4D Thermo-reflectography of Cultural Heritage

Abstract

This paper proposes a new method for the study of cultural heritage. A 3Dmodel in the mid-wavelength spectral range of infrared radiation is realized for the depth-resolved study of artworks. In particular, pulsed thermography is used to obtain a virtual 4D representation of some artifacts. The goal is to facilitate the end-user experience making it possible to explore subsurface elements in a digital 3D model. In the proposed approach, the three-dimensional geometry of the artifact is reconstructed by directly processing the infrared images using Structure from Motion techniques. Finally, the results of the humanities and natural sciences studies are mapped onto the 4D model in the form of interactive semantic annotations and visualized in a 3D web platform