A Multifragment Renderer for Material Aging Visualization.

People involved in curatorial work and in preservation/conservation tasks need to understand exactly the nature of aging and to prevent it with minimal preservation work. In this scenario, it is of extreme importance to have tools to produce and visualize digital representations and models of visual surface appearance and material properties, to help the scientist understand how they evolve over time and under particular environmental conditions. We report on the development of a multifragment renderer for visualizing and combining the results of simulated aging of artwork objects. Several natural aging processes manifest themselves through change of color, fading, deformations or cracks. Furthermore, changes in the materials underneath the visible layers may be detected or simulated.