3D and Visualization – ARIADNE Infrastructure

Introduction

The 3D and Visualization SIG is aimed at people who are producing 3D archaeological models and/or are using other media (e.g. audio visual, images) for any type of visual representation of archaeological findings or assets for the purposes of research, documentation, monitoring and preservation and the many other associated uses such as education and promotion of cultural heritage.

The scale of these visualizations range from a few centimetres (small objects) to hundreds squared metres for large sites. As a relatively new topic, the focus is more on technology and methodologies associated with the creation, presentation and analysis of 3D models and related media. There is obviously an overlap with other SIGs such as metadata.

Contact information

Group Co-ordinator: Dr. Roberto Scopigno, CNR, Italy. Email.

News

July 2016
The 14th EUROGRAPHICS Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage will be held in Genova (Italy) on 5-7 October 2016.

The selection of paper has been finalized, with 13 full papers accepted, 17 short papers and 8 project papers. The event program will appear very soon on the workshop web site at http://gch2016.ge.imati.cnr.it/
We have a very good program and Genova is an excellent tourist location so that the event will be highly enjoyable both scientifically and as a cultural experience. Please consider registering and joining us in Genova!

June 2016
The third edition of the Trans-National Access (TNA) event on “2D/3D Documentation for Archaeology” was organized by CNR-ISTI in Pisa on June 20th-24th, 2016

The goal of this event is to provide participants with both a structured course on visual media technologies and practical hands-on sessions to test and experiment with the technologies being presented. Individual work is a primary component of the experience. Students have been asked to suggest research projects or tasks to be accomplished during the school by means of the expertise and advice contributed by the TNA tutors, so that practice with the technologies is made through the case studies brought by the students.

Concerning the course lessons, we introduced: (a) the technologies for producing 2D and 3D documentation for archaeological purposes, considering both the small scale (artworks, findings) and the large scale (monuments, sites); and (b) the methodologies for providing visual access to the data gathered (considering both desktop and web-based visualization). Tutors discussed with the students the projects they suggested, concerning large scale acquisition and modelling (castles, architectures), medium scale (megalithic rocks with inscriptions) and small scale findings management (archaeological excavation findings, lithic artefacts, ceramics); students received suggestions and advice on how to progress on those projects. Matteo Dellepiane and Marco Callieri were the main CNR-ISTI tutors and instructors in the TNA. Administrative issues and organization were managed by Francesca De Mitry.

April 2016
The Visual Media Services are available through the Services section of the ARIADNE Portal.

February 2016
The ARIADNE Visual Media Service (the service related to the conversion of 2D/RTI/3D data assets in a web-compliant format, thus supporting easy publication and visualization on the web) has been extended and updated on the ARIADNE server.

You may access, test and use it at: http://visual.ariadne-infrastructure.eu/

The new features added to the service are:

Support for *point clouds* (we can now manage the usual datasets produced by TOF devices and quite common in 3D digitization of architectures).
Support for texture-mapped triangle meshes.
Use of a new compressed version of multi-resolution encoding for 3D models: the size of processed models is now 10% of the original file size, without impact on performances.
Increased flexibility of the 3D browser, since user can now configure a number of parameters on the functionalities provided by the browser and the look&feel of the graphical user interface; this includes also some new features of the interactive 3D browser, such as the ones for creating sections and for taking point-to-point measurements.

January 2016
CNR is developing a web-based directory of all resources (open source tools, free software libraries, commercial systems) which could be proficiently used to manage Visual Media in Digital Humanities in the framework of the DARIAH Working Group on Visual Media and Interactivity. CNR is inviting contributions from ARIADNE partners and SIG members, to add content and comments (on each specific tool descriptions).
The first version of the directory went on line in autumn 2015. This is now under revision – a section on Audio/Video resources will be added and there will be a new categorization of Visual data. The revised version should be ready in spring 2016. The directory is online at: http://dariah-it.isti.cnr.it/

December 2015
A reference paper on the 3DHOP platform has been published in the International Journal “Computer and Graphics”:
Marco Potenziani, Marco Callieri, Matteo Dellepiane, Massimiliano Corsini, Federico Ponchio, Roberto Scopigno, 2015, “3DHOP: 3D Heritage Online Presenter”, Computer & Graphics, Volume 52, page 129-141 – Nov 2015
The paper is available at: http://vcg.isti.cnr.it/Publications/2015/PCDCPS15/
The 3DHOP platform has been expanded and consolidated. Version 3 is available at: http://3dhop.net/

October 2015
CNR-ISTI participated extensively the IEEE/EG Digital Heritage 2015 conference, held in Granada (Spain) on Sept. 28 – Oct. 2, 2015. A tutorial on 3DHOP was held, which got a very good audience (more than 40 people) and allowed to present in details both the 3DHOP platforms and the ARIADNE Visual Media Service. Digital Heritage 2015 saw the participation of many ARIADNE members and to meet with many researcher and professionals working on Archaeology. It was an ideal vehicle for dissemination and for contacting our community.

March 2015

There is no need to underline the importance of 3D graphics in the CH field and it is known that web publishing is one of the fastest and most versatile channels for broad dissemination. The synergy of these two technologies has led to the blossoming of a number of new solutions for publishing and showing 3D artifacts on the web in an easy and practical way.

SIG Co-ordinator, CNR, has published an article on the two most interesting emerging platforms for this purpose, SketchFab and 3DHOP.

January 2015

Following the conclusions of the October 2013 workshop, feedback from the TNA training and the Stakeholder survey, CNR-ISTI has designed and implemented a new Visual Media Service which was launched in January 2015.

June 2014

CNR have run the first Trans-national access training week on 2D/3D documentation for archaeology. The main goal of the summer school was to enable scholars and professionals to endorse and implement modern approaches for the visual multimedia documentation of artworks and archaeological sites (i.e. fieldworks and artefacts), including several innovative approaches to digitize and document our heritage using 3D and enhanced 2D media. Read more …

October 2013

The kick-off meeting for the 3D and Visualization SIG “ARIADNE infrastructure for multimedia data: matching technologies and user needs” took place at CNRS, Pisa on the 7th and 8th October 2013. The participants each presented a summary of the type of research they were involved and/or the technologies they could contribute to ARIADNE with examples of their 3D models and demos of tools developed for the processing and presentation of these models. The workshop then moved onto a discussion about the general needs and services that could be provided to the ARIADNE infrastructure.

A full description of the presentations and outcomes of the first SIG meeting is available as a report for SIG and ARIADNE infrastructure members and may be downloaded here.