Client – University of Southampton
CGI Model – Grant Cox (Materials/Lighting/Rendering/Animation).
Software – 3DS Max/Vray/After Effects/SketchFab
Research – Specialist advice from Professor David Hinton
In 2007 the Tidgrove key was found during excavations near Kingsclere, Hampshire. A residence of Henry II, the site included a series of buildings, including a large cellar. At the foot of this structure lay a heavily corroded key. A new CT scanner at the University of Southampton revealed wire inlay over the shaft, and the fine cutting of the wards. Around 2011, a model was created to attempt to explain how the key might have worked for the Royalty and Rust conference in 2011 and then displayed once more at the CAA 2012 conference in Southampton. In mid 2016, after updating the model into the Vray rendering engine, the key and lock were moved into SketchFab to allow for real-time exploration of its inner workings.
