CARIA : Computer Assisted Reconstruction In Archeology

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CARIA Computer Assisted Reconstruction In
Archeology
Aytül Erçil, Mehmet Ali Gülgün, Yücel Saygin,
Berrin Yanikoglu Sabanci University Yücel
Yemez, Koç University Lale Akarun, Bogaziçi
University Ali Vahit Sahiner Öykü Madeni
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Objectives of CARIA

• Digital archeology
• Assisting with the re-assembly and reconstruction
  of archeological artifacts (such as pottery
  fragments, marble relief pieces or mosaics) using
  computational tools.
• Digitization of Cultural Heritage
• Digitization of archeological findings and museum
  art objects that constitute part of the cultural
  heritage, and to electronically disseminate these
  virtual objects via multimedia applications (such
  as, through a virtual museum).

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Objectives of CARIA

• Educational and Documentary Videos of
  Archeological Sites
• Developing tools to assist educational video and
  documentarymakers in utilising archeological
  visualisations in their video footage.
• Visualisation Tools
• Developing visualization tools to assist
  archeological experts in prototyping, predictive
  modeling, and reconstructing archeological sites.

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Contribution to Key Action Objectives

• IST Key Action III - MULTIMEDIA CONTENT AND TOOLS
• laying the foundations for the future provision,
  access and management of knowledge and to develop
  advanced systems to improve multi-media digital
  content. (from the 5th framework)
• This project will contribute to the key action by
  building and managing a digital library of
  archeological findings, sites and other cultural
  heritage and providing tools to synthesise real
  and virtual visual material to help improve the
  quality of archeological multimedia content thus
  preserving and improving access to cultural
  heritage.

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Innovation

• Improved techniques on 3D digitization and
  modeling of artifacts
• Database technologies for fast storage and access
  to 3D models
• Data mining techniques to help with the fragment
  assembly
• Image processing and pattern recognition
  techniques for automatic reconstruction
• Virtual Reality environment to disseminate the
  artifacts
• Outdoor 3D camera tracking for placing virtual
  objects in real-world video footage
• Improved techniques for multi-layer keying of
  synthetic image sequences in real-world video
  footage
• Improved image based lighting techniques for
  illuminating virtual scenes

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Project workplan

• 1. Data Acquisition Shape, Size, Color, Texture
  and Material Analysis of the objects and also
  the site
• 2. Database Data Mining Storage, Indexing ,
  Query of the Artifacts multimedia-mining of the
  data
• 3. Automatic Reconstruction Automatic Matching
  of the Artifacts for Plausible Reconstructions
• 4. 3D Digitization and Modeling of Artifacts
  Constructing 3D computer models of objects with
  accurate shape and texture
• 5. Assisted Reconstruction Interactive
  Environment to Assist Human Experts in the
  Reconstruction
• 6. Virtual Museums Synthesis of synthetic and
  real image sequences of archeological sites
  enabling display of 3D reconstructed artifacts in
  their natural environments

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Community Added Value and Contribution to EC
Policies

• Preserving the cultural heritage
• Educating the community by a widely accessible
  digital repository of cultural heritage
• Constructing joint digital archeological
  repositories by collaborative efforts from
  multiple countries

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Contribution to Community Social Objectives

• Cultural heritage in digital medium will be
  widely accessible to many people
• Increased community awareness of cultural
  heritage and preservation

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Economic Development and Scientific and
Technological Prospects

• A new application of 3-D digitization and 3-D
  image reconstruction.
• Storage and indexing of 3-D images will bring out
  new research issues and technologies for that
  will be investigated
• Vast potential of applications especially in the
  mediterranean region where many archaeological
  sites exist
• Will be a platform where archaeologists will
  exchange information and collaborate
• Will boost tourism industry by faster
  reconstruction
• Documentaries and tv programs about archeological
  sites under exploration will increase interest in
  public and help tourism industry
• Turkey has a big inventory of sites under
  investigation and uncovered sites. Developed
  tools will improve the speed and the cost of
  reconstruction and documentation.

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DATA ACQUISITION

• Acquisition of object data (archeological
  artifacts, museum art
• objects, etc.)
• Acquisition of environment data (archeological
  site or museum
• interiors).

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DATABASE ISSUES DATA MINING

• Effective storage of data
• Indexing of data for fast retrieval
• Content based querying of data
• Allowing data exchange by using XML as the
  standard data
• exchange format
• Enabling web access to the data

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AUTOMATIC RECONSTRUCTION OF ARTIFACTS
Re-assembly of fragments into complete objects
from 3D measurements (e.g. for pottery,
sculpture, murals, column capitals, portions of
buildings and other archeological structures).
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3D DIGITIZATION AND MODELING OF ARTIFACTS
Design and implementation of a complete 3D
digitization system with progressive modeling
techniques.
3D reconstruction and progressive modeling of the
Anyi Statue (Louvre-Paris)
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ASSISTED RECONSTRUCTION USING VIRTUAL REALITY
Developing a virtual reality environment for
interactive and collaborative reconstruction of
artifacts and site architecture, which will help
to rebuild and understand the original structure
of the site.
a) Photograph of the site b) Virtual
Reconstruction
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VIRTUAL MUSEUMS DISPLAY OF 3D RECONSTRUCTED
ARTIFACTS

• Outdoor 3D camera tracking for placing virtual
  objects in real-world video footage
• Improved techniques for multi-layer keying of
  synthetic image sequences in real-world video
  footage
• Improved techniques for illuminating virtual
  scenes
• 3D display of reconstructed artifacts in their
  natural environments.