2012 - Digital Display with 3D animation

A Roman Ram from the Egadi Battle (Egadi Isles),  241 B.C. is exhibited in one of the Halls of the Pepoli Museum in Trapani.

As the main feature of this exhibit I have designed and built a Digital Display made of steel, wood and plexiglas for a better understanding of the contents in the Hall of that Roman Ram.

In the monitor of this digital display I designed a continuos 3D animation to run. The model of the Ram was reconstructed by me from photos & measurements I have taken from the actual original museum exhibit. Prof. Marco Bonino, Professor of Naval Architecture at University of Bologna, gave me his personal drawing designs of the Roman Three in order to reconstruct the actual Roman warship.

I want to thank the valued collaboration of Prof. Bill Murray, Archaeologist & Professor of Greek History at the University of South Florida (USF), who has a special  interest in Rams and Ancient Ships. He educated me in the history and architecture of these ships. I also want to thank  Prof. Jeff Royal, Professor of Roman History at the University of North Carolina and a manager of operations on the oceanographic research ship named Hercules. The ship's main purpose is to discover & recover any archeological deep sea submerged remains of ancient sunken ships. He is employed to monitor the sea bed throughout the Egadi isles and to rescue any of these remains, even Punic and Roman Rams. I was invited to board the Hercules on one of their excursions.

The job was supported with the collaboration of Prof. Mauro Ancona, Designer and Professor of 3D Graphic Design at various technical schools and at Kandinskij Fine Arts Academy in Trapani.

The animation demonstrates a Roman Three from 241 B.C. ramming a hypothetical Punic Ship. This animation was made so that the visitors can easily understand the ancient purpose of the Ram by watching the 40 second display. The design of the Punic Ship was based on drawings by the deceased Archeologist Honor Frost. I used the 3D model from my previous 3D reconstruction for the animation (see 3D / 2008 - Punic Ship).

The complete animation display was presented in a meeting organized by the Pepoli Museum in Trapani, with addresses by Prof. Marco Bonino and Prof. Sebastiano Tusa. Prof. Tusa is Director of Cultural and Archeological Heritage for the city of Trapani and Professor of Naval Archeology at Bologna University, Italy. He is also responsible for the discovery and recovery of the Ram exhibited in the Museum Hall.

My images have been even published on the website www.trapaninostra.it, at this specific address:   http://www.trapaninostra.it/wp/2012/10/08/francesco-frazzitta-e-le-sue-elaborazioni/.

For 3D animation click video below.

Click each image to enlarge.

3D animation included in the digital display, rendered and assembled by me.