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Applications of BIRIS Technology to Heritage

1997-1998 - Italy

In 1997 and 1998 NRC collaborated with the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Ferrara, Italy to demonstrate the applications of a compact BIRIS 3D laser imaging system for heritage recording applications that require rapid response on remote sites. In the field of heritage recording, on-site 3D documentation is necessary in situations where objects and/or environments can not be moved or their access is restricted because of natural causes e.g. earthquake or tourism-related degradation. The 3D acquisitions on these sites typically have to be performed in a relatively short time frame ranging from several hours to a day. In addition, many applications do not allow any alterations to the object and surroundings to suit the vision system, e.g., by placing markings. A self-contained 3D imaging and modeling station capable of satisfying many demanding on site 3D documentation tasks is presented here. For heritage recording, special attention is placed on accuracy, as it is critical for obtaining high-quality reconstruction of 3D models from range imagery. A summary of the experimental results is presented.

Goals:

Demonstration of a portable 3D acquisition platform: Range image acquisition and model creation at the university of Ferrara on the Abbey of Pomposa:

1. Testing of an on site-calibration, verification procedure and accuracy of models with large open surfaces,
2. Bring back to life surface details of architectural elements worn down by 1100 years of aging (including tourism related),
3. 2-day tutorial on range imaging techniques with laboratory based on the BIRIS range camera

Period selected for the on-site work:

•   28^th of February through the 8^th of March 1998

Work plan:

Financed by

• The Faculty of Architecture (University of Ferrara) and NRC Canada

Amount of work

• 2 days of scans and tests in Pomposa
• 2 days of model creation in Ferrara
• 2 days of Tutorial in Ferrara

Type of work

• scan of a section of the facade of the Abbey including: a large area measuring 2 m by 6  m
  and located under the left wheel, the left wheel, 1 peacock on top left corner and 1 column
• creation of models for these items
• testing of the on-site calibration procedure
• comparison of the results with a theodolite survey (provided by the University)
• tutorial on active range imaging techniques with laboratory on PC-MAC-SGi and BIRIS
• demonstration of POLYWORKS^TM
• verification of models supplied by the Faculty of architecture (Alias Wavefront format)

Equipment brought to Italy:

A few snap-shots of the models: