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F-MUSEUM: 3D images

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Images and graphics are a fundamental source of communication. 2D and especially 3D graphics are quickly becoming an integral part of dynamic, interactive web sites.

Following is a description of some 3D graphics software currently available.• The objectives of this section consist in:• To know how to use the main software for realizing the images

in 3D; • To know how to converse profitable with the professional

figures of the expert of the contents and with the project leader.

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SOFTWARE 3D OBJECT MODELLER

3DSOM from Creative Dimension Software Ltd. is a fast, cost-effective software tool for generating photo-realistic 3D models from images of real objects, based on technology originally developed by Canon.

With the 3DSOM Viewer Java applet, interactive plug in-free 3D content can easily be created for compelling e-commerce sites, eye-catching internet advertising, online museum exhibitions, and more. A fully customised 3D modelling service is also available delivering high quality multimedia content for CD marketing campaigns, exhibitions, education, digital product brochures and streaming over the internet:

http://www.3dsom.com/features/process.html ttp://www.3dsom.com/proexamples/index.html

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Specificationsa) Input Images• Mat printing function to create calibration mats on an

ordinary black and white printer. • Accepts up to 256 input images per project from digital

cameras or scanners as JPEG, BMP or PNG files; • Fully automatic, robust camera calibration to identify

arbitrary camera location and orientation; • Automatic background separation (masking) tool with

compensation for shadows on the backdrop; • Manual mask editing tools at multiple image zooms;• Mask save and load via PNG for editing in an external editor

(Adobe Photoshop, JASC Paint Shop Pro and others).

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Specifications: Save and Export• Export final model to 3DSOM Viewer for immediate inclusion on web pages without

need for browser plugins. We can also remove our branding on a per-model basis; • 3DSOM Viewer can display a background image behind the model as well as adding

lighting, shadows and hotspots in a small redistributable Java applet; • Export to Shockwave for use in Macromedia Director 8.5 for creating interactive web

content, and also as ready-to-use web page for use with popular Shockwave Player plugin;

• Export to VRML for interchange with many 3D packages and also for viewing with VRML-enabled browsers;

• Export to 3DS object for loading into 3D Studio Max and other 3D editing/animation packages;

• All project information saved in one project file; • Original images are not altered (can be read only) and left outside file to minimise

project file size. • e) System Requirements• 3DSOM runs under Windows XP (Home or Professional Editions) or Windows 2000.

Although it is possible to run under a Windows emulator on a Macintosh, this is not recommended as intensive processing is required. 5

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VR WORX 2.6

QuickTime Virtual Reality is an extension of the QuickTime technology developed by Apple Computer, Inc. that allows viewers to interactively explore and examine photo realistic, three-dimensional, virtual world. Unlike many other virtual reality systems, QuickTime VR does not require the viewer to wear goggles, a helmet or gloves. Instead, the viewer navigates in a virtual world using conventional computer input devices (such as the mouse, trackball, track pad or keyboard) to change the displayed image via the QuickTime VR movie controller.

QuickTime VR is quickly becoming one of the most important assets you can have, bringing a new level of interactivity and motion to web design and multimedia productions. The user can create interactive QuickTime VR movies quickly, simply and professionally, with any kind of camera: film, digital, video or created on the computer using a three-dimensional (3D) graphics package. 6

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• The VR Worx 2.6 can construct multinode environments with cylindrical panoramas, cubic VRs, multi-row objects, absolute objects, objects with sound, still images and linear QuickTime movies (http://www.vrtoolbox.com/gallery.html).

• New Features & Functions Include:• Streamlined and simplified User Interface for Macintosh & Windows; • Live Scrolling, Live Window Resizing and Dialog Sheets;• Application-wide Image Drag & Drop, including Document Proxy Icons; • Integrated On-line Help; • Intelligent Auto-configuration of Panoramas & Objects; • Choice of Cylindrical or Linear input acquisition mode for Panoramas; • Integrated Bridge to external image editors, like Photoshop™;• Zoom capability for images in Stitch & Blend panels; • Drag & Nudge capability for positioning images in Stitch panel; • User defined presets for quick composition of QuickTime movies; • Specify alternate target sizes with estimated download times; 7

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PHOTOMODELER • PhotoModeler is a powerful 3D software product that calculates measurements and

constructs 3D models from your photographs simply and easily (http://www.photomodeler.com/app03.html).

• PhotoModeler is used by professionals around the world to:• Create "as-built" drawings and measurements for process and plant engineers;• Measure accident and crime scenes for forensic analysts;• Create "as-found" and "as-built" drawings for architects and historic preservationists;• Model sets, objects, people and vehicles for animators and film/video producers;• Measure and create drawings of buildings, excavations & artefacts for archaeologists;• Measure and model anatomical morphology for anthropologists and medical

practitioners;• Reverse-engineer mechanical parts and assemblies for manufacturing engineers;• Survey complex 3D shapes, structures and volumes for civil engineers and surveyors;• Model objects for 3D databases for virtual reality builders.

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PIXMAKER PRO• Following the simple 3 steps of Snap, Stitch, Publish!™ in PixMaker

1.0, PixMaker Pro enables you to create 360° interactive PixAround content complete with Hotspots efficiently with customization options for Hotspot, Postcard and Web pages via its proven friendly, intuitive and easy-to-use graphical user interface.

• PixAround Scenes can be published online as Web pages, offline as Postcards, Screen Savers, PowerPoint® presentations; and onto mobile devices based on both Palm OS® and Windows® CE. You can create as many PixAround Scenes, Web pages, Postcards and Presentations as you wish at no additional cost. No additional software or browser plugins are not required for viewing the PixAround content.

• (http://www.pixaround.com/showcase/scenarios/loe-van-gallery/web/gallery.asp) (http://www.pixaround.com/showcase/scenarios/merlion/index.asp) 9

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Specifications• Snap • Capture your shots with ANY still camera; • Capture panoramic video with ANY USB/FireWire based

digital video camera;• Input formats:

– JPEG (.jpg)– Bitmap (.bmp)– Photo CD (.pcd)– Tagged Image File (.tif)– Portable Network Graphics (.png)– AVI (.avi)– MPEG-1 (.mpg)

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DEEPENING: 3D PHOTOGRAPHY

A mobile camera set has been privileged in order to avoid duplications of the operations, so time wasting. By virtue of the mobile set, every photographic session – about ten objects per time – took two days by 7-8 working hours each. The crucial requirement for VR photographing consists of the possibility to turn the reference object around one of the axes passing through the central-point. With this purpose in mind, we use a rotating base with a diameter of about 40 cm which should a) be able to sustain the heaviest objects and, mostly, b) allow for fluent and stable movements.

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In the picture below, for instance, we found that, at least, 24 pictures are required in order to allow for an adequate description of the object in the 3D framework. At the end we opted for 36 pictures.

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LighteningIn order to lighten the objects, one single lamp has been placed on the flank of the camera. The shadowed part of the object has been cleared up through some small reflecting panels and a mirror, where the latter allows to concentrate the light on single parts of the objects with adequate precision and, in addition, it is not problematic to transport from one set to another.

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The camera• All the pictures have been taken by a digital reflex Nikon D 70. The use

of a professional reflex has been very important for the success of this job. In addition, the camera should be fixed to a robust tripod. Two optics have been mostly used: the Micro Nikkor 60 mm f 2,8 AF-D and the Micro Nikkor 105 mm f 2,8 Ai. These two optics allowed us to photograph all of the objects with low effort and high quality results.

• The focus of the camera should be manually regulated and held still during the rotation, taking care in advance about the maximum width of the object. Sufficiently closed diaphragms have been used in order to give the maximum depth to the object.

• The exposition as well, has to be manually regulated and held fixed with remaining white balancing and the set up of ASA: it should be clear that all of the 36 pictures should have the same length and colour parameters in order to avoid chromatic variations and alterations during the rotation.

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Digital elaboration • The 36 pictures have been taken in RAW format; next the

pictures have been elaborated by the less heavy Jpg format, settled up at the minimum compression. Since the retouch of all pictures would have been too much effort-demanding, we have tried to achieve a good quality of pictures since the beginning, using, when opportune, non invasive supports in harmony with the rest of the object. The final assemblage of the sequence of pictures has been realized with the software “Quick Time VR” which allows for a sufficient number of user-friendly regulating options. Unfortunately, this software exists uniquely for Mac PCs, but the final products can be used with Windows OS as well.

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NEW TECHNOLOGIES

itSeez3D

• itSeez3D is a mobile 3D scanner that allows your iPad, with the Occipital’s Structure Sensor, to capture color and structure information of the world and process them into realistic 3D models. Use it to scan your family and friends as well as things you would like to copy in 3D, e.g., toys, shoes etc. Share your 3D models on sketchfab.com from the app and become a part of the growing 3D community! Other features include:

• Capture high-resolution color and structure data• Augmented reality feedback is used to improve your scanning

experience• Send captured data to the cloud and get a great 3D model back in a

few minutes• Share the 3D model by email in .ply or .obj formats or on Sketchfab.

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DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS

How to create a 3D relief using only digital images?• The first critical step is obviously the acquisition of good digital photographs.• At this stage it is certainly useful to use a camera, even if compact rooms and even

smartphones have yielded good results. In certain situations it can be very helpful to use a tripod, especially indoors in low light where the risk of blurred images is very high; It is to avoid the use of flash. It may be useful in the use of a tripod in cases where the object to be photographed is particularly high and also it becomes impossible to take photographs of the highest part of the object.

• When taking photographs you should always consider the three-dimensional object that is in front. To obtain an accurate and complete relief is essential to take pictures all around the object: on all sides, above and, if possible, even below. Each portion of the object must appear in at least three photos and each photo must have a margin of about 60% overlap with adjacent ones.

• In practice, taking a first photograph, then we move a little 'side and they take another, and so on until you come full circle around the object and has not returned to the starting point (see video at the bottom of text); it is recommended to take a picture at least every 15 degrees of movement. 18

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• Important not to use the zoom, or at least use the same zoom level.

• The advice is to take lots of photos, at least a hundred, to eventually select the best and discard those that have problems.

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And you need to pay special attention to the following aspects:

• lighting is crucial: if it is low and the object is in shadow will get a poor result; similarly if the lighting is excessive and too direct object will get a poor result. This is because the algorithms behind the Image-based Modeling rely on "texture" of photographs, too many gray areas, or too many areas of excessive light flatten the three-dimensional object making it difficult to reconstruct;• Photographs taken outside at different times of the day or even after a few days can cause problems as it will have different lighting;• it is not advisable to take pictures at very high resolution, unless you have access to a high-performance workstation for post-processing of images. If you are using a PC mid-level, such as a notebook, it will be almost impossible to process hundreds of photos over the 5MP;• the best images for this type of processing are those taken from a distance such as to embrace each a good portion of the object to be detected and with a high degree of overlap, not only between adjacent images, but also between many images.

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Interactive environments

There are several types of interactive environments. One is to re-create 3D space with visual representations of the museum by a 3D architectural metaphor, Which Provides a sense of place using various spatial references. They usually you use 3D modeling, VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) and X3D now (successor to VRML) for viewing. There sono stati Introduced various kinds of imaging techniques for building virtual museums, such as infrared reflectography, X-ray imaging, 3D laser scanning, IBMR (Image Based Rendering and Modeling) techniques. In the case of EU-funded projects, the ViHAP3D, a new virtual reality system for scanning museum artifacts, Has Been developed by EU researchers. [Citation needed] Another interactive three-dimensional spatial environment is QTVR. 21

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• VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced vermal or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind. It has been superseded by X3D.

• VRML is a text file format where, e.g., vertices and edges for a 3D polygon can be specified along with the surface color, UV mapped textures, shininess, transparency, and so on URLs can be associated with graphical components so that a web browser might fetch a webpage or a new VRML file from the Internet when the user clicks on the specific graphical component. Animations, sounds, lighting, and other aspects of the virtual world can interact with the user or may be triggered by external events such as timers. A special Script Node allows the addition of program code (e.g., written in Java or ECMAScript) to a VRML file. VRML files are commonly called "worlds" and have the *.wrl extension (for example island.wrl). VRML files are in plain text and generally compresses well using gzip which is useful for transferring over the internet more quickly (some gzip compressed files use the *.wrz extension). Many 3D modeling programs can save objects and scenes in VRML format. 22

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Standardization

• The Web3D Consortium has been formed to further the collective development of the format. VRML (and its successor, X3D), have been accepted as international standards by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

• The first version of VRML was specified in November 1994. This

version was specified from, and very closely resembled, the API and file format of the Open Inventor software component, originally developed by SGI. The current and functionally complete version is VRML97 (ISO/IEC 14772-1:1997). VRML has now been superseded by X3D (ISO/IEC 19775-1)

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X3D X3D is a royalty-free ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics. It is successor to the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML).[1] X3D features extensions to VRML (e.g. CAD, Geospatial, Humanoid animation, NURBS etc.), the ability to encode the scene using an XML syntax as well as the Open Inventor-like syntax of VRML97, or binary formatting, and enhanced application programming interfaces (APIs).

The X3D extension supports multi-stage and multi-texture rendering; it also supports shading with lightmap and normalmap. Starting in 2010, X3D has supported deferred rendering architecture. Now X3D can import SSAO, CSM and Realtime Environment Reflection/Lighting. The user can also use optimizations including BSP/QuadTree/OctTree or culling in the X3D scene.

X3D can work with other open source standards including XML, DOM and XPath.

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Standardization

• X3D defines several profiles (sets of components) for various levels of capability including X3D Core, X3D Interchange, X3D Interactive, X3D CADInterchange, X3D Immersive, and X3D Full. Browser makers can define their own component extensions prior to submitting them for standardisation by the Web3D Consortium. Formal review and approval is then performed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

• Liaison and cooperation agreements are also in place between the Web3D Consortium and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and the Khronos Group.

• A subset of X3D is XMT-A, a variant of XMT, defined in MPEG-4 Part 11. It was designed to provide a link between X3D and 3D content in MPEG-4 (BIFS).

• The abstract specification for X3D (ISO/IEC 19775) was first approved by the ISO in 2004. The XML and ClassicVRML encodings for X3D (ISO/IEC 19776) were first approved in 2005. 25