ABSTRACT
Reconstruction of broken or torn artifacts of archaeological, historical, or cultural importance is an indispensable tool in the hands of researchers in these fields. This chapter provides a concise review of algorithms proposed so far for the two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) reassembly of fragmented or torn objects of cultural importance. It reviews a small number of such techniques, since there is a close relation between puzzle reassembly and 2D object reconstruction methods and some areas share many principles. The chapter presents an automatic four-step method for the reassembly of torn 2D paper images or fragmented paintings. It describes methods that aim to reduce the number of computations required for the evaluation of the sub-image displacements in mosaicing, without affecting significantly the matching error. Readers interested in more details about the computational reconstruction of 2D/3D ancient artifacts and mosaicing techniques can delve into the thorough review and tutorial papers of Willis and Cooper and Szeliski respectively.
