SCANNING FOR MICRONS

During the past few years 3D acquisition technologies have been extensively employed for the collection of three dimensional data for various applications related to Cultural Heritage. The endless variety in the material, the size and shape of CH objects undeniably calls for different approaches, in order to achieve the optimum result for the documentation process. This very need has definitely been one of the main reasons for the development of numerous systems and methods that facilitate the acquisition and processing required. Also, the trend to combine the results of the documentation of CH objects with virtual environments, educational and research applications, art and entertainment has drawn the interest of related industries that, not only increased the impact of the work that has already been done, but also have greatly contributed in the update of most related processes i.e. study, recording, processing, publication, dissemination, exploitation. At the same time, the use of high-end electronic equipment (digital cameras, lasers, projectors, strobes etc) and the ongoing increase in the performance of the hardware and software used for processing are expected to lead to remarkable results in an accelerated fashion. In this context this paper deals with issues involving data capture, processing and e-publication of medium to small sized CH objects. These issues are addressed and analysed based on the experience of a complete case study carried out for a collection of 30 neolithic vases from the unique Dispilio lake settlement near the city of Kastoria in Northern Greece. The data acquisition and basic processing for the study has been carried out by means of a state-of-the-art structured light scanner by XYZRGB Inc., coupled with powerful proprietary software. Beginning with a short review of technologies that have been employed in the past, various well known open issues in the related processes are identified and the respective solutions/significant improvements in the workflow pipeline brought by the employment of new technologies are highlighted. The configuration of the system used is described and high resolution visualizations of sub-millimeter-accuracy for the case study are presented and assessed based on completeness, accuracy and ease of processing.