Abstract:

The ancient codex is a complex object, with a body made up of several materials, it is the fruit of craftsmanship and artistic skills, it may have undergone censorship, dismemberment and concealment. These stories are imprinted, sometimes hidden, in the codex’s material and are part of its value as a testimony to the history of ideas, culture and society.

The Codex 4D project (2021-2023), realised by CNR ISPC in collaboration with Tor Vergata University and supported by Lazio Region, includes and interconnects several disciplinary approaches under the banner of a global methodology aimed at increasing the knowledge of the ancient manuscript, considering its material and intangible, visible and invisible, historical-artistic and diagnostic aspects.

It goes beyond the simple 2D digitisation of codex contents and focuses on the conception of new narrative and virtual representation approaches (4D models of the codex oh which volume and stratigraphy can be explored), scientific investigation and visualisation tools.
The 4D model is obtained by integrating Structure from Motion techniques, which use RGB images to process the volumetric model, and IR reflectography and thermography techniques. The latter allows the acquisition of images in the mid-infrared range at various depth levels, documenting elements or phenomena under the pictorial final layer. The model also contextualizes the sampling points for chemical and biological investigations and those obtained by XRF or UV fluorescence for the identification of pigments.

The objectives of the project are:
1) to increase the knowledge and create a multidisciplinary experience with the manuscript;
2) to"augment" the perception of the manuscript by means of virtual reality and mixed reality environments;
3) to integrate and contextualise information in the visible (RGB) and invisible (IR) layers;
4) to semantically characterise and annotate the 4D model with contents related to textual and icongraphic contents, structure, materials identification, execution techniques, state of preservation;
5) to develop new approaches in scientific visualization of ancient manuscripts through Web3D environments mostly oriented to expert audience;
6) to create new storytelling and interaction metaphors in museums and libraries through the holographic showcase, a novel kind of mixed reality installation using theatrical paradigms in communication, gesture based interaction and emotional languages in order to increase common visitors’ curiosity and awareness towards ancient manuscripts; 

8) promote research in the field of User Studies and User Experience Design (including survey evaluating utility, usability, educational impact of such digital products, and cultural satisfaction of the public);
9) improve interaction and share methodological processes between research teams.

The project has been developed on three very precious case studies in the Angelica Library in Rome, in parchment and with illuminations and gliding:
1. Ms1474, De Balneis Puteolanis, a poem by Pietro da Eboli, dated 1258/1266;
2. Ms 1102, Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri , dated 1351/1400;
3. Ms 459, Libro d’Ore, a prayer book for secular use, dated at the beginning of the XV
century BC.

The Codex4D project (web site: https://codex4d.it/) shows how technology can be used as a means to strengthen accessibility, equity, inclusion, human interaction and quality of contents in education.

Keywords:

Manuscript, digitization, multidimensional model, visible and invisible contents, virtual reality, interdisciplinary approach, education, accessibility.