Digital photographic capture of pictorial artworks with gigapixel resolution (around 1000 megapixels or greater) is a novel technique that is beginning to be used by some important international museums as a means of documentation, analysis, and dissemination of their masterpieces. This line of research is extremely interesting, not only for art curators and scholars but also for the general public. The results can be disseminated through online virtual museum displays, offering a detailed interactive visualization. These virtual visualizations allow the viewer to delve into the artwork in such a way that it is possible to zoom in and observe those details, which would be negligible to the naked eye in a real visit. Therefore, this kind of virtual visualization using gigapixel images has become an essential tool to enhance cultural heritage and to make it accessible to everyone. Since today’s professional digital cameras provide images of around 40 megapixels, obtaining gigapixel images requires some special capture and editing techniques. This article describes a series of photographic methodologies and equipment, developed by the team of researchers, that have been put into practice to achieve a very high level of detail and chromatic fidelity, in the documentation and dissemination of pictorial artworks. The result of this research work consisted in the gigapixel documentation of several masterpieces of the Museo de Bellas Artes of Valencia, one of the main art galleries in Spain. The results will be disseminated through the Internet, as will be shown with some examples.

Las nuevas técnicas de levantamiento fotogramétrico, como la foto modelación SfM, nos permiten documentar el patrimonio mediante modelos tridimensionales texturizados que pueden ser divulgados vía internet a través de los recientes repositorios de modelos 3D que permiten su visualización interactiva de manera muy ágil desde cualquier ordenador o dispositivo móvil, incluso de forma totalmente inmersiva si se dispone de un visor de realidad virtual como el económico Google Cardboard. Ello supone un gran avance para la puesta en valor y divulgación del patrimonio, por lo que en este artículo expondremos la aplicación de estas novedosas técnicas y el uso de estas recientes plataformas de visualización en la creación de un museo virtual, accesible desde internet, que muestra los capiteles románicos del claustro del Monasterio de San Cugat, su simbología y las posibles teorías que los relacionan con la música.

Anamorfosis, su historia y evolución

The former polis of Tall-as-Sin (in the current province of Deir ez-Zor, Syria) grew considerably during Justinian's reign in the 6th century AD. Its cemetery, outside the walls, presents an extraordinary Byzantine necropolis, where 163 hypogea graves were documented, thanks to recent archaeological campaigns financed by the Ministry of Culture (PAMES-Sirio Euphrates Middle Archaeological Project). This paper presents the research for obtaining three-dimensional (3D) models of graves, selected in the cemetery, by combining information (obtained from planimetric and photographic surveys of the site) with taxonomic features (types of arcosolia, vaults, accesses, stairways...). The 3D modelling process is carried out using data collected during the survey of the graves. These data are then used to restore the surfaces which cover the burial chambers dug out in the ground. The modelling technique was based on generating surfaces, incorporating the different sections and profiles obtained during the data collection phase. The surfaces generated enclose the volume of the dug-out space so that the definitive grave models were obtained using a simple Boolean operation, removing these volumes from a prism-shaped piece representing a portion of the land, thus emptying the interior. The result has provided a reliable and rigorous graphic basis for the design and printing of 3D mockups, contributing to the dissemination of the exhibition called "A retrospective on five years of archaeological activities in Syria".Highlights:Contributing to Byzantine architecture classification in the Middle East, including specific case-studies, interesting both from archaeological and architectural research fields.Experimenting and investigating tools for the study, representation and conservation of archaeological finds, combining 3D digital and 3D printing mockups.Incorporating resources for promoting and disseminating archaeological and architectural heritage, raising awareness among local Syrian population and authorities, allowing them to rediscover their own heritage, often neglected.

Los avances en el campo de la imagen digital nos han permitido ampliar los horizontes de la fotografía panorámica, gracias a la aparición de software de stitching o cosido de imágenes, con los que se pueden unir varias fotografías para formar una imagen panorámica de amplio campo visual. Las imágenes producidas mediante el software de stitching pueden llegar a abarcar un campo visual de 360º en horizontal y 180º en vertical, formando un panorama esférico. Este tipo de panorama tiene una gran potencial para la representación arquitectónica, por lo que resultaría interesante añadir una nueva dimensión aplicando los fundamentos de la visión estereoscópica. Por ello, en el artículo se estudia esta problemática con el fin de aportar una metodología asequible de captura fotográfica de panoramas esféricos estereoscópicos, además de analizar su compatibilidad con los últimos sistemas de visualización inmersiva.

Capturing paintings with gigapixel resolution (resolution around 1000 megapixels or greater) is an innovative technique that is starting to be used by some important international museums for documenting, analysing, and disseminating their masterpieces. This line of research is extremely interesting, not only for art curators and scholars, but also for the general public. The results can be disseminated through online virtual tours, offering a detailed interactive visualization. These virtual tours allow the viewer to delve into the artwork, in such a way, that it is possible to zoom in and observe those details, which would be negligible to the naked eye in a real visit. Therefore, this kind of virtual visualization using gigapixel images becomes an essential tool to enhance this cultural heritage and to make it accessible to everyone. This article will describe an affordable methodology, based on SfM photogrammetry techniques, with which it will be possible to achieve a very high level of detail and chromatic fidelity, when documenting and disseminating pictorial artworks. As a practical example, there will be shown a case study of the altarpiece, from the Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia (Spain), entitled Virgen de las fiebres, painted around 1500 by Bernardino di Benedetto di Biagio, nicknamed ‘Il Pinturicchio' (Perugia, ca. 1454 – Siena, 1513).