3D RECONSTRUCTION AND RENDERING FOR A VIRTUAL VISIT

In this paper the steps for the production of a complete 3D digital rendering and 3D virtual tour in the exterior and the interior of the church of the Dafni Monastery is presented and described in detail. During a strong earthquake three years ago, the Byzantine Monastery of Dafni in Athens suffered severe damages. This particular monument is considered one of the most important specimens of Byzantine art and architecture worldwide and has been included in the World Heritage by UNESCO. For this effort it was necessary to create a wireframe model, a surface model and, finally, a textured model on which the final rendering and animation were based. Special considerations were made as to the use of such models and their accuracy requirements. All textural material required for the rendering was extracted from photogrammetric products, like accurate orthophotomosaics and rectifications, using digital image processing techniques, while keeping the high quality of the final digital model. Special decision making on technical issues was required, for the final product to be easy to use, aesthetically correct and demanding the least possible storage volume. Attention was given to the appropriate selection of the camera moving path for the creation of the video and the resolution of the images. Also, special care was given to the internal side of the church where there are large, unique and very detailed colourful mosaics, which are considered to be the masterpieces of the Byzantine art. In order to achieve an easier and cost effective way for the whole process, two broadly used commercial software programms, AutoCAD ® and 3DStudioMax ® , were used. The final virtual tour was constructed using suitable specialized commercial video editing software. 1