Integration of non-invasive techniques for documentation and preservation of complex architectures and artworks

The digital documentation of cultural heritage is receiving much attention in the last few years and 3D modeling of objects or sites is one of the main research topics in this field. Many improvements have been done in the generation of digital models of cultural heritage, concerning range sensors and image based modeling. But there are still a lot of open questions and problems in deciding which technique should be employed in which situation. While in the past years, when high level of detail was required, range sensors were usually preferred to image data, nowadays, due to the considerable algorithm improvements and increase of automation in the image-based modeling process, the digitization of cultural heritage based on close-range photogrammetry covers a more and more important role. Furthermore, new sensors, working outside the visible spectrum, are nowadays available for cultural heritage documentation and preservation. Therefore the integration of all these digital information would leave to much more detailed, interesting and valuable results. In this article we present the most common technique for heritage surveying and 3D modeling and we report examples related to the frescoed Romanino’s Loggia located in the Buonconsiglio Castle (Trento, Italy).