Providing access to and the protection of cultural goods—intangible and tangible heritage—is carried out primarily by institutions such as museums, galleries or local cultural centres where temporary exhibitions are shown. The international community also attempts to protect architectural objects or entire urban layouts, raising their status by inscribing them on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Contemporary museums, however, are not properly prepared to make museum exhibits available to the blind and visually impaired, which is confirmed by both the literature studies on the subject and the occasional solutions that are put in place. The development of various computer graphics technologies allows for the digitisation of cultural heritage objects by 3D scanning. Such a record, after processing, can be used to create virtual museums accessible via computer networks, as well as to make copies of objects by 3D printing. This article presents an example of the use of scanning, modelling and 3D printing to prepare prototypes of copies of museum objects from the Silk Road area, dedicated to blind people and to be recognised by touch. The surface of an object has information about it written in Braille before the copy-making process is initiated. The results of the pilot studies carried out on a group of people with simulated visual impairment and on a person who is blind from birth indicate that 3D models printed on 3D replicators with the fused filament fabrication technology are useful for sharing cultural heritage objects. The models are light—thanks to which they can be freely manipulated, as well as having the appropriate smoothness—which enables the recognition of decorative details present on them, as well as reading texts in Braille. Integrating a copy of an exhibit with a description about it in Braille into one 3D object is an innovative solution that should contribute to a better access to cultural goods for the blind.

The paper discusses the aspects of potential use of 3D printing technology in the process of manufacturing elements with different layer fillings. In 3D printing technology, the denser the percentage of filling a material, the higher the mechanical strength of a given element. However, in the literature on the subject, the dependence on these parameters for additive technology has not been unequivocally determined. Therefore, the aim of the study is to find a correlation between the internal structure of the elements understood as a percentage of filling the material produced by 3D printing technology and the impact strength achieved by these elements. To carry out the research process, sets of polymeric samples were prepared using 3D FDM printing. The shape and dimensions of the samples were determined in accordance with the PN-EN 10045-1 standard. The samples were made by means of the Printo H3 device with a closed working chamber, using ABS polymer filament. The samples were filled with a percentage interval of 10%. Impact strength tests of polymeric samples were carried out on a Charpy hammer stand adapted for this purpose. In this way, the results concerning the breaking energy were collected for particular groups of samples. The collected data allowed us to determine the relationship between the percentage of filling the sample and the energy absorbed by the sample. The results provided the basis for conclusions and recommendations regarding one of the most important technological parameters – the percentage of printed element filling.

One of the greatest problems in the field of cultural heritage is the process of material destruction of monuments. In most cases, the cause is operational or random wear. Such processes can be slowed down or eliminated thanks to the maintenance process. The most dangerous processes of monument wear and tear are those in which historical objects are exposed to environmental impact. Cycles of weather changes have a particularly negative impact on objects of this type. These types of objects are significantly damaged and are the most difficult to scan. The research work included the scanning of such an object and attempts were made to digitise the point cloud. The monument selected for the model laser scanning was a rock petroglyph located on the slope of the Chatkal mountain near the town of Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The article describes the process of digitally recording a historic object with the use of the Artec Eva scanner. The process of data acquisition from points in space and the processes of highlighting petroglyphs are described. The highlighted model was obtained using proprietary software created for this purpose by the authors of the article. As a result, data were saved which would be difficult to save and read using the previously used 3D scanning techniques. The obtained data can be made available to recipients in the form of exhibits in virtual museums.

Counteracting the social and educational exclusion of visually impaired people is an important issue in the area of knowledge transfer, also in the area of cultural heritage. Visually impaired people get to know the world in an organoleptic way, where the leading cognitive factor is touch. This...