Overview of the treatment of historical industrial heritage in engineering graphics

This article presents a comprehensive review of the stages of research when addressing the issue of historical industrial heritage from the point view of engineering graphics, looking at its influence on all stages of the value chain. It provides a contextual introduction, explaining the research, the aim pursued and the priority objectives of this type of work. It also presents the methodology and the materials used, specifying important details needed to obtain a realistic result, such as fieldwork, 3D virtual modeling, virtual reconstruction, and more usual techniques used such as augmented reality and virtual reality. Finally, the dissemination of the results and the advantages and disadvantages of the virtual reconstructions are presented

Computer-aided virtual reconstruction of Italian ancient clocks

Italy has plenty of cultural heritages. The masterpieces are often placed in locations which are difficult to reach, moreover many artifacts, coming from man's creativity, have very complex functioning. The authors of this paper describe their experience in using the computer graphics capabilities in order to reproduce four ancient clocks functioning coming from different Italian regions. The study is based not only on the 3D-shapes reconstruction but also on the simulation of their complex mechanisms in order to mimic their functioning. The realism of the reconstruction allows to use the graphical products in exhibits, museums and also for maintenance: programs. The rendering techniques together with an accurate camera path, allow to get into the clock mechanisms and to appreciate all the features (and even secrets) that a simple glance cannot reveal. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd