3D scanning of antique glass by combining photography and computed tomography

Abstract We demonstrate archival 3D digitization of glossy, translucent and highly detailed glass sculptures, namely the glass models of marine invertebrates made by Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka in the late 19th century. Achieving satisfactory results required optimizing well-known techniques of light and polarization control and photogrammetric processing. Significantly, we in addition merged photogrammetry and X-ray computed tomography-generated meshes to digitize detailed sculptures made of multiple materials including glass. These techniques should enable the 3D-digitization of objects heretofore considered challenging for 3D scanning.