The Digital Sculpture Project. Applying 3D Scanning Techniques for the Morphological Comparison of Sculptures

• Over the last decade, highly accurate mobile 3D measurement technologies have become available and are widely used now in industry and entertainment. In the cultural heritage field, various 3D pilot projects for conservation and restauration purposes have been initiated or completed already. My Digital Sculpture Project, started in November 2001, focuses on establishing an efficient workflow for creating high-resolution geometric models of both small and large plaster, terra-cotta and bronze sculptures, with a limited budget and a small support team, in improvised, non-laboratory situations and within narrow time windows, as encountered in the course of a significant series of museum visits all over Europe. Specific requirements and scanning strategies for scanning complex sculptures are discussed, along with a series of scanner tests. The article explains possible applications of 3D documentation methods, especially their relevance for comparative morphological analysis and issues of originality and authenticity. To demonstrate the use of 3D difference maps, this paper presents an exact and objective comparison of two monumental plasters of Auguste Rodin's 'Thinker', located in France and Poland respectively, conducted in December 2003.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Annan data- och informationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Other Computer and Information Science (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

rap (subject category)