3D DATA ACQUISITION AND 3D MODELLING APPLIED TO CULTURAL HERITAGE:
FROM LASER SCANNER TO VIRTUAL REALITY APPLICATIONS

Eva Pietroni, Maurizio Forte, CNR ITABC

The main goal of the research and of activity of the Virtual Heritage Lab of the Institute of Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage of National Council of Research in Roma, is to develop digital projects oriented to virtual cultural heritage and archaeology, both in inter-sites contexts, such as archaeological landscape, and in intra-sites contexts, such as monuments, structures, excavations. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of our research consists in the multidisciplinary approach, from data acquisition on site, using many and different kinds of technologies, to postprocessing and all successive steps of elaboration of data, critical knowledge, interpretation and communication of the cultural heritage. The attempt is to determine a coherent methodology of work, in which every phase and tipology of data can be integrated.

Different techniques and technologies are used for topographic relief and surveyng on site (DGPS, laser total station, photogrammetry, 3D laser scanning, photo and video acquisition), according to the level of detail required. All the data are successively elaborated to obtain a correct geometric model of the landscape, implemented in Virtual reality environment.
In particular this presentation will describe Laser scanning technology and will show some examples faced by some of our projects. This technolgy allows a very detailed digital acquisition of tridimensional objects as point clouds and then the creation of models characterized by high geometric resolution, that is foundamental for a monographic representation and interpretation of the monument.
3D models are then implemented in real time desktop OpenGL applications, in which the incremented cognitive value of scientific 3D reconstruction can be fully integrated with the complex informative system, composed by metadata associated.