| RECOVER factsheet |
| Starting date |
01-10-2005 |
| Duration |
24 months |
| Project Full Name |
Photorealistic 3D Reconstruction of Perspective Paintings and Pictures |
| Project Acronym |
RECOVER |
| Project No. |
COOP-CT-2005-017405 |
| Call Identifier |
FP6-2003-SME-1-Cooperative |
| Research Programme |
FP6 |
| Total Budget |
1.621.380,00 € |
| EC financial contribution |
835.585,00 € |
| RECOVER summary |
Being appealing to a wide audience, the cultural sector can supply several compelling forms of digital content suited for a diverse spectrum of uses, ranging from learning and entertainment to study of art history and cultural documentation. For this reason, the development of culture-related IT products and services has been the focus of a large number of efforts worldwide, originating both from companies and Government agencies. This is particularly true in Europe because of its immense repository of artistic treasures.
RECOVER proposes to develop a system for the semi-automatic extraction of three-dimensional (3D) models of scenes depicted in perspective paintings. 3D models of paintings constitute a new and exciting way for the general public to experience and appreciate fine art. The viewer can experience a feeling of immersion; paintings are no longer perceived as static artefacts from a long-gone past but as living, vibrant entities. With the aid of appropriate software and hardware, the viewer can literally dive into the painting, interacting with it and observing it from various viewpoints in impressive walk-throughs and inspiring fly-bys. This enables non-specialists to step into history and experience the scene in the space and time frame perceived by the artist. Ultimately, the viewing of paintings becomes a more appealing, exploratory endeavour, arousing the public’s interest in fine art and cultural heritage in general.
According to the state-of-practice, fully manual reconstruction techniques based on the use of CAD and 3D modeling tools are extremely tedious and labor-intensive, therefore time-consuming and expensive. Conventional 3D laser scanning techniques are inapplicable due to the fact that the canvas used for painting is 2D. RECOVER will capitalize on a vast body of research knowledge, in order to bridge the gap between state-of-the-art and state-of-practice in the construction of 3D models from 2D paintings. To achieve this, RECOVER will employ non-contact computer vision techniques to infer 3D scene structure by “inverting” the geometric rules followed by painters when drawing. The focus will be on the reconstruction of paintings that are rich in planes, colinearities, symmetries, orthogonalities and other forms of geometric regularity. Furthermore, the resulting 3D information will be refined and enhanced with the aid of interactive editing tools, yielding a photorealistic 3D model of the depicted scene. By doing so, the resources required for constructing such models will be drastically reduced, thus increasing the competitiveness of the companies commercialising the underlying technology. RECOVER technology can have a broad spectrum of possible practical applications ranging from the study of art history and assistive technologies for people with special needs to video metrology, architectural photogrammetry and surveying engineering, urban visualization and planning, monuments preservation and conservation, real-time virtual reality, forensic science, maintenance, medical visualization, guidance and information and e-learning. RECOVER partners also aim to validate the developed technology and define detailed exploitation plans. This will in turn facilitate the conception of novel applications and services that will increase revenue and create more jobs. Apart from the economical issues, RECOVER will also have important societal implications related to improved accessibility and visibility of European cultural resources.
The RECOVER consortium is a well-balanced blend of technology developers (research institutions and companies that are active in computational vision and graphics) and technology brokers (dynamic SMEs active in the production, management and distribution of multimedia content, advanced visualization techniques, with emphasis on cultural heritage applications).
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