Articles by Roberto Scopigno

The Authors present CENOBIUM, a web-based system designed to support the work of art historians. It provides access to multimedia content and related descriptive text on a specific topic: capitals in Romanesque cloisters. This paper discusses the motivation behind the decision to develop this web resource, taken more than ten years ago. It describes the initial design of the often system and how it evolved to keep pace with technological developments. In a context where the results of ICT-CH projects (digital tools, websites) have life span barely exceeding the timeframe of the actual project, CENOBIUM can be considered a success. It has been operating and steadily been updated with new content and latest technologies throughout its decade-long life.

The need for integration and sharing of data on ancient polychromies requires shared working methods and tools. This paper illustrates a first effort in the direction of testing the web-based Information System documentation for the Restoration of Yards (SICaR) of Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (MiBACT). This test activity suggested some changes that have been subsequently implemented in order to record archaeological and scientific information and manage standardized data on ancient polychromy in cultural heritage documentation.

Detailed and accurate digital 3D models can be produced with 3D scanning devices, which allow to convert reality in digital form in a cost and time effective manner. The capabilities of this technology and the global methodology are presented here in a synthetic manner. Moreover, we focus on the main issues which are preventing its wider use in contemporary applications, such as: the considerable user intervention required, the usually incomplete sampling of the artifact surface and the complexity of the models produced. Another emerging issue is how to support the visual presentation of the models (local or remote) with guaranteed interactive rendering rates. Some practical examples from the results of current projects in the cultural heritage field will be shown.