Through the eye of the 3d laser scanner: the digital colors of the historic city of Enna

The study of historic cities is nowadays enriched with new knowledge and tools for “digital storytelling”. The design of the city, previously made by simple techniques, is now replaced by sequences of images taken by laser that narrate the urban environment. Sequences of lights and colored point clouds redesign the town, portraying it in all of its complexity, even chromatic, and permeating its materiality. The operator is not ousted from this process, indeed; every action is mediated by his intuition and ability. The 3D laser scanner is to be considered as the pencil of digital era and a precious resource for the acquisition of geometric/morphological data. The color of clouds is in fact digital index of physicochemical properties of materials: color changes represent the material characteristics of building components. The digital color scanning is then an investigative instrument, useful for the conservation of historic towns. This paper documents research activities in this field.