Image-based 3D Reconstruction with Structure from Motion (SfM)

The tutorial discusses theoretical as well as practical applications of Structure-from-Motion (SfM) in archaeology and heritage management. It is offered by the platform iDAI.tutorials of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) for professionals in the area of archaeology, cultural heritage and museum management. In addition to this, the platform offers the first Arabic translations of international standards and guidelines on digitisation such as OAIS, Dublin Core. Courses and resources are being continuously developed and added by the various initiatives of the project “Stunde Null/Hour Zero” with the support of the Archaeological Heritage Network. The platform was initially developed in the framework of the Funds-in-Trust agreement “Capacity Building, Technical and Media Support” between UNESCO and the German Archaeological Institute.

SfM is a term used in the field of computer vision and refers to an automatic process that recognizes the spatial structure of objects based on corresponding features in images. In recent years, it has become popular in archaeology and heritage management as an effective, low-cost method for generating detailed three-dimensional models of archaeological sites, features or artefacts.

Some of the learning objectives of the tutorial are:

• Basic principles of SfM
• Detailed explanations of theory, application examples, software workflow basics used in SfM
• Practical considerations in executing the automation process
• Comprehensive foundation for future learning of SfM