SCAN4RECO is a 3-year Research and Innovation Action (2015-2018) where 9 partners from 5 countries collaborate in developing ICT solutions for efficient restoration and prevention of degradation of cultural heritage objects. The need to preserve, provide advanced access to and understanding of cultural heritage is of utmost importance, especially when considering its wealth throughout Europe.

In October 2017 two years will have passed since the SCAN4RECO project has started. After initial basic and applied research and laboratory developments, it enters the period of integrating its individual developments into a portable unit.

Research results have been disseminated in over thirty publications in peer-reviewed conferences and journals (refer to the list of the new publications below). Collaborations with new projects and industry has been established. The SCAN4RECO project has also sought wide visibility through presentations at various high-publicity events. More information about those activities can be found below.

Various objects are being scanned during developments and testing, the models of those permitted by the owners are subsequently displayed in an online museum, developed for SCAN4RECO by CERTH-ITI (see more details below).

Since ancient times, transparent coatings were laid on metalwork with a twofold aim, the protection of the surface against weathering agents and the improvement of the appearance either by giving the surface translucency and hues or by hiding casting defects and tool marks. Detecting the presence of existing coatings as well as controlling the application of new protective layers rise many problems to diagnostics and conservation. For instance, conservators have no means to check the thickness and the evenness of the protective coating the lay on the metal surface after the cleaning process. The presence and the extent of old protective or aesthetic layers are also hard to determine, particularly on weathered or corroded bronzes.

Silver coated samples (smooth & chased)

Bronze coated samples

To explore the suitability of the S4R system for the investigation of transparent coatings on historical metals, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure prepared two sets of samples. Accurate historical reproductions of both silver alloy and bronze coupons were coated with the protective products mostly used in conservation (nitrocellulose lacquer, microcrystalline wax, acrylic polymer) with various thickness and ways of application.

In addition, we prepared some varnishes according to ancient recipes based on natural resins, dyes and pigments. These varnishes were laid on brass to imitate the application of translucent glazing layers often encountered in small bronzes. The first tests show that some of the acquisition probes of Scan4Reco are very promising for the investigation of the physical properties of coatings, like thickness and evenness as well as for material characterization. In particular, ultrasound tomography and microprofilometry provide a deep insight into the morphology and the thickness of the outer layer. The accelerated ageing of the samples will be monitored by the Scan4Reco probes. Hopefully, they will be able to detect the variations of the texture, color, roughness of the surface as well as other chemical and physical properties of the samples coated with the various protective products.

Details of the procedures and results can be found in public project deliverables:
D.3.2 A guide for multi-material palette preparation
D.3.3 Procedures and application of artificial ageing

The Pix4D Workshop organised by GeoSense was attended by professionals in the field, with RFSAT among them, who had an opportunity to get acquainted with modern 3D photogrammetry and gain valid certification in the proper and efficient use of Pix4Dmapper software. Modern photogrammetric data processing methods were presented, suitable for uses such as cartography, land surveying, surveying, 3D modelling, volumizing, photogrammetric surveys of indoor and terrestrial spaces, archaeology and Cultural Heritage, estimation of damages from natural disasters and others. At the end of the workshop, all participants received Pix4D's official Pix4D Certificate of Expertise, documenting their knowledge and possessing specialized technical knowledge on modern photogrammetry. The fact that Pix4D is a partner in the DigiArt project, funded in the same H20202-Reflective-7 call as SCAN4RECO project, gave an opportunity for RFSAT to also establish inter-project collaboration with Pix4D in the field of 3D photogrammetry.

The design of the Scan4Reco Virtual museum comes from a blend of the principles learned from making museums in the physical world and the perspectives that are offered by the digital one. The visitor starts his tour at a virtual lobby. Structural elements such as walls, slabs and roof are in place to create a sense of reality. Access points such as information and “ticket” desks simplify the navigation. The penetration of “natural” light cre-ates familiarity with similar spaces in the physical world and gives a sense of environmental quality.

User have an opportunity to discover up to six exhibition areas, permanent or temporal exhibitions. They may be categorized by theme or chronologicaly and may contain additional partition rooms. Special points of access are indicated in color code (red for stairs, information and “ticket” desks, blue for exposition areas and grey for navigation among expositions).

Exhibition areas are divided into separate rooms. Eacg room is a rectangle filled with expositions and with two exits leading to two adjacent rooms. Expositions are interactive, allowing to get more info about the object as well as to zoom in and view an object from all directions. .

Upcoming Events:

• "COST Connect" on Cultural Heritage in the Digital ERA
  Hosted in Brussels on 25^th October 25 2017, attended by CERTH, the event will stimulate participants to identify and discuss how they can best contribute to structuring cooperation on Cultural Heritage to create societal impact in Europe.
  http://www.cost.eu/events/COST-connect-cultural-heritage-digital-era
  
  
• 6^th EAI International Conference: ArtsIT, Interactivity & Game Creation
  Hosted in Heraklion on the 30-31^th October 2017, will be attended by RFSAT which will present its paper on "User Interfaces and 3D Environment Scanning for Game-Based Training in Mixed-Reality Spaces"
  
  
  
• 12^th International Conference on non-destructive investigations & microanalysis for the diagnostics and conservation of cultural and environmental heritage
  Hosted by the Politecnico di Torino in Turin (Italy) on 22-24^th November 2017, will be attended by RFSAT, which will present its paper on "High Resolution 3D Modelling of Cultural Heritage"
  
  
  
• Cagliari FestivalScienza 2017 - 10^th edition
  Hosted in Cagliari on Sardinia (Italy) on 7-12^th November 2017, will be attended by CRS4, which will present the "CRS4 Visual Computing - 3D printing technologies" (http://www.festivalscienzacagliari.it/en/home_en/)

Since the beginning of the project, the SCAN4RECO consortium has published over forty (40) peer-reviewed articles in prestigeous journals, presenting them at several conferences and workshops, nearly thirty of those during the second year of the project. The list of those can be found at:

Project WEB site:

http://www.scan4reco.eu/scan4reco/content/publications

Open Access Repositories:

https://zenodo.org/communities/horizon2020-reflective7-scan4reco/

http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/197123_en.html

Institutional WEB sites of project partners:

RFSAT: http://www.rfsat.com/index.php/en/results/publications.html

CRS4: http://www.crs4.it/vic/cgi-bin/project-page.cgi?acronym=Scan4Reco

NOTE:The SCAN4RECO project is fully compliant with Open Access guidelines of the European Commission with respect to dissemination of reseach output of projects funded by the Horizon 2020 research framework, as outlined at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm?pg=openaccess