Bildbasierte 3D-Modellierung der Wandmalerei in der Bischofstorvorhalle im Wiener Stephansdom

Abstract

The surface of most heritage objects holds important clues about their creation. To answer specific research questions about the creation of a mural painting located in the Bishop’s Gate porch of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, the three-dimensional geometry of the entire painted surface was digitised in minuscule detail using thousands of overlapping photographs. After a brief introduction to the basics of image-based surface digitisation, this paper describes in detail how the photographs were taken and how they were processed to create a digital three-dimensional surface. To appreciate the subtle surface variations encoded in this digital model, various relief visualisation techniques have been applied. The paper ends with a discussion of the new insights into the creation of this painting that are enabled by these visualisations.