Pictures of idols seized by TN police’s special wing are now just a click away

Seizure of centuries-old idols from various places by the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing for the past few years had generated much interest among the people as most of them were rare objects.

The Idol Wing seized 374 idols over the past couple of years and has now made their 3D pictures available online to showcase the rich art and culture of the state.

www.tnidols.com is a treasure trove that allows anyone from across the world to view the 3D photos of the idols that are made of metal, stone, and wood. As many as 36 metal objects were shifted to ICON Centre at Tiruvottiyur near Chennai while 265 idols were sent to the Government Museum in Egmore.

The Idol Wing with help from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology- Madras (IIT-M) has taken 3D pictures of all 374 idols, which are already live on the website. The Virtual Museum is a collection of digital images, and other data of historical, scientific, cultural interest that viewers can access through electronic media.

Using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality unique cameras and a technique called Photogrammetry, the IIT-M 3D- Scanned the idols from different angles and stitched them together using new software. Photogrammetry employs a reverse process of photography that creates 3D models from 2D photos.

“The outcome is 3D pictures or geometric models for AR and VR. We can use the same for 3D Printing also. Further, Invent Softlabs collaborated with the Idol Wing to create a website for the virtual museum in which they uploaded the 3D models from IIT, Madras. They have so far uploaded 374 photos or 3D models. We propose to do the uploading of the remaining models in a phased manner,” the Idol Wing said.

The Idol Wing also has plans to turn the Virtual Museum into a Metaverse where visitors can interact in 3D Cyberspace. The officer said the long-term plan of the Idol Wing is to crowdsource images of all the antique idols available throughout Tamil Nadu from volunteers to upload them temple-wise, sub-division wise and district-wise.

Such an initiative will enable the devotees and lovers of ancient art and culture to access the 3D images from the comfort of their homes. An officer said using the collaborative effort of the community, the Idol Wing intends to welcome experts and students of history and culture to contribute information and content regarding the exhibits in the Virtual Museum and turn the website into a Wiki web page called Wiki-idol with a semi-closed editing system.

Like Wikipedia, the Idol Wing’s technical collaborator Invent Softlabs and a community of volunteers will maintain the free content and exhibits in the Virtual Museum, the Idol Wing said.

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