Publications
Since 2005, Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) has been publishing technical papers and presenting them at professional conferences all over the world. As our technologies and projects evolve, we publish our research and disseminate our findings to advance the field of cultural conservation and documentation.
Article in the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Article: “Advanced Imaging Tools for Museum and Library Conservation and Research”
To a special section of this bulletin entitled “Museum Informatics: Something New, Something More,” CHI Director Carla Schroer contributed an article that highlights CHI's work in art conservation using Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology. More …
Book Chapter from A Companion to Rock Art
Chapter Title: “Robust, Scientifically Reliable Rock Art Documentation from Digital Photographs”
This chapter of the forthcoming book “A Companion to Rock Art” is one of three in the section called “Rock Art as Digital Heritage: Advances in Photo Enhancement Technology and Digital Archiving”. The authors discuss the use of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), Algorithmic Rendering, and Photogrammetry with rock art. The book as a whole offers a broad overview of a field that has evolved over the last decades with the exploration of petroglyph and pictograph art forms around the world. More …
Book Chapter from Paradata and Transparency in Virtual Heritage
Chapter Title: “Transparency for Empirical Data”
In this chapter, Mark Mudge addresses cultural heritage professionals who are engaged in Internet-based scientific inquiry. He describes the challenges of providing intellectual transparency and accountability in visualization-based historical research, citing the standards, trends, and concepts that are of interest to these professionals. In the book as a whole, to be published in February 2012, the authors address a range of cognitive and technological challenges, making a strong case for a wider recognition of three-dimensional visualization as a constructive, intellectual process and valid methodology for historical research and its communication. More …
Technical White Paper Commissioned by Cultural Heritage Imaging: February 2011
“METS and the CIDOC CRM—A Comparison”
This technical white paper compares the functional roles of the CIDOC CRM and METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard) with respect to metadata encoding and the management of interoperability and information integration in heterogeneous, distributed digital library environments. It investigates the ways in which both standards can be optimally used in combination. The report calls upon managers and practitioners to support decisions about the deployment of these standards and to serve as guides for the effective use of both standards. More …
ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH) 2010
“Dynamic Shading Enhancement for Reflectance Transformation Imaging”
In this paper the authors propose a set of dynamic shading enhancement techniques for improving the perception of details, features, and overall shape characteristics from images created with Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) techniques. Selection of these perceptual enhancement filters can significantly improve the user's ability to interactively inspect the content of 2D RTI media by zooming, panning, and changing the illumination direction. In particular, we present two groups of strategies for RTI image enhancement based on two main ideas: exploiting the unsharp masking methodology in the RTI-specific context; and locally optimizing the incident light direction for improved RTI image sharpness and illumination of surface features. More …
VAST 2010
“Principles and Practices of Robust, Photography-based Digital Imaging Techniques for Museums”
This tutorial presented many examples of existing and cutting-edge uses of photography-based imaging, including Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), Algorithmic Rendering (AR), camera calibration, and methods of imaged-based generation of textured 3D geometry. More …
Springer Journal Virtual Reality and VAST 2009
“Illuminating the Past: State of the Art”
This report reviews the current state of illuminating cultural heritage sites and objects using computer graphics for scientific, preservation and research purposes. It is for researchers new to cultural heritage reconstruction who want to learn about existing methods and examples of illuminating the past. It was initially published for VAST 2009; subsequently, the paper was updated and published in the Springer Journal Virtual Reality, Volume 14, Issue 3. More …
CAA 2009
“Grass-roots Imaging: A Case Study in Sustainable Heritage Imaging at Chersonesos, Ukraine”
This paper documents a joint project of the Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICA) of the University of Texas at Austin, Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI), and the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos in Crimea, Ukraine. The project centered on a workshop in which staff of the National Preserve learned to use Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to document unique objects from the Chersonesos museum. More…
CAA 2008 and WAC 2008
“Open Archaeology: Fundamentals of Intellectual Property and Open Source”
At both these conferences, CHI conducted a workshop on open-source software, intellectual property ownership, licensing, and other topics as they relate to archaeology and cultural conservation. More …
Eurographics 2008
“Image-Based Empirical Information Acquisition, Scientific Reliability, and Long-Term Digital Preservation for the Natural Sciences and Cultural Heritage”
This tutorial discusses emerging digital technologies and explores issues influencing widespread adoption of digital practices for natural science and cultural heritage. The tutorial explores a possible digital future for these fields through key concepts; adoption of digital surrogates, empirical (scientific) provenance, perpetual digital conservation, and “born-archival” semantic knowledge management. More …
CIPA 2007
“A Digital Future for Cultural Heritage”
The tools and standards of best practice adopted by cultural heritage professionals will determine the digital future of work in this field. This paper explores issues influencing adoption decisions and discusses emerging digital technologies that encourage widespread adoption. More …
EVA 2007
“Lighting and Byzantine Glass Tesserae”
In this paper we describe how we captured a Polynomial Texture Map of the apse mosaic at the Angeloktisti Church at Kiti, Cyprus and used it to investigate how the position of the lighting may have affected the appearance of the mosaic. More …
Society for Imaging Science and Technology 2007
“The Simultaneous Capture of Spectral and Textural Information”
Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) co-founders Mark Mudge and Carla Schroer, and CHI's imaging director Marlin Lum, adapted Reflection Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology to document artifacts spanning millennia of human history from three awesome archaeological collections in Switzerland. More …
VAST 2006
“New Reflection Transformation Imaging Methods for Rock Art and Multiple-Viewpoint Display”
In this 2006 paper, we offer two new methods of documenting and communicating cultural heritage information using Reflection Transformation Imaging (RTI). One imaging method is able to acquire Polynomial Texture Maps (PTMs) of three-dimensional (3D) rock art in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and environmental contexts. More …
VAST 2005
“Reflection Transformation Imaging and Virtual Representations of Coins from the Hospice of the Grand St. Bernard”
Reflection Transformation Imaging (RTI) offers a powerful new method of documenting and communicating numismatic cultural heritage information. This paper examines the challenges of documenting numismatic material along with the limitations of traditional documentary techniques. More …
