Virtual Restoration of Bronze - 3d Capture and Optical Simulation in Parallel Spectral Ray-tracing

We present the main results of a complete study driven in cooperation with the "Musée National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet" in Paris concerning a chinese horse bronze statuette, 20 centuries old. The visual appearance of bronze is studied, depending on their metallurgical composition and state of surface in normalized illumination and visualisation conditions. The results are presented on an example where a pluridisciplinary work was accomplished involving, engineering, art history, computer science, metallurgy, optics, material sciences, etc. specialists mainly from three academics labs, a museum, a rapid prototyping centre. The main results are presented here and summed up using many images of the original artifact and of the virtual and real replicas obtained. From 3D capture without any contact to plaster replicas with a galvano deposited metallic film, the complete process is described with images and objects during the conference. A didactic and scientific movie of 22 mn available in french, greek or chinese will also be presented.