How to show the inaccessible – three-dimensional scanning of the Queen’s Antecabinet
The interiors of the Wilanów Palace are characterised by an unprecedented richness and diversity of the elements present in them. During the tour, moving from one room to another, we are surprised by the richness of atmosphere and varied arrangements based largely on incredibly interesting details. We cannot admire these details in all the interiors, due to access restrictions resulting from conservation rules. The intimate character of many interiors with an area not exceeding twenty square metres and very rich décor makes it almost impossible to make such spaces available to a group of tourists without posing a threat to the historical substance.
Several years ago, the decision was made to create a very precise three-dimensional documentation of this type of rooms, which in the future can be used to make them available in digital form. Currently, as part of the “Development of three-dimensional documentation of the collection” task, one of the activities includes scanning two rooms which are difficult for visitors to access – the Queen’s Antecabinet and the Al fresco Cabinet. In 2017 and at the beginning of 2018, the Warsaw University of Technology, which carried out the task, performed three-dimensional scanning of the four walls and ceiling of the first of these rooms. An original measurement system was introduced into the room on the ground floor of the palace, constructed by engineers from the Faculty of Mechatronics of the Warsaw University of Technology, enabling scanning with the use of a measurement technique with projection of light patterns (also known as structured lighting scanning). The system consists of a moveable platform, a vertical construction mounted on it and equipped with a precise vertical movement system with an industrial robot arm mounted on it and a measuring head attached at the end. The whole is complemented by a system of certified LED lighting (in the form of six light panels), a robot control unit and a computer workstation responsible for controlling the device and recording the effects of the measurement works. Additionally, a climate-control unit was placed in the room to allow for compensation for changes in temperature and humidity resulting from the operation of several mechanical systems in a closed room.
Dozens of measurement sequences were made for each fragment of the room. Individual sequences always have common parts in the area where the measurements overlap. The size of a single measuring field is 200 by 300 mm, and the level of overlap is about 40%. This methodological approach facilitates the process of combining individual directional scans into one integrated model.
As part of the work carried out, 4,125 measurement sequences were made (which give 8,250 measurement point clouds in the case of a two-camera system). 6.2 TB of data were collected. In terms of visualisation of the results of the measurements, 29 files covering individual fragments of the room were prepared (.framproject files) Loading all these data at once exceeds the processing capabilities of the workstations available at Wilanów (despite the fourfold simplification of data in relation to the information obtained from the measurement), because the total amount of visualisation data in these files is about 240 GB. However, the visualisation capabilities of computer systems grow with each month, and gradually, it will be possible to provide data of increasingly better quality without the need to repeat measurement works in historical interiors.
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