Page 132 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

132involving recording and conservation. The team of the Grupo de Investigación en Fotogrametría y Láser Escáner39 (GIFLE) from the Department of Cartographic Engineering, Geodesy and Photogrammetry of the Universidad Polit cnica de Valencia was entrusted with conducting a pioneering and historic experiment during the intervention on the main chapel of Valencia ca- thedral, when the Baroque vault was dismantled to recover some earlier Renaissance frescos.These frescos had remained concealed beneath the Baroque vault, but came to light during the restoration of the main chapel. In this case it was decided to remove the vault that covered them, for which photogrammetry and 3D laser scanning were used to obtain a highly accurate three-dimensional model of the vault before its removal to fully document it by means of this virtual copy, so that the intervention would be reversible if necessary (Biosca et al., 2007).40The intervention, carried out in 2006, made it possible to enjoy the frescos in their full Renais- sance splendour thanks solely to the use of new technologies during the work performed before dismantling the Baroque vault.The use of digital technologies in this inter- vention thus demonstrates the important role they can play in similar work. Indeed, they area feasible and appropriate option in terms of conservation as they pay special attention to the cultural object, as well as being a non-intrusive procedure that respects the original work and makes it possible to advance in the debate on conservation versus restoration of heritage.CultLab 3DA broad variety of instruments are available for digital documentation, and sometimes a combi- nation of several is necessary, making the pro- cess complex and wide-ranging. CultLab3D41 is a laboratory that contains a digitisation system for three-dimensional objects. It was created by the Competence Center for Cultural Heritage Digiti-zation belonging to the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD (Darmstadt, Germany). It is the rst mass digitisation system of its kind thanks to an automated conveyor belt 3D scanning system. This would make it possible to scan whole collections of movable assets, unifying all these processes and optimising the work and the time required to acquire digitised data. So far the CultLab3D prototype has fo- cused mainly on a photogrammetric exploration procedure capable of capturing the geometry, texture and optical properties of the objects’ materials – the latter being a characteristicof considerable importance with a view to future 3D printing processes. Automating the digitisation process seeks to provide an e ective solution for museums, which are increasingly demanding quality 3D models, and, basically, the ability to document their entire collections [online resource - video].42International Conservation Center – Città di RomaIn other cases, the experiments carried out in research labs have attempted to provide low- cost alternatives in the use of photogrammetric techniques to document and digitise cultural heritage. An example is the work performed at the International Conservation Center – Città di Roma,43 an Israeli institution devoted to historic conservation and preservation, whose results were presented at the International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies of 2013 in Vienna (Waas and Zell, 2013).44The three chosen case studies aimed to illustrate several scenarios for assessing photogrammetric techniques. They focused on the wall of a church dating from the age of the Crusades in Tel Yokn- eam (valley of Jezreel, near Haifa); the paintings and decorative plasterwork on the ceiling of the reception hall of a nineteenth-century house in the coastal city of Acre; and the remains of some Roman latrines near the amphitheatre in the city of Beit She’an.1. DOCUMENTATION, DIAGNOSIS AND CONSERVATIONThe use of digital technologies in the conservation, analysis and dissemination of cultural heritage