From pixel to mesh – Accurate and straightforward 3D documentation of cultural heritage from the Cres/Lošinj archipelago

Conference paper

Geert J. Verhoeven, Nives Doneus, Michael Doneus, Seta Štuhec
Izdanja hrvatskog arheološkog društva, Zrinka Ettinger Starčić, Domagoj Tončinić, Conference proceedings of Istraživanja na otocima 30, Hrvatsko arheološko društvo - Lošinjski muzej, Zagreb, 2015, pp. 165-176

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APA Click to copy
Verhoeven, G. J., Doneus, N., Doneus, M., & Štuhec, S. (2015). From pixel to mesh – Accurate and straightforward 3D documentation of cultural heritage from the Cres/Lošinj archipelago. In Z. Ettinger Starčić & D. Tončinić (Eds.), Conference proceedings of Istraživanja na otocima 30 (pp. 165–176). Zagreb: Hrvatsko arheološko društvo - Lošinjski muzej.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Verhoeven, Geert J., Nives Doneus, Michael Doneus, and Seta Štuhec. “From Pixel to Mesh – Accurate and Straightforward 3D Documentation of Cultural Heritage from the Cres/Lošinj Archipelago.” In Conference Proceedings of Istraživanja Na Otocima 30, edited by Zrinka Ettinger Starčić and Domagoj Tončinić, 165–176. Izdanja hrvatskog arheološkog društva. Zagreb: Hrvatsko arheološko društvo - Lošinjski muzej, 2015.

MLA Click to copy
Verhoeven, Geert J., et al. “From Pixel to Mesh – Accurate and Straightforward 3D Documentation of Cultural Heritage from the Cres/Lošinj Archipelago.” Conference Proceedings of Istraživanja Na Otocima 30, edited by Zrinka Ettinger Starčić and Domagoj Tončinić, Hrvatsko arheološko društvo - Lošinjski muzej, 2015, pp. 165–76.

BibTeX Click to copy

@inproceedings{verhoeven2015a,
  title = {From pixel to mesh – Accurate and straightforward 3D documentation of cultural heritage from the Cres/Lošinj archipelago},
  year = {2015},
  address = {Zagreb},
  pages = {165-176},
  publisher = {Hrvatsko arheološko društvo - Lošinjski muzej},
  series = {Izdanja hrvatskog arheološkog društva},
  author = {Verhoeven, Geert J. and Doneus, Nives and Doneus, Michael and Štuhec, Seta},
  editor = {Ettinger Starčić, Zrinka and Tončinić, Domagoj},
  booktitle = {Conference proceedings of Istraživanja na otocima 30}
}

Abstract
Most people like 3D visualizations. Whether it is in movies, holograms or games, 3D (literally) adds an extra dimension to conventional pictures. However, 3D data and their visualizations can also have scientic archaeological benets: they are crucial in removing relief distortions from photographs, facilitate the interpretation of an object or just support the aspiration to document archaeology as exhaustively as possible. Since archaeology is essentially a spatial discipline, the recording of the spatial data component is in most cases of the utmost importance to perform scientic archaeological research. For complex sites and precious artefacts, this can be a di€cult, time-consuming and very expensive operation.
In this contribution, it is shown how a straightforward and cost-eective hard- and software combination is used to accurately document and inventory some of the cultural heritage of the Cres/Lošinj archipelago in three or four dimensions. First, standard photographs are acquired from the site or object under study. Secondly, the resulting image collection is processed with some recent advances in computer technology and so-called Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms, which are known for their ability to reconstruct a sparse point cloud of scenes that were imaged by a series of overlapping photographs. When complemented by multi-view stereo matching algorithms, detailed 3D models can be built from such photo collections in a fully automated way. Moreover, the software packages implementing these tools are available for free or at very low-cost. Using a mixture of archaeological case studies, it will be shown that those computer vision applications produce excellent results from archaeological imagery with little eort needed. Besides serving the purpose of a pleasing 3D visualization for virtual display or publications, the 3D output additionally allows to extract accurate metric information about the archaeology under study (from single artefacts to entire landscapes).