Protection of Cultural Heritage's Focus on 3D Technologies: A Survey

In this paper, we survey several 3D techniques including 3D reconstruction in which quick stereo-photogrammetric system and laser scanner involved, image-based rendering and shape modeling for protection of cultural heritage. The applications are classified into two categories: reconstruction of large-scale heritage sites; reconstruction of culture relics and exhibition. Dozens of successful cases prove the effectiveness of the technologies, and the challenges remain in several fields: the automation of extracting texture from high-resolution photo and mapping it to the 3D model needs to be improved; accelerating the rendering performance; effective integration of virtual reality technology.