Cultural heritage now in 3D
Digital content of cultural heritage 'products' is suitably applied across a wide spectrum of uses, from study of art history through cultural documentation to assistive technologies for people with special needs. The ability to develop culture-related IT products and services has drawn the interest of companies worldwide. 3D models of paintings promise an exciting experience for appreciation of fine art where viewers can practically immerse themselves in world masterpieces. Paintings will no longer be seen as static artefacts but as living and vibrant entities, regenerating interest in fine art and cultural heritage. Currently, manual reconstruction techniques are very involved and time-consuming. The class of software products focusing strictly on one image is still rather limited, or may offer products that have been discontinued or are not yet fully available. For various reasons, it is not possible to apply laser scanning or multi-view geometry vision techniques or photogrammetric approaches. The 'Photorealistic 3D reconstruction of perspective paintings and pictures' (Recover) project worked to develop a system for the semi-automatic extraction of 3D models of scenes from perspective paintings. The EU-funded project built on recent research to improve the state of practice in construction of 3D models from 2D paintings. Team members investigated semi-automatic single-view reconstruction from a one-perspective image, leading to the development of a prototype system capable of interactively extracting textured 3D models from images. A major positive outcome means the resources needed for such reconstruction are drastically reduced. This increases the competitiveness of companies seeking to commercialise the technology and boosts the market for novel applications and services, thus increasing revenue and creating employment opportunities. The main use of the Recover system is its applicability for developing interactive multimedia applications related to cultural heritage. This promises to have major positive implications for EU citizens in terms of improved accessibility to and visibility of the continent's cultural resources. Textured 3D models reconstructed using the Recover system can be employed in many applications: video games, 3D photography, digital visualisation, virtual reality, visual metrology, e-learning, etc. Recover's set of techniques support innovative functionalities that render its system unique among currently existing commercial software products.
