Increase of readability and accuracy of 3D models using fusion of close range photogrammetry and laser scanning

The development of laser scanning technology has opened a new page in geodesy and enabled an entirely new way of presenting data. Products obtained by the method of laser scanning are used in many sciences, as well as in archaeology. It should be noted that 3D models of archaeological artefacts obtained by laser scanning are fully measurable, written in 1:1 scale and have high accuracy. On the other hand, texture and RGB values of the surface of the object obtained by a laser scanner have lower resolution and poorer radiometric characteristics in relation to the textures captured with a digital camera. Scientific research and the goal of this paper are to increase the accuracy and readability of the 3D model with textures obtained with a digital camera. Laser scanning was performed with triangulation scanner of high accuracy, Vivid 9i (Konica Minolta), while for photogrammetric recording digital camera Nikon D90 with a lens of fixed focal length 20 mm, was used. It is important to stress that a posteriori accuracy score of the global registration of point clouds in the form of the standard deviation was ± 0.136 mm while the average distance was only ± 0.080 mm. Also research has proven that the quality projection texture model increases readability. Recording of archaeological artefacts and making their photorealistic 3D model greatly contributes to archaeology as a science, accelerates processing and reconstruction of the findings. It also allows the presentation of findings to the general public, not just to the experts.