Digital Sculpture Project: Tools
Meshlab Paint Edition
Meshlab was developed by our partner, ISTI-CNR. It is an open source and sophisticated software used to process and edit unstructured 3D triangular meshes. Among the many functions built into Meshlab is vertex painting, an effective way of giving 3D meshes color. This is useful if, for example, you are working with a 3D digital model of a white marble statue that was originally painted but which has lost its colors. For first-time users, Meshlab's wealth of functions can be daunting. If you are new to editing 3D meshes and need to digitally restore color onto a 3D mesh of a statue, you should be able to get the job done quickly and easily with Meshlab Paint Edition. It provides only the functions of Meshlab needed for vertex painting. Please keep in mind that Meshlab Paint Edition supports only VRML and PLY, so the mesh you want to paint must be in one of these two file formats. To learn more about Meshlab, including vertex painting, see the excellent TUTORIALS on YouTube by Mister P. (http://meshlab.sourceforge.net) .Download Meshlab Paint Edition at no cost HERE .
Photo Scene Editor
of Autodesk's Photofly project
Up to now, capturing the 3D data of a statue has been a slow and expensive process usually requiring use of
a laser or structured light scanner. In recent years, more economical approaches have been developed using
the concept of "structure from motion." Autodesk's Photo Scene Editor is one such solution. It is freeware
which is easy to use and requires only a normal consumer-level digital camera. The photos are uploaded to
Autodesk, which does the processing and returns the 3D model, which can then be edited with standard
software such as Meshlab or 3D Studio Max. Although solutions based on structure from motion are not yet as
accurate as traditional laser and structured-light scanners, software such as Photo Scene Editor can give
good results for many applications in digital archaeology and art history such as populating virtual worlds
with sculpture and other 3D objects.
Download Photo Scene Editor
HERE
Sculptris
Sculptris [ http://www.sculptris.com ], a freeware tool for painting meshes available through Pixologic, publishers of ZBrush. There is an introductory video available HERE .Copyright © 2009-13. Last updated: March 22, 2013.
The Digital Sculpture Project is an activity of the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory.