Realistic walkthrough of cultural heritage sites

Abstract

In this chapter, we present the framework for realistic walkthrough of cultural heritage sites. The framework includes 3D data acquisition, data processing, and interactive rendering of complex 3D models such as sculptures, monuments, and artifacts found at cultural heritage sites. We acquire both coarse level and detail level 3D data using modeling tools and scanning devices. The acquired point cloud data at cultural heritage sites exhibit nonuniform distribution of geometry and hence we propose to use intrinsic geometric properties like metric tensor and Christoffel symbols, for capturing the geometry of the acquired 3D data to facilitate data processing. We propose several geometry-based data processing techniques such as super resolution, hole filling, and object categorization, for refining the acquired 3D data. We also propose coarse to detail 3D reconstruction technique, for the reconstruction of 3D models. Finally, the coarse to detail 3D reconstructed models is rendered using a rendering engine in an attempt to restore the original appearance of cultural heritage sites. We demonstrate the proposed framework using a walkthrough generated for the Vittala Temple at Hampi.