SCIMod is a 3D visualisation and documentation environment with a range of application features suited to the demands of cultural heritage specialists, including conservation and other museum professionals. The aim of the SCIMod project is to fulfil the widespread need for a capable, accessible and moderately costed software application for real-time high-fidelity 3D visualisation in the cultural heritage sector. Additional SCImod modules will meet the specialist documentation and metric analysis needs of sector users arising from the increasing prevalence of 3D scanning as a method of documentation and recording. Currently users must seek out many of the features they require across a number of different software tools designed for other specialist fields, such as the automotive and product manufacturing industries. SCIMod will provide users with a fully featured visualisation, documentation and metric analysis suite in a unified environment designed for their specific needs.

Many conservators, and other cultural heritage specialists, active in the use of computer visualisation techniques, have felt exasperated for some time with the quality of real-time 3D representation software available for high-resolution cultural heritage datasets. In the course of a career in conservation and cultural heritage visualisation, I have struggled with the tools available to represent authentic surface texture, colour and materials of complex surfaces, on a par with the high-resolution 3D geometry that can be captured from artefacts. Obtaining high-resolution 3D data has become readily achievable using standard, close-range 3D laser scanning techniques. To realise a photo-realistic result in a virtual representation, however, one has had to rely on rendered output to still images or digital movie formats such as QuickTime(TM) or Audio Video Interleave (AVI). The QuickTimeVR(TM) method includes the useful potential for basic interactivity, such as object rotation and zooming. Unfortunately, this image-based format falls well short of an ideal scenario where the live exploration of actual 3D geometry is possible in conjunction with a high-quality rendered appearance.

Advanced development methods and improving computer power mean it will soon be possible to authentically render complex and challenging materials such as velvet, carved marble or distressed gilding, in a real-time environment accessible to consumer-level computer users. These improvements in real-time rendering will help us realise our ambition for SCIMod to present high-fidelity 3D data in conjunction with authentic textures and material shading in a live viewing environment.