3D scanning Part C: Artefacts and art works related projects

Numerous works have been reported in the literature, revealing the potential of 3D scanning applications. Different ‘objects’ required different approaches and the most significant of them are presented in Table 1. Other, small scale works with novel approaches for 3D scanning are presented in a forthcoming article.

Table 1: 3D scanning projects on the museums/ sites field

Project Approach
Madonna col Bambino of Giovanni Pisano

National Research Council of Canada and   the University of Padova – digital images

‘Cappella degli Scrovegni’

National Research Council of Canada and   the University of Padova – digital images
Florentine ‘Pietà’

Watson Research Center - stereographic techniques.   Over 1 000 scans gave a final model resolved to 1–2 mm

Sistine Chapel digitization

RGB-ITR (Red Green Blue e Imaging Topological Radar) laser   scanner prototype, developed by the UTAPRAD-DIM (Technical Unit for the   development of Applications of RADiations e Diagnostics and Metrology) lab of C.R.   ENEA Frascati. The preservation of the frescos is put   at risk by the salt efflorescence (e.g., calcium carbonate) due to   physical and chemical agents

‘‘The Digital Michelangelo   Project’’

describes the pipeline and   the experience of the digitization of 10 statues created by Michelangelo, two   building interiors, and 1163 fragments of an ancient marble map in Italy.   They adopt triangulation laser scanners, time-of-flight laser scanners and   digital cameras

‘‘The Great Buddha Project’’

Full pipeline and challenges to digitally archive   and restore three large Buddha statues measuring 2.7, 13 and 15 meters in   Japan are described. Their main sensor was a time-off light laser scanner.   The challenges and solutions dealing with an outdoor environment and a new   algorithm for registration, and integration, were some of the contributions   in this work

‘‘The Minerva Project’’

Related to the Minerva of   Arezzo, an ancient 1.55 meter tall bronze statue located in Italy. The 3D   model is intended to keep track of the variations during the restoration   process of the statue. A high-resolution 3D triangulation laser scanner was   used in this project

‘‘The Eternal Egypt Project’’

A digital guide and a virtual museum of artifacts from   the ancient Egypt. This project adopts a time-of-flight range sensor. 2000 2D   scans, 16 3D and four navigable environments compose this virtual collection  

‘‘The Pieta Project’’

Digitization of a large 2.26   meter-tall marble sculpture, located in Italy and created by Michelangelo.   They use a triangulation scanner and a video camera for the texture. Among   the main contributions of this work is the enhanced texture obtained by the   estimation of the intrinsic properties of the surface as a Bidirectional   Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)

‘‘The Beauvais Cathedral   Project’’

Digitization of the   Cathedral of Saint-Pierre in Beauvais, France

‘‘The Angkorian temples   project’’

Reconstruction of a large   area containing more than 1000 historical structures in Angkor, Cambodia   using aerial images. It is based on photogrammetric 3D modeling and shows interesting   results for the archaeological landscape documentation of large cultural   heritage sites

‘‘The Great Buddha of Bamiyan   project’’

Digitization of two large Buddha   statues measuring 38 and 53 meters located in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. They   adopt three different photogrammetric techniques from images of different   cameras

“Temptations of Christ”

Sistine Chapel. The fresco   has sizes of 3.45 m - 5.5 m and it has been scanned by the   RGB-ITR system, with an angular resolution of 0.002and a sweep rate of 5000   sample points per second