An easy-to-use visualization system for huge cultural heritage meshes

The technology for the automatic shape reconstruction evolved rapidly in recent years, and huge mass of data can be easily produced. Due to the supported accuracy, works of art are one of the ideal fields of use of these devices. Given this particular application domain (Cultural Heritage),two issues arise: how to manage these complex data on commodity computers, and how to improve the ease of use of the visualization tools (as potential users are often not expert at all with interactive graphics). We present a new visualization system that allows naive users to inspect a large complex 3D model at interactive frame rates on off-the-shelf PC's. A main goal in the design of the system has been to provide the user with a very easy and natural interaction approach, based on a straightforward "point and click" metaphor. Visualization efficiency is obtained by adopting a LOD representation and on-line automatic selection of the best-fit level of detail (according to the current view frustum). The system has been used by restores and art curators for the inspection of some high resolution models of statues,and its evaluation was successful.