Taiwan's Lugang Mazu Temple has over 400 years of history, but the years have worn away elements of the landmark. The Bureau of Cultural Heritage contracted LeaderTek and Getac to conduct the complete 3D scanning and modeling of the temple as part of systematic digital preservation of cultural heritage.
For onsite renderings, commercial laptops would not make the grade
When using a 3D laser scanner to scan and model historical monuments, the scanner must be paired with a mobile computer running 3D point cloud processing software to receive, store, and compute the scanned data in real time. However, three major drawbacks of consumer-grade laptops heavily impacted field productivity. First, commercial laptops tend to overheat after approximately two hours of use and then need to be shut down to cool off before they can function again. Second, the low brightness of regular laptop screens makes it impossible to examine the scanning results in the field due to the overpowering brightness of the sun. This means the review process must occur separately, resulting in more hours needed to finish the project. Third, short battery life of commercial laptops hinders overall productivity when scanning outdoors, as there aren't always charging places available.
LeaderTek employed the Getac K120 rugged tablet for its premier 3D processing capabilities
LeaderTek used the Getac K120 rugged tablet with its 3D laser scanner and 3D point cloud processing software to create an excellent 3D scanning and modeling platform for the digital preservation of cultural heritage. The Getac K120 comes with the latest generation of Intel Core series processors and Wi-Fi technology, capable of receiving the large amount of data generated by the 3D laser scanner in real-time while running 3D point cloud software to compute the scanned data without slowing down or overheating.
The integrated Intel® Iris® Xe graphics card can also perfectly render every detail of the digital model while maintaining low levels of power draw. Getac's patented LumiBond® 2.0 full high definition (FHD) screen makes it easy to see the scanned images even while outdoors under direct sunlight.
Precious artifacts restored for a new generation
With most of the scanning work of Lugang Mazu Temple conducted outdoors, the Getac K120's excellent communication capabilities allowed it to maintain a high-bandwidth connection with LeaderTek's 3D laser scanners receive point cloud data continuously via Wi-Fi. The specially designed screen displayed the scanned images even under direct sunlight, letting the operator view and control the computer on-site via touch screen.
The Getac K120 has a long battery life and high-performance computing capabilities. It will not shut down due to the high heat caused by constant high-speed computing and can continuously operate for more than six hours so that work can continue even when access to power is limited. In addition, the military-grade ruggedness and IP66 waterproof/dustproof design ensure efficient working conditions in open-air environments or dusty indoor spaces.
All of these contributed to preserving historical and cultural significance for generations to come.
The Getac K120 is the perfect outdoors computing platform that can dramatically improve the efficiency of on-site 3D modeling with its long battery life and high-performance computing capabilities. We can now view the scanning results in the field while working for long periods. In the past, we could only scan 20 locations a day with commercial laptops. But, with the Getac K120, the number of locations we can scan per day has increased to 70, which is a 250% increase in efficiency.
Yao Liang-Chu
Manager, LeaderTek
Taiwan is constantly under the onslaught of natural disasters, making the digital preservation of monuments even more urgent. LeaderTek used the Getac rugged tablet in combination with 3D laser scanners to complete the digital modeling of Lugang Mazu Temple. The digital model can be used as a reference in future monument maintenance operations so that details can be accurately restored.
Chen Chun-Yu
Assistant researcher, Institute of Cultural Heritage Preservation Research Center
Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture of Taiwan
LeaderTek Co., Ltd. was founded in 2002. The company is the only professional vendor in Taiwan that has applied 3D laser technology to preserve the architecture of monuments digitally. Besides creating scanned floor plans and monitoring for deformations in historical monuments, the company also monitors tunnels, bridges, factories, and reservoirs. LeaderTek works with universities and colleges in Taiwan every year. The company has successfully transformed some of its R&D results into practical technologies used by governments and private enterprises and has won multiple accolades from Taiwanese institutions.
From its multi-functional tablet hard handle, attachable full-size backlit keyboard to a wide variety of straps and harnesses, the K120 provides adaptability for various in-the-field work situations and is engineered to work the way you work through a variety of usage modes and an extensive selection of accessories.
