MONUMENTS RESTORATION USING 2D MAPPING FROM 3D

SCANNED MODELS

SORIN, NISTOR, assistant PhD. stud. eng, University of Oradea, Faculty of Architecture and Constructions, e-
mail: ing_nistor@yahoo.com
NORBERT-SZABOLCS, SUBA, assistant PhD. stud. eng, University of Oradea, Faculty of Architecture and
Constructions, e-mail: suba_norbert@yahoo.com

Abstract: In recent years, focus on the restoration of historical monuments and their preservation
grown exponentially around the world. These monuments render a nation's identity, while also
providing the possibility of tourism development. Restoration is done as carefully as the identity of
the monument must be preserved, the finest features of the monument to be restored in a state close
to one in which the monument was built. The request for information concerning the monument can
be connected with the demands, for instance from an architect who needs to restore or re-assign a
monument, from an art historian or from an archaeologist. The requests for information are as
varied as they are specific and they define the purpose of the scan. The 3D scanning technique
represents the ultimate development in obtaining with great speed the specific details.
In this paper we will present how to obtain the volume of the restoration material,
profiles and other details that can help restore and improve the work. With the development of
scanning technology and improvement of the measuring devices we will present how we can
obtain a 3D model of the object that is scanned from different stations, without using the
registration module.

Keywords: restoration, historical monuments, volumes, scanning, 3D model.

Abstract: În ultimii ani, întreaga lume și-a îndreptat atenția tot mai mult asupra problemei de
restaturare și prezervare a monumentelor istorice. Aceste monumente exprimă identitatea unei
națiuni, oferind în același timp și posibilitatea dezvoltării pe plan turistic. Restaurarea trebuie
făcută cu o atenție sporită, deoarece trebuie păstrate cele mai fine trăsături ale monumentului,
trăsături care erau reprezentative în momentul construirii lor. Cererea de informații cu privire la
monument poate fi conectată cu cerințele, de exemplu, de la un arhitect care are nevoie pentru a
restaura sau reatribui o restaurare, de la un istoric de artă sau de la un arheolog. Cererile de
informații sunt foarte variate, dar în același timp fiind specifice cu privire la anumite trăsături,
acestea definind și scopul de scanare. Tehnica de scanare 3D reprezintă dezvoltarea finală în
obţinerea cu mare viteză a detaliilor specifice.
În acest articol vom prezenta modul de a obţine volumul de material de restaurare,
profile și alte detalii care pot ajuta la refacerea și îmbunătăţirea activităţii de restaurare. Odată
cu dezvoltarea tehnologiei de scanare şi de îmbunătăţire a dispozitivului de măsurare, vom
prezenta modul în care putem obţine un model 3D al obiectului care este scanat din diferite stații
fără a se utiliza modulul de registratie.
Cuvinte cheie: restaurare, monumente istorice, volume, scanare, model 3D

1. Introduction

The market of laser scanners for terrestrial applications has developed quite fast over the last
years and the laser scanners are seen nowadays as surveying instruments which meet the requirements of
industrial applications.
Documentation of huge and complex cultural heritage sites is a challenge not only because of
sophisticated technology, but also the planning, processing and data deliveries of cost-effective solutions.
Furthermore, the non-stop deterioration processes on monuments makes the documentation activity an
important fundamental step in order to record the state of the site at a particular time, facilitating the
decision making that should be followed by experts to for a comprehensive conservation plan. What
would seem to be a simple documentation activity on a single architectural monument is just a tiny part of
the exhaustive requirements that a World Heritage Site might require.
 Terrestrial laser scanning is increasing its range of applications in architecture and archaeology.
This tool can be used standalone or in combination with other surveying techniques for multiple purposes.
One effective solution is its integration with photogrammetry, either to improve the resolution of the 3D
model, the accuracy of the objects, the definition of geometries or the color enhancement. Additionally,
both techniques can be used to complement each other, e.g. when there is a lack of information in
occluded areas.
The 3D laser scanner is also called an active remote sensing system because no additional
personnel are needed to hold a range pole or to place targets for measuring surfaces. Combining a pulsed
laser with high speed scanning optics we can get detailed and accurate 3D models of industrial object,
works of art, buildings or inaccessible structures. Once tuning parameters have been set, like horizontal
and vertical range and angular steps increment, the creation of the initial point clouds of 3D data is done
automatically, thousands of points are scanned every second.
2. Presentation of used hardware and software
For data acquisition we used Trimble VX Spatial Station.
Table 1
Trimble VX
Trimble VX
selection of scanned polygonal, irregular, n sides,
surface defined on the touch-screen
angle accuracy 1 ” (0.3 mgon)
distance Standard ± (3 mm + 2 ppm)
accuracy Tracking ± (10 mm + 2 ppm)
scanning Standard up to 15 points / 1 sec, average
speed Tracking 5 points / 1 sec
built-in camera yes, 3.2 megapixels
min. dist. between pts. 10 mm

The software used for processing the point clouds, respectively for creating and viewing the three
dimensional models were Trimble RealWorks. Topographic and positioning calculations were resolved
using Trimble Total Control. The software used for data acquisition (installed on the field controllers of
the total stations) was the Trimble Survey Controller.
3. Three-dimensional survey with Trimble VX
The innovative system used in this survey was the 3-Dimensional Spatial Station Trimble VX.
The scanning area defined throughout the work was a polygonal rectangle, with the horizontal and
vertical scanning intervals set to 1 centimeter. When using this spatial station, we have the opportunity to
define the area to be scanned by pointing the edges of the polygon on the touch-screen, where we can see
the image of the object shown by the 3.2 megapixel camera. Beside the collected points, the Trimble VX
will take photos of the defined scan area, storing all these data in a *.jxl extension file.
To capture complete sites or structures, the instrument can be rotated, tilted, and moved around
the site.
 Fig.1. - Trimble VX Spatial Station
3.1. Scanning without registration
The registration of two adjacent scans is a well known procedure which transforms the point
coordinates of one of the two scans concerned (e.g. the right one) into the inner reference system of the
first scan (e.g. the left one). This simple step can be done by knowing the coordinates of at least three
pairs of tie-points (the same point recorded by each scan) and the determination of the six parameters
(e.g. DX, DY, DZ, w, j, k), which translate and rotate the reference system of the right scan into the
reference system of the left scan. Obviously, the position of the tie-points must be far enough from the
alignment of them in order to avoid unstable solutions.

Fig.2. - Correct (a) and critical (b) distribution of the homologous points for the registration of two adjacent
scans
In fact, in order to create complete, accurate models and drawings, it is often important to capture
precise edges of structures, piping flanges, etc. In addition, to achieve high accuracy results registering
multiple scans together, it is necessary to determine accurate positions of at least three scan “targets”
within each scan scene. These situations require a high-resolution scanner that acquires features and
targets, with a small spot size laser beam. It is easy to understand that the precision of the registration is
directly correlated to the “distance” between the alignment of the tie-points and their true location.
Consequently, the minimum area circumscribing the optimal tie-point location can be interpreted as the
minimum overlap between two adjacent scans.

At any point let the corresponding local quadratic approximant be specified

in the form:
(1)
,where A through I are the coefficients of the quadratic approximant. With slight abuse of notation, this
equation can be written in a quadratic form as where x now denotes [x,y.z.1].
 Once again, our goal is to find the rigid transform which brings Q in best alignment with P. Let
the rigid transform be composed of a rotation matrix, R, that is parameterized by three angles (a,b, g) in
the X-Y-Z fixed angle orientation convention, followed by a translation vector .

Under small motion, the rotation matrix can be linearized as:

(2)

Hence .

Now the registration problem reduces to finding values of that minimize the
residual error:

(3)
This least square problem can be solved by setting the respective partial derivatives to zero. The
resulting linear system is given by:

(4)
Where
 (5)

And trough correspond to the entries of the matrix that represents the local quadratic
approximant around the point .

As in the 2D case, whenever the computed transform (R,t) is large, we utilize a fractional
transform given by and where, I denotes the identity matrix.

But this is the typical registration method used for scanner devices. In our case the situation
changes, because we used a combination between a scanner and a total station. By using this spatial
station, our method of work will be the following: first we establish the area of interest, after which we
will define the number of stations used for scanning. So far this method isn’t different from the work
method using a field scanner. Now follows the idea behind the combination of a scanner and a total
station. Because this is an integrated station, we make typical measurements of distances and angles, and
the way we determine the coordinates of the station it is up to us to decide (e.g. the polygonal method,
transformation method, and/or use any adjustment method that we consider that is more robust for the
determination of the station coordinates). It also gives us the possibility to compute the station
coordinates with different programs. We can even set the station in a robotic state and use a GNSS
receiver to determine the coordinate of the station. So the station coordinates can be introduced directly in
the Trimble CU and when we download the data from the control unit, the coordinates of the points
included in the point cloud are known.
After we introduced the coordinates and we set our backsight point, the software installed on the
CU will show the differences between coordinates giving us control of the station. After we finished the
scanning we can measure again the orientation station and see if we experience different errors. This
gives us the possibility to correct the data directly in the field. Because we work with a total station, we
can see at all time the vertical angle of scanning, the distance from the scanned object and other
information.
It is true that a dedicated scanner can scan from 5000 to 500.000 pct/sec. and the Trimble VX can
scan only up to 15 pct/sec., but time is not always the essence. A very important aspect is the economical
factor, where the price of a scanner can be double (if not more) than that of a spatial station.
4. Case study
The scanned object was the facade of the Zion synagogue in Oradea. This is a Hebrew place of
worship in Oradea, located on Independence street no. 22. It was built between 1877-1878 in neomaur
style. Synagogue Oradea was included in the list of historical monuments in Bihor county in 2004, with
the classification code BH-II-mB-01054.
 Fig.3. - Zion synagogue, Oradea
The Zion Synagogue in Oradea has a square building plan, with Italian Renaissance aspect. It has
a large central dome, which rests through four pendants on four large arches. The dome has tall windows.
The facade overlooking the Main Street Independence was inspired by Moorish art. The facade is
impressive in semicircular windows, bounded by half pilasters. Fresco paintings from the synagogue wear
the fingerprint of Mor Horovitz from Kosice.
Joining in the synagogue is done on the west side, where men are entering through the three doors
in a semicircular arc, and women through two doors located on the side of the rectangular face.

Fig.4. – Detail on degradation of the facade

As shown in the picture above, the facade was altered and if we don’t take an immediately stance
on protecting the monument, we won’t have anything to protect in a few years. Also, not only the facade
was degraded, but also the sculpture on the top of the facade (Fig5.)
 Fig.5. – Detail of sculpture degradation on the synagogue facade

After the scanning procedure, we obtained the so called “point cloud”. The point cloud is
considered being an unstructured grid of points, but using different options included in the 3D software,
we can obtain a mesh. A polygonal mesh is a collection of nodes (vertices), edges and faces which form
the shape of a polyhedral object in 3D computer graphics, with the faces being compiled mainly from
triangles. Because we used a spatial station, we don’t have to compute the scanned image only to verify
the overlapping areas. It is important to keep in mind that the obtained point cloud is “wrapped” in this
mesh and that the three dimensional model is a metrical model. A very important asset of this three
dimensional model is that we can also obtain negative of the scanned objective.

Fig.6. – Point cloud of the scanned area

When creating the mesh, we used the TIN (Triangular Irregular Network) method. The mesh
creation option of this program is relatively interesting because of the multiple choices we have in
creating the mesh. We used the different options: create mesh using scanned location and parallel to a
plan.
 Fig.7. – Mesh cover on the point cloud

Another interesting feature of this software is that it allows us to overlay a photo on the created
3D mesh. There are other programs that allowed us to extract the colors from a taken picture, but only if
the point cloud will have the characteristic of the colors from the picture. But is this case the software
“dresses” the 3D mesh with the photo taken after we finished the scanning operation in each station. After
we apply the picture on the mesh, we will be able to view a real 3D objective, an „intelligent photo”.

Fig.8. – True 3D photo of the object

One of the most important assets of this “intelligent photo” is that this 3D object is a surface and
not just points where a photo is applied – thus, if we have only points where we applied the photo or the
color from the picture, if we want to obtain 2D mapping we will obtain only points that have to be joined
by a line or polylines. So if we have a surface (as in this case), we will get directly a 2D mapping on
which the points are joined.
On this “smart photo” we can carry out directly different operation, like distance measurements,
creating 2D mapping, volumes and surface computation. The creation of 2D mapping is very important
because it is giving us “a currency“ between the 3D models and 2D. The importance of creating 2D
surfaces of that the scanned product comes from the fact that it has to be used by different specialists like
an art historian or an archaeologist, who doesn’t necessarily continue working in a full 3D capable
software. The exchange file format is a *.dxf file. The way that we can create 2D models is presented in
Fig.9.
 Fig.9. – Means of creating 2D profiles
After we slice the entire 3D model at a specified thickness and at an established distance between
the slices, we can make a *.dxf file.

Fig.10. – Output of computed surfaces

Also, as we mentioned before, we can obtain volumes for different objects that carry a special
interest, like decorative pieces.
 Fig.11. – Volumes for scanned objects
As shown in Fig.8., we can see that by applying a realistic photo we can preserve the real aspect
of the objective.
5. Conclusions
The scanning method is increasing its utility by the year and the demands of the beneficiaries are
also increasing. Not only the development of the scanner’s, but also the development of the 3D software
that uses model regeneration gives us powerful tools that are suitable both in industrial applications and
cultural heritage. The demands aren’t only regarding to precision and accuracy, but a greater impact is
made by a realistic 3D view. With the help of the “intelligent photo”, we can observe very fast
discrepancies between the recreated model and reality. To be able to sale your scanned product, you have
to be able to recreate a monument, taking into account its realistic appearance.
By using a spatial station, we have the freedom to choose between the different methods of
computation, but the lack of speed can give us problems concerning the restoration time limit. In order to
choose a scanning device, we have to take into account different factors like speed and funds allocated to
the restoration project.
With the help of this scanning technique we can give the exact amount of construction material
used in the restoration process, and many more information that can help an art historian or an architect to
take fast and also better decisions concerning the restoration procedure. After we obtained a 3D realistic
model we can go to the next step: 3D printing.

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