High density digital form for cultural heritage: Synthetic modeling and reverse engineering of the four horses of the basilica of san marco in venice

This research would like to illustrate an experimental work carried out in the filed of Cultural Heritage, finalized to determine a complete object shape at very high resolution. The aim was to go beyond initial dichotomy present between two main necessities: on one hand side a definition of a most accurate model of the study item, and on the other a granted possibility to control, over the time, the form and shape variations that surfaces could undertake for various reasons. In the field of Cultural Heritage, it has been seen how a digital model, created from a precise data obtained with terrestrial laser scanner techniques, allow a continuous and accurate definition on an architectural scale. However, if a scale factor increases and a geometrical definition is required, for little objects or sculptures, application possibilities decrease considerably. A literature known case is David of Michelangelo, carried out by a Stanford University as a project of Digital Michelangelo (Levoy, 2000), as well as other projects done with purely experimental technologies, suitable for prototypes and with a pretty defined limits of use. This research combines various experiences developed in different fields and modified for a domain of Cultural Heritage, in order to obtain, from a fusion of specific skills, a right methodology to approach study cases of a complex form. The aim of experimental applications has been a validation of affirmations previously expressed: during a test phase a 3D digital survey was made of a portion of a sculpture of four horses situated inside of a Museum of St. Marks Basilica.