A NEW HANDHELD SCANNER FOR 3D SURVEY OF SMALL ARTIFACTS: THE STONEX F6

Abstract. Movable heritage preserved in our museums are an invaluable evidence of our past. In order to properly respond to the need of 3D documentation of these significant assets, in the last few years both range-based and image-based solutions have been developed by researchers operating in the framework of Geomatics with a special focus on reaching a high level of detail and on texture radiometric quality, taking into consideration the intrinsic fragility of these kinds of objects which during the survey require a contactless approach. During the presented research a collection of architectural models representing ancient Nubian temples from “Museo Egizio di Torino” had been digitalized using different techniques; in particular, the wooden maquette of the temple of El-Hilla has been acquired using a new structured light handheld laser scanner, the Stonex F6 SR, and applying a close-range photogrammetric approach. In this paper a comparison between the two approaches is proposed as regards acquisition workflow, final results and suitability as regards digitisation of objects belonging to movable heritage and museum collections.