Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Buildings in the Temple of Confucius

Three-dimensional models of buildings -- especially ancient buildings -- are widely used in many applications. However, acquisition of 3D building models is difficult and time consuming. Buildings in the Temple of Confucius in Qufu are an example of art and aesthetics achievement among ancient Chinese buildings. This paper presents a 3D reconstruction of buildings in the Temple of Confucius in Qufu and proposes a method to automatically acquire 3D building models as well. The method is based on a fact that most ancient Chinese buildings follow established standards. This fact provides a way for us to automatically acquire 3D building models by setting the parameters such as the height of a roof, so the utilization of these standards becomes vitally important. Besides, this paper discusses data preparation procedures such as measurement extracting and texture preparation. Photogrammetry is used for architectural measurement extracting and texture synthesis technology is used to synthesize textures which are blocked by obstacles. In addition, all models and textures are optimized before publication, and a virtual reality dome is created to show the feasibility.