Virtual inspector: a flexible visualizer for dense 3D scanned models

The rapid evolution of automatic shape acquisition technologies will make huge amount of sampled 3D data available in the near future. Cul- tural Heritage (CH) domain is one of the ideal fields of application of 3D scanned data, while some issues in the use of those data are: how to visualize at interactive rates and full quality on commodity computers; how to improve visualization ease of use; how to support the integrated visualization of a virtual 3D artwork and the multimedia data which tell its story. We present here the Virtual Inspector tool. The system allows naive users to inspect a very dense 3D model at interactive frame rates on off- the-shelf PC's, presenting the 3D model and all the multimedia data that has been linked to selected points of its surface. A main goal in the design of the system was to provide the user with a very easy and natural inter- action approach, based on a straightforward "point and click" metaphor. Visualization efficiency is obtained, without sacrificing quality, by adopt- ing a state-of-the-art continuous level-of-detail (LOD) representation. Fi- nally, the adoption of XML encoding of the GUI structure and behavior, makes Virtual Inspector a very flexible and configurable system.