Hyper3D: 3D graphics software for examining cultural artifacts

Art conservators now have access to a wide variety of digital imaging techniques to assist in examining and documenting physical works of art. Commonly used techniques include hyperspectral imaging, 3D scanning, and medical computed tomography imaging. However, viewing most of this digital image data frequently requires both specialized software, which is often associated with a particular type of acquisition device, and professional knowledge of and experience with each type of data. In addition, many of these software packages are focused on particular applications (such as medicine or remote sensing) and do not permit users to access and fully exploit all the information contained in the data. In this paper, we address two practical barriers to using high-tech digital data in art conservation. First, users must deal with a wide variety of interfaces specialized for applications besides conservation. We provide an open-source software tool with a single intuitive interface consistent with conservators' needs that handles various types of 2D and 3D image data and preserves user-generated metadata and annotations. Second, previous software has largely allowed visualizing a single type or only a few types of data. The software we present is designed and structured to accommodate multiple types of digital imaging data, including as yet unspecified or unimplemented formats, in an integrated environment. This allows conservators to access different forms of information and to view a variety of image types simultaneously.