CRS4 system used for the Mont'e Prama permanent exhibition

CRS4 has recently developed an advanced system for acquisition, reconstruction and presentation of the color and shape of cultural heritage objects. DIVA fellows have actively participated to the research, development, and outreach activities.

The developed approach has been successfully applied to the acqusition and exploration of a set of 3D models derived from the 3D scan acquisition of the statues of Mont’e Prama, ancient stone sculptures created by the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia, Italy.

Shape and color of restored statues have been measured by combining laser scanning with digital flash photography. The acquisition campaign covered 37 statues with over 6200 scans and about 4000 photos. Thanks to novel processing methods, enabling automatic clutter removal, natural color estimation, as well as geometric and colorimetric fusion, acquired data were combined to create 3D colored reconstructions at 16 points/mm2 resolution. Within the DIVA project, all the acquired data will be made available to the research commuting for research purposes.

The 3D dataset is now the basis for an advanced exploration systems placed at the National Archeological Museum in Cagliari and the Civic Musum in Cabras. Inside the museums, an interactive system lets visitors virtually explore every statue at very high resolution using a touch screen connected to a large rear projection system. The user interface lets visitors select a model for visual exploration, seamlessly moving from overall views to detail analysis thanks to multiresolution visualization techniques. Synthetic lights and illustrative shading methods allow one to appreciate even the smallest surface relief.

The permanent Exhibition opened on Saturday 22 March and has already been visited by thousands of people.