Studying Illumination and Cultural Heritage

Computer graphics tools and techniques enable researchers to investigate cultural heritage and archaeological sites. They can facilitate documentation of real-world sites for further investigation, and enable archaeologists and historians to accurately study a past environment through simulations. This chapter explores how light plays a major role in examining computer-based representations of heritage. We discuss how light is both documented and modelled today using computer graphics techniques and tools. We also identify why both physical and historical accuracy in modelling light is becoming increasingly important to study the past, and how emerging technologies such as High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging and physically-based rendering is necessary to accurately represent heritage.