Reconstructing Dura-Europos From Sparse Photo Collections Using Deep Contour Extraction

Abstract

In this short paper we present work in progress on creating tools to facilitate 3D reconstruction of cultural heritage. We propose three new types of tools to make reconstruction easier - first we fetch linked open data to help organize source materials, next we extract key contours from photographs to speed up reconstruction, and finally we generate video tours of positioned photos and sketches. We also introduce a new, expanded 3D software system to support these tasks. The system is developed based on previous work on 3D sketching in the context of cultural heritage documentation, in particular CHER-ish. We demonstrate the potential of these tools by describing results obtained from the Dura-Europos data set.