Cooperativa archeologia
An automated photogrammetry system with a streamlined workflow that delivers high-resolution, detail-rich 3D models.
Innovation Process
Digital Twin
Digital Asset
Augmented Reality
Virtual Reality
Immersive Experience
3D Catalogue
Project Brief
During the excavation work for Rome’s new Metro C line, right in front of the Colosseum, hundreds of artifacts were unearthed. Once restored, they will be placed in a permanent exhibition inside the future station being built on the excavation site. The goal of the project is to digitize these artifacts after restoration and before their final placement, ensuring that each one has a permanent digital twin preserved in an unalterable digital archive.
01 / Company
Cooperativa Archeologia was founded in Florence in 1981 and by the early 1990s had already established itself as one of the leading organizations in Italy in the field of cultural heritage research, conservation, and promotion.
02 / Services
For the project we delivered:
- Technical analysis
- Technical development
- Photogrammetric processing
03 / Partner
Partners and collaborations:
- Sigeo
Acquisizione fotografica effettuata con 3 fotocamere Canon EOS R8 ad altissima risoluzione
Innovative Solution for Rapid Scanning of Archaeological Artifacts
Technology and professional consulting for fast, high-quality digital restoration.
The project was carried out by Sigeo, a company of the New Changer group, using the SmartCapture software developed by Esimple. Professional consulting supported the process, enabling the creation of a workflow that overcame one of the client’s biggest challenges: execution speed. From the very first briefing, it was established that only about 30 days would elapse between the end of artifact restoration and their final placement, making it essential to deliver a solution that achieved results without compromising quality. Such tight timing would have made it impossible to use technologies like laser or structured-light scanners, as both turnaround times and budgets would have increased dramatically.
To meet this challenge, a mobile scanning station was set up inside one of the equipped containers provided by Cooperativa Archeologia at the Metro C construction site. This was necessary because moving the material—extremely fragile and valuable—was not feasible to the group’s facilities. Inside the scanning station, an automated acquisition system was implemented with a tested workflow that aligned the photographic acquisition phase (performed with three ultra-high-resolution Canon EOS R8 cameras) with the photogrammetric processing carried out through Esimple’s automated SmartCapture functionalities.
Thanks to SmartCapture, it was also possible to make small refinements to the models during post-processing and to automatically export the 3D models in a high-resolution OBJ format with corresponding textures, as well as an optimized web-ready version in GLB format. The combination of technological expertise and domain-specific knowledge made the partnership between Sigeo and Esimple capable of delivering the artifacts with the highest quality standards, within the client’s required timeframe. As a result of this project, Cooperativa Archeologia now has full access to a digital archive of artifact assets that can be used for a wide range of purposes—such as research, dissemination, or real-time 3D consultation of digital twins via the web.