3D modeling of archaeological vessels using shape from silhouette

Abstract

An algorithm for the automatic construction of a 3D model of archaeological vessels is presented. In archeology the determination of the exact volume of arbitrary vessels is of importance since this provides information about the manufacturer and the usage of the vessel. To acquire the shape of objects with handles in 3d is complicated, since occlusions of the object's surface are introduced by the handle and can only be resolved by taking multiple views. Therefore, the 3d reconstruction is based on a sequence of images of the object taken from different viewpoints. The object's silhouette is the only feature which is extracted from an input image. Images are acquired by rotating the object on a turntable in front of a stationary camera. The algorithm uses an octree representation of the model, and builds this model incrementally, by performing limited processing of all input images for each level of the octree. Beginning from the root node at the level 0 a rough model of the object is obtained quickly and is refined as the processed level of the octree increases. Results of the algorithm developed are presented for both synthetic and real input images.