Photo-Realistic 3D Reconstruction of Castles with Multiple Sources Image Based Techniques

Digitally reconstructing a large and complex heritage site, particularly medieval castles, for documentation, research, and virtual reality simulation is a challenging task. Castles by design contain many lines of defense such as inner and outer rings of walls and are often located on high grounds, surrounded by water or forests. They also have protective entrances, towers, courtyards, and a mixture of large complex buildings. Although laser scanners have many advantages, they may be impractical for reconstructing an entire castle. They are not portable or fast enough and can generate a huge amount of data that is difficult to register and visualize in real time. Therefore, we set out to fully explore the potential of only image-based techniques for modeling castles. We captured aerial and ground-based images and used existing floor plans and limited surveying, which compelled us to develop a technique to assemble and integrate models made from different data sets. We will discuss the issues and problems associated with modeling castles, give details of our approach, and present and evaluate the results of modeling the Stenico castle in Trentino, Italy, as a test-bed