Sketchfab Masters Abby Crawford and Néstor F. Marqués have lead us around the globe and through thousands of years of history via amazing 3D models in their blog series Around the World in 80 Models which came to a close last week. In this final post in the series, they reflect on their great achievement!
Just over two years ago the idea was born to create a series that featured some of the best 3D scanned content from around the globe. Our first post was published on July 11, 2016 and since then we have featured a lot of great content from a lot of talented Sketchfab community members. As the series progressed we visited 35 countries, six continents, and looked at models that captured thousands of years of human history – even some models of objects that predate humans.
It goes without saying that we could not have done this without the incredible support and participation of the community, as well as the help and guidance of Sketchfab’s fantastic community team – Bart, Seori, and Tom. Néstor and I would like to thank everybody who has helped this series see the light of day and get published week after week, but especially the authors who devoted their time and energy to telling their stories and sharing their techniques in informed and engaging ways.
Abby
My favorite thing about working on this series was the people. Authors were eager and open about sharing their interests and processes, Nestor was a great collaborator and co-editor, and Bart, Seori, and Tom were so patient and helpful with answering questions, providing advice, and scheduling posts. I also loved selecting the models, learning the stories behind them, and picking up scanning tips and tricks along the way. As I was flipping through the models trying to pick out a few favorites to mention here, I realized that there are just too many. Can they all be my favorites? Yes, I think they can.
The impetus for this series came from me looking at Sketchfab and marveling at how there were models from all over the globe that represented overlapping cultures and time periods. It seemed like we should shine a light on it all. Because of the finite nature of the series and the way that we set up the itinerary at the beginning, there wasn’t a whole lot of room for flexibility in terms of adding new models along the way. As the series progressed and an increasing number of 3D scanners and heritage organizations joined Sketchfab, I found myself wishing that the series were not so finite and inflexible! Community members were publishing more and more models that would have filled in geographic or historical gaps that are present in the series. It’s staggering how many more heritage models are now on Sketchfab, as compared to when we started the Around the World series in 2016. Maybe we’ll have to produce Around the World in 80 Models: Back in the Hot Air Balloon sometime soon… ?
Néstor
The first person I want to thank is my colleague Abby Crawford. It’s exciting to look back and think of the moment Abby made me part of this project, whose basis and foundation is entirely hers. I’d like to also thank the Sketchfab team that let us share a lot of 3D culture: Bart, Seori and Tom. And finally, thanks to all the authors who have participated in the project sharing their work with all of us. Getting to know them has been one of the best parts of this project.
It would be impossible to choose a favorite model on such a wide and diverse journey as we have done all over the world. I’m glad to see, on the other hand, the amount of new models that are now in Sketchfab compared to when we started back in 2016. With all of them we could go around the world as many times as we would like. Thank you all for making this possible.
And here’s a complete list of all of the talented scanners who contributed to the series. Check out their profiles – the models that they showed you in Around the World in 80 Modelsare just the tip of the great-model-iceberg.
Source: Sketch Fab
