Digital Mont'e Prama: Exploring large collections of detailed 3D models of sculptures

We present and evaluate a scalable interactive system for the exploration of large collections of detailed three-dimensional digital models of sculptures. The system has been applied to the valorization of the Mont'e Prama complex, an extraordinary collection of protostoric Mediterranean sculptures, which depict models of cone-shaped stone towers, as well as larger-than-life human figures. The software architecture is based on scalable components for efficient distribution and adaptive rendering of extremely detailed surface meshes with overlaid information. The user interface, based on a simple and effective interactive camera controller tailored for touch interaction, has been designed for targeting both small screens and large display systems. The system components have been integrated in different interactive applications, ranging from large-screen museum setups and low-end mobile devices both with very high visual quality. The large-scale system has been installed in a variety of temporal and permanent exhibitions and has been extensively used by tens of thousands of visitors. We provide an early analysis in this article of the data gathered during a 20-month period in the National Archaeological Museum in Cagliari and a 6-month period in the Civic Museum in Cabras, for a total of over 67,000 exploration sessions.