Portable solution for high-resolution 3D and color texture on-site digitization of cultural heritage objects

Abstract

A peculiar characteristic of cultural heritage objects is their uniqueness. This results in an enormous importance for their preservation against aging, accidents, destruction etc. Although not replacing physical preservation, one way is the digitization of the objects in their current state by modern scanning technologies. This research describes a new method to combine 3D shape and color texture data acquired without contact to achieve high-resolution 3D representations. The method was basis of a portable 3D digitization system. The portable character allows its application on-site, which is essential for sensitive and non-transportable objects. A structured-light 3D sensor and a photo camera are used to capture the object from various overlapping perspectives. Then, the 3D shape and photographic data are processed and merged into a complete textured 3D model. Resolution and accuracy of the final model are in the range of 0.1 mm. Beyond preservation, the models can be used to make museum objects digitally available for experts or visitors worldwide e.g. in the form of online databases or virtual museums. A first utilization of the presented technology was realized with historic globes, especially with a Schöner globe dating from 1515 as highlight. The used method can be extended beyond RGB texture acquisition using multi-/hyperspectral sensors leading to an increased information content about the objects.