3D scanning cultural heritage artifacts: potentialities and issues

The recent evolution of the graphics technology has been impressive, and the management of very complex models is now possible on inexpensive platforms. Moreover, automatic scanning devices (often called 3D scanning tools) allow to build highly accurate models of real 3D objects in a cost- and time-effective manner. This talk will present the potentials of this technology and some issues by taking into account a particular application context: the acquisition of Cultural Heritage artifacts. This domain is characterized by a quest for extreme accuracy in the acquisition, and for low cost and easiness of use of the tools. Unfortunately, it is not easy to satisfy these contrasting constrains. The main issues in the acquisition of Cultural Heritage will be discussed, together with some limitations of current hardware and software tools. Some examples of the results of current projects will be shown.