3D reconstruction and visualization in cultural heritage

Abstract

This paper presents a modular software and hardware independent system for the 3D reconstruction in the area of culture heritage. This system can be used for the digitalization of 3D cultural objects, monuments and sites. The clouds of 2D or 3D scanned points (matrix oriented or scattered) even the 3D wireframe model are acquired by photogrammetric techniques (for example digital cameras or laser scanners) using different digitizing strategies in various topics of culture heritage. This input can be processed using an efficient algorithm for the reconstruction of the digitized object. If the digitalization delivers a complete set of scanned 2D or 3D data from all sides of the object, then the volume or so-called solid structure can be calculated. In addition to this, using special objects such as mummies, jewels or in general metal or ceramic artefacts that have interior structures (holes), the internal geometry can also be measured through the use of X-ray scanners and in this way the complete 3D reconstruction of the object can be achieved. Furthermore the developed system can generate the exchange of the processed data with other systems (CAD/CAM, elibraries, e-museums) into 3D data sets in standard data exchange formats (IGES, STEP, VDAFS) as well as to VRML format for the visualization by a standard browser on the web. A variety of visualization techniques can be used for different multimedia and virtual reality applications. A case study of using this system in the area of culture heritage under a virtual reality environment will be discussed and demonstrated.