EUROGRAPHICS ’0x / M. Ioannides, D. Arnold, F. Niccolucci, K. Mania
(Editors)
Volume 0 (2006), Number 0
A Toolbox For Movable Books Digitization
Paper 1060
Abstract
Nowadays, scanning and diffusing fac-similes are well studied and known tasks. However digitizing movable books
addresses new issues. In this paper, we describe preliminary results about a software that eases the rebuilding of
moving systems of such books. This tool computes, in a semi-automatic way, the reassembling of the system’s
texture, the detection of the system’s shape, its rebuilding into a 3D object and its final texturing. Such 3D object
can then be imported and animated in a 3D reading environment.
Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS):
I.7.5 [Document and Text Processing]: Graphics
recognition and interpretation, Scanning H.3.7 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: User Issues
1. Motivations and Background
The first movable books were scientific books [Hai79] in
which moving parts made of paper were added in order to il-
lustrate authors’ theories. Such books are very fragile and are
often damaged and weakened by time and repeated handling.
They are also usually forbidden for general public because
they are kept in private places where only some researchers
can have access. Generally, the digitization of ancient books
allows, on one hand, to increase their accessibility towards
all kind of public and, on the other hand, to ensure their con-
servation via an un-damageable medium. The digitization of
classic (i.e. flat) books is well known and allows nowadays
to ensure their accessibility and their safeguarding. But this
process is limited to books with usual dimensions and char-
acteristics. The specificities of movable books make them
impossible to be digitized with traditional methods.
Digitization must take into account that a page of a mov-
able book is a volume whereas a page of a traditional book
is a surface. The digitization of a three dimensional (3D) ob-
ject is not a simple task [CHT04]. It is even more diffic