Despite all the different ways that multimedia can be employed to show a given object the predominant form of representation is still an image or set of images.

The image to the left is small both in display size and data size (around 25 Kilobytes) this has the advantage that it will load very quickly even on relatively slow connections. It has the disadvantage that there is not enough information in the file to show more detail, zooming in will only produce a blurred image, any viewer wanting a closer look will be frustrated.

One way way of dealing with this is to use larger files and embeded webpage programs (javascript), that allow users to magnify the image - a technique commonly found on sites like ebay where buyers need to inspect items in more detail - but what if you can't use javascript (you can't within MyPortfolio)  or you want to give your audience a way of inspecting object images in much more detail without needing files so large they make your site slow or unresponsive.

One way of dealing with this might be to use a service like Gigapan demonstrated below.

Gigapan images are created by stitching, sometimes extremely large numbers of images together - the example shown was created from 596 separate images of a mural size woodcut print held in a collection at the Minneapolis Inst. of Art. The level of zoom while maintaining detail would be impossible to replicate using standard webpage displays.

The Gigapan software is not free but the Stitch application is offered on a two week trial basis which should be long enough for you to produce something should you decide it's a good method of display for you. The free account option at Gigapan will allow you to host any work you create indefinately. (note the Stitching software has not been tested by E-Learning Environments)

Note: if the Gigapan example is not showing to the left of this block, check that your browser is not blocking it, you may get 'unsafe script' or 'insecure content' warnings - often indicated by a small grey shield in the address bar of your browser.

(update note - 16.09.15 - Gigapan's server security certificates are out of date resulting in embedded content from the site being blocked if requested over a secure connection) to see the example content that should appear use the URL: http://www.gigapan.com/embeds/pIdHOE_e_oQ

The series of pictures displayed to the left in the MyPortfolio image gallery have been uploaded to a folder in the content area of myportfolio account and then displayed using an 'image gallery' block.
Taking plenty of images all around the object was partly in preparation for the construction of a 3D model but also produced a good selection of stills for the gallery display.

Some tips and things to think about 

• Always work on copies of your original images!
• Take higher resolution pictures, you may have to compress them to make them 'web-friendly' but it gives more options later  e.g if you need close-ups of particular areas of an object you can zoom and crop without the image looking too blurred or pixelated.
• Making the same changes to any more than 3 or 4 images individually can become very time consuming, if you don't already have software to make 'batch' changes, a good free tool is Irfanview (for PC). Another tool is Google's Picasa software, this is freely available for both PC and Mac has less options than Irvanview but easier to learn.
• The format for all the photos used in this demo is jpg.

Pros:

• Easy upload and conversion of most common video file types - hides complexity from the user
• Online enhancement tools e.g you can remove camera shake
• Online tools to create in-video annotations, closed captions etc 
• The ability to deliver high quality video without exceeding any file space limitations that may exist with your host (currently UCL has a limit of 500MB on a given MyPortfolio account)

Cons

• It's not possible to add different voiceover tracks after video upload so if it is required, any voiceover has to be recorded while shooting the video (this can be hard to do) or added using locally available video editing tools before uploading to YouTube.
• YouTube (Google) claim a licence to use materials uploaded in the pursuit of their business - in the context of your project this may not  cause any issues (it's up to you to check) but you should be aware of the kinds of things you agree to when you click the 'Terms and Conditions' box for any service. There's quite a clear, non-legal jargon video on  the licence YouTube claim at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jURtTZ8qqTc   3mins and 20seconds in.

Pros

• You don't have to make your content publicly accessible in order to embed it in your website
• The way in which you manipulate and display your media is not limited by the tools offered by the hosting service
• You don't have to enter into 'in perpetuity' content license agreements required by some service providers
• Free services may do maintenance on their systems without giving notice - depending on the in-house and external hosting facilities, your content might be more reliably available when hosted locally

Cons

• More time consuming
• More technical knowledge required
• Your local technology infrastructure may not offer/support the tools that facilitate your vision of how an object should be presented using electronic media.

The model shown (a maquette or design model for a larger piece) was originally produced in the 1950's by a student at the Slade school of art.
Its 3D representation was created by uploading a series of photographs to a cloud-based 3D model creation service this service  did not allow annotation of the model, in order to have this functionality the 3D file created (the .obj file) was downloaded and re-uploaded to sketchfab.com where annotations were added - the embed code provided by Sketchfabwas then used to embed the object in  MyPortfolio.

 A 3D model is not appropriate for all object types, obvious ones to exclude are pictures, maps or documents that are essentially 2D in form. There are some technical limitations - techniques used for the creation of this model will not handle photos of highly reflective or transparent objects - in order to model this kind of object a more complex workflow would be required - this is outside the scope of these pages.

The model is not perfect but it's interesting that a few years ago this kind of model creation would be very expensive and strictly in the domain of 3D modelling experts. The field has advanced rapidly to the point now that non-experts who want to create, display and perhaps even print the models they construct can do so with only a small investment of time - the tools and services used to create and display the example model are currently free.