiana.edu
A detailed survey is offered for the digitization of different types of both tangible and intangible CH. The latter includes a section about the 3D digitization of damaged or no-longer existing CH monuments for the purpose of creating 3D hypotheses of restoration and reconstruction in virtual archaeology.
A methodological section points out which 3D technologies are used in the field and how they can be best applied, taking into account digitization approaches appropriate to the different classes of CH object as well as the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various technologies.
This is followed by a discussion of how CH can be modeled from raw data, and a section about the different 3D processing pipelines that can be implemented through active or passive 3D sensing techniques.
Finally, a detailed section treats the creation of a 3D content repository for CH, taking into account both the relevant articulated metadata as well as the ways 3D data are stored and visualized for online access.