3D modelling of trompe l'oeil decorated vaults using dense matching techniques

Abstract. Dense matching techniques, implemented in many commercial and open source software, are useful instruments for carrying out a rapid and detailed analysis of complex objects, including various types of details and surfaces. For this reason these tools were tested in the metric survey of a frescoed ceiling in the hall of honour of a baroque building. The surfaces are covered with trompe-l’oeil paintings which theoretically can give a very good texture to automatic matching algorithms but in this case problems arise when attempting to reconstruct the correct geometry: in fact, in correspondence with the main architectonic painted details, the models present some irregularities, unexpectedly coherent with the painted drawing. The photogrammetric models have been compared with data deriving from a LIDAR survey of the same object, to evaluate the entity of this blunder: some profiles of selected sections have been extracted, verifying the different behaviours of the software tools.