Archaeological applications of polynomial texture mapping: analysis, conservation and representation

Abstract

a b s t r a c tPolynomial Texture Mapping is an image capture and processing technique that was developed by HP Labs in 2000. It enables the recording and representation of subtle surface details using a standard digital camera and lighting, and software that is free for non-commercial use. Cultural heritage applications have been associated with the technology from its earliest stages, including examples in areas such as cuneiform, numismatics, rock art, lithics and Byzantine art. The paper begins by outlining the technical principles involved. It then brings together the extant work in the field. Through examples developed by the University of Southampton in partnership with a range of UK and international bodies it demonstrates the benefits of the technology in the areas of archaeological analysis, conservation and representation. Finally it considers the future possibilities of this technology and ongoing developments.

A stabilizer-free non-polar dispersion for the deacidification of contemporary art on paper

“…In recent years, the use of reflectance transformation imaging is diffusing in the Cultural Heritage field [47][48][49][50][51]. For what concerns Arienti's drawings, RTI was chosen for the non-invasive evaluation of changes in paper topography due to the application of the proposed deacidification method.…”

High Dynamic Range Imaging for Archaeological Recording

“…Although they do not contain information that can be viewed directly, it should be possible to distribute viewers (as standalone software or browser plugins) that perform tone mapping 'on the fly'. In this way, HDR images might be useable in archaeology in a similar way to 'bubbleworld' methods such as Quick Time VR (Jeffrey 2001) or Polynomial Texture Maps (Earl et al 2010a;Earl et al 2010b) in that the researcher or reader is permitted to determine the optimum tone mapping parameters just as they determine the view position in the case of QTVR, and the lighting conditions for Polynomial Texture Maps. In short, it is difficult to entirely predict in advance what aspects of the image a future researcher/reader will wish to explore, and so it would be better to create and distribute physical HDR radiance maps where possible, so as to permit them to manipulate the final image appearance to suit their own interests and needs.…”

Imaging the Egyptian Obelisk at Kingston Lacy

“…This makes it particularly suitable for capture of surface relief on monuments and archaeological sites (Earl et al 2010). The builder software (freely available from Cultural Heritage Imaging) was applied in two stages.…”