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3D Technologies Developed by VIT Group

The Visual Information Technology Group of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has developed and patented three high-resolution 3D digital or “laser scanner” imaging systems and processing algorithms which have been applied to a wide range of museum and heritage recording applications. The systems have been designed for different imaging applications and, in collaboration with a number of national and international museums and cultural agencies have been used to scan a wide variety of objects and sites.

3D Imaging Technology

The three NRC laser scanner systems use triangulation based scanning and detection systems and are designed for different types of objects and imaging applications. One of the systems, the High Resolution Color Laser Scanner, has been used for scanning typical museum and art gallery collections including paintings, ethnographic and archaeological collections and natural history specimens. Two monochrome systems, the BIRIS 3D Laser Camera and the Large Volume Laser Scanner, have been used in the field to digitize archaeological site features, architectural elements on historic buildings and large sculptures.

3D Models Acquisition and Construction

A 3D model is a digital representation of the geometry and appearance of an object on which one can perform operations. Our strategy is to acquire a high-resolution geometric model of the surface, along with parameters of a reflectance model. The model is represented as a triangular mesh at a resolution comparable to the original geometric data, with a color-per-vertex description of a diffuse reflectance model. This representation, quite generic in nature, embeds all the information gathered by the sensing process.

Analytical tasks can then be performed on the model (or in some cases on the original data). This model also fits directly with current polygon-based rendering hardware. Other representations for display purposes can then be derived from the high-resolution mesh. However, the high-resolution mesh can be viewed as the archival quality digital record or 3D digital reference model of the object or scene, which serves as the starting point for all subsequent studies and/or transformations.

Constructing the 3D Model

Research Contact

Jacques Domey
Group Leader
Visual Information Technology
NRC Institute for Information Technology
1200 Montreal Road
Building M-50, Room 341
Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6
Telephone: +1 (613) 993-2557
Fax: +1 (613) 952-0215
E-mail: Jacques.Domey@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Business Contact

Randall Milburn
Business Development Officer
Business Development Office, NCR
NRC Institute for Information Technology
1200 Montreal Road
Building M-50, Room 201
Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6
Telephone: +1 (613) 990-6590
Fax: +1 (613) 952-0074
E-mail: Randall.Milburn@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca