Context-Based Defading of Archive Photographs

We present an algorithm for the enhancement of contrast in digitized archive photographic prints. It aims at producing an adaptive enhancement based on the local context of each pixel and is able to operate without direct user's intervention. A relation between the variation of contrast at different resolutions and the local Lipschitz regularity of the image is exploited. In this way, each pixel is defaded according to its nature: noise, edge, or smooth region. This strategy provides for an algorithm that drastically reduces typical, annoying artifacts like halo effects and noise amplification

A knowledge based architecture for the virtual restoration of ancient photos

Historical images are essential documents of the recent past. Nevertheless, time and bad preservation corrupt their physical supports. Digitization can be the solution to extend their \u201clives\u201d, and digital techniques can be used to recover lost information. This task is often difficult and time-consuming, if commercial restoration tools are used for the purpose. A new solution is proposed to help non-expert users in restoring their damaged photos. First, we defined a dual taxonomy for the defects in printed and digitized photos. We represented our restoration domain with an ontology and we created some rules to suggest actions to perform in case of some specific events. Classes and properties of the ontology are included into a knowledge base, that grows dynamically with its use. A prototypal tool and a web application version have been implemented as an interface to the database, and to support non-expert users in the restoration process

Colour coded

This 300 word publication to be published by the Society of Dyers and Colourists (SDC) is a collection of the best papers from a 4-year European project that has considered colour from the perspective of both the arts and sciences.The notion of art and science and the crossovers between the two resulted in application and funding for cross disciplinary research to host a series of training events between 2006 and 2010 Marie Curie Conferences & Training Courses (SCF) Call Identifier: FP6-Mobility-4, Euros 532,363.80 CREATE – Colour Research for European Advanced Technology Employment. The research crossovers between the fields of art, science and technology was also a subject that was initiated through Bristol’s Festival if Ideas events in May 2009. The author coordinated and chaired an event during which the C.P Snow lecture “On Two Cultures’ (1959) was re-presented by Actor Simon Cook and then a lecture made by Raymond Tallis on the notion of the Polymath. The CREATE project has a worldwide impact for researchers, academics and scientists. Between January and October 2009, the site has received 221, 414 visits. The most popular route into the site is via the welcome page. The main groups of visitors originate in the UK (including Northern Ireland), Italy, France, Finland, Norway, Hungary, USA, Finland and Spain. A basic percentage breakdown of the traffic over ten months indicates: USA -15%; UK - 16%; Italy - 13%; France -12%; Hungary - 10%; Spain - 6%; Finland - 9%; Norway - 5%. The remaining approximate 14% of visitors are from other countries including Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany (approx 3%). A discussion group has been initiated by the author as part of the CREATE project to facilitate an ongoing dialogue between artists and scientists. http://createcolour.ning.com/group/artandscience www.create.uwe.ac.uk.Related papers to this research: A report on the CREATE Italian event: Colour in cultural heritage.C. Parraman, A. Rizzi, ‘Developing the CREATE network in Europe’, in Colour in Art, Design and Nature, Edinburgh, 24 October 2008.C. Parraman, “Mixing and describing colour”. CREATE (Training event 1), France, 2008

From Grain to Pixel

Film is in a state of rapid change, with the transition from analog to digital profoundly affecting not just filmmaking and distribution, but also the theoretical conceptualization of the medium film and the practice of film archiving. New forms of digital archives are being developed that make use of participatory media to provide a more open form of access than any traditional archive has offered before. Film archives are thus faced with new questions and challenges. From Grain to Pixel attempts to bridge the fields of film archiving and academic research, by addressing the discourse on film ontology and analysing how it affects the role of film archives. Fossati proposes a new theoretization of film archival practice as the starting point for a renewed dialogue between film scholars and film archivists.Het bewegende beeld bevindt zich in een overgangsperiode waarin analoge (fotochemische) film geleidelijk vervangen wordt door digitale film. Deze overgang heeft niet alleen diepgaande invloed op filmproductie en -distributie, maar ook op de manier van archiveren van film en de theoretische conceptualisering van dit medium. Van digitale archieven worden steeds nieuwe vormen ontwikkeld. Deze archieven - digitale filmdatabases en YouTube bijvoorbeeld - maken gebruik van media die participatie van vele gebruikers mogelijk maken en worden zo toegankelijker dan ooit. Ondertussen is er nog onvoldoende dialoog tussen archivarissen en filmwetenschappers. From Grain to Pixel slaat een brug tussen archiveringspraktijken en wetenschappelijk onderzoek dat gebaseerd is op relevante debatten in film- en nieuwe mediastudies. Fossati stelt een nieuwe theorie op voor het archiveren en restaureren van film. Dit biedt mogelijkheden voor een hernieuwde dialoog tussen archivarissen en wetenschappers

Digital restoration of colour cinematic films using imaging spectroscopy and machine learning

Digital restoration is a rapidly growing methodology within the field of heritage conservation, especially for early cinematic films which have intrinsically unstable dye colourants that suffer from irreversible colour fading. Although numerous techniques to restore film digitally have emerged recently, complex degradation remains a challenging problem. This paper proposes a novel vector quantization (VQ) algorithm for restoring movie frames based on the acquisition of spectroscopic data with a custom-made push-broom VNIR hyperspectral camera (380–780 nm). The VQ algorithm utilizes what we call a multi-codebook that correlates degraded areas with corresponding non-degraded ones selected from reference frames. The spectral-codebook was compared with a professional commercially available film restoration software (DaVinci Resolve 17) tested both on RGB and on hyperspectral providing better results in terms of colour reconstruction

From Grain to Pixel

Film is in a state of rapid change, with the transition from analog to digital profoundly affecting not just filmmaking and distribution, but also the theoretical conceptualization of the medium film and the practice of film archiving. New forms of digital archives are being developed that make use of participatory media to provide a more open form of access than any traditional archive has offered before. Film archives are thus faced with new questions and challenges. From Grain to Pixel attempts to bridge the fields of film archiving and academic research, by addressing the discourse on film ontology and analysing how it affects the role of film archives. Fossati proposes a new theoretization of film archival practice as the starting point for a renewed dialogue between film scholars and film archivists

Reconstrucción digital no métrica de mosaicos romanos excavados en la ciudad de Rávena (Italia)

[EN] During the excavations carried out in summer 2011 in Piazza Anita Garibaldi in Ravenna, during construction of the new underground waste containers, five rooms decorated with mosaic floors were found, probably dating back to the early Roman Empire (1st-2ndcentury AD). The mosaics were removed for restoration and musealisation, however –given the size of the large lacunae-it would not be possible to reintegrate them in a traditional restoration without creating arbitrary reconstructions. Therefore, we opted for a digital reconstruction of the lacunae, attempting virtual restoration hypotheses for the recovered mosaics. Subsequently, it was possible to grasp the trend of the figuration and how it could have appeared in the past. The characteristics of many mosaics, such as the symmetry and the repetition of geometric patterns, make them suitable for both a simulated integration and are construction by the analogies of the pattern. As a matter of fact, we used simple and easily accessible software to perform this work. The purpose of this digital workflow was to give an example of virtual processing useful for conservators and restorers, as well as for scholars (archaeologists, art historians, etc.) that can be carried out without specific information technology expertise and computer skills. After the images were acquired digitally, we were able to proceed with the reconstruction of the floor, by taking into account the geometric motifs that make up the mosaic assembly and that made the recomposition the most reliable. The virtual restoration also provides the opportunity of simulating the type of integration and the colour so that scholars, restorers and conservators may evaluate the final appearance of the work and the different aesthetic choices. The virtual restoration is finally considered an essential tool for the enhancement of cultural heritage.[ES] Durante las excavaciones llevadas a cabo en el verano de 2011 en la Plaza Anita Garibaldi en Rávena para la fabricación de nuevos contenedores soterrados, se encontraron cinco habitaciones decoradas con mosaicos en el piso, que probablemente datan de principios del imperio romano (siglo I-II d. C.). Los mosaicos fueron retirados para la restauración y musealización, sin embargo –dado el tamaño de las lagunas grandes-no sería posible reintegrarlos siguiendo una restauración tradicional sin crear reconstrucciones arbitrarias. Por esta razón, hemos optado por una reconstrucción digital de las lagunas, haciendo algunas hipótesis de restauración virtual delos mosaicos recuperados. De esta manera, es posible figurar cómo podría haber sido en el pasado. Las características de muchos mosaicos, como son la simetría y la repetición de los patrones geométricos, los hacen adecuados tanto para una integración simulada como para la reconstrucción por analogía del patrón geométrico. De hecho, utilizamos software muy simple para realizar este trabajo, ya que nuestro propósito era dar un ejemplo de procesamiento virtual útil para conservadores y restauradores, así como para académicos (arqueólogos, historiadores del arte, etc.) que puede llevarse a cabo sin conocimientos específicos ni conocimientos informáticos. Una vez adquiridas las imágenes en formato digital, pudimos proceder a la reconstrucción real del piso, teniendo en cuenta los motivos geométricos que conforman el ensamblaje del mosaico y que hicieron la recomposición más fiable. La restauración virtual también brinda la oportunidad de simular en la imagen digital el tipo de integración y el color para que los estudiosos puedan evaluar la apariencia final del trabajo y las diferentes elecciones estéticas. La restauración virtual se considera finalmente una herramienta esencial para la mejora del patrimonio cultural.We are grateful to the Editor-in-Chief Prof. José Luis Lerma for useful suggestions. Pictures of the excavations were taken by RavennAntica Foundation and Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Virtual restorationswere carried out by Mariapaola Monti.Monti, M.; Maino, G. (2018). Non-metric digital reconstruction of Roman mosaics excavated in the city of Ravenna (Italy). Virtual Archaeology Review. 9(19):66-75. doi:10.4995/var.2018.7227SWORD6675919Bennardi, D., &Furferi, R. (2007). Il restauro virtuale. Tra ideologia e metodologia. Florence: Edifir.Biagi Maino, D., &Maino, G. (2017). Principi e Applicazioni del Restauro Virtuale. Florence: Edifir.Bignami, S., Carnoli, S., &Racagni, P. (2000). Il mosaico ravennate: cronistoria dalle origini ai giorni nostri. Ravenna: Associazione Giuliano Argentario.Bortolotti, I. (2006). Grafica al computer per il restauratore. Padova: Il Prato.Brandi, C. (1963). Teoria del restauro. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura.Casagrande, F., Rivola, R., Castagnetti, C., & Bertacchini, E. (2016). Scansione e stampa 3D di un calco musivo policromo. In V. Perzolla, & A. Colombo (Eds.), Le Tecnologie Digitali al servizio della conservazione: Dall'integrazione scultorea al restauro virtuale (pp. 43-55, 65-66). Padova: Il Prato e-book.Casagrande, F., Maino, G., & Monti, M. (2016).3D rendering and virtual restoration of mosaics. In M. B. Panov (Ed.), Byzantium and the Heritage of Europe: Connecting the Cultures, Proceedings of 3rd International Symposium Days of Justinian I (pp.111-121). Skopje: Euro-Balkan University.Degrigny, C., Piqué, F., Papiashvili, N., Guery, J., Mansouri, A., Le Goïc, G., Detalle, V.,Martos-Levif, D., Mounier, A., Wefers, S., Tedeschi, C., Cucchi, M., Vallet, J., Pamart, A., & Pinette, M. (2016). Technical study of Germolles' wall paintings: the input of imaging techniques. Virtual Archaeology Review, 7(15), 1-8.doi:10.4995/var.2016.5831Fiori, C., &Vandini, M. (2002). Teoria e tecniche per la conservazione del mosaico. Padova: Il PratoGonzalez, R.C., &Woods, R.E. (1993). Digital Image Processing. New York: Addison-Wesley.Higuchi, R., Suzuki, T., Shibata, M., Taniguchi, Y., & Galyaz, M. (2016). Digital non-metric image-based documentation for the preservation and restoration of mural paintings: the case of the Ozomlo Rock-Hewn church, Turkey. Virtual Archaeology Review, 7(14), 31-42.doi:10.4995/var.2016.4241Maino, G., &Visparelli, D. (2003). Il museo virtuale dei mosaici. In Atti del Convegno Contesti virtuali e fruizione dei beni culturali, Naples, May 22-23,2003 (pp.1-6). Naples, Italy.Maino, G., Orlandi, M., & Malkowski, G. (2005). Documentare i mosaici tramite GIS.In La tecnologia al servizio dei beni culturali. Nuovi sistemi di catalogazione, visualizzazione e salvaguardia (pp.17-19).Rome: ENEA Technical Report.Maino, G. (2007).Digitization and multispectral analysis of historical books and archival documents: Two exemplary cases. In 14th International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing-Workshop (ICIAPW 2007), vol.II, (pp.119-124).doi:10.1109/ICIAPW.2007.23Maino, G., &Massari, S. (2010).Digitization and multispectral analysis of artistic objects: exemplary cases and web documentation. In Science for Cultural Heritage (pp.164-171).Singapore: World Scientific.doi:10.1142/9789814307079_0014Maino, G. (2015).The mosaics of Macedonia: conservation and restoration issues. In L. Kniffitz, & E. Carbonara (Eds.), Ravenna Musiva. Preservation and restoration of architectural decoration, mosaics and frescoes (pp.316-331, plates 44-47).Maino, G., &Monti, M. (2015). Color Management and Virtual Restoration of Artworks. In E. Celebi, M.Lecca, &B. Smolka (Eds.), Color Image and Video Enhancement (pp.183-231).Cham: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09363-5_7Menghi, R., Monti, M., &Maino, G. (2012).Principles of virtual restoration and application to artistic and archaeological objects. In G. Vezzalini, & P. Zannini (Eds.), Proceedings of A.I.Ar. 2012 Modena -VII Congresso nazionale di Archeometria (pp. 618-631).Bologna: Patron.Monti, M., &Maino, G. (2011).Image processing and a virtual restoration hypothesis for mosaics and their cartoons. In G. Maino, & G. L. Foresti (Eds.), Image Analysis and Processing -ICIAP 2011.Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6979, 486-495. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-24088-1_50Nencini, E., & Maino, G. (2011).From the physical restoration for preserving to the virtual restoration for enhancing. In G. Maino, & G. L. Foresti (Eds.), Image Analysis and Processing -ICIAP 2011.Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6978, 700-709. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-24085-0_71Rivola, R., Castagnetti, C., Bertacchini, E., &Casagrande, F. (2016). Le tecniche geomatiche a supporto dei Beni Culturali.Archeomatica,1,34-37

From Grain to Pixel

"In From Grain to Pixel , Giovanna Fossati analyzes the transition from analog to digital film and its profound effects on filmmaking and film archiving. Reflecting on the theoretical conceptualization of the medium itself, Fossati poses significant questions about the status of physical film and the practice of its archival preservation, restoration and presentation. From Grain to Pixel attempts to bridge the fields of film archiving and academic research by addressing the discourse on film's ontology and analyzing how different interpretations of what film is affect the role and practices of film archives. Ultimately, Fossati proposes a novel theorization of film archival practice as the starting point for a renewed dialogue between film scholars and film archivists. Almost a decade after its first publication, this updated edition covers the latest developments in the field. Besides a new general introduction, a new conclusion and extensive updates to each chapter, a novel theoretical framework and a new case study have been added. Giovanna Fossati is chief curator at EYE Filmmuseum and professor of film heritage and digital film culture at the University of Amsterdam.