Three-dimensional reconstruction of Roman coins from photometric image sets

Lindsay MacDonald; Vera Moitinho de Almeida; Mona Hess

doi:10.1117/1.JEI.26.1.011017

3 February 2017 Three-dimensional reconstruction of Roman coins from photometric image sets

Lindsay MacDonald, Vera Moitinho de Almeida, Mona Hess

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Electronic Imaging, Vol. 26, Issue 1, 011017 (February 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JEI.26.1.011017

Abstract

A method is presented for increasing the spatial resolution of the three-dimensional (3-D) digital representation of coins by combining fine photometric detail derived from a set of photographic images with accurate geometric data from a 3-D laser scanner. 3-D reconstructions were made of the obverse and reverse sides of two ancient Roman denarii by processing sets of images captured under directional lighting in an illumination dome. Surface normal vectors were calculated by a “bounded regression” technique, excluding both shadow and specular components of reflection from the metallic surface. Because of the known difficulty in achieving geometric accuracy when integrating photometric normals to produce a digital elevation model, the low spatial frequencies were replaced by those derived from the point cloud produced by a 3-D laser scanner. The two datasets were scaled and registered by matching the outlines and correlating the surface gradients. The final result was a realistic rendering of the coins at a spatial resolution of 75 pixels/mm (13-μm spacing), in which the fine detail modulated the underlying geometric form of the surface relief. The method opens the way to obtain high quality 3-D representations of coins in collections to enable interactive online viewing.

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Lindsay MacDonald, Vera Moitinho de Almeida, and Mona Hess "Three-dimensional reconstruction of Roman coins from photometric image sets," Journal of Electronic Imaging 26(1), 011017 (3 February 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JEI.26.1.011017

Received: 1 June 2016; Accepted: 14 November 2016; Published: 3 February 2017

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