The second method, and much more accurate, but incredibly time consuming, is to distort the model by hand to replicate the original. Luckily, as most pottery is in small pieces, this approach is rarely used.

Textures are applied which reflect the construction process of the artefact. If it is glazed, then a coloured, reflective texture is applied. Unglazed requires a partial matte finish.

Fig. 5

Patterns can be applied as simple “decals” which means they do not change the surface of the model, or as “displacement” which means the surface of the model is distorted to show the decoration. The beaker (Fig. 5) was textured using a “burnished” finish, and displacement texture to replicate the simple designs on its outer and inner surfaces.

Most glassware can be reconstructed in a similar way to pottery, but the difficulty with glass is to make it look realistic. This is where texturing really makes a difference. To create realistic authentic glass we need to use a process know as “raytracing”. This process traces each ray of light that enters the camera that is looking into the scene or at the object (cameras are virtual but reflect all the normal functions of a real life camera.) As you can probably imagine, this is a time consuming (and VERY processor intensive) operation.

It is important to set the material of the glass correctly. The Index of refraction (IOR) must be accurate or the glass will incorrectly distort the light passing through it. This tends to range from IOR 1.5 to 1.7. (Water has an IOR of 1.3, and diamond is 2.4) As you can see from the Glass Flask (Fig. 6), the result is an image that looks real.

Fig. 6