Reverse Modeling

Research focus

The Peer review has evaluated this group as Good

The transformation process from a physical object to a digital form of representation may be indicated as “Reverse Modeling”. Such definition indicates the whole process of 3D digital acquisition with both active methods (e.g. laser scanning) or passive methods (e.g. photogrammetry), and the following creation of a digital computer model. Such model can be directly originated by the acquired data (mesh), or can be reconstructed through mathematical surfaces such as BSplines or NURBS. The application of such methodologies, determine the following research focuses: - Reverse Modeling for Industrial Design; - Reverse Modeling for Cultural Heritage; - Image acquisition and processing. Reverse Modeling for Industrial Design In Reverse Modeling for Industrial Design the essence of an Industrial Design project is capture through the digital survey and computer modeling process. Reverse Modeling is typically oriented to the reconstruction of complex shapes, typical of some Industrial Design products, properly described by a complex mathematical surfaces, with all the possible constrains regarding the connections between them (i.e. position, tangency and curvature). This, differently from the similar “Reverse Engineering”, more related with the reconstruction of regular shapes, such as those employed in mechanical engineering. The purposes of the research line include: study of survey methods based on both single technologies and integrated technologies, in order to accurately obtain the digital survey of complex shapes, independently from their size and prevailing extension in space (1D, 2D, 3D); study of processing methods for obtaining reliable 3D models from survey data in different Industrial Design applications (e.g. cars, consumer product, etc…); applications to real-world case studies; study of industrial product development phases potentially more affected by reverse Modeling techniques and development of enhanced Industrial Design processes. Reverse Modeling for Cultural Heritage Reverse Modeling for Cultural Heritage has witnessed an increasing number of applications in recent years. The main interest is centered on the possibility of generating an electronic mold of a sculptural, architectural or archeological work, which in turn can be used for different applications including: dimensional monitoring – possibly useful for sculptures that are subject to environmental elements and pollution; multimedia representation of the work with the possibility of having access to parts of the work not normally accessible in a museum and from different perspectives and have virtual visits to the work of art – including remote and off site; access to a work of art with the possibility of measuring, selecting and analyzing its surface for the purpose of historical/artistic study; documentation of restoration works; physical reproduction by way of rapid prototyping techniques which is less expensive than manual reproduction and results in a truer reproduction of the original; archiving of the work of art. This research field is related with the experimentation of the same methodologies developed for the reverse modeling of industrial design, into a distinct arena, where materials, formal characteristics and sizes, are completely different, but where the metrological correctness is also important. The approaches for the proper interpretation of the acquired data and their restitution into a format suitable for different forms of fruition are also addressed. Image acquisition and processing This research area concerns the definition of methodologies for image digitization, oriented to the production of digital libraries of images and architectural or design drawings. The analysis of drawings from a specific author present specific features: it’s almost impossible to identically copy the final object being produced, and replicas are made on discrete basis and needs/allows some kind of re-interpretation. They therefore are documental systems with an extremely frail philological basis, nevertheless requiring both the interpretative dimension to be Peer Review - Department of Industrial Design, Arts, Communication and Fashion (INDACO) 182 defined and the frequent relationships with other complementary document collections to be preserved. The challenging research key-point is the formation of a digital visual archive, specular to the realworld system, digitizable at low cost and by unqualified operators (typically architecture historians, archivists etc).

Dipartimento di afferenza

Dipartimento di Industrial Design, Arti, Comunicazione e Moda (INDACO)

Docenti afferenti

Full Professors
Marco Gaiani
Associate Professors
Gabriele Guidi
Assistant Professors
Fausto Brevi